High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2046: Chapter 267: There Is a Crack in Everything

Andrew stood at the entrance of the Wandering Bar, eyeing the large frog squatting by the door.

Noon—especially Monday to Friday afternoons—the pedestrian street’s traffic was exceptionally sparse, resulting in even fewer patrons at the Wandering Bar.

Commissioner remembered very clearly, when he was a student, the frog at the bar’s entrance looked just the same: short, plump, lazy, wearing an expression of perpetual drowsiness. Though it was an alchemical creature, it was extremely cunning. If someone slipped it a can of fruit flies, this frog would not hesitate to favor the briber with a higher-ranking hand card.

”Official visit, thank you.”

The Trident Sword’s commissioner politely exchanged pleasantries and waved his badge in front of the frog. The frog squinted its eyes, scrutinized for a long time, and after confirming that the wizard who resembled it was not making any further moves, impatiently opened its mouth and spat out a card covered in fruit fly remnants.

Andrew accepted it without minding, slipped it onto his wrist, and pushed the door open to enter.

The hallway behind the door was unchanged from his memory—winding and deep—the hall at the end unusually quiet, with no music, no lights, nor hostesses. A few scattered guests huddled in their corners, waiting for their respective ’business.’ Behind the bar, a Multi-arm Tribe Attendant was wiping endlessly a glass, eyes vigilant of everyone in the hall.

Noticing the conspicuous figure of the new guest, several shadows in the corners quickly rose and slipped out through the side door. The hall, already quiet, became completely deserted—so hasty were they, that one chair toppled to the ground by the hem of a guest’s robe.

”Good afternoon, Commissioner!”

The Multi-arm Tribe Attendant behind the bar spoke in a rough voice, complaining, ”...If you hadn’t scared all my guests away, I’d surely treat you to a drink!”

”Good afternoon... just call me Andrew.”

The Trident Sword’s wizard greeted amiably, righting the overturned chair, patting it, his tone slightly nostalgic, ”These chairs are exactly the same as when I was studying... Time here seems almost at a standstill.”

”To the patrons of the Wandering Bar, unchanging is a particularly reassuring state.” A somewhat abrupt voice sounded behind Andrew, ”The weather’s great, how may I serve you?”

The Trident Sword’s commissioner turned around.

As expected, he saw the owner of the Wandering Bar.

The Wandering Wizard’s figure mingled perfectly with the candlelight cascading from the ceiling, as though he had always been standing there, just overlooked by the guests.

”Oh, nothing much.” The short, plump wizard adjusted his hat slightly, his tone relaxed as he replied, ”Just passing by, and seeing that big frog by the entrance, I was reminded of my old nickname... I used to be called the ’Frog Prince.’

”Impressive indeed.”

The Wandering Wizard smiled while observing the Trident Sword’s commissioner, ”...Would you care for something? Absinthe, gin, butterbeer, or Green Bee? If that’s not enough, there’s a new batch of Sea Monster Langmu.”

”No, thanks.”

Andrew raised a finger pointing outside the window, ”Still on duty... Can’t drink. But it sounds like you’ve got every kind of alcohol here... Just like how the guys would talk back in school, the Wandering Bar has everything you could imagine, nothing is out of reach.”

The Wandering Wizard followed the commissioner’s finger’s direction.

The afternoon sunlight pierced through the bar’s window lattices, casting a thin, crooked beam of light, like a glowing earthworm wriggling through the dark soil.

The bar owner remained silent for a moment.

”Everything has a crack, that’s how the light gets in,” he chuckled softly, meaningfully, ”There’s light in the night, light in the Black Prison, light seeps into my little bar... It goes both ways.”

”Sounds complicated... Reminds me of philosophy class back then.” Andrew wiped imaginary sweat from his forehead, muttered, and turned to leave the bar, ”In any case... I was just stopping by for a look... I won’t disturb you... Wish you prosperous business.”

”Thank you.”

”You’re welcome.”

The Trident Sword’s commissioner said as he stepped over the crooked beam of light on the floor, into the hallway, but suddenly paused, turning his head back towards the bar owner.

”If,” he gestured, his gaze sweeping over the empty hall, vaguely saying, ”If I wanted to hear about the Campus Cup or some hunting team’s brilliant performance... Would there be more people on the weekend?”

The Wandering Wizard slightly frowned, ”Hunting Competition?”

”For instance, the Absolution Hunting Team that’s been quite prominent at the Campus Cup lately,” Andrew patiently explained, ”They say they’ve already mastered the Second Rank battle formation... That’s quite rare around the school area... If I wanted to place a side bet...”

He winked at the Wandering Wizard, ”...Is there another team, not necessarily students, but another hunting team that also mastered the Second Rank battle formation... A piece of information like that.”

”No.” The Wandering Wizard answered succinctly, ”I haven’t heard of such information.”

”Is that so?” The Trident Sword’s commissioner looked deeply disappointed, ”A few days ago, someone mentioned seeing a giant female dust bat fleeting past the edge of town near the Silent Forest... Looked like a hunting team practicing a Second Rank constellation formation.”

”Truly surprising news.” The Wandering Bar owner scrutinized the visitor.

”Indeed,” the short, plump wizard wiped his forehead, sighed, ”Really surprising... I mean... If you do hear something...”

”I would surely send a paper crane to you immediately,” the Wandering Wizard smoothly replied, ”After all, practicing such High Tier formations near the school requires corresponding approval documents.”

”Splendid... I mean, thank you.” Andrew said, gesturing contact before decisively leaving the dim bar.

The Wandering Wizard stood at the doorway, observing through the doorframe’s tiny crack as the short, plump figure hurried off along the street, deep in thought.

...

Back at the office, Andrew couldn’t bother to remove his hat, grabbed the iced tea on his desk and gulped down more than half in one go.

He then noticed a paper crane, dozing off on the table.

The Trident Sword’s commissioner rudely grabbed the paper crane by the neck, unfolded it into a letter, which was small and contained little. Apart from the opening pleasantries and closing nonsense, he extracted a single valuable line:

”...Confirmed, within the North District (Gini Cottage’s managed area), no hunting team mastering the Second Rank battle formation exists...”

The letter bore Korma’s seal—this meant a Big Wizard had vouched for the letter’s content—Andrew let out a heavy sigh, crumpled the letter, and tossed it into the nearby wastebasket.