High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2048: Chapter 269: Belfinger

The death event in the Silent Forest cast a shadow over the victory of the Absolution Hunting Team at the school hunting party, along with other trivial but irritating troubles—such as the post’s questioning of the Absolutions, Su Shijun’s enthusiastic fan club, never-ending assignments, and so on—which seemed like blocks of gloomy air solidified into stones, piled up on Zheng Qing’s chest, making him restless.

So, on Saturday night, when the young cost student once again recalled the trial he needed to participate in under the magic influence, he happily fetched out a Transformation Potion and sniffed it under his nose.

The Transformation Potion is a magic potion that assists transformation magic, suitable for wizards new to transfiguration. As the wizard’s mastery of transformation magic deepens, the dependency on the Transformation Potion becomes less and less—similar to a child’s ’walker’, which must be abandoned at a certain stage.

Zheng Qing performed exceptionally well in this regard.

Even now, when merely ’using’ a Transformation Potion through the ampoule bottle, he can easily capture the subtle spiritual machine in the magic potion and successfully transform.

But some things, even if you transform into a cat, are hard to completely let go.

”You seem a bit distracted tonight.”

The wizard in a white mask stood under the tree, observing the black cat on the Cat Fruit Tree with curiosity: ”Is a mother cat pregnant?”

The tip of the black cat’s twitching tail paused.

It lowered its head, looking at the ill-tempered guy: ”Has anyone in Seven Sins mentioned that you suit Samael’s Wolf Head Mask better than he does?”

Samael was the guy who tested the black cat last time, representing ’Wrath’ among the Seven Sins, but in the black cat’s view, his test was somewhat anticlimactic, and he completely failed to capture the essence of ’Wrath’—like the guy under the tree, who could easily incite anger in others and was the best hunter candidate for any hunting team.

”Not just Samael.”

The Sin Bearer seemed to not hear the malice in the black cat’s tone, somewhat proudly: ”Mr. Lucifer thinks I’m prouder than him, Miss Leviathan thinks I’m more sensitive, Beelzebub always considers my opinion at food appreciation sessions, and Asmodeus—half of those yellow books he stashes are found by me...”

”If they hear your evaluation, we probably need a new table again.” A lazy voice interrupted the Sin Bearer’s bragging.

The black cat looked towards the voice. By a young oak tree not far from the Cat Fruit Tree, leaned a wizard wearing a bird head mask. The black cat scrutinized for a long time, still unsure which bird the mask represented—somewhat like a peacock, but the color was a mix of gold and red.

”Oh! Our examiner for tonight has finally arrived!”

The Sin Bearer clapped happily but immediately jumped like a cat with its tail stepped on, shouting at the black cat on the tree: ”...Where’s your mask? You haven’t put on your mask yet!”

As a reserve Sin Bearer, the black cat also had a white mask as if an eggshell.

Though it thought the mask looked silly—as any wizard can tell that there’s a cat face beneath the mask.

Of course, out of courtesy, the black cat fished out the small white mask from Jian Ruiliu and hung it on its face, then jumped down from the tree.

Behind, the fruits on the Cat Fruit Tree made ’ho ho’ sounds, cheering for their lord.

”Good evening.”

The wizard in the bird head mask greeted perfunctorily: ”This masked black cat is the candidate for the next Sin Bearer...or cat-bearer?”

The black cat indifferently flicked its tail.

The Sin Bearer pretended not to hear the sarcasm in the bird-headed wizard’s tone and introduced solemnly: ”This wizard in the Phoenix Mask is ’Sloth’ among the Seven Sins, codename ’Belfinger’...and this organism in the white mask—um, this masked organism is the entity receiving tonight’s examination.”

The black cat’s claws popped out from between its toes, retracted, then popped out again, and retracted.

Repeated thrice, finally dispelling the urge to swipe out the prior selection.

”Cut the crap!”

The black cat’s voice sounded irritable: ”What’s the test tonight? Can it be something straightforward, like a fight! Unlike that Samael last week, he slinked away before I could even spit!”

Belfinger carefully scrutinized the black cat a few times: ”Didn’t expect...it’s a Starry Sky cat...but tonight you’re bound for disappointment, I am ’Sloth’, not ’Wrath’, and won’t use such crude means to test you.”

The black cat tilted its head at him.

”Sloth?” It sneered: ”Why not just skip the test tonight out of sloth?”

The bird-headed wizard scratched his chin: ”Hmm...sounds like a good suggestion...Too bad, if I hadn’t prepared, I might have taken your advice.”

As he spoke, he took out a piece of parchment from his pocket and stuffed it under the black cat’s nose.

”You can read, right,” Belfinger eagerly asked.

The black cat snorted, lowered its eyelids, and quickly scanned through line by line.

The content on the parchment was not much, yet it inexplicably gave the black cat a strangely familiar feeling—such as the first question: The revitalization of classical magic theory in the 14th and 15th centuries, beginning preliminary exploration of the New World, please draw an accurate star map, and precisely sketch an expedition route, listing possible magical creatures along the route and the main magical resources hidden at the destination.

Then the second question—the 1862 ”Fairy Liberation Declaration” was issued, please briefly outline the main content of the declaration and give examples of dark historical facts about wizards enslaving fairies in the 18th and 19th centuries.

And another question—White Dew is a precious magical material, as the saying goes ’fall dew like pearls, fall moon like scepters, bright moon white dew, time going back and forth’, please list five different ’fall dew’, briefly explaining their medicinal properties, and compose a magic potion using White Dew as an aid, explaining its efficacy and principle of action.

Raising its head, the black cat looked at the bird-headed wizard with a strange gaze.

”What is this?” It tried to discuss the matter calmly.

”Oh, just a bit of after-class homework.”

Belfinger replied lightly: ”My test is simple, just help me finish these assignments and it’ll be okay...hmm, I’ll give you a week’s time! Submit the homework to that guy next time during the test...all standard exercises from the book...you can use Green Grocery’s ’Invisible Feather Pen’ to avoid revealing your identity.”

Bang!

A fist-sized piece of gold dropped in front of the black cat.

”This’s the reward.” The wizard in the bird head mask bent over, smiling at the black cat: ”In terms of sloth, Belfinger never stints on gold.”