High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 853: Chapter 201: Confidence of the Mouse

The Rat Immortal sat securely on its spacious palanquin.

With both tiny paws tucked onto its belly and the short whiskers at the corners of its mouth twitching—because of the wrinkles on its face were so plentiful, Zheng Qing couldn’t be entirely sure whether the spherical-like old mouse was opening its eyes or squinting—there it sat on the palanquin, leisurely explaining:

”You’re looking for a suitable gimmick and don’t want to provoke trouble from that little girl of the Qingqiu Su Family... easy to handle. I can provide you with a gimmick.”

”You can claim that this little shop has obtained exclusive trading rights with the Mouse Clan of First University.”

”This gimmick isn’t much less influential than the influence brought by the Su Family’s little girl...”

Zheng Qing tugged at the corner of his mouth, wearing an embarrassed yet polite smile on his face.

Who knows what was going through the minds of these mice with the brains the size of fava beans. Where did they get the confidence to think that their influence could rival that of Su Shijun, known as the number one beauty in the Wizard World?

Was this the difference between the brain size of a fava bean and that of a fist?

Compared to the young scholarship student’s restraint, the other young wizards by his side seemed much more casual—Li Meng rolled her eyes and made a long, long humming sound from her nose, expressing skepticism about the Rat Immortal’s words; Xin Fat Man was trying hard to twist his mouth, looking for a balance between his conscience and being a qualified businessman; even Jiang Yu slightly furrowed her brows, appropriately showing some doubt in the old mouse’s words.

However, speaking of which, although the Rat Immortal’s proposal was somewhat presumptuous, it wasn’t a bad suggestion.

For the Wizard World, their influence was indeed limited. But for Buji Island, and for First University, the Mouse Clan hidden deep beneath the school was as much a source of curiosity as the origin of the octopus in the library.

This was enough to pique the interest of many people.

If Zheng Qing used some other methods, with the proper balance, helping D&K through the ’Fishman incident crisis’ was very much possible.

As for other means to quell the situation.

Zheng Qing couldn’t help but sneak a peek towards the Wandering Bar through the shop window—this sort of thing, looking for that Wandering Wizard was definitely right. He had experience.

On the other hand, the Rat Immortal didn’t give the young wizards a long-winded lecture. Instead, it made a straightforward and clear business deal, arranging a project that could keep them haggling for a long time.

”I’ll take all of these mice...” The Rat Immortal lifted its short arms, flicking them from side to side, to encompass the whole room within its range: ”Do you have ten thousand? If not, I’ll reserve what comes after!”

Zheng Qing forcefully swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Even if he emptied out all of D&K’s inventory, he wouldn’t be able to fulfill even ten percent of the Rat Immortal’s order. He had worked his group of cats to exhaustion and had only caught seven to eight hundred mice. Among them, there were some defective ones with missing arms, ears, or short tails.

”We do custom orders... very expensive,” he reminded in a low voice.

The Rat Immortal didn’t even lift an eyelid, just kept its arms in its sleeves and flicked its whiskers aside.

Behind it, a few big mice wearing red vests carried a wooden chest about a ruler in height and walked over steadily. They opened the lid of the chest in front of the young wizards.

Everyone gasped in astonishment.

Yellow agate, green jade, blue chalcedony, cat’s eye blue, pink peach blossom jade, orange jasper, and so on—a dazzling array of gemstones glittered in the chest, blinding and disorienting. Moreover, by virtue of the wizards’ keen senses, the young scholarship student was entirely convinced of the high quality of these gemstones.

”So many gemstones... they could buy our little shop, haha,” Zheng Qing chuckled dryly, trying hard to move his gaze away from those shiny little things, and turned to look at the ’Walnut Old Mouse’ sitting on the palanquin.

He wasn’t sure if it was an illusion, but he thought the wrinkles at the corner of the mouse’s mouth tilted upwards slightly.

”It’s just a deposit!” declared the Rat Immortal, waving a tiny arm grandly, ”For all the mice caught in your shop in the future, I should have the first right of purchase... Like these little guys in the shop right now, I’ll take them all with me, you have no objections, right?!”

Zheng Qing nodded repeatedly, just about to speak, when suddenly his arm tightened.

Turning around, Doctor Xiao was clutching his robe sleeve, handing him a ledger, signaling him to take a look before speaking.

The young wizard took the ledger and scanned it briefly, his expression immediately fell.

”Cough, cough,” he coughed softly twice and then turned back to the Rat Immortal, adding, ”You buying the ’remaining’ mice in the store, of course, the shop has no objection to that.”

The Rat Immortal tilted its head, seemingly dissatisfied with the young wizard’s words.

Zheng Qing spread his hands helplessly, letting out a bitter laugh.

It wasn’t that he intended to oppose these clothed mice that looked quite reputable, nor was it that he was indifferent to those shiny little stones. But ’business has its own rules’—because of the effective advertising, many students from Jiuyou Academy had already ordered a lot of mice in advance via Flying Crane to submit for their homework, and they had paid in full.

Zheng Qing couldn’t just give empty cages to his fellow students from his own academy and then tell them the mice were bought by the mice, and if they wanted to buy more, please queue up for four years from now.

The Rat Immortal pondered for a moment, then at last, bobbed its head.

”Forget about it, forget about it, it was only a gesture of goodwill, and it would’ve been best if it worked out; if it didn’t, then that’s fate,” it said, raising an arm and stroking its short beard, and pointing at Zheng Qing, it said:

”I was actually serious about talking business with you, thinking that you might be able to make your own decisions, to come up with some different choices. But now it seems you’re just too indecisive, lacking any real courage.”

”Forget about it, forget about it.”

”Everyone has their own fate, what can’t be forced, can’t be forced.”

Zheng Qing scratched his head in bewilderment, utterly confused.

He turned to look at the others, and they all seemed just as mystified, not knowing what this mouse was rambling on about.

The Rat Immortal didn’t say anything further, but instead directed the mouse clan to start lining up for the return trip.

One by one, the burly mice in red vests lined up neatly, stepping over the soft red carpet, slowly and silently moving towards the rat hole in the corner of the shop. Their tails were neatly tied around their waists, and their noses pointed high, as if they were trying to pierce the sky.

Although the Rat Immortal carried the main force back, a small box of gemstones was left behind.

Also left behind were two small mice in green vests that looked very familiar—if Zheng Qing was not mistaken, these two should be Dangdang Ears and Ding Dong Ear.

From a distance, the slow and sluggish voice of the walnut-sized Rat Immortal could be heard:

”Take your time talking, we’ll buy up all the new mice that come into the shop... and about the matter of consigning the Rat Clan Corpse-Eating Beetles in your store, negotiate a specific proposal, then bring it back for me to review.”

”Hurry up, mouse life is short, unlike that of wizards.”