High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 866: Chapter 214 Cat 3 Mouse 4 Fox 5

”Can’t our accountant decide by himself about the negotiations with the Mouse Clan? Dangdang Ears are also staying in the shop, just discuss it with them... Why must you ask me?”

Watching the potion in front of him become more and more terrible, Zheng Qing sighed deeply and gave up the idea of saving himself.

Life is like the herbs being boiled in this crucible before me, where each misstep brings a host of troubles. For a young state-funded student like me, choosing to open that small shop outside the school seemed to be such a misstep.

I could have simply deposited the earnings from the hunt into the bank to earn interest. Why did I have to think I was smart and invest in a business? The feeling of running a business was truly awful. Once the novelty wore off, my head was filled with nothing but troubles.

And life’s challenges often arise at times like these.

When the path you’ve chosen encounters troubles, it’s hard to know whether it’s right to keep going or to give up on it timely. If the eventual outcome of this path is good, your perseverance will be praised; if the outcome turns out bad, your decision to give up will also earn praise.

However, no one can see all the possibilities of the future—not even the Great Divinor—so when faced with such dilemmas, people often have to follow their hearts. Yet, most people tend to be brave when they should retreat, give up when they should be brave, hesitate when they need to be decisive, and step on the gas when they should slow down.

This is also one of the reasons why success is a scarce trait that is widely pursued.

After hearing Zheng Qing’s complaints, Xiao Xiao rolled his eyes, reached over the lab table, picked up a pot lid, and covered the mouth of the crucible, suppressing the increasingly bizarre fumes inside.

He then ripped off the large mask from his face and turned to look at the young state-funded student, saying, ”Are you joking?”

Zheng Qing blinked, puzzled.

”Is the shop yours or Fox Five’s?” Doctor Xiao snapped back without a good temper. ”I’ve never heard of a boss letting subordinates make decisions in business... Decentralization isn’t done your way.”

”The shop belongs to everyone, not just me,” Zheng Qing immediately corrected the slight error in Xiao Xiao’s words, then touched his nose and suddenly laughed. ”Actually, our esteemed accountant sent a Paper Crane to everyone... After receiving the Paper Crane, I already notified Dangdang Ears, and it said that as long as the funds are in place, temporarily hiring some helpers from the Mouse Clan is no problem at all.”

”So, ultimately, it’s up to Greenhill Mansion or the school to decide. After all, we aren’t the ones actually hiring the Mice, we’re just a small shop that bridges connections.”

”Also... from now on don’t call him Fox Five, call him Hank... Our accountant has his own name outside the Greenhill Mansion.”

Xiao Xiao raised an eyebrow but said nothing more.

Meanwhile, Xin Fat Man seemed to remember something and became somewhat angry.

”Not everyone!” the fat man said, standing to the side, waving a glass rod for mixing potions and speaking indignantly. ”The Elders and I didn’t receive the Paper Crane from Fox Five... I mean from Hank!”

”Even the fox knows how to cater to the right audience. What a terrible world,” Zhang Ji Xin also sighed deeply.

Zheng Qing looked worriedly at the crucible in front of them and cautioned, ”Can you two wear masks while speaking? Be careful not to splatter saliva into the potion... If our group can’t even produce a decent Magic Potion, Professor Li will really blow a gasket!”

During the practical operation of the Magic Potion class, it was generally conducted in pairs, each mixing a potion.

The potion of Zheng Qing and Xiao Xiao’s group had already been ruined by Doctor Xiao’s ”new operation,” and among their small clique, only the potion in the crucible in front of Xin Fat Man and Zhang Ji Xin still looked passable.

The fat man muttered something softly and finally obediently put on a mask.

In such matters, he still knew what was important.

”Speaking of which, don’t you think our shop has slightly too many ’non-traditional wizards’?” Xiao Xiao suddenly looked up at Zheng Qing, asking worriedly, ”Especially since our shop is right across from the Wandering Bar... As far as I know, the Wandering Bar is often filled with many extremely biased ’traditional wizards’.”

The so-called ’traditional wizards’ that Xiao Xiao referred to were actually wizards of human origin, like Zheng Qing and Xiao Xiao; of course, some ’traditional wizards’ were even more biased, recognizing only the members of the human wizard nobility as true wizards.

Other races recognized as ’wizards’ by the Witch League Code, including vampires, werewolves, the Fox race, and ghosts, were often viewed by these wizards as ’magic beings’; or more politely, they were referred to as ’non-traditional wizards’.

Due to many legal regulations involving racial discrimination and wizard equality, no one would overtly challenge the authority of the Wizard’s Code. However, this did not mean that they wouldn’t express their prejudices through more covert means.

Using an example Zheng Qing was familiar with, the difference between ’traditional wizards’ and ’non-traditional wizards’ was similar to the difference between whites and blacks in the United States during the 1960s and 70s. They were equal under the law; but in reality, for long trips, blacks needed a Green Book.

Xiao Xiao’s worry about D&K was precisely for this reason.

Since the members of the Absolution Hunting Team spent most of their time at school and they couldn’t afford to hire real wizards as shop employees, Zheng Qing chose a compromised method.

The accounts were managed by a Fox Clan Accountant sent from Greenhill Mansion, a male fox with a bushy tail; reception was handled by four talking mice wearing vests, led by Dangdang Ears and Ding Dong Ears; and guarding the ’goods’ and preventing the ’caged mice’ and ’carrion beetles’ from escaping were three cats.

One was a large forest cat, one was a small ragdoll cat, and the other was a Yellow Flowered Cat, which occasionally appeared and was referred to by Zheng Qing as ’Brother Huang,’ the old familiar cat.

Three cats, four mice, five foxes.

Not a single ’real’ wizard.

Perhaps only in this world of magic could such a fantastical way of running a shop be sustained.

Xiao Xiao’s concern was not unfounded, Zheng Qing—or should we say, Su Daxu—had, in fact, already noticed this risk.

”Well, Hank hung a symbol of Greenhill Mansion outside the shop, and I displayed my Merlin Medal and my cost student identity in the front... anyone with a bit of brain wouldn’t go looking for trouble,” Zheng Qing vaguely explained, making a reassuring gesture to the doctor.

Xiao Xiao looked at Zheng Qing weirdly, a mysterious expression flashing across his face.

”If needed, I’ll talk to my brother, and we’ll also hang up the Zhang family’s plaque,” Zhang Ji Xin promised gruffly from the side, interrupting the doctor’s thoughts.