High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 984: Chapter 46: The Hanged Man

Tarot Cards were arranged in an arc on the wide tabletop, their intricate lines interlinked, causing dizziness.

The Gypsy witch sat up straight, her fingertips gently sliding over different cards, but still couldn’t decide which one to pick. Her indecisiveness increasingly tested the patience of the observer by her side.

”I just need a bit of good fortune. Just pick one and spout some nonsense; does it need to be this complicated?” Korma stared helplessly at the actions of the Gypsy witch.

”Divination is a mage playing the strings of destiny,” Elena’s voice was hollow, like mist floating in the night, elusive and unfathomable: ”Bewitching and melodious, yet one must also be cautious not to cut their hands.”

Korma’s head fell onto the table.

”Ugh,” she buried her head in her arms, moaning in pain: ”This is why I’ve never scored high in my Divination Class exams... I can never be as mystifying as you.”

Before her words had finished, Elena’s finger instantly landed on a specific Tarot card.

Then she flipped it over and began to read silently.

Korma didn’t see the action of the Gypsy witch; she still hid her head in her arms, mumbling incessant complaints. From the overly subjective nature of her divination exams to the potential loss of a scholarship if she didn’t rank first this term, and how without the scholarship she might join the North District’s forest gathering team to earn some extra money, potentially getting swallowed by a sudden dark tide, turning into a lonely lost ghost, etc., like a buzzing bee.

The Gypsy witch finally couldn’t bear it and interrupted the owner of Jini Cottage’s complaints: ”Silent Forest might experience a dark tide this time; the school can’t possibly be unprepared, right? You’re the Vice President of First University’s student council; you must be aware of the relevant procedures.”

Korma’s head suddenly lifted from its cradle in her arms.

”Preparation? Naturally, there are preparations, but the preparations are all for the school,” she revealed a sarcastic smile, her tone quite impolite: ”As for Beta Town... what is Beta Town? This community of wizards is just a little patch of moss growing in the shadow of the school walls.”

”Come winter, the moss dries up, a fierce fire sweeps through, and it turns to black ashes.”

”But after spring, just a few drops of rain from the sky, a bit of fertilizer thrown over the wall, and the moss will quickly grow back, even more lush than before.”

”If Beta Town is just a small patch of moss, what then is the North District? All the school’s arrangements are only to protect that massive fortress... In reality, they only need to protect that fortress.”

Elena reached out and placed her hand on Korma’s hand, calming her somewhat agitated mood.

The owner of Jini Cottage quickly controlled her emotions and calmed down once more.

Only then did Elena speak again, asking, ”So how do you know the magical creatures in the forest will rush out, threatening the safety of the school or Beta Town? You’re not skilled in divination, and if I remember correctly, you’re not in charge of communicating with the campus Guardian Formation’s monitoring department at the student council...”

”The campus Guardian Formation’s focus is inside the campus, not outside,” Korma interrupted Elena’s words, shaking her head: ”I didn’t learn about this from the school.”

She turned her head, looking through the tightly closed window at the falling cherry blossoms in the small courtyard, and the quiet street outside.

”This is the North District,” her voice deepened, ”this place leads the most people into the Silent Forest on Buji Island... That forest has devoured too many of our relatives and friends. No one is more sensitive to it than we are.”

At this point, she forced a smile and blinked, ”After all, it’s never the eminent wizards who enter the Silent Forest daily to gather materials, but those unremarkable tricksters. We need to be more sensitive about this.”

Elena noticed that Korma always lumped her together with the tricksters.

This made her feel a bit relieved and warmed amid the heaviness.

Yet, this slight relief and warmth could not prevent the conversation’s atmosphere from becoming subdued.

The orange light was a bit dim, casting a beautiful glaze over the Gypsy witch’s wine-red hair, adding an extra flavor to the golden hue of the Amber Light in the wine glasses.

The Gypsy witch was caressing the Tarot Card in her palm, formulating words in her mind.

The card depicted a warrior, hands bound behind her back, suspended upside-down. Her expression was serene, with a golden angel’s halo encircling her head.

From a positive perspective, this card conveyed accepting challenges, representing the courage to face hardships and sacrifice, and extracting lessons from failures to eventually succeed; but from another, it also indicated misfortune, symbolizing the warrior’s lack of patience and getting lost in her own goals.

Regardless of the perspective, this was not the best card to have.

Elena would have preferred to receive the Chariot, symbolizing victory, or the High Priestess, symbolizing wisdom—even the ambiguous Wheel of Fortune would have been much better than the Hanged Man, which suggested inevitable sacrifice.

”Once, a very powerful Hunting Team’s Captain said, when people realize they are part of a great cause, they can overcome any difficulty. A hunting team with such belief can change the whole world.” Elena quietly looked at the witch across from her and softly said, ”We are such a team.”

Korma carelessly tilted the bottle, and the liquid formed a thin stream into the glass on the bar.

Soon, it filled more than half the glass with Amber Light.

Korma then quickly capped the bottle, letting out a sigh as if the simple action of pouring had drained much of her energy.

”Such a small cup of this is five gold beans, and wasting a drop is a great sin. People in the North District don’t have such wasteful habits.” She lifted her head and gave Elena a radiant smile: ”As for us... I don’t have plans to change the world, I just want to help my friends regain their magic abilities.”

”There’s no difference,” Elena picked up her glass and raised it toward Korma, ”Pleasure to collaborate.”

”Pleasure to collaborate!” Korma cheerfully clinked glasses with the Gypsy witch, took a small sip of the Amber Light, sighed contentedly, and then she leaned in toward Elena, winking and whispering, ”Speaking of which, that boy Zheng Qing, did you manage to... Is he still a virgin? I tried to find out earlier, but didn’t get the whole story...”

Elena’s face blushed, and she set her glass down on the table with a thud:

”Mind your own business!”