High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1035: Chapter 97: The Redness at the Bottom of the Eyes

Professor Montreya of the First University is an expert in the study of advanced magic scripts and bloodline research, having his own independent laboratory at the Institute of Applied Magic. He is also a member of the Mage Alliance Conference, although it has been said that he has not attended meetings for a long time due to his attempts to break through the rank of a Big Wizard.

Although Zheng Qing was not clear about Professor Montreya’s full name—as it was a common practice among university professors, except for those confident big-shots, to only reveal part of their names—he had known the professor for quite some time.

The first and only encounter with Professor Montreya had happened just over a month after Zheng Qing had started his studies.

That night, Zheng Qing and Lin Guo were on a night patrol, wandering through the corridors and discussing the measurement of time when they were suddenly blocked by a demon-converted Kappa. Fortunately, that Kappa Monster was rather weak and did not cause any serious consequences.

As a member of the investigation team for the incident, Professor Montreya appeared at the lakeside of Bell Lake alongside Professor Yi. That was the first time Zheng Qing had seen the professor, and he had even had the fortune to exchange a few words with him.

The most lasting impression Zheng Qing had of Professor Montreya, besides his high cheekbones and gray hair, was his sharp eyes and somewhat husky voice. Also memorable was his excited demeanor when he talked about bloodline modification in demons.

Latter, at the end of the Moon Hunting competition for newcomers, Professor Yao had suggested Zheng Qing consult with Professor Montreya due to a certain Big Black Cat and Zheng Qing’s abnormal attraction to demons.

However, on one hand, due to the complexity of the latter half of the semester and the inconvenience for Zheng Qing to ask Su Shi Jun to write him a recommendation letter; on the other, as Professor Montreya was ultimately a professor from Alpha Academy and his research involved the sensitive topic of bloodlines, his reputation in places like the Wandering Bar and other wizard circles was not good, so Zheng Qing feared that going to his laboratory might land him on an experimental table.

Thus, things were delayed first for a couple of months, then for three, and before he knew it, almost half a year had passed.

It was not until recently, when his encounter with demons during the Black Tide incident in North Beita Town raised concern again, that he truly felt alarmed and realized the gravity of the situation. It just so happened that during the winter break, he was staying at the Greenhill Mansion, so he found the time to ask Su Daxu to help him write the recommendation letter.

This was before the start of the new term.

After school resumed, Zheng Qing delivered the letter through proper channels to Professor Montreya’s office. Then, there was no response for over a week. Just a couple of days ago, Zheng Qing was still privately contemplating whether to take some time to visit Greenhill Mansion again and have Su Daxu inquire about the matter.

Unexpectedly, he soon received a reply from the professor.

The reply was brief, just a single line long, but unlike other professors’ fancy calligraphy, Professor Montreya’s handwriting was extremely neat, almost as if it had been printed with movable type:

”Saturday, one o’clock in the afternoon, come to Montreya Laboratory, to serve as an intern assistant. (Professor’s signature)”

Although there was no subject and the sentence was overly concise, the content was clear. After reading it, Zheng Qing breathed a sigh of relief—at least it was an assistant position in a laboratory; he hoped that would mean he wouldn’t end up on an experimental table, right?

”What do you need Professor Montreya for?” Elena’s face lost some of its embarrassment and annoyance as her curiosity bubbled up again after she crumpled the note. ”I remember his reputation isn’t very good outside... many warlocks say that he’s conducting human experiments.”

As the words ’human experimentation’ were uttered, Zheng Qing couldn’t help but think back to the newspaper he had read before yesterday’s Sunday class meeting, and felt gloomy at heart.

”The reason rumors remain rumors is that no one can prove their truthfulness,” the young sponsored student attempted to smile more relaxedly, tugging at the corner of his mouth: ”It just so happens, I can visit his laboratory and see for myself, then I’ll tell you what that laboratory is really like.”

The Gypsy witch chuckled in response, but there was still some hesitation on her face.

Zheng Qing blinked and comforted her, ”No matter what, I am a public-funded student of the school, and also a recipient of the Merlin Medal... Professor Montreya is a formal professor at the school too, so it’s not likely he would drag me to the experiment table upon meeting.”

Putting it that way, it indeed seemed that both of them were worrying unnecessarily. Elena couldn’t help but laugh as well.

”Oh, I almost forgot, you are also the Great Arcana ’World’ of the wand,” the witch said as she smoothed out the Tarot Cards in her hand, glancing at the young warlock with a teasing tone in her voice.

Zheng Qing couldn’t help but show a wry smile.

”Actually, I’m here to see Professor Montreya for a serious matter,” he said, pulling down the skin under his eyes to reveal the redness in the bottom of his eyes, indicating, ”See, my eyes are a bit red again... and it’s definitely not from staying up late.”

Elena stared for a long while before exclaiming in a delayed realization, ”Your eyes are turning red again?”

Zheng Qing pursed his lips, showing a helpless expression.

Last time he and Elena had a date at the Lakeside of Bell Lake, his eyes turned into a rabbit-like appearance due to the mysterious pressure emanating from the Lake Heart Tower. And now it was happening again.

But because his eyes would frequently show signs of bloodshot, everyone had become much more accepting of the redness in his eyes. Therefore, even when his eyes showed redness at the bottom again today in class, it didn’t cause his classmates to gather around or react with alarm.

”When did it happen? I remember your eyes were fine during the class meeting yesterday,” the witch looked at him with some concern.

Hearing Elena’s question, Zheng Qing felt a warm feeling in his heart and a strange emotion filling his chest, something akin to courage.

”It was last night, I saw two moons in the sky. When I got up this morning and looked in the mirror, I realized my eyes were a bit off.”

His answer was not entirely fabricated, but rather crafted with ChunQiu style of writing.

Yesterday evening, Satoguya stared down upon this sky with its large eyes, searching for the murderer who had killed its offspring, only to be exploded by a streak of cyan light. But even during those few seconds of its appearance, it gave Zheng Qing immense mental pressure. When he went back to wash up in the evening, he noticed some redness at the bottom of his eyes.

It was worse this morning.

However, unlike before, this time the ’Red Eye Disease’ was not ’acute,’ it had turned ’chronic,’ and the redness at the bottom of his eyes appeared much slower.

Additionally, since Satoguya’s invasion was erased from the world line by some big shot in the wizard world, almost no one at the school remembered the event, so Zheng Qing used some vague descriptions when recounting it.

If Elena still remembered what happened in the sky last night, then his explanation wouldn’t pose any problems; if Elena had forgotten, that wasn’t an issue either, as Zheng Qing knew how to steer the conversation back.