High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1086: Chapter 148 Signing Too Many Contracts is Not Good

Once Zheng Qing had signed and confirmed the report receipt, the grey-robed school worker and Assistant Hilda left the tent and returned to the school. The veteran students reiterated the safety regulations once more before also departing.

Soon, only a few students from Astronomy Class 08-1 remained inside the tent.

The atmosphere in the tent relaxed slightly.

Zheng Qing lifted his eyelids, cautiously observing his classmates, and then he noticed Elena, who was looking down and playing with a deck of cards.

He had been curious before as to why Elena was in the tent.

Zheng Qing could understand the presence of others in the tent. For example, Tang Dun and Jiang Yu were in charge of this spring outing, the senior students were members of the Guard Team, and the school workers and teaching assistants should have been school rescue forces responding to a call for help.

But the presence of Xiao Xiao and Elena here was somewhat puzzling.

However, given the current atmosphere, Zheng Qing felt it was not the right time to ask about these details, and he thought it would be a good idea to quietly observe the stove instead.

After Jiang Yu packed up the sand table, she left without a word, heading straight for the tent’s exit. As she passed by Zheng Qing, she gave him a fierce glare that made the warlock’s heart flutter with unease.

He turned his face away and happened to see Elena again, but he noticed that the Gypsy witch seemed absent-minded. Several cards in her hand were face down, and she hadn’t even noticed.

Right, Elena must be fretting about how to investigate the origin of that note.

”As long as you’re safe, that’s what matters,” Tang Dun walked up to Zheng Qing, repeating the phrase and patted Zheng Qing’s shoulder forcefully a few times, his face a picture of relief: ”You really gave us quite a scare earlier... Safety first, safety first!”

As the monitor of Astronomy Class 08-1, Tang Dun was the overall person in charge of today’s anti-magic festival hiking activity. Although the school had arranged for several senior students as guards, they were not responsible for any specific task arrangements, only to ensure that no magical creatures exceeding the general restrictions were wandering within the students’ activity area.

In other words, if a student really went missing, or carelessly fell from a tree or into a river, Tang Dun would be the one most out of luck.

Feeling that he had caused a great deal of trouble for his class monitor, Zheng Qing felt quite guilty.

But this sense of guilt dissipated as soon as he stepped out of the tent and chatted with Xiao Xiao and others for a few minutes.

”You’re finished,” Zhang Ji Xin’s first words upon seeing Zheng Qing were just that, followed by an explanation: ”I happened to see Tang Headmaster’s comments about you on the notepad earlier, ’Lacks organization and discipline, wanders off on his own, seriously compromises the safety of the class collective activities, recommends the college impose the maximum penalty...’ and things like that.”

Zheng Qing puffed his cheeks and turned to glance in the direction of Tang Dun. At that moment, Tang Dun was directing a few warlocks to collect trash near the campsite and did not notice the covert gaze behind him.

”Ah, just my bad luck, I guess.” Zheng Qing ultimately showed some magnanimity, knowing that he shouldn’t blame others for his own mistake, so he accepted Zhang Ji Xin’s recent words with a dejected look.

”Actually, the situation isn’t the worst it could be right now,” Xin Fat Man said, holding a small bowl filled with an assortment of fried, strange insects, munching away with grease dripping from his mouth: ”If you had returned a couple of hours earlier when Tang Headmaster and Jiang Da Headmaster were both furious, you would have definitely met a more miserable end. It’s because you took a slightly longer time that half of their anger had dissipated... Puppet pot, don’t be smug, this isn’t over yet.”

Zheng Qing didn’t bother with Fat Man’s mumbled words.

He sifted through the contents of Fat Man’s bowl with a discerning eye, eventually picking out a crispy, golden-brown insect, resembling a cicada pupa, and tossed it into his mouth.

”I was just wondering, what were you and Elena doing in that tent?” Zheng Qing chewed on the fried insect, the savory taste spreading in his mouth and making his eyes curve happily into crescents, yet he didn’t forget to ask Xiao Xiao about something that had been bothering him: ”You two aren’t in charge of this outing, nor do you oversee safety supervision...”

”Divination,” Xiao Xiao interrupted Zheng Qing’s lengthy explanations, responding curtly: ”Because someone played missing so casually, they needed two witches who were very familiar with that someone and who also had outstanding divination skills to help search for people... It’s just that the ceremony wasn’t fully prepared when someone strolled back on their own. Fortunately, it didn’t break the prohibition against using magic during the Banishment Festival.”

Realizing that he was to blame again, Zheng Qing immediately quieted down. Of course, his mouth didn’t stop, and he reached for a second fried insect from Fat Man’s bowl.

With Zheng Qing going quiet, Xiao Xiao had no intention of letting him off the hook.

”Speaking of which, I’m quite interested in the story of what happened to you in the depths of Silent Forest,” Doctor Xiao said, holding a notepad and scrutinizing the young scholarship student with an inspecting gaze, bluntly questioning: ”Don’t try to fob us off with the same story you gave to the School Works Committee and Assistant Hilda... We’ve known each other for a long time, and we all know what kind of person you are.”

”Definitely not the type who obediently follows school regulations and cares about witch customs,” Xin Fat Man covered his bowl with one hand, preventing Zheng Qing’s ”magical claws” from reaching in again, agreeing with Xiao Xiao’s words: ”So, any ’I couldn’t find my way home because I couldn’t use magic’ excuse is obviously nonsense!”

Failing to get another fried insect left Zheng Qing feeling slightly disappointed.

He licked the grease from his hands and sighed, ”It’s not that I don’t want to tell you, but it’s because of the Silence Contract. You understand.”

”Huh?!” Zhang Ji Xin let out a strange noise: ”Why am I not surprised at all to hear this response?”

”Because from the start of last semester until now, Brother Qing has signed maybe eight or nine Silence Contracts, if not ten,” Xin Fat Man smacked his lips, looking at Zheng Qing with a bit of pity, and finally let go of the bowl, allowing Zheng Qing to pick another one: ”Let’s be reasonable; don’t you feel any pressure on your soul from signing so many contracts?”

”Pressure?” Zheng Qing, holding a fried scorpion by the tail and lifting it out for inspection in the sunlight, replied casually: ”Once signed, it’s signed. What pressure can there be?”

”I heard that signing too many contracts can entangle you in karma and create a huge obstacle when you try to break through to become a Big Wizard,” Xin Fat Man kindly reminded.

The young scholarship student gave Fat Man a sidelong glare, and scoffed: ”A bit of skill and a big ego... We’re only first-years, do we need to consider something as distant as surpassing a Big Wizard? Let’s be honest, we should be thanking heaven if we can reach the level of a Big Wizard in this lifetime!”

This blunt remark was too much for Fat Man. His face fell, hand clamped over the bowl, and he walked away with his small bowl in hand.