High School of Demon Hunting

Book Mountain Library belonged to Jiuyou Academy, and the majority of the students here were from Jiuyou Academy.

Even if the students of Jiuyou disliked Nicholas, they would absolutely not tolerate two students from Alpha Academy poking at his chest in public. That would be a disrespect to the entire Jiuyou.

Thus, before Zheng Qing could decide whether or not to stand up and go downstairs, several high-year students wearing red robes emerged from the library, separating the conflicting parties.

The situation quickly came under control, including Nicholas and the other parties involved, all of whom dispersed soon after.

After being rescued, Nicholas didn’t follow the other students into Book Mountain Library. In the end, he only looked up at Book Mountain nearby before silently departing with the textbooks he carried.

From the direction of his departure, he seemed to be returning to his dormitory.

Zheng Qing noticed that Liu Fei Fei was not by his side. He wasn’t sure if she was in the cafeteria or had been called away by the student council to work. As the top freshman of Jiuyou Academy, aside from studies, she also shouldered many responsibilities within the student council.

”He should lay low in school, just like me,” the young scholarship student murmured.

”Are you being low-key? Isn’t he low-key enough? With the current situation, do you think playing dumb can solve the problem?” Xiao Xiao posed three rhetorical questions in a row, making Zheng Qing give up struggling completely.

”Homework, homework,” he urged, lifting his feather pen repeatedly, ”You’ve been drawing that line chart for nearly an hour now... We still need to go check the ledger at D&K tonight.”

The so-called ledger checking, of course, was just an excuse.

After all, Zheng Qing couldn’t answer Xiao Xiao’s triple questions. Nicholas was indeed low-profile enough that even the classmates in his class rarely paid attention to his whereabouts; the trouble that Nicholas currently faced seemed to have no better solution other than to let the power of time gradually erode it.

Xiao Xiao naturally knew this and didn’t entangle with Zheng Qing on the topic. Both quietly resumed their homework and previewed their lessons.

It wasn’t until he returned to dormitory 403 in the evening that Zheng Qing brought up the incident he had seen earlier at the library to Xin Fat Man.

”I knew he would have new troubles,” Xin Fat Man sighed heavily and casually pulled out a freshly printed copy of the Campus Newspaper, stuffing it under Zheng Qing’s nose, ”Earlier today, we were still discussing the topic in our editorial department...”

Zheng Qing didn’t really listen to Fat Man’s rambling stories about their editorial department.

His attention was fully focused on the newspaper. Or rather, on the block print statement that Xin Fat Man showed him.

It was a brief statement of only a hundred or so characters, bold and unadorned without any illustrations, looking neat and simple, rather inconspicuous. However, the author and content of the statement gave Zheng Qing an epiphany.

The author of this block print statement was none other than Nicholas Green Oswald. The content claimed that his previous stance reported in the Beta Town Post was merely ’an expression under the premise of adhering to the decent customs and allowing range of Jiuyou Academy, supporting the Fishman Tribe’s reasonable expression of their demands, and not an unprincipled support’. He also stated that ’he did not approve of the Fishmen pressing the academy into negotiations through nearly riotous means’, and that the Beta Town Post had distorted his words.

After reading this statement, Zheng Qing finally understood why there were two Alpha Academy students bold enough to seek trouble with Nicholas in front of Jiuyou Academy’s Book Mountain Library that afternoon.

Using Xiao Xiao’s words, Nicholas had fought the wrong battle, at the wrong time, in the wrong way.

”If he had issued this statement when that report in the Beta Town Post had just come out, then considering the newspaper’s reputation at Jiuyou Academy, there’s a high chance he wouldn’t have been ostracized by his classmates and wouldn’t have acquired the bad reputation of ’wild bird entering the room’; nor would the ’bigshots’ from Alpha Academy express their support for him. He wouldn’t be in the current trouble,” Fat Man took a break from petting Tuan Tuan while conveying the thoughts of the editorial department to his roommates, ”And now... with this statement, he’s put both himself and Alpha Academy on the hot seat, while the public opinion on the side of Jiuyou Academy may not agree.”

”Jiuyou’s people will think Nicholas is playing both sides; those from Alpha will think Nicholas is too weak, or rather, unreliable... In short, he’s now become a sandwich biscuit.”

”He’s been that sandwich since before, a double-decker one at that,” Dylan, lying on the edge of his coffin, cracked a dull joke.

He was referring to Nicholas’s two previous school transfers. Due to the way registration was double-determined by admission method and the roster, First University students rarely chose to transfer. To change academies twice was even rarer. As far as Zheng Qing knew, there seemed to be no second such case in the past hundred years.

Nicholas’s uncertain stance had often been the subject of jokes.

”At the very least we can confirm, First University’s roster has not lost its magic power,” Xiao Xiao also joked for once, ”Mr. Roster’s indecision when facing Nicholas is understandable... because student Nicholas aspires to the justice of Alpha Academy, possesses the fighting spirit of Starry Sky Academy, and likes to face the world with fairness and equality.”

”Weak justice, feeble resistance, ambiguous fairness,” Xin Fat Man bluntly assessed, ”If First University had an academy characterized by ’indecisiveness’, Nicholas would certainly fit in perfectly.”

Upon hearing this, Zheng Qing almost chimed in.

”I remember Mr. Thomas mentioning that the school is considering opening a new academy,” he recounted the conversation he had when he first met Thomas, adding, ”It is said that it’s due to the increasing number of students.”

The room fell silent for a moment.

Everyone fell into silence as no one knew how to continue the conversation.

”Oh, by the way, last week’s D&K business volume increased by more than forty percent, mainly because the batch of herbs we stocked urgently the other day increased in price,” Xiao Xiao gave a cough, reporting good news to the other two roommates. This was the outcome of checking the store’s accounts with Zheng Qing in the early evening.

”The suggestion to stock up was mine!” Xin Fat Man’s eyes lit up instantly, and he shouted with excitement. He accidentally hurt Fat Cat while massaging it thoughtlessly, and Tuan Tuan didn’t hesitate to remind his servant with sharp teeth.

”At the next full meeting of the Absolution Hunting Team, I will bring this matter up to everyone,” Zheng Qing nodded with a smile, contemplating how much bonus to give Fat Man.

It seemed that in an instant, everyone had forgotten about Nicholas’s plight.

Or perhaps, the topic was too heavy, and even just talking about it gave a mired feeling, making people desperately want to avoid it.