High School of Demon Hunting

Korma sat in front of the dressing table, her fingers twined around her hair tips as she stared vacantly at the pale yellow wallpaper on the wall.

Beneath her arms were not makeup items such as powder boxes or eye cream but a thick magic book. It lay open, revealing a yellowed parchment tucked inside.

The parchment sketched a complex magic circle, with red light spots slowly moving along the traces of charcoal lines, having been in operation for a long time; the red halo on the light spot had faded to its limit, almost turning white.

”Zzz... Zzz...”

From the cluster of fireflies hanging from the ceiling came a disturbing chirp, like a signal interference from an old radio. This anomaly roused the contemplative witch.

She looked up at the flickering lights overhead, glanced around, and finally set her gaze on the dressing mirror in front of her.

”It’s extremely impolite to enter a lady’s bedroom without the owner’s permission,” Korma calmly said to her dressing mirror.

The mirror remained still as if it were just an ordinary mirror.

The witch no longer addressed it, but instead reached behind her head, grabbed her cascading long hair, and then tidied it up into a neat bun, revealing her clear, slender neck.

”Either come in or get out; you have to make a choice,” the witch glanced at the dull surface of the mirror, slightly impatient, ”...and not just stay stuck in the ’World in the Mirror.’”

Her law book on the pillow not far from the dressing table vibrated a few times, flickering with a faint light, as if striving to catch its master’s attention.

Under these multiple warnings, the uninvited visitor hiding in the mirror finally gave up on playing deaf and dumb.

The mirror’s surface rippled wildly like boiling mercury, its violent shaking stirred ripples of varying depths, but after a moment, the ripples subsided and the mirror returned to calm. However, now there was a square, upright Taishi chair on the dressing table.

And on the Taishi chair sat a plump old mouse covered in wrinkles.

”This was an accident,” the Rat Immortal turned his face away; gripping his dry whiskers, he quietly explained somewhat embarrassedly, ”I was just strolling around the World in the Mirror and thought I’d drop by for a visit... I’m of a quite old age, and I’m just a mouse...”

The witch listened with a mix of amusement and exasperation.

”There’s no need to explain; I thought you were some petty thief at first.” She laughed, reaching into a box at the corner of the dressing table to pull out a pair of nail clippers, grabbed the Rat Immortal’s little paw, and pinched it: ”...You should let those kids help you trim your nails often; it’s good for your health.”

The Rat Immortal stared blankly at the witch’s nail scissors for a while without a word.

”Click, click.”

In the quiet bedroom, only the sound of the nail clippers could be heard. The sensitive fireflies on the ceiling had already resumed their stable frequency, bulging their bellies and casting a roomful of soft white light.

”Are you going to that little world tomorrow...to do that task?” The Rat Immortal sidled his face, staring at the thick law book under the chair legs and the complex magic circle drawing on the parchment, he asked in a low voice.

”Yes,” the witch raised her eyebrows.

She didn’t believe the Rat Immortal was unaware of this matter. His bringing this topic up at this moment must not have been so simple. Perhaps it was even the reason for his ’accidental passing’ tonight.

The guest did not make the host wait long.

”This magic circle is very dangerous... extremely dangerous,” the Rat Immortal said quietly, gazing at the slowly moving pale red dot on the Array map. ”Magic related to the Starry Sky makes even Death seem gentle.”

”Is it more dangerous than the lives of the North District Mages?” the witch asked in return.

The Rat Immortal was silent for a long while, ”They are still alive, after all.”

”Walking corpses hardly count as being alive,” the witch felt she had more right to speak on this matter than the Rat Immortal in front of her.

The Rat Immortal fell silent again, and the witch continued quietly clipping his claws.

”Let me tell you a story,” the Rat Immortal finally spoke again, speaking very slowly and articulately, as if each word cost him a great deal of effort. ”After you hear this story, you can decide whether to go or not.”

The witch blinked, her ears perked up with curiosity, wondering what kind of story the Rat Immortal would tell.

”I used to be a wizard, you know that,” the Rat Immortal looked at the witch, his eyes showing a trace of kindness. ”Wizards like me, there weren’t a hundred at First University, but there were eighty... buried in experiments all day long, conducting endless experiments day after day.”

”In a sense, we are no different from the North District Mages.”

”I didn’t like conducting experiments. Compared to the harsh, tedious, dangerous, and boring magic experiments, I preferred adventuring in the New World or setting up a candy house deep in Silent Forest, going fishing by the river every morning and cooking mushroom soup at night. I’d keep a dog named Tom; keep a cat named Jerry. If I was lucky, I might even make friends with a Unicorn or a Phoenix.”

”But dreams are just dreams after all.”

”For my child, I had to conduct many, many magic experiments, had to become a senior researcher, become the top Registered wizard, even a Big Wizard.”

”Oh, did I tell you I have a daughter?” the Rat Immortal looked at the witch, his eyes sparkling. ”Juice, that’s her nickname... because every time I saw her, it felt as satisfying as drinking a big glass of juice on a hot summer day.”

Korma pinched his little claws and shook her head quietly.

She had a bad feeling.

”Juice loved clipping my nails the most when she was still here,” the Rat Immortal pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and blew his nose loudly, though his voice suddenly became a bit more cheerful. ”...Of course, I must admit, your work isn’t bad either.”

The witch managed a strained smile.

At that moment, she didn’t know what to say.

Without further digression or recollection, the Rat Immortal suddenly sped up his speech. ”When Juice was two years old, there was an accident in my laboratory. Demon energy leaked... very high concentration, very pure demon energy... the entire laboratory was corroded by demon energy. According to procedure, the school sealed the entire laboratory.”

”We were all in the laboratory at that time. Me, Juice’s mother, she was my assistant. Juice’s uncle and her aunts. All sealed inside the laboratory.”

Korma gasped, involuntarily shivering as she pinched the Rat Immortal’s fingers. Not far behind her, the Law book, as if sensing its owner’s astonishment, suddenly lit up with a burst of silvery white light, illuminating the originally dim room.

”Worried I might have become a demon?” The Rat Immortal’s mustache curled up slightly, seemingly pleased with the witch’s reaction.

Korma composed herself in a moment.

”No, you are not a demon,” she said firmly. ”The school’s allowance of your existence means you are not a demon.”