High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1268: Chapter 15: The Gaze of the Abyss

”They’ve already left.”

The owner of Gini Cottage twirled the wine glass in hand, speaking to the empty tavern. The teal liquor twirled down the sides of the glass as spherical ice cubes clinked lightly against it.

There wasn’t a soul in Sakura Pub.

The wooden door upstairs was tightly closed, and after seeing off two students from First University, Korma had instructed the assistants that she needed to rest for a while, so everyone consciously lowered their voices. Through the thick door and the blurred glass windows, one could see several grey-robed figures tiptoeing past, resembling weasels stealing chickens.

”Are you planning to hide inside the mirror forever?”

Korma tapped on a piece of mirror atop the bar, urging, ”I only have half an hour of rest time...”

”Coming, coming,” a hoarse voice, tinged with reluctance, came from the mirror: ”Do you know what I saw? Two streets away, a young man who had just received a ’magical imprint’ from you, showing off ’Bear Summoning Spell’ to his friends, and then summoned a three-meter-tall giant bear... Hey, that was really a spectacle!”

The witch’s fingers tightened around the wine glass.

”Did anyone get hurt?” she raised her voice slightly.

”Assurance, assurance,” a nearly transparent old mouse emerged languidly from the mirror’s surface, soothing her: ”It was just very lively, no one got hurt... Although the tricksters in North District are not that skilled, they often visit the Silent Forest. They’re quite experienced in dealing with such beasts... and besides, you gave them the magical imprint.”

As he spoke, the colors on the mouse’s body flowed off like mercury, retracting back into the shimmering mirror surface, revealing his old, wrinkled fur.

It was the Rat Immortal.

However, unlike usual, today the Big Mouse did not sit on a wooden sedan, nor were there any mice in red vests holding umbrellas, waving flags, or acting as guards.

Hearing that no one got hurt, Korma’s tense mood relaxed quite a bit.

She squinted her eyes, watching the fat old mouse that had just climbed out of the mirror—perhaps because it hadn’t used its paws to walk for a long time, the Rat Immortal’s movements seemed a bit awkward—and suddenly she broke into a laugh:

”I heard a Yellow Flowered Cat has been looking for you; are you sure it’s the right decision to come see me now?”

”Indeed, indeed.”

The mere mention of the ’Yellow Flowered Cat’ made anxiety clearly apparent on the Rat Immortal’s face. He lifted his head and looked around a few times: ”I could have chosen not to come, but I felt it was better to make the trip...”

Saying so, it lowered its head to glance at the tea leaves the witch had pushed in front of it, examining the shape of the leaves at the bottom of the cup, as if the small cluster of leaves also hid a Yellow Flowered Cat: ”... after all, achieving the status of Big Wizard is a very, very glorious thing. Although the process isn’t all that honorable. But overall, it’s worth celebrating.”

”When I became a Big Wizard, my family threw a ten-day banquet, and the principal even gifted me a set of runes he had drawn himself. A full set of Runes. You can’t find those in the markets!”

Korma listened to the Old Mouse rambling about old times and quietly suppressed her smile, revealing a hint of pity in her eyes. This must have been the compassion of the fortunate for the unfortunate.

”...This is my gift,” the Rat Immortal fumbled around his waist for a while before finally producing an antique silver ring, set with a semi-transparent piece of amber.

Through the brown layer, one could faintly see the shadow of undulating mountain ranges.

”Every Big Wizard needs a place to contain their ’existence,’” the Rat Immortal explained as he slid the ring onto the Witch’s finger. ”If you don’t want to be forced to leave this World like those Outer Gods, you’ll definitely need this... You’ll gradually understand... This was a ’World’ given to me by an old friend before his fall, and I think it makes for the most appropriate gift.”

”How long have you been hiding in the mirror?” the Witch caressed the amber on the ring, choosing not to probe further into the details of a Big Wizard. Knowledge related to high-level wizards wasn’t easily obtained.

”Right on their heels,” the Rat Immortal looked proudly in the direction where Zheng Qing and Jiang Yu had left and stroked his whiskers with a gesture of triumph.

”That chap had just arrived when I was already here... I know what you’re about to say, but you know the phrase ’In the Dark Under the Lamp,’ the more dangerous a place, the safer it is.”

True as it might be, that’s a tightrope walk only for the bravest and most skilled.

”You didn’t come today just to bring me a gift, did you?” the Witch finally made up her mind and asked. At the same time, she was also ready to refuse whatever the Rat Immortal might propose—if he intended to have her Northern District Wizards risk their lives for some impossible goal, she would surely decline on the spot.

”You know about Dr. Terri Duzem,” stated the Rat Immortal matter-of-factly.

”It was you who told me that name,” the Witch answered cautiously.

A few weeks earlier, in search of a secluded and suitable spot to set up a Summoning Magic circle, Korma sought help from the Rat Immortal, and his condition was for her to find Dr. Duzem.

However, for reasons unknown, before the Witches could fully understand Dr. Duzem’s background, those two Old Mice told them they had already completed the task—looking back now, the only one who could have done it was probably Zheng Qing.

This made Korma even more vigilant.

She was well aware of how much trouble Zheng Qing could attract. Just like the relationship between ability and responsibility, for most Wizards, the stronger the background, the greater the troubles.

The Rat Immortal smiled and shared a few secrets from Buji Island with the newly minted Big Wizard, ”Dr. Duzem is a genius Alchemist who once led the ’Man-made God’ project at the First University, and he achieved significant success... If that project had been successful, the First University could produce ’Big Wizards’ en masse.”

”It’s just that Dr. Duzem was still too young and took some risks. An accident happened. While the school was investigating the accident, they unexpectedly discovered that several of his experiments had seriously violated the ethical boundaries recognized by the Alliance... such as using living creatures to create the Philosopher’s Stone; such as experimenting with the remains of deceased Big Wizards.”

The Rat Immortal’s words were somewhat vague, and he didn’t specify what kind of accident had occurred with that project, but even the little bit of information divulged made the Witch feel an urge to cover her ears.

Indeed, she now had access to these kinds of secrets, and she was very interested in the further developments of the situation. However, many things aren’t just about interest or eligibility.

Just like the common saying in the wizard world, ’When a Wizard gazes into the Abyss, it is the beginning of their fall, because the Abyss also starts to gaze back at that moment.’

Unfortunately, some things can’t be unheard by simply covering your ears.