High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1270: Chapter 17 Life Doesn’t Have a Next Time

”Next time?”

The Rat Immortal chuckled, the sound somewhat piercing in the empty pub:

”’Next time I’ll do better,’ ’Next time I’m sure to win,’ ’Next time I won’t make this kind of mistake.’”

”Next time, next time, next time.”

”There is no ’next time’ in life. Every day is a new beginning.”

”Only after truly touching time will you realize that there really is no next time in life. The next time in your mind is an illusion. Especially for you, young one.”

The Rat Immortal’s tail suddenly lengthened behind him and poked the somewhat distracted witch, startling her.

”... When young, you should learn to seize the present. Treat every day’s work, every task, every choice, every moment as the only chance in the world. That’s how your life won’t be in vain.”

”Come on, tell me,” the Rat Immortal cleared his throat and howled, ”This time, I must succeed!”

It raised its little paw, looking up to the sky as if holding up the entire sun, and for a moment even its thick wrinkles stretched, making it look much younger.

The owner of Gini Cottage, quick and alert, swiftly set up a strong sound barrier to contain the loud cries of the large rat within the small pub.

Then she had just enough time to put earplugs in her ears.

”You are equivocating!” the pub owner raised her voice, ”Philosophy and life are two different things! Theory and reality are two different worlds! A wise witch won’t try to break a stone with an egg!”

”Perhaps,” the Rat Immortal didn’t deny the witch’s view, staring with its small green bean-like black eyes at the newly appointed Big Wizard in front of it, softly saying:

”Maybe you think my choices are foolish. But in one’s lifetime, one must do some foolish things. You should know, although there’s no next time in life, the essence of a wizard is like a repeater. They always repeat past mistakes. They always repeat those erroneous choices.”

”... Just like the one upstairs who plans to try the ’Yuan Chen Guardian Spell.’ Though I’m old and my memory isn’t what it used to be, I clearly remember that not long ago, a little wizard tried this spell and nearly lost his life. Can you say they are foolish? They clearly have already learned from their previous failure...”

Upon hearing this, Korma suddenly opened her eyes wide and looked up.

Under the ceiling, the flames of the white candles hanging there fiercely trembled, shooting out a few golden sparks. Despite the thick wooden floor and those dazzling sparks, the witch saw exactly what she wanted to see.

In the hall on the second floor of the Sakura Pub, a few young Grey-robed Wizards were hiding in a corner, holding the Law Book and muttering the spell of the Yuan Chen Guardian Curse excitedly together.

”Damn it!” the witch burst out angrily: ”I don’t have another Kabbalah leaf to save their little lives... Not to mention the Sand Time Worms I snatched last year from the School Works Committee’s harvest! How can they be so foolish!”

The Rat Immortal spread its little paws, with an expression that said ’it is what it is’:

”Just like I said, the essence of a wizard is a repeater.”

...

...

When Sister Korma, fuming with anger, rushed to the second floor to find trouble with a Grey-robed who had attempted the ”Yuan Chen Guardian Spell,” outside Gu Diao Street, having just left the Sakura Pub, two young wizards from the First University were staring blankly into the dark alley.

It wasn’t that the two were admiring the night view—there was nothing in the night of the North District worth admiring—they had merely paused for a while by a yard two doors down from the pub.

As they had just left the Sakura Pub, Zheng Qing happened to see several North District wizards at the courtyard of 31 Gu Diao Street digging out a huge water pit, a group of barefoot Tricksters carrying dilapidated buckets running back and forth between the street and the water pit.

Splash.

Clear river water, mixed with black and green amphibians, was dumped into the pit all at once. The scent of Silent River mingled with the fishy smell of the amphibians, hovering above the water pit, and formed a thin but very clear aura of resentment.

Those barefoot Tricksters either could not see that faint resentment, or even if they did see it, didn’t care—For the North District Tricksters, there were many things in life far more frightening than that resentment—they just merrily repeated the action of ”lifting the bucket—pouring into the pit—lifting the bucket.”

A few older Grey-robed sold these amphibians to the patrons of the neighboring Sakura Pub at the price of one Bronze coin per frog.

This was purely a commercial act.

After hesitating for a moment, Jiang Yu pulled a boy to stand beside the ”Frog Pit” and chanted the death mantra several times. An older Grey-robed nearby did not stop them, nor did he help, just hanging a mocking smile at the corner of his mouth, coldly observing the Red-robed’s compassion.

Until the two left that yard, there had been no exchange of words between them.

It was as if they lived in two parallel worlds.

When Zheng Qing left, the pit had already filled with those poor amphibians, the deep croaking of frogs rising and falling, yet skillfully contained within the pit by magic.

”It really is a sin,” the warlock muttered, instinctively touching his Grey Cloth Bag, before remembering that his Law book had been wrapped around several times with his belt and stuffed into the deepest part of a paulownia wood box.

”It’s a necessary sacrifice,” Jiang Yu mimicked the tone of a student from the Alpha Academy, his chin slightly raised, ”It is an honor for these insects to contribute to the glory of the North District!”

The two young people burst into laughter.

Words like ”frog,” ”North District wizard,” ”Korma,” ”Nicholas” circled in Zheng Qing’s mind, slowly stifling his laughter.

Jiang Yu tilted his head and glanced at him.

”How about letting Sister Korma give Nicholas a spell mark?” he asked softly.

This thought had been swirling in his mind all evening.

Because of the removal of the Werewolf Bloodline, it was almost certain that Nicholas’s magic talent would see a significant decline. Perhaps with this year’s efforts, he could advance to the second grade. But to advance further was almost impossible.

But earlier at the Sakura Pub, when Jiang Yu and Korma discussed the possibility of Nicholas returning to the North District world, both tactfully avoided this possibility—imprinting a forehead of a first university student with the same mark as the North District Tricksters was seen by both girls as a very terrifying humiliation.

After all, holding a drop-out certificate from the First University and having a graduation certificate from some training class are still two completely different concepts in the current wizard world.

”The North District now has no world for Tricksters,” the Witch replied after a long silence, ”We can propose such a suggestion, but whether it is accepted needs to be decided by Nicholas himself.”