High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1303: Chapter 50: The Heirs

”I wonder who will become the next Lei Zhe,” Xin Fat Man mused as he sat at his desk, scratching his head over a piece for the campus newspaper, regretting that he had arrived a year too late. According to the rules of First University, only students in their second year and above were eligible to become Lei Zhe.

”Even if you had arrived two years earlier, Lei Zhe wouldn’t have anything to do with you,” Xiao Xiao quipped, busy with her laptop, ”If the Elder were to say this, I might think it a bit possible.”

The Elder referred to Zhang Ji Xin, born into the renowned wizarding Zhang family, where the younger generation often served as leaders of various school organizations. Zhang Ji Xin’s elder brother, Uncle Zhang Zhi, was currently the vice-captain of the Sacred Will and also the vice-captain of the First University Hunting Team, as well as one of the so-called ’Three Heroes’ informally ranked by the students.

The other two among these ’Three Heroes’, Zheng Qing knew them as well.

One was Erwin Hoffman, a Hunter from the Judgement Hunting Team, and the titleholder of the best hunter in the previous university hunting competition; the other was Zhao Qiao, captain of the Jiuyou Academy Hunting Team, whom Zheng Qing had once met at a meeting convened by the school hunting competition committee.

These three were the students most likely to take over the title of ’Lei Zhe.’

At the moment, the betting agencies’ odds for these three were neck and neck, and the support rate in the survey circulated by the campus newspaper was also equally high, making it hard to determine a clear leader.

Due to Zhang Ji Xin’s influence, the students of Astronomy Class 08-1 strongly supported Uncle Zhang Zhi taking over ’Lei Zhe.’ For this reason, Zhang Ji Xin had been quite busy recently, helping his brother gather votes everywhere.

”As for Lei Zhe, it’s hard to say, but I’m quite sure who the next Augustus will be.” A chilling voice suddenly arose beside Zheng Qing, startling him, causing his hand, which was spreading paste on the wallpaper of a sprite’s paper house, to smear too much.

”Damn, that scared the life out of me!”

The young publicly-funded student turned around to see his classmate Dylan poking his head out of a coffin, complaining, ”You shouldn’t scare people like that after just crawling out of a coffin... I have a heart condition.”

”You don’t have a heart condition, you are just all heart,” Dylan glanced at him and snorted, ”Besides, would my coffin scare you?”

Zheng Qing shook his head blankly.

”That’s right.” Dylan nodded, appearing to have forgotten the topic he had started, and began to chatter with Zheng Qing seriously: ”The world is just a big coffin...with the ground as its base and the sky as its lid, it buries endless creatures and histories. Everyone lives in a coffin... I just made myself a little private room. This is called ’Coffin within Coffin’, an ancient magic ritual.”

Dylan said this with a dead-serious expression, and Zheng Qing almost believed him.

Of course, the more important reason he believed was that Dylan’s analogy made a lot of sense, earning Zheng Qing’s respect—only in such moments could he faintly believe that the blood werewolf before him was of the Long-Lived Kind.

”Although what you say makes sense, I must emphasize, I am not a coffin,” the young publicly-funded student replied with a roll of his eyes.

Dylan paused, then burst out laughing.

Zheng Qing was known as ”World” in the Great Arcana, a name that seemed unexpectedly amusing.

”Don’t change the subject!” Xin Fat Man shouted, waving the feather pen by his side, interrupting the nonsense between Zheng Qing and Dylan, raising his voice slightly, ”Dylan... are you so sure about who the next Augustus will be? Where did you get that information? Is it reliable?”

Dylan strained himself, peeking his whole head out of the coffin, and then took a long sigh.

”Do we need information?” He rolled his eyes, displaying a disdainful expression, ”Even those ascetic Horse-Men of Atlas who care not for worldly affairs probably know who the next Augustus will be... It’s definitely Mike Gold Cypress Plano.”

”At Alpha Academy, apart from Sir Friedman, only Sepulano could assume the role of Augustus. There’s no disagreement on that point, right?”

Zheng Qing nodded.

Jiuyou Academy had the ”Three Heroes of the Will,” and Alpha Academy had the ”Blood Comrades Gemini.” Like the Three Heroes, the Gemini of Alpha Academy also represented two opposing forces within the Blood Comrades.

Sir Friedman represented tradition, conservatism, and the interests of the clans. His resting room was filled with decorations popular two hundred years ago, which Sepulano described as ’the room, from inside out, exuded an air of decay and decline.’

Meanwhile, Sepulano represented the more radical, supremacist bloodline enthusiasts.

Unlike the traditionalists who were accustomed to compromise, because in recent years the number of registered wizards and academic credits at Jiuyou had gradually surpassed those of Alpha, Sepulano’s radicals hoped to restore Alpha’s glory through more thorough reforms—like the glory when Alpha issued its first forbidden spell.

”...Originally, the gap between Sir Friedman and Sepulano was not significant, or rather, there were quite a few students supporting Sir Friedman. But with Arthur Ness having embarrassed the Duke in the past, and the Duke’s mediocre performance in campus hunting parties and winter hunts, plus the recent disturbance by the Horseman Tribe outside Alpha Fortress which he mishandled, it cost him a bit of popularity.”

”On the other hand, Sepulano, whether in dealings with the Fishman Tribe’s smuggling trade or supporting the new hunting teams, had done very well. Especially not long ago, when he was severely injured by Brother Qing’s shot...”

”Is that also an advantage?” At this point, Zheng Qing couldn’t help but argue back, ”He was blown into severe injuries by a shot from a freshman, wasn’t that embarrassing enough? Wouldn’t the people of Alpha dislike him?”

”That’s why they say ’every comedy has a tragic core’,” Dylan took a long breath, evidently puzzled by public taste as well, ”Because of that shot, Sepulano became Alpha Academy’s ’tragic hero,’ and his support rate soared... Quite humorous, right? This is the world’s greatest comedy.”

Zheng Qing opened his mouth, left speechless.

He had never thought that he would inadvertently help Sepulano. Although he had poor relations with both candidates, he would rather the new ’Augustus’ be the Duke from Karen’s family.

At least, Sir Friedman seemed more rule-abiding.

”So, you’re saying all this is just your conjecture?” Xin Fat Man somewhat reluctantly asked further, ”You don’t have a high-placed friend in the Blood Comrades giving you inside opinions about the Augustus?”

”Do we need opinions about Augustus?” Dylan was a bit baffled and slightly annoyed, ”This is already clear... My social circle is very limited; I don’t have friends among the high ranks of the Blood Comrades. They wouldn’t befriend a half-blood like me.”

”It’s clear, but conjecture can’t be directly written into news reports.” Xiao Xiao clearly knew where Xin Fat Man’s sore point was, he tugged at the corner of his mouth and laughed, ”At times like this, an ’informed source’ becomes very important... even if they only provide a vague conclusion, it’s much better than making something up.”