High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1418: Chapter 165: The Answer with No Answer

After sniffing the scent, he sent the pup away.

Zheng Qing’s mind finally returned to the store, pondering over the business situation.

He had noticed the sparse ’staff members’ in the store earlier that day—even without customers, the employees shouldn’t be slacking off and leaving their stations.

”Where is everybody?”

The young store owner drummed his fingers, knocked on the wooden surface of the bar, and asked with a stern face to Hank, who was always buried in the accounts, ”Where are the employees? The cats, and the mice? I remember there should be three cats and four mice in vests in the store.”

Hank, who hailed from Greenhill Mansion, always cared deeply about etiquette.

When he heard the owner’s question, he stopped his work and politely replied, ”As you can see, they are not here today... You can’t expect some cats to stay in the store reliably, attending to customers for you. After all, they are just cats that can’t talk... But there is a Yellow Flowered Cat who can, and its temper is even worse than that of a lady. If it doesn’t scratch a customer one day, it is already a day to be thankful for.”

There seemed to be a hint of grievance in his words.

Of course, whoever was in charge of the work in the store would have a reason to express dissatisfaction when the boss didn’t assign people, but instead a bunch of animals to act as staff.

”Uh, when I said ’lady’, it’s a general reference.” Hank suddenly remembered something and his large tail sprung up like a feather duster, brushing the shelves behind him as he added, ”It’s not specifically referring to... you know.”

Zheng Qing knew a few ladies, but the only one who could make Hank so cautious was the owner of Greenhill Mansion.

He blinked, indicating that he wouldn’t gossip recklessly.

”Alright then, since the cats are not here, what about the mice?” The young scholarship student reminded, ”Those mice in vests, I remember their names are Dangdang Ears and Ding Dong Ear, right? They are quite clever, aren’t they?”

”They’ve taken temporary leave, saying there was something going on in their clan.”

”What happened?”

”I’m just an accountant, not their keeper, sir.”

”...So you mean to say that you’re the only staff member in the store right now?”

Hank didn’t speak, just spread his hands and looked around, the meaning was quite clear.

Zheng Qing cleared his throat, ”Then... they didn’t say when they will be back?”

”No. After all, we have never paid them wages, nor have we signed a formal employment contract.” Hank replied calmly, ”So when they want to leave, we have no right to stop them.”

Zheng Qing nodded awkwardly.

Originally, in order to save a bit of cost, he had chosen to let cats, mice, and a fox help out in the store. The fox was sent by Greenhill Mansion, ostensibly to oversee the trade with the Mouse Clan, but in reality, it was there to prevent others from the Moon Council from causing trouble in the store; the mice in vests were sent by the Mouse Clan, responsible for the consignment of Mouse Clan goods in the store; as for the cats, they were purely incidental—during that period, due to a certain notice, trading of mice and Corpse-eating Beetles became rampant in the school, and Zheng Qing brought in those cats to watch over the living things in the store.

”If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving then.”

Lin Guo, who had been idly standing by, could no longer endure the dull and tedious conversation between the man and the fox, shouldered his little backpack, and bade farewell to Zheng Qing, ”I’ve wasted too much time outside today, I need to head back to the castle early to review my lessons.”

Zheng Qing breathed a sigh of relief—as for Hank’s earlier remark, he didn’t know how to respond, so Lin Guo’s interruption was indeed a lifesaver—so he nodded seriously, ”Right, studying is very important, better head back soon...”

Then turned his head to Hank behind the bar and said, ”With final exams next week, I have to go back for review soon too. The store’s matters will trouble you. If Dangdang Ear or Ding Dong Ear come back, tell them the store is willing to sign formal contracts with them.”

”This is indeed good news,” the fox murmured, nodding and recording the boss’s words in the account book.

Zheng Qing, worried about hearing more troubles, hurriedly pushed Lin Guo out of D&K.

It wasn’t until they were out of the store that he let out a sigh of relief.

Then he remembered he had other things to do.

”Um, you won’t have a problem going back to Alpha Fortress by yourself, right?” he asked, patting Lin Guo’s head.

The Little Warlock turned his head disdainfully, refusing to be touched: ”I’ve been running around between the town and the school since I was eight, I can find my way back with my eyes closed!”

After parting with Lin Guo, Zheng Qing made a detour to Gini Cottage; he had arranged to meet Liu Feifei at the Sakura Pub. Since Nicholas was going to learn spell imprint techniques with Sister Korma, Liu Feifei conveniently set today’s study room in the deserted pub.

Ever since Korma became the Great Sage of the North District, the Sakura Pub has never been open to the public again.

And Zheng Qing was looking for Liu Feifei to get the snake molt from her pet snake. According to Liu Feifei, the big snake had shed its skin once after entering the school, and Zheng Qing was hoping that it still retained the scent of the Faceless Demon.

Yes, the long-missing Faceless Demon, Zheng Qing also had Gouzi (the dog) searching for it with the big snake.

Perhaps because Zheng Qing always seemed very vigilant, or maybe because it was still light out. This evening trip to the North District turned out to be uneventful, and he managed to get the snake molt from Liu Feifei without any problems.

He had wanted to visit Sister Korma as well, but learning that she was teaching the Northern District Wizards, he dismissed the idea.

As for the snake molt, Zheng Qing planned to hand it over to Gouzi as soon as it found the Black Mountain Goat’s trail, so as to prevent it from having nothing to do and following him around all day like a creep.

Since Absolution had taken a long time to find the black goat’s trace, Zheng Qing thought Gouzi would also spend a lot of time. But on Wednesday night, when Zheng Qing and his companions returned to the dormitory from the library, they saw Gouzi squatting at the entrance of the dormitory.

Between its two front legs, there was a small clump of black wool.

Different from the black hair provided by Lin Guo in the glass bottle, but Zheng Qing could guess at a glance that it was hair from the Black Mountain Goat.

”Did you find it?”

Gouzi nodded.

”Why didn’t you bring it back?” Zheng Qing felt that if Gouzi could bring back a top Registered Wizard by biting, there’s no reason it couldn’t bring back a Black Mountain Goat.

Gouzi whined, its head nodding and shaking as if trying to convey a very complex message.

”Slow down, slow down,” Zheng Qing stretched out his hand to stop its dog language, pondered for a moment, and guessed: ”You mean you found the Black Mountain Goat, but for some reason, you can’t bring it back... and then you can take us to find it, right?”

Gouzi stuck out its tongue and vigorously nodded its head.

”How did you understand such a complex message?!” The plump companion behind Zheng Qing complained: ”It just whined twice, didn’t it?! I remember you’re a cat!”

Zheng Qing kept a straight face, not answering the plump companion’s remark.