High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2308: Chapter 529: Light Beer and Frog Juice

”Everything will be alright.”

”Everything will return to normal.”

”In the name of the Mage Alliance and the Trident Sword, under the witness of the Wizard’s Code, the losses of this shop and everyone’s compensation—provided everyone remains calm—through the correct procedures, everyone will receive fair compensation.”

The mechanical cold voice of a Trident Sword hunter came from behind the shortest cat mask in the shop, but no one took his words seriously here.

An admirable trait of old-school wizards is their clear understanding of the relationship between strength and order, unlike the new generation of wizards who blow up even the tiniest matters to Dan Ha. After disputes with the strong institutions of the alliance, as long as the issue isn’t significant, old-school wizards prefer to settle things quietly.

With that, under the dual influence of the Calming Incantation and sounds of warning, order in the bar was quickly brought under control by the Absolution Hunting Team.

Then Zheng Qing gave the bartender behind the bar a smile, bent his knuckles, and tapped on the wooden tabletop.

Dong dong.

”I apologize for causing you some trouble.”

He tried to make his voice gentler, but under the filter of the cat mask, any tone was diminished, making his speech mechanical and monotonous, so after a simple apology, the captain of the Absolution Hunting Team went straight to the point: ”Where is your shop owner?”

Tom Hansen lowered his eyelids, striving to maintain composure, but anyone could hear a hint of unease in his voice: ”The shop owner? I...I am the owner of this place.”

As he answered, he still held that piece of white linen, softly wiping the beer glass in his hand.

”Oh, has your shop been open for a long time?”

”Since my grandfather’s grandfather, they’ve been selling alcohol in Newcastle...it’s been over four hundred years by now.”

”An astonishing history indeed.” Zheng Qing glanced at a small sign nailed above the liquor shelf: ”’White Crow’... has this name been used for four hundred years as well?”

”No...no.”

The bar owner looked around nervously, the action of wiping the beer glass became even gentler, and his voice lowered further: ”Every generation of us chooses a name for the shop that we like, my grandfather’s shop was called ’Rumba’, my father’s shop was ’Hansen IX’...I named my shop ’White Crow’.”

”Does this name have any special meaning?”

”Isn’t the raven a symbol of wisdom? I wanted to be a bit smarter.” At this point, the bar owner finally shed his initial unease, set down the beer glass he was wiping, and mustered the courage to ask back: ”May I ask, are you asking these questions because there’s something wrong with my shop?”

”No, no, just a bit curious.”

The leading cat-masked wizard waved his hand: ”Actually, what I initially wanted to ask about was regarding the matter of ’Old Aige’ that you just mentioned.”

This response evidently allowed the bar owner to exhale heavily in relief, and he resumed wiping the glass with the white linen, now with a clearly more joyful and relaxed motion:

”Old Aige? What do you want to know?”

”I heard there’s been a small issue with his dragon hunting grounds?”

”Yes, the whole town knows about it...” Having shed his initial constraint, Tom gradually regained the eloquence a competent bartender should possess, and he began to narrate non-stop: ”Old Aige’s family owns the largest dragon hunting ground in Northeast England, they’ve been raising fire dragons for hundreds of years, and something like this has never happened before... can you believe it? One of their fire dragons was actually torn to pieces by a group of frenzied sprites!”

”What kind of fire dragon?” The shortest cat-masked wizard suddenly interrupted Tom’s speech.

”A Romanian Longhorn Dragon! A mature fire dragon!”

The bravest, plump wizard spoke up again bravely, waving his arms to answer the question for the bar owner: ”It was torn apart by a group of Da Ya Moss sprites... Rooney, come over, Rooney Pette works at Old Aige’s dragon hunting grounds, he witnessed it all firsthand!”

He dragged forward a short, chubby warlock from behind him.

Rooney Pette, unprepared for the matter to involve him, flushed red and after a long time, stammered under the synchronized gaze of five cat-masked wizards, ”I-I only heard... I was cleaning the dragon pen for a black dragon when Barry told me...”

This was completely contrary to the boasts he had made earlier, and a not-so-subtle sound of disapproval immediately arose from the crowd, making Rooney’s already red bulbous nose shine even more brightly.

But compared to lying to the faces of five Trident Sword hunters, he would rather be mocked by the town later.

Zheng Qing paid no mind to the minor commotion in the tavern.

His brows behind the mask furrowed tightly: ”Who is Barry, then?”

”He’s the worker who raises the three-headed dog for Old Aige’s family.”

Rooney spoke quickly, seemingly eager to spill out everything he knew, as if fearing that a moment’s hesitation would result in these Trident Sword fellows forcing truth serum on him: ”Old Aige’s family raises a lot of fire dragons, so they need a lot of dragon-herding dogs... they have a kennel specifically for raising dozens of three-headed dogs. Barry... Barry should still be at the dragon hunting grounds, taking care of those big dogs with three heads.”

Zheng Qing and Xiao Xiao exchanged glances; the information they got in the tavern was a little more detailed than that provided by the Trident Sword, but largely consistent.

He cleared his throat, ready to let the stout warlock named Rooney lead the way to the dragon hunting grounds when suddenly, Xin Fat Man’s large head peeked from behind him, addressing the bar owner who was still polishing glasses: ”Excuse me, the brown ale and fish and chips we ordered earlier, are they ready yet?”

Zheng Qing gave the fat wizard a surprised glance.

He knew the fat guy wasn’t someone oblivious to the situation’s gravity, but looking at his determined expression, the words of reproach dissolved just as they reached the tip of his tongue: ”You shouldn’t drink while on duty, not even light beer.”

”We also have frog juice in the house, freshly extracted, there’s nothing fresher!”

The bar owner’s eyes carried a hint of astonishment and a barely noticeable trace of delight as he hurriedly turned to grab several hefty frogs from a pot at the bottom of the liquor cabinet, combining them with chunks of aloe, honey lumps, and more, tossing them all into a mortar.

The pestle shook lightly, grinding out silky threads of slime.

In just a moment, five glasses of pale green liquid were placed in front of the Trident Sword hunters.

The fat wizard was the first to grab a cup, swiftly downing the frog juice in one go, then smacked his lips, nodding slightly: ”Aconite, mountain root, valerian root, and a bit of daffodil root soaked in wormwood juice... although the blend is somewhat crude, it shows no ill intent, merely aiming to let us sleep a bit, not to take our lives...”

The middle-aged warlock behind the bar drastically changed his expression, grabbing the piece of white linen from the table and flinging it at the cat-masked wizards opposite him.