High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 3030: Chapter 43: Order Tree

The Legendary-level battle that took place in the Palin World didn’t stir up so much as a ripple in First University.

Because the distance between Buji Island and that patch of wild world on the Alliance frontier is really just too far, and the brutal accidents and bizarre spectacles that happen in the wilderness every day are simply beyond counting. Even the ”Beta Town Post” has desensitized itself to that kind of news—compared to the fall of some Native God in a new world, the editors are far more optimistic about the public opinion waves triggered by a First University student accidentally dying during a Practice class.

Of course, that’s just an example.

No student actually died accidentally in Practice class.

And Zheng Qing, who had returned to Buji Island, did not follow the workflow of the relevant department to report the situation to the school. Because this was San You Bookstore’s business, and had nothing to do with the school.

The handling of this matter is actually a bit subtle.

After all, in dealing with the leak of high-dimensional concepts, Zheng Qing used the school’s two Legendary Giant God Soldiers. In theory, the Giant God Soldiers are school property, and mobilizing assets of that level at the very least requires filing with the Giant God Soldier Project Team; only then can the subsequent maintenance and servicing of ’Taiyi’ and ’Primordial’ meet the relevant requirements.

But San You Bookstore has always been a special existence drifting outside First University, and even outside the Alliance system.

If starting from this incident Zheng Qing chose to obey the procedure of reporting to the school, then in the future, whenever similar incidents occur, logically he would have to report to the school again—considering his actual rank now, the odds of him not using ’Taiyi’ when handling related events are practically zero—which would mean he was ceding part of San You Bookstore’s ’sovereignty’ to the school.

That probably isn’t the situation the Mister wants to see.

Zheng Qing was very sure of that.

After all, all these years the Mister has insisted on keeping the bookstore independent; there must be his reasons.

The school clearly understood this too, and in the capacity of the Giant God Soldier Project Team sent Zheng Qing a tentative inquiry letter. When they received no response, they wisely chose to forget the whole thing.

They even went so far that, when voices at the Alliance’s Great Wizard Conference mentioned reviewing the Palin World incident, the school firmly refused the Conference’s request on the grounds that ”the relevant departments have the right to remain silent.”

This latter episode was something Su Shijun told Zheng Qing as a joke when she dropped by ’Ziwei Palace’ for a stroll—though she is honored as a sitting attendee of the Great Wizard Conference, Zheng Qing has never joined their meetings. On the one hand, showing up clad in ’Taiyi’ to sit in on a gathering of Great Wizards would be more than a little bizarre, while attending as a Wizard with no rank would inevitably draw curious looks. In some respects, Zheng Qing is still the same Zheng Qing from four years ago—he really doesn’t like being treated as some special case. On the other hand, he’s genuinely very busy these days.

Even the work at Edge Academy, laid-back as it is, still takes an hour or so of his time every day.

And the planning and formation of the new agency within the relevant department is a tangled mess of issues.

That’s not even counting the intermittent risk alerts coming from San You Bookstore and the two Witches’ irregular door-to-door visits.

Like today, Zheng Qing had just received a batch of library materials transferred over from Babel Tower when Councillor Su sauntered into his field of vision.

”—So, you’re planning to plant that Xuanhuang Wood directly in this courtyard?”

Su Shijun spread her arms slightly and turned in place once. Her flaring skirt carried a faint scented breeze that made one’s gaze involuntarily drop to her unconsciously exposed pale calves. ”Honestly, I don’t think that’s a good idea. The Garden of Eden put the Xuanhuang Wood in that Small World for a reason, I’m sure.”

The two of them were standing in the pavilion along the corridor beside the old dried-up pool. Compared to when Zheng Qing first took over, there was now a thin layer of water in the pool. It still couldn’t cover the Pebbles at the bottom, but it was at least clear.

Of course, there were no fish. Not even tadpoles or mayflies to be seen.

”—Environment and security.”

Zheng Qing tried hard to Control his line of sight, but his throat still felt a bit tight, and as a result his logic was somewhat jumbled, his words lacking in structure: ”I’ve consulted Eden’s side on this. Back when they chose to cultivate the Xuanhuang Wood in a Small World, it was because the sapling, just sprouting its roots, was very fragile—like the Hundred Herb Gardens at school—The Garden of Eden had no choice but to carve out a place whose conditions perfectly matched the Xuanhuang Wood, so that it could slowly grow. Even so, hundreds of saplings died during the cultivation process. Then there’s security. Not just inside and outside the Alliance: even within and outside the school, Wizards coveting the Xuanhuang Wood are too many to count. If they didn’t hide it thoroughly, someone would be dropping by to take advantage every few days...Professor Blake wants to borrow a coin’s worth of sap, Mr. John wants to buy two leaves, and so on. Even with The Garden of Eden’s independence, there are plenty of times when they find it hard to outright refuse demands from outside...”

”Hidden in a Small World and people still can’t keep their hands off it. Why would you even think of moving it out?” The Witch’s tone held a trace of curiosity.

”Because it doesn’t fit in there anymore.”

Zheng Qing wore a somewhat bitter expression as he raised his hand, revealing the Emerald ring. He leaned a little closer to the Witch and let out a heavy sigh. ”If you look closely, you should be able to see a faint black line in the gemstone...inside the Small World it’s especially clear, like the sky has split open a huge crack...The world The Garden of Eden originally prepared for this Xuanhuang Wood was too small. It can no longer contain its growth, and we’ve reached the point where the tree has to be moved. Sometimes I can’t help suspecting that Eden is just using this opportunity to dump this big headache on me...”

The Witch made no comment on Zheng Qing’s speculation.

”—The foundations and rules of a Small World do fall short of a Great World. Moving it out isn’t necessarily a bad thing.” Su Shijun nodded very slightly, then shifted the topic. ”But still, same question: why do you think you’ll be able to refuse the extra pressure from the Alliance, refuse all those people dropping by every other day to take advantage of you?”

”I can’t refuse.”

Zheng Qing rubbed the Emerald and shook his head. ”Even Eden can’t refuse all requests. How could I possibly manage that? All I can do is try my best...The good news is, the organizational structure of the ’Order Tree’ is still quite clean right now. There isn’t that much extra pressure or historical baggage yet.”

Because Zheng Qing has actually been in the Wizard World for less than five years, compared to The Garden of Eden, which is entangled deep in the Alliance’s internal web of connections, this newborn Order doesn’t yet have so many shackles—in other words, a lot of people who might be eyeing the Xuanhuang Wood probably don’t even have a way to get a conversation with Zheng Qing.

”—Qingqiu certainly won’t put extra pressure on you. On that point, as an Upper House Member, my word still counts for something at home.”

Su Daxu seemed to think of something and suddenly laughed, laughter tinged with a hint of mischief. ”But how things are handled over at Zhongshan, that I don’t know. In many noble families, if you don’t have Great Wizard-level strength, your words don’t carry much weight...And I imagine you wouldn’t be too thrilled to hear something like, ’You can’t even wrangle a few leaves, and you dare say you have something going on with him?’ right?”

”—Zhongshan’s affairs are hardly something an Upper House Member needs to worry about.”

A white kitten suddenly leapt down from the pavilion and in a blink turned into a Witch in a plain long robe, her expression calm as she looked at Su Shijun. ”My family may not be some grand noble clan, but we can still afford to buy a few bits of experimental material from Black Prison through proper channels.”