High School of Demon Hunting-Chapter 1700 - 444 Choices and Forgiveness

"I’m not a wizard."

"Just having some snacks... why make such a fuss!"

The lazy voice of the Black Cat sounded atop the rampart: "Just like sometimes you need something to whet your appetite, so you add a bit of hot sauce to your meal."

Zheng Qing turned his head.

Just in time to catch a glimpse of a flicker of light in the dark red eyes of the Black Cat, then crimson flames burst forth from every strand of its fur, in an instant wrapping the Black Cat in a heavy envelope of flame.

The pink mushrooms of various sizes that had sprouted from its back, eye sockets, chin, and neck silently turned to flying ash in the intense flames.

The Black Cat shook itself, scattering the ashes, its black fur became smooth and shiny again under the sunlight. Its tail tip curled triumphantly.

But the young man had no mind to praise the Black Cat’s prowess at this moment.

"Where’s Zhu Si?!" His voice came out somewhat sharp on the empty fortress wall.

"I didn’t see her," Jiang Yu, too, lost her usual composure and seemed somewhat panicked: "She was just here... could she have hidden somewhere?"

This is the battlefield, a place where anything can happen, but it’s not a place for hide and seek.

Both knew the Witch’s guess was unlikely.

The Black Cat felt a tinge of boredom, having not received the ’praise’ it sought for its display.

It sniffed, made a small sound of surprise, and tilted its head to look down from the city wall.

At the foot of the inner castle wall.

Amidst the crisscrossing willow branches and the interwoven flashes of spells.

A short figure in a wide robe stumbled through. Perhaps due to the chaotic energies on the battlefield causing an unstable magical environment, that short figure flickered in and out, like a broken television screen.

"Wow," the Black Cat exclaimed in surprise: "If you’re looking for that little girl Zhu Si, you might want to stick your heads over the wall and take a look down... I must admit, kids these days are outdoing themselves in courage and initiative."

Zheng Qing and Jiang Yu looked at each other in disbelief.

The next second, they both rushed to the crenel, clinging to the wall’s edge to peer outside. Under the Black Cat’s guidance, they quickly spotted the Little Witch’s figure.

"How did she get down there?!"

"What is she doing down there?"

The two young Wizards exclaimed in unison.

"Everyone has their own path before them, whether it’s the main road or a side path, it’s their own choice." The Black Cat, uncharacteristically serious, said something difficult to understand: "That’s how it is for me, for Zhu Si, and for you too... Accepting the path before you doesn’t mean you’ve made the wrong choice; similarly, choosing a seemingly right path doesn’t guarantee a smooth journey ahead."

"The future awaits the future, we choose the now." Jiang Yu looked seriously at the Black Cat, her expression equally solemn: "As long as each choice doesn’t betray our own convictions, when the future arrives, we will ultimately gain our own forgiveness."

The Black Cat showed a hint of admiration in its eyes.

"Very few Wizards at your age see the path so clearly." It was not stingy with its praise: "Maintain that mindset, and you’ll go far on the Wizard’s path..."

"What are you talking about?!"

Zheng Qing grabbed the Black Cat by the neck, pressing its head toward the outside of the wall: "Help me, help me bring Zhu Si back... for the sake of having worn the same pair of shoes once."

The Black Cat looked back at the young cost student, its face filled with disbelief.

"How can someone be this foolish?" It looked at Zheng Qing, then at Jiang Yu who was anxiously peering at the base of the wall, showing a look of despondency: "You’re all students of the First University, how can there be such a gap!"

"I’m not a student of Atlas, nor am I good at solving riddles!" Zheng Qing, with one hand grabbing the Black Cat’s neck and the other grasping one of its legs, looked impatient as he tried to toss the cat off the wall: "I just need you to help bring that little girl back."

The Black Cat couldn’t break free from the boy’s grasp.

"I can’t bring her back!"

It ultimately screamed, its tail suddenly extending like a whip to loop tightly around the wall crenel, its claws digging firmly into the blue bricks on the wall: "Whoever brings her from the crevices of life and death must traverse those crevices again to bring her back! No one else can do it!"

Quite astonishing.

This time, Zheng Qing actually understood the Black Cat’s words directly.

Zhu Si fell from the World in the Mirror into the Dreamland, and to Wizards, the Dreamland is seen as the world between life and death, so Zheng Qing bringing her back from the Dreamland is akin to bringing her from the crevices of life and death.

And right now, the group was all on the battlefield.

On the battlefield, there’s no distinct distance between life and death, meaning Zheng Qing must personally venture onto the battlefield to bring Zhu Si back.

"You can’t either?"

The young cost student’s tone still held a bit of disbelief in the Black Cat’s words, but his grip relaxed, suggesting he vaguely believed the Black Cat was telling the truth: "You’re part of the ’Departments’... cat!"

The Black Cat shook its head vigorously, freeing its neck from the boy’s hand.

Then it turned its head, casting a glance at Zheng Qing, its face mixed with disdain and surprise, speaking with significant meaning: "I just work on the periphery of the ’Departments’... but you, you’re a core asset of the ’Departments’."

Zheng Qing completely released his grip, his mind in chaos.

Not because he was troubled by the Black Cat’s last statement—since he learned from the professor that he had a Forbidden curse seed inside him, he had seriously considered his relationship with the departments.

Honestly, the term ’core asset’ was much better than what he had imagined, like ’guinea pig’, ’test subject’, or ’slice object’. He could not hope for more.

His confusion lay in the Black Cat’s previous words.

Only he could bring Zhu Si, who was deep within the battlefield, back.

Without a doubt, this was a very dangerous task, one that could be called a matter of life and death. To go or not to go, he was caught in a difficult decision.

Choice.

Thinking of this word, the Warlock unconsciously recalled the earlier conversation between the Black Cat and Jiang Yu, recalling Jiang Yu’s response—"As long as each choice doesn’t betray our own convictions, when the future arrives, we will ultimately gain our own forgiveness."

The boy let out a light sigh.

Indeed, choosing to stay on the city wall is both a safe choice and does not go against Vice Principal Ruoyu’s and the Divination Team Leader’s requirements, while still considering the departments’ concerns, as the Black Cat put it, "Accepting the path before you doesn’t mean you’ve made the wrong choice."

But if he really made such a choice, he believed, when reality slipped past some point in the future, he would never be able to forgive himself.