High School of Demon Hunting-Chapter 1309 - 56 Black Wizard

The two warlocks blocking the way varied in height: one tall and one short, one fat and one thin.

The taller of the pair stood well over two meters but was exceptionally lean. Draped in a wide black wizard robe that hung loosely around him, he greatly resembled a scarecrow found in fields of crops. He wore a pointed wizard hat adorned with several raven feathers which seemed rather comical.

Though his large sunglasses covered most of his face, they could not hide his most notable feature—his temples were deeply sunken in as if someone had viciously delivered a ’double peak ear-piercing’ punch, caving in his skull.

Zheng Qing was amazed that such a head could still support a living being; truly, nothing in The Magical World was beyond belief.

The shorter wizard, not even reaching one and a half meters tall, had his head barely level with his companion’s hip. Despite his small stature, he was stout, with a round belly that stretched his black wizard robe into a ball. His face, covered with a full beard, gave him the appearance of a dwarf from a fairy tale.

His grizzled beard gave the dwarf-like wizard a certain weathered dignity. Yet, his face didn’t show signs of age; instead, it was rather rosy.

He too wore a pair of large sunglasses.

Since entering the Wizard World, Zheng Qing had rarely seen wizards wearing sunglasses—besides Su Daxu—so initially, spotting two sunglass-clad wizards blocking his path startled him for a few seconds.

Although he felt surprised, it did not slow down his actions.

After all, this was the North District at night.

The moment the two sunglass-wearing wizards appeared, the warlock’s right hand had already reached into his grey cloth bag and grasped the spine of a tattered law book.

This book was a public law book from Jiuyou Academy.

Zheng Qing’s original law book, after being transcribed with ’dangerous spells’, had been stuffed into the depths of the grey cloth bag, so for some time now, the young cost student had been using a worn and ’kindly donated’ law book borrowed from the library.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t afford a new law book. Initially, he believed that upon finding his teacher, the teacher would help him remove the spells from his law book, so there was no need to spend a lot of money on a new one. However, after meeting, the teacher only strengthened the seals on the law book and did not clear the ’Forbidden Curse initiation’ that had been transcribed onto it.

One thing led to another, and more than a week had already passed.

During this time, Zheng Qing had also filed a report with the student council to receive a new ’cost student law book’, and without any surprises, he would obtain a brand-new law book for free within a few days.

Despite its poor reputation for looks, the ’cost student law book’ didn’t bother Zheng Qing, as he was not one to judge a book by its cover.

If it saved money and worked, that was enough for him.

"Good evening!" the short, fat wizard greeted the two young men warmly, waving his hand.

"Can I help you?" the young cost student looked down at the dwarf wizard and asked softly, his grip on the law book slightly tighter, showing no sign of complacency in response to the amiable greeting.

Jiang Yu took half a step back and stood behind Zheng Qing, out of sight of the two blockers, holding a jade pendant that was beginning to glow with a faint aqua light. Her other hand also slipped into her bag, tightly grabbing the spine of the law book, watching the two unfamiliar wizards before her with caution.

The tall and short wizards exchanged a glance before explaining in turns:

"The economy has taken a downturn lately."

"It has indeed."

"The Backflow of Silence has brought in too many hunts, leading to an oversupply in the market."

"Eh, with an excess of resources, there’s less need for tricksters among the wizards."

"So many tricksters have lost their jobs."

"Truly miserable,"

"Can’t even get a meal,"

"Nor earn any money,"

"This is what unemployment looks like... it’s an economic crisis."

"What should we do?"

"Got to find some work, or there’ll be no food on the table."

"Where can we find work?"

"Far on the horizon, close in front of you..."

Two wizards clad in black robes were bantering back and forth as if they were performing a comic dialogue, leaving the two young wizards they addressed utterly perplexed. When Zheng Qing first heard their opening lines, he thought these two were robbers up to no good and considered whether to give them a couple of silver coins to avoid disaster or use his law book to safeguard his legitimate rights.

But as he listened, the undertones in their conversation seemed off.

"Wait a moment, just wait," the young man raised his hand to stop them from speaking further, asking with some uncertainty, "Are you guys offering us a job?"

"How odd, what else would it be? We’re standing in your way in the middle of the night; do you think we’re highway robbers?" The shorter wizard rolled his eyes.

It was indeed odd; he had never seen anyone stopping people in dark alleys late at night to offer them jobs. Zheng Qing also ridiculed the pair’s bizarre actions in his mind.

"What kind of jobs are you planning to offer us?" Jiang Yu also asked with a hint of curiosity.

"Plenty... Old Tom’s Mage Tower needs a few servants to clean the magic pools; Lady Elisabeth’s caravan just lost a young girl and needs a replacement; there’s also Mr. Colin Cliff, willing to improve the magic affinity of the North District Tricksters for free..." The shorter wizard counted off on his fingers as if listing treasures, while the taller wizard stood swaying next to him, silently holding a tattered parchment contract he had seemingly produced out of nowhere.

Zheng Qing’s expression grew increasingly grim as he listened.

He finally understood the background of these fellows across from him.

The hard life of the North District Tricksters was no secret. Thus, they were willing to do jobs that many wizards shunned, but for which a slight sense of magic was needed—like cleaning the magic pools in the Mage Tower.

Magic pools were hubs for the flow of magic within a Mage Tower and had a strong erosive magical influence. When cleaning these pools, reputable wizards would use Alchemy Puppets, but due to the erosion, these puppets had very short lifespans. Thus, some wizards would hire the much cheaper tricksters to do these jobs.

As for the lifespan the tricksters lost in the process, the wizards had already paid them with copper coins.

As for the other two jobs the shorter wizard mentioned, the first, Lady Elisabeth’s caravan, was undoubtedly involved in the flesh trade; the second, Mr. Cliff, was likely using tricksters for magical experiments without the necessary reporting and permissions.

In other words, the two wizards in front of them were brokers for the notorious Black Wizards.

"Can we refuse?" Zheng Qing declined flatly.

"I’m sorry, you cannot," the tall wizard rustled the parchment in his hand and said calmly. Compared to the short and plump one, his voice was dry and lacked persuasiveness—perhaps that’s why he seldom spoke.

"After all, we are legitimate businessmen; we wouldn’t dream of sending someone to work without signing a contract," the short wizard explained, trying to smooth things over.

Zheng Qing laughed bitterly in his extreme frustration:

"If we don’t have the right to refuse, then how is signing this contract any different from human trafficking?"

"Indeed, there is not much difference." The short and plump wizard stood on tiptoe and sighed, "Initially, we wouldn’t have considered doing something as desperate as fishing in depleted waters. But the Great Sage of the North District hasn’t given us the time to adjust slowly."