By Saturday evening, the sky had already begun to darken.
Though there was still a chill in the air, it was spring now, and the campus had no shortage of young witches and wizards strolling quietly in pairs.
This kept the campus air filled with an enchanting atmosphere.
A gray squirrel with a large tail bounded among the branches of a paulownia, clutching an acorn. It had hidden the acorn deep in the woods before winter arrived last year. Though spring had now begun, there were no spring fruits yet, and most of its autumn stores were gone. Only by searching everywhere for the food it had stashed the previous year could the squirrel scrape by.
When it leaped onto a branch of an old willow, the squirrel suddenly stopped and craned its head to look down.
Beneath the willow, a few rats in green vests stood on their hind legs, gesturing vigorously with their forepaws as though telling the young witches and wizard opposite them something.
Something was happening. It was worth watching.
Clutching its acorn, the squirrel let its large tail dangle beneath the branch and happily settled in to watch.
"...It wore white and had black hair, and it was thiiis tall! When it turned around, its face was completely blank—not even a pair of eyes!" Ding Dong Ear spread its forepaws, trying hard to demonstrate the size of the monster the two brothers had encountered. There was more than a little self-importance in its voice. "We're only telling you because we know you so well, so..."
"So this information ought to be worth at least a handful of diamond chips!" Ding Dang Ear interrupted its companion's grandstanding and revealed their true intention.
"Hold on. Let's stop right there!" Zheng Qing raised a hand to halt the