"Is there really a difference?"
Mr. Wu countered, then said, "Every spell cast by the lineage of North District Wizards founded by Colmar costs a frog its life... They can 'eat' frogs, so why can't they 'eat' the lives of other wizards?"
Zheng Qing opened his mouth, wanting to argue, but suddenly remembered what had happened a few weeks ago after he and Jiang Yu left the Sakura Tavern. A North District Wizard who had lost control had grabbed the trickster with bearfolk blood beside him and drained away his life force with magic.
Right in front of him and Jiang Yu.
Mr. Wu took a small sip of tea and glanced sideways at the pale young scholarship student. It seemed he had seen the scene in Zheng Qing's mind. After a pause, he spoke again:
"Earlier still... those North District tricksters. The Wizard Alliance had already recognized their status as wizards by law. But how do you think they lived? Profit-seeking merchants could drive them into the Silent Forest, trading their lives for a few rare magical herbs; fame-seeking wizards would put them on experiment tables and use their blood to stain their research reports."
"The straightforward killing of demons may seem brutal and terrifying, but the underhanded cruelty and ruthlessness of wizards toward their own kind are no less vile."
"Poison in their words, knives in their smiles, white teeth bared as they spit out bloody scraps... If that isn't eating people, what is?"
"The Wizarding World is a world where wizards eat wizards; the history of the Wizarding World is a history of wizards devouring one another... That isn't an exaggeration in the slightest."
What Mr. Wu said did indeed sound terrifying.
Yet Zheng Qing unexpectedly no longer felt that same heart-pounding dread—this was not the first