Yesterday Evening, Qixi Festival

When Zheng Qing left Wander Bar, it was already past four in the afternoon. Young wizards preparing to revel through the night were beginning to gather at the bar in twos and threes, claiming good spots.

Zheng Qing checked the time, cried out inwardly that this was bad, and took off running toward Dr. Duzem's home.

He had arranged to meet Jiang Yu at three thirty in the afternoon, and he was already more than half an hour late.

As a boy, being late when meeting a girl was already extremely rude. Besides, Jiang Yu was helping him; there was even less excuse for it.

As he ran, he silently cursed that disrespectful old Wanderer Wizard. The man was clearly wealthy and immensely accomplished in magic, yet he haggled and quibbled over every last detail with a kid not even one-tenth his age. He had utterly disgraced all old wizards.

According to the original plan, Zheng Qing could have left Wander Bar at two thirty—if he had left then, not only would he not have been late, he would have arrived quite early and fully displayed a wizard's gentlemanly grace—but the Wanderer Wizard had told stories and bargained with Zheng Qing, and before he knew it, time had slipped away.

Of course, that time had not been wasted.

Zheng Qing touched the Gray Cloth Bag tucked inside his robe.

At the very bottom of the bag, inside the small rosewood box, one hundred and twenty jade coins were neatly stacked. These were the proceeds from selling the spoils he had gained at the School Hunting Meet. There should originally have been one hundred and thirty, but in order to have Wander Bar suppress the rumors spreading throughout the school, Zheng Qing had painfully spent ten jade coins.

"I hope I'm