A brave man may not live, but he cannot die

Is Chapter 150 a Date?
As school was about to end, Quinn sat on the sofa chair that belonged to Amamiya Nene, flipping through the parchment covered with rubbings of notes, his eyes narrowed into slits.

Any research involving the Abyss inevitably involves the Abyss's pollution. For thousands of years, Grindelwald scholars have made many guesses about why heroes are immune to Abyss pollution, but none of the heroes throughout history have been able to explain this, so academic opinions are not unified.

A slightly more plausible explanation is that this is related to the destiny of heroes. The birth of heroes is not based on selection or effort. According to the Gospel of Creation, the selection of heroes was already known to the sun god. Therefore, in the eyes of the people of this world, heroes have the mission of saving the world bestowed by the creator god from birth. Because of this mysterious and sublime nature that transcends mortals, it is only natural that heroes are not corrupted by the abyss.

There are many other ideas that Quinn finds unreliable, but most of them point out that the hero is different from humans, which is the key to the hero's return from the unknown.

There are a few points in this summary that Quinn is particularly concerned about.

First, no scholar in history has mentioned any connection between heroes and the abyss.

Secondly, the data lacks a description of the fifth layer of the abyss, the "layer of no return".

As far as Quinn knew, the First Hero Link, the Second Hero Merlin, and other villagers with documented life stories had all ventured into the Layer of No Return. If the abyss they saw was a vision of Earth's apocalypse, then Quinn could understand why they went there. However, there were no academic records about the Layer of No Return. The deeper one went into the abyss, the closer one got to its true nature. Logically, information from the fifth layer should have influenced many theories, but there was none. It was as if the heroes hadn't mentioned their experiences to anyone after returning from the abyss.

They may have mentioned it, but the college has hidden that part of the information.

The college's information is divided into several levels of confidentiality. If it's not very critical information, Jacob might be willing to provide Amamiya Nene with access to the information that only the department head can access. However, the information at the dean level or even the top-secret information passed down orally from one principal to another is beyond his reach.

Does the academy consider the connection between the abyss and the hero to be kept highly confidential?
Quinn's idea of ​​why he was immune to the Abyss's corruption was quite simple.

He is an Earthling; there's no reason for him to be polluted by the Earth.

The same applies to Lin.

But it's somewhat hard to understand why Amamiya Nene is unaffected by the contamination.

Her father was indeed from Earth, but her mother was not. Going back further, although she had the blood of a hero, it was strange that the royal family of the Eastern Kingdom, who also had the blood of a hero, had cases of being corrupted by the abyss.

Why did she secretly collect this information, bypassing me?
Quinn leaned back in his chair, his gaze fixed on the fish tank under the table.

This thing looks like a crystal ball. Amamiya Nene used it to test him during the interview. This woman is full of bad intentions, but occasionally she reveals some innocent childishness, but she is not too bad at heart. Putting aside the exploitation and cooperation, she is actually a good colleague.

If Amamiya Nene were to hear that she was a demon spy and were to leave tomorrow, she would likely feel more disappointment than anger.

Quinn silently pulled out one of the parchments, then put the rest back into the document bag, resealed it, and placed it on the table. Given the woman's careless nature, she probably wouldn't notice that the documents had been opened.

He looked at the document he had taken away, which contained one of the unreliable speculations. A teacher who studied necromancy believed that the reason why heroes were not corrupted by the abyss was because the abyss was the place where heroes' souls were buried. Quinn crumpled the document, which would make Amamiya Nene think badly, into a ball and threw it into the trash can. In no time, it burned to ashes and was absorbed cleanly.

Quinn had thought he wouldn't see Amamiya Nene before leaving because she was on leave. But since there was a banquet tonight, perhaps it was time to tell her something.

The setting sun was approaching. As dusk fell, the sky above Grindelwald was sunless, with wispy clouds tinged with a pale orange hue. The lights of the mage towers floating in the air, near and far, lit up, and the distant tranquility was broken by the whistle of a train arriving at the station. Quinn turned his chair around and looked out the window.

This is the last day. It's as calm as still water. Life at the Arcane Academy isn't as terrifying as I've imagined. Quinn is somewhat amused and relieved. The Undying Totem, which made him think that daily life at the academy would be full of hell when school started, hasn't been used even once by the end.

The time at the academy is reversed with the time in the outside world; what is dusk now is dawn in the city, and he still has a night to rest.

Wangcai had flown off to play somewhere, so Quinn filled its food bowl and, after hesitating for a moment, prepared to head to the library to read. Although it was the last day, he didn't plan to do anything special; he always went to the library after school, so he decided to do it as usual.

Unexpectedly, after he finished tidying up, there was a knock on the office door. Quinn thought of something and said "Come in" before seeing Celia's tall figure.

"Ms. Quinn," she greeted softly. The girl's chestnut hair looked carefully styled, not tied into a ponytail as it was in class, but loosely and neatly draped down her back, curling up in pretty waves.

Quinn was slightly dazed. Two months had passed since he returned from the Abyss, and there had been no interference from the Abyss in reality. But when Celia showed such a quiet expression, he could always see the shadow of Mi Yutong in the girl in front of him.

Perhaps the two really do resemble each other, their serene expressions like the ethereal scenery of a garden.

"Practicing the piano?"

Quinn walked naturally to the piano and opened the lid.

Since her awakening, she, like the other three students, had no memory of what happened in the Abyss. However, his interactions with Celia became slightly closer, unrelated to the Abyss; it was simply that Quinn began systematically teaching her the piano after that.

Except for Wednesdays and Fridays, he would usually play with her for half an hour before and after school. Amamiya Nene teased him about this many times. Quinn naturally denied that he cared so much about Celia because of other factors, but only he knew the truth.

Unexpectedly, Celia shook her head. "I'm here to hand in my homework," she said, then sat down on the piano bench and took a deep breath.

"Hand in homework?"

Celia is very dedicated to practicing the piano—she's better than Mi Yutong in this respect. Mi Yutong was only diligent at the beginning of her practice; after they started dating, her piano practice changed. Celia, however, is different. She's grateful that Quinn is willing to teach her piano for free, and she doesn't need anyone to supervise her daily finger exercises. If Quinn says to practice once, she'll practice twice.

Quinn knew he couldn't teach her for too long, so for the past two months he didn't start with easy etudes in a step-by-step manner, but instead taught her to read music and common fingerings. This way, even if Quinn was no longer around, as long as Celia persisted in practicing, it wouldn't be a problem for her to develop piano skills into a respectable hobby.

"It's Ningning's homework, but she hasn't been here for the past two days, and the divination class schedule has changed, so I had to give it to you."

Quinn realized that the "homework" Celia was referring to was the class assignment for the Divination Department. Every first-year class had this assignment, which had nothing to do with arcane magic, but was purely an exercise in imagination. This week's assignment was a classic one: "Fill the entire room with one object."

The training in imagination lays the groundwork for future magic. Even Grindelwald cannot guarantee that every graduate will master magic. Imagination is an essential part of magic. Quinn never quite understood how one could achieve unique magic solely through "imagination." In his view, these questions were more like elementary school entrance exams: building blocks, drawing pictures of the future, and imagining what the other side of the world might be like.
Seeing that Celia hadn't brought anything, Quinn asked curiously, "What are you planning to use to fill the room?"

"music."

After Celia finished speaking, as if afraid that Quinn would laugh at her, she couldn't wait to press the first key.

A gentle, bittersweet, intermittent piano melody, like the sound of ocean waves, rose and lingered in Quinn's ears, accompanied by stumbles and pauses that seemed to come with difficulty.

His eyes flickered slightly. This was a piece he often played in front of Celia: "One-more-time, One-more-chance."

With the girl's rudimentary skill level as a beginner, she naturally couldn't play the whole piece. What she played was only the climax of the piece, which was just a few seconds long. It was a simple single-note piece from beginning to end. Although it wasn't particularly beautiful, you could tell that she had prepared for it for a long time. Surprisingly, she didn't make any mistakes, and the rhythm was acceptable.

After a short piece of music ended, Celia turned around eagerly and smiled at Quinn: "How was it?! Mr. Quinn, did you like it?"

Quinn blinked, his voice softening slightly.

"Do you like this song?"

"Hmm! I feel like something's off when you play this piece," she said softly, lowering her head to avoid looking at Quinn, "It's this piece that makes me feel so gentle."

"So I practiced for a long time! I memorized the music bit by bit, but no matter what I did, I couldn't play it as smoothly and complexly as you. In the end, I only learned this little bit." Her voice became embarrassed again.

A complex emotion flashed in Quinn's eyes. He stroked the piano and said calmly, "This song tells a story of parting. It's more about regret and relief than tenderness."

"Huh?" Celia looked up and said seriously, "Teacher, aren't you the author? Why not just change it into a story without regrets?"

“Author? Me?” Quinn shook his head. “I’m not that great. But for the assignment, I’d give you full marks. Both your imagination and the music are fantastic, Celia.”

Effort can be faked, but progress cannot be faked.

Hearing the praise, Celia smiled sweetly, not expecting Quinn to give such a high evaluation, and then lowered her head shyly.

“Celia, have you thought about what you want to do in the future?” Quinn suddenly asked.

"In the future?" Celia was taken aback, then said dejectedly, "I feel that with my arcane skills, I won't survive the future war against demons."

Quinn chuckled in exasperation; what an unexpected reality.

"What if we don't consider the war against demons?"

She thought about it seriously, then answered uncertainly, "Maybe... arcane magic? Or maybe I could take over my dad's tavern... Ah, I'm not very good at math, I might not be able to handle the accounts, so I'll leave it to my brother. Perhaps I could be the pianist at the tavern?"

Finally, the girl scratched her head, looking a little embarrassed.

"Isn't it a bit presumptuous of me to say I want to be a pianist in front of you, teacher?"

“That’s a wonderful dream.” Quinn nodded earnestly. “If you want to be a pianist, then perhaps I can help you.”

"You've already helped me," Celia chuckled sheepishly. "If it weren't for you, I probably would never have known what a musical staff was."

“What I mean is,” Quinn paused, “I’ve written some pieces that haven’t been published. If you want to be a pianist, they might be helpful for your future.”

"Eh, really? I want to hear it!!" Celia's eyes practically sparkled with excitement.

"There's a lot of sheet music, I can't finish playing it all at once, so I'll just give it to you."

“How much is a bit too much?”

"Probably two or three hundred poems."

"Huh?" The girl was dumbfounded. Was the teacher's creative desire a little too high?
"Anyway, are you free tomorrow?" Quinn asked, looking at her. "I need some time to write out the score, and I can give it to you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? The Arcane Festival?"

"Correct."

"I... I can't learn that many things."

“Tomorrow then,” Quinn said decisively. “Are you going to town tomorrow?”

Celia could only weakly say, "Tonight—in the city tonight, my dad said he'd take me to a buffet, and then I'll probably stay at home tonight. I'm free all day tomorrow."

“Then let’s do it tomorrow at 11 a.m..” Quinn picked a location: “Outside the Ashwell train station.”

Celia remained silent for a long time, then looked at him with bright, sparkling eyes.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Quinn felt a little uneasy under the gaze.

“Mr. Quinn,” Celia suddenly stopped addressing him as “teacher” and asked in a serious tone, “Are you going to all this trouble to ask me out?”

You can just say it directly, why bother with the sheet music? You're probably just trying to save face for your teacher.
"A date?" To everyone's surprise, Quinn nodded. "That's fine too. I'm free until tonight."

"."

Celia opened her mouth slightly, then smiled brightly.

"Okay, then see you tomorrow at noon. I'll be waiting for the teacher's sheet music."

"See you there or see you."

After those words were spoken, the atmosphere became somewhat ambiguous. Celia didn't know what to say next, while Quinn seemed to be thinking about something, his gaze towards her was quite complicated.

Fortunately, someone came to the rescue.

Knock, knock, knock. After a knock on the door, Adolf, who was limping, pushed the door open and entered carrying a jar. He looked around but did not find Amamiya Nene, so he simply said to Quinn, "I'm here to hand in my homework."

"What do you plan to use to fill the room?" Quinn was ready to give a score.

Under the curious gazes of the two men, Adolf reached into the jar, flung out a handful of ash, and in no time the entire office became gloomy.

"Inspiration mushroom spores. High-density dust; one can fill a large auditorium. If mixed with poison, it can kill an entire room of people in the shortest possible time—"

"Five points." Quinn ignored his displeased expression. "Too realistic, lacking imagination, not as good as Celia."

The next person to enter the office was Seven, holding a shriveled, cylindrical object in his hand.

Shortly after entering, a slightly fishy smell of heather, which made Quinn's eyebrows twitch, filled the entire office.

"What the hell is this thing?"

Seven said smugly, "The genital specimens of male mammoth calves—what you're smelling is a special marsh gas produced after the carcass parts have been processed. My research shows that smelling this for three hours can extend your erection by just five minutes—"

"Stop, stop, stop." If we keep talking, it won't pass the review. Quinn thought that it would take three hours to marinate properly. "Six points. Yours is a bit more imaginative than Adolf's."

Seven smiled smugly, but Quinn hadn't finished speaking—

"Also, this thing violates school rules, so it's confiscated."

Seven felt so wronged he wanted to cry. So many people bring real weapons into the academy and no one cares, so why is it that they're confiscating the fake one I brought in?!

Quinn saw that the house was filled with both methane and dust, so he asked Celia to open the windows to ventilate the room.

He was about to speak when Megan carefully carried in the candles.
(End of this chapter)