A brave man may not live, but he cannot die

Chapter 57 Entering the painting
"Hold the cup, stay within fifty meters of me, focus on the cup, and I will be able to hear your thoughts."

Ankuya started chatting with Quinn enthusiastically, talking about everything from piano to things to pay attention to when joining the job, but soon he said goodbye in a friendly manner and left to greet the next person.

The content of the conversation was normal, and no one cared about Ankua's act of passing the Coke to Quinn. He was very popular and he clinked glasses with everyone, passed food, and chatted with everyone.

'Hello, hello?'

Quinn wandered around Ankua, grabbing a French fry here and a piece of fried chicken there, eating and communicating with his mind as he walked.

"I hear you, stop feeding me. Have you memorized all the steps for digging a grave?"

"Don't doubt my memory, buddy—after the dinner, while everyone else is out watching the fireworks, you disable the magic circle protecting the painting, and I'll go back to the Great Hall, put the Demon King's ashes into the painting, then dig out the ashes, mix the potion, drink it, and get out right away, right?"

Ankuya was chatting with two female students, commenting on the latest fashion combinations in the Adventurer's Daily. Their faces were slightly flushed, and they stared at Ankuya's soft lips and couldn't take their eyes off.

'That's right.'

"Are you that skilled at double-threaded chat? Hakikua, you bastard."

"It's easy to talk to women; they'll pick up the conversation on their own, and even a perfunctory response won't cause a dull moment."

"Fuck, what a handsome guy's passive skill."

Ankuya glanced calmly at Amemiya Ningning who was also being harassed by the opposite sex in the distance, and then smiled and ate the small cake fed by the student.

"There's a historical legend in the college that says that the man and woman who hold hands under the last firework at the opening ceremony will get married and love each other until death."

".Sounds like the fireworks display segment that every romance anime has."

"Oh, I don't know if it's true or not, but the biggest problem has been solved. Those stupid people will pester Amamiya Nene until the fireworks are over, like every year. Now she has no time to pay attention to you."

The trouble that Ankuya was referring to was Amamiya Ningning.

After all, she was the only one who could possibly prevent Quinn from returning to the auditorium.

"By the way," Quinn chewed his fried chicken with interest: "Akua, what is your relationship with Amamiya Ningning?"

'colleague.'

'Have you two ever been in love?'

Ankuya's smile disappeared over there.

"Teacher, what's wrong?" The female student shrank back in fear. Why did he suddenly show such a disgusting expression?

".What are you thinking about?" Ankuya said in a somewhat irritable voice: "Me and her? Of course not, there is no possibility, you idiot? That woman has never been in love. With her bad personality, she won't have a man even after menopause."

Quinn was startled. Why are you reacting so strongly?
'.I stayed at her house for a while when I was studying the arcane arts, that's all.'

Quinn suddenly realized.

"So, the dead man you asked me to imitate last time was Amamiya Ningning's father?"

'.That's right.'

'Have you met her father?'

"We'll talk about these unimportant things later." Ankuya said helplessly, "I have to go to the control center to cut off the guard array of the auditorium, and I also have to guard the recovery array. Telepathy can't transmit voices that far, so you have to decide how to act later."

"Remember, you must leave within ten minutes, whether you've finished or not. If you can't, wait until next time. This is Grindelwald. Even a drop of the Demon King's ashes will send the magic protecting the academy into wartime mode, and you will surely die."

The fireworks show lasted fifteen minutes, and ten minutes was the most reasonable length calculated by Ankua.

"Is it really okay for me to enter the painting alone?"

Quinn clearly remembered that Grindelwald's orientation clearly stated, "Please do not chat with paintings or follow their instructions." These moving paintings seemed eerie. "Merlin's painting is different from the others. It's just a spatial magic device. There's nothing inside except Merlin's grave. All the restrictions and arrays are set outside. Once I disable them, even a dog can enter and exit freely. Just remember to restore his grave to its original state."

Quinn breathed a sigh of relief.

"I understand. Speaking of which, can you really become a transcendent by drinking a potion in just ten minutes?"

"You must drink it from it. Merlin's Tomb is the only place in Grindelwald that can conceal your ascension to a Transcendent. As for the potion's digestion speed, you don't have to worry at all. This Sequence 9 potion is just as its name suggests—[Useless]."

Everything was going according to Ankuya's idea.

After the dinner, there was a fireworks display to welcome the new students.

A huge crowd walked out, along the covered bridge to the terrace in front of Grindelwald's main castle. Amidst the witness and applause of all the teachers and students in the school, the freshmen took their student ID cards issued by the dean, Mark Fofo, and officially became members of Grindelwald.

The booming fireworks filled the starry sky and illuminated the faces of these children.

Every time someone takes their student ID, a shooting star shoots off into the sky.

Trailing a trail of smoke, the flowers bloomed in a riot of colour, flourishing and splendidly.

When Quinn returned to the auditorium door using the excuse of a stomachache, the first firework exploded just outside the window.

He stretched his hand out of the window and waved it gently. About five seconds later, thousands of candlesticks floating in the air in the auditorium went out at once, and darkness fell silently.

Quinn took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

It was quiet, with uneaten food still on the long table and traces of the noise everywhere.

His sense of time was okay, and Ankua would count the minutes, so the light in the auditorium would return in ten minutes on time.

Before that, he must complete the digging of graves, mixing of potions, and promotion to a transcendent!
Burglary requires one to be bold but careful. The more nervous and cautious one is, the more time one wastes. Quinn just broke into a run and rushed towards the huge oil painting of a brave man hanging at the end of the auditorium.

He was very relieved that there was absolutely no one in the auditorium.

As the finale of the opening ceremony, fireworks were an ancient ritual to welcome the new students, and all teachers and students were required to be present. Grindelwald had no security guards. The academy was protected by a defensive array covering the entire school, which had been disabled by Anqua. All that was needed was a sprint, a sprint, a sprint—

“Oh my god!!”

In the pitch black, Quinn tripped and fell violently, taking several pieces of pineapple with him.

It felt like tripping over a small animal.

Unexpectedly, the fall didn't hurt. Something soft caught him and felt cool under his body.

"What the hell."

Quinn put one hand on the thing, raised himself up, and subconsciously squeezed it.

Yeah, it feels pretty good, but a little hard.
A firework happened to burst at this moment, and the light allowed Quinn to see clearly what he was holding down -

His eyes suddenly narrowed. Bull Demon is a human!
A petite, short-haired girl in school uniform was pinned down by him. She had a blank expression on her face, and with her hands she was protecting a plate of pizza with all the pineapples flying off it. Her white eyes were staring at him calmly.

It seemed that he was overpowered by Quinn in order to protect Pizza.

Quinn froze there, she didn't react at all, and didn't care at all that someone was holding her chest with one hand.

After a long while, she finally moved while lying on the ground.

The pizza went around Quinn's arm, and she actually wanted to eat it.
But soon, she found that the pineapple was gone.

So, she got a little angry:
"Compensate me with the pineapple."

(End of this chapter)