Soren had died at their hands in the previous loop.
Not because he was weak, but because he was too fragile in his current state.
They had no rcy when they were dealing with him.
There was no reason for him to similarly have rcy when dealing with them.
At the sa ti, he looked towards the caras spread around the place.
If he ordered these cadets be killed, the academy would not spare him.
Soren limped over, and then he leaned in to remove the mask of these attackers.
He froze.
Disappointnt written all over his face.
These so called assassins—the ones responsible for taking his life in the previous loop were not what he expected.
Skinny.
Malnourished.
One even had lumps on his body.
Now that he thought about it, Cynthia had brought them down with one simply swipe of her hand.
They were two older guys, they looked to be in their twenties, and a younger looking girl with a short ponytail, around 17 of age.
They wore black tunic. aning that unlike Soren and cynthia who were in white, they had shed off their clown status.
"Please... don’t." The girl pleaded, blood leaking from her mouth. "Don’t kill my brothers. It was all . It was all my idea to take up the bounty on your head."
"Bounty." Soren paused.
Even more shocked.
He turned to Bloodshine. She had the sa reaction as him.
Soren turned back to the girl.
"Talk."
Soren observed her gaze closely. She had begged for her brothers, but it seed like shespecifically had sothing against him .
"...From the beginning." Soren added.
She swallowed as she began. "Ever since you ca to the academy, your existence has made things very difficult for the rest of us commoners of a low rank..."
She continued explaining saying that many nobles angry about the way Soren humiliated Goldsworth on the first day, and then stood up to Li, having been pouring their frustration on commoners.
But specifically on commoners of low ranks as they were the easiest to bully.
It had only been about a month, but low rank commoners that have earned their Black tunic had seen a spike in gauntlet challenge marches.
It had gone from a little over 3 a week per cadet to 20 every two days.
As she spoke, Soren could see the exhaustion in their eyes.
Aside from that, many of them have been hunted whenever they went to the hunting fields—the only ti in the academy when Cadets can hurt each other without an official gauntlet fight.
Commoners have had no choice but to run, and stay away from the hunting grounds.
But that would an there was no way to get points that would ensure their survival in the school.
And in turn, it pressured them to take up the challenge marches so that Sponsors may gift points in battles.
But these battles were not the normal battles.
Because they knew the commoners had no other ans of livelihood, they added unfair conditions to the match.
It was the right of the person challenging to set conditions for the match, and the challenged to accept or not.
The commoners could not refuse these conditions as the nobles would only battle if they accepted.
So conditions were as unfair as stating the commoners were not allowed to use their arms, move from a spot, or even use weapons.
All this was because they wanted to take out their frustration of Soren’s existence on the commoners.
Soren paused here. He did not know that Gaulet battles could have conditions—much so conditions so ridiculous.
At first, the pressure was not a lot, and with the achievents under Soren’s belt, many commoners stood behind him, willing to suffer as long as he continued to humiliate the people that hurt them.
...As long as he humiliated nobles.
But after the most recent battle with Goldsworth, things beca worse.
Many commoners barely scraping by were now starving.
A lot of commoners ca from hos were finding food was a great problem.
Having co to the academy, doing the bare minimum got them a good al.
But that was the problem having left their terrible old lives behind, no one wanted to experience such sufdering again.
No one wanted to starve for days like they used to.
To preserve their new way of live, they were willing to do anything.
But the true tipping point was when an unanimous person posted on the cadet forums and on the gate into the hunting ground a bounty.
Bounties in the Imperial Soulforge Academy were not new.
But the requests were usually things like crippling a person, or challenging soone to a battle.
It was a way for rivals to bring down their opponents with minimal effort.
Or the use of another’s hand to strike one’s enemies.
Hearing this, Soren’s eyes widened in surprise.
He knew that the Academy was competitive, but not this competitive.
What he was hearing was a different ball ga.
The possibilities were endless.
A person could be petty after a fight and put up a person’s na for bounty just to get revenge.
Of course, it all depended on the kind of funds the individual had access to.
Soren had t a pampered noble like Goldsworth.
He had a feeling that were other nobles like him or even worse that had unlimited access to funds—people that did not need the help of sponsors.
This place was not just a fight for survival on the battlefield, but a fight with money.
He suddenly felt like making Goldsworth pay 20 thousand points was small.
But the girl with the pony tail was not done.
She stated that a bounty was put up for Soren’s na.
A bounty that was very peculiar in its details.
Firstly, the reward money was not small.
One hundred thousand points. (100,000 points) for soren’s head.
Not to cripple.
Not to beat up.
But to kill.
The amount made Soren and Bloodshine look at each other in shock.
Even Cynthia leaned in to hear more.
After all, that was the amount necessary to free a prisoner from the Blackspire Bastion Prison.
And here, it was offered up as reward money.
The second thing was that it guaranteed that if soone managed to do it they would be expelled from the academy, but their lives would be secured , and they would serve under a noble family for the rest of their lives.
These were very attractive offers.
Killing of another cadet outside a Gauntlet was greatly frowned upon and would indeed result in the expulsion of the student, as well as the death penalty depending on the circumstances of the situation.
But here was a bounty that guaranteed security even after such a heinous cri.
Soren had more questions. "And how are you sure the person that posted the bounty woukd pay?"
However, the ponytail girl looked at him like she was staring at a fool.
Soren knew that look. It was the sa one others gave him because of his lack of knowledge.
At such a ti, Bloodshine spoke. "The person that posts a bounty must nøt already have the fee on the boards."
"Oh..." soren nodded in understanding. It would an that only the second and third reward was remaining.
But what guarantee was there that these anonymous person would fulfil these rewards?
Ar such a ti, the ponytail girl spoke again.
"You don’t know how hated you are, do you?"
Her words were straightforward. Soren thought about it.
He had a rough idea.
"...This is my second year in the academy." The ponytail girl admitted with a focused gaze. "...The way politics works here will shock you. There WILL definitely protect your killer."
Soren looked at her with a side ways glance.
She shut up, looking away from his eyes nervously.
Then again, he knew she was probably not wrong.
When he had that trial against the Ivory family, a lot of people had filled the courtroom.
Nobles showed support when it ca to bullying commoners.
They had not been successful then, but he would be a fool to think they would not build towards that success now.
The thought of it really pissed him off.
Dang.
Soren whipped out his Dagger.
"Who gave the bounty." He placed the dagger against her neck.
It was cold, more than the winter wind.
"Wait... wait! I don’t know. I don’t know... no one knows. Bounties are always anonymous."
Soren looked deeper into her eyes.
The pressure of the soul steel dagger was just strong enough for a drop of red to slid down.
"I swear I don’t know. I don’t know..."
Soren’s frown deepened. This girl had made an attempt on his life, he should make it even.
It was only fair.
Her brothers groaned as they struggled eyes pleading for Soren not to kill their sister.
Soren noticed. "Your brothers..." his eyes landed on them. He noticed long scars on their necks.
She noticed his gaze. "They... they lost their voices." She swallowed nervously. "They lost their voices to pay our father’s debt."
Soren paused.
Blade retracted. To say those words had not touched a part of him was a lie.
"Are they any others that want to kill ?"
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