Chapter 101: Protection Bounty

Located beneath the Grand Bounty Pavilion, the underground exchange was the beating heart of the provincial underworld.

The lighting was intentionally poor, relying on a few sputtering oil lamps to maintain the requisite atmosphere of dread...

When Theo pushed open the doors, every eye in the vault snapped toward him.

Theo ignored the oppressive silence. He reached into his robes and pulled out a fist-sized luminescent qi-crystal.

The brilliant white light flooded the cavernous room, ruining the intimidating ambiance entirely.

"Is that the Abyssal Sword Sovereign?" a masked rogue whispered from the shadows.

"He walked right into the Vault? Is he suicidal?"

"This is an insult to our profession. We should gut him right here and claim Zelia’s bounty."

"Idiot. The Pavilion’s truce laws are enforced by the Overseer’s arrays. If you draw a blade in here, you will be turned to ash before you take a step."

"Maybe he strapped an explosive alchemical core to his chest? If he blows himself up, we all die."

The murmurs rippled through the crowd of killers, mercenaries, and Syndicate elites. None of them could comprehend why the highest-valued target in the province was calmly strolling toward the main counter.

Overseer Sylvia stood behind the desk.

"Young master Theo," Sylvia said, her eyes narrowing. "You possess a remarkable lack of self-preservation. May I ask what brings you to the lion’s den?"

Theo stopped at the counter. He pulled up a stool and sat down.

"I am a paying client, Overseer Sylvia," Theo said smoothly, brushing some imaginary dust from his sleeve. "When a VIP client arrives at the Pavilion, is it not customary to offer premium tea? Your hospitality is slipping."

Sylvia stared at him. She glanced at the horde of heavily armed assassins standing right behind him, then back at Theo.

"Since when are you a client?" Sylvia asked carefully.

"The Pavilion brokers open contracts without prejudice, correct?" Theo met her gaze without blinking. "You do not care about sect politics, regional laws, or Syndicate grievances. Only the ledger matters."

Sylvia nodded slowly. "As long as the contract complies with Pavilion bylaws, yes. Our neutrality is unbroken."

"Excellent," Theo smiled. "I wish to place an open bounty on anyone attempting to claim the current bounty on my head."

A beat of silence passed. Then, someone in the back of the room laughed. The laughter spread like a contagion.

"A bounty on the Syndicate?" a grizzled mercenary scoffed. "Does this kid think he is the Emperor?"

Even Sylvia had to suppress a chuckle.

"Theo, I appreciate your audacity," Sylvia said, leaning on the counter. "But Archon Zelia has mobilized the entire Syndicate against you. To place a counter-bounty on every assassin that comes after you... it is a novel concept, but the logistics are impossible. You would go bankrupt within a week."

"It is a volume business," Theo agreed. "I want the terms kept simple. Whoever accepts Archon Zelia’s assassination contract on me, I am placing an active, immediate kill-order on them."

Sylvia’s smile faded as she realized he was serious.

She reached for her abacus. "Theo, listen to me. The baseline bounty for an Inner Scenery expert is a hundred thousand spirit stones. To incentivize mercenaries to hunt their own peers, you would need to offer double the market rate. If Zelia sends ten elites, you are looking at millions of stones. If she sends an Earth-Ranking expert..."

Theo cut her off by raising five fingers.

"I will pay five times Zelia’s rate," Theo stated.

Sylvia stopped calculating. She looked at him with pity. "You cannot possibly afford that."

Theo dropped a diamond-encrusted token onto the counter. It was the premier access seal of the Golden Coin Consortium, handed to him by Lord Cassander just hours prior.

Sylvia’s eyes darted to the token. She picked up an appraisal monocle and inspected the seal. She read the verified balance inscribed within the array matrix.

"Client Theo has deposited..." Sylvia mumbled, her voice trembling. "One unrefined spirit-vein mine... fifty crates of premium medicinal lotuses... a mountain of high-grade spirit stones... The Pavilion is authorized to withdraw from the Consortium’s central vault."

Sylvia’s knees actually buckled.

She had to grip the bars of the counter to keep from collapsing.

She looked up at Theo.

"Young master Theo," Sylvia swallowed hard, her voice pitching up an octave. "Would you prefer Dragon-Well tea or the Silver-Needle blend?"

Within ten minutes, Theo’s counter-bounty was nailed to the very top of the Obsidian Vault’s board. The payout was so astronomically high it defied comprehension. Word spread instantly. Assassins from the upper levels and neighboring districts flooded into the Vault, packing the underground cavern shoulder-to-shoulder.

They stared at the board.

Despite the staggering payout, no one moved to accept the contract...

The terms were clear: to earn the money, they had to hunt down and kill whoever was trying to kill Theo.

Taking this job meant declaring open war on Archon Zelia and her loyalists. The Syndicate’s retribution was legendary. No one wanted to be the first to stick their neck out.

"Archon this, Archon that," a feminine voice sneered from the back of the crowd.

A woman draped in a gray cloak pushed her way to the front.

"When did we stop being mercenaries and start acting like disciplined sect disciples?" the cloaked woman scoffed, slamming her palm on the counter. "We work for coin, not Zelia’s bruised ego. I will take the contract."

She flared her aura. The oppressive weight of a peak Inner Scenery expert rolled over the crowd.

It was Vespera.

"Well said!" An old, masked man with a hunched back stepped forward, slamming his own token down.

"If the rest of you are cowards, I will gladly take this fortune for myself!"

Elder Thorne had joined the fray.

A silver-haired assassin with eyes like chips of ice moved gracefully to the counter.

Liana had claimed a spot.

Finally, a short, incredibly chaotic dwarf wearing a fake beard bounced up to the counter.

"I love gold! Give me the contract!!"

Corey was in.

Theo stood up from his stool. He played his part perfectly.

"I admire those with the courage to seize an opportunity," Theo announced. He reached into his spatial ring and pulled out four glowing, fist-sized Xuan-Crystals.

He handed one to each of the disguised plants.

"A signing bonus. I expect results."

The crowd of real assassins watched the Xuan-Crystals change hands.

The sight of upfront, guaranteed wealth snapped the final threads of their restraint.

"Get out of my way! I am taking the contract!"

"I was here first, you dog!"

"Sign me up! I will kill Zelia herself for that payout!"

The counter was instantly besieged. The scene devolved into unhinged madness, resembling a horde of starving peasants fighting over a single loaf of bread.

Assassins shoved, kicked, and trampled each other to register for the protection bounty.