Bounty

She then goes over to the desk, shoveling through the drawers until a huge stack of paper lands onto the table. “I have made another full poster campaign. You will go around giving it to people. ”

I don't want to deal with her anymore; I'm sick of hearing her craziness. Just get me out of here. I can't believe Chikaru is a more enjoyable person to talk to at this stage.

“Right. Spread the papers and no more. You will train me once I done this as payment for everything recently.” Sorin took the paper into his hands before walking over to the seal in the base, Ino stared him down, his audacity annoying her but she didn't revoke the request. He instantly blasted magic into the seal, causing the orange hue to envelop him fully in the abandoned cottage he was in before.

No more of her craziness for now, even got extra training points for the future, but it seems that they didn't find this place out even despite knowing I have been in this area. I doubt they know we are using seals to teleport around.

Walking off the abandoned cottage, the area outside was darker than usual. It was cloudy today, and the clouds seemed to roar. It was rare since Acluraria was known for its vast sunlight power, second only to the southern continent. Sorin walked between the alleyways towards the main street, avoiding any openings the structure of the city had; however, something struck his head.

What is this pain… It's unbearable, like I'm being assaulted from every way.

He walked forward in a narrow alleyway; the main street was just a couple of steps away, and the pain just grew and grew.

The magic density is far too high. Did Ino already do her plan and fake it, or is this truly some beast? Maybe I'm about to meet Boyle again.

He waved his hand; his staff was left behind. He figured it was better for stealth; his hair instantly changed to black, and his eyes turned to dark green. Hachi has returned, if only for a moment; he continues walking forward until the alleyway ends suddenly.

I can't get past here.

There were multiple commoners in front of him, blocking off the entire main street. He moves in closer until squishing into them, his eyes darting everywhere, but there wasn't any free space; there were at least two thousand people around him, all over the main street, just huddled.

What's going on? Why is everyone suddenly here? Am I missing something?

Taking out his hand, he uses an earth spell underneath his feet to elevate himself, but not too much to be spotted. He noticed it near the bridge system connecting the mage and commoner level. There was a white-bearded man with a gentle smile on a stage, a council member. He was fit and lean, but he was definitely around 80; his hairline moving back was the biggest proof, but otherwise he aged finely.

An assembly- I didn't know about any of this. Is this what Ino was going to say before I stormed out? I have to spread these sheets around either way.

He looked around the area; there were a couple of mages posted all over the rooftops, all scanning down the crowd, not at him but just in his general direction. Among a thousand people, it would be impossible for him to be caught, especially with his colour-changed appearance that nobody here knew of.

I can get away quickly if I cause some chaos, thinks Sorin. Handing them out in this situation would be impossible. The man hasn't started talking, so people are waiting, but what if I were to spread these? Which way would I do it?

He then feels the weight of the paper sheets. They were super thin, but they were rather strong and gave a slight magic aura. Sorin assumed it was Inos doing it to save costs and size; he had at least over four hundred in his hands.

This might not be the most ideal plan, but if I were to use wind magic to blast them into the air, that would disperse them instantly; it would give away a general idea of where I am, but I can quickly dash out if anything.

He looks down at the sheets of paper, then starts to flow wind magic into them slowly to not allow magic sensing to scan him out of the crowd. As he kept funneling the magic, he stared up, seeing the man ready to talk.

“Today, I am asking you all to get rid of weed. I, Councilman Zick Malik, will personally reward the capture of both a dark purple-haired lady causing chaos and also Sorin the traitor. Each of their bounties will be set at 50 golden coins.”

The crowd instantly gasped at the amount of money; this was a possible 100 golden coins worth of bounties, which would be enough to buy you a mansion and at least last two generations while also living in luxury. It was nothing compared to two silver coins, which even one golden coin was fifty times that amount.

Zick continued, “On top of that, anyone who has consumed forbidden knowledge may now reveal themselves for a handsome reward; otherwise, they will be hunted.”

Two announcements of that scale- he's practically admitting that the knowledge was forbidden and they have been caught out- but to reward people for turning themselves in and then also putting fifty gold coins for my own head. That's an absurd amount; are they just lying?

Sorin began moving through the crowd; he had one goal: get to the center. He did exactly that in just a minute as the man started yapping about other affairs, like justifying their starvation for the last two months, which nobody seemed to support with the lack of response.

Just blow the papers and then dash into an alleyway. I might look suspicious with the way I moved, but I'm clearly not the same person by appearance; I should be fine.

Sorin then blasted all of his wind magic into the pile of sheets; all four hundred of them got sent up into the air in an instant. Zick and others looked up, seeing the showering of paper appear. In that split-second distraction, Sorin used another wind burst to quickly weave around people towards an alleyway as he heard Zick issue an order, “Arrest everyone in that area! Confiscate all the papers.”

People began to run away from the crowd; they decided to go in all directions as two thousand people began to scour. Mages moved in, grabbing paper and huddling those where Sorin was just a moment ago. The chaos was really useful as people stumbled over others, giving a sense of misdirection to everyone present and also the perfect chance.

It's not over.

Sorin ran into the alleyway, but a single dark grey hooded figure followed; he was on his tail around the same speed. But Sorin was almost an expert at this now. He weaved towards the right, then the left.

I will loop back around.

He dashed across the corner, then another and another; the person following was now lost behind him. As he rounded the last corner looping back, His face instantly got hit by a skeleton-like feeling as he fell onto the ground with blood coming out of his mouth.

He was caught by that single dark gray figure that stood above him.