Chapter 700 - Taming the Fifth Year - Blood Debt - 2

Jin would never be his father... He wasn’t one who looked at his surviving son and saw not grief but utility. Who calculated the political implications of murder before considering the human cost. Who’d already moved on from Jean’s death because dwelling on it didn’t increase the family’s power or position.

Jin remembered Jean’s laugh, loud and confident. Jean teaching him to fight, patient even when Jin fumbled. Jean defending him from their father’s worst criticism, taking blame for mistakes that weren’t his. Jean, who’d been arrogant and entitled and everything a noble heir should be, but who’d also been his

brother

... And maybe even a better ’father’ than his useless, absent true one.

And Jin was going to get justice.

The tiger inside him growled, sensing his resolve.

Or maybe Jin was growling and the tiger was just agreeing.

The line had blurred, smudged by the pills and rage and obsession until Jin couldn’t tell which thoughts were human and which were predatory instinct.

It didn’t matter anymore.

They both wanted the same thing.

Ren Patinder’s death.

And today, in these tunnels where accidents happened and bodies could be blamed on beasts or bad luck or the chaos of competition...

Today, Jin would finally get what he’d been denied for 4 years.

Justice.

Revenge.

Peace.

The word echoed in his mind like a prayer. Like salvation from...

Every time his father looked at him and Jin could see the thought written clear as text:

You’re not Jean. You’ll never be Jean. Why couldn’t it have been you instead?

Jin remembered the nights when Jean returned from missions, bringing stories of battle and glory. Jean striding through the mansion doors with that confident swagger, dirt still on his uniform, blood sometimes, never his own, staining the edges of his sleeves. The younger servants scattering to prepare his bath, the older ones nodding with respect. Their father actually

smiling

, rare and precious as gold, as Jean recounted victories.

And Jin, always Jin, hovering at the edges. Listening... Desperately trying to memorize every word because Jean made time seem to slow down, made the world feel bigger and more exciting just by existing in it.

He remembered the promise.

"When I lead House Strahlfang, you’ll be at my side as my right hand. Together we’ll make our family great."

The words had been said casually, like stating obvious fact rather than making a vow. Jean sprawled on the practice field grass after a sparring session, sweat cooling on both their faces, the sky that particular shade of purple-orange that came right before sunset.

"You really mean that?"

Jin had asked, trying to keep the desperate hope out of his voice.

"Of course."

Jean had turned his head, grinning with the certainty of someone who’d never truly failed at anything that mattered.

"Who else would I trust to watch my back? Father? He’d stab me himself if it advanced the house position. The cousins? They’d sell their own mothers for a promotion. But you... You’re loyal. That’s worth more than raw talent."

Those words had become Jin’s anchor. His purpose. The promise of a future where he’d matter, where his existence would mean something beyond being "the spare heir".

All those promises.

All those dreams.

Ended by a peasant with mushrooms in his hair.

No.

The denial was automatic, visceral, the same as it had been every day for 4 years.

It couldn’t be real. Couldn’t have happened that way. Jean was too skilled, too careful, too

alive

to be killed by some nobody from nowhere with a beast so pathetic the academy had debated even allowing it.

But reality didn’t care about Jin’s denial.

Jean was dead.

And Ren Patinder had killed him.

Jin had searched for alternatives. Had investigated in secret, talking to the men who’d served under Jean, the ones who actually knew him and respected him beyond his position as heir.

Most declined politely.

Too risky...

Too politically complicated. They had families to think about, positions to protect.

But some...

Some had looked at Jin with eyes that understood exactly what he was really asking.

And they’d said yes.

The veteran who Jean had saved during a horde attack. A grizzled man with scars across half his face and a limp that never quite healed right.

"I owe him my life," he’d said simply, no hesitation. "If you need help avenging the boy, count me in."

The scout who’d mentored Jean personally. A woman in her forties with the lean, weathered look of someone who’d spent more time in wilderness than civilization.

"He was like a son to me." Her voice had cracked slightly. "More family than my own blood ever was. Tell me what you need."

Six others. Each with their own story, their debt, their reason for risking everything for the memory of Jean Strahlfang.

Or who were simply devoted idiots loyal to Jin and House Strahlfang, too caught up in house pride to question whether what they were doing was justice or just murder dressed in noble language.

Jin preferred not to examine that distinction too closely...

The plan had taken months of careful preparation.

Being in different academies had made coordinating anything a logistical nightmare. Messages sent through intermediaries. Meetings held only on vacations and in neutral territory where their respective academies’ surveillance wouldn’t catch them.

Of the five groups pursuing Ren here, only three were actually part of his plan.

The others were just opportunists, nobles’ children who’d heard about rewards for sabotaging certain teams and decided to try their luck. But ultimately unreliable.

His three groups weren’t particularly skilled either. Not even the best in their respective classes. Just majority Strahlfang students who understood house loyalty and wouldn’t ask uncomfortable questions about methods or legality.

One of his groups, the "

Pursuing Group B

" he’d managed to recruit, had been so clumsy they’d gotten stuck in the underground tunnels, they had to help the tutor get them out...

But it didn’t matter now.

The stars had aligned.

First: Getting a Strahlfang assigned as Ren’s group watcher to feed them information.

The opportunistic nobles’ connections had been useful for that at least. A few bribes in the right places, a few suggestions about "ensuring fair observation", and suddenly a Strahalfang had been selected for the assignment.

Perfect positioning. Perfect information flow.

Second: Waiting for the perfect moment.

An exam where Ren would be outside the academy, away from Selphira’s omnipresent protection, in dangerous territory where accidents were common and expected. Where a student’s death could be blamed on beasts or bad luck or the inherent risks of gathering dangerous resources.

This fifth-year exam and Ren coming to Yino was ideal. The weaver forests provided perfect cover.

Third: The rewards.

The nobles who hated Ren... and there were

many

, accumulated over years of him outshining their children and exposing their cultivation methods as inferior, had been surprisingly generous with their sabotage offers.

Enormous sums...

Promises of future refuge and protection. Political favors worth fortunes.