Everybody was surprised when Simon agreed to such an unfavourable bet.
In their minds, he had a lot to lose than to win.
If he lost, he would have to pay four thousand merits and he would also have to battle four elites of their class in a life and death battle.
The four thousand merits was a lot of money and many wondered if he would even be able to pay it at all.
But the bigger risk was the life and death battle.
How could Simon risk his life so easily and calmly?... Many wondered.
But what these people didn’t know was that in this situation, Simon was a bookie, and a bookie always set the odds in their favour.
"How are we certain that you won’t run away from the life and death battle? You can refuse to participate if you lose." Jorra asked with slightly narrowed eyes.
This was what he was truly worried about.
If Simon decided to go back on his words, then he would not be able to do anything about it since none could force another person into accepting a life and death battle.
He did not want such a thing to happen since he doubted he’d have such a good opportunity to kill Simon without any consequences.
Meanwhile, Simon had a light smile behind his mask hearing Jorra’s words.
"Don’t worry. I won’t."
Jorra was still not having it.
"Am I meant to believe you based on your words?" He asked with a mocking tone.
Simon nodded. "Yeah."
Jorra immediately sneered. "Like as if I’d ever trust a bastard who extorts his classmates."
"Hmm." Simon hummed while placing his right fist on the lower part of his mask.
"I guess you’re right. Trusting me is not an easy thing to do, and I don’t trust you too. Who knows, you might run away with your thousand merits."
Jorra immediately scoffed. "A mere thousand merits is not something I’ll run away from."
A few of their classmates have Jorra strange looks.
A mere thousand merits?
That was one thousand hell stones for crying out loud.
Many of them only had a weekly stipend of fifteen merits.
Hell, more than half of them did not have a weekly stipend of up to fifty merits.
So how could Jorra use the word ’mere’ for a thousand merits?
That was like calling a thousand dollars ’mere’ when majority of the people around you could not even make up to fifty dollars.
Simon obviously did not have such thoughts, and he did not doubt that a thousand merits was nothing to Jorra.
"You claim that you have a thousand merits, I need to see your account to be certain you actually do. After all, the only benefit I’m getting from this bet is the money."
Simon then shifted his gaze to the remaining three- Tempest Strider, Ice Tyrant, and Flaming Star.
"The same goes for you guys too. I need to make sure you have up to a thousand merits."
All three Initiates scoffed, and without hesitation, their Grave Marks flashed and crimson demonic scripts appeared in front of them.
Everybody’s gaze moved to the demonic scripts, and many gasped in disbelief at the numbers they were seeing.
’Tempest Strider has just over two thousand merits. Ice Tyrant has over a thousand merits. And Flaming Star has nearly three thousand merits.’
’Bunch of rich kids.’
Simon’s eyes flashed with a strange glint as he shifted his gaze from the demonic scripts to the three rich kids.
He wasn’t going to ask how they got so many merits since there were countless ways they could have done so.
And the most likely method was that their family or backer gave them a different currency to be exchanged or an item to be exchanged.
There were so many reasons why the three of them had so many merits, but Simon didn’t care about that at all.
All he cared about was the fact that they were fat cows that could be milked in the future.
"You guys are rich."
Hearing these words from Simon, the trio had smug expressions, but Simon didn’t bother with them anymore.
He shifted his gaze to Jorra.
"What about you? Are you going to show me how many merits you have?"
Jorra frowned behind his mask. He wanted to refuse because showing off his wealth was not his thing.
Unlike those three fools who were willing to do show off their ’wealth’ in order to gain some reputation and fame.
He wasn’t a fan of doing such a thing.
However, he had no choice because those three fools were willing to show off their ’wealth’
"Alright."
Just as he was about to send his intent into his Grave Mark, Merath held his shoulder.
He looked at her with raised brows.
"Transfer a portion of your merits to me."
Jorra’s eyes brightened at her words, and he did so without hesitation.
Those words solved his biggest worry.
Merath nodded as she received his merits, then Jorra showed off his merits with an indifferent expression.
"One thousand one hundred merits." Simon said with an indifferent expression, then he calmly shifted his gaze to Merath.
Merath looked at him with her arms folded and an indifferent pair of eyes.
’She’s smart and cautious.’
Simon shook his head slightly, then he released a soft sigh.
"Since all of you have up to a thousand merits, then I guess it’s all good."
"But what about you? Do you have up to four thousand merits? If you lose, how will you pay us? You have to show us that you have up to four thousand merits."
Simon looked at Tempest Strider who said those words, and in the next moment, Simon sneered.
"I don’t have to show you anything. If I lose, you guys have the opportunity to kill me. My life is worth more than a mere four thousand merits, and since I’m staking my life, I don’t need to show you how many merits I have."
Tempest Strider was tongue tied at Simon’s words. He could not refute his words because everything Simon said made sense.
What they wanted was his life, and since he was staking his life, a mere four thousand merits was the least of Simon’s problems.
However, Tempest Strider still wanted the thousand merits.
A thousand merits was not a little amount for him to ignore or give up.
He looked at Ice Tyrant, Flaming Star, then Jorra. But none of them said anything and did not seem to care about the thousand merits.
’Damn these guys.’ He cursed them inwardly.
"You’ve still not given us any assurance about you fulfilling your part of the bet."
Simon shifted his gaze to Ice Tyrant who just spoke, then he smiled behind his mask.
"I believe that our class instructor who is watching us can ensure that not only me, but that we all keep our parts of the bet." Simon said while looking at a particular direction on the balcony of their dormitory.