The Cursed Blade

Hunting Season

"Dra-

"Wait" Someone interrupted Ryuuen, who was readying his fighting stance

"Who are you guys to decide that you'll be the leader?" The speaker was, for lack of a better word, a fiendish looking boy

If you were to tell me he was half human, half praying mantis. I would believe you.

"A great question, how about I beat the answer into you" Ryuuen glared at the kid

"Hmm.... I can't deny that if we were to fight, I would likely lose-

"No, it'd be a definite loss" Sakayanagi fanned the flames

"..... In any case, strength does not give you the right to lead. Simply put, you need to have the capability to strategize, empathize, and ultimate lead the people who follow you."

"Empathize? With you peasants?" Koenji looked shocked

"At the very minimum, you need to be able to hunt demons better than the others. Just because you can beat other demon slayers, doesn't mean you're better than them at killing demons."

....well he's not wrong

"What exactly are you trying to suggest?" Sakayanagi asked

"You heard the teacher right? There's a whole forest, miles wide, with demons living inside. Shouldn't the leader be someone who can take a few of them on?" The kid smiled

"So you're saying we're going to compete for kills?" Ryueen asked

"Of course not, if that were the case, everyone would just fight a bunch of the cannon fodder demons, and rack up their numbers. I'm suggesting that we should compete over bounties...." He finally revealed his intentions

"A competition for bounty points.... And how exactly is it going to work?" another student asked

"I guess since most of the people here are new to the school system, you won't know. Bounties are kept track of on your school profile." The boy explained

School profile?

"Your school profile is kept track of by the school faculty. Anytime you gain points, they'll make sure to add it to your name; and vice versa, if you lose points, they'll deduct them from your name" he continued

"How will they know to add the bounty points?" The same boy asked again

Truthfully, I wanted this conversation to end. However, I needed to know such information as well

"Killing a demon doesn't necessarily mean that you'll get the bounty points, you must bring the demonic core of your kill with you. Provide the core to a faculty member at the entrance of the forest, and you'll be the one rewarded with the points" he finished

So all you need is the core? Doesn't that mean that stealing the core is all you need to do to take the credit?

"Hmmmm..... a competition set over killing those blood-sucking bastards? Sounds like it'll be interesting" Ryuuen cackled

"For once, I agree with you" Sakayanagi smiled

"Ugh, cut that shit out" Ryuuen seemed disgusted

"In essence, the one with the most personal points at the end, will be the one most capable of leading the class?" Koenji asked

"Not just personal points, it must be specifically bounty points." The boy clarified

"What the time frame for this?" Another student asked

"The first month of school is dedicated solely to training, we're only allowed in the forest after we complete our course. That's why we'll have two months, starting from today" the strange boy sneered