2/4
"Damn it, where the hell did this bastard come from?!"
"Quick, quick, look, it's over! Another one of our people was defeated by him. Now master's plan is completely disrupted!"
"What's the odds for the next match?"
"It's still rising. One to five, no, it's already one to seven!"
"Damn it! If these people all bet on this bastard, how are we going to make money?!"
"How about you guys? Did you find any information on this person?"
"Can't find anything. We sent people to follow him, wanting to make contact, but we couldn't even get close. It's like he disappears in the blink of an eye!"
The disguised Freya secretly approached these spectators with anxious expressions.
She used spells to eavesdrop on their conversations.
Odds?
Betting?
Through a few keywords, Freya roughly understood their identities.
This competition, organized by the legendary great mage Merlin, gathering countless geniuses and monsters, was an absolutely world-class spell competition. Naturally, there was no shortage of betting.
Even Freya, who had no interest in this aspect at all, had heard a thing or two.
Such betting was not illegal.
There were even several major nobles who jointly established an official-like platform specifically for it.
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In each match, a large number of spectators would place bets. The officials would give odds based on the contestants' overall strength, identity background, comprehensive performance, and so on.
As the competition progressed and became more and more intense, the transaction amount of each match was extremely huge. It could be said that it involved enormous interests.
Freya continued to think along this line and quickly understood.
Among the nobles, someone was faking it.
They had long bought off several contestants to mix in with the participants. They might have let Contestant A crush and advance all the way, while Contestant B always won by a fluke.
In this way, when Contestants A and B met, there would be a huge difference in odds. The vast majority of spectators would buy Contestant A.
Then, they only needed to let A deliberately lose to B. As the behind-the-scenes bookmakers, they would make a huge profit and collect everyone's money.
However...
With the appearance of the Hero, their "match-fixing" plan went bankrupt.
It was like Contestant A, who was supposed to meet B, was already dealt with by the Hero before they even met.
Moreover, with the undefeated record displayed by the Hero, everyone became fanatical and frantically bet on the Hero, winning every time, making the nobles unable to sit still.
After reading through them, they were almost all proposals dissatisfied with this "mysterious person," demanding that the officials cancel his participation or force him to reveal his identity.
At this point, the pressure wasn't much for Merlin.
But as long as Reji continued to compete and show more of his powerful side, such malice towards him would only increase.
"So is that little tree branch of yours really some legendary-grade weapon?"
Faced with Merlin's teasing, Reji shrugged and easily snapped it in front of Merlin.
"Well, it seems that Duke Nashville's hope is shattered."
Merlin shook his head and burned another confidential letter in his hand to ashes.
The Nashville he mentioned was a powerful grand duke of a neighboring country who had now set his sights on the little tree branch in Reji's hand and wanted to spend a lot of money to get it.
"Are you really not considering letting me arrange an identity for you? It would save a lot of trouble."
Merlin asked Reji again.
Although he didn't understand why Reji, who already had overwhelming strength, still had to participate in this competition...
But he knew the principle of "the innocent are not guilty, but those with treasures are."
If Reji continued to play the role of a mysterious person, it would only make him a target without background in the eyes of the whole world, attracting the greed and malice of countless forces who wanted to seize everything from this dark horse.
Merlin's prediction was indeed correct.
Recalling the plot of the first playthrough, if it weren't for Merlin's intervention in the end, protecting him and accepting him as a disciple, those remaining forces who were eager to devour him would never have given up.
Among them were a duke of a country like earlier, as well as high-ranking members of other fate track sects.
It was no exaggeration to say... Now that he thought about it carefully, it seemed that before the Demon's descent, he, as the Hero, was indeed an existence that everyone wanted to beat up.
At that time, he was happy about it in the game.
After all, as the protagonist, how could he not have enemies? Anyway, those who came to cause trouble for him were just experience packs.
But at that time, he only thought about himself.
He never thought about the Saintess who silently paid for him behind the scenes. He never thought about what kind of pressure Freya was under. She must have been trying her best to defend him, but failing again and again. She might have even been labeled as an accomplice and continued to be insulted.
So this time...
"No need to worry. These guys won't be able to make a fuss for long."
"Reji, I have to warn you. The forces involved in this are complex and intertwined. It's definitely not something you can solve by killing one or two people. What's behind them may involve a region, a religion, or even a country. Even I can't deal with them easily."
"I know. I'm not planning to solve it myself either."
"Then you mean..."
Merlin suddenly fell silent because he followed Reji's gaze and also looked at the astronomical observatory he had used to observe the Demon Realm before. There was still a countdown to the Demon Realm's descent, getting closer and closer.
"Wait, don't tell me you're thinking..."
Reji nodded and said calmly, "The principles that humans can't teach, I believe the Demons will make them realize."