2/4
"Damn it, where the hell did this bastard co 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 rlin, 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.
Read exclusive adventures at empire
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 beca more and more intense, the transaction amount of each match was extrely huge. It could be said that it involved enormous interests.
Freya continued to think along this line and quickly understood.
Among the nobles, soone 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 t, 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 et B, was already dealt with by the Hero before they even t.
Moreover, with the undefeated record displayed by the Hero, everyone beca fanatical and frantically bet on the Hero, winning every ti, making the nobles unable to sit still.
"Master said that this troublemaker must be dealt with."
"That's right. With him ssing around, we can't run the gambling den at all."
"So what do you say, should we have a few brothers take action directly after the match later?"
"Take action? No, no, no, that's too low-level."
One of the leaders shook his head at his subordinates.
From Reji's current performance, they really couldn't figure out his strength. What if they went head-to-head and it backfired?
That "master" had already taught them a better way.
"How are the preparations at the newspaper?"
"The drafts are all written. We specially spent a lot of money to find several editors and have already arranged a fake identity for that bastard."
"Continue to send more people to places like taverns and inns where there are many people gathered to spread so information. We must solidify the fake identity that master has arranged for this bastard."
"Mm, once this fake identity is exposed, as a criminal, when master later leads people to protest in public, even if the officials still dare to let him compete, we can remove this person from the betting pool."
"Hehe, this is the fate of those who dare to oppose master!"
"The boss is right. Using force is too low-level. As long as we ruin his reputation, that's enough. It's a piece of cake for master."
Freya, who had been eavesdropping in secret up to this point, had already clenched her fists in anger.
Connecting this with the scenes in the illusion, where the Hero was targeted by various parties in the competition and even almost driven out of the match, with sches one after another, the root was actually here!
But what should I do now?
Freya knew that she had to endure. It was useless for her to capture these few minions now. To catch their behind-the-scenes master, she still needed to mobilize higher-level forces.
Thinking of this, Freya stopped eavesdropping. Before the other party's plan was carried out, she imdiately took action, preparing to send a ssage to the Radiant Temple to request the help of the elders.
…
At the sa ti, on the other side...
Reji, who had completed today's matches, didn't return to the inn first but went to rlin's mage tower.
Reji had long anticipated these things that even Freya could discover.
In the ga, he, who only thought about fighting and leveling up, didn't even consider caring about his reputation and fa, so he allowed the other party's plan to fernt step by step.
The illusion that Freya saw at that ti wasn't wrong.
That was the true plot of the first playthrough.
The betting was just one aspect.
As it evolved, money was no longer important. More and more people, those families and forces, what they coveted was the secret of his rapid leveling and growth as a "player."
Now looking back, he was indeed defined as utterly wicked in the ga, partly because his behavior was immoral, but definitely more because those behind-the-scenes forces deliberately guided public opinion to force him to comply.
"You're here. There are five more complaints against you today."
rlin handed a stack of reports to Reji.
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 rlin.
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 so legendary-grade weapon?"
Faced with rlin's teasing, Reji shrugged and easily snapped it in front of rlin.
"Well, it seems that Duke Nashville's hope is shattered."
rlin shook his head and burned another confidential letter in his hand to ashes.
The Nashville he ntioned 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 arrange an identity for you? It would save a lot of trouble."
rlin 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.
rlin's prediction was indeed correct.
Recalling the plot of the first playthrough, if it weren't for rlin'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 mbers of other fate track sects.
It was no exaggeration to say... Now that he thought about it carefully, it seed that before the Demon's descent, he, as the Hero, was indeed an existence that everyone wanted to beat up.
At that ti, he was happy about it in the ga.
After all, as the protagonist, how could he not have enemies? Anyway, those who ca to cause trouble for him were just experience packs.
But at that ti, 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 ti...
"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 sothing 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 an..."
rlin 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 you're thinking..."
Reji nodded and said calmly, "The principles that humans can't teach, I believe the Demons will make them realize."
Reviews
All reviews (0)