But actually, I’d felt this kind of atmosphere before. I could sense that something really bad for us was about to happen. The whole thing about the tournament champion having been decided from the start annoyed me to begin with, and now they were trying to mess with us on top of that. It reminded me of the shit I’d had to put up with from the Church of the Three Heroes and friends.

They hung up some kind of banner behind the distinguished guest seating.

“How would you all like to see our fighters here compete once more in an exhibition match?! What say you!”

“Whaaat?!”

I tried to express my disapproval. Raphtalia, Filo, and Sadeena obviously felt the same, but they had been left speechless with shock.

“Oh my . . .”

Damn! So they could just deal with an unexpected result by obstructing the contestants and making it look like part of the entertainment. In stark contrast to our expressions of disapproval, the audience clapped in excitement. This was bad. If we tried to refuse, they would just declare it a loss by default or something.

“And noooooowwww! Their opponent!”

The merchant snapped his fingers and three figures appeared at the fighters’ entrance of the arena. Huh? What was up with them? Was the way they were walking supposed to look . . . natural? Some weirdo dressed like a clown came walking out along with two masked, life-sized puppets . . . or whatever they were. They looked like mannequins that had been dressed up. I had no idea what they actually were because of the masks.

“Little Rock, this could get a liiiittle bit dangerous, just so you know.”

“Why is that?”

“That fighter has gotten popular lately for going around and wreaking havoc at all of the tournaments in this area. She’s incredibly strong. I was under the impression she wouldn’t be participating in this tournament, though . . .”

Had they brought someone in that wasn’t even participating? Maybe they bribed her? I seem to remember Rishia saying something about watching out for this one. Regardless, surely we should be able to win with someone as strong as Sadeena on our side, right?

“That’s right! It’s Murrrdeeerrrr Pierrot!!!”

So it was some messed up clown? Talk about a creepy ring name. Of course, whatever her name really was, that was just how it had been translated so that I would understand. An earsplitting roar of applause came from the audience.

“An exhibition match featuring Rock Valley’s Party and Nadia versus Murder Pierrot! The survey results will be tallied in three minutes! Bets will be accepted for ten minutes following the beginning of the match! What say you?!”

The spectators all began noisily talking it over with each other, but the way they were looking at us . . . Their eyes were filled with bloodthirsty curiosity. Well, there you go. I guess we could give up on the possibility of the survey results being in opposition of the match.