“Furthermore! All bets made on the Rock Valley’s Party versus Nadia match will be refunded immediately! Everyone! Why not use that extra cash to bet big now and perhaps win big?! So tell me, yay or nay?! Those in favor, raise your hand!”

More than half of the spectators in the venue raised their hand in response to the merchant. Bah . . . They played right into his hands.

“But seriously, how can they get away with pulling something like this off?!”

“Little Rock, take a good look at what’s written on the banner behind the merchants . . .”

“Why? What does it say?”

It was written in several different languages, but it took me a while to find the only one I knew, which was Melromarc’s written language.

“It says that, as a special exception, all bets placed on Nadia will remain in effect at the predetermined odds, should Murder Pierrot win. Anyone that originally bet on me will be in favor of the match, since that means they haven’t lost anything yet. Did anyone bet on you prior to the match, little Rock?”

Ugh . . . I wanted to win big, so I’d gone out of my way to make sure my bet was placed anonymously. Aside from us, the slave trader, and the accessory dealer, there may not have been anyone else.

“Hold on! Can they really do that?! Surely they can’t just decide on a rule that ridiculous, even if it is the underground coliseum!”

“That’s why they took a vote, and the vote ruled in favor of it.”

The organizers were rotten, but this audience was no better! They all just improvised to get whatever they wanted, no matter how ridiculous it might have been!

Then again, if I thought of it from a merchant’s point of view, I did kind of understand. The organizers had sent Sadeena in as an assassin, but she ended up being defeated unexpectedly. They would have to make up for that loss somehow. But relying on their authority to interfere with the opponent would be difficult. In that case, the only real option would be to force their play by winning the support of the audience.

The announcer was averting his gaze. He wouldn’t be able to make things any more disadvantageous for us than they already were now. If they went too far, the spectators would become suspicious. In all actuality, some of them already seemed to be confused by the survey. It was a heavy-handed move, and if they took it any further than this, their true intentions would be exposed. That meant that winning this match would essentially be the same as winning the championship!

“Alright! Might as well use this time to cast some healing magic.”

I figured we should treat our wounds and recover our strength as much as possible, before the match started. I tried to cast healing magic on Raphtalia and Filo.

“Zweite Heal!”