The whole room went dead silent, you could have heard a pin drop.
Up in the gallery, Hestia stared blankly at Ryota below, so stunned she even forgot to let go of Hephaestus's arm.
A moment later, her face seemed to be forced into fast-forward, leaping from shock straight into— total meltdown.
"It's over, it's over, it's OVER!!!"
She clutched her head, nearly knocking poor Hephaestus over in the process.
"That idiot! That complete idiot!! All he had to do was one match, and now he's asking for an extra round?! And he wants to count a 1:1 tie as a loss?! Isn't he just giving himself away?!"
"Uuuuuu... he's going to end up in Freya's Familia... uwaaaaa..."
Beside her, Hephaestus gave Ryota a silent look, opening her mouth as if to say something, but in the end could only sigh and shake her head.
She couldn't help but wonder — if that kid really ended up in Freya's Familia, would he still come by to help her at the forge?
The blue-ribboned goddess and the red-haired goddess's little outburst shattered the hush in the gallery, and the place immediately exploded:
"He's finished, that kid's completely lost it."
"A siege battle? And two rounds?"
"Hestia's right, he's basically volunteering to lose!"
"Why doesn't he just change his god and be done with it? Why even bother with a War Game?"
"..."
Down in the chamber, the gods were also muttering among themselves, full of disbelief and confusion.
No one could understand Ryota's choice.
After all, the gap between Loki Familia and Freya Familia was no secret.
Whether it was numbers, the strength of their members, or the exhaustion of Loki Familia after their expedition —
Every factor stacked up so much that Loki, Finn, and the others had ruled out a siege battle from the start.
They had deliberated, discussed through the night, and finally decided on a one-on-one match, putting forth Riveria.
As Orario's strongest mage," she could wield attack, defense, and healing magic, connecting up to nine chants in sequence.
Even against Ottar, a level 7, she might have stood a chance.
But now Ryota had thrown all of that away — and even added a two-round victory condition.
As if that wasn't enough, he'd made it so a 1:1 result counted as a loss!
This was...
Finn's eye twitched violently, while Loki felt like her entire brain was buzzing.
Even Ottar across the table was staring at Ryota with a puzzled look, recalling how this kid had once pulled off a Teleportation Jutsu right under his nose.
And Freya?
Her smile was more dazzling than anyone else's right then.
Propping her chin on one hand, she leaned forward, letting those impressive assets nearly deform against the table, then spoke gently:
"You're interesting, Ryota."
"You realize this means you have no chance to win, don't you? Or could it be..."
A faint blush rose to Freya's cheeks.
"...that you spent all night thinking about it, and decided to join my Familia after all?"
"If that's the case, I can withdraw my War Game application right now. After all, my objective is only you."
Looking at Freya's openly flirtatious expression, Ryota shook his head.
"You're mistaken."
"I just think — Loki Familia won't lose even one match against you."
As soon as those words fell, the room, which had just started buzzing again after Ryota's proposal, froze once more like death itself had swept through.
Every god, every mortal, every gaze felt like they'd been slapped, stunned solid.
Even Freya's smile stiffened ever so slightly the moment she heard that.
The pink flush on her cheeks froze too, and the ripples in her eyes seemed to stop dead.
In the gallery, Lefiya's mouth turned into a giant "O," and she took a long time to squeak out a line:
"Ryota... did he cook his brain or something?"
"Must have."
Bete crossed his arms, his wolf ears flicking in disbelief, then looked toward Ais, who had stayed silent the whole time.
"Ais, maybe you should go down there and try to talk some sense into him?"
"No."
Ais didn't even need to think, shaking her head at once.
"...I believe."
Those two words from the Sword Princess slammed Bete's mouth shut completely.
He turned back to Ryota and just gave a helpless shake of his head.
Below, Finn's eyes sharpened, and he was just about to step forward to say something, when Loki's voice called him back:
"Finn."
He stopped and looked toward Loki.
There, the goddess of the entire Loki Familia had snapped out of her shock —
In its place was an expression of deadly seriousness.
She shook her head at Finn without a word.
And in that moment, this heroic Pallum understood Loki's message:
— Don't stop him.
— Let's bet it all.
Freya slowly rose to her feet and stepped closer to Ryota.
Once there, she just stood, staring straight into his eyes.
Those gray pupils held no hint of teasing or amusement, only a focused, almost predatory intensity... and something searching.
Ryota did not look away.
He stared back into the goddess of beauty's eyes, unwavering, unflinching.
At length, Freya finally turned to the side and looked at the frozen Royman, the Guild's representative, and spoke:
"I accept Loki Familia's proposal."
"The War Game will be two rounds — a siege battle and a duel."
"But..."
Freya shifted the conversation.
"The first round will be a duel."
"Ryota, you won't refuse me that, will you?"
Ryota raised an eyebrow at those words.
So Freya was planning to use Ottar as a hammer to lock in that first victory, huh?
After all, a 1:1 result still meant her Familia won.
Whereas in a siege battle, there were too many uncertainties.
Even a 99% win rate still carried that 1% risk of losing.
But Ryota nodded, replying calmly:
"Fine, I agree."
"Ah... yes, yes."
Royman hurriedly scribbled everything down with his quill on the document in front of him.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he looked up at Ryota.
"If Freya Familia wins, the condition is that you, Sir Ryota, transfer from Loki Familia to Freya Familia."
"So if Loki Familia wins, what would be your demand?"
Ryota was about to answer, but Freya beat him to it, speaking for him:
"If Freya Familia loses..."
She shifted her gaze back to Ryota.
"...I will personally disband my Familia."
The moment those words landed, the entire chamber erupted!
A surge of gasps, whispers, shock, and flat-out disbelief went off like an explosion!
Freya ignored every bit of it.
Her eyes stayed locked on Ryota the whole time, burning with an intensity she could not hide.
It was a blazing, nearly air-igniting obsession.
In Freya's heart, coming to the mortal world had never been about worship or faith.
She was a goddess of beauty, a being who pursued ultimate pleasure and fulfillment in body, soul, and spirit.
And now, she had found it.
Not in Ottar, her level 7 champion.
Not in those petty believers who fought over her.
But — in Ryota!
If she could not claim him as her own, then everything she had built meant nothing.
That was the truest thought in Freya's heart.
Ryota looked at those eyes, burning with scorching desire, and couldn't help letting a grin tug at his lips.
He had actually been wondering whether to propose Freya disband her Familia if she lost —
Only to have her volunteer it herself.
Turning his head, he spoke to Royman:
"Record it that way."
"The War Game will be best-of-two, the first round — duel."
"The date, five days from now."
"Please have the Guild make all necessary preparations."
Royman blinked a few times, then seemed to remember he was the chair of this meeting. His double chin jiggled as he nodded rapidly:
"U-understood! I'll make the arrangements right away!"
Up in the gallery, the gods were all facepalming, trying to process the sheer flood of insanity they'd just heard.
They were nuts, all of them.
The possibility of Freya Familia disbanding — that was even bigger than when Zeus and Hera had been driven out of Orario.
But Hestia suddenly jumped up, bracing her hands against the railing of the gallery, eyes sparkling as she shouted down:
"So cooool — Ryota you better win! Win and I'll date you!!"
"SIT DOWN, YOU IDIOT!"
Hephaestus grabbed her back into her seat, scowling hard.
Freya, listening to the noise from the stands, smiled softly.
"Then, see you in five days—Ryota."
With that, she turned and left.
Ottar followed wordlessly behind, his massive frame briefly blocking the light from the chamber doors until the two of them disappeared from view, and the room brightened again.
Loki got up, her squinty eyes forming crescent moons, half-laughing, half-exasperated as she stared at Ryota:
"Say, Ryota, if you end up going to Freya Familia, I'm going to miss you for a long, long time~"
"At night I'll be hugging an Ais body pillow, crying my eyes out, you know~"
Ryota chuckled lightly, not answering out loud, though his eyes teased back a silent reply:
Like you aren't hugging it anyway at night!
"I'll go get ready!"
Loki shrugged, then waved to the gallery above.
"Everyone — five days from now, come watch the show!"
With that she strode away, Finn following behind, though as he passed Ryota, he looked up and said:
"Don't worry. We've got five days — we'll definitely win the first match."
Mm... honestly, I wasn't that worried in the first place.
But Ryota still nodded with a smile.
"We will, Captain Finn."
...
As the Guild's official announcement went public, all of Orario was whipped into another frenzy.
In a flash, the words "War Game" lit up every street and alley, and the once-peaceful city was sucked into a tornado of celebration and wild speculation.
Adventurers argued passionately on the corners, while merchants rushed to adjust prices and stock up.
Even the tavern bards started composing new ballads, singing of the "Fate Duel under the Gods" between Freya and Loki.
In the secret underground gambling dens, the odds changed instantly.
Originally, the two Familia had been at about 6:4, close to 50–50.
But after this news broke, Freya Familia's odds fell to practically nothing — 1:1.1!
Meanwhile, Loki Familia's odds went insane — a jaw-dropping 1:200!
Those absurd odds pretty much announced Orario's opinion: there was no suspense about this War Game.
Ryota had caught a bit of gossip about all these crazy bets.
At that moment, he had just walked out the Guild's front doors, a breeze brushing against his face.
He looked up at the sky and whispered softly:
"One to two hundred, huh..."
"So if I win, will the Orario casinos have to pay out so hard they lose their shirts?"
Chuckling, Ryota turned and started walking toward Twilight Manor.
He needed to talk to Loki about some ideas he had for that first match.
----
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