"No way, this can't be happening!"
"Yeah, it's impossible no matter how you look at it!"
"There must be something wrong with this game!"
The gods and goddesses couldn't believe what they were seeing.
At first, they thought the war game would end quickly with Aqua Familia's defeat.
But who would have thought that Kazuma from Aqua Familia would manage to defeat 14 members of Loki Familia purely by luck?
The fact that a game relying solely on luck could turn out like this made them wonder if Aqua Familia had done something behind the scenes.
"This game is rigged, this game must be rigged!!"
Some adventurers seated in the audience were shouting like madmen after witnessing how the game was unfolding. They accused Aqua Familia and Loki Familia of rigging the war game from the start.
Of course, the ones yelling were the adventurers who had bet on Loki Familia to win.
Meanwhile, the poorer adventurers who had gambled their entire wealth felt a glimmer of hope that they might become rich overnight.
Right now, in the middle of the colosseum, Kazuma was calmly waiting for the 15th participant from Loki Familia.
Lefiya Viridis approached the stage with a terrified expression. How could she not be? Her common sense simply couldn't comprehend what had just happened.
Earlier, she had played rock-paper-scissors with her fellow Familia members. No matter how many times they tried, there was no technique involved that could influence the outcome of the game.
The only explanation she could think of for why this adventurer named Kazuma had defeated all the previous members of Loki Familia was that he must have the ability to read his opponent's mind.
While Lefiya was deep in thought, she didn't realize she had already reached the stage.
"Hellooo, are you alright?" Kazuma greeted her as she stood there, lost in her thoughts.
"Eek!"
Startled by Kazuma's greeting, Lefiya instinctively jumped back.
"Hey... hey, why are you so scared? I haven't done anything to you."
'Be careful with this guy, Lefiya. He can read minds,' she reminded herself, ignoring Kazuma's words.
Even though there was no solid proof, Lefiya firmly believed that the adventurer standing before her could read minds.
Naturally, Lefiya's strange, overly cautious behavior didn't escape from Kazuma's observation. After observing her movements, Kazuma suddenly thought of something.
'Why is this elf being so wary of me? Could it be that she thinks I used some kind of trick against the Loki Familia adventurers? If that's the case, she probably suspects I can either hypnotize people or read their minds. Well, this could get interesting.'
"Hey, Elf girl, are you worried that I can read your mind?"
Kazuma's question only made Lefiya even more wary of him.
Lefiya didn't respond to Kazuma's question; instead, she took a step back to distance herself from him.
"Let me guess, in the first round, you're definitely going to use paper,"
Kazuma said, ignoring Lefiya's wariness.
Of course, it was all just nonsense.
He wasn't like the demon Vanir, who could read minds or predict the future. If Kazuma had such a terrifying ability, no one would know what awful things he might do.
"Megumin-san, Darkness-san, is what Kazuma-san said true?"
Bell asked Megumin and Darkness, who were watching the war game with him.
"It's just a bluff; Kazuma is just lying about it," Megumin replied.
Having known Kazuma for a long time, she could tell when he was bluffing his opponents.
"Yeah, I agree. But if Kazuma says that, then the other party will definitely throw paper," Darkness added, agreeing with Megumin.
"Eh, what do you mean, Darkness-san? If it's just a bluff, then why did you say it as if Kazuma-san is right?"
"That's because we're talking about rock-paper-scissors. Kazuma once told us that he has never lost at rock-paper-scissors since he was a kid."
"Really?"
Bell couldn't believe what Darkness was saying. No matter how lucky or skilled someone was, there was always a chance of losing in this game. Lost in thought over Darkness's words, Bell didn't notice the girl beside him acting strangely.
"Yeah, but Kazuma is really cruel, hehehe. Even though he knows he would win the game, he still bullies the girl in front of him. Aaaaah... what kind of gift is that?"
....
...
...
"Satou Kazuma vs. the 15th participant from Loki Familia, Lefiya. Please start the game!"
Shakti Varma who was eager to end the War Game as soon as possible slightly annoyed by Lefiya's constant wariness toward Kazuma. She urged both of them to start the game right away.
"First comes rock! Then comes paper... You can't throw them all—rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"
Right after that, Lefiya choose paper, while Kazuma choose scissors.
"Impossible!!!"
"How could something like this happen?!!!"
"I can't believe this!!"
All the spectators in the colosseum heard what Kazuma had said to Lefiya before. At first, they thought Kazuma was just bluffing. But after seeing the outcome, they began to believe that he could read minds.
Although they didn't know how Kazuma could read minds, once the war game was over, all the adventurers and civilians would be very cautious when communicating with him.
Lefiya's eyes widened in shock.
She clearly saw her right hand is in paper form, just as Kazuma had predicted.
Fear gripped her; she was terrified that the man in front of her could truly read her thoughts.
'Impossible, this can't be happening. When he said I would throw paper, I hadn't even thought about it at all. So he can't read my mind.'
Lefiya tried to convince herself, but her doubts grew after losing the next two rounds.
In the VIP room, the gods and goddesses whispered among themselves after witnessing the outcome of the game between Kazuma and Lefiya. In their minds, they were convinced that Kazuma could indeed read other people's minds.
"Ara... what a pity, Loki. If Kazuma can really read minds, then your Loki Familia is destined to lose this War Game!"
Amidst the commotion among the gods and goddesses, Freya expressed her thoughts to tease Loki. However, Loki ignored Freya's teasing and shifted her gaze to Aqua.
"Damn it... Aqua!! Don't tell me you picked this game because Kazuma can read minds! This is unfair; I won't accept it!"
"Pffft... what are you talking about? Kazuma doesn't have that kind of ability. He's just lucky."
"Lucky, you say?? Do you really think I'll believe that?"
Loki absolutely didn't believe what Aqua had just said. In her mind, Aqua had definitely been planning all of this from the start, perhaps even scheming to provoke Loki Familia into challenging them to a War Game.
"Loki, whether you believe it or not is none of my business. What's clear is that you can't cancel this War Game just because you think you're going to lose, pfffffft!"
The gods and goddesses certainly didn't believe what Aqua had said. Initially, they thought this new goddess was just a foolish one who knew nothing, but after witnessing the ongoing war game, they were all trembling in fear.
Just imagining that everything from the beginning until now was Aqua's plan made her appear to the gods and goddesses as a cunning and clever goddess.
After Lefiya lost, she returned to her familia and shared her thoughts with Riveria.
"Riveria-san, I don't think Satou Kazuma can read minds."
"Oh? How did you reach that conclusion?"
Riveria was a bit impressed with Lefiya. This usually shy elf was brave enough to express her opinion in front of so many people.
"At the start, he said I would choose paper, but at that moment, I hadn't thought of anything yet, so it's impossible for him to read my mind. But honestly, I'm not sure. In the second and third rounds, I clearly thought about what I would choose— betweeb rock, paper, or scissors—and I really lost."
"Hmm... I see. If Kazuma really can't read minds, then it's highly likely that he can predict the future. Although I'm not sure how far ahead he can see, predicting the short-term outcomes in a rock-paper-scissors game seems like an easy task for him."
"Then, what should we do, Riveria-san?"
"If it truly is the ability to predict the future, then there must be a limit to it. What do you think, Finn? Do you want to continue the game until Kazuma can no longer use his power, or should we surrender now?"
"Hmm, that's a tough choice. If our assumption that Kazuma can predict the future is correct, we'll lose a lot of money either way—whether we keep playing until he can't use his power anymore or surrender now."
At this point, Riveria and Finn were no longer concerned about the War Game or its stakes. Even though Loki Familia had already lost 450 million Valis due to 15 of their adventurers being defeated, it was still a recoverable amount.
Just considering Riveria's magic staff alone, it was worth 340 million Valis. If all the equipment from the Loki Familia adventurers were totaled, it would easily exceed 1 billion Valis. So, losing their home and a few hundred million wasn't a huge issue.
They might just need to spend a few months in the dungeon to get back to their peak condition.
Because of this, their current concern right now wasn't about winning or losing the War Game, but rather confirming Kazuma's true abilities.
"In that case, let's first confirm whether our assumption is true. It's not too late to surrender afterward!"
(To Be Continued)
(A/N: Sorry for the late upload and the short chapter. Normally, I write around 1500-1600 words, but when I'm at my best, I can go up to 1800-2000 words per chapter. Lately, I've been reading a lot of novels to gather inspiration, which has left me with little time to work on this fanfic. I'll do my best to manage my time better so I can get back to my peak writing condition.)