Vote for Your Knight! - Chapter 14

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Vote for your knight!
14
David didn’t answer, just let out a soft laugh.
The participant mistook it for agreement and grinned broadly.
‘He has no idea.’
That participant—and Kilman’s entire faction—were operating under a fundamental misunderstanding.
David turned his gaze back to the Training Ground below.
The participant who had mocked Kusto earlier bore dark shadows beneath his eyes.
He’d pushed himself through late-night training, trying to outdo Kusto, and exhaustion had accumulated.
Kusto’s face, by contrast, showed no sign of weariness.
As if such hardship were simply part of his daily existence.
Given his past, it made perfect sense.
‘Kusto was enslaved once. He’s used to moving without food, without sleep. That’s his foundation.’
Squires and apprentice knights endured grueling training too.
But nothing like what a slave experienced.
At least they received decent treatment while training.
Which meant that no matter how fiercely Kilman’s faction drove themselves, they couldn’t replicate Kusto’s regimen without breaking.
‘And yet they tried anyway, because they resented him.’
Men who ate well and kept regular hours, then attempted such a regime, would only wreck their conditioning.
Dmitri, Raphael, and Morris—smart enough to see that—had trained moderately and called it a day.
But Kilman’s dull-witted crowd had pushed too hard, driven by wounded pride.
‘Their physical rhythm will be completely shattered.’
With the Rank Reassessment just two days away, that disruption would matter considerably.
‘Without even realizing it, Kusto has already eliminated his rivals.’
David felt a quiet satisfaction settle in him.
* * *
The day before the reassessment.
Edith and the Valkyries had gathered together.
It was for a meeting.
“You all know how we’re conducting tomorrow’s Rank Reassessment, yes?”
“Of course, Your Highness.”
“Yes.”
“It’s going to be so exciting! The participants won’t know what hit them!”
The Valkyries responded in turn.
Edith nodded and opened her notebook.
“I’ve seen the footage myself, but I’d like to hear directly from you—what impressions did you get during your individual training sessions? Particularly, any participants who stood out?”
“In our 5th Rank group, each person is so varied it’s actually hard to single anyone out?”
Everyone except Ines laughed at Mila’s comment.
“Still, they are working hard, aren’t they?”
“Indeed, Your Highness. But ‘hard work’ alone isn’t enough, is it? Oh, wait—I did notice one. Morris Arno, that is…”
“The heir to the Arno Company?”
“Yes. He’s a 5th Rank, but he seemed remarkably cheerful. Practiced diligently too. I’d wager his rank will improve at reassessment.”
“But why is that fellow even here in Kartal?”
Ines finally spoke.
Mila tilted her head, uncertain.
“He claims his dream is to become a knight.”
“A man with that fortune having skills like his? Impossible.”
“He can handle a bow reasonably well.”
“Rich boys hunt for sport, so they know the basics of archery. But his overall ability is pitiful. Why else would he be 5th Rank? If his family truly had that much wealth and he genuinely wanted to be a knight, he’d have hired private tutors—he’d be far more accomplished than this.”
“I think it’s probably due to family circumstances.”
Edith spoke up, and the Valkyries focused their attention on her.
“Morris’s father, the current head of the Arno Company, has married five times. Many children resulted. And his current wife wants to elevate her own children as heirs. Morris is the son of the previous wife, so he’d face opposition.”
“So he came to Kartal to build a reputation and cement his position as heir.”
Ines stated it coldly.
Amont shrugged.
“Well, as long as he’s putting in the effort, it doesn’t matter. Honestly, there are plenty here with hidden motives like that.”
“Yet despite all that, there’s no sign of it. He seems genuinely carefree and bright.”
Mila spoke as if surprised by the contradiction.
Edith added her thoughts.
“Perhaps he’s simply enjoying the situation itself, right now, as it is.”
“Huh! Then isn’t that a bit frightening?”
“I find it exciting. I’ll need to watch more carefully tomorrow.”
Amont spoke with clear anticipation.
“Did any participants stand out particularly to you, Ines?”
“The 3rd and 4th Ranks are all ambiguous.”
Ines replied.
It was the answer Edith had expected.
‘There’s no one in that group who meets Ines’s exacting standards.’
Still, Edith had noticed a participant herself.
A small, wiry fellow had been trailing around after a much larger participant.
The smaller one was a noble; the larger, a commoner of seafaring stock who seemed perpetually annoyed at being followed.
‘Apparently they’re from the same region.’
Perhaps that’s why the diminutive nobleman seemed so eager to befriend the sailor.
With no acquaintances here, it made sense he’d be all the more keen.
‘If I keep an eye on those two, something interesting might unfold.’
Edith watched Amont with a hint of anticipation.
“Our 1st and 2nd Rank participants have followed the training well—I’m largely satisfied. The higher-ranked participants, including Prince David, have been quite stable as well.”
Amont spoke with evident pride.
But Edith found that very point troubling.
‘If everything goes too perfectly, won’t it grow tedious?’
Yes, a little adversity would help matters along.
Then Amont’s expression tightened as something occurred to him.
“There is one participant who strikes me as… unusual.”
“Unusual in what way?”
“Yes. Kusto—the 2nd Rank participant. You know of him?”
Edith’s eyes widened.
‘Is that why he’s been on my mind?’
The special training she’d watched via scrying crystal.
During that session, Amont had treated Kusto with particular harshness.
“Kartal playing games?”
“I don’t understand why he’s rated 2nd Rank. Looking at him now, he’s easily solidly 5th Rank.”
Even those participants Kusto was enslaved alongside had murmured, “Isn’t this a bit too much?”
‘It seemed like he was deliberately trying to test Kusto’s limits.’
Yet Kusto’s abilities were improving, bit by bit.
Though his fundamentals were lacking, he’d started from a blank slate and was building upon what he learned and practiced, one brick upon another.
It was remarkable progress.
Even in the Horsemanship he’d been briefly taught days ago, he’d shown respectable skill.
‘So why does Kusto not sit well with Amont?’
“I truly cannot make sense of that participant.”
As if answering Edith’s unspoken question, Amont opened his mouth.
“He must have ingrained bad habits from his time in Slave Fighting, yet I see none of them.”
Now Edith understood Amont’s concern.
It wasn’t that he disapproved—it was that he couldn’t comprehend.
At his entry evaluation, Kusto had displayed combat habits that could be called expertise if viewed charitably, or stubbornness if not.
‘But what he does now is like someone learning Swordsmanship for the first time.’
How could that be, when he’d handled a blade before?
Could he truly lack habits?
‘That shouldn’t be possible.’
Even knights who’d followed an orthodox elite path picked up bad habits during training and struggled to correct them.
‘Yet Kusto, who’d do anything just to survive, has none?’
It was difficult to fathom, just as Amont said. Impossible, even.
And deeply intriguing.
“My thought is that he’s deliberately concealing himself, approaching his training like a novice. That’s why I intend to keep pressing until I uncover his true nature.”
Amont spoke with determination.
* * *
Rank Reassessment day arrived.
The participants gathered again in the Circular Arena.
The difference from before was that seating had been assigned to each person.
Kusto drew position 11.
Dmitri was position 3; Raphael and Morris were positions 26 and 52, respectively.
‘So David couldn’t possibly be…….’
He was number one.
David sat in the highest seat.
Kusto tilted his head.
‘This looks like an intensive training ranking.’
They hadn’t even conducted a Rank Reassessment, yet the rankings were already decided?
‘Then why did they call everyone together?’
That wasn’t the only peculiar thing.
‘They gave me such a high ranking?’
Amont seemed desperate to devour Kusto.
Eleventh place was actually a respectable rank even among 2nd Rank fighters.
‘I thought I’d drop in rank from the beating I took.’
Eleventh place still kept him in 2nd Rank, and not a bad position at that.
Due to rank changes during the intensive training period, there were now eight 1st Rank and fifteen 2nd Rank fighters.
Twenty-three in total.
‘Did Amont assign the rankings all by himself?’
“Hey! Looks like someone’s doing a Swordsmanship demonstration down there.”
Morris’s voice came from the lower seats.
‘The man certainly knows how to project his voice.’
Kusto took his seat and looked toward where Morris was pointing.
In the center of the arena.
A platform structure had been erected.
Then Kilman spoke from a seat slightly higher than Kusto’s.
“There’s no one still unprepared for the Swordsmanship demonstration, I hope?”
He held 5th place. He’d drawn criticism for his adherence to the Kapta school’s methods, but his skill was genuinely solid regardless.
Moreover, since he made a show of fixing the weaknesses pointed out to him, he’d apparently earned a high ranking.
Of course, whenever Amont wasn’t around, he complained bitterly.
“After all this training, if you’re still stuck at the basics, I’ll make sure Kartal’s honor doesn’t suffer.”
He said it loud enough for everyone to hear.
Several participants flinched and bowed their heads.
Kusto let out a low chuckle.
‘This fellow seems to get a kick out of picking fights.’
Still, shouldn’t he be a bit gentler with someone from his own region?
Some of the 3rd and 4th Rank trainees were practically joined at the hip.
‘Though it did look more like one-sided courting on someone’s part.’
Just then Edith and the judging committee appeared at the judges’ platform.
“Have you all trained diligently?”
“Yes!”
The participants answered vigorously to Edith’s question.
A considerable number had foregone leave to dedicate themselves to the intensive training for the full week.
Most of them brimmed with confidence.
Of course, among the 4th and 5th Rank fighters and even some higher ranks, those whose training hadn’t gone well were looking rather deflated.
‘Plenty of confident faces here.’
Edith watched the participants, eager to showcase their newly developed skills, and called out.
“We will now begin the Rank Reassessment. The event will be……!”
At that moment, an enormous curtain unfurled behind Edith and the judges.
The curtain bore the image of two overlapping swords.
The unsuspecting participants cheered.
Edith looked at their innocent faces and announced.
“The Rank Reassessment event is the One-on-One Duel!”
“!”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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