Vote for Your Knight! - Chapter 40

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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!
Chapter 40
And there was someone who had confidently secured an invitation amid that fierce competition.
Norman Posey, no less.
A columnist for the Justice and Truth Daily.
He had arrived early and taken his seat in the section designated for the press.
It was a seat to which the Princess Edith had extended a personal invitation.
Thanks to that, he’d spared himself the ordeal of standing in line to request entry.
‘Still, though. Giving the top tier of seats to a journalist?’
The fact that he, as an invited guest, was seated behind the common folk—in nothing more than an ordinary spot—rankled him.
‘The only advantage is that the entire arena is clearly visible from here.’
After all, he’d made a habit of leveling criticism at Kartamen at every turn.
This time, what angle would he find to exploit?
He surveyed the interior of the Circular Arena.
‘……Honestly, they’ve dressed it up quite competently.’
They’d recreated the Naval Combat events of old exactly as they had been.
They’d filled the arena with water, and in the center, a buoy shaped like an island floated lazily.
But it wasn’t just an ordinary buoy.
There were obstacles that resembled trees and rocks, and even a cave where acquisition items lay hidden. It felt genuinely like a real island.
‘…….’
He paused in thought, then began writing in his notebook.
— In such a grave hour, Kartamen squanders resources on a mere game.
One jab completed.
Norman Posey smiled with arrogance.
So many people admitted without a single major or minor incident.
‘The Princess certainly seems to have prepared thoroughly.’
But he saw no reason to commit that observation to his notebook.
Soon the entry was complete.
The curtain rose on the second Evaluation, the Naval Combat.
He’d expected the match to begin at once, but footage appeared on a screen mounted in the central void.
It showed the knights practicing.
And then—
“I’m sorry.”
“It couldn’t be helped.”
“Next time, I promise we’ll do it together.”
From each team, one member withdrew according to the vote.
The Circular Arena stirred. Jeers echoed from various corners.
Norman Posey’s lips curled coldly.
— Can abandoning one’s own teammate be called justice in Kartamen? ……
Norman Posey’s hand flew across the page as if wings had sprouted from it.
‘Why did the Princess invite me to such an Evaluation? Does she hunger for more criticism?’
Criticism might grab attention, but his pen could annihilate even that attention.
While Norman Posey entertained such arrogant thoughts, the first team appeared.
Five of them.
The arena’s reaction was lukewarm.
After all, they’d just watched this team abandon one of their own.
The match began with the five knights boarding a vessel and heading toward the island.
Though they stumbled here and there, having filtered out half the participants, their performance was reasonably competent.
‘Which is another word for tedious.’
Soon the boat reached the island, and the Tactical Unit and Acquisition Unit rushed toward the cave.
At that moment, the Homunculi hidden behind rocks and trees sprang forth.
While the Tactical Unit engaged them, the Acquisition Unit entered the cave.
‘They said they’d retrieve the Emperor’s Sword.’
At the same time, the darkened screen displayed the interior of the cave.
In that instant, everyone in the Circular Arena gasped in astonishment.
“What?”
“What’s going on?”
“Why is that knight there?”
Inside the cave, an enormous Emperor’s Sword gleamed, large enough to require two people to carry.
And beside it, a single person lay bound at the wrists and ankles.
It was a colleague who had just withdrawn.
* * *
The waiting room inside the arena.
Unlike the outside, which was engulfed in roars, this place was silent as a tomb.
There was no way to know what was happening beyond these walls.
The match order had been determined by drawing lots.
Dmitri’s team was fifth.
Kusto’s team was last, in the ninth position.
“Dmitri’s team! Please come out!”
As Dmitri stepped outside, he sensed something peculiar about the arena’s atmosphere.
Excitement, an odd tension, and even hostility hung in the air.
“What is this feeling?” he muttered.
Morris felt it too, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Stop overthinking. Focus on the Evaluation.”
Joan distributed weapons as she spoke, having volunteered to manage them after losing her position as Leader, at least to secure footage.
She’d stepped up to handle the task since her Leader role was taken from her.
Dmitri turned his head, sensing the sharp gaze directed at him from somewhere.
Joan’s fans in the stands were glaring at Dmitri in unison.
‘They know the Leader changed.’
Their expressions made it clear: ‘Let’s see if he’s any good. Even if he is, we’ll tear him apart,’ their resentment was written across their faces.
‘Chilling,’ he thought.
By today, the two of them might well find themselves in a competitive dynamic.
Of course, for Dmitri, ranked as low as he was, this was no bad thing. After all, he was getting attention.
Once each of them had claimed their weapons, they boarded the boat at the sound of “Begin!”
“Steady! Keep your balance! Port side, give it more strength!”
With one person missing from the original six, they’d had to revise their entire strategy.
Instead of rowing, Dmitri stood at the stern, using an oar as a rudder while calling out orders.
The support unit had lost Olivier, so Rafael had to do the work of two people alone.
The boat reached the island smoothly.
“Ohhhhh!”
“The fastest time we’ve seen so far!”
“Dmitri’s leadership is sharp.”
As they climbed onto the island, hidden enemies appeared.
Rafael felled enemies with arrows from behind, the Tactical Unit engaged with clubs, and the Acquisition Unit pushed into the cave.
“What is this!”
“What’s happening!”
As they fought an endless stream of enemies, screams echoed from the cave.
“What’s wrong? What’s going on!”
Dmitri struck an enemy’s back with his club while shouting the question.
That was when Dmitri’s club cracked with a sharp sound and shattered.
“Dmitri!”
Joan called out irritably, having witnessed the break.
She was the one who’d managed the weapons, yet she spoke as though Dmitri himself had carelessly destroyed it.
“Go into the cave and see what’s happening. I’ll handle things here.”
Joan had spoken.
She meant to monopolize all the attention for herself.
Dmitri felt the unfairness, but there was nothing to be done about it.
He entered the cave.
And he gasped in alarm.
“Olivier!”
Olivier was bound next to the Emperor’s Sword.
“Good timing. The Emperor’s Sword is so heavy that I couldn’t carry it away with Olivier as well.”
The Emperor’s Sword was so massive that two people could barely lift it.
“The chains binding him won’t shatter, no matter how many times you strike them with a blade.”
Morris said this as well.
“Very well. I’ll support Olivier and get him out.”
“It would be better to leave me behind.”
Olivier spoke with a downcast tone.
“What are you saying? Don’t talk like that—we need to move now!”
Pavel shouted.
The three of them left the cave together.
Seeing three people emerge alongside Olivier, Joan and Rafael froze in shock.
“Olivier!”
“H-how is this…!”
They boarded the boat to escape the Homunculus.
But the moment they loaded the Emperor’s Sword onto the boat and tried to bring Olivier aboard, the vessel tilted.
“See? I told you it would be better to leave me behind.”
The boat could bear the weight of exactly five people and the Emperor’s Sword, no more.
‘They designed it this way on purpose!’
To force the Withdrawal candidate to be abandoned!
Dmitri’s eyes snapped toward Edith, sitting quietly among the townspeople.
‘Why would you create such a cruel Evaluation!’
Olivier, already abandoned once, might have to be abandoned again.
Then it came.
“Grrroooowwwwl!”
The cry of a Demon Beast echoed from inside the cave.
“The Demon Beast will awaken in ten seconds. You must escape the island before then!”
It wasn’t a real Demon Beast, but if they didn’t escape within ten seconds, the mission would fail.
A choice had to be made fast.
Olivier spoke, his voice trembling.
“Let me be clear—abandoning His Majesty’s sword is tantamount to treason.”
“But you said abandoning a comrade in the hunting mission is grounds for disqualification!”
“During the mid-point check, we said that in dramatic situations, sometimes there are unavoidable choices made for victory. This is that moment!”
Pavel’s words drew Joan’s rebuttal.
Now only five seconds remained.
Behind them, the Demon Beast’s roar grew louder.
“You must decide now!”
Joan shouted.
In the end, Pavel and Morris hoisted the Emperor’s Sword onto the boat. The vessel lurched.
“Now we depart….”
That was when Dmitri shoved the Emperor’s Sword off the boat, and it tumbled to the ground of the island.
“Dmitri!”
Before anyone could stop him, he pulled Olivier aboard.
“As your Leader, I’m telling you: get on the boat now! You must escape with Olivier!”

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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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