Vote for Your Knight! - Chapter 48

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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!
48
A few days later.
Notices appeared across the Empire announcing the arrest of those who had bought and sold Voting Rights.
All their votes were invalidated. And they faced enormous fines.
But what shocked everyone was this.
“They didn’t strip these bastards of their Voting Rights?”
No matter how grave the offense, the policy stopped short of preventing individuals from exercising their legitimate Voting Rights.
It was Edit’s will.
“I was curious whose fans did that, but they didn’t reveal it.”
“It wasn’t just one or two. Fans of various knights must have been involved.”
And there was one more thing.
Now the Plaza screens displayed the Daily Ranking every single day.
As the rankings shifted daily, crowds flocked to cast their votes with renewed fervor.
Newspapers picked up those rankings and printed them as articles each day.
Ranking analysis special reports ran almost constantly.
“My position hasn’t shifted much today either.”
Custo set down the newspaper.
Dmitri picked it up again and read through the article. His own ranking remained stable at a certain level.
“David, your name still isn’t showing up.”
Dmitri said.
It meant he was in either first or second place.
Sipping his tea and gazing out the window, David smiled quietly.
Through the window, Kilian and Olivier were deep in practice.
Olivier, who had come only to deliver Leg Medicine to Kilian, had somehow been caught by him and was now training alongside him.
“Why do I have to do this?”
“Is having a sharp mind everything? Your body is hopeless!”
“Hopeless? I’ve never heard such a word in my life! I am——”
“Right, right. First in the Imperial Academy and top of every subject. But your body is a complete failure in every discipline, that’s what.”
Faced with Kilian’s words, Olivier could only huff indignantly.
Hearing that exchange, Custo let out a snort of laughter.
“Those two are determined to perform extraordinarily well at the next Challenge Round.”
“Aren’t you tempted?”
Dmitri, who had been quietly studying the newspaper, asked.
“Me? I still find it amazing.”
“Amazing?”
David repeated, raising an eyebrow. Custo nodded.
“How my ranking stays so consistently stable. How there are people voting for me so earnestly. It’s astonishing. People I’ve never even met, yet they vote for me——”
Custo blinked, looking somewhat lost in sentiment, then broke into a broad smile.
“That’s why I’m getting greedy. I want to climb even higher.”
“I knew you’d say that.”
David spoke with evident satisfaction. Seeing his genuinely pleased expression, Custo asked seriously.
“It doesn’t bother you?”
“What doesn’t.”
“That I used to be a slave. And you too, Dmitri.”
David’s brow furrowed.
“What kind of question is that all of a sudden?”
“And you don’t seem bothered that I was a traitor.”
At Dmitri’s words, Custo nodded.
“That may be true, but——”
Custo gazed at the Slave Mark etched into his forearm.
“Most who come from slavery hide or erase this mark, living in shame. Everyone points fingers at it.”
“But you don’t feel ashamed of it.”
David observed. Custo nodded again.
“I didn’t become a slave because I did something wrong. That’s why I haven’t erased the mark.”
Then he spoke quietly, almost to himself.
“They say there’s never been anyone of slave origin in Di Eques before.”
Custo caressed his mark with his other hand.
“I want to become part of Di Eques as someone who came from slavery. So that those like me won’t hide themselves or feel ashamed—so that I can become their hope.”
* * *
Episode 6 broadcast day.
A man sat alone at the front of the Plaza.
‘Is this too far forward? Should I move?’
He turned to look behind him. But the Plaza was already packed.
And the broadcast hadn’t even started yet.
Latecomers were redirecting themselves to other plazas.
Though whether there would be room there remained a question.
Some people were even climbing trees to catch a glimpse of the Challenge Round.
‘I’ll just stay here.’
The man settled himself and fixed his gaze on the screen.
The screen displayed today’s Daily Ranking.
He was desperately searching for one name.
‘Where are you, brother? Where are you?’
And there, at thirtieth position, he found it.
30th place: Kilian Grucy
‘Damn it, how could this happen……’
The man sighed.
His ranking had dropped again.
‘Why does Kilian’s ranking keep falling? He’s such a compelling person.’
Manly, loyal, strong.
The only problem was that he didn’t get much screen time, but he was otherwise perfect.
‘Is that really such a big issue?’
But there was one more thing troubling him.
Last time, on episode 5’s broadcast day.
‘He finally got some screen time, but of all things it was the scene where he voluntarily withdrew from the team.’
Since he’d made several mistakes during training, the damage to his image might have been severe.
‘But he had a leg injury back then.’
Kilian had performed the Challenge Round so flawlessly otherwise that it should have gone unnoticed.
‘And he’s such an impressive person……’
Surely he wouldn’t be eliminated this episode, would he?
He could only pray that wouldn’t happen.
Soon episode 6 began to air.
And his hopes shattered completely.
He’d actually removed a teammate.
‘No, brother! Our brother……!’
The man was in shock.
Until the actual Challenge Round began, he couldn’t concentrate.
‘What’s going to happen to him now? He hasn’t appeared once since he was eliminated.’
Surely he wouldn’t be disqualified just like this.
His heart was pounding with anxiety.
Then——
“Hey, you! What are you doing here?”
“Do we need to take him with us?”
“No! We can’t fit him on the boat!”
During the first team’s Challenge Round, an Eliminated Member appeared.
He’d been tied up beside the recovered artifact—the Emperor’s Sword.
“Oh!”
“Wow, they left the Eliminated Member there!”
“That’s cruel.”
The crowd’s reaction intensified when they realized the boat couldn’t fit both the sword and the Eliminated Member.
“You can’t abandon a teammate!”
“So you’d abandon His Majesty’s sword? You want to commit treason?”
The crowd split sharply into two factions.
The man’s position was clear.
‘Our brother has to be saved! He has to be!’
But team after team came and went, each ultimately abandoning the Eliminated Member—their former comrade—and departing with the sword.
“Those horrible people……!”
“I mean, retrieving the Emperor’s Sword is the objective, but… it’s hard to watch.”
“The Eliminated Member has been abandoned twice now, hasn’t he? I’d never get over it.”
Public sympathy for the Eliminated Member steadily grew.
The man’s fists clenched tight.
‘At this rate, Kilian’s team will abandon him too.’
Then he’d flood the Tablet Community with hate posts.
He was grinding his teeth.
By the time the fifth team emerged.
This team, too, had loaded the Emperor’s Sword onto their boat.
“So that’s how it is.”
“These bastards have no loyalty.”
That was when it happened.
Someone pushed the Emperor’s Sword off the boat, down onto the island floor.
It was Dmitri.
And he hoisted Olivier, the Eliminated Member, onto the boat.
“As team leader, I’m telling you! Get on the boat quickly! We must escape together with Olivier!”
“Oooooh! Dmitri!”
“He’s saving the Eliminated Member! Saving him!”
“What in the world—!”
In the end, Dmitri’s team abandoned the Emperor’s Sword and rescued their teammate.
People cheered even as they worried.
“But can they really just throw away His Majesty’s sword?”
“They’ll get disqualified for that.”
As if to wash away those doubts, Dmitri spoke.
“Olivier has received a commission from His Majesty. He is His Majesty’s knight. And His Majesty’s knight is, in essence, His Majesty’s sword as well.”
As a result, Dmitri’s team received neither penalty nor special favor.
But the next team, unaware of this fact, chose the sword again and abandoned their teammate.
The team after that did the same.
“Idiots! I told you to save your teammate!”
“But if we don’t get the sword, what’s the point of this game?”
Because there was already a team that had rescued their teammate, the other teams looked all the worse by comparison.
‘If things keep going like this, what’s going to happen to my Kilian?’
The man stared at the screen, palms sweating.
Finally. The last one.
It was Kilian’s team.
And Kilian’s teammates did not disappoint.
“I’m telling you, you can’t get on this boat!”
“When did I ever ask you to put me on?”
(David hoisting Kilian onto his back!)
“What are you doing? Put me down! Put me down, I said!”
“This time, I’m not letting you go.”
“Nooooo!”
The man lost all composure and erupted in cheers.
Not letting him go—!
Not abandoning my brother—!
“I won’t give up on you guys either!”
Just wait until the broadcast ends!
I’m casting my Voting Right right then!
He wasn’t the only one cheering.
Along with Custo, everyone erupted at the sight of Kilian’s teammates refusing to abandon him.
And on top of that, the team had even secured the Emperor’s Sword.
The Plaza swelled with excitement.
Then an interview clip with Kilian played—one from who knows when.

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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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