Vote for Your Knight! - Chapter 61

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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!
61
“Pierre Simon!”
“He’s playing the spider! Look at that costume—it’s amazing!”
Bryn and Agnes cried out.
The crowd around them stirred with whispers at his entrance.
At the same moment, brisk music began to pour through the speakers.
With eight legs
forging hell itself,
and with that wicked mouth
devouring the earth—
In time with the music, the spider began to dance, lifting the horse’s front legs.
Pierre handled the horse with practiced skill.
He walked it to the side like a predator stalking prey, then bounced it back, and suddenly lunged forward toward the stands before pivoting away.
“Kyaaaah!”
The startled crowd screamed.
Then Pierre withdrew with a demonic smile.
That was when it happened.
That’s far enough!
The music shifted to a brighter tone and the lights blazed to life.
Eight knights in white costumes appeared behind the spider.
As long as our swords remain,
your legs shall lose their strength,
and as long as our swords remain,
the demon’s thread shall break—
They approached the spider in two columns of four.
The spider swiftly wove between the two lines.
When the formation curved, it curved; when it angled, it angled—the spider slipped through every configuration.
It even fled in a zigzag pattern.
“Whooooa!”
The crowd erupted at the sheer skill on display.
While Pierre’s technique seemed dazzling at first glance, maintaining those formations was itself an extraordinarily difficult feat.
Then eight horses closed in to trap the spider in a circle.
A trap with no escape—
or so you thought, but it is you who have been ensnared.
The spider and each of the knights faced off in Sword Dance.
Of course, it was performed with Practice Swords, entirely without danger.
Rafael in white costume struck the spider’s blade aside, blonde hair streaming, and shrieks erupted from every corner.
Dressed in white that contrasted starkly with the dark spider, the knights appeared almost angelic.
Bryn’s section, in particular, was close to pandemonium.
“Ahhhhh! Rafael! Rafael!”
“Rafael’s definitely pretty. But there’s also that intensity, you know? Real charisma.”
Bryn muttered while covering one ear.
David swung his sword with holy grace, and Morris thrust his blade with noticeably improved speed.
Both were handsome enough that the white lighting and costumes harmonized beautifully.
Deni’s swordwork, by contrast, carried more weight and power.
When pink-haired Pavel extended his blade with his small frame, cries of “Cute!” rang out.
But that soon transformed into admiration.
With that angelic face harboring lethal intent, he looked like a warrior of the apocalypse.
God walks with us!
As the duel remained deadlocked, the spider leaped from the horse.
It was an acrobatic motion—a full rotation in mid-air.
The knights leaped from their horses in perfect unison.
And so began an exhilarating Sword Dance between spider and knights.
It was fierce swordplay and yet a carefully choreographed Equestrian Performance all at once.
Screams erupted from every direction.
At last, when eight blades pointed at the spider simultaneously—
We shall be victorious!
The spider fell.
With the spider defeated before them, the knights began their victory Sword Dance.
And mounting their horses, they all stretched their swords toward the sky.
“Yaaaaaaaaa!”
* * *
Even after the stage lights dimmed, the roar of the crowd lingered.
Once they’d caught their breath, the lights came back up.
From the judges’ bench, Ines posed her question with a curious expression.
“Whose idea was it to add the spider?”
“It was all of our idea together.”
Morris answered with conviction.
“A brilliant concept.”
To everyone’s surprise, it was praise from Ines.
The knights, accustomed to her acerbic tongue, doubted their own ears.
The audience did the same.
“Bryn, I didn’t mishear that, did I?”
“Right? Did Ines actually say that correctly?”
But Edith had seen it.
The corners of Ines’s mouth lifting slightly, even as she bowed her head.
Amont continued.
“Choosing something entirely new is extremely risky. Adding is harder than subtracting.”
……
“Yet you managed it beautifully.”
In that moment when everyone tensed, wondering if criticism was coming next—
Amont’s approval sent another roar through the audience.
Amont chuckled and passed the floor to Mila.
“It was so much fun! I never realized you could convey such clear, concise messages through the Shadow Game! I’d love to see something like this again next time.”
It was nothing short of high praise.
“Thank you!”
The knights coming down from the stage all wore flushed, euphoric faces.
“The roar just now……”
“My ears are about to burst.”
“I think my heart’s about to burst.”
“You all did amazingly!”
David shouted, throwing his arms wide to embrace them all.
They started moving toward his embrace before realizing it was impossible and burst into laughter.
Everyone was drenched in sweat and trembling with excitement.
That was when Pierre spoke hesitantly.
“We really did well, didn’t we?”
Rafael nodded.
“Especially you. You were outstanding.”
“Pierre, you did great work!”
The other knights credited Pierre, who’d played the spider role so brilliantly.
Through all their previous missions, this was the most exhilarating feedback they’d ever received.
To show something they’d prepared to the common people in full, to lay it all bare before them.
It was a remarkably special feeling.
Their hearts pounding—no, trembling—the knights clutched their chests and returned to the private waiting room.
Unlike the naval battle, this time the waiting room had a small screen.
So they could watch the other teams’ Equestrian Performances from inside.
After Team Two, the behind-the-scenes footage of Team Five was broadcast on the screen.
They were the team that would showcase the Shadow Game together with Team Two.
Since the Shadow Game was so abstract, many scenes showed them struggling.
But eventually it ended with them rallying, insisting they’d focus and do their best.
The lights went out, and Team Five took the stage.
Team Five had tried to solve the problem by simplifying the Shadow Game.
But in doing so, the stage looked bland.
The audience’s response was lukewarm—they’d seen such an extraordinary performance first.
Already demoralized by the previous team’s act, they couldn’t muster the same enthusiasm.
In the end, Team Five repeated mistake after mistake.
Their shrinking confidence was plainly visible.
The outcome between the two teams was all but decided.
Next came the Equestrian Performance stage: Team Three and Team Six, both having chosen the Song of Annihilation.
The behind-the-scenes footage showed plenty of messy moments.
It was inevitable, given the difficulty spike in the climax of the Equestrian Performance.
Eventually, they resolved the conflict and ended by pulling together to do their best.
Some teams never fully worked through their tensions, but that was the power of editing.
On stage, both teams performed smoothly enough. The song itself was so rousing that the audience responded just as enthusiastically.
Yet both teams fumbled during that difficult climax section.
“The whole point of choosing this song is to showcase that climax, so failing there defeats the purpose.”
“Don’t misunderstand—you can’t say you did well. You benefited from how strong the Equestrian Performance itself is.”
“Neither team showed their unique strengths. I have to say, I’m disappointed.”
Valkyria’s assessment wasn’t particularly favorable either.
Still, both teams left the stage to considerable applause and headed into the waiting room.
The next Equestrian Performance stage belonged to Team Four and Team One, who were performing Red Heart.
Team Four focused on presenting Red Heart as polished and complete as possible.
They even reworked the music to make it a bit more upbeat.
But the simple choreography and grand foundational theme couldn’t shake off an inherent dullness.
And it was the final slot, to boot.
The audience found themselves yawning from boredom, or simply checking out.
In the end, Team Four’s Red Heart performance fizzled out.
“You can see the effort, but direction matters. It’s a shame you aimed in the wrong direction.”
“You should have performed with the mindset of entertaining the audience, not trying to prove ‘I’m good at this.'”
“There was no reverence for Di Eques either. This is a song meant to honor Di Eques, who were utterly annihilated, yet what was that cheerful music in the middle? Straying from the theme creates unease, not excitement.”
Harsh critiques poured down.
As Team Four walked back with their shoulders drooping, Team One, next in line, swallowed hard.
Kusto. Dmitri.
Killian and Olivier, and even Joan—none of them could shake off the tension.
Red Heart was an incredibly challenging performance.
You had to excite the audience.
Yet at the same time, you couldn’t lose the gravitas befitting a troupe honoring Di Eques.
Team One’s behind-the-scenes footage ended on the screen. They heard Edith calling them.
Kusto shouted.
“We can do this! We’ve prepared so much!”
“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”
Team One climbed onto the stage with a battle cry.

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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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