Vote for Your Knight! - Chapter 7

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

Vote for your knight!
Episode 7
“I rather like this seat.”
David said this.
Then he glanced at Custo beside him.
He’d seen it all before entering.
The way Custo was being ostracized.
In other words, this was David’s warning—don’t torment anyone based on their station.
In the end, everyone had no choice but to fall silent.
Custo himself was flustered.
“You really like this seat that much?”
“At least more than the others.”
David said this with a smile.
Custo flinched slightly.
‘What kind of person smiles at a man like that?’
And to sit right next to him, when everyone else keeps their distance.
‘Some kind of unusual taste?’
Custo studied David quickly, his suspicion mounting.
Then their eyes met directly.
Startled, Custo quickly looked away, but it was already too late.
He heard a soft chuckle from beside him.
“My name is David Bertie. And yours?”
Custo didn’t meet his gaze, answering as if indifferent.
“Custo.”
Then David leaned slightly toward him. Ignoring Custo’s startled reaction, David whispered.
“There are Recording Devices set up all throughout the Arena.”
“?!”
At those words, Custo carefully examined his surroundings. Only then did he notice the Recording Devices cunningly hidden here and there.
‘There was a notice on the invitation that Recording Devices would be installed.’
All matches were being filmed.
To be shown to the people, to be judged by them.
Only now they were installed so naturally, blending seamlessly into the environment. So the participants wouldn’t notice.
‘Being this unaware, they’ll capture every provocative moment on film.’
The princess would edit the footage and broadcast it herself, or so it was said.
‘Is the editing technology for Recording Devices really that impressive?’
As far as he knew, it could only do simple cuts of long footage.
In any case, because it was installed so naturally, he’d forgotten of its existence.
The same was true for Mongscho Count and the others.
Everyone except this oddball next to him.
“I don’t know who you are, but I have to admit you’re perceptive.”
“Don’t know who I am?”
David asked, sounding slightly taken aback.
As a child, Custo had been a slave; afterward, a mercenary—rolling through life without time to gossip about famous people.
So he was used to hearing things like this.
But what came next was bewildering.
“It’s been a very long time since anyone said such a thing to me.”
“?”
Custo shifted slightly away from David.
The entrance began to stir again, and it was not long after.
“What is that.”
“Why’s he here of all places?”
“Wow, he’s really lost it.”
“Where’s his conscience gone?”
Voices full of hostility poured out from every corner.
‘What did this person do to draw so much abuse?’
He’s getting criticized almost as much as a slave-born would be.
Custo lifted his head to look toward the entrance. Participants had surrounded a certain man.
“Ah. Who brought this bastard?”
“There’s no way the princess recommended him—he must’ve invited himself out of greed.”
Everyone kept their distance, unable to approach, offering only condemnation.
‘I’d curse him out, but he seems skilled enough that I’d lose a direct confrontation.’
Then the main contender’s face came into view.
A handsome man with a story written all over his features.
‘I have no idea who he is.’
Custo folded his arms across his chest.
‘I’m curious which of us two he’ll end up hating more.’
A strange competitive spirit bloomed within him.
The man walked past the participants’ insults without so much as a glance and took a seat in the lower rows.
He was an officially recognized traitor to the Empire.
The Tyrant’s lapdog.
Dmitri Kassel.
* * *
“Very well. For the honor of those who died by my hand, I will participate in Kartamen.”
“That’s the right decision, Dmitri!”
“However, I have a condition.”
Several days prior.
Dmitri had decided to participate in Kartamen after being persuaded by the Crown Princess Edit.
Concern flickered in Edit’s eyes, which had been gleaming with joy moments before.
As expected, the Crown Princess’s instincts were flawless.
“Please do not reveal to the Kartamen participants or the people that I contributed to the Revolution.”
“But why? If you tell them the truth, everyone will understand and come to like you.”
“Do you truly think they would believe it?”
“What?”
“Rather than believe me, they might misunderstand that Your Highness is covering for me. That would be harmful to Kartamen.”
“…….”
There was logic in Dmitri’s words.
The person they had cursed with such fervor turned out to be a righteous man who had risked his life for the Revolution.
People would not easily accept such a reversal.
Especially given their own history of condemnation.
‘Of course, Dmitri is making excuses because he believes he doesn’t deserve to be loved.’
Yet it was a persuasive excuse.
“But you cannot hide the truth forever.”
“I understand. When I feel the time has come to reveal it, I will do so of my own accord.”
“You promise? You really will tell the truth someday?”
“As a knight, I swear upon my life to Your Highness.”
Number one hundred.
As Dmitri settled into the seat bearing that final number, he recalled the conversation he had shared with Edit.
Just then, Edit ascended the Platform installed on the opposite side of the Waiting Area.
“Ooh.”
“Is the Crown Princess making a personal appearance?”
The Waiting Area stirred.
Unless one was a high-ranking noble, one rarely caught sight of the Crown Princess.
Edit was renowned as a genius alchemist who had helped bring down the Tyrant.
Rather than taking her seat on the Platform, she stood facing the Waiting Area.
“Welcome all. I am Edit Lafayette, and I will be hosting Kartamen.”
“Ooh!”
“Allow me to introduce the judges.”
Three women ascended onto the Platform.
The Waiting Area erupted.
“Who are they? Who dares judge our factions?”
“Wait—surely not those…!”
“Impossible! Are they really those ‘knights’?”
Those who had been speaking so arrogantly fell silent the moment they recognized the judges’ identities.
Custo furrowed his brow.
‘Who are they this time?’
He had no idea whatsoever.
David leaned toward him slightly and whispered.
“They’re the Valkyria.”
“!”
The Valkyria!
Even Custo, who paid little attention to the world’s happenings, had heard that name before.
Valkyria was an Imperial Knight Order composed exclusively of women.
The Tyrant had not included the Valkyrian knights in the bloody conflict.
He had dismissed their martial prowess.
In truth, until that point, Valkyria had not been particularly renowned.
Because of this, Valkyria had managed to survive.
Yet they did not rejoice at their survival. Instead, they were the first to seek out the current Emperor and persuade him to strike down the Tyrant.
In other words, they were among the heroes of the Revolution.
After demonstrating their prowess in the Revolution, the honor of the Valkyrian Knight Order had naturally risen as well.
“I am Amont Bekes, commander of Valkyria. I don’t expect much, but I hope everyone will do their best.”
A woman with long crimson hair bound tightly in a braid spoke.
A woman with short black hair and wolf-like blue eyes opened her mouth next.
“I’m Ines Parto, vice-commander.”
That was all.
Finally, a woman with short golden hair spoke, her red eyes gleaming.
“I’m Mila Pond. I’m just one of Valkyria’s knights. Let’s all work hard so the commander and vice-commander won’t have to scold us!”
Her voice was brighter than the previous two, yet her words carried the sharpest weight.
As the judges took their seats, Edit called out.
“Now we begin the Entrance Evaluation! Candidate number one, prepare yourself!”
Soon the first candidate received his Whip and climbed onto the Platform.
And then the Mole-Catching Game began in a way no one had anticipated.
* * *
The Mole-Catching Game.
A basic training exercise where participants destroyed mole-shaped low-rank Mechanical Dolls that popped up from the ground.
Since the game could be conducted with simple obstacles if Mechanical Dolls were unavailable, many apprentice knights had experienced it during their initial training phase.
And so everyone had assumed one thing.
That they would showcase their martial techniques under the pretense of catching moles.
But that was before they realized the true “mole” was themselves.
The Maze was a simple structure built of brick.
If one simply caught the moles that appeared without warning, passing through this Maze seemed deceptively easy.
“Kyaaaah!”
That is, if it were not for the traps and obstacles that suddenly erupted from nowhere.
Candidate fifty-five, who had been about to thrust what looked like a decorative spiral spear into one of the dolls, let out a scream and collapsed.
A spherical obstacle had suddenly flown through the air from the void.
“Phew… I dodged it!”
Fifty-five, barely having escaped, rose to his feet with self-satisfaction.
In that instant, the sphere he had just dodged bounced back and struck the back of his head.
“Ugh!”
Fifty-five collapsed with a vacant expression on his face.
He was Mongscho Count.
He had switched places to go ahead of Custo.
But it had only hastened his downfall.
A thick rod-shaped obstacle erupted from the wall and passed mercifully over the fallen Mongscho Count.
“Squeak?”
A mole-shaped Mechanical Doll tilted its head as it poked out from a hole in the floor, but Mongscho Count still hadn’t caught a single one.
Two judges sitting side by side and one moderator all sighed.
Only Mila remained as spirited as ever.
“Wow, Your Highness. Looking at it again, your idea is so brilliant! How did you turn the Mole-Catching Game into a candidate-catching game instead? Out of fifty-five participants, only a handful have completed it properly!”
“It’s… not exactly a good thing.”
Edit murmured with a troubled expression.
She had introduced this twist to filter out those who lacked real skill but had learned some regional or factional martial art well enough to seem convincing—hollow showpieces.
‘No, is this a gathering of hollow showpieces?’
With just that one twist, they were all revealing their true nature.
Edit sighed as she looked at the curtain suspended in the void between the Waiting Area and the judges’ platform.
It was a device that allowed everyone to see each candidate’s face and basic information.
With each new curtain that fell, disappointment only grew.
“So far, the candidate that stood out a bit was the young-looking one wielding a Greatsword, wasn’t it?”
“The fisherman-turned-candidate who used a Net as a weapon was unique too.”
Commander Amont and Vice-commander Ines spoke with cynicism. Mila also chimed in.
“Candidate number one was really impressive. We got our hopes up because of candidate number one.”
Participant Number One wielded the whip with the ease and precision of his own fingers.
The moles squeaked and squealed as they fell helplessly before him.
But what followed was the beginning of absolute collapse.
In the meantime, attendants dragged the fallen Mongscho Count before the judges’ bench.
Aware of his own failure, he spoke urgently, his face flushed crimson.
“I, I haven’t warmed up yet, so I made a small mistake!”
“Then you should be warmed up by now, shouldn’t you? Shall we go back and try again?”
Amont Bekes spoke. At her words, Mongscho Count’s face drained of color.
“I, I’m not mentally prepared yet……. If you could give me another chance later…….”
Amont’s gaze turned glacial.
“Tomorrow, then? Will you be ready by then? Or the day after? A month, a year? When exactly do you think you’ll be ready?”
Mongscho Count opened and closed his mouth soundlessly.
Honestly, he didn’t want to go back and try again. He was terrified.
Ines Parto asked with unmistakable disdain.
“Why did you enter this evaluation?”
“I, I learned that a noble who understands honor ought naturally to dream of becoming a knight!”
His voice rang out strong—this was a rehearsed answer.
“Do you want to become a knight?”
“Yes, yes! I’ve never seen a more magnificent profession!”
Ines Parto let out a soft, contemptuous laugh.
“So you won’t become a knight if it’s not magnificent?”
“Yes! No, wait, I, that’s not what I meant…….”
Mila Pond added her voice.
“Being a knight isn’t something you do simply because it’s impressive. The reality is constant wounds across your body, and endless days soaked in sweat.”
“You seem not to understand what a knight even is.”
“Have you trained properly at all?”
Under the barrage of criticism, Mongscho Count’s face flushed deep red.
The judges ceased offering counsel and retreated into deliberation.
“How many failures is that now?”
“There’s a rumor Mongscho Count came to Kartamen for money—supposedly drowning in debt.”
“Still, he’s a minor figure in high society, so we’ll probably grade him leniently.”
Moments later, Edit Lafayette announced the results.
“Based on the judges’ deliberations, Mongscho Count’s rating is…….”

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