Vote for Your Knight! - Chapter 76

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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!
76
At last, Amont’s expression brightened slightly.
“Survivors: David, Bertier, Kusto, and Pierre Simon. Four in total.”
Still, it was a respectable number compared to the other groups.
“Finally, Killian Gruci’s group. Survivors: Killian Gruci, Pavel Shurb, Dmitri Kassel, Deni Binoshu, and Rafael Lorang. Five in total.”
……
“With this, the top-ranked group in this evaluation is Killian Gruci’s team. As a reward, each member will receive 200,000 votes.”
Cheers erupted!
Among the knights, congratulatory applause mixed with sighs of regret.
Edith smiled softly as she observed them.
“You’ve all worked so hard—it would be a shame to end it here, wouldn’t it? So I’ve prepared an additional reward!”
The knights’ eyes widened.
Edith addressed the surviving knights.
“Beyond the first-place group, each survivor will receive an additional 100,000 votes. You’ve all done excellent work!”
Cheers erupted from the survivors at this unexpected generosity.
Because the number of survivors was so small, this reward was feasible.
‘The people will have seen how hard the survivors struggled through this, so they’ll understand this is only fair.’
Edith gazed contentedly at the surviving knights with that thought in mind.
* * *
The knights were granted leave, as before.
It was sweeter rest than any they had been given until now—honey-sweet.
“Though I have one lingering question.”
David murmured to himself, seated in the garden with his tea.
Sunlight gleamed across his high, sharp nose.
“Why does my mansion feel like…….”
He surveyed the garden.
“It’s become the Kartamen Dormitory.”
Kusto and Dmitri sat at a tea table in the garden, drinking the same beverage as David.
“Why drink something so bitter? It tastes awful.”
“The flavor has its merits.”
David turned his head to look at the Training Ground set up near the garden.
“Hah! Hah! The whip seems to have gotten even sharper!”
“Tell me about it! According to my calculations, the velocity……ow!”
“Maybe you two are just getting slower!”
Killian and Olivier were practicing their evasion against Pierre’s whip.
He’d thought perhaps they might enjoy some peace during their leave.
‘Not a quiet moment to be had.’
Yet it wasn’t unwelcome.
Not after Hugo, his brother, had left—the place had felt hollow ever since.
‘All this noise isn’t so bad. This is just about right…….’
“Pierre! Pierre! Are you here?”
A booming voice rang out from the mansion’s entrance.
It was Pavel, whose small frame belied his resonant voice.
As always, Deni Binoshu stood beside him with an indifferent expression.
‘……It was just right a moment ago.’
David rose from his seat with a sigh.
Pierre set down his whip and walked out from the Training Ground at the sound of Pavel’s call.
“I’m right here. What’s the matter?”
“Oh! Pierrrre!”
Pavel rushed toward him and embraced him as if he’d been reunited with family after ten years.
Pierre didn’t have the heart to push him away; he merely stood there awkwardly, his arms hung open.
“Since when did we become so close?”
“Weren’t we……always?”
Pavel looked up at him with glistening eyes.
Pierre let out a small groan.
He swallowed his sigh and shook his head.
“No. We were close.”
“Right?”

“It’s only showing now, it seems.”
Deni came striding over and grabbed Pavel by the nape of the neck, pulling him away from Pierre.
“Pierre, have you been here the whole time?”
“Indeed. I’ve been putting these hopeless cases through leg training.”
“Who are you calling hopeless!”
“The term ‘hopeless’ refers to one without any potential for improvement, and since I am achieving even slight progress, it is linguistically inaccurate——”
Killian and Olivier both objected to Pierre’s words at once.
Deni paid them no mind and turned to Pierre instead.
“By the way, was today your birthday?”
At that, Pierre’s expression went blank.
He was simply too shocked.
“How could you possibly know that……”
“Today is your birthday?”
“Why didn’t you say anything!”
Those in the Mansion crowded around Pierre.
Pierre gathered up his Whip and fastened it to his belt before asking.
“How did you find out?”
Pavel answered.
“How could we not! Go outside and look. They’re celebrating Pierre’s birthday at the biggest cafe on Arshin Street!”
“What?”
Pierre’s brow furrowed.
“Why would a cafe do such a thing?”
“I don’t know. I was out with Deni, saw that, and came straight to find you.”
“I didn’t come out to enjoy myself. Pavel dragged me along unilaterally.”
Deni added this clarification firmly.
It was then that Olivier, who had been listening quietly, suddenly burst forth.
“Let’s stop this and go take a look!”
He sweated profusely as he launched into his passionate speech, which Pierre regarded with narrowed eyes.
“Aren’t you just making excuses because you don’t want to train?”
“Yeah, that’s right! Honestly, if you’re going to work people this hard, it’s time we took a break.”
Olivier clapped him on the shoulder and spoke to everyone.
“I’ll wash up and be right out! Just wait a moment.”
“Then I shall take my leave as well.”
Killian quietly followed Olivier’s trail.
* * *
Arshin Street was bustling as always.
Though it looked more like the “Kartamen” street these days.
The walls of buildings and fences were covered with pictures urging people to vote for their favorite knight.
Not only that—flags bearing knights’ faces fluttered through the air like a united nations of standard-bearers.
Shops everywhere were naturally selling Kartamen memorabilia.
Recently, the Imperial Court had begun selling official merchandise at low prices, which made it popular.
David smiled when he saw a handkerchief with his own face drawn on it in one shop.
‘They drew it quite splendidly as I’d hoped. It’s a bit less beautiful than reality, but that’s something unavoidable.’
How could one perfectly render one’s own visage in a mere drawing?
It was unfortunate, but one had to accept reality.
“Really now. How have things come to this—making such things and buying and selling them?”
Kusto, his face hidden behind a Scarf, coughed dryly and spoke.
Not only he, but all the knights who had come with him wore their faces covered, masking their identities so the people wouldn’t recognize them.
Yet between the Scarf’s edges, Kusto’s ears had turned red. David couldn’t help but smile inwardly.
“Ah! There it is!”
A cry came from ahead where Pavel and Pierre were.
A cafe standing prominently in the center of Arshin Street.
It was always a place crowded with visitors.
Outside its entrance stood a full-length portrait of Pierre, life-sized and imposing. The background had been carefully cut away, leaving only the painted figure, so that it looked as though one was gazing upon Pierre himself.
But that wasn’t all.
A large banner hung above the entrance.
[ Pierre Simon’s Birthday Cafe ]
“Birthday……Cafe?”
Pierre stared at the banner with a dazed expression.
‘Who could possibly have learned of my birthday, and how……’
Pierre, troubled by questions, suddenly recalled the first episode of Kartamen.
That was when all one hundred participants had been introduced, along with brief personal details.
‘The birth dates were shown there, but…….’
Had they really prepared all this, remembering a birthday that had passed in just that fleeting moment?
A Birthday Cafe—something he’d never even heard of before?
‘And all of it for me?’
His chest stirred with something beyond mere confusion.
Pavel gave Pierre’s back a push.
“Come on, let’s go inside. Quickly, quickly!”
Pavel seemed even more excited than Pierre himself.
The Birthday Cafe was crowded with people.
“Oh my, how adorable.”
“Look at this Whip. It’s exactly like Pierre’s actual Whip.”
“Remember this? That’s the picture from when Pierre was really active.”
The place was filled with portraits and scenes of Pierre.
The walls displayed not only paintings of Pierre’s exploits in Kartamen,
“Hey, is this really you as a kid?”
but also pictures from his childhood.
There was a painting of young Pierre holding a Whip and crying his eyes out.
A caption was written beneath it.
‘Employee A, who worked alongside Pierre during the time he first learned the Whip from his master, testifies: Pierre was so frightened by the mere sight of the Whip that he would cry.
– Testimony of his appearance at the time, Employee A’
Baby Pierre with a round face and rosy cheeks.
It was an adorable sight, utterly different from his current expression, which carried a certain coldness.
And now here was that Pierre—the obsessive one who rambles on about his master and the Whip every chance he gets—bawling his eyes out.
“Pfft, phuh.”
“Phuah……!”
The knights could no longer hold back and burst into laughter.
Pierre’s face flushed even at the brows as he cried out.
“This, this is all…… lies!”

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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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