Please Vote for Your Knight! Chapter 15

A one-on-one duel.

It was a type of combat training usually conducted before mock battles, and it was fought on horseback.

It was called a “joust.”

While riding a horse, the participants charged at each other with weapons in hand, and whoever knocked their opponent off their horse won.

“But this duel will be a little different. You’ll be fighting each other using the Valkyria swordsmanship you learned during special training. You won’t be riding horses.”

Edith explained.

The participants’ expressions changed.

The type of evaluation they had expected was a swordsmanship demonstration.

But a one-on-one “duel”?

The confusion quickly gave way to sharp tension.

No matter how close they had become during special training, the person standing beside them was now their opponent.

The atmosphere had completely changed.

Edith watched them with satisfaction before continuing.

“The numbers you were given were rankings determined by the judges and special-training masters, the Valkyrias, based on your attitude during training. From now on, you’ll come forward in order of rank and draw one ball each. Each ball also has a rank written on it. The participant with that rank will be your opponent.”

She continued with a few more explanations.

If someone drew their own number, they would have to draw again.

There would be a total of six rounds leading up to the final.

Once a participant lost, they were eliminated immediately, with no additional placement matches.

Then someone raised a hand.

It was Maurice.

“If there are no placement matches, how will the final rankings be determined?”

“Good question. The final rankings will be decided by the judges, taking into account the results of the duels, swordsmanship acquisition ability, and attitude during special training. Only first and second place will be determined solely by the results of the duels. And for first place…”

Edith smiled.

“During the ‘group swordsmanship demonstration’ at the upcoming ‘Founding Festival,’ the first-place participant will be given the position of ‘center.’”

Everyone held their breath.

The Founding Festival was coming up soon.

Whenever it was held, the knights performed swordsmanship demonstrations.

In an empire with little entertainment, the Founding Festival was one of the biggest celebrations of the year.

And the swordsmanship demonstration was one of its highlights.

This time, they would be publicly showcasing a “new swordsmanship” style for the first time in a long while.

There was no doubt it would attract enormous attention from the people.

Taking center stage would be a perfect opportunity to make one’s presence known.

Edith added,

“Furthermore, the top ten will perform the swordsmanship demonstration from the most visible positions.”

And that wasn’t all.

“Also, your positions in the next evaluation will be determined according to your rankings in this reassessment.”

The participants’ eyes widened.

Another participant immediately raised his hand.

“What will the next evaluation be?”

“That’s a secret.”

She couldn’t exactly reveal everything so easily already.

The participants began whispering among themselves about the next evaluation.

To keep their attention from wandering, Edith immediately began assigning the matchups.

“Once everyone has an opponent, you’ll duel one team at a time. First, participant number one, David Bertier, please come forward and draw a ball!”

David drew number 17.

The face of the participant ranked 17th turned ashen.

“What’s he going to do?”

“He’s screwed without even getting to try anything.”

“At least it’s not me.”

Once all the matchups had been decided, the 17th-ranked participant climbed onto the stage with a look of despair.

The result was obvious.

“Eek! Ugh! Ah! Aah!”

The 17th-ranked participant did nothing but scream and dodge before David’s sword even came close.

It was as though he thought the blunt training sword was actually going to kill him.

Naturally, David won.

David stepped down from the stage without showing any sign of triumph.

His face was extremely stiff.

The loser remaining on the stage was subjected to the judges’ merciless evaluation.

“You were completely overwhelmed by your opponent’s momentum, weren’t you?”

“D-Duke David is just such an incredible person…”

At the 17th-ranked participant’s timid answer, Mila burst out laughing.

“What is this? Are you going to act like that when you’re on the battlefield facing an enemy, too? ‘Oh, he’s such an incredible person, so I’ll kindly let him kill me.’ Is that what you’re going to say?”

Watching the 17th-ranked participant squirm, Amont and Ines clicked their tongues as well.

Edith immediately realized.

‘This participant’s ranking is going to drop tremendously.’

He would especially lose a huge number of points for his attitude.

‘Seventh isn’t a bad ranking at all, but he was so intimidated that he didn’t even try to fight properly.’

The next duel wasn’t much different.

The lower-ranked participants were overwhelmed by their opponents before the match even began, preventing them from demonstrating their actual abilities.

It was an outcome Edith had expected ever since she decided not to divide the opponents according to their grades.

‘If I had matched people with similar rankings against each other, we could have gotten fairly decent fights.’

But the same pattern would play out over and over.

That wasn’t the boring development Edith wanted.

This type of dueling system would certainly make the stronger participants stand out even more.

It would also quickly weed out those who lacked skill and attitude.

And above all…

‘There have to be at least one or two participants who’ll show us a twist after all this waiting.’

Edith anxiously waited for a reversal.

But the participants who caught the Valkyrias’ attention were completely different ones.

Wham!

Everyone flinched at the sharp crack that echoed through the arena.

The fifth-ranked Kilmen had struck the 66th-ranked participant on the head with the flat of his sword.

The 66th-ranked participant, who had been desperately trying to do something, clutched his head and collapsed.

“Oh, whoops. My mistake. Sorry about that.”

Kilman whispered quietly enough that only the 66th-ranked participant could hear.

“You should’ve just given up sooner. Why struggle like that? I need to finish this quickly and save my stamina.”

The 66th-ranked participant’s shoulders stiffened.

Kilman lifted his head, put on an apologetic expression, and looked toward the judges’ seats.

The judges remained expressionless.

Kilman took that as their “approval” and walked off the stage with a smirk.

 

***

 

Meanwhile, Kusto’s first opponent was the participant ranked 89th.

The difference in rankings was overwhelming.

Thanks to that, Kusto was able to win easily.

‘Lucky me.’

Compared to Dimitri, who had been unfortunate enough to face a troublesome opponent, Kusto’s luck was almost absurd.

Dimitri’s opponent was ranked 21st.

He had to sweat bullets trying to calm down the eccentric who came charging at him shouting, “I will bring justice!”

Even though the outcome of the match had already been decided, his opponent refused to accept it.

‘It was obvious that Dimitri had won, yet neither the Valkyrias nor Her Highness stopped them.’

Only when the duel became heated enough that someone looked likely to suffer serious injuries did they stop the match.

Other than that, they maintained the attitude of strict observers.

‘Do they consider minor accidents during a match unavoidable? Or do they have some other intention?’

But Kusto’s questions were soon answered.

Not long after the third round began, the participant who had drawn a ball called out Kusto’s number.

“Give it your best.”

From not far away, Maurice held up a tightly clenched fist.

His usually bright expression was unusually tinged with sympathy.

Kusto looked at him with a little envy at how relaxed he seemed.

As the matches progressed, the participants seemed to be letting go of their tension, and there were occasional upsets where lower-ranked participants defeated those in the top ten.

Maurice was one of them.

He had been one of the participants behind a major upset in the first round, and he had even advanced through the second round by a bye.

‘Damn, I’m jealous.’

Kusto thought that as he looked at his third-round opponent.

His opponent was—

“You’ve got to be kidding me. I get matched against you here?”

Kilman.

He was one of the participants who had stood out during the first and second rounds.

‘More accurately, he stood out for having particularly dirty fights.’

Even against opponents he could have defeated cleanly, he went out of his way to humiliate them.

Kilman extended a hand toward Kusto.

“Let’s have a clean, good match.”

‘As if he means a word of that.’

The moment Kusto absentmindedly shook his hand, Kilman suddenly squeezed hard.

‘This bastard?’

He was already picking a fight.

Kusto was quite curious to see just how underhanded this fight would become.

“Begin!”

Edith’s shout marked the start of the duel.

Just as expected, Kilman immediately twisted his body as though by accident and aimed an elbow at Kusto’s vulnerable spot.

He was clearly far too practiced at committing fouls naturally.

Kusto easily dodged.

But Kilman didn’t give up his dirty tricks.

Striking with the flat of his blade or the hilt.

Even stepping on Kusto’s feet.

‘Is this guy insane?’

Kusto couldn’t even properly demonstrate his swordsmanship because he was too busy avoiding Kilman’s dirty tactics.

‘Of course, Kilman is also better at swordsmanship than I am.’

Kusto had to acknowledge what deserved to be acknowledged.

‘Which means there’s no way I can win by standing around like some gentleman.’

Then it happened.

Kilman’s fist flew toward Kusto’s solar plexus.

Kusto dropped to one knee and collapsed.

“What? Giving up because you’re tired?”

Kilman shamelessly spoke as though he hadn’t been the one to hit him.

Kusto lowered his head, breathing heavily.

“If you don’t think you can get back up, I’ll end the match for you.”

Kilman leaned closer to Kusto’s ear.

“His Lordship will be pleased to see you looking like this.”

Kusto raised his narrowed eyes toward him.

‘His Lordship?’

Noticing Kusto’s confusion, Kilman chuckled.

“Didn’t know? The Lord of Pius sent me to Cartamen. He told me to teach you, you insolent bastard, a lesson. Of course, you’re not my only target.”

Kusto’s eyes widened.

No wonder.

If Kilman had merely been picking fights with him because he was a former slave, his behavior had always been far too excessive.

Now that he thought about it, every single one of Kilman’s actions had been deliberate.

‘He was trying to crush my will to fight.’

Kilman straightened his back.

“Unfortunately, it seems participant Kusto is unable to continue the duel. Let’s end it here—ugh!”

Just as Kilman spoke confidently, Kusto suddenly sprang to his feet.

Kilman was struck squarely on the chin by Kusto’s back and went crashing backward.

“Oh, dear.”

“U-ugh…”

“My mistake.”