Please Vote for Your Knight! Chapter 19

“What is it? Go ahead and tell me.”

“The people were also very active in leaving reviews about Cartamen. This seems to show that Your Highness’s method of allowing ‘anonymous’ reviews has been effective as well.”

Duke Frederick suddenly hesitated.

“Of course, there are also many harsh reviews from people disappointed by the knights’ level of skill, but…”

“How many?”

“Nearly half. No, more than half are criticisms. There are even claims that Your Highness is showing favoritism toward certain participants…”

He seemed worried that the viewers might not watch the next episode.

“What? The people who insulted our Edith…!”

“Father, really. It’s completely anonymous, so we don’t even know who they are.”

“Even so…!”

“Don’t worry. Insults are still attention.”

Edith calmly stopped the Emperor.

‘They can insult me as much as they want. It all adds to the buzz.’

The Emperor and Duke Frederick seemed unable to understand what she meant. But as someone who had been a PD in her previous life, she knew.

‘If they really had no intention of watching again, they would simply leave without looking back. They’re leaving hateful comments because they still care and it bothers them.’

But there was still a lot of work left to do.

“Now, our goal is to increase the total number of viewers and the number of people who register their identity cards.”

 

***

 

Before they knew it, the day of the second evaluation had arrived.

One day before the evaluation, a notice was sent to the participants.

< Cartamen Second Evaluation >

• Event: Hunting
• Location: The Contaminated Forest, ‘Liquia’
• Team competition where each team assigns members to different positions

“Have you all received your new rankings?”

“Yes!”

The participants answered loudly at Edith’s question.

They were already dressed in armor corresponding to their respective ranks.

Edith looked closely at several of them.

Most of the participants she had been keeping an eye on were ranked between Grade 1 and Grade 3.

‘This isn’t a bad trend.’

Maurice was also Grade 3.

His high attitude score had raised him to Grade 3 despite his actual skill level, so Edith still needed to keep an eye on him.

Raphael could have fallen even further in rank. However, his performance against Maurice had earned him a significant number of points, putting him in the same Grade 3.

‘The problem is that his rank keeps falling, but I saw potential in him during the last evaluation.’

Hopefully, he wouldn’t end up being a participant who had nothing but potential.

David and Dimitri, who had nothing to worry about, were both Grade 1.

‘Those two are in the same grade again.’

Edith looked toward the pink curly-haired participant and the sailor, both of whom were in Grade 2.

The curly-haired one kept talking nonstop, while the sailor kept his mouth firmly shut.

‘Still, if he really disliked him, he probably wouldn’t stay there.’

And then there was Kusto…

Grade 1.

‘His grade went up.’

Amond had played a major role in that.

She had harshly criticized him during the initial meeting, but after watching his reevaluation, she suddenly decided that he showed promise and began supporting him.

‘Meanwhile, Kilman’s grade dropped by a huge amount.’

He had fallen from Grade 1, specifically fifth place, all the way down to Grade 4.

‘He must have fought unbelievably dirty.’

Yet Kilman himself still hadn’t accepted reality and was fuming.

But that was all.

Considering he no longer hurled insults, it seemed that he was finally beginning to be conscious of the recording crystals.

The other participants were the same.

Perhaps because they had all watched the first broadcast together.

Everyone was now conscious of the recording crystals, speaking less and being more careful with their actions.

‘But that’ll change once the evaluation starts.’

Edith smiled as she looked at the Valkyria standing beside her.

Amond stepped forward and began explaining.

“You all know that the event for this evaluation is ‘hunting.’”

“Yes!”

“The contaminated forest, where the evaluation will take place, is inhabited by magically corrupted beasts. For this evaluation, you must break through the barrier surrounding the forest and hunt the monsters inside.”

A sense of tension spread among the participants who had begun to realize what this meant.

“Don’t worry. This area was already purged in the past, so there are no monsters fierce enough to threaten your lives. It will simply be somewhat more difficult than ordinary hunting. However, if you feel you cannot do it, you may withdraw here.”

“No!”

“Then I’ll explain the rules. You will form teams and hunt monsters in the Contaminated Forest, ‘Liquia.’”

The Contaminated Forest, ‘Liquia.’

Long ago, it was the place where the early members of the Di Equus hunted monsters.

All the dangerous monsters had been eliminated back then.

The problem, however, was the passage through which lower-level monsters continued to emerge.

They had been unable to seal the passage completely, so they had placed a barrier around the entire forest and prohibited entry.

Before the tyrant came to power, Di Equus members would occasionally enter the forest to subjugate the lower-level monsters before leaving again.

“Still, it’s a place that hasn’t been purged in decades.”

“There must be monsters crawling all over the place.”

“Even if they’re low-level, monsters are still monsters. What if someone gets hurt?”

“What else can we do? We still have to do our best for the people!”

The participants whispered among themselves.

Some of them were even putting on a show for the recording crystals.

Amond continued.

“Anyone aspiring to become a knight should know about the hierarchy of hunting targets. The team that hunts the largest number of high-ranked targets wins.”

The hunting targets were ranked as follows:

1. Deer
2. Wild Boar
3. Fox
4. Mountain Hare

Magically corrupted versions of these hunting animals also inhabited Liquia Forest.

“Then, participants ranked 100th through 81st, step forward and choose an armband representing the position you want.”

Amond gestured toward the table in front of them, where armbands of various colors had been laid out.

“Wow, I guess the lower-ranked participants get to choose first.”

“At least they’re giving us a chance to survive.”

“I knew this would happen, so I ranked 89th.”

“But what are the positions?”

The lower-ranked participants were delighted.

Meanwhile, the higher-ranked participants seemed to think it was unfair.

Kusto looked around at the expressions of the participants examining the armbands.

“Huh? What’s this?”

“Master, squire, hunting dog?”

Seeing their bewildered reactions, Milla giggled.

“Yes, that’s right! Each of you will take on a position needed for hunting. There are five people per team. A leader, a squire, a beater, and two hunting dogs!”

A leader, a squire, a beater, and two hunting dogs.

The participants were plunged into shock and horror.

“A hunting… dog?”

“A person is supposed to play the role of a dog?”

Mila smiled brightly and exclaimed, “Yes! You understood that perfectly!”

They had all come here to become knights, yet they were being assigned the role of a ‘hunting dog’ in a hunt.

This wasn’t merely going to be grueling work—it was downright humiliating.

Honestly, they weren’t particularly fond of the squire or beater positions either, but compared to being a hunting dog, those weren’t even worth calling shocking.

“Don’t be too discouraged about being a hunting dog. In actual combat, you’ll experience things even worse than this.”

“If you really don’t want to be a hunting dog, then use your head and choose another position wisely.”

Following Mila, Ines spoke stiffly.

There was no way around it.

They could either withdraw here, or use a good strategy to choose a team and avoid becoming a hunting dog.

Since no one wanted to withdraw, a fierce battle of wits began to avoid the ‘hunting dog’ position.

Naturally, every participant from 100th to 81st chose the leader armband.

Then Amond spoke.

“Next, participants ranked 80th through 61st, step forward and choose the team and position you want. If there’s no team or position you want, a higher-ranked participant may push a lower-ranked participant out of their position.”

The moment Amond finished speaking, the participants’ expressions split between joy and sorrow.

The faces of the lower-ranked participants crumpled, while the higher-ranked participants cheered—everything captured vividly by the recording crystals.

“Getting pushed out would really hurt their pride.”

“Please, I hope nobody takes my spot.”

Kusto, who had received 9th place in Grade 1, had to choose his position last.

‘All nineteen people in our group chose the leader position.’

The leader was the true star of the hunt.

They directed the hunt and attacked the prey with a bow.

The squire’s role was to assist the leader.

The beater worked together with the hunting dogs to drive the prey into a corner.

The hunting dogs chased the prey, attacked it at close range, and retrieved the dead prey.

At least the beater was still a person.

The hunting dog’s role was literally that of a dog.

“It’s nice being in the top twenty. You’re going to choose the leader position, right?”

Someone spoke to Kusto enviously.

“I’m not sure.”

“You won’t choose the hunting dog, at least. Becoming a hunting dog would be a real disgrace to your family.”

Instead of answering, Kusto gave a slight bow and stepped forward.

Being a leader was good, but if he had the choice, it would be better to take a position that gave him more of a presence.

Kusto stared at the leader armbands and the participants who had already chosen the leader position.

David met his eyes intensely, as if beckoning Kusto to come to his team.

‘Not that one. That place will be packed with his followers.’

He would easily get lost in the crowd.

When Kusto turned his head, Dimitri was looking at him expectantly.

It was burdensome.

‘Not a single decent participant has gone over there.’

The team was made up entirely of participants who had been pushed out of other teams and had no choice but to come here.

It would be the same even if Kusto became the leader.

‘Then Dimitri’s team is better. At least the two of us can combine our strength.’

When Kusto approached Dimitri, his eyes widened.

‘Why? You were the one inviting me.’

Kusto spoke with his eyes and then picked up one of the armbands in front of him.

Everyone was stunned by his unexpected choice.

“Why would he…?”

“What the hell is he thinking?”

“Did he just give up on the game?”

What Kusto had chosen was the ‘hunting dog.’

And then, an unexpected twist occurred.