Please Vote for Your Knight! – Chapter 31

Author: Asternkm

Dimitri looked around the magnificent mansion.

It wasn’t particularly flashy, but the pristine white walls were covered in elaborate, luxurious reliefs.
The paintings and decorations also mostly depicted knights in action.

His heart trembled anew.

‘I’m actually at Duke David Vertier’s mansion.’

He couldn’t believe it.

David Vertier, the epitome of a knight.

Dimitri had thought that of all people, David would despise him the most.

‘But instead, he’s treating me without prejudice.’

David also got along well with Kusto, who had been a slave. Seeing that, Dimitri felt that David wasn’t putting on an act with him either.

In truth, the most unbelievable thing was that he had made it among the 54 first-round survivors.

And that he was mingling with all of them without any distinction in status.

“I’ll treat everyone to dinner, so eat up and then let’s go to the square together.”

David made the suggestion as he looked at Kusto.

“Sounds good!”

“I’m in.”

“If you insist, I’ll gladly join you.”

Pavel, Denny, and Maurice answered enthusiastically.

Soon, the servants brought out a lavish meal.

Just as Dimitri was about to take his first bite, he was startled by the way Kusto was eating so aggressively.

‘He never ate like that at our house.’

What was it he’d said?

“I know I don’t look like it, but I don’t have much of an appetite.”

“I’d rather dig through dirt and eat it than put fancy food in my mouth.”

“I’ve decided to eat just one meal a day from now on.”

Yet now he was heartily devouring a luxurious piece of meat dripping with juice.

Dimitri narrowed his eyes.

‘Looks like he gave up on eating one meal a day. It must’ve been too difficult.’

He could understand stuffing down food he normally wouldn’t eat simply because he was hungry.

Once the meal was mostly finished, Maurice finally couldn’t hold back his curiosity.

“So, how did everyone end up participating in Cartamen?”

Pavel answered.

“My father submitted my application to Cartamen.”

“You didn’t want to participate yourself?”

“Not at first…… But I think it’s kind of fun now. What about you, Shushu?”

“Well…… working on a fishing boat was too exhausting, and I wanted to show that even ordinary commoners like us can participate in something like Cartamen.”

Maurice nodded before looking at David.

“At first, it was because of my brother.”

“Is that not the case anymore?”

Kusto looked at David’s hands.

They were clearly covered in wounds from all the training.

The scars were etched as deeply as the size of David’s determination.

‘David is definitely taking this seriously, too.’

“What about you, Sir Dimitri?”

David passed the question on to Dimitri.

“I…… like I said before, I came here because I want to become a true knight.”

Dimitri didn’t bother mentioning that Princess Edith had encouraged him to participate.

He was worried that it might somehow cause trouble for her.

Finally, everyone’s gaze turned toward Kusto.

My turn.

“It’s nothing special.”

Kusto spoke with a blissful expression after his satisfying meal.

“I was sentenced to death.”

“What?”

“What did you say?”

Everyone was horrified.

Only Kusto continued speaking calmly.

“But Her Highness the Princess said she’d spare my life if I became the final survivor of Cartamen, so I came.”

“How is that not a big reason?!”

“So, Kusto, you’ll die if you get eliminated?”

“Why would you bring that up now?!”

Everyone erupted into chaos.

Dimitri even firmly grasped Kusto’s hand and said solemnly,

“I’ll help you. Don’t worry about dying.”

Everyone gathered here looked ready to do whatever it took to make Kusto’s debut as a Die Eque happen.

“If I live, I live. If I die, I die. So I don’t really care.”

“But……!”

“I just want to have fun and see how high I can climb.”

Everyone fell silent at Kusto’s words.

His golden eyes, as he spoke of his desire to rise higher, flickered like flames.

After revealing the longing in his heart, Kusto suddenly found the situation ridiculous.

“No, but aren’t you guys scared that I was a death-row inmate?”

“Yep!”

Pavel cheerfully lifted the greatsword he’d set down.

‘With that thing around, I suppose no one would be scared.’

“I don’t think you became a death-row inmate because you actually committed a crime.”

David spoke up as well.

Maurice nodded in agreement.

“We’ve seen enough of you by now! Besides, you said you’re from Pius, right? The lord there has a terrible reputation.”

Denny nodded too.

Finally, Dimitri said,

“I believe in you.”

Kusto became awkward.

“I never asked you to believe in me…… Anyway, thanks.”

***

After finishing their meal, the six of them headed toward a small square on the outskirts of the capital.

A broadcast tower and screen had been installed there as well.

But contrary to their expectation that it would be quiet, the square was on the verge of overflowing with people.

Pavel carefully set down the video orb they would use to film their mission.

“Wow, there are so many people. I think there are even more than last time.”

“If it’s this crazy today, it’ll be even more chaotic on the day the ranking announcement is broadcast.”

They covered themselves with robes and settled into a corner beneath a tree.

Soon, the third episode of Cartamen began.

The hunt is taking place in the polluted forest of Liquia!

A hunt to prove their pride!

A team mission requiring teamwork!

The introductory captions from the preview were broadcast.

After that came the stage where the teams and positions were decided.

Things were already a complete mess from this point.

“I can’t do this! I can’t be a hunting hound!”

“You want me to be the hunting hound? I’d rather just not do this at all.”

Leaving their assigned positions without permission was the least of it.

“A hunting hound? What a disgrace to my family. Sob…….”

“I said I’m not doing it! I don’t want to! Change it!”

Some participants even broke down crying and threw themselves on the floor like children, making a scene.

Meanwhile, the participants who voluntarily chose the hunting hound position naturally drew attention.

They were Kusto and Maurice.

— Why did you choose the hunting hound position?

At the time, one of the attendants had approached them and secretly asked.

Kusto gave a sly grin before answering.

“Because it’s the position where I can attract the most attention.”

— The most attention? Everyone hates it.

“You chase the prey and attack it at close range. If you think of it as simply a ‘position’ rather than a ‘dog,’ there’s no role more noticeable than this.”

“Oh, he really said that?”

Pavel looked at Kusto in admiration.

“Surprisingly smart.”

Denny chimed in as well.

Kusto narrowed his eyes.

“Surprisingly?”

“I’d appreciate it if you focused on the ‘smart’ part rather than the ‘surprisingly’ part.”

That was when—

“Me too! I think exactly the same!”

Maurice appeared from somewhere and shouted as he approached Kusto.

“What a sly bastard.”

Denny muttered under his breath.

Maurice didn’t care. He was grinning from ear to ear, clearly pleased that he’d managed to get himself some screen time.

“You have to forge your own path!”

But that was where the good part ended.

The atmosphere changed drastically when Kusto drew the rabbit-monster bait scent.

The team’s reaction wasn’t simply disappointment.

It had been edited to look almost hostile.

On top of that, the scene where Maurice casually laughed and lay down on the forest floor had been edited to make it look as though he’d angrily thrown himself down with a thud!

“Get up. Get up!”

Even Pavel grabbing his arm and pulling him up looked like an intense confrontation.

When Pavel jokingly drew his greatsword, bright-red subtitles appeared.

( A FIGHT HAS FINALLY BROKEN OUT! )

Denny’s whispered voice to Kusto played over the subtitles.

“That bastard is the scariest guy here. Keep that in mind.”

After creating a mountain of misunderstandings, the screen changed.

It showed David’s team, who had drawn the deer-monster bait scent and were getting along wonderfully.

The contrast was enormous.

“What is this……?”

Kusto muttered in disbelief.

“Doesn’t it feel like they completely screwed up the editing?”

Maurice whispered cautiously as well.

‘What on earth is Her Highness thinking?’

Dimitri bit his lip.

This would undoubtedly have a negative impact on his teammates.

From having Edith make him participate in Cartamen in the first place, to this twisted portrayal that made it look as though his team had fallen apart.

He couldn’t understand Edith’s actions at all.

‘I heard she’d recently hired more assistants. Could they be the ones who did this?’

Dimitri stared at the screen with mixed feelings.

Scenes of the other teams enthusiastically hunting monsters or continuing to bicker over their positions appeared.

Of all the teams, David’s was the most exemplary.

Joan’s team, which included Raphael, wasn’t bad either.

He and Joan had both demonstrated leadership and continuously calmed Kilman, who was unhappy about being assigned the hunting hound position.

Then the footage came back around to Dimitri’s team.

Everyone still looked as unmotivated and dejected as before.

Then Kusto suddenly stood up, as though he could no longer bear it.

( FLINCH! )

A completely unnecessary subtitle appeared despite everyone else remaining still.