Please Vote for Your Knight! – Chapter 32

Author: Asternkm

“We should use the rabbit.”

( ? )

“We can use the rabbit we caught as bait and set a trap. To monsters, wouldn’t real food be more tempting than bait scent?”

( !!! )

One exclamation mark after another appeared above the team members’ heads.

“If we use my net, we can make a much more effective trap.”

( One by one, the team members begin to open their minds! )

( They regain their strength and resume the hunt! )

So that’s what this was.

Dimitri felt relieved.

Edith had wanted to dramatically show them overcoming their conflict and coming together in harmony.

It was just a little too dramatic.

‘The power of editing really is terrifying.’

The Princess was even more frightening than he’d thought.

And that wasn’t the end of it.

After a scene showing David cleanly taking down prey with his arrows—

Kilman appeared, dragging his feet as he went to retrieve the prey.

“Annoying bastards. I’ll definitely make you pay for treating me like a hunting dog…”

( Rustle! )

( Kilman freezes )

( Someone is nearby! )

It was Kusto.

After spotting him, Kilmen looked around with a menacing expression.

“Isn’t he looking to see if there’s a video orb around?”

“What is he planning to do if there isn’t one…?”

The people whispered among themselves.

( Kilman becomes certain there is no video orb )

( He immediately draws his sword! )

“You bastard. Because of you, I became the ‘hunting dog.’”

Kilman charged at Kusto with his sword raised.

“Whoa!”

“No, that’s dangerous!”

“Get out of there!”

The people cried out in alarm.

Kusto narrowly dodged the sword and ran.

At some point, Kilman lost sight of Kusto and began rampaging around in a fit of rage, shouting at the top of his lungs.

“He’s insane.”

“I didn’t think he’d go that far…”

At that moment, the ground beneath Kilman’s feet gave way, and he fell into a trap.

“Ugh? What? He disappeared?”

“What happened?”

“Where did he go?”

Soon, the screen rapidly rewound, revealing Kusto’s team building a trap at that very spot.

Kilman had fallen into the trap Kusto had prepared while chasing him.

“Whoa, did he lure him there on purpose?”

“Looks like he actually thought it through.”

“He doesn’t even have any formal training, but he’s pretty smart.”

Voices praising Kusto could be heard from all around.

‘He did deliberately lure him into the trap, but…’

Kusto lowered his head in embarrassment.

The editing really was killing him and bringing him back to life.

A little while later, Kusto appeared in front of the trap Kilman had fallen into.

( But he’s not alone? )

( Who is the person appearing alongside Kusto…? )

At that exact moment, a commercial break began.

The square erupted in boos.

David met Kusto’s eyes and chuckled.

‘So this is what it feels like to know a spoiler.’

< Want to vote for Cartamen?! Visit your nearest government office and get an identification card! … >

After the commercial ended—

The video resumed from the part where Kusto was running away.

Someone grabbed him by the back of his neck and abruptly pulled him back.

It was David.

The moment the two made eye contact—

The background suddenly turned pink, accompanied by a suggestive melody.

Kusto’s face twisted.

But delighted screams erupted throughout the square.

‘No, why on earth did they add an effect like this?’

And why were people cheering over such an embarrassing scene?

David must be extremely uncomfortable too.

Kusto glanced at him worriedly for no particular reason.

But David was smiling contentedly.

‘?’

Was he not normal either?

Dimitri, being the only normal person here, had an extremely displeased expression on his face.

After that came the scene where Kilman was captured and became a burden to the team.

Then came the scene where Raphael insisted that they rescue Kilman, even if it meant taking a loss.

Dimitri’s eyes widened.

‘They didn’t show Joan complaining about why they hadn’t abandoned Kilman.’

Perhaps they deliberately edited that part out because Joan’s ranking was high?

In any case, Raphael was the biggest beneficiary of this episode.

David rescuing a teammate who had spilled the bait scent was impressive too, but—

“This is a team competition. No one should be left behind.”

“I have no regrets about my decision. I believe that not losing a single teammate is more important than obtaining a large amount of prey.”

“Raphael absolutely has to debut in Die Eques.”

“Who knew there was a knight like that hiding in an orphanage? Which orphanage is it?”

“He seems to work really well with Joan too. That team was great, except for Kilman.”

“They’re going to come in last. I guess I should vote for them.”

Even Dimitri had to admit that Raphael looked impressive as he continued to save his teammates and never regretted his choices.

‘At first, he seemed rather meek, but seeing him show that kind of determination gives him a nice unexpected charm.’

The reactions to Dimitri’s team were good as well.

***

Did you guys see that? At first they were growling at each other like they were about to fight, and then they ended up hugging each other? LOL

– They’re huge, but the way they act is like a bunch of big dogs LOL

ㄴ Pavel is totally a Chihuahua LOL. All he does is bark, but once someone actually sets up the situation for him, he becomes all well-behaved~

– I thought they’d put on some brutal bloodbath like tyrants, but they’re unexpectedly cute and adorable.

– Wasn’t the way they used their heads awesome too? I like them even more because they’re not cute but dumb—they’re actually smart.

– They can’t all debut in Die Eques together, can they?

ㄴ Yeah. Traditionally, Die Eques has five members.

ㄴ Fuck tradition. Smash it to pieces.

Of course, not everyone was satisfied with this episode.

– Why is our Joan getting so little screen time?

– Ugh, it’s so obvious they’re pushing Raphael.

But whether people were satisfied or dissatisfied, they all picked up their identification cards to cast their votes—whether out of enthusiasm or spite.

While the surviving Cartamen participants waited for their third group stay, Cartamen Episode 4 was broadcast.

Episode 4 was the ranking announcement ceremony. Because of that, even more people than usual crowded into the squares.

Eventually, officials from the government offices had to come out and organize the crowds. Those who arrived too late reluctantly turned back, while some even stood beyond the square just to watch.

‘Ah, I’m so nervous.’

Denny Marie, who had arrived in the morning to secure a spot, clasped her hands tightly.

Of course, her actual name wasn’t Denny Marie. “Marie” was the name used to refer to the female fans of the contestants.

“Marie” was one of the most common women’s names.

So fans were often referred to by adding “Marie” for female fans and “Jean” for male fans after the contestant’s name.

‘Our Denny has to survive.’

The first voting period had already closed long ago.

She had spent the entire time promoting Denny as passionately as she could.

[ ★Sensual Fisherman★ Please vote for Denny Vinosh★ ]

That’s right.

She was none other than the mad fisherman-promoter known as, “Oh, she’s here again.”

At the moment, she was serving a penalty for excessive posting: a one-week ban from making posts.

But since the first voting period had already ended, it didn’t matter.

‘As long as the penalty is lifted before the second voting period.’

Of course, that would only matter if Denny survived.

She had picked Denny as her favorite from Episode 1.

The moment Denny, wild and vigorous like a fish flapping around after being brought onto land, swung his net—

The net looked like silver thread to her, while Denny looked like a heavenly warrior weaving that silver thread.

‘Ha, who else could become a knight if not our Denny? Right? Right?’

Because of Cartamen, she had even gone out of her way to obtain an identification card.

‘I heard that in places like Pius, they sometimes make it difficult to get one, so some people even change their registered address to another region just to get one.’

Fortunately, she had been able to obtain hers without any trouble where she lived.

“Did you hear? They say Joan is going to be first this time.”

An interesting conversation suddenly reached her ears.

Her ears perked up.

“No way. David will be first.”

“It wouldn’t be interesting if the person everyone expects to come first actually came first. They’ll probably give Joan first place on purpose.”

“Why wouldn’t that be interesting? It’d be insanely fun. And if they deliberately change the rankings, wouldn’t that be rigging?”

“Honestly, David’s doing well, but he’s boring.”

“Boring? Being handsome is a charm in itself. And Joan must be incredibly boring if he has so little going for him that his screen time is that pathetic.”

“What? You’re one to talk, pushing the very definition of boring while trying to slap an anti-fan nickname on someone else!”

The conversation was rapidly descending into chaos.

‘So David Maries and Joan Maries really don’t get along.’

People around them intervened and managed to prevent the argument from lasting long.

Still, it had been a rare opportunity to witness such a vicious fight between supporters of the top-ranked contestants.

‘If only Denny had made it into the upper ranks and could’ve joined that fight…….’

Just as she was praying for it, Episode 4 began airing.

Episode 4 opened with the swordsmanship demonstration held at Victory Square.

She had gone there in person to watch it, but seeing it again on the screen gave her a completely different feeling.

‘So this is what it looks like when you see the whole thing.’

It looked much more grandiose overall, and everyone’s movements seemed to fit together better.

That was thanks to Edith’s skillful editing.

Even knowing that, Denny Marie felt tears welling up.

‘Wow, Denny’s screen time…….’

There were a hundred people who had to be featured, and among them, the highest-ranked contestants and the Centers naturally had to receive attention.

‘But still, this is way too little!’

Our Denny did so well!

All he got were a few fleeting shots.

Of course, compared to most of the other contestants, even that was a fairly generous amount of screen time.

But as a fan, she couldn’t help feeling frustrated.

‘This won’t do. Once my penalty is lifted, I’m going back to promoting him like crazy.’

After the swordsmanship demonstration ended, a scene appeared showing five or more knights gathering together to watch Cartamen Episode 3.

‘Oh my god, when did they film that?’

“Oh! I was in that square!”

“Wow, I was there too, but I didn’t recognize them.”

Since the knights had filmed themselves directly with video orbs, the atmosphere varied wildly from group to group.

The knights whose footage came out nicely were cheerful and friendly.