Please Vote for Your Knight! Chapter 36

***

 

David said,

“Rowing all the way to the island will drain a lot of our stamina. On top of that, we’ll have to wipe out the enemies, so the Acquisition Team—the ones who have to make it to the very end—should be made up of the people with the best stamina and endurance.”

It was right after Arsen, one of David’s followers, said, “Lord David should take the Acquisition Team.”

Kusto, who had been listening carefully, casually remarked,

“The Assault Team should be good at close-range combat, while the Support Team should have good vision and be skilled with a bow.”

“Right. You understand this well.”

“I worked as a mercenary, so I’m good at close-range combat. And I heard Killian used to be a mercenary too.”

Kusto looked toward the quiet Killian Grouchy.

He was a broad-featured man with fiery red hair that contrasted sharply with his silver eyes.

His sturdy build and the scar on his cheek spoke of the years he had lived through.

“I’ll take the Support Team.”

But the answer that came from him was unexpected.

“I’m not confident in close-range combat.”

“But having two former mercenaries on the Assault Team would be reassuring.”

David tried to persuade him, but Killian firmly closed his mouth.

Rather than forcing him, David moved on to the next matter.

“Then how should we decide who goes on the Acquisition Team?”

“Before that, let’s drop the formalities. We’re on the same team now.”

Kusto said it casually.

“How dare you suggest speaking informally to His Grace, Duke David…!”

“Good idea, Kusto. If we’re going to be ‘one team,’ we should be able to speak comfortably with each other.”

David accepted Kusto’s suggestion as though he had been waiting for it.

Arsen, his devoted follower, blinked his eyes wide before breaking into a delighted smile.

“Th-then can I speak informally too? D-David?”

“Of course.”

“Wow! Tell me to do anything, David! I can even be on the Support Team!”

But they decided to determine the Acquisition Team through long-distance running times.

It would be a competition between everyone except Kusto, who had already chosen the Assault Team, and Killian, who had chosen the Support Team.

“Ready! Go!”

At Kusto’s shout, the four men began running around the top of the circular arena at full speed.

Arsen, who had pushed himself hard from the very beginning, was the first to fall behind.

The battle for first place was neck and neck between David and Denny. Both gritted their teeth and ran like mad, unwilling to lose.

By a hair, David took first place.

Denny came in second, followed by Pierre in third and Arsen in fourth.

Kusto said,

“Then David and Denny will be the Acquisition Team. And I think Pierre should join me on the Assault Team.”

Pierre nodded as he stroked his well-maintained whip.

As promised, Arsen ended up on the Support Team, but he had no complaints.

“Then let’s practice rowing to the island. And I think Denny should be our leader.”

“But David… I mean, David…”

“Denny used to be a sailor. He’ll be our guide when we take the boat to the island.”

At David’s words, Arsen immediately accepted the reasoning.

Denny walked ahead toward the empty boat. He effortlessly lifted one of the large oars with one hand and said,

“All right. Then I’ll start by teaching you how to row.”

 

***

 

“How do we decide who’s best suited for each position?”

Joan asked in response to Olivier’s question.

Olivier stared up at the sky for a moment before answering,

“Arm wrestling?”

“……”

Olivier knew how to argue his points logically, but when it came to martial arts, he was completely clueless.

In the chilly silence, Pavel suddenly raised his hand.

“Speed is important when retrieving the sword! So let’s put two objects far away and have everyone run to them. Whoever gets there first can be on the Acquisition Team.”

“Sounds good.”

“That’s a reasonable method.”

At the very top of the circular arena,

Olivier’s glasses and Maurice’s brooch were placed on the wide, flat surface.

The distance between them was half the circumference of the arena.

The game was simple: run that distance and retrieve the object first.

“One, two, three!”

At the signal, all six of them took off simultaneously.

Their speeds were initially neck and neck.

But gradually, the gaps began to widen.

Maurice, famous for his quickness, was the fastest, while the surprisingly small Pavel followed behind him like a squirrel.

In the end, the two of them reached Olivier’s glasses and Maurice’s brooch first.

“Congratulations.”

Dmitri, who came in third by a hair, congratulated them while gasping for breath.

Joan, who finished fourth, couldn’t hide his disappointment.

Raphael and Olivier collapsed onto the ground the moment they barely reached the finish line.

“Since we’re at it, should we have a game for the Assault Team too?”

“The Assault Team should consist of people with martial ability. There’s no need for another game.”

Joan quickly cut in.

In other words, he meant to exclude Raphael and Olivier.

The two of them couldn’t exactly argue against that.

“I’ll teach the Support Team how to use a bow.”

Maurice offered.

In the end, Maurice and Pavel became the Acquisition Team.

Dmitri and Joan became the Assault Team.

And Olivier and Raphael took the Support Team.

“Then, finally, the leader…”

Joan cautiously began as he looked at his exhausted teammates.

“Since I was the one who chose all of you, I was thinking that perhaps I should be the leader.”

“Even so, I think it would be better to decide the leader by vote.”

Once again, Olivier calmly opposed him.

“Then who do you think should be the leader, Olivier?”

“Maurice.”

Olivier answered without batting an eye.

The one who looked startled was Morris.

“Me? Why?”

“You seem like you’d be good at keeping the team’s spirits up. Team competitions are all about morale, aren’t they?”

It was a reasonable argument.

The other team members seemed to agree as well.

But Joan already wants to be the leader. If I compete with him over it, I’ll only ruin the team atmosphere.

Besides, he had already secured a good position as part of the Acquisition Team.

There was no need to make things more complicated.

“Haha. I’m fine with it. The person who wants to be the leader should be the one to do it. I recommend Joan.”

“I’d like to try being the leader as well. I’ll do my best. Please give me the opportunity.”

With Joan saying that too, the other team members no longer objected.

In the end, Joan became the leader of the team.

 

***

 

“One, two! One, two!”

Following Denny’s commands, six oars moved in perfect rhythm.

Perhaps because they had gathered only participants with great strength, the boat surged forward without difficulty.

Soon, the boat reached the island-shaped floating platform, which had yet to be fitted with any of the obstacles.

The six men leaped onto the island.

As planned, Arsen and Killian immediately raised their bows to provide cover.

But at that moment, Killian stumbled.

“You okay?”

“Sorry. I made a mistake.”

Kusto helped him back up.

“Be careful. If this were a real battle, the enemy could have attacked at that moment.”

Pierre said that before mercilessly bringing his club down on a spot where an enemy might have been hiding.

Of course, there was nothing there, but the four men ran toward what appeared to be a cave as though they were fighting actual enemies.

David and Denny entered the cave just as they would have in a real battle, then quickly emerged.

“Retreat!”

At David’s shout, the Assault and Support Teams protected the two men, who pretended to be carrying the ‘Emperor’s Sword,’ and led them back toward the boat.

Just as they were about to climb aboard, Killian stumbled again and fell from the boat.

“Killian!”

The team members were caught off guard by the unexpected situation and hurriedly pulled Killian back onto the boat.

It was bewildering to see someone as strong as a former mercenary making mistake after mistake.

“Are you okay? Are you feeling sick today?”

“Enough. Let’s just start rowing.”

Killian’s face flushed as he answered firmly.

Without another word, the six men rowed back to the starting point.

But their time was absolutely abysmal.

During the break,

Kusto sat quietly, watching another team practice.

It was Dmitri’s team.

Joan’s booming voice echoed across the arena as he shouted instructions at everyone.

But the boat kept veering off in completely different directions.

We chose the wrong leader.

Thud.

Someone suddenly sat down beside Kusto.

It was David.

“Don’t you think something’s strange?”

“What?”

“Killian.”

“Are you suspicious of him just because he made a few mistakes?”

Kusto asked, but David shook his head.

“Thinking about it now, even during the previous evaluation, that guy mainly relied on his upper-body strength when he fought.”

Kusto stared at David in surprise.

“If there’s something wrong with his lower body, could that explain it? You used to be a mercenary, so you probably know more about injuries among mercenaries.”

“Now that you mention it, slipping on the boat did seem like a problem with his lower-body balance. A lot of mercenaries end up with ankle or leg injuries.”

“Exactly.”

David rose to his feet.

“What are you going to do?”

Kusto hurriedly stood up and followed him.

“We need to solve the problem.”