Please Vote for Your Knight! Chapter 37
Kusto’s eyebrow slowly rose.
“You’re going to solve the problem? Are you planning to do something to Killian?”
“I’m going to talk to him.”
“Ah…….”
David let out a disbelieving snort.
“What did you misunderstand? Did you think I was going to grab Killian by the collar or something?”
“I thought you were going to give him some strong—very strong—advice to get his act together.”
“You still don’t know me.”
David held out a hand to Kusto. Kusto took it without hesitation and got to his feet.
Then he said,
“Don’t expect me to understand someone like you inside and out.”
David smiled as though he was slightly hurt. Then he moved a little closer and walked beside Kusto.
Kusto frowned and looked at him.
“Back off a little.”
“Pavel and Denny walk even closer together than this.”
“Are we the same as them?”
“How are we different?”
He looked up at a bird leisurely flying through the air. A recording orb was embedded in its eye.
“It would make a good picture.”
“A good picture?”
Kusto moved away from David with an incredulous look.
“We’re going to end up with a disgusting picture.”
“Her Highness seemed to want that kind of picture. You saw the edit she made of us.”
“The reaction must have been terrible. I don’t even have to see it.”
“Not necessarily.”
David recalled the tablet community posts he had secretly looked through late at night.
—————————————————————————————————————————
Carthamen’s Top 3 Chemistry Kings—Compiled
- Denny Vinosh – Pavel Shurbe
- Kusto – David Vertier
- Kusto – Dmitri Cassel
- Written as friendship, read as love ☆
- Why the hell is Kusto so popular? LOL
ㄴ Unexpected chemistry king LOL
ㄴ I was worried he’d get bullied because of his background. I’m ashamed of how narrow-minded I was… - Honestly, it’s nice seeing handsome guys hanging out together. If ugly guys stick together, it’s just unpleasant to look at.
ㄴ There are SO many people forcing ugly chemistry LOL but nobody pays attention to them - Are these guys seriously into each other? All three of them look ridiculously fake to me.
ㄴ Yep, dead serious.
ㄴ That’s because you don’t understand love. - Denny Vinosh seems to hate him, though…
ㄴ Nope, he’s just playing hard to get.
ㄴ If you look closely, he’s always watching Pavel LOL
—————————————————————————————————————————
Well, it wasn’t as though Kusto had become appealing to David because of posts like those.
“Don’t you ever check the reactions?”
“Reactions?”
“Yeah. The tablet, for example……”
Kusto scratched his head.
‘He doesn’t look at them.’
“What about you? Do you check them often?”
“Me? ……Not really.”
David cleared his throat before answering.
Still, he was curious what kind of expression Kusto would make if he found out that the team Kusto belonged to had become incredibly popular after the previous hunting evaluation.
Although they had placed second, they had earned nearly as much applause as the first-place team by displaying quick thinking and wit in various unexpected situations.
‘Her Highness’s editing played a big part too.’
They needed to get a good reaction this time as well.
Lost in thought, they soon reached Killian, who was sitting by the water.
“Killian.”
“What is it?”
Killian flinched and tried to stand, only to lose his balance and sit back down.
The two of them casually sat beside him as though nothing was wrong.
Just as David carefully began to speak—
“You’re still not feeling well……”
“Is there something wrong with your leg?”
Kusto bluntly cut to the point.
David looked at Kusto in surprise, but Kusto himself calmly stared at Killian.
Killian stared back at him for a moment before letting out a derisive chuckle and looking toward the island-shaped buoy in the distance.
“You said you were a mercenary too?”
“Yeah.”
“Then you know what happens to a mercenary who gets injured in the leg.”
Killian squeezed his eyes shut before looking at Kusto and David as though nothing had happened.
“You’re treated worse than a dog.”
“……”
“I got injured trying to save a comrade, but both that comrade and my mercenary team abandoned me. I had nowhere to go, so I survived doing odd jobs until I saw the announcement for Cartamen.”
“……”
“I thought maybe I could make a comeback with just these two arms. I decided this would be the final challenge of my life and entered.”
Killian gave a hollow laugh.
“But it looks like it’ll be difficult. I’m already causing trouble for everyone like this.”
“I know you’ve been doing leg-strengthening exercises every day.”
Kusto spoke.
Killian’s eyes widened.
“How did you know……?”
But then he shook his head.
“If you saw me, you’d know. It’s useless.”
“No. Things will change if you keep at it.”
“Even if it doesn’t show any effect right now, this is a team competition. If we work together, we can compensate for each other’s weaknesses.”
David spoke.
“For that to happen, you need to tell all the other team members about your weakness honestly. And ask them for help.”
“……”
“Kusto and I are already on board.”
After some hesitation, Killian nodded.
The three of them approached the other three team members.
Pierre was proudly cracking his whip, apparently showing the others something.
Denny and Arsen looked thoroughly fed up before spotting their approaching teammates and eagerly waving them over.
“If we’re talking about this, then our master……”
“Oh! David, Kusto, and even Killian are coming. Perfect. I have something to show you anyway.”
“Before that, Killian has something to say.”
David spoke.
Denny and Arsen brightened as though they had just seen their savior.
“I don’t know what it is, but let’s hear him out.”
Surprisingly, Pierre also obediently sat down, carefully fastening his whip around his waist.
Killian swallowed nervously.
“There’s something I haven’t told you.”
“What is it? Why do you look so serious?”
Denny, their leader, asked calmly without being shaken.
Killian’s face grew even more rigid as he opened his mouth.
“The truth is…… I injured my leg. It might never fully recover. I train every day to recover, but I may end up becoming a burden to you.”
“……”
Silence descended over them.
Killian squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again.
“If you’re wondering why I entered Carthamen despite that, it’s because I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted to show everyone that even someone abandoned by everyone else could still accomplish something. That’s why I came here more desperate than anyone. Of course, if you don’t want to accept me, then I……”
“Hey, Killian.”
Pierre cut him off.
Killian flinched.
Pierre was staring at him with a sharp gaze.
He looked almost as if he were about to tell Killian to get lost.
“When I was young, I worked as a carriage driver. I’ve been kicked by horses’ hind legs countless times. I even broke my bones once. But I recovered every time. You can recover too.”
“!”
But what came out of his mouth was completely unexpected.
Comfort.
And that wasn’t all.
“We all have our weaknesses, don’t we? Me included.”
Kusto showed them the slave brand embedded in his forearm.
“I guess I didn’t sleep well last night. My neck feels a little stiff.”
Arsen spoke next.
Finally, everyone’s eyes turned toward David.
“I have a weakness……”
“……?”
“To be honest, I don’t really know what it is.”
“Ah, what an asshole.”
“Being obnoxious is his weakness.”
Laughter erupted from the team.
But Killian was the only one who couldn’t laugh comfortably.
“Are you really sure this is okay? I could hold everyone back during the evaluation.”
“Isn’t that why you chose the cover team yourself? Because you know your own weakness?”
“If we focus on practicing getting on the boat, you won’t keep stumbling.”
“We’ll help you.”
“And you have strong arms, so rowing and archery shouldn’t be a problem.”
Killian stared at his teammates as though he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Then he lowered his head.
“Thank you. I’ll do my best too.”
***
Meanwhile, the boat carrying Dmitri kept losing its direction and drifting toward the opposite side of the island.
“Row properly! Put some strength into it!”
Their leader, Joan, shouted.
But it was useless.
All the team members were doing was exhausting themselves.
Then—
“Port side! Row harder! We’re veering to one side! Port! Port!”
Unable to stand by any longer, Dmitri shouted.
Following his commands, the team members on the port side put more strength into their oars.
The boat regained its direction and began moving toward the island.
Joan’s eyes turned cold.
The boat finally reached the island, and Pavel and Maurice, the acquisition team, entered the cave.
Meanwhile, Joan and Dmitri, the combat team, were supposed to scout the island and identify locations where enemies might be hiding.
As Dmitry surveyed the surroundings, Joan quietly approached him.
“Dmitri, thank you for earlier.”
“You mean for correct the boat’s direction? It was nothing……”
“But I’m the leader, so I’d like you to leave things to me from now on.”
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