Please Vote for Your Knight! Chapter 38

Dmitri quietly looked at Joan.

Joan was smiling with an innocent-looking expression, as if he had no ill intentions whatsoever.

“If there are two leaders on one team, the members will only get confused.”

“I understand.”

But another problem arose.

On the way back, the boat once again failed to stay on course.

“Starboard, starboard! No, port! Watch the direction and row properly!”

Joan claimed he was simply following what Dmitri had done, but his command was utterly hopeless.

In the end, they spun around for quite some time before finally making it back to the starting point.

As soon as they got off the boat, Maurice spoke.

“This isn’t going to work.”

Olivier agreed.

“If we want to win, we need to approach this strategically. Let’s change the leader.”

“Change the leader?”

Joan looked flustered, but he couldn’t get angry.

He glanced upward.

Countless birds equipped with video orbs were looking down at them.

“If we change the leader halfway through, it’ll only confuse everyone. Besides, Dmitri leads well on the boat, and someone else does better on the island. Are we going to keep changing the leader every time?”

“That……”

“This isn’t for my sake. It’s for everyone. Once a leader has been chosen, that leader should remain in place.”

Joan stubbornly held his ground.

In the end, the matter of changing the leader was brushed aside.

 

***

 

Three days later, the day of the midterm evaluation arrived.

“You’ve been practicing a lot, right?”

The Valkyria appeared.

They stood on the opposite side from where the knights had gathered.

Ines spoke.

“The midterm evaluation is meant to help the knights. So do your best.”

“We’ll really help you a lot!”

Mila exclaimed brightly.

But the knights who knew just how vicious that cheerfulness could be could only swallow nervously.

“All right, then! Let’s start in reverse order, beginning with the team whose highest-ranked member has the lowest ranking!”

Mila announced.

The lowest-ranked team, already trembling with nerves, climbed aboard the boat.

As expected, the boat failed to head toward the island and simply spun in circles.

“Hey, not that way!”

“Put more strength into your rowing!”

The Valkyria held their heads in their hands.

The next team was no different.

Even when they barely managed to reach the island, they were usually so exhausted that they flailed about helplessly before making their way back.

“Hmm, this is absolutely terrible!”

Mila said, unable to hide her disappointment.

“At this rate, the only advice I can give them is to just give up.”

Amond muttered cynically.

Ines didn’t say a word.

Then it was Dmitri’s team’s turn.

“One, two!”

They boarded the boat to the rhythm of their chant. The boat moved toward the island faster than the previous teams.

But once they reached the halfway point, they began turning to one side again.

“Hey, you there! Starboard! Put more strength into it! Ah, no, not starboard! Port! Port!”

Joan, who was directing them, began fumbling again.

The boat continued spinning.

This was a midterm evaluation. And the Valkyria were watching.

Dmitri had no choice but to speak.

“More strength on the starboard side, and put the port-side oars straight into the water!”

Joan shot Dmitri a glare.

But when they followed Dmitri’s instructions, the boat regained its course and began moving toward the island.

Thanks to that, they arrived at the island with their strength still conserved, quickly entered the cave, and returned to the boat.

When they came back, they had the fastest record among the eight teams that had gone before them.

Amond’s eyes sharpened as he watched.

“Not bad. But does this team have two leaders?”

“No. I’m the leader!”

Joan raised his hand and said.

“I don’t think you are.”

Ines said coldly.

“Decide who the leader is for certain. Otherwise, you’ll end up with the boat going up a mountain.”

Joan bit his lip.

As they returned to their seats, he whispered to Dmitri.

“I asked you to stay quiet.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, why are you apologizing? There’s no need for that.”

Pavel, who had been listening, cut in with an incredulous expression.

“We succeeded thanks to Dmitry. Shouldn’t we be thinking about changing the leader, then?”

“Based on rational deduction, I agree.”

Olivier adjusted his glasses and spoke.

Joan tried to maintain his composure.

“You want to change the leader now?”

“I don’t mind. I’d like Joan to remain the leader. I won’t step forward.”

Dmitri intervened to mediate. He was worried that their teamwork would fall apart.

Meanwhile, David’s team set off last.

Their boat reached the island more smoothly than any other team’s.

It was thanks to Denny’s command, having once been a sailor.

While the acquisition team quickly entered and exited the cave, the strategy team surveyed the area around the island.

Then they all boarded the boat together.

“Done!”

Arsen shouted happily.

That was when—

Slip!

Kilian lost his balance and, unable to brace himself with his legs, fell into the water.

“Kilian!”

Arsen hurriedly reached out to grab him, only to fall into the water as well.

The situation instantly descended into chaos.

“Stay calm! Grab their hands one at a time and pull them up!”

Denny shouted.

Following the leader’s command, they pulled Kilian and Arsen back up, but by then, a considerable amount of time had already passed.

They hurriedly rowed as hard as they could afterward, but unlike their initial momentum, they ended up with the second-best time.

Of course, second place was still an excellent result, but since they could have taken first, the mood sank.

“There is a weak link.”

Ines said mercilessly.

“Everyone needs to think carefully. Think about what needs to be done for the entire team to achieve a good result.”

Amont spoke.

He then paused, as though he had something more to say, before looking at Mila.

Mila pouted and grumbled.

“Why do you always make me do the difficult parts?”

Then she spoke.

“Everyone! The reason we held this midterm evaluation was to give you advice. And there’s one more thing!”

The entire arena fell silent.

Mila bit her lip as though she found it difficult to say, then continued.

“We’re giving you the opportunity to remove one member from your team in order to create the perfect team.”

“!”

The circular arena was filled with shock.

After emphasizing teamwork all this time, they were now telling them to eliminate one of their teammates.

Noticing the atmosphere, Ines spoke coldly.

“Under normal circumstances, you should never abandon even a single teammate. But in a dramatic situation, there are times when you have no choice but to make a sacrifice for the sake of victory.”

“……”

“Now is one of those times. From this point onward, decide through a vote which one member will be eliminated.”

“W-What will happen to the eliminated members?”

One of the knights raised his hand and asked.

“That is a secret.”

“Won’t the eliminated members form a new team and be evaluated again?”

“I can tell you with certainty that there will be no such thing.”

The atmosphere in the circular arena sank heavily.

They had spent days working together.

And now they had to choose one of them to remove.

At the same time, another kind of tension could be felt. There were people already eyeing teammates they found irritating, quietly looking for an opportunity to get rid of them.

“Then I’ll give you thirty minutes. Use that time to choose the person to be eliminated.”

Thirty minutes!

The Valkyries gave them far too little time before leaving.

“This is insane. How are we supposed to eliminate someone?!”

“We’re all on the same team!”

“Haah, what choice do we have? We’re being ordered to do it from above……”

Sighs and shouts erupted from all around.

At first, the voices insisting that they couldn’t do it were louder.

But before even ten minutes had passed, the first eliminated member appeared.

“Give me just one more chance. I can really do well.”

“I’m sorry, but you can’t even row.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll do better in the next evaluation.”

“What next?! It sounds like there won’t be a next time if you’re eliminated!”

“We can’t let the rest of us suffer because of you.”

The brutal atmosphere intimidated the other teams as well.

Kilian silently looked at his teammates.

None of them said anything, but it seemed his fate had already been decided.

“I’ll leave the team.”

“We haven’t even voted yet.”

David tried to stop him.

“But isn’t it obvious what the vote will be? In that case, I’ll just leave on my own.”

“Kilian.”

“You all know that I’m just holding the team back.”

“But weren’t you desperate to go to Cartamen?”

Kusto said.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to show everyone that even someone abandoned by everyone could do it? And now you’re asking us to be the ones to abandon you?”

“As the leader, I’m giving you an order! Get on the boat! We have to escape with Olivier!”