Please Vote for Your Knight! – Chapter 42

Author: Asternkm

David grinned and hoisted Kilian onto his back.

Startled, Kilian struggled.

“What are you doing? Put me down! I said put me down!”

“This time, I can’t give up on you.”

Kilian, who had been struggling, suddenly froze.

All his life, everyone had abandoned him.

And now the Knight of Knights himself, David Vertier, was saying he couldn’t give up on him.

Overcome with emotion and unable to say a word, Kilian was lowered onto the back of the boat by David.

Four other team members were already aboard, carrying the Emperor’s Sword.

They were all waiting for Kilian.

Kilian was overcome with emotion once again.

David spoke.

“I know your arms are stronger than anyone else’s.”

“So?”

“You can hang onto the back of the boat and come with us, can’t you?”

“What? Then the boat will tip over.”

“We’ll handle that much ourselves!”

Kusto shouted.

A wave of screams erupted from the audience stands.

“I thought Kusto was just a pathetic character, but he’s got some serious guts.”

“Our puppy knows when to bark! I like him even more, damn it!”

Denny also used his net to tie David’s hand to the boat.

Sitting at the very back, David firmly grasped Kilian’s hand as he held onto the end of the boat.

“We’re going together. Let’s go!”

The boat set off, tilting under the weight.

“More strength on the port side! Pierre! Move a little farther forward and sit down! That’s it!”

Denny shouted nonstop.

His voice was almost hoarse.

The boat moved toward the finish line at a noticeably slower pace than when they had come, barely maintaining its balance.

The spectators watching the scene cheered them on as one.

“Just a little faster!”

“No! The boat’s going to sink!”

“Waaaaah! Careful! Careful!”

Just as the boat was about to tip over, it reached the finish line.

“Woooooah!”

“That was insane!”

“Did you see Kilian’s forearms? Those muscles, those veins… Damn!”

“How the hell did he hold on like that? He’s not human. He’s a god!”

It was the loudest cheer the circular arena had heard so far.

“Wasn’t that a little slower than during practice?”

Denny whispered, drenched in sweat.

David nodded.

Then Kusto firmly grasped Kilian’s hand.

“I don’t regret this choice.”

“Neither do I.”

“Same here.”

Every member of the team felt the same way.

Once they had caught their breath to some extent, Amond asked a question.

“Why did you decide to attempt something so reckless? You nearly could have all fallen into the water.”

“We believed in Kilian’s arm strength.”

David answered.

“In other words, this strategy would have been impossible without Kilian.”

“That’s right. Kilian is an essential teammate to us.”

Kusto continued.

The other team members nodded as well.

At their answer, even the normally cold Ines gave a brief smile.

“Judging by how Kilian broke the chains around his forearms, he certainly seems to have tremendous arm strength. But I take it his legs aren’t nearly as strong?”

The remark struck a nerve, and Kilian’s expression darkened.

But soon, he spoke calmly.

“The truth is, I seriously injured my leg while working as a mercenary, trying to save a fellow comrade.”

Sounds of sympathy arose from the audience.

“After that, I was kicked out of the mercenary corps. Even the comrade I had saved abandoned me.”

“How can you call someone like that a comrade?!”

Outraged shouts erupted from various parts of the audience.

“After that, no one would take me anywhere, so I wandered from place to place doing odd jobs.”

As if remembering the resentment he had felt back then, Kilian paused to catch his breath.

“Then I saw the announcement for Cartamen. I thought it was my last chance to make a comeback, so I entered. Because I still had these arms. And…”

Kilian looked at his teammates.

“My teammates made me certain that I had made the right choice. I’m truly grateful to all of you. I managed to do this with these arms because of you. Thank you.”

Kilian hugged each of his teammates one by one.

“Oh my, what do we do? This is so touching.”

Mila exclaimed in admiration, completely forgetting her duty as a judge.

And there was another person here who had forgotten his own duty and was blinking back tears.

Norman Fossi.

The columnist for The Daily of Justice and Truth.

The Mouth of Hell, who had relentlessly spewed venom at Cartamen.

And yet…

Damn it. Honestly, this is just too… damn cool!

His heart burned with passion.

His writing, which had begun to change in tone ever since Dmitri’s team, was now practically bordering on praise.

— The friendship between these six men is nothing short of a beautiful embodiment of the spirit of the Empire’s knights, the Die Eque…

Soon, Edith rose from her seat.

Please, give these guys a ton of points!

Norman Fossi was unconsciously shouting inside his head.

“Not only did this team retrieve the Emperor’s Sword, they also saved their teammate. The mission has been completed, and as a bonus for rescuing a teammate, we will deduct ten seconds from their recorded time.”

“Yes! That’s it!”

Norman Fossi suddenly leaped to his feet without realizing it, then immediately sat back down as though nothing had happened.

Edith’s plan to have him watch Cartamen in person and get him completely invested had been an overwhelming success.

Norman Fossi had been reborn from a vicious hater into an obsessive fan.

A break was given while the scores were being tallied.

But both the knights in the waiting area and the spectators in the stands were still buzzing with excitement.

After a while, the results were announced.

The early teams had not received particularly high scores.

There were 10,000 spectators, but those who didn’t want to vote could simply submit a blank ballot.

In particular, some of the early teams had coldly abandoned teammates who had desperately begged them to take them along.

In such cases, the eliminated members sometimes received sympathy votes and actually climbed into the upper ranks.

I knew it. Still, that guy did have a bit of honor in him. He came in first on his team, though the overall number of votes is low.

Norman Fossi rapidly scribbled in his notebook, writing what was supposed to be a column but had essentially become the ramblings of an obsessed fan.

Finally, it’s Dmitri’s team’s turn!

Their performance hadn’t been bad either.

Norman Fossi’s heart had started pounding the moment they chose Olivier over the Emperor’s Sword.

First, the team’s overall time was announced.

□ Record :: 20 minutes 17 seconds
— Current Rank: 1st

“Woooooah!”

If they maintained first place, they would receive a 100,000-point bonus.

Next came the individual vote counts, starting from sixth place.

6th — Raphael: 578 votes
5th — Olivier: 632 votes
4th — Morris: 832 votes
3rd — Joan: 1,970 votes
2nd — Pavel: 2,180 votes
1st — Dmitri: 3,768 votes

As expected, the support team’s score is lower than those of the acquisition and strategy teams. Eliminated members really do get quite a few sympathy votes.

But Norman Fossi had no objections to first place.

After all, if it hadn’t been for Dmitri, he wouldn’t have gotten to witness such an entertaining scene.

“Dmitri! You’re the best!”

“Our baby did so well!”

Perhaps because of that, Dmitri’s usually secretive fangirls began openly screaming their support.

This time, even Norman Fossi had to admit it.

Why did a guy this clever choose the path of becoming a traitor to the Empire?

As Norman Fossi clicked his tongue, a strange glint flashed across his eyes.

Come to think of it, hadn’t Dmitri once become a tyrant’s knight, only to switch sides to the revolutionaries and open the gates of the Imperial Palace for them?

Even that achievement had been condemned as the act of an opportunist.

Could it be that bastard deliberately…? No. It can’t be. What kind of lunatic would sacrifice himself that much?

But he soon shook his head.

The scores of several more teams were announced, and finally, the score for Denny’s team, which included David and Kusto, was revealed.

I hope this team takes first… Ah, but they were way too slow on the way back.

Without realizing it, Norman Fossi found himself sweating with tension.

□ Record :: 21 minutes 03 seconds
— Current Rank: 3rd

Ah…

It was a faster time than he had expected, but still not enough to take first place.

Our Kilian still did his absolute best, though…!

He hoped Kilian wouldn’t blame himself and drown in guilt over what had happened.

Norman Fossi quickly scribbled down arguments to defend Kilian in his notebook.