Please Vote for Your Knight! Chapter 48

A few days later.

A notice was posted throughout the Empire announcing that those who had bought or sold voting tickets had been caught.

All of their votes were invalidated. They were also slapped with hefty fines.

But this was what surprised everyone.

“They didn’t take away their voting rights?”

No matter what illegal act they had committed, they hadn’t prevented them from exercising their legitimate right to vote.

It was Edith’s decision.

“I was curious which fans had done it, but they aren’t telling us.”

“They said it wasn’t just one or two people. There must’ve been various Maries and Lords.”

And there was one more thing.

From then on, the plaza screens announced the interim rankings every single day.

As the rankings changed day by day, people flocked in to vote even more enthusiastically.

Newspapers copied down the rankings every day and published them in articles.

Special features analyzing the rankings appeared almost daily as well.

“My ranking hasn’t changed much today either.”

Kusto put down the newspaper.

Dmitri picked it up again and read the article. His ranking had also remained at roughly the same level.

“David, your name still isn’t showing up.”

Dmitri spoke.

That meant he was either first or second.

David quietly smiled as he sipped his tea and looked out the window.

Outside, Killian and Olivier were in the middle of training.

Olivier had initially only come to give Killian some medicine for his leg, but at some point, Killian had dragged him into training with him.

“Why do I have to do this?”

“What, you think being smart is enough? Your body’s an idiot!”

“An idiot? I’ve never heard such a thing in my life! I am—”

“Yeah, yeah. Top of the Imperial Academy, first place in every subject. But physically, you’re failing every subject.”

Olivier couldn’t bring himself to argue with Killian and merely huffed in frustration.

Hearing that, Kusto burst out laughing.

“Those guys look like they’re planning to do insanely well in the next evaluation.”

“Don’t you want more?”

Dmitri asked as he quietly looked over the newspaper.

“Me? I’m still amazed by all of this.”

“Amazed?”

David asked.

Kusto nodded.

“I’m amazed that my ranking keeps holding steady like this. That there are actually people who keep voting for me this hard. It’s incredible. They don’t even know me, yet they’re doing this for me……”

Kusto blinked, looking slightly sentimental, then flashed a grin.

“So yeah, I want more. I want to see how high I can climb.”

“I knew you would.”

David spoke approvingly.

Seeing the genuine joy on his face, Kusto asked seriously,

“Doesn’t it bother you?”

“What?”

“The fact that I used to be a slave. You too, Dmitri.”

David frowned.

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“You don’t care that I’m a traitor either.”

At Dmitri’s words, Kusto nodded.

“That’s true, but……”

Kusto looked at the slave brand engraved on his forearm.

“Most people who used to be slaves hide or remove this mark. Because everyone points fingers at them.”

“But you’re not ashamed of it.”

David said.

Kusto nodded.

“I didn’t become a slave because I did something wrong. So I never erased the mark.”

Then he quietly continued.

“I heard there’s never been a former slave who became a Di Eques.”

Kusto gently traced his mark with his other hand.

“I want to become a Di Eques as someone who used to be a slave. I want to become a source of hope for people like me, so they won’t have to hide who they are or be ashamed of it.”

 

***

 

The day Episode 6 aired.

A man was sitting right at the very front of the plaza.

Am I too far forward? Should I move?

He turned around.

But the plaza was already packed.

And the broadcast hadn’t even started yet.

Those who arrived late were making their way toward other plazas.

Whether there would even be room there was another question.

Some people were even climbing trees to watch Cartamen.

I’ll just stay here.

The man made up his mind and fixed his eyes on the screen.

Today’s interim rankings were listed across it.

He was desperately looking for one particular name.

Big brother, where are you? Where are you?

And then he found his name at number thirty.

30th — Killian Grouchy

Haah. Why…….

The man sighed.

His ranking had dropped again.

Why does our Killian ranking keep falling? He’s such an amazing man.

Manly, loyal, and strong.

His only problem was that he was a little taciturn, so he didn’t get much screen time.

Is that really such a big problem?

There was one more thing bothering him.

During the broadcast of Episode 5 last time—

At least he got some screen time, but of all things, it was the scene where he voluntarily said he would leave the team.

He had made several mistakes during practice as well, so perhaps it had left a bad impression.

But he had a leg injury.

Despite that, Killian had performed well enough during the evaluations that no one had even noticed his injury.

Our amazing Killian was really…….

But surely he wouldn’t actually be eliminated this episode, right?

The man prayed desperately that it wouldn’t happen.

Soon, Episode 6 began airing.

And his hopes were shattered without mercy.

They really had eliminated a team member.

B-Brother! Our brother……!

The man was devastated.

After that, he couldn’t concentrate until the main evaluation began.

What’s going to happen to our hyung? He hasn’t appeared even once since he was eliminated.

Surely they wouldn’t eliminate him from the entire competition like this.

His heart pounded anxiously.

And then!

“Hey, you! What are you doing here?”

“Are we supposed to take him with us?”

“We can’t! There’s not enough room on the ship!”

During the first team’s evaluation, the eliminated member appeared.

He had been tied up right next to the retrieval target—the Emperor’s Sword.

“Whoa!”

“They put the eliminated member there?”

“That’s seriously cruel.”

When they realized that they couldn’t fit both the sword and the eliminated member onto the ship, the crowd’s reactions became even more heated.

“You can’t abandon your teammate!”

“Then are we supposed to abandon His Majesty’s sword? Do you want to commit treason?”

The crowd quickly split into two opposing sides.

The man, of course, had only one opinion.

Our brother! We have to save our brother!

But every team that appeared eventually abandoned the eliminated member, someone who had once been their teammate, and sailed away.

“T-Those bastards……!”

“The objective is to retrieve His Majesty’s sword, but it’s still hard to watch.”

“Isn’t the eliminated member being abandoned twice? If it were me, I’d never forget this for the rest of my life.”

Sympathy for the eliminated members steadily grew.

The man clenched his fists.

At this rate, Killian’s team will abandon him too.

If that happened, he would flood the tablet community with anti-fan posts about them.

Just as the man was grinding his teeth—

It was around the time the fifth team appeared.

This team also loaded the Emperor’s Sword onto their ship.

“There they go again.”

“What a bunch of disloyal bastards.”

Then—

Someone pushed the Emperor’s Sword out of the ship and sent it tumbling onto the island floor.

It was Dmitri.

And then he pulled the eliminated Olivier onto the ship.

“As the leader, I say this! Get on the ship, quickly! We have to escape with Olivier!”

“Woooooah! Dmitri!”

“Save the eliminated member! Save him!”

“What is happening?!”

In the end, Dmitri’s team abandoned the Emperor’s Sword and saved their teammate.

The crowd cheered, but they were also worried.

“But can they really abandon His Majesty’s sword?”

“They’ll get disqualified for that.”

As if to dispel their concerns, Dmitri spoke.

“Olivier was knighted by His Majesty the Emperor. He is His Majesty’s knight. And a knight of His Majesty is also His Majesty’s sword.”

As a result, Dmitri’s team received neither a penalty nor preferential treatment.

However, the next team, unaware of this fact, once again abandoned their teammate and chose the sword.

The team after that did the same.

“You idiots! I told you to save your teammate!”

“But if we don’t retrieve the sword, what’s the point of this game?”

Having already seen one team save their teammate, the other teams looked even worse by comparison.

At this rate, what’s going to happen to our Killian?

The man watched the screen with sweaty palms.

Finally, the last team.

Killian’s team.

And Killian’s teammates did not disappoint.

“I told you there’s no room to fit me on the ship!”

“When did I ever say I was putting you on the ship?”

(David suddenly hoists Killian onto his back!)

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

“This time, I’m not giving up on you.”

“Waaaaaah!”

The man completely lost his composure, cheering in overwhelming emotion.

This time, I’m not giving up on you!

They’re not giving up on our Killian!

“I’m not giving up on you guys either!”

Just wait until the broadcast ends!

I’m voting for them with all I’ve got!

The man wasn’t the only one cheering.

Everyone, including Kusto, erupted in cheers at the attitude of the teammates who refused to abandon Killian.

And this team even managed to retrieve the Emperor’s Sword.

The entire plaza was filled with excitement.

Then a scene from an interview with Killian appeared on the screen—an interview no one knew when had been filmed.