Please Vote for Your Knight! Chapter 60

They had disliked Olivier from the moment they heard that he was joining Cartamen.

‘That guy’s never even properly held a sword.’

‘Does he think being good at studying means he’ll automatically be good at the Equites, too?’

Of course, those predictions were shattered from the very first episode of Cartamen.

The event involved avoiding obstacles inside a maze.

Olivier had beaten it with his brain. He calculated the timing at which the obstacles would appear and completed the course with remarkable wit.

‘Is that guy freaking insane?’

‘As expected, he’s annoying.’

There were plenty of reasons why they held a grudge against Olivier.

Brin had been stuck in second place year after year because of Olivier.

Agnes had lost the student council presidency because of Olivier’s incredible campaign promises and had been forced to settle for vice president.

But there was something even more important.

The fact that Olivier was simply annoying.

‘Even when he’s doing nothing, he looks like he’s showing off.’

‘He’s too damn good at everything. He’s selfish.’

Anyway, the two of them, united by their shared circumstances, had rallied around their common enemy, Olivier, and had maintained their friendship ever since.

And, as if by fate, they had both won tickets to attend this Cartamen evaluation together.

Brin was Kusto’s Marie.

Agnes was Raphael’s Marie.

Brin and Agnes entered the circular arena under the envious gazes of those who hadn’t gotten tickets.

Their seats were slightly above the middle.

They had a good overall view of the stage.

“I wish we could’ve gotten seats a little closer. What a shame, Agnes.”

“Brin, if we were closer, wouldn’t that mean we’d have to see Olivier up close, too? Let’s consider ourselves lucky.”

Soon, the ‘mounted dance’ evaluation began.

When Edith and the Valkyria members appeared, the circular arena erupted in cheers.

“Everyone, you’ve been waiting a long time, haven’t you? The knights have put in an incredible amount of effort for today. And now, we’ll show you exactly what kind of mounted dances they’ve prepared!”

The knights gathered in the circular arena appeared on the screen.

The audience stirred with anticipation.

Even Edith’s face on the screen sparkled with anticipation.

Of course, hers was a slightly different kind of anticipation from the audience’s.

A mischievous kind.

“How shall we decide which mounted dance you’ll have to recreate?”

“Running?”

“Flag snatching?”

“Arm wrestling!”

“The answer is…… a test of courage!”

“?”

(The knights are extremely flustered!)

(Could it be…… they’re afraid of the test of courage?)

(Interview with Kusto)

“No. Not at all.”

(Interview with Dmitri)

“The most frightening thing is people.”

(Is that really the case?)

Inside .

(A ghost suddenly drops from the air!)

“KYAAAAAAAH!”

“U-UAGH!”

“AAAAAAAH!”

(Without even deciding who would go first, Kusto and Dmitri run toward the end of the passage……)

(Who did you say was the most frightening?)

“PWAHAHAHAHA!”

“BWHAHA! They’re insane!”

“I never thought they’d act like that.”

“Our Kusto’s scared face is so cute. What should I do?!”

As the circular arena filled with laughter,

Brin, Kusto’s Marie, clenched both fists and stomped her feet, looking like she was about to go crazy from how cute he was.

“Is there anything here I can break? I’m going crazy, Agnes.”

“He is cute, but what’s so amazing about this?”

But Agnes had made a grave mistake.

“AAAGH! Master! Master! Master! Help me! Master!”

“Pierre, we’re almost there. It’s over. We just need to get out now.”

“That’s right. There, there, our Pierre. Good boy. You did so well.”

“Look at Director Raphael’s old instincts kicking in! What do I dooooo?!”

Agnes practically went berserk.

The sight of the gentle, handsome blonde soothing and coaxing Pierre looked almost saintly.

“Haah, our Raphael is a man, but I guess he has maternal instincts too. The fact that he can even embrace that lunatic……”

“Let’s not feminize him, Agnes.”

“I’m not feminizing him. Our Raphael is just freaking amazing.”

Agnes was so delighted that she even shed tears.

Pierre’s Marie and the other knights’ Maries went equally wild at the unexpected sight of Pierre being pampered by Raphael.

The test of courage was essentially fan service that Edith had prepared specifically for the Maries and the knights.

After the test of courage determined the group rankings,and the rules were explained—that two groups would compete against each other using the same song—

the mounted dances each group would perform were determined through a flag-snatching game.

At that moment, the screen briefly went dark, and Edith appeared.

“Did you enjoy watching that?”

“Yes!”

“All right, then! The first group to perform their mounted dance will be……!”

The audience held its breath.

Edith smiled brightly.

“Shall we find out on the screen?”

The leaders of each group appeared on the screen.

Group 1’s leader was Dmitri.

Group 2’s leader was David.

“Do you know why you’re all gathered here?”

(Edith’s voice comes from off-screen.)

(The leaders look bewildered.)

Edith spoke in a voice filled with amusement.

“It’s to determine the order of the mounted dances. And the way we’ll decide the order is…… arm wrestling!”

(The leaders are flustered!)

Tension and confidence appeared simultaneously on the leaders’ faces.

They were all fairly confident in their strength.

“AAAH!”

“GAAAH!”

But once the arm wrestling actually began, many of the leaders went down screaming all sorts of strange cries.

In the end, the final match came down to David and Dmitri.

“Let’s hear your thoughts going into the final.”

Edith gave them a meaningful look. Although it wasn’t being recorded, she had deliberately hinted that they should say something provocative.

Dmitri hesitated before speaking.

“I’m not confident. I’m confident I’ll lose.”

“WOOOOAAAH?!”

A roar erupted from the circular arena.

It was such an unexpected side of Dmitri, who was usually so composed.

David refused to be outdone.

“I won’t humiliate you too badly. Let’s just finish this in one shot.”

“Yes! We’ve heard the confident words of our two finalists. Then let’s begin!”

(David and Dmitri clasp hands!)

Both David and Dmitri’s eyes widened.

It was the first time they had held hands like this, but the strength they felt was anything but ordinary.

The calluses embedded in their palms told them just how hard the other had been training behind the scenes.

Their gazes collided across the empty space between them.

They were burning.

(Neither of them looks like they’ll be willing to lose easily!)

“All right, then…… begin!”

An incredible force immediately surged between them.

Their faces flushed red, and veins stood out along their necks and forearms.

“O-Ooh!”

Not only the spectators outside the screen, but even the other leaders inside the screen were stunned by the passion between the two.

The back-and-forth arm wrestling gave no clear indication of who would win.

But eventually……!

Thud!

Dmitri was the first to run out of strength.

David threw both arms into the air and straightened his back.

“Knight David Bertier is the winner! Choose which position you’ll perform in!”

“I’ll go first.”

David said, wiping away his sweat.

All the leaders were surprised by his unexpected choice.

Edith was just as surprised.

“Not last, but first?”

“Yes.”

David was confident.

The opening.

When the audience’s concentration was at its peak!

He would put on the best performance possible and intimidate the other groups from the start.

‘If the audience sees our group first, they won’t even be able to take in the other groups’ mounted dances.’

Group 5, which was performing the same as David’s group, naturally became the second group.

The next person to choose was Dmitri.

“Knight Dmitri Cassel, which position will you perform in?”

“We……”

The group members had already discussed the performance order beforehand.

Naturally—

“We’ll go last.”

After the other leaders had finished making their choices, the screen changed.

A scene of David’s group practicing appeared.

It was a behind-the-scenes clip.

They had practiced hard, but after receiving Valkyria’s harsh criticism,

the group had decided to introduce a new position into their choreography—the ‘spider.’

And then the voting began.

“Then let’s each point to the person we think is best suited to be the center—the ‘spider.’ Begin!”

The screen went dark.

The lights inside the circular arena also went out.

“Ooooooh!”

“What is it? What’s happening?!”

The crowd murmured with curiosity and tension.

Brin and Agnes were no different.

“Why cut it off right there? Now I’m curious.”

“So who’s the spider?”

Then a single beam of light poured down onto the stage.

Someone was riding a pitch-black horse.

The person sitting atop it wore black clothes and a black cloak, along with a black mask emblazoned with a spider emblem.

The mask only covered the upper half of the face, so it was possible to tell who it was.

The identity of the spider was……!