Please Vote for Your Knight! Chapter 8

Edith sighed.

“Grade Five.”

A collective groan rose from the waiting area.

“Wow. What a disaster.”

“He’s completely humiliated…”

“Can he even recover from this? I don’t think so.”

Unable to accept reality, Count Moncho whined as he waved his ornate spear around.

“I-I’m Grade Five? Why? Why?! I spent a fortune on my weapon and outfit to come here… I mean, I put so much effort into preparing!”

The attendants dragged the whining Count Moncho away toward the seats behind the judges’ platform.

Those seats were reserved for contestants who had completed their evaluations, with each participant seated according to the grade they had received.

Naturally, Count Moncho was dumped into the very bottom row—the Grade Five section.

The entrance evaluation divided the contestants into five grades.

Grade One through Grade Five.

Yet now that the fifty-fifth contestant had appeared, more than half had already received Grades Four or Five.

“So far, there are only three contestants who are actually worth keeping an eye on.”

That was all because the tyrant had eliminated nearly every knight who was truly worthy of the title.

Of course, the grades would become less meaningful as the competition progressed.

But during the early stages, they were an excellent way to imprint an image of each contestant in the minds of the public.

‘That was the whole point of the entrance evaluation. Basically, it’s a preliminary test.’

The goal was to introduce each contestant’s individual character.

That was why Edith had prepared these traps.

To see their true selves when faced with situations they hadn’t anticipated.

‘But if their true selves are this pathetic, the audience is going to run away before we even get started.’

She had gathered a hundred contestants, yet somehow she couldn’t get even one decent shot out of them.

‘They have no skill, yet they’re overflowing with empty bravado.’

A little controversy could draw interest.

But if all one hundred contestants were attention-seeking disasters, then the competition itself was simply doomed.

Could the people genuinely root for contestants like these?

This was when someone impressive was supposed to make a grand entrance.

The contrast would make that person look several times more impressive thanks to the halo effect.

Just as Edith was seriously pondering the problem, Mila’s lively voice rang out beside her.

“Look! The person who’s going to live up to all our expectations is coming!”

The person who made Mila’s crimson eyes sparkle.

It was none other than David Vertier.

He showed no sign of nervousness.

Amont whispered,

“He looks far too relaxed. If he makes even one mistake, it could have the opposite effect.”

“Do you really think Lord David would make a mistake?”

Mila asked innocently.

Ines curled up the corner of her lips and shook her head.

“You never know. Even a monkey can fall from a tree.”

Edith considered her words carefully and imagined David making a mistake.

‘If we put that in the trailer, it could make for a great shot.’

Edith watched David with a little anticipation herself.

But nothing of the sort happened.

David avoided every trap while simultaneously cutting down every mole that appeared with his sword.

His swordsmanship was flawless, and his movements were graceful.

Even the surfaces of his cuts were impossibly smooth, like glass.

A completely different kind of groan rose from the waiting area compared to when Count Moncho had failed.

“Ah, seriously. Could he be a little less perfect?”

“You’re making the rest of us look bad.”

“At this point, he should’ve just joined the judges.”

Even as they complained, David’s sword traced an elegant arc through the air like a butterfly.

“Wait. That swordsmanship…?”

Amont suddenly froze.

Edith looked toward the judges.

Ines and Mila also seemed to have realized something.

Ines spoke.

“That’s Hugo Vertier’s swordsmanship.”

“And isn’t that Sir Hugo’s sword too? The famous Blue Lion Sword.”

Only then did Edith notice the lion emblem engraved on the hilt of the blue sword.

‘That’s the sword I saw at Lord David’s estate.’

Edith had completely failed to notice it.

Apparently, knights really did have an eye for these things.

‘He’s recreating his brother’s swordsmanship and using his sword at such an important moment. That’s… actually touching.’

But unlike Edith, Amont and Ines wore cold expressions.

David soon reached the exit of the maze.

He had passed the evaluation so effortlessly that it felt less like a test and more like watching an artistic performance.

After exiting the maze, David climbed the stairs of his own accord and stopped before the judges’ platform.

“As expected of someone who lives up to his reputation.”

The moment he appeared, Mila exclaimed in admiration.

“Don’t fall for him.”

At Edith’s warning, Mila simply laughed brightly.

“Too late.”

Amont followed.

“That was absolutely flawless. Excellent work.”

Considering that they had spent the entire evaluation telling contestants things like ‘Wouldn’t it be better if you just went home and died?’ and ‘Why don’t you just give up on becoming a knight?’, it was practically lavish praise.

“Thank you.”

David bowed his head humbly.

At that moment, however, Amont’s eyes sharpened.

“But why did you come?”

The question was cold.

“You’re already a knight, and you’re this perfect. Do you really need to be judged by us?”

The atmosphere inside the arena instantly turned icy.

Even Edith looked at Amont in surprise.

David, however, answered calmly.

“I cannot acknowledge the knighthood I received from the tyrant. And becoming a Di Eques is every knight’s dream.”

“Is that your dream? Or did you come here to fulfill someone else’s dream for them?”

At Ines’s cynical question, David looked momentarily speechless.

Amont and Ines had seen through him.

They had realized that David had come here to fulfill the unfinished dream of his late brother.

Unlike his usual self, David hesitated for a moment before answering.

“My brother’s dream is my dream.”

“Is that so? Understood.”

Ines replied skeptically.

That was the end of it.

The judges began their deliberation.

The evaluation went on longer than ever before.

‘Amont and Ines don’t seem to like David’s attitude.’

Mila, on the other hand, was insisting that his grade should be based on his abilities.

David remained expressionless, but Edith, who was listening beside them, felt as though her mouth had gone dry.

Only after a long while did they finally reach a decision.

Edith read the note Amont handed her.

“The result is… Grade One.”

It was an unexpected result.

Edith had assumed that his poor attitude would cost him enough points to put him at most in Grade Two.

‘But I guess they couldn’t ignore his skill.’

Anyone could see that he was far superior to every contestant who had appeared so far.

“Thank you.”

David bowed politely before making his way up to the highest seat—the Grade One section.

Several contestants already seated there applauded him.

However, perhaps intimidated by the atmosphere of the judges’ evaluation, the applause was nowhere near the thunderous ovation his skills would normally have earned.

Edith turned toward the waiting area.

“Contestant 57, enter!”

The contestant following David was Kusto.

When the dark-skinned young man with sharp features and a rough yet boyish face appeared, Ines involuntarily mouthed an impressed, Oh.

Edith, on the other hand, let out a sigh.

‘Why does he have to come right after David, the picture-perfect knight?’

Not only was Kusto a former slave, he had never received proper martial arts training.

He was bound to be compared to David.

And the comparison would be brutal.

‘He might get torn apart by the judges.’

As far as Edith was concerned, Kusto was a rough diamond.

But in a situation like this, that diamond might be discarded before it ever got the chance to shine.

And on top of that—

“He doesn’t have a weapon?”

“He isn’t even wearing armor.”

“What kind of confidence is that?”

The Valkyria each made a comment after looking at Kusto’s appearance.

Even Edith was dumbfounded.

‘He’s going barehanded? What on earth is he thinking?’

Still, there was one thing she was relieved about.

Valkyria hadn’t questioned his background.

‘You have to give our Valkyria credit for their character.’

Kusto stepped into the maze.

For some reason, Edith felt as nervous as if she were the one entering it.

‘Please. Please. He’s far too good a character to be reduced to comic relief.’

The first mole popped up right in front of Kusto’s feet.

“Beep?”

Kusto flinched.

The order in which the moles appeared and the sequence of the traps were different for every contestant.

That was precisely so they couldn’t prepare by watching the contestants who went before them from the waiting area.

Kusto was no exception.

He raised his fist, preparing to strike the mole.

That was when it happened.

A ball came swinging through the air like a pendulum.

Kusto appeared completely unprepared for it.

‘We’re screwed.’

Just as Edith lamented—

Bang!

Kusto caught the ball with his bare hand.

Then he threw it straight back in the direction it had come from.

The blunt-tipped arrow flying toward him collided with the ball and shattered into pieces.