Please Vote for Your Knight! Chapter 9

“Did you use one obstacle to destroy another?”

“He did that barehanded…?”

“Is that why he didn’t bring a weapon?”

The other contestants watched in awe.

Of course, there were still some who sneered at Kusto for being a former slave.

“Guess that’s what happens when you’re uncivilized. All he knows is how to use brute strength.”

“First we get the best of the knights, and now we get the best of the slaves.”

But all three Valkyria looked impressed.

Kusto continued making his way through the maze by turning the traps against one another.

Anything he couldn’t handle that way, he dealt with through hand-to-hand combat.

At one point, he even ripped one of the mole-shaped automata out of the ground and used it to fight off an obstacle.

His strength was incredible.

He lacked any refined technique, but there were unmistakable traces of skills he had developed on his own through years of surviving.

“Whoa!”

“Yes! That’s it!”

“He actually pulled that off!”

The contestants cheered as if they were watching a game.

Even the Valkyria nodded along with Kusto’s movements.

They weren’t merely judging him anymore.

They were enjoying the show.

The corners of Edith’s lips curled upward.

Getting people excited. That’s what star quality is.

And coming right after David had created an unexpected contrast between the two.

The two men were complete opposites, so their performances would naturally be compared in a positive way.

Thank goodness.

Kusto made it through the maze and calmly climbed the stairs until he stood before the judges.

As if she had been waiting for him, Mila asked,

“How did you come up with the idea of solving everything barehanded instead of using a weapon?”

Kusto was about to answer, but Amont cut in.

“We clearly instructed everyone to bring a weapon. No matter how well you made it through the maze, failing to prepare properly is still grounds for a deduction. Why did you do it?”

Edith flinched at Amont’s cold assessment.

Kusto, however, answered calmly.

“It cost quite a lot of money to make it all the way to the capital. I spent everything I had.”

“What?”

“I even sold the weapon I owned, so I didn’t have enough money to buy another one.”

“……”

Amont opened her mouth, speechless.

Then, from beside her, came a muffled sound.

“Heh… hehehehe…”

It was Ines.

The other judges stared at her in shock.

They were more stunned by the fact that Ines had actually laughed than by Kusto’s answer.

Noticing their gazes, Ines immediately put on a straight face and asked coldly,

“Even so, armor, a weapon, a horse, and knightly virtue are the bare minimum a knight should possess. You have none of the four.”

Edith was stunned.

You literally just laughed at him! How did you suddenly switch back to this?!

Kusto answered without the slightest change in expression.

“I wanted them. I just couldn’t afford them. As you can see, my circumstances aren’t exactly favorable.”

That silenced even Ines.

If she pressed him any further, she would just look like a terrible person.

He’s right, though. Becoming a proper knight really does cost a fortune.

Knighthood was practically a privilege reserved for those who had money.

If a commoner wanted to become a knight, they had to work themselves to the bone and save up enough money first.

The di Equites are the complete opposite of that tradition.

Anyone could become a knight if they earned the people’s support.

Even someone with nothing could rise from the very bottom and become a knight.

That was the very spirit of the di Equites.

And Kusto fits that role perfectly!

He could become a symbol of hope for all those people at the bottom who dreamed of becoming di Equites.

Which means he can capture their attention—and their support!

Edith struggled to suppress her satisfied smile.

Instead, she listened as Amont spoke again.

“Even so, thank you for participating. But you can practice swordsmanship with nothing more than a branch. Do you know any formal sword techniques?”

“No.”

“What about spear techniques?”

“No.”

“Hmm…”

Even taking Kusto’s past as a slave into consideration, there was simply no excuse to give him a first-grade ranking.

The three judges discussed it among themselves before announcing the result.

“Second Grade.”

“Thank you.”

“From now on, you should learn swordsmanship and other proper techniques. Understood?”

“Yes.”

Amont gave him a stern warning.

Then she muttered under her breath,

“I want to train him. He has talent.”

Edith’s eyes widened.

Didn’t you just spend the entire time criticizing him?

She simply couldn’t understand the way knights thought.

 

***

 

Name: Kusto
Aliases: The Knight Who Bears His Past, The Barehanded Monster, At Least Put Some Armor On, and so on…
Grade: 2nd Grade
Physical Combat: A
Weapon Skills: F
Magic: —
Knightly Virtue: —
Intelligence: —
Traits: Carries a slave brand yet remains remarkably confident. There seems to be a reason he hasn’t erased the mark.

 

***

 

“That bastard got a Second Grade? Higher than me?”

The contestants sprawled across the Fourth- and Fifth-Grade sections muttered resentfully.

Kusto pretended not to hear them and took his seat in the Second-Grade section.

Then, loud enough for them to hear, he murmured,

“This chair is comfortable.”

He could see the tops of their heads as they seethed with frustration.

The higher your grade, the farther down you can look.

They really know how to make the rankings feel rewarding.

Some of the contestants who had received the lowest grades were even crying.

Is Cartamen really that important?

Kusto had heard the name before, but as someone who had spent his life as a slave, he had never understood how much Cartamen meant to people who lived by the sword.

Now that he saw it for himself, it seemed to carry far more meaning than he had realized.

He raised his head.

David was sitting elegantly in the First-Grade section.

Only a short while ago, they had been sitting side by side.

Now, David seemed impossibly far above him.

And seeing that made Kusto want to climb up there too.

So this is what everyone else is feeling.

If that’s the case…

Then let’s do this properly.

The Second Grade he had received wasn’t bad at all.

I decided to participate in the first place, so I gave it everything I had.

Not using a weapon had worked out, too.

Choosing to rely solely on his physical abilities in the first evaluation had been deliberate.

Even if he had used a sword, the swordsmanship he had picked up while living as a slave gladiator would have looked terrible in the judges’ eyes.

No matter how safely he made it through the maze, they would have criticized him for not having proper training.

Here, professionally taught techniques would be highly valued.

No matter how strong he was, his clumsy handling of a weapon would inevitably receive a low score.

If he showed mediocre weapon skills, it would hurt his image right from the start.

So instead, I decided to focus on showing them his potential—his limitless potential.

Showing up barehanded and unarmed to catch the judges off guard had been fun, too.

At least, it worked.

If he had potential, he could always learn swordsmanship later.

In fact, one of the judges had even advised him to do so.

Kusto looked up at the First-Grade section once again.

I’ll climb up there.

To that place.

 

***

 

The entrance evaluation was nearing its end.

By now, Edith had added several more names to her notebook.

……

Trait: Runs an orphanage.

……

Just then, voices came from the Fifth-Grade section.

“That’s unfair. They gave that orphanage director First Grade just because he supposedly has potential, even though he doesn’t have any fundamentals at all.”

“Did the judges fall for his sob story? He even looked pitiful.”

That wasn’t the case, but Edith still felt oddly guilty.

She quickly turned the page.

……

Alias: Academy Valedictorian

……

“But why is the academy’s top student even participating in Cartamen?”

Edith paused.

“Isn’t it cheating for him to calculate the trap patterns and avoid them?”

“That bastard came from a dirt-poor family, but he’s apparently famous at the academy for being ridiculously ambitious.”

Edith hurriedly flipped past that page too.

As expected, anyone who stands out ends up becoming a topic of conversation among the other contestants.

At least the ones they were talking about had high grades.

Though half of the contestants who stood out were standing out for all the wrong reasons.

Mila cheerfully tried to comfort Edith.

“Your Highness, the contestants are a little underwhelming. It must be tough having to watch them embarrass themselves like this. Stay strong!”

It’s not like I hate it.

They were pitiful to watch, but they weren’t completely useless.

The more unusual types there were, the easier it was to build an entertaining competition.

After all, you needed darkness for light to shine.

“Then, let’s have our final contestant, Number 100, come out.”

Edith spoke without thinking, then froze.

The smiles vanished from the judges’ faces as well.

At the same time, a banner descended from the air.

The face of a traitor appeared on it.

Several of the contestants who had already received their grades began jeering.

But Dimitri, standing before the maze, calmly let his red eyes gleam.

“Contestant Number 100, Dimitri Cassel. I’m from Bonum, a region famous for its snow-covered mountains.”

In that instant, Edith could tell.

He’s nervous.

Not enough for anyone else to notice, but that ‘Dimitri’ is definitely nervous.

Without asking him any questions, the evaluation began.

Dimitri’s primary weapon was a bow.

Just as he drew his bow to shoot a mole that had popped out, a thick log-shaped obstacle shot out from the wall.

Its end was blunt, so it wouldn’t cause serious injury if it hit someone, but the impact was strong enough to throw off their next move.

Edith unconsciously clenched her fists.

Dimitri, please…!

At that very moment, Dimitri leaped into the air.

Instead of dodging the log, he landed directly on top of it and drew his bow toward the ball flying in next.

Then he sprang onto another log that shot out from the wall and struck the mole that popped up.

His timing was perfect.

He even jumped down at exactly the right moment, just before the log disappeared back behind the wall.

“What the hell was that?!”

“I should’ve done that too!”

Shouts erupted from the contestants’ section.

“Anyone could do it if they’re allowed to use cheap tricks like that.”

Anyone? You?

You couldn’t.

Edith silently retorted at the jeering voices, unable to bring themselves to acknowledge Dimitr’s skill.

Every arrow Dimitri fired struck either a mole or an obstacle, carving a path through the maze.

When he effortlessly leaped over a trap in the floor, even some of the contestants who had been jeering couldn’t help but gasp in admiration.

Once he ran out of arrows, he picked up the ones scattered across the ground and used them like spears, stabbing at the obstacles in his path.

He demonstrated not only orthodox techniques but also an impressive ability to adapt to unexpected situations.

In other words, it was a near-perfect performance.

By the time Dimitri finally climbed the stairs and stood before the judges, everyone had acknowledged that he was a knight who could rival David.

Of course, they were only acknowledging his skill.

“Did you come here because you want to be recognized?”

Ines asked sharply.

Dimitri, say no. Please, just give the textbook answer!

Edith desperately pleaded with him in her head.

But the uncooperative Dimitri…

“Yes.”

Edith lowered her head in despair.

Dimitri glanced at Edith before continuing.

“I came here because I want to be recognized by myself.”

Edith’s head snapped up in surprise.

The contestants and the Valkyria murmured at the unexpected answer.

Amont asked,

“Then are you saying that you cannot acknowledge yourself right now? You just demonstrated countless archery techniques passed down by renowned archery families. Even after all that?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

Amont and Ines hesitated, seemingly unsure what else to ask.

Then Mila suddenly spoke up.

“Is it because you regret having been a knight under the tyrant?”

The atmosphere in the arena instantly turned icy.

The contestants whispered, unable to bring themselves to speak loudly.

“Wow, that Mouth of Truth… What do we do with her?”

“She just said out loud what everyone knows but no one dared to mention.”

Dimitri looked thoughtful.

Edith prayed once again.

Please say you regret it! Stop being so stubborn and just give the textbook answer!