Vote for Your Knight! - Chapter 16
“Using one obstacle to destroy another?”
“He did that with his bare hands….”
“Is that why he didn’t bring any weapons?”
The participants were in awe. However, there were still those who sneered at Coustou, especially considering his background as a former slave.
“Must be because he’s uncivilized. Just relying on brute strength.”
“A knight of knights, followed by a slave of slaves.”
But the Valkyries were impressed. Coustou used the traps to his advantage to navigate the maze. What didn’t work, he solved with hand-to-hand combat. He even pulled out the mole puppets to deal with the obstacles.
It showed off his tremendous strength. While he lacked refined techniques, the self-taught methods he acquired through life were evident.
“Wow!”
“Yeah, that’s it!”
“Look at him go!”
The other participants cheered as if they were watching a game. The Valkyries nodded along with Coustou’s movements. They weren’t just judging—they were enjoying the spectacle. My lips rounded into an ‘o’.
‘To elicit this kind of excitement—now that’s what star quality is all about.’
Moreover, coming after David, it created an unexpected contrast. As polar opposites, their performances would be compared positively.
‘Thank goodness.’
After making it through the maze, Coustou calmly walked up the stairs and stood before the judges.
Milla asked as if she had been waiting, “How did you come up with the idea to do this with your bare hands, without using weapons?”
Before Coustou could respond, Amonte intercepted Milla’s question.
“You were clearly instructed to bring weapons. No matter how well you did in the maze, being unprepared is a deduction. Why did you do that?”
I flinched at Amonte’s cold assessment. Coustou, on the other hand, remained calm.
“It cost me quite a bit of money to get up to the capital, so I couldn’t exactly spare any for weapons.”
“What?”
“I sold the weapons I had to get here.”
“…”
While Amonte was at a loss for words, I heard a chuckle beside her.
It was Ynnes. The other judges were all in disbelief that she had laughed.
Feeling their stares, Ynnes dropped her smile and coldly asked, “Still, armor, weapons, horses, and chivalry are the basics of what a knight should possess. You seem to lack all four.”
I was taken aback.
‘You were smiling at him just a moment ago! Why the sudden change in attitude?’
Coustou replied bluntly, “I wanted to, but I couldn’t, because, as you can see, I’m not well off.”
Ynnes was silent at that. If she argued and prodded him, she would only look like an unsympathetic bully.
‘It’s true. It costs far too much to become a fully-fledged knight.’
Knighthood was practically reserved for the privileged. For commoners to become knights, they had to work tirelessly to gather the necessary funds.
‘The Equis are a knight order that directly challenged that convention.’
Anyone could become a knight if they were chosen by the people.
The spirit of the Equis is that even a man with nothing can rise from the bottom to become a knight!
‘And Coustou perfectly embodies that ideal!’
He could be a symbol of hope for many who aspire to become Equis from humble origins.
‘In other words, he could very well get the commonfolk’s attention and receive their support!’
I tried to fight back my gleeful smile and focus on Amonte as she began to speak again.
“Well, thank you for joining us despite everything, but I can practice swordplay with just a twig. Do you have any formal swordsmanship training?”
“No.”
“What about spear techniques?”
“None.”
“Hmm…”
Even considering his past as a former slave, it didn’t seem reasonable to assign him to first rank when he lacked so many things that were expected of knights. The three judges discussed among themselves before announcing the results.
“Rank 2.”
“Thank you.”
“From now on, you need to learn swordsmanship and other techniques. Understand?”
“Yes.”
Amonte gave him a sharp piece of advice. Then she muttered to herself, “I want to keep this one. He has talent.”
My eyes widened.
‘But didn’t you just criticize him?’
The thought process of these knights were simply incomprehensible.
* * *
Name: Coustou
Alias: Knight with a haunted past, Barehanded Monster, At Least Wear Some Armor, etc.
Rank: 2nd Rank
Combat Skills: A
Weapon Skills: F
Magic Skills: –
Chivalry: –
Intelligence: –
Distinctive Traits: Carries himself with confidence despite bearing a slave mark. Seems to have a backstory related to not removing the mark.
* * *
“He’s two ranks higher than me?”
Participants scattered in the 4th and 5th ranks murmured hostilities. Coustou pretended not to hear, sitting in the second tier seat.
Then, as if intentionally wanting them to hear, he muttered, “This is a comfortable chair.”
He could see their clenched jaws seething with resentment. The higher the rank, the more one could look down below.
‘How they’ll treat us looks obvious.’
Some of the lowest-ranked participants even cried, ‘Is the Cartament really that great?’
He had heard the name, but as a former slave, he didn’t really understand how important the Cartamen was to the people.
But now that he was seeing it, it seemed to carry quite a profound meaning.
He looked up. David sat gracefully in his first-rank seat. Just a moment ago, he was right next to him, but now he looked impossibly high.
It made Coustou want to climb up there himself.
‘What is this…emotion?’
It was the emotion that everyone seems to be feeling.
‘Alright, let’s do this properly then.’
The second rank he received wasn’t bad.
‘After all, I decided to do my best once I agreed to participate.’
Not using weapons also worked.
The decision to go barehanded in the first evaluation was an intentional strategy. Using a sword would have made his unrefined technique all the more obvious and pitiful to the judges. Even if he safely escaped the maze, he would have been criticized for not properly learning swordsmanship. Here, expert training was evaluated highly and he really only had strong physical strength. If he showed up sloppily brandishing a weapon, it would have made a bad first impression.
‘So I decided to focus on showing my potential—my infinite potential.’
Besides, it was fun to show up unarmed and catch the judges off guard.
‘For now, it worked.’
If there’s potential , he can always learn swordsmanship later. In fact, the judges even advised him to learn. Coustou glanced up again at the first-rank seats.
‘I’m going there. Up to that place.’
