Ch 36

The three-hundred-and-forty-six candidates who made it past the first round gathered at the central entrance of the great temple. A gentle-looking knight stood on the entrance stairs.

"There are many talented candidates this time. This must be a blessing upon our country. I'm Gwalchavad, the supervisor of the second exam."

The exam takers buzzed with excitement. "Is that Gwalchavad, famous for being a knight of the Holy Grail?"

Benjamin also looked at Gwalchavad with admiration.

"Is he a famous person?" asked Caron.

Benjamin nodded. "A few years ago, the Holy Grail was robbed by witches, and he’s the one who got it back."

"Oh, is the Holy Grail that strange object that creates holy water?"

"Shh, what do you mean ‘strange thing’? If the believers hear you say that, they’ll curse at you, so call it a holy object." Benjamin warned.

Caron chuckled. “Same thing.”

Gwallchavad raised his hand to calm the crowd. "Some of you already know, but the second exam involves running for an extended period of time. You just have to follow me to the finish while wearing the prepared military gear here.”

One by one, each candidate picked up and carried a pack of military gear on their backs and stood in line.

"What kind of military gear is this? It feels like there’s just a pile of rocks in here." one of them complained.

It was a reasonable complaint; the packs were three times heavier than ordinary military gear.

Gwalchavad grinned. "There is no one at the Round Table who can't do this much. Remember, you can give up anytime if it gets too difficult. It's always important for one to know oneself."

The complaining candidate looked as if his dignity had been hurt by Gwalchavad, whose words were close to provocation. All of the people gathered here were thes best in their own provinces.

"Then, let's go!"

Gwalchavad took the lead and started running, at a speed faster than a quick march. Those in the procession had to run at half-full speed. With much difficulty, they made it across the city and to the gate five kilometers from the great temple.

"Sir Gwalchavad! How far are we running?" the leading candidate asked between hoarse breaths.

Gwalchavad, who hadn’t even broken a sweat, looked up thoughtfully. "Well… I don't know. I didn’t decide that before we started."

"What?!”

Gwalchavad turned around and led them out of the gate, ignoring the candidate’s response.

"Now, we’re leaving the holy land! We walked slowly inside for the safety of the citizens, so now let's start running! From here on out you can move ahead of people, no need to follow the procession!"

Then, he increased his running speed. Now even the ones at the head of the procession could keep up with Gwalchavad now. By the time they had made it about three kilometers away from the gate, a third of them couldn't keep up and were eliminated.

"Ha~! This is boring. Is he going to run faster?" Caron yawned as he passed people leisurely.

"I'm not bored." said Benjamin.

Sweat began to accumulate on Benjamin's forehead, drop by drop. When Caron noticed, he clicked his tongue, "Tsk, tsk, you should have drank moderately yesterday."

"I drank less than you!"

They had thought it would just be a normal long run, but they had already run seventeen kilometers. At this rate, it was nearly a marathon. This run was a test to see how the contestants could continuously operate their mana, beyond just a test of physical strength. The goal was to save mana, because they didn't know how much they would have to keep running. However, most of them had been forced to use it generously to keep up with Gwalchavad. Among those running, only Caron hadn’t used any mana yet.

"Ahahaha! I didn't think anyone would have drank last night with the exam today!"

A candidate who was running in the front slowed to match Caron and Benjamin and greeted them.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Tashid! I abandoned my surname because I’m a holy knight!"

"I'm Caron, this frail fellow is Benjamin."

"Who's weak? I just feel sick!" Benjamin shouted.

The boy named Tashid took a handkerchief from his inner pocket and handed it to Benjamin.

"You must have drank too much last night. Wipe your sweat."

"Oh, thank you. But is it ok to give this kind of favor to your competitor?"

Tashid smiled at Benjamin's question. "We may be competitors now, but we might become comrades later!"

Benjamin also smirked. "I'll buy you a new one later."

Benjamin took the handkerchief, wiped his sweat, and wrapped it around his forehead like a headband. He wasn’t struggling due to the run, it was mostly just his hangover.

"Hmm, I want to help relieve your hangover with divine power, but I'm hesitant because it might be against the rules to borrow other people's power during the test."

Benjamin laughed bitterly. “It’s fine. It's better to endure a little bit than to be marked as a cheat. I think I'm getting better after sweating it out a little."

"Hahaha! That's a relief!"

As they ran while conversing, the three ended up at the front of the group. After running eighty-three kilometers throughout the day, only thirty-seven people, about one-tenth of the first successful candidates, were left.

* * *

Percival smiled brightly as he looked at the list of the successful candidates of the second round. "They were worked so hard, but there are still thirty-seven people left! There’s a lot of talent gathered here. Very good."

"I guess I went a bit too hard on them. Nine more could have passed the second round if it had been according to the original standards." Gwalchavad sighed, worried he might have dampened the precious pool of potential candidates.

Percival shook his head. "No, we were only going to pick about five at most from the exam this time anyway. It would have been fine if you ran a little more."

There were three Knights of the Round Table who had been killed in the battle not long ago. Since there was no fixed number for the Knights of the Round Table in the first place, if there were any standout talents, they had planned to recruit more flexibly.

"Tomorrow's third round is a fight amongst the candidates, but we have an odd number. Should I pass the last candidate who failed?" Gwalchavad mumbled.

Hearing Gwalchavad from next to her, Arrieta spoke as if it was her idea. "How about passing the last candidate who failed the second round?"

Percival shook his head. "No, an eliminated person needs to stay eliminated. It's complicated because if we help one eliminated person, then we have to give others an opportunity as well."

"Also, the third exam is just to see their battle sense, so winning or losing has nothing to do with passing. It shouldn’t matter if we make one of them fight twice." Gwalchavad added.

"Hmm, is that so?" Arrieta said, nodding.

Percival shook his head again. "No, I'm going to raise one person to the fourth round by default. Sir Merlin has already confirmed this candidate’s ability and recommended that he is advanced through, so as to not create unnecessary injuries among the other candidates.”

Percival pointed to a name on the list of candidates.

Gwalchavad agreed immediately. “Indeed, that one didn’t even break a sweat until the end."

"Ohh! Is that so? If Sir Merlin has confirmed his ability, he must be the presence that Sir Merlin prevented me from seeing three days ago! If Sir Bors and Sir Merlin acknowledge him, he must be strong, right?" said Arrieta, eyes glistening with excitement.

Percival looked anxiously at Arrieta. "You are not going to come to the exam room tomorrow, are you?" he asked.

Arrieta's lip trembled. "Oh, hahaha, I know. It's dangerous for the next heir to the throne to be present during an exhibition when it's not even an official event."

"It’d be different if it was an ordinary enemy, but the opponents are witches who play all sorts of tricks."

"I said I know! Perhaps you don’t have a lover yet because you nag too much, sir!"

Arietta abruptly got out of her seat, pouting. Percival put his hands to his forehead, and Gwalchavad patted him on the shoulder and comforted him.

"Someday you'll find a good girl."

"That's not why I have a headache! I have a headache because if the Holy Queen wants to fight with the candidates, it’ll be troublesome! Sigh… I hope Sir Merlin can stop it.”

Gwalchavad nodded, trying to be supportive.

"No, I’m being serious!" Percival screamed, begging Gwalchavad to believe him.

Gwalchavad avoided eye contact as he brushed his finger over the name on the list which read ‘Caron Blade.’

* * *

At ten in the morning, the day after the second round, the candidates who had passed gathered at the training ground east of the great temple, where they had taken the first round of exams. Five knights welcomed them.

"Nice to meet you! I am Percival, the captain of the Knights of the Round Table!"

The candidates looked at him nervously. The fact that he was the captain of the Knights of the Round Table, which accepted only the strongest people in the country, meant that he was of that level of strength and had accumulated a lot of merit.

"Those of you gathered here, I know that you are all talented. I have no doubt that you will be treated well no matter what knight division you join. If I could, I’d select all of you, but it's just a pity that there's a fixed quota that has been decided upon."

Caron instinctively read Percival's lie. Although he acknowledged the candidates’ skills, it was a lie that he wanted to select all of them, and that the quota was stopping him. In fact, Percival was thinking of eliminating all of them if he didn't like them. He didn’t know when he might meet them as allies on the battlefield, so he was just being nice.

"With that said, I'll briefly explain the third exam. You just have to spar, according to a randomly selected match table. It doesn't matter whether you lose or win. If you can catch the eyes of myself and other scorers, even if you lose the spar, you’ll pass the third exam. Of course, the opposite holds true. Even if you win, you could be eliminated."

Percival pointed to four other knights and said, "The scorers are myself, the captain, Vice-Captain Sir Lancelot, Sir Gwalchavad, Sir Kay, and Sir Bors. Does anyone have any questions?”

Caron raised his hand.

"What is it?" asked Percival.

"Why is my name not on the match list? I want to fight, too!"

Percival responded to Caron's complaint with a prepared reply. “As I said earlier, the significance of the third exam is just to check your skills, and victory or defeat in the spar is not important. Candidate number 344, you recently fought with Sir Bors, so your skills have been verified. You’ve passed the third exam."

Bors smiled and waved. Caron raised his hand again. There were still some candidates he wanted to fight.

"No! But still...!”

"It's already been decided, and those who have complaints won’t fit in with us, so you can give up the entrance exam if you don’t like it."

Percival cut Caron off sharply before he could argue. He directed his words at Caron, but it was also a message to all the candidates. Caron's passage could make others think that it was preferential treatment. Caron smacked his lips indignantly. However, he wanted to fight with the knights more than the candidates, so he decided to hold it in. If he passed, he’d be able to fight to his heart's content later. The other candidates warmed up and prepared for the spar, under the supervision of the knights. Caron had no choice but to sit in the stands and look up at the sky.

"Ah, I want to fight." he sighed woefully.

"I know, I want to fight too." said a girl’s voice behind him.

Caron looked back. She wore a black hooded hat, but her blue hair and eyes could not be hidden. As soon as he saw her, Caron was certain.

"It's you. The one at the bell tower."

She smiled brightly and nodded. She also had a hunch that Caron was the reason behind her heart palpitations.

"That Merlin person seemed intent on hiding you. Is it okay for you to be here?" asked Caron.

She flinched slightly, his question was spot-on.

"Hahaha, Sir Merlin did try to stop me."

In fact, she had penetrated through Merlin's magic and escaped. He had probably noticed that his magic had been breached and would be on his way to the training grounds now.

Search "pawread dot com" for the original.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Caron."

"Nice to meet you, too. Arietta."

Merlin had just arrived at the training ground when the two greeted each other. At that moment, Merlin's magic staff unleashed mana and dragged his consciousness into the darkness. With that, the future that he had tried so hard to change was scattered, and a new future began to be drawn.