Ch 40

Caron carried the fainted Percival on his back and headed to the front entrance of the great temple.

"Oh, everyone seems to have finished early."

At the entrance of the great temple, all the candidates except Caron were gathered. Everyone was covered with sweat and dust, their hair tangled and messy. Benjamin, who was resting on the steps of the entrance to the great temple, burst into laughter when he saw Caron’s face.

"Hahahaha! Look at you!"

Caron's clothing had been reduced to rags by Percival’s spear, and small cuts were present in various places all over his body, each dripping blood. Compared to the other candidates, the one in the most disastrous shape was Caron.

"Shut up! Taking him down was a lot harder than I thought it would be!!"

As Caron placed Percival on the ground, everyone saw that Percival was in even worse shape than Caron. Not only was his right eye and left cheek swollen blue, his honorable knight uniform was torn to shreds, and his left arm was completely swollen and clearly broken. The fight would have ended much earlier if they had accepted the results sooner, but it dragged on because it had become a fight of pride to subdue the opponent.

"What? Did you win?" asked Benjamin.

Caron answered smugly, "Ahem! Of course! I don't fight battles I’d lose in the first place. But what about you?”

Benjamin looked at Caron bitterly. "It's a tie for now. But since I couldn't break through that solid defense, it’s essentially my loss."

Tashid, the young paladin resting beside Benjamin, laughed and said, "Even that much is good. I lost without being able to do anything."

Caron looked at him with surprise. "Lost? Not even your trump cards worked?”

Tashid looked just as surprised as Caron. "Huh? Did I tell you that I have a trump card?"

"I have good instincts. I thought you’d have a trump card based on how confident you looked."

While competing with Percival, he had paid attention to other training grounds, and felt that Tashid had used some sort of trump card. Unfortunately, however, Tashid had used it right when Percival began fighting sincerely, so Caron hadn’t been able to tell exactly what the trump card was.

"Did I show it on my face like that? Well, nonetheless, the trump card didn’t work. Anyway, since you won, it’s obvious you’re gonna pass." said Tashid.

Caron nodded with a playful smile. "Of course. If I failed, who else could possibly pass?"

Benjamin chuckled slyly. "Oho, you're so confident."

Lancelot and Gwalchavad came out of the great temple as the three laughed and talked.

"It's finally over. But was the person who fainted there Sir Percival?" Gwalchavad asked, pointing to Percival, whose face was so swollen that it was hard to recognize.

Caron nodded.

"No, how did a person's face become..."

"Yes, he wasn’t the captain for no reason. He was very strong." Caron said in praise of Percival. He respected Percival as his first satisfactory opponent since leaving his hometown.

"Considering the damage, he is going to need a bishop at the minimum to be cured." said Lancelot. He, too, had not thought that Percival would have suffered such intense damage. "What did Sir Percival say? Did he say you passed?"

Caron grabbed Percival by the neck, grabbed his chin, and mimed with his mouth: "Caron is a pass!"

Caron declared his pass behind Percival as if he were ventriloquizing. Benjamin and Tashid burst into laughter.

"Hahahaha! What's that?!"

"Hahahahaha! Your voice sounds exactly the same as his!"

Lancelot, on the other hand, frowned. “Must we let someone like him pass?"

Gwalchavad smiled awkwardly. "If Sir Percival had declared his acceptance, we should too, right?”

Lancelot sighed deeply. "Put down the Captain. All five of you here have passed the fourth exam. You will now undergo the last interview, so come inside."

Gwalchavad took the fainted Percival from Caron and guided the candidates inside, to the prayer room where Arietta had treated Merlin. Merlin was there, alone and waiting.

"Then, I hope all of you will become our comrades." said Gwalchavad as he let each candidiate into the prayer room and locked the door from the outside.

Merlin's mana made the candidates nervous, which filled the prayer room with a solemn atmosphere different from what they had felt before.

In the midst of the tension, Caron yawned and asked, "Old man-nim, are you feeling better?"

The tension collapsed at once. When the atmosphere that he had created for the first time in a while was broken, Merlin tapped his shoulder with his magic staff as if he had lost interest.

"The area where you poked me to do first aid is aching, it's killing me, you punk." Merlin said in a friendly manner.

Caron chuckled, "If you're alive, why grumble?"

"Ayy, you're right. If I complain, it'll only make my mouth sore too. Some of you have seen me before, but there are some who haven’t, so I'll introduce myself. I am Merlin."

Everyone except Caron and Benjamin looked at Merlin in surprise. It was a natural reaction, as it was their first time seeing a legendary great madosa, something that they had only heard about in stories.

"Congratulations on passing the fourth exam. The last exam is just a formality, so unless something very unexpected happens, you will all become a part of the Round Table."

Among the candidates, Forward Asilante carefully raised his hand and asked, "Do you mind if I ask you what unexpected things could happen?"

Merlin replied, tapping his shoulder with his magic staff, “Well... For example, if you are injured by something unexpected such as a natural disaster, or if you die and can’t perform your duties as a knight. Or if His Majesty the Holy King refuses you joining. Or if the Knights of the Round Table oppose you joining?"

All the candidates were relieved by Merlin's answer, except for Caron. They figured there was no way that the Holy King or a Knight of the Round Table who they haven’t seen yet would oppose their acceptance. Caron, however, thought there was something hidden in Merlin's words. If the final exam was really just a formality, he would not have released mana like he had.

"Now then, I will explain the last exam. Here in front of you is a jewel of the Holy King’s family. You just have to put your hands on the jewel and swear allegiance to the Holy Kingdom and His Majesty the Holy King. There is no way you could make it all the way here and not be able swear loyalty, even if you are pretending, right?”

Now the candidates were really convinced that the final exam was really just a formality. An oath of allegiance to the lord and country was a kind of practice that all knights did.

"Does the order matter, old man-nim?" Caron asked.

Merlin shrugged. "Do as you please."

Caron was the first to step forward and put his hand on the half translucent marble. "I, Caron Blade, will be loyal to the Holy King and the Holy Kingdom as a knight."

It was a fairly rude oath, with no honorifics to the lord. At the end of Caron's oath, a blue light flowed from the marble and an unknown force spread through Caron's body. He subconsciously tried to block it, but he realized the force was the same as the one Arietta used to treat Merlin and consciously accepted it. If this had been the first time he had encountered it, he would have blocked it by force, but he felt that the power Arietta had exhibited was not harmful to him.

"Hmm, that's it?"

Merlin looked at Caron in surprise and nodded. "That's it. Now, next person."

Next came the only successful female candidate. "I, Ernesto Jerryford, as a Knight of the Round Table, will be loyal to the Holy Kingdom and His Majesty the Holy King."

The marble glowed bright blue again. Then suddenly, Ernesto's erupted into a blue flame that quickly spread across her whole body.

"Ahhhhh! It's hot! It's hot!!"

As Ernesto rolled on the floor, burning alive, the candidates tensed up. Merlin looked at Ernesto and clicked his tongue.

"Tsk tsk, let's continue with the exam."

When Merlin ignored the screaming Ernesto and tried to proceed with the final examination, the other candidates refused to come forward.

"D-did you not say that the last exam was a formality?" stammered Tashid.

Merlin sighed softly. "It is certainly a formality,” he said, pointing to Caron. “Did you not see the first candidate, who seems to have no true loyalty to the Holy Kingdom and His Majesty the Holy King, pass with nothing happening?"

Caron smiled, scratching the back of his head.

"T-then, what about Ms. Jerryford?" Forward asked, looking at Ernesto, who now laid dead on the floor.

"Currently, the Holy Kingdom is at war with the Giant tribe, who are allied with the witches. Even though the Round Table accepts people of all origins, wouldn’t you agree it is necessary to have a basic filter net to prevent enemy spies, given that we are at war?” Merlin replied.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread dot com".

The marble had been set up to activate if it detected the power of a witch, or a Giant, or if a candidate had even a speck of hostility towards the Holy King’s family.

Benjamin swallowed dryly, "Then Jerryford...”

"It means she was a spy sent by the witches, or perhaps the Giants. It always happens when we recruit, so do not worry about it."

There were too many people who signed up for the entrance exam for Merlin to be able to infuse enough mana into the marble to have everyone make such a loyalty pledge at the very start. That was why he had made it the final exam. They could have used an administrative filter to determine if a candidate was a spy, but that was not only a major resource drain, it was also a waste of time. The Holy Kingdom had to reduce waste somehow due to the long war.

"If you are not an enemy of the Holy Kingdom, put your hands on the marble and swear loyalty to prove it. If you are an enemy, you will die by my hands now."

Merlin's aura fluctuated violently and pressured the candidates.

"Huh? If I refused this, could I have fought with old man-nim?" Caron asked.

Merlin was dumbfounded. "… Did you not pass already?"

"How could this be! If I knew this would happen, I wouldn’t have come forward first!" Caron said frustratedly.

Merlin sighed. "It's an exam that even a guy like that can pass, so let's finish it quickly. This is getting tiring."

Benjamin put his hand on the marble next. Each candidate stood in front of the marble, one after another. Once it was finally over, four prospective candidates passed.

* * *

As Arietta treated Percival with her divine power, he made a pained sound.

"Oh, my body. I don't want to fight with that guy again."

Arrieta asked with anticipation in her eyes, "Was Caron strong? Since he defeated you, Sir Percival, he must have been, yes? Euss, how strong do you think he is based on your observations?”

Euss shook his head slightly with an expressionless face.

"You don't know? Well, I guess you can't say anything because you haven't seen Caron. Let me know when you see him later!” said Arietta.

Arrieta believed in the vision of her servant and childhood friend, Euss. Euss had an ability to notice things that she missed.

At Arietta's request, Kay sighed and warned, "No matter how strong he is, you are not allowed to fight him."

"Sir Kay is so stubborn, just like Sir Percival!" Arietta protested.

"That's what I should say! Please consider your position and maintain your dignity!” Kay shouted back.

Gwalchavad calmed Kay with a gentle smile. "Come on, calm down Sir Kay. By the way, if Mr. Caron Blade passes, he will be the third member of a battle race at the Round Table."

When Gwalchavad changed the subject, Percival, who was rubbing his swollen eyes with an egg, exclaimed, "So he is of a battle race! No wonder he was so damn strong! Which tribe is he from?" Percival asked.

Gwalchavad replied casually, "According to Sir Merlin, he is from the Crow tribe. He said Caron smelled of Olympus Forest."

Lancelot, who was relatively senior compared to the others, hardened his expression at Gwalchavad's words.

"… You said he is from the Crow tribe?"

Percival looked at Lancelot awkwardly, as if he knew something the others didn’t.

Then Kay, the middle-aged knight, shouted, his expression distorting. "The Crow tribe! I'm against a Crow joining our ranks!"

The young Gwalchavad, Bors, and Arrieta each watched Kay’s violent reaction with a curious gaze.