Saiyan stowaways on the Ark

Everything was for that novice knight.

The right to refuse lies with the rookie knight.

Mark, on the other hand, was only obligated to accept and obey orders.

If he refuses here, he might never be able to leave this room.

Mark raised his final question:

"Why? If you chose me because of some personal favor, and you want to test whether he can accept this approach, I can understand. But what benefits would it bring to your organization and the business alliance if he became my corporate knight?"

Charnard seemed to have heard a joke, and his undisguised smile sent chills down Mark's spine:

"It's not 'my organization,' but 'our organization.' The business alliance is working for the benefit of all of Kasimir, providing jobs, bringing money, and creating prosperity for everyone in Kasimir."

“Any knight who fights for any Kazimierz enterprise is equivalent to becoming a knight of the Business Alliance, and every bit of profit he brings belongs to the Business Alliance—and Kazimierz.”

"The idea that corporate knights can only bring benefits to individual companies is a heartbreakingly narrow-minded view held by bystanders. All the value they create will flow back into the tide of Casimir."

Charn touched his chair.

This is made from the fur of a Letanian toothed beast imported from abroad.

He pointed to the bread served with the soup, made from wheat grown on Victoria's best farms.

Even a small private room is filled with the kind of luxury that can only be found after economic development.

"Didn't they see it? The knightly competition, which has abandoned those outdated ideas and the glory of the past, has brought benefits and prosperity to this country in a completely new way."

"And what has the glory and spirit they sing praises brought them? It has brought them stagnation and outdated ideas."

"In big cities, the city is bustling with people and brightly lit, and the chivalrous spirit can be seen everywhere. The chivalrous industry is booming and has created countless jobs."

Even rural farmers would enjoy watching the equestrian competition after a busy day.

“Countless people in Kazimierz rely on knightly tournaments for their livelihood. How many of these people do you think are good people?”

Charné suddenly asked a question, and Mark, who had been listening to these words, paused for a moment before answering with a hesitant tone:

"Maybe not all, but... I think there are probably more good people than bad..."

Charn continued to ask:

"So, are the knights who fight for the corporation, and the corporations that return these values ​​to Kazimierz to support the city, its inhabitants, and the knights who wage war, to continue to make knightly competitions thrive and create countless jobs, evil and despicable?"

Mark clenched his fists, avoiding eye contact with the other person's expression.

"...No, I don't think so."

But the other person didn't finish speaking; he exclaimed in an even more impassioned tone.

"Also relying on knightly competitions, we at least gave most people—even the infected—a chance to survive."

Immediately afterwards, Charnet's attitude shifted to indignation and regret:

"But there are always some people who are willing to break the current order and want to use knightly competitions to achieve goals that disregard the interests of the country and its people."

"They fight against the Knights' Tournament, they fight against the Commercial League, they fight against Casimir, all for the sake of so-called ancient honor, or for the sake of self-righteous humanitarianism."

Mark could tell that the former Challen was referring to was Maria.

But the latter didn't know what it was, which wasn't surprising, because there were too many things he didn't know during the conversation.

"Once they achieve success and fame, how many people will lose the foundation upon which they originally depended for survival?"

"Without capital, how will people survive?"

"How will Kazimir develop without businesses?"

Before Mark could ponder these words any further, Charnet suddenly asked a sharp question:

"Mr. Markowitz, I ask you, are you a good person?"

He didn't ask whether those people were good or bad; instead, he pointed directly at Mark's own character.

"...I...I am."

Mark nodded.

He's starting to lose his sense of what's "good" and what's "bad."

He could only go along with what the other person said and respond with instinctive thinking.

"Then, promise me, okay? For the sake of the business alliance that belongs to all of us, for the sake of Kazimierz, which supports millions of residents, do your best to do 'what you need to do'."

Mark knew that some greenhorn knights, for purposes that were not permitted in the current environment, would become lone knights fighting alone, and eventually disappear into the waves of Kazimierz.

Therefore, when he was a manager, he would also kindly advise those new knights who refused invitations to find a company as soon as possible, instead of going it alone and getting into trouble with people they couldn't handle.

However, most people don't take such reminders too seriously.

Clearly, such people have reappeared, and they are not easily dealt with.

One is Maria, the other he doesn't know.

But at least that maverick rookie knight isn't a thorn in the side of the business league.

Rather, he was someone worth winning over, which is why Charné approached him, hoping that he could use personal connections rather than force to bring him into the business alliance.

They probably intend to use novice knights to crush these maverick competitors who climb the ranks through knightly competitions.

Business alliances can rely on behind-the-scenes manipulation to arrange unfair matches to eliminate rivals.

But this time they even tried to win over the Rookie Knight, which shows that the opponent is no longer an opponent that the ordinary "behind-the-scenes maneuver" can handle.

Now Mark is in charge of handling such a difficult matter that even business alliances find challenging.

A sense of mission?

He did not have such feelings.

On the contrary, he was somewhat confused. Ciarne's seemingly logical and impeccable arguments did not give him much room for thought.

He was still reeling from the changes in his life and the choices he had to make about this seemingly serious matter.

Am I special, lucky, and chosen?

No, I am just like the glass that was broken earlier.

Even if it is given considerable value, its fate is just that of changing at any time.

"Hmm...I understand, I will...do my best."

[Main Text] Terra's World's Greatest Martial Arts Tournament: Chapter Fifty-Four - The Rookie Knight Never Removes His Helmet

"Alright, let's cheer for Mr. Gohan's preliminary round and Maria's match."

"cheers!"

——9:00 AM, Corner Bar. The Horror Martin——

The quiet little bar still had the same few familiar faces, except that there were a few new faces who had been there a few days ago.

Tomat and the others gathered again in the small bar for a pre-match cocktail party.

"Both of them need to win beautifully."

The shop owner, Martin, spoke to Gohan and Maria. He knew that Gohan, as Tomat's partner, was naturally quite strong, but he still looked at Gohan's empty sleeves and asked with some concern:

"But are you really not planning to get a prosthetic limb?"

As he spoke, Martin raised his wrist, which had been completely replaced with metal from the elbow upwards.

"Even someone as agile as me should be able to play a role in the battle."

Gohan declined Martin's offer and then truthfully stated:

"Thank you for your concern, but there's really no need for it. For me, this way is actually more suitable for giving my all."

"I'm already used to having only one arm."

Looking at Gohan's calm expression, he understood that this was not some kind of stubbornness on the part of the young man in front of him, but rather something he had long been accustomed to.

Losing an arm is a disadvantage in itself, but this young man, who looks refined and gentle once the scars on his face are removed, claims to be able to exert his full strength despite this disadvantage. What kind of arduous training has he undergone?

Martin didn't ask any further questions; everything would be revealed during the game anyway.

"Look at what you're saying. Didn't you also lose an arm before defeating that knight from Victoria?"

Koval, the Ursus blacksmith, brought up some old stories that were only known to the older generation in response to Martin's concerns.

"Heh, but after that I just quit the knight competition, and soon people forgot that there was once a knight named 'Iron Tremor' Martin in the arena."

"After deducting the cost of treatment, the money I earn is only enough to open a small bar in this place. As for glory—"

Martin raised his hand and shook his clanking prosthetic limb a few times.

"This is the glory, it's made it inconvenient for me to even wipe a cup now."

He continued speaking to Gohan:

"Please keep up the good work, no matter what. The White Shirt Knights are no pushovers. The format of this year's tournament is even stranger than before, often giving those in the preliminaries opponents they wouldn't normally face."

Meanwhile, Zofia, who was waiting for Maria to arrive, also complained about Martin's instructions with a disdainful tone:

"They've been doing this all along, they're just becoming more and more blatant about it."

Then he asked Thomas and the others:

"By the way, I heard that Rhodes Island is also planning to participate recently, and was there some incident that caused chaos in the border area?"

Thomas put down his glass and turned around with Frostnova sitting beside him, explaining in a nonchalant tone:

"Hmm? It's nothing serious, but we are indeed going to participate in a competition. The competitors were selected by me and the instructors. If you're interested, you can watch their competition."

Frostnova added, "However, because only non-infected individuals can participate, some eager operators are quite disappointed."

"However, why did you suddenly decide to participate? If it were Margaret, she probably wouldn't be very supportive of you participating in the Knights' Tournament. It's an event where you'll be greatly disappointed if you have too high expectations."

Zofia was quite surprised to hear that the contestants were even personally selected by Nearl and the others, and asked further questions.

"Because here, to achieve certain goals, you need to rely on the Knights' Tournament, and Rhodes Island just happens to have such a goal, so they participated."

Tomat pointed to Badak, who was sitting alone at a table.

"Like that uncle behind you, he also had some other purpose in participating in the competition."