Saiyan stowaways on the Ark

"As Gravel said, Your Excellency, if one day we are indeed forced to resort to violence due to some irreconcilable reasons..."

"I don't want to be too rude..."

"Please prepare land-based warships for your knights."

As he spoke, the professor flicked the small model of the Great Knight on the table with his finger—the exquisite little toy fell over in response.

This is not a friendly response, but it is also a form of threat in reverse.

The Oversight Council may have doubts about Rhodes Island, but before doing so, it should carefully consider the "cost of doubt."

Rhodes Island has not yet made any overtly public moves, but Ioleta has no doubt that they can bring down the entire Kazimierz as easily as this insignificant action.

Such skepticism cannot withstand scrutiny.

Afterwards, out of caution, the doctor informed the island's operators that there was no need to pay too much attention, but it was best to keep an eye on things.

The announcement didn't cause much of a stir, and the vast majority of Rhodes Island members continued to enjoy the Major atmosphere.

"Whatever happens, happens. If someone kills their soldiers, their boss should be in charge. As long as we didn't do it, it has nothing to do with us."

Meanwhile, Tomat and others continued to prepare for the upcoming main event, and he also expressed his thoughts on the matter.

"Besides, I didn't sense any threatening presence..."

Someone capable of killing many knights yet lacking a strong aura is likely an infected individual with a weaker aura due to Oripathy. There's no need to get too involved in such local Terran affairs.

[Main Text] Terra Battle: Chapter Eight - Returning to the Origin's Position

"Personnel changes? Here we go again. How many times will there be personnel changes before the round of 16?"

The business association members were very distressed because the kind of mess they were talking about would never have happened in previous years, since the winners were basically predetermined.

But at the same time, there is some relief, after all, it is just a matter of changing players, which is much better than the Wuzhou Alliance going out of contact, some of its leaders being assassinated at home, or a huge hole being inexplicably punched in the mobile platform.

Charne is no longer a reliable solution, as almost all the spokespeople have now gathered in the Grand Knights' territory.

Normally, the decision to hold Charny accountable and exile him should have been made long ago, but it has not been implemented yet.

Under normal circumstances, exile is not a necessary measure to solve problems. Often, the person being exiled has offended someone beforehand, and the other party takes the opportunity to deal with him.

The problem itself will be resolved no matter what, so there's nothing to worry about.

However, given that the problem is currently unsolvable, there is no need to resort to procedural measures such as "punishment" or "exile" or to use such actions as an opportunity to eliminate dissidents. Rather than engaging in open and covert struggles over this matter, we should welcome anyone who can solve the problem.

At least these "communities of interest" bound together by the Special Championship are all bound together, and no one can escape it. They might as well unite to deal with the current troubles together. However, these people are also very clear that among their "colleagues" or higher-ups, there are probably already quite a few who have run away with the money when things go wrong.

After all, they knew that the so-called peace in Kasimir would not last long, so they transferred their assets and profits to their accounts in other countries long ago.

If the Major collapses, they can just leave and find another place to make money.

"Damn it, that sounds nice, 'bringing the spokespeople together,' but in reality, less than half of the federation members are still operating the Major. Some high-ranking members have even cancelled their numbers, and their villas have long been emptied..."

Some staff members who already knew the inside story seemed to have given up the idea of ​​staying out of it. When they had been promoting the development of the equestrian sports and exercising various unreasonable rights as spokespeople in the past, they never expected that one day they would be unable to extricate themselves from it because of their position.

"When disaster strikes, everyone flies away. We're just under someone else's command, we don't even have the means to run away... We should be glad that the ones above us didn't have time to run away and are still holding on with us."

A sense of responsibility?

There was nothing we could do about it.

"So what kind of personnel changes will be made?"

One of the staff members asked a Kuranta man standing next to him who was hunched over and not dressed neatly.

The man raised his head, his face covered in stubble and his eyes darkened, making it almost impossible to recognize him from his previous appearance—he was the spokesperson, Charné.

His haggard appearance was exactly like the one he had mocked others.

"Hmm... Let me see. Sure enough, it's another application from Rhodes Island... Rhodes Island, Rhodes Island, it's always Rhodes Island!"

Charné frowned, his tone becoming somewhat out of control, but as he flipped through the specific documents, he suddenly stopped and froze in place.

"...Why him?"

The document is divided into two parts.

The first part is that Rhodes Island, at her own request, asked the "Radiant Knight" Marieka Nearl, to give up her spot in the competition to the Nearl family—but the Nearl family's participant has a strange name, "Maria Nearl".

This is a name I've never heard of before; there is no such person in the Linguang family.

However, this change is not incomprehensible. The Nearl family is currently in dire straits, and Maria, as a contestant, does not have the strength to advance to the top 16. In order to protect the family, she did not use her identity as a Rhodes Island Knight, but instead switched to the identity of a Nearl family knight.

"This is utterly outrageous! It's practically giving them a spot for free! The Lin Guang family originally had no chance to participate at all! And is this name misspelled? Where did this person come from? This is a conspiracy!"

A spokesperson picked up the document, read it, and became so agitated that he was about to burst into a tirade.

However, another spokesperson pointed out incisively:

"Haven't we done this kind of thing enough? Giving unqualified people a chance to participate or even win, or having people who never applied to compete in place of the originally designated contestants before the competition—many companies and knights have submitted similar 'schemes' to us—and we've helped them achieve them, haven't we? What's so exciting about that?"

This person's words left the previous person speechless, and the speakers then discussed among themselves:

"If we go along with them, who knows what might happen, but if we go against them, we'll definitely be in big trouble. Since they've made this request, let's grant it. We'll replace the Shining Knight with a knight under the Nearl family and give the Nearl family a spot in the competition."

—But this level of information shouldn't be enough to leave Charné somewhat stunned, after all, he was the most senior speaker present.

Meanwhile, Charné was still muttering things like "Why him?", which puzzled the others.

Another document was picked up; it contained information about the knight who would replace Margaret as a contestant for Rhodes Island.

This is also why Charné was unable to accept reality for a time.

The name registered above was completely unknown, and had never even appeared in any competitions before Rhodes Island.

His name was not unusual, his appearance was unremarkable, and his age was similar to that of the speakers present.

"Who is this? Have you heard of him? Is he a knight from some powerful family?"

"Never heard of him, but to be able to replace the Radiant Knight in the competition, he must be some very powerful figure."

The speakers discussed the seemingly ordinary, unfamiliar face, but they also seemed to subconsciously equate him with an important figure.

They turned to Charné, and with puzzled voices questioned the veteran spokesperson, a genuine bigwig who seemed to know something:

“Mr. Charner, do you know him? — This knight named ‘Markowitz’.”

The voices of his colleagues brought Charné back to his senses.

He looked again at the unfamiliar face on the document.

Markowitz, a "small man" abandoned by his original company, who was supposed to be at his beck and call and become an "entrepreneur" according to his own arrangements.

Charné's unfamiliarity with the face stemmed from his arrogance, because he didn't need to remember this guy who had disappeared halfway through the journey very clearly.

Markowitz, like the mediocre people Charne had met before, was someone he would never encounter again once he missed him.

But at that moment, Charné felt as if he were cursed.

He had seen this unfamiliar face many times before, so much so that he should be very familiar with it.

He's still just a nobody, just a knight.

He himself is still a big shot, serving as the spokesperson for the business alliance.

But he stood tall and straight, while I was overwhelmed by the burden.

Just like reversing the positions of the two parties at that dinner, or rather, returning to the moment when the two truly first met.

—The opportunity for Charné to become a spokesperson came from bringing down a company called "Markowitz Human Resources".

The former spokesperson, in order to see if he was capable of becoming the new spokesperson, asked him to destroy an "innocent company" that had no conflict of interest with the business alliance.

At that time, he too was hunched over, timidly and frantically obeying the irresistible order, gazing at the other person's diligent figure in the office, wondering if this behavior was fair.

But it must be said that Charné has the talent to use the channels and techniques left by his predecessors to easily drive Markowitz's company to the brink of collapse.

The latter, even after going bankrupt, never understood why his business had been run so poorly.

After that, the spokesperson, Ciarne, straightened his back and became a big shot.

Markowitz, on the other hand, hunched over and became a mediocre corporate employee.

As time went by, Charné didn't even realize at that dinner that Markowitz was the stepping stone that led him to success.

But after Charné saw the photo of "Knight Markowitz," he remembered everything.

Their circumstances seemed to have returned to square one.

Just like in the past, when he looked up at the other person in a sharp suit with malice that contained no hatred.

Both of their roles had changed, but Charné realized that even as a spokesperson, he had never straightened his back, while the other party had chosen to stand tall and had never changed.

[Main Text] Terra Battle: Chapter Nine - Two People Together

Let's go back in time to before that document was submitted to the Knights Guild.

Maria found the confirmation letter regarding the competition results in the mailbox in front of the mansion.

Maria ignored much of the content, focusing only on a short, bolded sentence—

"Unfortunately, based on the points ranking, you have not qualified for the top 16."

Maria was faced with an outcome she didn't want to face, yet somehow felt it was inevitable.

After the accident during the race with the plastic rider, Maria did indeed realize, with the encouragement of her family, the path she was on.

She regained her fighting spirit and confidence, continuing to battle the occasional Winter while participating in several matches after her suspension ended.

It must be said that every battle yielded outstanding results.

However, the era she lived in was not appropriate.

Maria's performance was somewhat overshadowed by the presence of some exceptional competitors.

She didn't receive much attention, and her ranking was pushed back by those insurmountable barriers.

Therefore, she readily accepted the result that "she could not represent the Linguang family in the battle".

She also heard that her sister Margaret would be advancing to the top 16 as Rhodes Island's representative. Although it wasn't under the name of the Nearl family, she still carried the Nearl family's label. Seeing her sister participate was, in a way, a consolation.

"Really? You didn't make it into the main competition."

Winter and the other members of the Ursus Student Self-Government Group came to Nearl's house. During their free time in Kazimierz, they would occasionally visit Nearl's house. It was thanks to Winter and Maria that they gradually became familiar with each other during this period; otherwise, even if the Ursus people had conquered Kazimierz, not so many Ursus people would have been able to enter Nearl's mansion.