Chapter 88: Mad Knight Roland
[You have cleared Shakespeare's challenge.]
[You may now proceed.]
"As expected of the most famous Knight of the Round Table under King Arthur, Lancelot-kun has easily answered all the questions!
"For us – the Britain Class – this is no different from Duke Wellington, Arthur Wellesley's legendary victory at the Battle of Waterloo! Don't you agree, Napoleon-sensei?"
Finn-sensei handed the mic to Napoleon-sensei beside him.
"Don't go pretending to lecture me with knowledge you just heard." Napoleon couldn't even be bothered to pay him any attention anymore.
The path at the checkpoint that had been blocked was now opened again, but Eikou didn't leave immediately. Instead, he asked Shakespeare with some anticipation:
"Since we answered all three questions correctly, what's the mysterious reward you mentioned earlier?"
"Haha, I didn't expect you'd still remember that hint…"
Shakespeare took out a bottle of Water of Life.
"Come now, three brave warriors, please take this with you on your journey of adventure — or, you may drink it all before setting out!"
Eikou thought to himself, why is it this thing again? Could Water of Life be a major sponsor of Chaldea Academy? Why are both the reward and the punishment the same thing?
But thinking about it, he still decided to take it along.
"Sir Eikou, you're not actually planning to drink it, are you?!"
The two Knights of the Round Table beside him looked very surprised.
"It's free, so why wouldn't I take it?"
He said,
"Who knows, maybe it'll come in handy later — for example, pouring it into the drinks at the rest area to get all the opponents along the way drunk."
"Sasuga Sir Eikou, truly deviously cunning!"
The three quickly mounted their bicycles and pedaled with all their might toward the next investigation point.
In the Simulation Room, Finn-sensei monitored the course and rankings of each contestant, continuing his commentary:
"Although they've gone through many trials, Team Eikou is still holding the lead.
"However, their advantage is steadily shrinking — the Twelve Paladins of Charlemagne seem to have smoothly passed the second checkpoint and are about to catch up to first place."
"And it's not just the Twelve Paladins — other contestants are also gradually closing the gap."
"Unbelievable! All the top positions are occupied entirely by France Class contestants — what's going on here! Other than Team Eikou, is there really no other Britain contestant who can make it into the top five?"
"All right, let's continue to follow the high-stakes showdown between the two leading teams."
"Team Eikou and the Twelve Paladins are about to have their second clash — this time, which team will take the lead? Can Team Eikou wash away the humiliation from last time?"
"Let's switch the camera to the Twelve Paladins and see what's going on with them!"
The image cut to the Twelve Paladins' situation.
"Wha… what is this…?"
Finn-sensei stared in shock, mouth agape.
Seeing the Twelve Paladins on the screen, the Britain substitute contestants waiting in the rest area all gasped sharply and hurriedly covered their eyes.
"Cut! Cut the feed right now! This is not something that can be broadcast! If you don't, we're going to get complaints from parents!"
Finn-sensei immediately shut off the live feed and turned to Napoleon with a displeased look.
Napoleon leisurely puffed on his cigar.
"As expected of the Moriarty of the battlefield, Napoleon-sensei — don't tell me this was part of your plan too? This is obscenity at its peak!"
"Finn-sensei, the arena is a battlefield — the concept of 'dishonorable' doesn't exist. Besides, this wasn't instigated by me — it was entirely the student's own idea."
Napoleon smiled.
"Let's just keep watching the showdown between the two teams."
…
Meanwhile, out on the racecourse —
The three members of Team Eikou still had no idea what they were about to face.
[You and the two Knights of the Round Table are pedaling hard.]
[The Twelve Paladins of Charlemagne are chasing you at an alarming speed. Besides them, other France teams are also closing in, aiming to form a ring around you.]
[You sense your team has fallen into a dangerous situation.]
Seeing the system's description, Eikou's expression turned grave.
"So it's about to get bad…"
He quickly analyzed the situation in his mind:
"All my support skills have already been used on Gawain — he definitely won't be able to use his Noble Phantasm to forcibly accelerate again in the short term…
"But conversely, the Twelve Paladins are probably running out of tricks too. 'Down with a Touch!' has been used, and their two Quick Servants have already burned their Noble Phantasms to boost speed. Meanwhile, we still have Tristan's skill and Noble Phantasm unused — in terms of strength, we're about even, maybe even with a slight advantage!
"But even if we deal with the Twelve Paladins, what about the other contestants right on their heels?"
Damn it — if only he had a Noble Phantasm himself, at least he could match these Servants head-to-head.
Just then, a loud call came from behind — from the Twelve Paladins.
The booming, imposing voice sounded like Roland, one of Charlemagne's Twelve Paladins.
"Hey——"
From the rear, Roland shouted toward them:
"Knights of the Round Table up ahead! Do you dare to fight a life-or-death duel with my holy sword Durandal?"
"Well, Sir Eikou, shall we fight?"
From the rear seat of the bicycle, Tristan asked:
"If so, let me take the field — I still haven't used my Noble Phantasm!"
"Ignore them — we just need to keep our heads down and pedal. If the Twelve Paladins manage to latch onto us and slow our pace, what's waiting for us will be the encirclement of all the France contestants. At that point, there'll be no chance of winning at all!"
Eikou said seriously.
"I see — the situation really is far from optimistic…"
The three decisively ignored the shouts from behind and kept charging toward the next checkpoint.
But Roland behind them still wouldn't shut up.
"Hey hey, you guys are knights just like us, yet you choose to dodge and avoid battle? That's both laughable and unbelievable, hahahaha."
"I bet you just didn't hear my call. Astolfo, let's pedal faster. Once we're closer, I'll call out again!"
Eikou thought to himself: We heard you — we just don't want to bother with you, idiot…
From that short exchange, he had already grasped Roland's nature — without a doubt, a genuine certified fool (same breed).
As expected, when the Twelve Paladins team drew closer, Roland shouted again:
"Hey hey, you guys are knights just like us, yet you choose to dodge and avoid battle? That's both laughable and unbelievable, hahahaha."
This time, Eikou finally couldn't take it anymore and turned back to yell:
"Stop making noise! Will you shut up already? If you've got the guts, then catch up to—"
He suddenly froze.
Right after, Eikou's eyes widened in utter horror.
Behind them, leading the Twelve Paladins, was a handsome blond-haired, blue-eyed knight — none other than Roland, one of the twelve legendary knights.
He was standing tall with both feet firmly planted on the front seat of the bicycle, Durandal slung over his shoulder, his face full of sincerity as if he wanted to have an "honest meeting" with the Knights of the Round Table.
Quite literally, "honest."
Roland wasn't wearing a single thing, just boldly standing there as the wind whipped against him.
Oh my God, he was stark naked!
Eikou could even see, between the knight's legs, another "holy sword" swinging with the headwind.
That long and slender swaying thing was…
The "brother" of the holy sword Durandal…
The "mini holy sword" that only men possessed, which legend called Diorandal!
A normal man would sheath that "mini holy sword" into something called "the scabbard," better known as underwear.
However, this knight, in broad daylight and in front of everyone's eyes, had that "mini holy sword"… drawn from its scabbard!
"KYAAAAAA PERVEEEEERT!"
Eikou shrieked in a high-pitched voice like a startled duck, furiously pedaling the bicycle.
"Pervert?!"
Hearing this, Roland was startled, frantically glancing around:
"Where's the pervert? I don't see one!"