About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

Platinum, who became a guard knight, would occasionally appear in the public eye. After a few appearances, people had a deep impression of this pure white sharpshooter, and later he gradually gained titles and "fans".

Of course, what these people didn't know was that Miss 'White Shooter' was about to resign and run away because she had been recognized after skipping work several times in a row.

"Not just the White Archer...! Look at that pink-haired Zarak next to you, it's [Model Knight] Miss Gravel!"

There was another exclamation from the crowd, but this time the object of their exclamation was Li.

"Hehe... Need an autograph, handsome man? But a handshake is in the cards. Even through gloves, someone already admires my body~"

Li was at ease and responded to these people with a generous smile.

Li previously worked as a model and had a considerable fan base. Although she suddenly implemented strict restrictions on fan interaction a few months ago and publicly announced that she "had someone she loved," which caused a significant drop in her fan base, her following has since rebounded over time.

“Is it [The Light of Youth]——Miss Maria, the youngest knight of the Rinkou family!?”

When greeting Li, many people noticed the most nervous-looking girl at the end of the trio, and were naturally startled.

"Hey...hello there."

After realizing that she had attracted attention, Maria could only rub her hair and nod to everyone in a somewhat awkward manner.

In the previous business union reform incident that shocked Casimir, the whole of Casimir got to know a girl, Maria, who stumbled in the knight competition, but never backed down and always remained firm in her knighthood.

Although Maria chose to go back to university to study mechanical manufacturing after receiving the reward from the Grand Knight, this did not affect her popularity.

"White Archer, Model Knight, Maria... Why are these three people here at the same time? Could it be that they're planning to team up and participate in Pretty Dreby!?"

I don't know who in the crowd first proposed this guess, and this sentence was like throwing a Klee into a fireworks factory, instantly detonating the surroundings.

"Form a team!?" "Does this dream team really exist?!" "Who is the trainer?!"

Trainer——

As soon as these three words were spoken, the originally fanatical and excited crowd instantly burst into murderous aura that could unleash a spirit bomb.

"To be able to become the trainer of these three people, this guy has no right to live at all!" "That's right!!"

The crowd immediately began to figure out how to kill the trainer.

At this moment, Orson, who was sandwiched between the three people, accidentally exposed his body.

"Kill the training—it's the little knight!"

"Little Knight!?"

"The little knight is back!"

"If the little knight is the trainer, then there will be no problem!"

"Yeah, no problem!"

“Don’t hit me, I’m helpless… Eh? Wait, wait a minute—Wuwaaa!?”

Orson, who had originally been crouching with his head in his hands and preparing to shout "Don't hit me in the face", was suddenly lifted up by the excited crowd.

It seems that unlike in Che City, Orson, as a lifelong honorary knight, is so popular in Casimir that it even overshadows the anger of the people.

13. In public...

Although he was not hunted down by the entire nation like Qicheng, because of his great popularity, Orson was still surrounded by the crowd and held up high for a long time. He finally escaped until the next game was about to start and everyone's attention was refocused on the field.

"Wow... My butt hurts. In a way, this is really unbearable..."

Orson, who had been left out for a long time, rubbed his butt and complained softly as he sat down in the seat that he had asked his aunt to reserve for him, ready to take a closer look at what this new Casimir competition, which focuses more on entertainment and physical ability, is like.

Of course, the reason why Orson's butt hurt was not because he was rapped by the strongest creature on earth who passed by, but simply because the skills of these fanatical fans who played the game of lifting people high were different, and some of the big brothers just threw without catching.

"Look, Orson, that's the starting line! According to the race manual my aunt gave me, a race consists of 12 laps. Each team of three will run four laps each, with handovers required midway. This is to foster trust and rapport among the knights."

Maria excitedly pointed to the starting line in the distance. More than ten runners were already lined up on the short track. Each of them was rubbing their hands and feet, with an expression that showed they were determined to win.

"I see. So, it's similar to the speed races from the old days of knightly competitions? But—I feel like there's something about the track that's incredibly intriguing..."

Orson nodded, then turned his gaze to the front of the track. On the flat track, there was a row of boxes with question marks printed on them placed in the middle of the track at regular intervals. It was hard not to pay attention to the effect of that thing.

"Everyone, get ready—"

Before Orson had the time to inquire about the details of the race, the host and the indicator lights in front of the track focused everyone's attention on the field.

"--start!"

boom! ! !

boom! ! !

As the starter pulled the trigger of the signal gun, smoke came out of the muzzle. At the same time, a sound came from the stadium that did not sound like a track and field game at all. Instead, it was more like a loud bang like a cannonball being ignited and fired.

At first, Orson thought that the starting gun had been modified by Kruthil to increase its power, but this did not explain why there were two sounds, one loud and one soft, almost at the same time.

It took Orson a few seconds to realize that the sound echoing throughout the arena was the crackling sound caused by the contestants' feet hitting the ground when they started running.

“So… so fast!?”

Orson rubbed his eyes. The contestants were clearly just maintaining the starting position a second ago, but the next second they were already running at full speed in the middle of the track.

Although Orson knew that Rhodes Island's Brilliant Knight Lin Guang and Maria had strong abilities in "running", it was the first time he saw these "knights" take off their armor and all their weights, and burst out at full speed without worrying about dodging or facing the enemy.

This level of acceleration could probably rival Madam Wen Yue's sports car in an instant.

Before leaving Longmen, Orson had the opportunity to experience Mrs. Wen Yue's 100% racing. The push on his back almost pushed Orson into the leather chair.

But the most terrifying thing was Wen Yue’s words after circling the dragon gate: “It’s still too slow…”

"Number 8 [Emperor Ogawa] fell down early due to match-fixing!"

"Eh?"

Orson hadn't finished expressing his feelings when the host brought him back to his senses with the real-time broadcast of the game.

"Number 9 [Red Horned Carter] was hit by the turtle shell. Oh, what a pity!"

"No…wait, turtle shell?"

"No. 3 [Whirlwind Charge] picked up the Invincibility Star! She's now in Wuhu Mode!"

"Invincible Star!?"

"Number 8 [Emperor Ogawa] used the resurrection coin to return to the battlefield! It's a reversal. Number 8 got the resurrection coin by cheating. Number 8 has fallen again by fixing the match!"

"..."

Orson wiped the sweat off his forehead. Only then did he realize that this was not a racing competition at all, but an 'elimination competition'.

"Sure enough—after adding this variable, the uncertainty of the game has increased significantly!"

Maria watched from the side, waving and praising.

"After joining? Doesn't that mean it wasn't like this before?"

Orson asked Maria while dodging the red turtle shell that was rushing towards him.

"Well, this sport actually started out as a small-scale experiment a few times. It was basically just a modification of the old sprint races, a pure test of speed. While it was certainly 'fair and just', it was a bit too monotonous, and the winner every time was a former war knight named Olga."

"Hmm...it seems to be true."

Orson looked at the field again and found that the athletes were not just running, but also had to be prepared for defense, coordinate the baton handover, and even give a rider kick to those chasing them from behind.

Compared to ordinary 'running', there are indeed more qualities that can be designed.

"Of course, this does have some disadvantages..."

Maria ruffled her hair and added softly, and at this moment the host raised his voice again.

"It's like this again! Star runner No. 114514 [Olga] was about to cross the finish line with an absolute advantage in first place, but she was knocked down by the item 'Black Assassin' that appeared out of nowhere!"

"It's just that some unlucky people always fail to get a good ranking..."

Maria whispered, and a white-haired, black-skinned Kuranta girl wearing a red sportswear threw herself down in front of the finish line, pointing one hand to the sky and the other to the ground.

The final winner was the "Tohaku Goji" group consisting of contestants Touma Kusa, Ogiso To, and Kitahara Haruaki.

"It's... more interesting than I thought, Maria!"

After witnessing a game, Orson's reaction was more excited than initially expected.

"Huh? Really? But it's not over yet, eh? The winning team will get to put on some cool clothes and give their closing performance on the stage in the middle of the stadium~"

Maria pointed to a stage not far away that Orson had not noticed before. She saw several contestants who had won the championship took off their sportswear and changed into more gorgeous and formal clothes. They walked to the center of the stage where the spotlights were focused and raised the microphones high in their hands.

"Minna-hajimaluyo!"

With the appearance of Miss Kuranta, who played the main C position, the atmosphere on the scene reached its peak again.

20 minutes later--

"S...Sbarasi!"

Orson, who originally just wanted to see what the so-called Pretty Derby was, now had kirakira eyes and a look of Lord Dawn on his face.

The more someone lacks something, the more they yearn for it. Orson, who had always considered his physique embarrassing, was naturally drawn to this pure physical effort to push the limits of athletic performance.

"I didn't expect the sports meet to be so exciting! Let's work hard together, everyone!"

"oh--!"

Orson spoke loudly to Maria Bai Jinli beside him, but only Maria responded enthusiastically, and the other two just raised their hands symbolically to keep things in perspective.

Although Maria also thought about using the convenience of her "trainer" identity to openly touch Orson and spend time alone with him to cultivate feelings, she also cared about the competition itself. In Maria's words, she simply liked running and mechanics.

"But even though I was forced to become a trainer, what exactly should I do first?"

Although Orson was cornered by three people and coerced (mainly coerced) into signing the contract to officially become a trainer, Orson himself is still completely confused.

"That's easy. As a trainer, the first thing you can't avoid is cultivating a close relationship with your players."

Li answered first, and at the same time came close to Orson and rubbed his cheek with a smile.

"Uu ...

Orson shrank back in panic and tried to push the gravel back. Fortunately, Maria and Platinum also helped to pull the groundhog aside.

“Pay attention to yourself.” “Stop that…!”

The two were very unhappy with Li's extremely blatant way of jumping the gun, but after seeing Li's naughty smile, the three of them looked at each other again.

It was obvious that Li's answer was wrong, but both Platinum and Maria knew it all and didn't reveal it.

Everyone made the dumplings just for this bowl of vinegar, so they must trick Orson into "cultivating intimacy"!

However, Orson's response caught the three of them off guard.

"Building intimacy... Aren't we already quite familiar with each other? And you're all pretty affectionate, too—even if sometimes you go a little too far..."

Orson blinked his eyes, with no intention of sarcasm or ridicule, he just raised his doubts very naturally.

“Um—” “This…” “Uh…”

Orson's response exceeded the three's expectations. Even Platinum and Li didn't know how to respond for a moment. Of course, Orson hadn't thought about it that deeply at all. He simply said what he was thinking.

If you respond with "We're not that familiar yet," it would be like showing weakness to the other two! And it would likely irritate Orson into thinking, "I'm so sorry for being so wishful thinking..." and causing him to crouch down defensively.

But if I honestly respond with "I am indeed very familiar with him", then all my efforts so far would be in vain!

The three of them were instantly trapped in the tram dilemma, and they could only look at each other.

"Well, the intimacy a trainer cultivates is completely different from ordinary interactions. It's a different kind of intimacy that's more tacit, little knight. So what you said isn't quite right—is that right, you two?"

At the critical moment, Sister Shi Le stood up. Although the reasons she gave sounded full of loopholes, combined with Li's calm expression, she really fooled Orson for a while.

Li quickly took advantage of the victory and turned around to ask the other two Kurantas who were not at the same level as him.

"Yeah—yes, yes!" "That's it."

Platinum Maria immediately understood and nodded along with Li's instructions.

"Is that so... Well then, let's cultivate our relationship first!"

Orson thought for a few seconds, then decided not to pursue the strangeness in Li's words.

"Eh? Cultivating feelings... right here?"

This time it was Maria's turn to be stunned. She had never expected that he would accept and change so quickly.

"I didn't expect the little knight to be so open-minded? Haha, I don't dislike it, you know? Come on then~"

Unlike the somewhat flustered Maria, Li's expression was much more relaxed. She once again approached Orson, smiled, and slightly closed her eyes, waiting for how this chimera would choose to "add feelings" to her.