Chapter 32-Tournament
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“Congrats, you’ve finally graduated,” I said to Antonius after three days of training. “You can finally practice jousting against me instead of that quintain.”

“Thank you very much,” Antonius said as he bowed his head. 

Initially I was enjoying Antonius’ habit of lavishing me with praise, but now it’s starting to feel a bit weird. The worst thing is that it doesn’t feel as though he’s just kissing ass. In fact, he’s made a particularly tasteful comment about my direwolf mantle. 

“There’s no need to compliment me so much,” I told him while scratching my head. “I think your habit will be helpful in a courtly environment, but just make sure to tone it down a bit.”

“Sorry about that,” Antonius said awkwardly. “It’s just that I look up to you quite a bit.”

I’m glad that I didn’t start blushing at that moment, though I certainly felt a bit uncomfortable. At the very least, I would say that his choice of role models isn’t the best. 

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Antonius continued as I stood there silently. “How come you never joined your country's royal guards? You must have been good enough to enlist.”

“Well I left to fight in the Stygian campaign before I could join the guard,” I informed him. “After the war ended, things just ended up like this.”

It’s not as though I’m lying to him at all. Word for word, everything is true. There’s just a few vital details missing here and there, but that wouldn’t make me a liar, just rhetorician. 

Shortly after, the two of us mounted our horses and faced one another. Antonius sat with a lance and shield in the saddle, while I only carried a shield. Because I have good reflexes and heavy armor, I’m very confident that I would be fine. 

“Loosen the grip on your lance a little more,” I reminded Antonius. “I know you’re a bit nervous, but don’t let that affect your technique. And don’t worry, if you somehow kill me, I have no intentions of haunting you.”

“That’s not very encouraging,” Antonius said with a grimace. “But ready yourself nonetheless.”

Once he finished his line, Antonius immediately began to charge his horse in my direction. In response, I spurred my horse forward as well. Instead of pulling any sort of trick on a beginner like Antonius, I simply held my shield in a predictable manner. As such, Antonius was able to land a fairly good strike upon said shield. 

“Good work so far,” I told him. “Though I felt that your aim was just a little off center, I think that this is a good start. We’ll go for a few more rounds then you’ll move onto practice with Sekh and Talus.”

The next few rounds went as expected. Most of the strikes were relatively solid, though a few were off since Antonius was trying out different techniques. Once I was satisfied with his performance, Antonius took a break before attending javelin practice with Sekh. Meanwhile, Talus and I sat down for a beer. 

“Really nice seeing him improve,” Talus remarked. “But it stings a bit when I’m outdone by someone more than ten years younger than me.”

“No need to blame yourself,” I replied. “You were pretty much forced to teach something you had limited expertise in. In fact, I’m thankful that you prevented Antonius from developing any particularly bad habits.”

“I appreciate it,” Talus said after wiping beer off his lips. 

Compared to his improvement with the lance, Antonius has been making much slower progress in the other areas. That’s not to say that Sekh and Talus are bad teachers, it’s just that Antonius received better guidance in those areas before. Additionally, his predisposition towards equestrian skills makes his lance usage much easier. 

“Did you hear about the archery tournament that’s going to be hosted soon?” Talus asked me. “I think you might even be able to place first if you join.”

“I didn't hear about it,” I answered. “Is the Doux hosting such a tournament?”

“No, it’s a group of merchants from Fars,” Talus told me. “With the funds he has, I doubt the Doux could hold a tournament.”

“Yeah that’s what confused me,” I replied. “Since I work at the Labor Bureau, I know that the Doux certainly can’t afford to host a tournament. Anyways, when is this tournament going to take place?”

“The middle of next week,” Talus informed me. “So three days after you finish teaching Antonius.” 

“I see,” I responded. “You think it’s possible that I practice my archery here during downtime?”

“Go for it,” Talus said to me. “I mean we’re literally drinking on the job right now. You could even say that practicing archery would be an improvement in work ethic.”

“That's actually a good point,” I remarked. 

Although I was still regularly practicing at the public sparring grounds, I wanted to maximize my success rate for the coming tournament. Normally this amount of practice would prove detrimental to most people, but my muscles heal faster than normal people. The only issue is that my appetite will grow quite a bit to accommodate my increased exercise. Thus, I plan to take Antonius on some hunting trips in the next few days to have him hone his skills and feed me. 

Once Sekh was finished with training Antonius, Talus swapped in. Afterwards, we would just have Antonius do a few full body exercises before resting for the day. If we made him do much more, Antonius would no doubt be racked with serious muscle pain.

“Are things going well on your end?” Sekh asked me as she sat on my lap. 

“Yeah, how about you?” I inquired back.

“His progress is steady,” Sekh answered. 

“That’s good,” I replied. “Also, I heard from Talus that there’s an archery tournament happening next week. As you can tell, I plan on entering.”

“I’ll cheer you on then,” Sekh said happily. “If you place first, I might throw in a little something for you.”

“Thanks,” I answered after kissing her on the cheek. “But I think I can subsist on prize money and ego alone. Anything more would just be encouragement.”

“But encouragement never hurts right?” Sekh said with a coy smile. 

“You’re right about that,” I told her. “Maybe we can get a fancy dinner or something if I get some prize money.”

Well it’s not as though I don’t have the cash to go out with Sekh. But I’d like to celebrate after succeeding at something significant. As a matter of fact, I recently got 2 solidi  from the merchant group that requested the reed serpent contract. Additionally, I received a split of 10 denarii from the serpent skins that we sold. That night, I ended up spending 10 nummi for a cake and plenty of alcohol. 

“Sounds good,” Sekh remarked. “Though I’d like you to be a bit more gentle with me. I’m delicate you know?”

“All I heard that night was you moaning for me to keep going,” I pointed out. 

“You’re supposed to remember that I’m not that smart,” Sekh jokingly pouted. 

“I'll keep that in mind next time,” I said while rubbing her head. 

The next week flew by quickly. I continued training Antonius, even during our break day. Our hunts with Antonius were fairly ordinary, which might be an accomplishment considering Antonius’ inexperience and our general lack of support personnel. Once the seven days were over, I spent the remaining two days just training and working at the Bureau. I also found out the archery competition had prizes for the first three placements. 2 solidi for the first place, 1 solidi for the second, and 6 denarii for the third place. I heard that the far western nations tend to offer items in place of money for prizes, but I’ve never been to such an event. I wonder what they would think of our competitions. 

In preparation for the tournament, I also purchased a lighter recurve bow for 5 denarii. Although the competition is providing bows, I’d like to use something that I’m fairly accustomed to, which is allowed as long as the bow passes their check. Plus I’m starting to feel bad for the rabbits that are getting blown apart by my regular bow. 

“How are you feeling?” Sekh asked me the morning of the competition.

“I’m fine right now,” I told her. “I’ve been doing lighter practices since two days ago so I should be fine. Practice this morning also felt pretty good. Since the competition starts in about an hour, I’m going to rest a bit before heading out.”

“I’ll cheer for you when you’re out there then,” Sekh said to me. 

So after an hour of bow maintenance and light stretches, I headed out to the competition area. Said area was actually just the training grounds for the city guards, which was leased by the merchants funding the event. It wasn’t actually leased for much, since the Doux was excited about the taxes that would be made from all the shops set up during the competition. 

By the time I got to the competition grounds, there were already plenty of makeshift vendors set up. Once I finished receiving my identification number for the competition and getting my bow checked out, I immediately went to get a good luck charm. By that I meant grabbing a bottle of beer. I think this habit started sometime during my time in the Marches. I even remember a competition where contestants got mad at me for supposedly disrespecting them. Well I did get third place just to spite them.

After grabbing my beverage, I headed towards the designated area for participants. During the competition, each of us would be provided arrows with colored markers to distinguish our shots from one another. The group of participants was a fairly large one with around sixty five participants. Most of them looked to be local hunters, soldiers, or sellswords. In terms of race, the vast majority were humans, though a few elves, orcs, and one beast person were present. 

As for my competition, I believe that the biggest threat would be the orcs and other southerners. During my time spent in the allied armies, I’ve found those two groups to boast the most competent archers on average. 

“Who are you calling a stick?” an oddly high voice rang out from the crowd. 

“Sorry about that missy,” replied a somewhat sarcastic voice. “But you don’t look like much of an archer.”

Like everyone else there, I began to search for the source of commotion. As I huddled around with dozens of bodies, I saw a young woman arguing with a man. The man looked to be a hunter, while the young woman appeared to be a sellsword. 

Personally, I agree with the man. The girl, who was roughly the height of Sekh, had a lithe build with a flat chest. I mention the flat chest since it actually goes in her favor of being an archer. Based on some information I acquired during the war, I can confidently say that breasts are not conducive to archery. However, she lacked the serious musculature of the other contestants, some of whom were also women. 

“Then how are going to feel when I beat you?” the girl mocked. “In fact, I’ll get first place to show you how wrong you are.”

“Bold of you to say that miss,” an orc commented. “But I heard the competition is rather tight here. There are plenty of veterans from the recent war and supposedly even a Marcher royal guard.”

“I was just selected for the guard, I never actually joined,” I corrected the orc with a gentle smile. 

Once I spoke, the crowd quickly turned their eyes to me. Those that knew my face gave approving looks while the others looked at me in curiosity. 

“So you’re going to be my main opponent then?” the girl confronted me. “Well you look the part, but I hope you live up to the expectations.”

“I would say the same for you, but you don’t look the part,” I teased while offering my hand out. 

“Hmph,” the girl huffed while refusing my handshake. “Good luck, you’re going to need it.”

I couldn’t help but laugh when she made her declaration. “Well best of luck to everyone then, I think today is going to be interesting.”

As the girl walked away, I got a good glimpse at her bow. Said weapon was a longbow made with a composite design. A rather curious weapon, considering how I haven’t seen people use such a design in the places I’ve been. Still, I wonder if magic is allowed in the tournament. For someone to be so confident while at a large physical disadvantage, said person is likely to possess magic, remarkable skill, or a low intellect.

Shortly after, the judges called the competitors forth to signal the beginning of the event. They began by detailing the rules for the tournament. Our targets were butts which consisted of ten rings. The smallest ring in the center awarded ten points if an arrow landed there, while the points decreased by one for each consecutive ring. In order to prolong the competition, there would be four rounds. The first round had the butt placed at sixty meters away from contestants, while each following round would increase the distance by thirty meters. Additionally, we were given three minutes to shoot three arrows, the time being measured by an hourglass. Finally, the fifteen contestants with the lowest points in a round would be dropped. Thus the final round should compose of twenty people, though ties would cause both or more contestants to be eliminated. 

Additionally, there would be breaks between rounds. This served as a rest period for contestants, not that we needed one since only ten could go at a time. The main purpose of the breaks was probably to allow bets to be easily conducted. Thus I walked up as one of the first ten contestants. 

“I know this is late,” I announced to the judges. “But is magic allowed in this tournament?” 

“No, contestants are not allowed to use any form of magic,” one of the judges concluded after a short discussion. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a faint grimace from the flat chested girl. Well if she’s a wind mage with good control, there’s definitely a possibility that she could avoid detection. 

The first round was no trouble for me. I was able to score the full thirty possible points, though I took my time. I had actually thought about throwing my score a bit to increase the odds of bets against me. This way Sekh would get more money from her bets, assuming she was betting. However, my pride won against my greed. 

“So you got thirty as well,” the flat chested girl confronted me when the first set of ten finished. 

“I did,” I answered. “You performed excellently too, but let's see how long you can keep it up.”

“I believe that was my line,” she retorted. 

She certainly kept it up during the next round. Even at ninety meters, this girl was able to score thirty points. Clearly she wasn’t some ordinary archer, though the next rounds would be a proper test of her skill. 

“Alright everyone, this is where things are going to get heated,” one of the announcers declared before the start of the third round. “Make sure to get your bets in and maybe grab some refreshments while you’re at it.”

Although there were plenty of other contestants still present, I was honing in on that archer girl. After all, how could I forget someone who made such a bold declaration? Though I did notice that many of the other contestants were wary of the two of us. 

The third round was a hard fought battle to maintain my perfect thirty point streak. I had only narrowly been able to maintain the perfect number. When I scanned the audience, I saw a number of familiar faces looking my way. Both Sekh and Minerva were smiling and waving. Other faces that I recognized were Antonius, Talus, Edwin, some mercenaries that I met at the Bureau, and the master bowyer who sold me the bow I’m using. Despite the wide array of smiles, I couldn’t help but feel that some were the products of successful bets. 

“Twenty seven is still a solid score,” I assured the archer girl during the break between rounds. "I think you'll definitely place well next round."

“You can act all confident now, but you better watch out next round,” she answered before sauntering off.

Well that was certainly an arrogant way to respond. I wonder if I was that bad in the past, though I think I might not like the answer. 

“Fuck,” I cursed as my arrow went off its mark. 

Although I had hit two tens, my last arrow landed in what looked like an eight. Since this was the final round, I think I might have killed my chance at first place. Hopefully I can get second if someone scored higher. To make matters worse, I was so focused with my shots that I didn’t notice the scores of the other contestants. 

The next group of contestants that went up consisted of six people instead of ten, due to two ties during the previous rounds. I watched with bated breath as the six of them made their shots. Although I don’t think that anyone scored higher than me, I couldn’t make out the exact points at such a distance. 

When the announcer walked towards the makeshift podium, I could feel my heart dancing in my chest. Similarly, the audience was holding their breath since their view was just as far away from the butts as the contestants. 

“We have quite the exciting results,” the announcer declared. “There has been a three way tie.”

The audience began to loudly murmur amongst themselves while I stood there in surprise. This meant that the three of us would be competing for first, second, and third place all at once. I was confident that I was in the top three, though I wondered who my opponents were.

“Contestants eleven, eighteen, and forty-three,” the announcer addressed in a booming voice. “Please step up for the tiebreaker round. The distance for this round will be two hundred meters, a fifty meter increase from the last. You will be given four arrows and a limit of five minutes this time.”

I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard that forty-three had been called. As the crowd cheered, the three contestants stepped onto the field. Next to me was the girl from before and an orc who looked to be in his thirties. 

“I’m going to be taking first place, so you’ll have to content yourself with second,” the girl declared to me.

“You’re giving that guy over there too little credit,” I said while gesturing to the orc. “Things could go anyway this round. Well good luck to you all.”

“Glad to see that at least someone has respect for their elders,” the orc remarked. "Good luck to you two as well."

When we stepped up to the mark, I took a deep breath before readying my bow. At this distance, I won’t be able to make a clear distinction between the exact points on the butt. I could probably guess the location of the shot, but just two points could mean the difference between first and last. 

Each shot I made was followed by a light sigh. Although I managed to prevent my body from tensing up, I could almost feel a phantom butt clench. 

Like the other two contestants, I made full use of the five minutes to make my shots. But when I looked at the other butts at the end of the end of the round, my heart froze. At this distance, the three of us might actually be tied again. 

“Well it is what it is,” I remarked as we waited for the scores. “How about the loser buys the other two drinks,”

“That’s something I can get behind,” the orc laughed. “But imagine if there was another tie, that would be hilarious.”

Unlike the two of us, the archer girl simply stayed quiet. Personally I think that her decision might not have been sound. Nothing helps ease tension like a little banter. 

“Incredible,” the announcer exclaimed when he received the scorecards. 

This bastard really isn’t helping my cardiac health. He’s even pausing extra long to create suspense. 

“There is no tie,” the announcer informed the crowd. “In third place is...number twelve!”

The archer girl slumped over when she heard her placement, a portion of the crowd following along with her. 

“And in second place is…,” the announcer continued while tugging at my heartstrings. “Number eighteen!”

Once those words entered my ears, my legs almost buckled. I don’t know how much I won by, but I’m just glad to have pulled off a victory. Honestly, I’m even more glad that I don’t have to deal with this suspense any longer. 

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