Chapter 1: Tournament I - Knighting Tournament
The auditorium could seat thousands of people, but today, less than two hundred took their places in the audience. The chatter rebounded off the chamber walls in echoes that magnified the noise within. However, the sheer space dampened those sounds, leaving the auditorium feeling rather destitute.
Many of these gathered people were eager to discuss the paper and physical exams they had taken the day before. They were among the chosen few who stood head and shoulders above their peers, those most likely to attain knighthood in their lifetime.
However, just because they graduated in the top thousand of their year didn’t mean they would automatically become knights. Knighthood was more than being a good student.
Annabelle sat among them, flanked by two of her friends. To her left, Senia was asking her a question about the exam.
“What do you think the answer to the problem about the hostage situation was?”
“I think the exam had different versions,” Annabelle answered. “Who was the hostage for you? Mine was a captured baron.”
Belevere sat opposite of Senia on Annabelle’s right side. But unlike Senia who kept her hands to herself, she had Annabelle’s hand firmly captured. Try as she might, Annabelle could not pull away. Whenever she showed the slightest hint of moving her hand, even to adjust her position, Belevere tightened her grip until she was sure that Annabelle wouldn’t try to escape.
Annabelle had long given up.
“Mine was a baron too!” Belevere said. “It looks like I had the same version for that problem, Anne.”
“I didn’t ask you,” Senia said, but she quickly quelled under the venomous gaze that Belevere sent her way.
Then she sighed and sank into her chair bonelessly. “So both of you got nobility? Mine was just a bunch of civilians spread out in a factory. How are you supposed to rescue all of them and still defeat the terrorists in just two hours?”
“Well, if it was anything like mine, then the real answer was probably to just ignore the hostages and raze the place to the ground,” Annabelle said..
Senia looked at her, shocked. “You’d do that? Isn’t the point of the question to figure out a way to rescue them while still figuring out how to destroy the enemy?”
“That depends on the station of the hostage. According to our society, normal civilians are valueless fodder,” Annabelle muttered, “so you can safely ignore them. However, our laws dictate that all efforts should be made to rescue those ranked knights and up.”
She looked over at her friends, trying to read their reaction to her callous answer. Unlike the shocked Senia, Belevere was far more composed. She even gave her a sympathizing pat on the shoulder while shaking her head.
At least Belevere knew her answers didn’t truly reflect her thoughts.
Senia didn’t seem to.
“Ohhh. Damn it, I did all that work for nothing,” Senia groaned, knocking herself on the head. When she looked up again, Annabelle saw that her eyes were full of admiration. “I didn’t even think of the possibility that it might be a trick question. Leave it to you to see right through it!”
Annebelle smiled weakly at her friend’s adoration, brushed aside a stray strand of hair that had fallen on her face.
As her grades and performance in her classes and practicals got better, more and more people that she thought were her friends drifted further away, turning into her admirers rather than her equal companions. Senia was one of those people.
Thankfully, Belevere still saw her as a rival and close friend.
In Margentian society, Senia’s attitude was the norm. Peasants looked up to nobles, including knights, as naturally as breathing. This worship extended to potential nobility as well.
It was natural that in such a society, a force will strive to rescue the baron while not even sparing a thought for the regular civilians. Annabelle felt sick with herself for even providing such an answer to Senia.
Even if she was sure that her answer was the right one, she didn’t want Senia to delve any further into the traditional Margentian mindset.
Her own mindset of favoring equality truly was in the minority—so controversial that if she ever expressed it out loud and someone in power got wind of it, it might well crush her chances of knighthood entirely.
Having Belevere at her side might be the only thing keeping her sane from the pressure of hiding her beliefs. Annabelle found Belevere staring at her again. She tilted her head as she looked up at her tall friend’s face.
Senia mumbled something, perhaps about to ask something else, but Annabelle saw out of the corner of her eye the curtains on the wings of the stage move. “Shh. I think the director is here.”
Senia shut her mouth as a lone figure walked onstage and tapped the microphone. The noise drained the sound in the room as the chatter slowly died down. The figure was none other than the director of the Arvent Mech Institute: Knightmaster Farth Saquest.
“Greetings, students,” Director Saquest said. “I would like to congratulate you on all surviving day one of your ranking exams. Of course, you would not be here if you were incapable.” He looked around the seated students, expectations glimmering in his eyes.
“However, it is not the end yet. Today, you will be pitted against each other in battle in a single elimination format until only six of you are left, whereupon you will be tested on your endurance in a round robin format. The winner—well, of course, you can already guess what graduating at the top of your class in this school means.”
Director Sanquest paused for effect, dangling the reward over all their heads. Every student present here all aimed for the prize—the status of a knight under House Arvent!
Every other path to knighthood open to Annabelle is long and hard, be it through many years of serving in the Mech Corps, through distinguishing herself in battle, or performing a special service to a noble house. The reward isn’t even guaranteed.
This winning event alone guarantees her knighthood, allowing her to take her first step into the ranks of nobility.
Perhaps that will finally allow her to escape her mother, or at least give her the courage to try.
At the sight of all their serious and determined expressions, the director only laughed. Not that his mirth was unwarranted.
Annabelle knew that he had served a long tenure as director of the AMI, and having seen countless batches of students pass through these halls, their determination must seem awfully juvenile. No one dared comment at his laughter.
“Well, whatever it means, I’m sure that it will be enough to motivate you all to do your best. According to our traditions, your battles will not be fought in simulations,” he said, with a hint of disgust, “but will instead be in real mechs controlled remotely. Real military grade mechs, albeit slightly outdated.”
The director grinned at them and wrapped up his speech. “All of you will be expected to be at the pods in one hour. Do your best and don’t disappoint me before the lord. He will be watching.” He looked at them meaningfully and stepped off the stage.
In other words, even if a student wasn’t the final winner, it’s possible that they will catch Lord Arvent’s eye and be granted other opportunities to prove themselves. Although records showed that it was rare, Annabelle knew of some instances where Lord Arvent knighted the runner-up or some other round-robinists.
As tempting as it may be, she could not settle with just a chance. She must aim to be first.
After Director Saquest left, the students rose from their seats one by one and began to file out of the hall. Annabelle knew most of their names and habits—many of them would probably head off and try to practice in the remaining time they had left, while others would go relax or grab a bite.
As for her, she decided to relax. There was a quiet place to sit near the remote cockpit pods. She walked out of the auditorium with Belevere by her side, one step behind her.
“Where will you go now, Bel?” she asked.
Belevere thought for a bit. “Well, I was going to just follow you and do what you’re doing, but I just remember that I have something to go over. I’ll catch up with you later, Anne. Don’t lose until you fight me!”
And with that, she waved goodbye, leaving a dumbfounded Annabelle standing alone. “And she’s gone just like that, huh?”
Belevere was just spontaneous like that.
As she walked on, she found that Senia was following her, so she slowed down to let her catch up.
“Hey, Anna. Is that girl finally gone? Why didn’t you wait for me?” Senia asked. “Where are you going?”
“There’s a fountain near the mech center. I’m going to go sit over there for a bit,” Annabelle replied. She sighed. “Why can’t you get along with Bel?”
Senia shrugged. “I just don’t like her, I guess. Anyways, I’ll come with you. Maybe you could give me some tips about my upcoming matches?” Senia suggested. She held up her comms, displaying a tournament bracket organized so that six remained at the end.
“By the way, why aren’t you practicing?” she asked.
Annabelle shook her head.
She didn’t think there was a point in getting all wound up before the matches even started. An hour more of practice will just tire her out and it won’t make a difference in the grand scheme of things, considering the thousands of hours they each already put in.
“I’m just going to relax and get my thoughts into order,” she said. “I don’t think practice will help all that much.”
“That’s a lot of confidence. But then again, for someone in the top ten, I guess that confidence isn’t unfounded. Unlike me,” she said, sighing. “It will take too many miracles to count for me to win, and I don’t think I can beat you either.”
She seemed so crushed and defeated that Annabelle couldn’t help but pat her on the back encouragingly.
“It’s not confidence, but the belief that an hour of practice won’t make a difference. All they’re doing is tiring themselves out, which leaves room for you and me to advance by defeating them,” Annabelle said.
On her comms, she opened the tournament brackets as well, showing Senia.
“Think about it. Director Saquest said that the test of endurance starts during the final round robin tomorrow, but today is an endurance test as well. There’s a hundred and ninety two of us, so that’s five battles to reach a single victor.
“I reckon that most of us will be exhausted by the time the fourth round comes around,” Annabelle said. She gave Senia a look. “Now add in an hour of hard practice, trying to cram for the exam, so to speak...”
“...Oh. So it’s a word trap meant to mislead us?”
Annabelle nodded, glad that Senia got her point. Nobody in the top hundreds was stupid. But sometimes, nobility worship got the best of them. Senia was such an example, so taken with Annabelle’s apparent piloting skills that she went a bit brainless whenever she was around Annabelle.
She was talking like Annabelle had knighthood in the bag when Annabelle could name off the top of her head at least a dozen people she’d have trouble beating in a head to head. Annabelle shook her head internally.
The two of them quickly reached the fountains where benches lined the pavement around the water. This late in the school year, most students had already gone home, so the campus was rather empty. Only the top two hundred of the graduation year remained, yet to have taken their ranking exams.
Annabelle picked a random seat and looked up at the sky, watching the clouds drift by. She imagined losing herself in the blue depths, letting all her troubles and stress drift away.
She closed her eyes, focusing on making her breathing smooth and even. She will think about everything she has learned these past few years, and bring all that experience and knowledge to bear when the time comes. When she finishes, she will be a person born anew, ready to face the challenges...
“—Anna, Anna. My first opponent is Erik Joann. Do you have any tips?”
Annabelle opened her eyes, staring wearily at Senia who had interrupted her meditation. Her friend was looking through the profile of a male student: Erik Joann, currently ranked 144. Senia was ranked 46.
She checked her own opponent: Ignar Remedius, rank 185 to her rank 8. It seemed that the sorting algorithm roughly matched the highest ranked student with the lowest, and so on. It mostly funneled the expected strongest pilots to the final round robin battles through a series of easy battles.
If she assumed the higher ranked students always won, then she’ll be fighting against Terry Burfair, rank 87, then... well, rank 39, 14, and... rank 2. Alecto Maxime, the son of a Knightmaster.
Alecto was pretty skilled, she’ll give him that much. However, she always considered herself the better pilot, as Alecto’s scores mostly came from his unreal theoretical knowledge rather than his prowess in battle.
He coasted through the classes on his genes and talent, using his father’s resources to pump himself full of knowledge since his childhood. That knowledge propelled him to number 2. It was unfortunate his actual talents at piloting didn’t match up. Her own mother had not invested nearly as much effort into bringing her up... but considering her mother's personality, perhaps that was a good thing.
”...Anna, hey come on, stop ignoring me!”
“Sorry, what did you say?” Annabelle asked. Senia was shaking her. The shaking made her kind of happy. Annabelle was glad that they were still close enough that Senia would be rough with her when she needed something. “Ah, sorry. I was thinking about my own opponents. Erik Joann, right?”
Senia nodded and showed her his records. Annabelle quickly scanned the data, comparing him with Senia. Erik favored riflemen mechs, while Senia piloted swordsmen. Factoring in the fact that Senia was just a more skilled pilot, she probably had this one in the bag.
“It looks like he suffers under pressure when he’s shooting. If you run at him, he’ll panic and make more mistakes. Don’t go crazy dodging, just focus on closing the distance with him.”
Senia held onto each of her words and nodded. “I will. I’m so glad we’re in different brackets!”
Annabelle smiled at her. “I’m glad too.”
After Senia left to find her other friends, Annabelle opened up her comms and looked through her contacts for her own friends. However, there was instead a notification next to a contact she dreaded. Her mother.
She reluctantly tapped the icon and the call quickly connected, as if her mother had been waiting to pick up.
“Hi mom,” she whispered.
Her mother’s smiling face appeared on the screen. She looked cheerful, youthful as always.
That beauty hid such a brutal side.
“Don’t disappoint me, Anna. You must become a Knightmaiden! Do not shame our family! Today is what you’re born for,” she said.
“...yes, mom,” Annabelle said, lowering her head. “I’ll do my best.”
Her mother’s smile widened. “I’ll be waiting for the good news.”
“Yes...”
Good start I like it
and I already hate the mom 
Thanks for the chap!
nice.
Thanks for the chap!
Minor nitpick, but you seem to have your noble titles mixed up. Lord is lower than Knight which is lower than Baron.
Lord is a title for all of nobility.
First chapter was interesting, off to a good start. I'm already rooting for her to escape her mother, sounds like there is alot of bad blood between them.
Is there a good reason why the nobility gets worshipped? Nevermind the question if the answer is provided in future chapters.
I think there is a mistake in your synopsis.
In truly escape from underneath her mother's thumb, she seeks to elevate her status.
To truly escape from underneath her mother's thumb, she seeks to elevate her status.
I messed up "in order to truly." oof.
@TypeAxiom Sounds good too :P