While it may have been rude of me, I couldn’t help but take a good look at the prince. He was tall, but slender in an almost androgynous way. He lacked the manly air of other knights, and his silver hair and pure-white skin made him look like he’d stepped out of a picture book. He was a true fairy-tale prince in every way, the kind that rode into the story on a handsome white horse—and decidedly not a military chariot. All in all, he didn’t seem very strong to me.
Prince Luifon noticed me staring. “What is it? Were you thinking that I look like I’ve been made commander just for show?” He sounded offended.
“I-I wouldn’t dare to have such an imprudent thought!” I insisted, shaking my head vigorously.
Surprisingly enough, he smiled. He didn’t seem to be mad at me. “It’s a rather common sentiment, but it’s all right. I’m not mad. I have confidence in my swordsmanship. I may not have as much arm muscle as some do, but I’m confident my technique is better than anyone else’s. Even Kyros said I was a genius when it comes to swordsmanship.”
“Lord Kyros said that? You must be very strong then,” I said.
Prince Luifon puffed out his chest. “I sure am. If even he says so, it has to be true, right?”
My! He seems so happy about Lord Kyros’s praise.
The coliseum had filled up when a man—the host of the tournament, by the looks of it—appeared on the stage.
“The time has come for the semifinals of the Dilts Kingdom Swordsmanship Tournament to begin!”
Claps and cheers echoed around us, and the prince smiled. “I haven’t been this excited in ages! Last year, during the Shainese orchestra recital, I got so bored that I fell asleep at the very beginning. Kyros had to keep pinching my cheek to wake me up.” He seemed to remember the pain and massaged his cheek with his hand. Despite that, though, he was still smiling.
I had to stop myself from giggling, and I turned to Mio. “His Highness always seems so happy when he mentions Lord Kyros,” I whispered in her ear. “Just like a child.”
“That’s true,” she replied.
“Even I feel happy when I listen to him talk about Lord Kyros.”
“People tend to enjoy talking about things they love.”
“Indeed! His Highness does seem to love Lord Kyros!”
Mio squinted at me and let out a quiet, knowing laugh before standing up abruptly. “I’m going to go look for something to eat while we watch,” she declared.
“Did you not eat at the stalls? I asked for a ton of food stalls to be installed especially for you!” the prince said.
“I didn’t have time to stop at all of them earlier,” Mio replied.
“As always, your stomach is bottomless,” the prince chuckled.
“See you later, Mio,” I said, waving at her.
Mio bowed. “I shall excuse myself for a short while. Please enjoy the show in His Highness’s company, my lady,” she told me before leaving.
Just then, cheers echoed through the arena once again. The host had just called two contestants to the stage. I was quite surprised by their appearances—they were both wearing full sets of armor.
“Why are they so heavily protected if they’re using training swords?” I asked. “The fight will never end this way, will it?”
“These sets of armor are special,” Prince Luifon replied. “The ‘vital spots’ are hollow, so when they’re hit, they’ll make a very loud noise. A big CLIIING.”
“Ah! To signify they’d be dead if this were a real battle.”
“Exactly. The spots are the crown of the head, the chest, the stomach, the throat, and the wrists. They can hurt a lot even through armor, you know? A blow at just the right angle can even shatter bone.”
“Really?!” That meant that if someone was hit on the top of the head, they could die!
To make it easier for the audience to tell who was who, the fighters wore armor of different colors. The two current competitors were clad in green and red. The man in green was smaller, while the one in red was tall and muscular.
“Which one of them is the civilian?” I asked.
“Neither. These two are both knights. The civilian will fight in the next duel. You should pick one to support since you’re watching!”
“Hmm… I’ll go with…the one in red, then. He’s taller.”
“Interesting. People usually want to support the smaller fighter.”
“I’m tall and red too,” I said.
“I see. Shall we bet on it? Ten thousand eiros on the green shorty.”
I almost fell down from my chair. T-ten thousand?! That’s enough money to feed a regular family for an entire year! Does he not value money at all?!
Just thinking of wasting that amount on gambling almost made me faint.
“I-I can’t, I—”
“It’s starting!”
My attempt at protest was drowned by the cheers of the crowd and Prince Luifon’s voice. On the stage, the fighters started the battle immediately without even greeting one another.
The first to strike was the big man in the red armor. He roared as he swung his iron blade. The smaller green-armored knight dodged nimbly. Smaller does equal quicker!
The big man raised his sword high and brought it down heavily. As I expected, the smaller man dodged once more, but the tip of the big man’s blade sank deep into the stone paving of the stage.
“I-if the green knight had been hit with such force, wouldn’t he have been badly hurt?” I asked the prince.
“They both know what they’re in for,” he replied. “That tall man is the oldest of our knights. He used to be a wandering mercenary, but he distinguished himself during a civil war and was knighted. He’s a true warrior.”
“H-huh? But I thought that, while knights were regarded as heroes during the war, they were just lower-ranked nobles nowadays.”
“Nowadays, sure. But we need experienced mercenaries among them in case someday, something happens. That’s also why daily training is crucial.”
The smaller man in green also seemed very skilled. Not only did he keep dodging the red knight’s strikes, he counter-attacked with his own thin sword.
The heavy noise of metal hitting metal echoed throughout the coliseum, but it wasn’t very loud. The smaller man had successfully landed a slash, but it didn’t appear to have been on a vital spot.
“That hit just now didn’t count,” the prince told me. “But he was close. The red one got lucky.”
“Ugh… It really must hurt even with armor…”
“I won’t pretend it’s painless, but the green one is focusing on speed and isn’t putting his weight behind the hits. That’s our young ace, by the way. Not only is he sharp and talented, he also understands how these sorts of games are played.”
The man in green swung his blade so fast that I struggled to follow his movements. Just as the prince had said, he didn’t seem to be putting much strength into it; he was just trying to graze his enemy where it mattered. It didn’t matter to him if the resulting wound wouldn’t have been deep enough to kill his opponent in a real fight; all he needed was to draw out the clarion sound of victory.
That’s not fair! I didn’t mean the young man in green, but the prince! He’d bet on him while knowing full well he was the better fighter!
The big man was starting to run out of breath, and he grew slower. The smaller one saw his chance to strike, and the telltale metallic screech rang throughout the coliseum.
“And the victor is our green knight, Edward! He advances to the finals!”
Edward waved at the audience as cheers and clapping filled the air. He stayed in the center of the stage for a long time, even after his opponent left, blowing kisses and waving.
The prince laughed. “Someone’s really feeling himself, huh?”
“The knights seem to be enjoying this event too.”
“Well, they usually do nothing but train with no real source of entertainment. Not to mention, women are forbidden at the barracks.”
I had no idea. I’d imagined the knights living much more glamorous lives, not whittling away their days stuck in an all-male barracks.
Speaking of which, I’d never really seen men interact outside of class. I wondered what they did during their days off. “Your Highness, what sorts of games do you play with Lord Kyros on your days off?” I asked.
“Huh? What games?” the prince asked, his eyes widening in confusion.
Did I say something weird? Did grown men never play together? I flushed red in embarrassment and reworded my question, “You and Lord Kyros were classmates, right? I was just wondering how the two of you spent your time back then.”
“Let me think… The first time we met, we ended up brawling.”