"Carina will regret this sooner or later... Look at this tent, it's so shabby."
The princess who used Dorothy's body looked at the tent where the furniture was being arranged. After looking at Tifa who was holding Mia, she asked Shade:
"Are you staying here tonight, going to Carina Manor, or going home?"
Because the competition lasts for four consecutive days, adapting to the venue in advance or getting close to one's horse will obviously help to achieve better results in subsequent competitions. Therefore, in previous years, many contestants would stay here directly.
"Of course, I'm going home. It's only an hour away."
Leicia smiled. This was totally unexpected.
"Then I wish you good luck, my knight. Let Dorothy see your prowess for me, and I will be here on Thursday, the last day of the armored duel."
She kissed the side of Shade's face gently and closed her eyes.
The first day's competition was not difficult for Xia De at all. Although the unexpectedly good weather today made the sunlight a little dazzling, so that he could hardly see the target when aiming at the target facing the sun, Xia De did not rely on his eyes to shoot arrows. "She" corrected the position and strength of the arrow little by little in Xia De's ear. Xia De only needed to follow the steps.
Outside the arena was a bustling market, while inside the arena were filled with spectators who had bought tickets. 36 "knights" entered the arena one after another and were divided into 12 groups, with three people in each group, shooting at the red, green and blue targets on the fixed and moving targets respectively.
Shade was assigned to a group with two other knights from Tobesk, and his target was the blue target. Coincidentally, the 25-year-old Ben Silver, whose target was the red target, and the 31-year-old Doon Wisworth, whose target was the green target, were also knights with titles. However, the two inherited the knight title from their fathers, which was one of the traces passed down from the old times.
They were quite familiar with Xia De, the city's gossip celebrity. After greeting Xia De before entering the venue, they jokingly asked him to play Rhodes cards with them during the lunch break.
After entering the venue and receiving the bows and arrows, the two who were originally joking became serious. They stood in the venue according to the order drawn by lot, and amid the cheers and applause from the audience, they drew their bows and shot arrows when the whistle sounded, looking for their targets in the dazzling sunlight.
It is worth mentioning that Shade had asked before the game that props such as "blackened glasses" could not be used during the game, so today's game was really harmful to the eyes.
In the morning competition, Xia De's group was scheduled to enter the venue at 10 o'clock. Because they still had to familiarize themselves with the bow and arrow, identify the venue in advance, and clean up the arrows lost in the previous game, so when they finished their respective shooting, it was almost 11 o'clock in the afternoon.
Xia De was not sure about the results of other groups, but at least among the three of them, he hit all the targets within the specified time, so his result was definitely the best.
After saying goodbye to Mr. Sif and Mr. Wisworth at the entrance of the arena, Shad smiled and walked towards Dorothy and Tifa who were waiting for him.
The entrance to the arena had completely become a market at this time, with dining tables, open-air tavern bars, stables, barber shops, Rhodes card tables, butcher shops, etc. mixed together. It was even more lively than St. Teresa's Square at the end of the year.
Mia lay lazily in Tifa's arms, and just meowed when she saw Shade coming over.
"The results are pretty good, but my eyes are almost blinded by the sun."
"You are lucky. Last year, it rained heavily on the day of the archery competition. As a result, six of the 54 contestants fell ill the next day."
Dorothy laughed, and then lowered her voice to tell of the amusing incident of the morning:
"Earl Lewis is also here to watch the game, but we heard news half an hour ago that he was accidentally injured by an arrow that flew from the arena."
"Oh? Is the injury serious? Where was he hit? The head or the lower body."
Shade asked rather expectantly as he and the girls walked towards their camp.
"Oh, Shad."
Dorothy patted Shard.
"Tifa sent someone to inquire. The right arm was hit, but it didn't penetrate. Because he needed to stop the bleeding and treat the wound, the count didn't leave immediately. He is now resting in the tent over there. Do you want to go and take a look?"
"What's the point of going to see him? Let's go have lunch."
Regarding the "Grey Eagle Mission", Shade did not think that just injuring the opponent's arm would be enough. But he was not in a hurry, as he had plenty of time to deal with the opponent.
The group's lunch was not cooked here, but was sent directly from the Carina Manor. When the metal lunch box wrapped in heat-insulating cotton was opened, the food was still steaming.
Miss Carina probably thought that Shad would do strenuous exercise today, so she prepared enough lunch for twenty people.
Although the maids were reluctant to eat with Shade, they finally had lunch together in the tent after his repeated persuasion. After lunch, it was still early for the afternoon horseback archery session, so Shade temporarily said goodbye to the girls and Mia in the tent and walked around the camp outside the arena.
He didn't bring Dorothy and Tifa with him, naturally because he had some things to do by himself, and the girls also knew that Shad was going to do something bad.
After pretending to stroll out of the camp, Shade turned into a blind spot on the side of the tent, hid himself with an illusion, and then went to the tent where Count Lewis was recuperating, which Tifa had found out.
There were some ordinary people guarding the tent, but this had no effect on the sixth-ring Xia De. However, he didn't want this "assassination" to attract the attention of the church, so he simply stole the gun from the guard, then pointed it at the window of the tent and pulled the trigger:
"Today is indeed the day for competitive shooting... Considering this man's reputation, I should consider this a good deed."
When Shade dropped his pistol and left, he was still thinking to himself and soon blended into the crowd in the market. Because the market was very lively, the accident in the camp did not affect the people here. As for the poor Earl Lewis who was shot in the vital part of his lower body, he probably would never have to spy on those beautiful girls again.
In short, the assassination of the earl was just a small matter for Shade.
The small disturbance did not affect the lively atmosphere of the market. As time approached noon, more and more citizens and nobles came to watch the excitement, and the small market was also expanding to a larger area. The tents of the participating "knights" were all in the same area, and there was a special fence to separate them from the outside world to prevent being disturbed.
Shade did not stay at the market, and when he returned to the camp, he unexpectedly met the Foren brothers from Carsenrick. Their morning competition was also very smooth. When Shade chatted with the two at the door of the tent, he learned that although these two five-ring warlocks took a little longer than Shade, they did not miss the target just like Shade.
Although the Forlan brothers were older than Shad's body, they were very compatible with Shad. Queen Diana was right, they were all very upright gentlemen.
Originally, Shade wanted to walk around so that more people could see him wandering around, and the two brothers originally planned to visit Earl Lewis who was unfortunately injured in the morning. But as they chatted, they talked about the topic of Rhodes cards.
"By the way, Mr. Hamilton, if we remember correctly, you were the champion of the Grand City Players in 1853?"
Mr. Eric Foran, the elder brother who wore a monocle on his right eye, asked, lowering his head slightly, his beautiful brown eyes flashing with interest. And Mr. Charles Foran showed a similar expression.
We can go to the market later, and Earl Lewis can't die now. Shade smiled and took out the card box containing his deck from his pocket:
"Why, you want to play a round with me? Oh, gentlemen, I want to bet on special cards."
The two brothers were still preparing lunch in their tent and there was no place to play Rhodes, so the three gentlemen left the knights' camp and sat down at a long table in an open-air tavern with a sign called "The Pig's Head Tavern" in the bustling arena market.
A small team of uniformed police officers passed by them. Although the "Pig's Head Tavern" was called a tavern, it was actually just a temporary venue built with a counter and a dozen long wooden tables, backed by three freight carts.
The four corners of this simple "tavern" are lined with stone pillars, with hemp ropes tied to the pillars to form a perfunctory fence, separating it from the barber's yard next door and the paid painter's yard on the other side. At the same time, ribbons are tied above the pillars, which, together with the ribbons floating above the camp, add a whole new landscape to this unique spring event.
By noon, two-thirds of the tables at the Hog's Head Tavern were already occupied, and a middle-aged woman wearing an apron was entertaining the guests with her thin husband.
Considering that he had to participate in a competition in the afternoon and he didn't like drinking, Shad only ordered a glass of butter beer. The two brothers Fulan ordered absinthe and rum respectively. The former is a strong liquor with anise flavor, which has a natural green color in the sun, which is very beautiful; the latter is a distilled liquor made from sugar cane molasses, which has an amber color in the sun.
"We still have a game this afternoon."
Shade kindly reminded that a glass of rum would not be a big problem, but absinthe was a strong liquor. This alcohol was originally used for medical purposes. Shade didn't even know that this kind of liquor was available in the taverns at the temporary market.
"We have to drink because we have to ride horses in the afternoon. Alcohol can make the knights more energetic."
Mr. Eric Foran said, and then he also took out his deck.
Because there were many people playing Rhodes cards here, no one came to watch the three people's card game. Like Shade, the two Mr. Fulen also used a special card box to hold their decks, and they also engraved their names on the standard card box of the Prophet Association.