The World Dragon's Heir - Chapter 641: Pass The Bag

Chapter 641: Pass The Bag

The next morning started with extreme excitement.

The Kings did all need to get back home, but they didn’t actually want to miss the tournament. They didn’t get a chance to watch such things in person outside of the holidays, when they were surrounded by dignitaries who all wanted something, so they didn’t actually get to watch much.

But here, it was just their peers, a strange feeling for the ones who considered themselves the top of society.

“Do you think that we will see an unhorsing again today?

It’s such an uncommon thing these days, with all the advancements in equipment, that I didn’t think that I would get to see one at all. But we did get one in the preliminaries.” The King of West Keria asked.

“I think that there will be another before the end of the tournament, but I don’t know if we will be able to stay for it. It’s unfortunate, but if we stay away any longer, the Advisors will actually lock us in our offices when we get back.”

King Keria laughed at the Necromancer King’s assessment, but the old undead was not wrong.

“I regret putting the office on the fourth floor.” He agreed.

Dominic smiled, and the Necromancer King laughed at the expression.

“The dragonkin is laughing at us because he has wings, so even if he jumps off the balcony, he’s fine.”

King Keria rolled his eyes. “You can fly, I’ve seen you do it.”

“That’s why my office doesn’t have a balcony. Too many of my Advisors would use it as a second entrance.”

As this was hopefully the last full Royal breakfast that she was going to have to make for a while, Beth had gone all out on the spread this morning, and had even sent someone to get imported fruit preserves from the various nations so that there was a touch of home added to the meal.

Whether the Kings would notice or not was a different matter, but Dominic did notice that a few of them looked surprised to see certain things on the table that were not normally part of the signature Wistover breakfast.

Also known as “Chef Beth’s favourite dishes”.

But with that done, it was time for the trip to the arena, and the formal drawing of the order.

As this was the start of the official tournament, and everyone remaining had qualified, Dominic would join the Knights on the grounds, and they would draw lots to determine what order they would joust in.

It was considered to be the fairest way of doing things, and it added a bit more suspense for the crowd, as there were no guarantees that the matches would be between knights from different nations, or even different regions.

Sometimes, the two local favourites would end up against each other in the first match.

A disappointment for many, but a guarantee that no mishap would stop the favourites from facing each other.

The Knights were gathered outside when Dominic arrived, and followed him onto the grounds, so they could get in position and wait for the Royals to arrive. None of them knew that the plan was to have the Royals head out during the day, not even their military Commanders had been informed yet.

The King of Cygnia was the first to enter, with the others immediately behind him, entering from the side of the building, where the Royal Guards had secured the entire path from the door to the seats.

It was standard protocol, and in this case it made for a very impressive procession of dignitaries to start the event.

“Welcome everyone to the arena!

Today marks the official start of the event, with the preliminary qualifications over and all of our jousters ready to impress with their martial prowess.

As you all know, we have Knights from all over the region here today, representing many nations, and many more Noble houses.

Now, I know that none of you would call me an unfair Lord, at least not right to my face, but in the interest of keeping things impartial, we will be assigning the order by random draw.

This bag contains sets of tokens, each with a number on it.

The Knights will joust in order, paired against the opponent who has the same number as they do.

As he was the last to joust in the preliminary round, Sir Mick will be the first to draw. Take your token and hold open the bag for the Knight next to you. Then pass it along.”

The Knights looked startled at that revelation.

Normally, the host would have one of his adjutants move through the crowd with the bag, letting everyone pick. Letting them hold the bag for each other opened the door to all sorts of amusing foolishness.

As well as chances to make sure that the bag wasn’t rigged.

Sir Mick reached into the bag and pulled out one of the tokens, a shining coin made of cart bright, with the number twelve inlaid into one side of it, and the heraldry of the Wistover Duchy on the other side.

The coin alone would be valuable, given the material that it was made out of. But it also helped showcase the wealth of Wistover, both in materials and magic.

“Number twelve!” Sir Mick called, letting the crowd know what he pulled.

Then, he took the bag from Dominic and held it closed while he gave it a good shake.

“For luck. Go ahead now.” He announced, loud enough for the crowd to hear him.

Sir Martin, a Knight of the Natural Sons, and local to Wistover, reached into the bag and pulled out a token.

“Number Six. It is good luck, at least for Sir Mick, as he won’t have to face me in the first round.”

Sir Martin held out the bag for the Knight next to him, and the number four was pulled, before the bag passed down the line.

The show kept the crowd entertained, but Dominic knew that most of them had already forgotten all but a few of the numbers. After all, the number that they really wanted hadn’t come out yet.