The World Dragon's Heir - Chapter 644: Silent Extraction

Chapter 644: Silent Extraction

With that distraction, the majority of the other Royals signalled for extraction.

The joust would be delayed for a few minutes, as the crowd was incredibly invested in knowing the status of Sir Nallon, who they hoped would be well enough to compete in the second round and wouldn’t have to withdraw after the head injury.

In the normal course of events, that was what would happen.

Such a blow was not fast to recover from, and even with most healing magic, a concussion would still leave the brain in a vulnerable state for a few days.

Technically, it was healed, but the freshly healed areas were delicate, so the general consensus was that no violent or rigorous activity should be undertaken for a week. Good advice, but devastating during a tournament.

After a potion and a full round of healing, a runner was sent to the judge who read the proclamation out loud for the crowd, using magic to make himself heard.

“From the healing team of Wistover Arena.

Sir Nallon of Shersdonia has suffered a concussion, which has been promptly treated. However, his condition is considered to be unstable and his continued participation in the event shall be at the Knight’s own discretion at the time of his next match.”

That wasn’t what they were hoping for, but it was better than a flat declaration that he would be eliminated.

If more than one Knight had to withdraw, the matches would be rearranged, and that was expected. However, an odd number of Knights due to withdrawals would give someone a bye to move to the next round uncontested.

That was not what the crowd was hoping for.

Sure, they realized that the Knights were risking severe injury on the field, but they still wanted to see the most intense matches possible.

And the next matches didn’t disappoint.

The Knights were not willing to lose in front of Royalty, even if the Kings were no longer visibly present in the arena. The natural assumption was that they were somewhere nearby, and at worst they would hear the gossip about the best matches by the end of the day.

Even without them, there were still two Crown Princes here. Future Kings, should nothing go wrong with their succession.

By dinner time, the only King left in Wistover was the King of Cygnia, though Dominic noticed that there was an odd brooch on the chest of the Shersdonian Envoy.

It was definitely a Techno Witch’s invention, but Dominic couldn’t tell what it was intended to do.

Going by the positioning, it was most likely a recording device so that the matches could be reviewed by Trionne and the Necromancer King. That would let them pretend that they were here to the end.

However, the King didn’t look like he was planning to leave any time soon. The Cygnian Royal booth had just ordered meat pies and more wine, and Prince Claudius was doing his best to use his gaze alone to eviscerate every Knight who looked too long at Elanor.

It couldn’t be helped, she was seated next to the King, so they would naturally be looking in her direction, but that didn’t matter to his overprotective brother instincts.

All he knew is that there were single Noblemen looking in the general direction of his little sister, and he was having none of it.

“You know, you should likely go distract your brother before he explodes. He looks a bit like a pressure cooker right now.” Dominic whispered to Alexis between matches.

“He will be fine. He needs to learn to get over it. Besides, how is she going to find a good military husband if she doesn’t attend the jousts and other events where they congregate?

Surely she’s not going to find what she’s looking for among the pampered Nobles of the Royal Court.” Alexis whispered back.

“You did, and your sister did as well.”

Alexis laughed loudly enough that it caught the attention of the spectators behind them.

“I don’t think that Josephine counts. She didn’t go looking for a knight, she went looking for a punching bag, and Thorvald was the only one brave enough to take the position.

Even if she had ended up marrying Duke Saldock, I doubt that his heart would have held up for the year,” she declared.

Dominic smiled. “I wonder how those two are doing? We really should have asked before the King left.”

“I’m sure that it’s going well enough. I haven’t received any messages from her that would indicate otherwise. She’s settled right into the Duke’s Manor outside of Northinta, and apparently she’s managed to convince Thorvald to let her create a new Paladin Order in Northia, as the region didn’t have one, and the Kerian Knights aren’t Paladins.

In a way, she might actually be doing better as a Duchess than I am. I get maids and Daves, but she gets her own Paladin Order.”

That made the nearby guests laugh quietly.

Only the twins would see that as a selling point. But the bit about her getting maids and Daves as the high points of her time as Duchess really did highlight just how unconventional the situation in Wistover was.

Even though most of them had only been here for a few weeks or months, they had gotten used to seeing the trolls of all sorts wandering through town.

There wasn’t anywhere else that they could think of that nonhumans were so common. And that wasn’t even counting that a good third of the town had animal ears, horns, tails or some other mark of a Sorcerer or beastkin.

Plus, some of the trolls were rather cute, in the way that a pug was so ugly they were adorable.

The crowd got louder as the day wore on and everyone got a bit more drunk.

By mid-afternoon, Dominic wasn’t sure who was going to need a good night of rest more: The Knights who had taken injuries during the joust, or the crowd who had been watching them.

Either way, there were going to be a lot of sore heads and bodies by morning.