The sun had risen over the horizon, sharing its brilliance to the people of Briton. The blue sky was slowly being painted by the clumps of white cotton, revealing a sight worthy of remembrance.
The day everyone had been waiting for, the day of the Tournament had finally come.
At the moment, Emery and the other 24 squires from Lioness Kingdom had gathered in a massive arena.
It was a rectangular green field, over 600 feet in length and 200 feet in width. Its two sides were occupied by extensive platforms made to accommodate a large audience. Each of these platforms had the capacity to contain up to three thousand people.
Even though its scale was not even one tenth of the Magus Academy's arena, it was still impressive enough to awe those who saw it for the first time. After all, standing in this field used to be Emery's greatest dream.
Originally, the arena was supposed to be filled by the nobles in the front rows, while the common people stood at the back. But since this yearly Tournament was a special occasion, there was no place for commoners at all, because all the seats were completely taken by countless nobles and important people from the 7 kingdoms.
Emery noticed the platforms were so packed with people, he couldn't even see a blank spot on them. It was apparent that there was not enough space for everyone who wanted to watch the Tournament.
But then again, the Knight Tournament could be said to be the competition of the nobles. Most commoners would not understand much about it. Most of them were simply curious about the occasion and wanted to see it with their own eyes.
Tooooeeeettt!!!
The trumpets were playing out their tunes, signaling the first day of the Tournament was about to begin. Following their sounds, groups of participants began to make their way to the arena for the opening ceremony.
This year, a total of 300 young squires from 7 kingdoms were participating in the Tournament.
All of them would compete against each other in order to gain the title of knight. After all, just like the previous years, only 100 people would receive the honor to be knighted by the Order.
Hundreds of people walked into the arena, all wearing uniforms of different colors that showed the kingdom they represented. From the sea of colors before him, Emery could see the Lioness' red and gold uniform had the smallest number in the arena. Their number would lose too much when compared to the other kingdoms.
Well, it was to be expected, as the Lioness Kingdom could only send 25 squires this year, while the other kingdoms had much bigger quota. For example, the Logress Kingdom and the Noragles Kingdom had the highest number of quotas this year, which was 50.
Emery didn't really want to know how and why the Lioness had the smallest quota, nor did he care at the first place. Though it didn't stop him from making assumptions.
He was sure it all depended on the strength of the kingdom, or more precisely, the performance of the squires sent to the Tournament. Considering the Lioness' squires rarely succeeding in the event, it was understandable that the quota they had had was the least.
The logic was understandable, but for all 25 Lioness squires who were currently the smallest group, it created some sort of intimidation on them.
'Was our kingdom not good enough? Could I really do well today?"
Those kinds of thoughts were floating in the squires' mind, slowly affecting them in a variety of ways. Those with a high fortitude would be more fired up, while those with weak minds would start doubting themselves.
The centermost of the right side platform was a special area, reserved only for the royalties, kingdom's representatives and knight commanders.
After all the squires had gathered and lined up in the arena, a knight commander swiftly came up to open the Tournament.
The first day of the Tournament was opened by Knight Commander Oswain, the one known as the Aegis Knight.
The man delivered a short speech about perseverance and determination. Afterwards, the man walked back to his seat. Then, a loud sound of a bell was heard through the air.
The 300 squires swiftly made their return to the empty space at the sides of the arena. Immediately after, groups of aides brought out today's tournament object.
Bow and arrows.
Every year, the content of the Tournament was pretty much the same. This 5-day Tournament would always start with archery on its first day, cavalry on its second day and close combats on its last three days.
10 squires were quickly called upon and they began to take the bow and arrows provided.
After each of them took a longbow and a quiver of arrows, they immediately lined up and began shooting arrows at the targets placed at the other end of the field when the signal was given.
There were two kinds of targets and only 10 arrows to shoot. The first target was located 300 feet away, which would give them one point when hit. As for the other, it was positioned 400 feet away and gave two points for each successful hit.
Most squires would just focus their attention on hitting all ten arrows to the first target in order to be safe. But of course, there would always be a few who wished to receive the top 10 archery recognition. Hence, they would try their ability on the second target.
As for Emery, archery was part of the training his father prepared for him to be a knight, this particular weapon doesn't need much strength hence he never really have any problems with it, but then he never really good at it as well. Still, the moment he picked up the bow, he was fully confident he could do well.
"It's probably better to be low profile here." Emery thought to himself. "I should just focus on hitting all ten on the first target. Yeah, let's do that."
Emery raised the longbow, took out an arrow from his quiver, pulled the string before releasing it.
Phhiuu..!
Sound of air being sliced was heard and Emery's arrow completely missed the target by a large margin. When he looked at the bow in his hand, Emery saw the string was snapped.
"Damn it! I should have done it gently."
Emery noticed that the squires standing beside him were laughing at him.
"Hahaha! Classic Lioness... What did I expect... Hahaha..."
Hearing the mockery, Emery changed his mind, as he threw the low profile plan to the garbage.
"Top in archery, huh? Why not..."