"Who does that shitty prince think he is?!" said Lucas in rage
After the display of blatant disrespect, of course the Lioness knights and squires were unable to restrain their anger. The feeling of resentment was clear in their actions.
"Did he dared to do these because we are a weak kingdom…!"
"Our princess…" One squire glanced at her. "She looks so sad."
Emery himself was enraged and would love to get back at the prince somehow, but still, he thought the squires were being a little bit too gung-ho about this.
Lucas approached Emery, put his hands on Emery's shoulders and said.
"Lanzo! You... You must show them that we are not weak!"
Lucas' words attracted the attention of other squires. Everyone started to crowd and gather around Emery.
"Yes, Lanzo! We can't take this humiliation lying down!"
"Aren't you guys being a bit-" Emery shook his head. "Okay, listen, if you want everything to change, don't just dump your troubles on someone else. Take your lance and do it yourself! Don't just hope for others to do the job for you. Look at you all, aren't you the best Lioness has to offer? Then prove it! Show them we aren't to be trifled with!"
Emery's words surprisingly made them all pumped up. They started to shout and yell.
"None of you shall fail this one you hear me!!
"For Lioness!! For the Princess!!"
Unexpectedly, It seemed his words were way more effective than he expected.
The trumpet resounded, marking the beginning of the tournament. The names of the first three knights were called. They would go up against the divine order's chosen knights.
The squires will each do two rounds, back and forth of jousting against a knight and the passing score this round was 2 points in two charges. That meant, they would only need to achieve one good direct hit on the head or shoulder or two hits from other places for both charges.
It sounded so easy at first glance, but in reality, it wasn't. Keeping oneself steady in a fast-moving horse and still being able to hit accurately against an opponent riding an equally fast horse was already very hard, and they also had to use their skills to outmaneuver the veteran knight's lance attacks.
But though the odds were against them, Emery noticed all the Lioness squires seemed to be in high spirits.
Mark was called first. He took a deep breath, jumped up his horse and smiled at his teammates, before riding against the knight. From the two rounds, he was able to hit the knight twice for 2 points.
Lucas did even better. He managed to get a strong direct hit and received 3 points for his hard work.
As for Abe, it seemed the earlier talk wasn't lost on him. He managed to score five points by knocking down the opponent.
No matter how much Emery hated him, he had to admit Abe was skilled and he didn't shame the name of his Dread Knight teacher.
Finally, after watching most of his fellow Lioness squires go out there, Lanzelot Dulat's name was called. He walked out while pulling 'Jewel, a brown horse with a golden mane, next to him. Each stride was full of confidence.
With the assistance of his spirit force, Emery wouldn't even need to control the horse at all. He believed the horse would not hesitate to run straight towards the enemy. There was no need to worry about velocity.
Unfortunately, his biggest problem was his lack of experience, leaving him unable to predict the opponents' moves at all? Will it be high? Low? To the side?
There was no time to learn during the two charge attempts he had. Therefore, there was no other way but to make sure each charge count.
"Lanzelot Dulat!"
His name was called out and all spectators shouted in excitement. They recognized him as the squire who won yesterday's archery contest. Was it possible for the squire to make another surprise today?
Emery jumped up his horse and steadied himself just in time for the sound of the trumpet.
He pulled on his horse's reins and dashed quickly, his hand tightly holding the lance and boldly facing the oncoming knight.
Left? Right? He couldn't really tell.
Right before they collided, Emery seems to have found the answer. There was no need to think and dodge, he merely needed to just accept the opponent's hit, while trying to hit as strongly as he could.
Braccckkkkk!!
As both parties charged with full power, the sound instantly attracted the attention of everyone there. Thanks to his high battle power, Emery managed to stay on his horse despite being hit, while the knight was thrown off from his horse and fell to the ground.
Now that he felt the hit, it didn't hurt all that much.
"Knock down! Five points!" The score keeper announced.
There were two things the audience loved to witness during a jousting game, a knock-down or a breaking lance. Emery was able to give them both and everyone cheered for him in response.
As he was up against an experienced knight, it was even better. Some of the audience started to look at him with interest. It really wasn't easy for a squire to receive points against these knights. And for this young squire managing to hit full points by knocking down an experienced knight was quite rare.
The poor fallen knight was even get knock out unconscious that they needed to replace him with a different knight.
Emery waited on the other end while a new knight took a lance and take the palace opposite him. The crowds start cheering following the trumpet's sound.
Both sides start to gallop and like before Emery doesn't worry about being hit at all, he's confident with his strength and just makes sure his lance would hit his opponent.
When the two clash, Emery manages to give what the audience wants one more time.
Brrraackkkk!! Another knight knocks down after a hard hit that broke both lances.
The audience cheers widely at such spectacular sight.
The jousting matches continued and within three hours, all squires had competed. More than 50 failed the test having less than the required 2 points.
As for Emery and the other Lioness squires, it seemed that their efforts did not end in vain, as all of them managed to pass the minimum requirement for the tournament. Emery even reaches the top score among all the squires, which means he would participate in the next jousting round to find this year's cavalry champion.