Knight and Wand

Chapter 295 Winter passes and spring comes
The end of the wedding did not mean the end of the celebration. The guests from all over were not in a hurry to leave. Three days later, Leon officially held a small knight competition in the arena of the Knights Fortress of Avalon.

This was not a whim. After a noble's wedding, holding a knightly tournament in the territory to celebrate was also a very traditional customary activity for the wealthier lords. Leon had been preparing for this for more than half a month.

In fact, a few months ago, when the notice of the knightly tournament to be held by the king was posted to the barony, many new knights in the knightly orders were already eager to try.

Leon also didn't want to stop them from going to Orlando to compete and dampen the enthusiasm and fighting spirit of the knights under his command.

However, inside Castle Avalon, except for Old Brian and Larian who had experience in participating in knight competitions, the other new knights were just common people in the past. They either only watched as spectators before, or had never even seen one and had only heard stories about knights in the town and countryside.

Even the noble knights in the Knights Temperamente who survived the Battle of Rolandar, Filippo and Colinte, had only watched the tournament held by Lord Elliver in the city of Farolis, because at that time they were only knights' squires and were not qualified to participate.

Although the Avalon veterans who survived the Undead War today have all experienced the test of true blood and fire.

But knightly competitions, after all, are not real fights. Competitions have detailed rules and etiquette. If you have no experience and participate ignorantly, you will probably suffer a great loss in the competition.

Especially the newly promoted Avalon Knights, who had only practiced using lances for a year and a half. Compared with the noble knights who were born into noble families and had been trained in lance charges since childhood as squires, they obviously had a natural disadvantage in experience.

Fortunately, even though the rules of knightly duels in different countries on the continent are different, in the Kingdom of Orland, even if one is knocked off the horse in a lance duel, as long as one does not admit defeat and can get up within five breaths, and the blood from the injury does not soak the armor, one can choose to use short weapons to continue the duel on foot with the opponent.

Therefore, a knight who is not good at horsemanship and cavalry combat can still have some chance of winning if he is strong enough in infantry combat.

Of course, the score disadvantage brought by being knocked off horseback by a lance cannot be avoided.

If you cannot knock down or subdue your opponent directly within the time limit of a few minutes, then you want to rely on strike points from the referee to make up for the score difference caused by the fall. Unless the gap in the level of infantry combat between the two sides is too large, or the opponent underestimates the enemy, it will be very difficult. In most cases, the moment of falling basically means that you have lost.

Naturally, Leon didn't want his soldiers to be discouraged by their poor performance in the competition. Moreover, with Ines' suggestion, he also decided to participate in the knight's tournament held in Orlando in the spring.

The small knight competition in Avalon at the moment is not just a celebration of his and Olivia's wedding.

At the same time, it is also a pre-game rehearsal for the Cavaliers event hosted by the Kings.

Leon didn't hold it too grandly, but with his father-in-law, Old Brian, a former royal knight, as an advisor, and with the help of Lady Adelina who had helped Lord Elliver organize the knight's event, the event went very smoothly.

There are many rules for the competition. First of all, any long-range projectile weapons are prohibited in knightly tournaments.

In order to ensure fair competition, magic and any magical items are not allowed in the competition, including enchanted armor, enchanted weapons, and alchemical potions other than healing medicines.

Players can only use heavy competitive plate armor and blunt weapons specially made for the competition.

There are two types of competition events. One is the individual competition, which is the most intuitive lance duel and martial arts contest.

The general rule is that both sides use blunt-headed wooden lances with brittle shafts to make three charges.

Hitting the opponent's visor or helmet gets three points, hitting the center of the opponent's shield gets two points, hitting the opponent's breastplate or shoulder armor gets one point, and shooting down the opponent gets five points. You are not allowed to attack or damage the opponent's horse throughout the whole process. Violators will be directly judged as the loser, banned from the game, and required to pay compensation.

After entering the infantry combat stage, the corresponding parts of the scoring change. Three points will be awarded for causing a dent in the opponent's chest armor, two points will be awarded for hitting the shoulder joint and helmet, and one point will be awarded for the limbs. Of course, no matter what the score is, those who are seriously injured or surrender will be directly judged as the loser.

There are many more detailed rules, for example, the "honor break" and "shame break" of the lance. After knocking down the opponent's weapon, two points will be deducted for pursuit and one point will be added if not pursuing. Two points will be deducted if you turn your back to the opponent for more than ten breaths. One point will be deducted for verbally insulting the opponent during the game. Three points will be deducted for attacking the opponent's genitals. And so on and so forth.

The other event is the team competition, where both sides have equal numbers of players, ranging in size from seven to one hundred, simulating a mixed attack and defense confrontation.

Compared to individual competitions, team competitions have more complicated rules and are more dangerous and intense. However, many harmful rules are relaxed, making them very close to real combat, with serious injuries and deaths being common.

Speaking of which, when Leon learned from Brian about the scoring mechanism of knocking down enemy knights and generals, and occupying or seizing battle flags in group battles, he always felt like he was in some video game in his previous life.
With reference to the traditions of the Kingdom of Orland, the rules of the tournament were formulated, and generous prizes and honorary titles were set. Once the knight competition held in Avalon Castle was held, not only the Avalon Knights participated, but also several Ilariel Knights in the temple signed up.

Even among the guests attending the wedding banquet, there were noble knights who could not resist the urge to join in and enjoy the celebration.

Of course, as a newlywed couple, Leon and Olivia did not personally join in.

After all, this competition was held to celebrate their marriage.

As for Azerien, Lohak and the others, they participated in the competition with great interest.

For the warriors, this was more attractive than the increasingly popular sport of football among the people of the barony.

But what surprised Leon was that Corvis also signed up.

He was a little confused at first.

Because of his own little wizard's usual personality, he doesn't seem to be very interested in this kind of activity.

However, when Leon saw Count Ackerman's name among the contestants, he suddenly realized something. He remembered that before the competition, Ines seemed to have had a few private conversations with Aka.

As expected, in the subsequent individual competitions, whether it was a behind-the-scenes manipulation or not, Corvis faced the fat earl who was in tears in the first match.

Obviously, Ackerman did not participate voluntarily.

In just one round, the young knight viciously stabbed the lance in his hand and knocked Ackerman's heavy and clumsy body off the horse's back, without giving the young master of the West family any face.

Looking at Ackerman who fell to the ground and screamed in pain, and was carried out of the venue by the knights under Ines, Leon shook his head, thinking that the other party probably would not dare to be interested in Corvis anymore in the future.

But in the subsequent game, Coves was eliminated in the halftime round.

Leon knew that if there were no restrictions, with Akao's magic and his terrifying sword-wielding skills, he would have no pressure at all to reach the finals. However, the rule of knight competitions prohibited magic, which eliminated more than 70% of the boy's strength from the beginning. Although Corvis had the title of knight, he was a wizard after all.

Next, the competition continued round by round amid the excited cheers of the residents of Avalon.

In the end, the two knights who entered the finals were the Red Knight of Avalon, Rohak, who defeated the leader of the Templar Knights, and Lady Agatha, the princess's guard who defeated the Moonlight Knight Larian. The final between Rohak and Agatha was very fierce, and the fight was fought from horseback to the ground. The two of them even smashed the sand of the arena into pits with their weapons, axes and swords.

After witnessing such a wonderful battle, the eyes of the residents of the territory in the audience seats lit up and their exclamations became louder and louder. They shouted that the ticket money was worth it and watching the knights fighting was much more exciting than the circus acrobatics.

Lohak was extremely powerful, and after the Battle of Rolandar he was so strong that he was even able to wrestle with Olivia for a while.

However, although it was obvious to the naked eye that Ms. Agatha was unable to resist the inhuman brute force of the Red Knight, she was knocked off her horse in just the second charge.

But after entering into foot combat, the young Red Knight was still far inferior to Agatha in terms of martial arts, combat experience and combat wisdom.

The foot battle ended with the female knight scoring effectively and taking a slight lead over Lohak.

The champion is Dame Agatha from the Order of the Sea Eagle.

Naturally, Leon would not have any complaints about a non-Avalonian getting the championship.

The competition is fair. Whoever wins based on strength should get the corresponding honor and applause from the audience.

Moreover, he and Olivia could see clearly from the high platform that Lady Agatha had held back a lot and had intentionally taken a few more hits from Lohark so that the gap between their scores was not too big. This brought honor to her lord and did not embarrass the host.

At least in the eyes of ordinary soldiers and spectators, the fierce battle between her and Lohak was just evenly matched, with Lohak only having a slight advantage, which was a complete display of worldly wisdom.

Stepping down from the stage, Olivia, dressed in a blue and white dress and serving as the "Lady of the Arena" of this knightly tournament, personally placed a gilded crown on the winner.

"Congratulations, Ms. Agatha," the newlywed blonde smiled.

Agatha knelt on one knee and stood up, sighing, "If you participate in the competition, I will not be able to take the crown, Lady Olivia."

The girl only smiled more brightly when she heard this: "Please don't underestimate yourself. Your martial arts are enough to impress me. Besides, today I am just Leon's wife, not a knight."

Olivia said, and stepped aside. Then, Leon, the "Lord of Glory" of the tournament, awarded Agatha a prize worthy of her status as a champion.

A knight's fiefdom of fertile land in the Forest of Penrose.

And an enchanted knight's sword forged by a dwarf craftsman from the Edel Guild using ancient techniques to melt spirit vein ore crystals and black crystal steel, and engraved with magic by Corvis using the Lorelit technique in the wizard tower.

At this point, after the closing ceremony, all the grand events of Avalon at the end of the year ended successfully. The guests who came to attend the wedding banquet also set off one after another and left this beautiful land happily.
The slack farming season in winter always passes quickly.

The 674th year of the Orland calendar ended with heavy snow.

At the beginning of 675, in January, the coldest month, Larian and Lady Margarina's child was born, also a boy.

In order to commemorate the great poet Goliath who helped the two elope, Larian and Magrena named their child "Liam", which is the pronunciation of each other's name in Uriah.

Winter goes and spring comes, and time enters March.

The cold winter is finally over, the spring sunshine melts the snow, and life returns to Avalon.

As the weather warmed up and spring arrived, Leon convened the lords' meeting for this month.

Today, he, Azerien and Lohak have a combined territory of nearly 1,000 square kilometers within the sphere of influence of the Thornflower family, with a population of nearly 20,000. The originally relatively simple administrative system has also been gradually adjusted to accommodate the expansion of the jurisdiction.

The most obvious thing is the addition of several new departments that need to manage and connect with different affairs.

For example, the educational business has been gradually expanded. In order to distinguish it from the Demon Court which is about to be completed, the academy that gives priority to training family officials and descendants of Avalon knights, sons of military martyrs, and blood taxes of village and town managers has been officially renamed "Avalon Loyalty Knowledge College". This comprehensive talent education and training institution in the territory is currently supervised by Ms. Elena and usually managed by Ms. Veresa.

There is also the newly completed "Ilaril Temple". Although there is only one main priest, one assistant priest, and twenty monks of the Holy Lake Knights in the temple, every year, nearly a hundred holy war and Holy Lake Knights who have settled in the territory of Sobornitz will come to Avalon, which they consider to be a holy land, to gather in the temple.

This is a powerful force that cannot be ignored. Although the entry of the Holy Lake Sect is all good news for the territory at present, just in case, and in order to better coordinate the relationship between this force and Avalon, a special organization is also needed to contact and assist the Holy Temple in communicating with the locals.

After all, it involves faith. For example, if there are reckless fools or outsiders in the territory who offend Ilarriel, the Knights of the Holy Lake cannot be allowed to lynch the people of the Barony in anger. Even if such a thing has not happened so far, it is necessary to prevent it in advance. Therefore, Miss Sally, who understands the faith of the Holy Sun and knows the faith of the Holy Lake Sect to a certain extent, has become the religious consultant who usually communicates with the Holy Temple in addition to the top leaders of the Knights of Avalon.

Next is the "Avalon School of Magic" which is about to be completed. In the future, it will not only be an education and research institution for spellcasters in Avalon Castle, but also a kingdom magic court directly under the jurisdiction and support of the royal family. How to allocate the resource support given by the king needs to be distinguished from the territory resources.

However, although Leon holds the title of dean, he can imagine that the main management affairs in the future will probably have to be handed over to the director of his own think tank, Corvis.

Fortunately, Hawke and other old guards who have followed him for two years have gradually grown up and shared many of Akau's previous responsibilities in the Knights Templar. This allowed Corvis to resign from the positions of standard-bearer and heraldry officer, and he was able to have enough time and energy to devote to the cause of magic.

Next is the "Edel Dwarf Chamber of Commerce".

Now, most of the dwarf craftsmen stationed in the ancient workshop of Avalon Castle have been replaced by contemporary dwarves, with only one being a remnant of Heraen from a thousand years ago.

This actually makes no difference to Castle Avalon, whose current needs are relatively simple.

The person who is now in contact with the dwarves is Ms. Martha, the market manager who is in charge of business and market affairs.

However, after the Battle of Rolandar, King Kamoz of the Barren Mountains returned to the Dwarf Kingdom with the body of King Gorim of Steelforge. So much time has passed, and there has been no news about the situation of the realm gate. Leon really has no idea whether the ancient Heraen Gate mentioned in the ancient books of Lorelit has been successfully restarted.

You know, in that battle, he and Corvis started the magic ritual under the Great Temple according to the method recorded in ancient books. Who knows if the magic is still useful after so much time.

Leon shook his head.

Fortunately, I was so confident when facing the dwarf. I don’t know where the confidence came from at that time.

(End of this chapter)