Work Text:
The light of the midday sun shone through the windows of the Cavalry Commander’s office, and the room's occupants were at their usual spots.
The Commander was reading a report for a recent mission, and his trusted assistant was going through all the letters that had arrived. His Commander’s aide kept supplying him with cakes and confectionery, under his lord's order.
As Yuder went through the letters, one stood out. It was heavily decorated, even more than those of nobles, and held an insignia Yuder hadn’t seen before.
Sensing his lover’s confusion, Kishiar turned to look at him, his eyes showing recognition when they landed on the peculiar letter.
“Commander?”
“Ah, it seems it’s that time again. This appears to be an official invitation for the Cavalry to send a representative to the Crown Tournament.”
Yuder remembered hearing about it in the first game. The Crown Tournament takes place every five years, and only noble families and knights with an invitation can partake.
But the Cavalry had never received an invitation to it before, which made this heavily decorated letter all the more peculiar.
Skimming through the contents of the letter, Kishiar seemed to have come to a conclusion.
“Even though it says ‘representative’, they obviously want you to partake. They even mention the noble status of the tournament.” Kishiar held out the letter for Yuder to read,
Dear Duke of Paletta,
You are hereby invited to send a representative to partake in the upcoming Crown Tournament. As I am sure you are aware, our Empire has long hosted this noble event to celebrate our realm’s finest exemplars of skill and honor. Even though the Cavalry has a long road ahead of it, we present you with the opportunity to partake. We feel it is only fair to note that this year, the use of Awakener powers has been expressly forbidden, to ensure a contest of pure, unadulterated skill. We hope this does not discourage your participation. The tournament will take place in two weeks' time. You will find more information on the next page.
“Not even acknowledging your commander status… it appears to be an attempt to diminish our achievements by claiming it was only due to our Awakener powers and luck.” Yuder gave the letter back to his Commander, not bothering to read the second page with the details, and asked, “How shall we respond, Commander?”
“If they want to hand us over the win so badly, why should we refuse? What does my handsome assistant think?” Said Kishiar, leaving the letter discarded on the desk and guiding Yuder to sit in his lap.
Of course, Yuder had his answer ready before his lover even asked, “I’ll be ready to depart in two weeks.”
.
.
.
The days leading up to the competition were mostly normal for Yuder, save for the fact that his fellow Cavalrymen found out about his participation in the contest and were arguing about who would take leave to watch him.
He didn’t really understand why they wanted to see the tournament so badly, but both Gakane and Kanna had excitedly said that they’d make sure to be there.
So, the days passed, and when the day of the tournament arrived, he met with Kishiar in front of the Cavalry building and took the carriage that would take them to the tournament.
Yuder was happy that he could partake in his Cavalry uniform and didn’t need to wear some sort of inconvenient armor to look better in front of the spectators—he was even encouraged to in order to look worse, by the nobles.
Along with his uniform he wore their newest device for suppressing Awakener power. Although he could still break it easily, he had been warned that doing so would get him disqualified.
Kishiar was sitting at his side, holding his hand, when he swiftly moved to sit in front of him and took something out of his pocket.
“Usually, it’s the competitor that asks his lover to fight for their honor, but since when did we follow tradition?” Kishiar gave Yuder a handkerchief. A beautifully crafted piece of cloth, embroidered with the Cavalry insignia, and underneath it, Yuder and Kishiar’s names in his lover's handwriting.
“Would you do me the honor of carrying my favor in the competition?”
Yuder quietly took the handkerchief in his hands. He knew vaguely of the tradition, knights entering battle carrying a token given by their lover, to think of them while they fight.
It was a bestowment of love.
He quietly tied it to the sleeve of his uniform, before turning back to his lover.
“Thank you…I will make sure to keep it safe.”
.
.
.
After they reached the location of the competition, Yuder had to separate from Kishiar and join the rest of the competitors, but not before sharing a quick kiss and wishing him good luck.
Yuder was instructed to go, with his sword into a room that had a connected door to the tournament lists.
He had taken a quick look at the bracket, but it didn’t matter anyway since everyone here was a carpet knight, with a big ego.
Something that was confirmed when he entered the waiting room, which was filled with shining armors whose weight Yuder could feel just from looking at them.
Any conversations that may have been happening in the room quickly quiet down the moment the Cavalryman walked in, until a laugh was heard from his right.
“I guess they are letting just about anyone partake.” Yuder didn’t recognize the man, but he did notice that his armor appeared to, somehow, be even more extravagant than the rest, so he was probably another noble’s son who had been told since he was a kid that he had a talent for the sword.
“They may as well give me the win right now! You dare walk here wearing that uniform, don’t you know your parlor tricks are banned? If you drop out now, you can save yourself the humiliation.”
Ah, so that was his first opponent, Sir. Amauri. His words weren’t something he hadn’t heard before, he knew his best choice was to ignore him. Still, seeing that idiot run his mouth gave the rest of the room the courage to test their luck,
“Probably doesn’t have anything else to wear, I heard that Duke Paletta played around with him and dressed him up, but it seems he finally got bored with the commoner born ‘Baron’”
“Knowing him, he probably already moved on to a new toy.” Replied Amauri, “Maybe he will keep him around to warm his bed, I hear that’s what Omega awakeners do best-” Before anyone in the room could react, a sword was thrown and got buried in the wall next to him.
Everyone stopped talking at once. Sir Amauri’s face drained of its color as Yuder calmly went to pick up his sword.
He didn’t bother saying anything, as much as he wanted to leave them bruised and battered, he wanted to not get disqualified even more. He could feel Kishiar’s excitement from the moment he reached the spectator seats, and that moment couldn't be ruined.
Of course, that didn’t mean he would let the people who insulted his Commander—and lover—get away with this. As long as he didn’t kill them when the match started, there shouldn’t be an issue.
As he was walking away from the still frozen knights, he could feel Kishiar’s concern, he had probably felt his negative emotion and was worried. So he calmed down and let Kishiar know he was fine.
He focused on the connection with his lover as he waited for all the contestants to gather and the tournament to finally start.
.
.
.
Yuder followed his designated guide toward the lists. The man walked quickly, clearly disappointed that he was assigned to him, but Yuder ignored his impatience and stepped forward on his own the moment the entrance opened.
The tourney grounds were enormous. Commoners were pressed against the railings of the lower ring, standing shoulder to shoulder, while nobles occupied the elevated seats above them. Yuder spotted several of the Cavalry members among the commoners, Enon included, waving and cheering loudly the moment they saw him.
At the very top, a glamorous balcony reserved for the Imperial family, though it was empty today with Kachian unable to partake in public events for the time being and Keilusa still pretending to be ill, Faria also staying behind on the grounds that she didn’t want to leave the Emperor's side.
(Not that it stopped Keilusa from looking in using his abilities, and giving Faria a play-by-play)
But Yuder’s eyes couldn’t help but immediately locate Kishiar, it was almost impossible not to. His lover was standing along with a handful of noble women, all looking worried.
Though from their connection, Yuder could tell that instead of being worried, Kishiar was having fun.
He couldn’t hear the whole conversation from where he walked toward the center, but as he passed closer, a loud, dramatically sorrowful voice carried perfectly to him.
“My beloved enters the ring of peril!” Kishiar proclaimed, acting as if he were about to pass out.
Yuder momentarily wondered how anyone could buy that a swordmaster is acting like this, but it seems to resonate with the noble women who are also worried for their lovers.
“I understand Duke Paletta. How I wish my darling comes out unscratched,” Said one of the noble women.
The rest also joined, expressing their concern for the knights carrying their favors.
They seem to have also forgotten that the Duke was talking about his male, commoner-born lover.
“The match is starting soon! Are there at least enough priests to heal my beloved?!” Said Kishiar, who had enough divine power to heal any wound Yuder could sustain.
(Of course, Yuder wouldn’t let him use his abilities for something like this)
Yuder couldn’t help but pause for a moment as he heard his lover's theatrics, but he had a tournament to get over with, so he made his way to the center of the lists, caming face-to-face with his first opponent.
The noble from the waiting room seemed to have gotten over his earlier fright and was shouting about teaching him a lesson.
A trumpet was heard signaling the start of the match and Yuder wasted no time drawing his sword and dashing towards his opponent.
Before Amauri could even get the chance to get into a defensive stance, Yuder sliced his sword across the noble's hand, breaking his grip.
He, surprisingly, managed not to drop his weapon entirely, though his hold was now weak. As Yuder continued to relentlessly attack, he could do nothing to properly defend himself but stumble his way out of dangerous swings.
And though Yuder could have ended the match within seconds of starting, he didn’t.
Even if Yuder’s face was as emotionless as ever, he wouldn’t let the person who insulted his Commander get away with a quick win. Though he was no swordmaster, he was more than capable of playing with this carpet knight until he was satisfied.
Amauri had ended up a bloody mess of cuts, painful but shallow enough to keep him fighting. He was not allowed a moment to concede. He didn’t have the luxury of thinking about it. The moment he didn’t think about defending, the demon of the Cavalry would have his head.
By the time his opponent finally collapsed, half the crowd was cheering for his victory, while the other half was stuck looking at the humiliated mess their fellow nobleman had become.
Yuder calmly sheathed his sword and made his way back to the waiting room.
.
.
.
The next few battles were much the same, Yuder made sure that had his enemy been one of the knights who insulted his Commander, they would have no easy loss. No matter how much they wanted to give up the match before it started, they represented some of the most prestigious families in Orr, so forfeiting the match would be catastrophic for their reputation.
By that point, Kishiar had left the noble women—who were now praying that their lovers wouldn’t have to fight him—and had joined the rest of the Cavalry members to cheer him on.
The tournament went by quick, since it was tradition to have all the matches in one day. By the time the finals rolled around, the sky had just started to turn red.
Yuder was sat alone in the waiting room. Thanks to the incident before the first fight, he was not allowed a sword outside of the lists.
It didn’t matter to him, just the sheath that his lover had gifted him was enough to win him the tournament. Something that, expectedly, several people disliked.
Even more evident by the fact that he could sense a presence watching him for a while. He was pretending to not notice as he leisurely waited for them to do the first move.
When the trumpet was heard again, the door burst open and four hooded figures rushed in. Since Yuder was expecting and easily used the sheath to block the first sword swing and dodged to the side as a second one tried to attack him.
He rolled to a desk, flipping it to block throwing knives from the other two. Five blades buried themselves into the wood. The sound of the crowed excitedly shouting for the ongoing third place match drowned out any sound of fighting.
‘I could cage them into the ground, but if I break the device now, they can use it as an excuse to disqualify me’ He quickly scanned the room, the hooded men didn’t seem to aim to kill him but hurt him enough to make him forfeit the tournament.
After confirming everyone’s location, he kicked the table to their direction, concealing his moments. He immediately moved to hit the one closest to him and hit the back of his head with the sword sheath. The man dropped without a sound.
“I though you said he’d be defenseless!” Shouted one of the knife throwers. His eyes flickering to the swordman, that appeared to be the leader.
The swordman dodged the table and rushed to Yuder with his sword while hissing “Shut up and keep attacking him!”
The short-sword wielder scrambled to attack Yuder from the left, while the second knife thrower continued launching blades, forcing Yuder to move constantly.
But Yuder wasn’t an opponent they could handle.
He sidestepped a swing at the last moment, causing the leader to stumble forward, accidentally staggering the short-sword attacker as well. Using the opportunity he swiftly took out the underling first, before moving to the leader. The knife thrower kept trying to hit him through the chaos but only managed a single shallow scratch at his cheek, that was barely visible.
“That should be enough, let’s get out of here-” The leader didn’t get to finish his sentence as Yuder knocked him out as well, making his way to the final man standing.
“How?! The paralysis poison should have already taken effect!” Without Yuder doing anything the man was already at his knees.
Yuder was more worried about explaining the scratch to Kishiar and Enon, rather than about a poison that was obviously not made using monster byproducts.
He swiftly knocked out the last of the assailants.
.
.
.
No one arrived at the waiting room until the last minute, finding the surprising sight of four men tied up together using their cloths and the rooms occupant leisurely waiting for his fight.
The attendant, expecting to see the Baron in wounded state, could just stand there watching in shock as Yuder walked past him and towards the lists.
His final battle wasn’t much different from the rest. His opponent was a bit stronger than the others, but with a swift move, faster than the knight could react, Yuder swept the man’s legs out from under him, and placed his sword at his throat, ending the match in an instant.
The crowed was cheering for his win, but Yuder was more worried by the fact that he could see both his brother and lover leaving the stands. Not to mention he could feel Kishiar’s worry, likely about the scratch.
Yuder untied his lover's favor from his sleeve and held it as he accepted his fate and prepared himself for his brother's scolding.