The next morning Chris woke up to find Amelia lying next to him in a comfy bed. Their comfy bed, Chris thought to himself. Last night had been amazing. He found it difficult to believe what had happened. He found himself lying there staring at Amelia peacefully asleep.
Amelia opened her eyes and found Chris staring at her. She smiled warmly at him and stroke his cheek. "Am I so breathtaking that you can't take your eyes off me?", she said and rolled her eyes.
"Yes, yes you are and I wanted to say that I love you.", he answered and blushed.
Amelia embraced him and whispered in his ear. "I love you too, even though I am a bit sore today."
The sexual tension in the air was undeniable and Chris was already starting to get excited. He slipped out of Amelia's embrace and went to freshen up. He came back out of the bathroom after a few minutes, got dressed, and said that he would meet her downstairs.
Chris had to get out of there or he wouldn't let her leave all day. He went down and found a hall with a bountiful breakfast spread. He sat down at a table next to a window and gazed out at the lively street.
Once Chris had left, Amelia got up to prepare herself for the day. First, she spent a long time freshening up in the bathroom. She washed, brushed her hair, put on some light makeup, and put a fragrant flower in her hair, then she put on some fresh clothes that her servant had packed in Chris' backpack. It certainly was comfortable having a strong man to carry her things, she thought to herself and giggled. Of course, she didn't have extra robes and the rest of her clothes weren't particularly heavy. He really shouldn't complain and she knew that he wouldn't. He was far too sweet for that, besides he hadn't seemed at all weighed down by the backpack.
This man she had found, her man, was gentle and handsome. Strong and fiercely protective when he needed to be. He really was a gem.
Once Amelia had finished preparing herself, she went down to find Chris. She found him sitting by a window sipping some tea and gazing out into the street. "Hi dear, have you missed me?", she said with a flirtatious smile.
"Definitely, please join me for some breakfast. I haven't eaten yet as I waited for you." Chris stood up to pull out a chair for her, but she motioned him away. "No need, I can handle myself. It is faster that way too.", she said with a warm smile. Some might have interpreted her as willful and disrespectful, but Chris deeply admired Amelia for her independence.
The two of them had a lovely, quiet breakfast together. They had come down fairly late, so there weren't too many other guests in the dining hall. Through the window, they had seen that there was a lot of activity out on the streets outside. It must be because of the harvest festival.
On their way out, the receptionist stopped them. "Honored guests, have you visited the harvest festival before?"
Chris looked to Amelia and she answered, "I have, but it was a long time ago. I think many things have changed since then."
The receptionist nodded and smiled. "Then I shall tell you of the main events. If you head down the street on your right and then take a left, you will get to the Market square which will be filled with merchants for the entire festival.
If you continue past the square and continue down the street you will get to the smaller Auction square. They will hold several auctions each day. The theme of the first day is jewelry and gems. Rumors say that there will even be a few magic gems. The second day will be about arms and armor. On the third day they will be auctioning off exotic animals.
Lastly, there is the main event which will be held just outside of town. The Grand Tournament. There will be a variety of competitions for the first two days, like man-to-man combat, melee on foot, javelin throwing, archery, mounted archery, horse racing and magic duels. The third day will hold the Grand Jousting competition. Only knights or winners from some of the other competitions will be allowed to enter.
After the third and last day, a huge celebration will be held and all the inns and taverns will have special offerings and activities. Of course, the finer establishments such as ours will still be quite civil. We will hold a wine tasting and I hope to see you there."
"Thank you, we will definitely check out all the festivities.", Amelia answered.
They continued out of the inn and onto the lively streets.
"I want to check out the competitions. Since I don't have a lot of money I think that would be a good place to start.", Chris told Amelia. Amelia nodded and added, "Let's just take a quick look at the market on our way out first."
The market square was filled with merchant stalls. There were lots of food, potions, gems, jewelry, clothes, weapons and armor. It seemed like you could get almost anything here today.
Amelia was primarily checking for magic gems and some new clothes. She found the magic gems to be a bit expensive and decided to focus on finding a dress.
Chris was thinking about what type of armor he could wear on top of or underneath his robe. The robe had good magical properties and was actually easy to move around in. He noticed that a blacksmith was working on a breastplate and decided to ask him if he had some ideas. "Hi there master blacksmith, I was wondering if you had something that could work well together with the robe I have on?"
The blacksmith looked him over. "Hmm, the robe is not too long and you have tied it so that it won't constrict your movement. If you prioritize your agility I would propose some leather boots with steel shin guards. We could put a light steel breastplate and shoulder guards on top of the robe. To finish the set you could go with either leather or chainmail gloves."
Chris thought it sounded interesting, like a battle mage in games. "How much would this cost?"
"Seven silver for the leather boots and steel shin guards. Two silver for the leather gloves or five for chainmail. The breastplate and shoulder guards should be custom-made for you. I could do it for twenty-five silver." the blacksmith answers.
"Thank you, I will take the boots, shin guards and leather gloves right away. I will need to get back to you regarding the custom order." Chris replied and handed the blacksmith nine silver.
The blacksmith's apprentice helped Chris put on his new equipment. "Amelia, what do you think?"
"I can barely see any difference since the robe covers most of it." she answered with a shrug.
They decided to head to the tournament grounds now. They passed the auction along the way. A big crowd had gathered as the auctioneers were presenting an expensive looking necklace.
They continued past the square and soon passed the town gates. There were loud cheers and a clanking of swords. All the noise made it easy to find the tournament grounds.
Two heavily armored knights were figting with heavy swords in an enclosure that looked like a small paddock. A large crowd was cheering them on close to the fence. The more prominent people were seated on wooden stands around the tournament grounds.
There were three more enclosures, an archery range and a jousting field. There was also a horse racing track that started and ended at the tournament grounds, but the actual track went far beyond. The swordfight was the only ongoing competition at the moment.
After the fight ended, Chris went up to the person who had kept track of the score. "Hi, is it possible to sign up for the competitions and could you guide me to the right place?"
"Hello my good sir, anyone may enter for any of the competitions except for the joust. You will need to bring your own armor and magic is only allowed in the magic duels. There are a few general rules. You should avoid hurting your opponents more than necessary. You may yield at any time. If you lose or drop your weapon, then that is counted as a loss.
You can sign up for the competitions at the table over there with the blue banner." he said and pointed at a table below the stands on our right side.
Chris immediately went and signed up for the next swordfight. Amelia pointed out that he didn't have full armor. "Please be careful."