The Yves Royal Knights tourney started years ago as a way to determine the strongest knight in the kingdom. Later on, knights from other kingdoms were invited to attend and it turned into more of a friendly competition to bolster relations between the kingdoms. At least that was what King Rhysander purported to others. In truth he used the gathering to observe the other kingdoms, you could tell a lot from a nation's strongest fighters.
Rhysander shifted on his throne, tapping his fingers lightly on the throne's arm. Knights from other kingdoms had finally began to arrive a few days before the tourney actually began. The first were representatives from Shinkoku. The nation Yves had the strongest ties with. Well, the Yumekawa and Yoake regions away. The empress of the Yūgure region did not seem to like him that much. But that ultimately did not matter, she couldn't make a move against Yves without the help of the other two even if she wanted.
The two samurai were from the Yumekawa and Yoake regions, Yūgure had decided not to send a representative this year. The king smirked to himself, maybe that woman was planning something after all. He was interested to see what she came up with.
"Should we... introduce ourselves again?" The young samurai whispered to her companion. She wasn't sure the king had heard them. His piercing gaze was pointed straight at them but at the same time it was like he was looking right through them. The other samurai shrugged.
The two of them were quite young, the king observed. He sighed, he had kind of hoped that the man named Yasuo would have returned to compete. He had not been in his presence long but Rhysander could tell there was a lot more to he and his virtue than meets the eye.
"You'll have to forgive my father," Veliona blurted out, breaking the long awkward silence. "He's just a bit tired. Welcome to Yves, we hope you enjoy your time here."
The two representatives thanked her and stole one more glance at the still silent king before exiting.
"Father...," Veliona groaned. She poked his cheek. "Don't just space out like that in front of guests. Honestly, you're going to give other nations a bad impression."
"Sorry, sorry." The king smiled at her, laughing sheepishly. He ruffled her hair with his hand. She pulled away, fixing her hair. "Thank the gods I always have you to pick up the slack."
"That's not something you should talk about so proudly!" She fumed, pouting.
A knock on the doors of the throne room was followed by a messenger entering quietly. He walked up and bowed quickly. "Apologies for the interruption your majesty. But we've just received word that knights from Quelkriste will be entering the tourney.
Rhysander raised an eyebrow. Quelkriste, how curious. Yves had not had much contact with them in a while. Last he had heard of them their quasi-tyrannical king Lanthunder had wanted to assimilate Yves into his own kingdom. Rhysander had quickly put a pin in those plans though. Or maybe he hadn't. Either way, this sudden development was quite interesting.
If they did have any ulterior motives and were just using the tourney as a pretense to gather intel on Yves... then they were welcome to do so. He would observe them right back.
"Thank you for bringing this to me," the king replied. "Nothing has changed, everyone is welcome in this tourney."
The messenger was not as certain as the king was. "But... my king-..."
"Everyone." The king repeated firmly, indicating that the conversation was over. The messenger nodded quickly and left.
"Ugh, those guys again." Veliona commented, sitting down on the arm of the king's throne. "They better not ruin the tourney for everyone."
"I'm sure they won't." Rhysander assured her. "They know better than to cause a scene, especially on my home turf. That would be a fatal mistake."
He yawned, tired of sitting down. "Now then, hopefully that will be all for now. I want to take a stroll through the gardens."
Veliona tried to to stop him but before she could he had already leapt to his feet. A sharp pain flared in his back, followed by him faceplanting on the ground.
Veliona crossed her arms, sighing in disbelief. "How many times do I have to ask you not to try getting up without my help?"
The king gave her another sheepish smile as she helped him to his feet.
"Please don't do this in front of the Quelkriste knights," she berated. "They might actually gain enough confidence to try and overthrow you."
She helped her father down the steps and towards the castle gardens. "I don't care what you say anymore, I'm getting you a walking stick later."
"But they make me look old!" The king whined.
"You are old!"
x
"Did you hear?"
Aldrich's head perked up. He was currently sitting on one of the windowsills in the Order of the Rose. He spotted the knight who had just spoken, conversing with a friend a few meters down the hall. Had something happened?
"Apparently Quelkriste is taking part in the tourney this year." The random knight told his companion.
"For real?" They replied. "I thought we weren't on good terms with them."
The knight shrugged. "If the king is sure of his decision then we should be too."
The two knights began to walk away down the hall. "Besides, it's been so long since we had any real action." The knight commented, elbowing his friend. The friend chuckled, elbowing him back.
Aldrich dropped down from the sill onto his feet. He had heard about Quelkriste and its king before then. Van Salvatorre had mentioned it briefly as well back in Yumekawa, but he doubted that man had anything to do with this.
Whatever the case, the knights from Quelkriste were bound to be formidable opponents even for virtued knights. The thought made him nervous, but also a little bit excited. He fidgeted with his relic. Just like Veliona suggested, he had tried to start using it more creatively. He wasn't quite on her level of weapons mastery but... it was a start.
He had nothing to do in the Order so he decided to head home early. Aeris could use some company maybe. His little sister could take care of herself quite well but he still liked to go home and stay with her whenever he could.
He was almost out the doors when he heard his name shouted from behind him. He knew that voice anywhere. It was his father's.
He turned to find sir Alastair walking towards him with urgency in his step. He didn't stop when he reached him and instead patted his shoulder twice as he walked past, beckoning him to follow. "Glad I caught you before you disappeared to who knows what like you have these past weeks."
Aldrich stayed silent about his training. He wondered what this was about.
Alastair talked as they walked down the city streets. "The representatives from Warbrühm will arrive soon, and apparently their prince has decided to represent them. Well, one of their princes. Anyway, the king has entrusted us with welcoming the prince and his right hand to the kingdom personally and then overseeing their stay here."
Well isn't this just great, Aldrich thought to himself. He stole a glance at his father's ever stoic face as they made their way towards the stables. Was this just his way of getting Aldrich to focus on something other than participating in the tourney himself. He shook the thought out of his head, he was probably reading too much into it.
In fact, it was a great honour to be chosen to welcome royalty. He quickly checked his clothing and messed with his hair a little, he really did not want to give a first bad impression. Alastair saw his attempts and looked him over quickly. With a quick brush of his hand, he pushed a strand of hair off Aldrich's face.
"There," He said, before turning his back on him and checking on his horse. "It will have to do for such short notice. Quickly now, let us away."