Chapter 62: First match

A/N: Hey guys,

Thanks for everyone's support. We finally reached 50 pàtreons.

As promised, I will upload five chapters today.

Here's the third one.

Thanks to everyone who supported me.

You could read up to 15 more advanced chapters on my pàtreon.

https://www.pàtreon.com/Gnanaa

For the next mass release, if we reach 65 pàtreons, I will upload 8 more chapters.

Enjoy.

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The melee competition would be on the fourth day of the tournament. Edward would have to face Arthur Dayne, Barristan Selmy, three of his commanders, Edward's brother, Robert, and other participants.

Yeah, it was going to be a tough one, but Edward did not care. On the contrary, Edward found it a chance to show everyone his strength.

Edward was now preparing for his first match in the joust. Edward was going to face a knight of House Frey.

As Edward was wearing his armor and preparing for the match, he could hear the sound of cheering from the ring outside. It seemed that Rhaegar unhorsed his opponent and that cheering was for him.

'Enjoy it as much as you can. Today, your face will kiss the ground after I am done with you. I won't forget to use my full strength to make you fly.' Thought Edward after hearing all that cheering.

Minutes later, It was finally Edward's turn. When he entered the field, The sound of the people's cheering was so loud that it could turn people deaf. The cheers were even much louder than what prince Rhaegar had received. Of course, that was for multiple reasons. The most important one was that most of the Smallfolks were from Stormsland. And after Edward changed Stormsland and made the place more comfortable for people to live in, his reputation was multiple times that of Rhaegar.

Edward was wearing his new designated armor. The armor was mostly black with yellow marks near the shoulder. Edward's new sigil was on the armor's chest.

Edward did not wait long and caught the lance at once. He waited for his opponent to be ready. Two minutes later, it was finally the time to start.

It was Edward's first time to partake in a tourney, so many did not think he would win. Edward did not find a good reason for him to participate in any tournament. He did not want to show his strength so that people could underestimate him. He thought of the tourneys as a way to waste money and time, but since his men liked to participate in them, Edward did not prevent them and let them do what they wanted.

Not participating in any tournament did not mean that Edward was weak or he was going to lose. On the contrary, Edward had practiced a lot with his men, and no one could beat him. Yeah, this sport required some techniques and strength, and Edward had both. He had spent the past two months training seriously to beat Rhaegar.

Edward held his lance high enough while letting his horse do the job. Before his opponent's lance could touch him, Edward avoided a little before thrusting with his lance at the Frey's knight, unhorsing him at once with some injuries.

The people around went quiet for a moment before exclaiming out loud that the entire jousting area was vibrating. Edward smiled victoriously while waving to the people who were shouting. "The Mighty Stag." as loud as they could. Edward then walked to the waiting area. It was the only match for that day. He would have to wait for the next day to have his second match.

After taking off his armor, Edward visited the other fields to check on his men. The archery competition was held on the first day, and some of Edward's men decided to participate in the archery category. Edward decided against it as he wanted to hide some of his cards. He did not use a bow in public to hide the fact that he was also an excellent archer.

Edward visited the archery field when he found that the competition was about to reach its end. From the eight commanders under Edward, Robin Hood, and the dead, William Arc, were the best archers. They were even better than him. Edward had to admit that he was jealous of these two men, at first, but he had already changed this mentality of his. He just trained himself to become better than them.

They were amazing archers that could use the bow as if it was a part of their body. It was a great loss for Edward when William Arc died in the assassination. That was the reason why Edward could not forgive Tywin. Plus, if he made peace with Tywin, his promise to his men would be for nothing, and Edward did not want to break his promise that he made to his men.

Edward could see Robin Hood on the field while using his bow to fire multiple shots in the sky. The arrows were swaying at the sky's wind, and the crowd was following the arrows with their eyes. The first one hit the bull's eye, followed by the second penetrating the middle of the first one; then the third penetrated the second.

The crowd did not wait long, and at once, the clapping and cheering covered the archery field. Edward could not help himself as he started clapping as well. He had to admit that he still had a long way before he could beat Robin. That was one of the reasons why he decided not to participate, as he knew he could not win against his deputy.

Robin was smiling while greeting the crowd. This was Robin's day to shine as Edward did not allow his men to show their proficiency in Archery and spears before. It was a way to hide their strength, so all of them agreed.

While Robin was going to receive his reward, he took notice of Edward, who was still clapping for him. Robin was touched and bowed his head a little as a way to thank his lord for supporting him.

The day went like this. Everyone could see the success of this tourney from just the first day. After reviewing the finance report, Edward could see that he would retrieve everything he had spent in the previous two months during the remaining ten days.

After checking the results of the first day, Edward was surprised that he would face Ser Ronald Connington, the one Jon Connington would appoint as the castellan of Griffen's Roost when Jon went after Rhaegar.

Edward decided to kill Ronald in the next match. It would serve as a lesson to house Connington. Yeah, this was going to be the first retaliation of Edward against that cunt, Jon. Edward did not care about the consequences as this was a fair competition, and anything could happen.

After having this thought, Edward went to sleep. He had to be prepared for the next day.