Tournament Placement

By the time we got food and returned to the area with the sparing rings, the B and A ranker matches had begun. Since there were a lot less of them they could both go at the same time. We started looking for where Adalgard's match was. Just passing by the matches I could tell the difference in skill level between B and A compared to each other and compared to C rank.

Another difference was that most of those that were competing had a good idea of who was stronger than them. There ended up being a few forfeits as those who knew they were at the bottom in terms of skills went up against those that were at the top of their rank.

I understood where they were coming from. Getting a good thrashing in your first match would leave you at a disadvantage for later ones that you might have a chance of winning. Though it was rather entertaining when a cocky newly advanced B ranker went up against a veteran of that rank.

When we found Adalgard her match had just begun. She wielded a large greatsword that was almost as large as her but she had the skill to pull it off. Her opponent had a warhammer and a shield. While they were both very skilled, it didn't take long for her to knock him out.

"Not too bad. What do you think your chances are of getting into the tournament?" I asked when she was done.

"Into the tournament, pretty decent. Actually going far, pretty non existent. If I do get in I'll be towards the bottom so I'll face tougher opponents early on. In terms of skill I'm on the lower end of the middle of B rankers. There are about a dozen that are just a step away from making A rank." She replied.

"I think the winners going to be either Runa of the Rainbow Blades, Buinr of the Burnished Axes, or Kaera of Hela's Vanguard." Lariss said.

"From what I heard Buinr was going to take the advancement exam for A rank the day after the festival was announced, so he's the favorite. Everyone else in his circumstances decided to compete in A rank." Adalgard said.

"Wilmaer, what's up?" Thelora had noticed that I wasn't fully paying attention.

"Maybe I'm just being paranoid from what Floriana had said. I just find it strange how organized certain Followers of the Holy Light are." I replied.

The rest of them looked over to see where I was looking. I was watching a Holy Knight leave a ring and walk over to Aspasia. She stretched out her hand and healed him.

"We'll have to keep our guard up. While it is important to be open to any threat the Elder Watchers want us to handle, we shouldn't make assumptions. We could miss the real threat that our fates have been entwined for." Adalgard said.

At that moment Aspasia finished up and seemed to sense that we were watching her. Seeing us she gave a smile and walked to join us.

"Wilmaer, Lariss. It's good to see you again." She said.

"You as well. These are our other companions, Thelora and Adalgard. Lariss and I met Aspasia in the Forest of Gosigronn. Her party was taking care of a dangerous cat-like monster." I said.

"Oh did you not stick around to help with the cleansing? Otherwise you would have also received a witch's name." Thelora said with a wicked grin.

Aspasia's mood darkened. "I heard about that. I'm sure some see it as an honor. Unfortunately we were in the forest longer than them and needed to leave or else we would have been more of a hindrance than a help."

"That's the mark of a good adventurer, knowing your limits and backing away when necessary." I made sure to give a pleasing smile and her face brightened at my compliment.

"I was just glad that the two of you made it out safely." Aspasia said.

"We were also glad you made it out." I said before getting to what I was really curious about. "I am a little surprised to see you here. Is the Church trying to establish better relations with the Grand Coven of the North?"

Her smile slipped and her response seemed to be an answer given to her for this type of question. "We came to celebrate the great heritage of the north. This festival has been going on since before the kingdom was unified."

"Of course. It's good to have solidarity with each other." I said.

"Priestess, you were assigned a place to help your fellow Followers. How can they find you if you're not there?" Behind us was Holy Knight Commander Bibiana.

"Sorry, Commander. I was only taking a moment to greet my friends here. It was good to see you again." She then hurried back the few hundred feet to where she was standing before. Bibiana had already left us.

"None of that was suspicious at all." Thelora said.

"Like I said earlier, there are other people better equipped to handle anything that they might be planning." I said.

"Just because they are better equipped, doesn't mean that they are going to be available." Adalgard said.

With fewer participants Adalgard only had three more matches. She narrowly lost one, drew the next, and lost the last. This was the first time I had seen her fight against opponents the same level as her and while she didn't do too well, she was a better fighter than those I had seen in C rank.

"A little better than I expected considering my opponents. Nanna will be taking the A rank exam in the next few months and Aghi has a decade more experience than me so I didn't expect to win against them." She said after her last fight.

By this time the sun was setting and the rings were being removed for more bonfires. This celebration was a lot tamer than the night before. Partially because some of the younger participants had learned their lesson from yesterday and partially because everyone was sore from the qualifiers.

Towards midnight Raginhard made a brief appearance. He was assigned to help take care of cleanup at night and spent most of the day sleeping. I filled him in on how we did and he wished us luck. He even had a few words of advice about a few other potential C rankers that we might fight.

Not long after, Borhildr found us.

"Where's Kay and Sundri? As a team shouldn't you all stick together?" She said.

"They had other people they wanted to see." I replied.

"No matter, I'll find them later. Overall we did really well. Sundir didn't make it into the tournament but the rest of you did. Adalgard placed 64th so she just barely made it. Lariss was 37th for the ranged competition. For the C ranked melee, Kay placed 56th, Thelora 49th, and Wilmaer 33rd." She said.

"That's really good for a D ranker. Why haven't you taken the exam yet?" Adalgard said.

"I'm not in a hurry. I just joined a few months ago." I also didn't want to lose Raginhard as my representative since we shared a spirit mark.

"Well if he does well enough in the tournament I can get the Union to advance him without a full exam." Borhildr said.

"That's not necessary. I'll take it when I'm ready." I replied.

"Once you become C rank everyone in our group will be. That will allow you all to take harder quests. You'll gain fame and coin much quicker then." She said.

I didn't reply as that wasn't going to do any good. She saw us as a meal ticket to her career within the Union and wasn't going to take no for an answer.

Thankfully Borhildr left to find the other two.

"With your skills I'm a little confused why you weren't made C rank when you entered the Union?" Adalgard asked.

"I can answer that." Vesta, with a cup in hand, walked towards us along with Fulvia and was closely followed by Kalfr. Something seemed off a bit.

"He likes people to underestimate him. It makes him seem all that more special once he shows his true talents." By the Spirits she was rather drunk.

"How'd you do Wilmaer? I got 62nd in the range qualifiers." Fulvia said.

"I made it into the tournament." I replied.

"Oh don't be so modest. He got 33rd, the best on our team." Thelora said.

"Ha, see. You're all impressed by the fact that he's a D ranked adventurer. Just be careful, he's… devious." Vesta said. Her eyes quickly went from upset to looking at me as if I was a delicious piece of meat.

"Ah Vesta got 25th for the C ranked mages and Kalfr got 6th in the C ranked melee." Fulvia was trying to keep the conversation going in a better direction.

"Oh it's nothing. In fact my uncle would be disappointed in my performance. What do you think of how I did, Wilmaer?" Vesta said.

"That's very impressive. You haven't been in the Union very long." I replied.

"You really think so?" Her eyes glistened at the compliment.

"Maybe you should call it a night? Our competitions tomorrow are going to be tough. We were actually about to head back ourselves." I made sure to give a meaningful look to Fulvia.

"Does he do this to all of you as well? Be somewhat distant only to turn around and be super caring. It's infuriatingly endearing." Vesta said. "Idiot."

Before I could respond Lariss asked. "What are you drinking? It smells so sweet."

"I don't know, he got it for me." Vesta waved her hand in Kalfr's direction.

Lariss took the cup before Vesta could react and took a sip. This was the first time I saw this much anger on her face, as she looked at the man behind them.

"Flugalanr mead. What an interesting choice." Lariss said and every other woman around me took on a similar face as they looked towards Kalfr. Fulvia had a look of confusion that said she didn't know of the side effects of that particular drink.

"Maybe it is time to head back to our camp. Vesta let me help you." Kalfr tried to step forward but Thelora stepped between them.

"We're right next to the Rainbow Blades camp. We'll take her back." Thelora said.

"That's not necessary. She's in our guild and we're responsible for her." Kalft tried to step around her and found his way blocked by Adalgard.

"I already plan to have a drinking contest with Yngvarr. I'll go look for him at your camp to schedule it." Adalgard said.

After a moment of frustration Kalfr said, "Fine. As long as she gets back safely."

He left after that and Lariss let Vesta and Fulvia know about our own experience with flugalanr mead, leaving out the exact details. Fulvia looked like she was about to pull out her bow and shoot the retreating Kalfr in the back. Vesta didn't seem to be able to process what had been said.

As we walked back, Vesta leaned against me for support. I tried to pass her off to the others but she kept pushing them away to lean on me.

"Wilmaer, you're surrounded by beautiful women. Which one of us do you think is the prettiest?" Vesta asked.