Chapter 13: The Tournament Begins
Chapter 13: The Tournament Begins
Lienz was bustling with activity. At least, it was today.
Taverns, weapon shops, and smithies were overflowing with people. Knights bearing various square banners and dressed in colorful attire, nobles, noblewomen, and even more numerous servants, crowded the small city.
Lothar’s party temporarily settled into an inn. Moder crouched by the fireplace, drying everyone’s clothes, which had been soaked by the continuous drizzle. Ryan had perfectly completed his mission, bringing back the lances and shields Lothar and Hans needed. He was now in the backyard, supervising the blacksmith’s assistants as they shoed the two newly acquired Hungarian horses.
Lothar held a bowl of steaming porridge, sipping it slowly. Hans was wiping down his newly acquired lance, his expression clearly a little tense. Like Lothar, he had previously only been a squire and had never truly been on a battlefield. So, although his stats indicated his skills were quite good, they hadn’t been tested, which naturally led to a lack of confidence.
The specific start time for the tournament hadn’t been announced, but when, in the afternoon, almost the entire city began to flock towards the hunting grounds outside the city walls, they naturally knew the tournament was about to begin.
The hunting grounds were for the private use of the lord. Hunting privately was a criminal act, the severity of which could vary; harsh lords might even execute commoners who poached on their lands. Many lords viewed commoners as mere livestock fit only to eat grain, believing only nobles, the meat-eaters, deserved to be called human.
Lothar’s group followed the crowd to the hunting grounds. The place was already packed. In the very center of the grounds, a wooden grandstand had been erected around the tournament field, possessing a grandeur somewhat reminiscent of an ancient imperial coliseum.
Count Leopold’s seat was at the highest point. There, from left to right, hung the eagle escutcheon of the Great Germania Empire and the red-and-white escutcheon of the Babenberg family. Tiered, wrap-around stands flanked both sides, descending from top to bottom. For the Middle Ages, when most tournament venues were still very rudimentary, this was practically equivalent to a large modern stadium capable of holding tens of thousands of people.