It’s not entirely clear where the history of tournament competitions began, but most of the rules were established in France. Both the individual joust and the team melee were French terms.

The specific competition formats differ from country to country and region to region, but it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the overall framework is French.

The Beren people hated France with a passion, yet because French culture was mainstream in Europe, it had infiltrated every corner of daily life whether they realized it or not. The fact that Latin and French served as the official languages alone made it impossible to deny that French culture set the trend.

And it’s the Germans who go wild for these French-style tournaments.

The War Minister’s family was a traditional powerhouse with a particularly strong showing in team competitions. With Michael and Viscount Loewenbert, both defensive specialists, serving as the anvil, my father-in-law—whose specialty was breaking through enemy lines as a powerful vanguard—acted as the hammer.

Their roles were so clearly defined that the hammer-and-anvil tactic worked beautifully for them, but my father-in-law had gotten injured, of all things, which meant he couldn’t participate in the team competition. To make matters worse, the bracket draw was the worst possible.

Michael had asked me for help because he had no other choice.

After all that brutal back-and-forth in the individual competition, jumping straight into the team competition would be borderline abuse. On top of that, I had just promised Hilda I wouldn’t push myself.

Break the promise again?

I didn’t want to be a liar.

[Tournament Team Competition Quest]

[Lead the War Minister’s family to victory]

[Reward - 1,500 points, 15 silver coins (hazard pay)]

[Family Prestige 100 points]

[Danger Rating ★☆☆☆☆]

But that was when the quest popped up.

And it was a quest with a relatively hefty reward of 1,500 points.

To be honest, I couldn’t help being tempted. Setting aside war, there weren’t many quests that let you earn four-digit points in one go. Training quests existed, but by their nature they took a long time.

Normally I’d just be slowly piling up points through repetitive quests, so when else would I get to rake in four-digit points all at once? Winning the individual competition had netted me 1,000 points, putting me at 8,500. If I could grab another 1,500, I’d hit a clean 10,000.

So of course I had to mull it over.

"Brother-in-law, it’s time to show those northern hicks the dignity of the War Minister’s family and the Streits! So, like a man! Huh? Let’s sweep the team competition!"

You call that persuasion? Michael, who had been cursing his bracket luck, kept hammering away at me with arguments that weren’t landing at all. But that wasn’t what was making me waver.

So the first thing I did was check Hilda’s reaction.

"Be honest with me. Do you want to compete?"

I had expected her to oppose it strongly, but surprisingly Hilda asked about my wishes first. Honestly, I thought I was about to get smacked across the back. The fierce glint in her eyes had softened a little.

"My brother-in-law is begging me to join with that much passion. I can’t exactly refuse."

My brother-in-law was the excuse. Obviously it was about the points.

The lure of 1,500 points was just too strong.

Hilda started by checking my body’s condition. And how did she check? By feeling me up all over. For a moment it gave me a strange flutter, but the intensity of Hilda’s serious expression killed any lustful thoughts on the spot.

Thanks to the painkillers, I barely felt any pain. The medicine was working better than expected. Once Hilda confirmed my body was in surprisingly good shape, she let out a sigh.

"Even if I tried to stop you, you’d just sneak in anyway, wouldn’t you."

She looked at me the way you’d look at a troublemaking little brother.

Then again, Hilda was older than me.

"Promise me you’ll only join from the third round. The third round starts three days from now, so you’ll have plenty of time to rest. Don’t do anything—just rest. I’ll turn away every visitor too."

Truly, Hilda was the only one who worried about me this much.

And it was a perfectly reasonable request. The points were tempting, sure, but I didn’t want to chase them at the cost of ignoring Hilda’s wishes. Since she had compromised, it was only right that I did too.

There’s a saying that peace between husband and wife is built on compromise.

If the War Minister’s family lost before then, the whole thing would be moot, but that was up to Michael’s effort.

"Nothing to be done, then. The Viscount and I will just have to manage somehow."

Michael was disappointed, but he respected our decision.

I was glad he didn’t dig his heels in.

"With you and the Viscount, you should have no trouble beating Offenburg."

"Of course. Even without Father and my brother-in-law, I’ll show those northerners exactly what real command looks like. Watch closely."

Michael was burning with fighting spirit at the thought of facing Offenburg.

Most of the regional lords had bickered about handing over command to the War Minister’s family but cooperated in the end, while Offenburg often outright ignored them. So naturally there was no love lost between the two sides.

Surprisingly, Offenburg seemed friendly toward me. Whether they viewed me as separate from the War Minister’s family was something I’d have to wait and see. Speaking of which, my father-in-law hadn’t been around for a while. When I asked, it turned out the Grand Council had convened and he had gone to the royal castle. Since his injury kept him out of the team competition anyway, he seemed to be focusing on the council instead.

I couldn’t tell exactly what was on the agenda, but I was able to confirm that the founding of the knightly order I’d be commanding was one of the items. The central question was probably personnel authority over the order. Since authority over an armed organization separate from the War Minister’s family was a card no one would willingly surrender, the ministers were likely going to clash hard over it.

Naturally, what I wanted was sole personnel authority in my own hands.

Since there was nothing I could do about the Grand Council, all I could do was wait for my father-in-law to return with satisfactory results.

The next day, I went back to the arena to watch the tournament team competition.

It looked like an even bigger crowd had turned out than for the individual competition. The arena was supposed to hold 1,000 people. Surely there weren’t more than that crammed in? Hilda and I settled into a seat with a good view to watch.

The second round’s first match began, with Fiel leading the Steinhof knights against the Terese freelancers, minus Wilhelm. Even without their leader, the freelancers were tournament heavyweights at their core.

Wilhelm had planned to compete in the team event too, but in the end he couldn’t overcome his injury and had to sit out. For a man who had been planning to retire after this tournament, it was a bitter outcome.

It seemed I had unintentionally ruined his retirement match.

Thanks to Wilhelm’s absence, the Steinhof family’s odds had improved.

"I bet on Steinhof. Who’d you put your money on, brother-in-law?"

Michael had quietly slipped in beside me at some point.

But did he have to bring up gambling right next to Hilda?

"I only bet on the War Minister’s family to win it all."

"Of course I bet on that too, but the fun is in betting round by round."

"Not interested. I’d rather donate the money than throw it away on gambling."

Unless I could spot a sure thing, I had no intention of gambling for fun like Michael. I had only put down 10 silver coins on the War Minister’s family to win as a matter of courtesy. Hilda had said that much was fine.

"Bereit!"

At the chief referee’s call, we cut off our conversation and focused on the match.

"Anfang!"

The first match of the team melee’s second round began.

Thirty mounted riders from both sides charged out at once, drawing gasps from the crowd. They’d faint dead away if they ever saw hundreds of cavalry clashing across a real battlefield like a tidal wave. For citizens living safely in Breisburg, watching cavalry fight was probably just good entertainment.

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!

The Steinhof knights led with their lances and attacked the Terese freelancers, but the scattered freelancers didn’t take much of a hit. It became a contest between a side that stuck together and a side that spread out to lure opponents into isolated fights.

I had thought Steinhof would win easily by picking the freelancers off one by one, but the freelancers were surprisingly adept at evading and drawing the knights into individual duels, gradually unhorsing the Steinhof knights one at a time.

As time wore on, however, the freelancers couldn’t overcome the absence of a commander as exceptional as Wilhelm. They dropped two rounds in a row, and as expected, the Steinhof family advanced to the finals.

But the moment the Terese team’s defeat was sealed, Michael let out a sudden anguished cry.

"No! You damn fools! You weren’t supposed to lose!"

"What’s gotten into you? You said you bet on Steinhof."

"Damn it. I actually bet on Terese. I was hoping for an upset!"

"..."

"Both of you, stop looking at me like that."

Michael snapped under our stares, but having just witnessed an act of indescribable stupidity right in front of me, I was simply at a loss for words.