Reincarnated as the fourth son of a noble and tamed an SS-rank dragon-Chapter 61: The Tournament has Started

Even though the King forbade the information to be divulged, some people knew what was going on, but they kept quiet and decided to just live their lives without getting involved.

These people were called for the mission, but they refused.

The Capital’s arena was packed, in one area were Darius, Kaly, the adventurers, the other employees, the slave girls, and Darius’ family. This area was commonly used by the King for the annual tournament.

A woman with an eye patch entered, it was Cassandra, a mage who worked for Lucian, she was the captain of the army, the former captains had left and she took over.

The judges were Kaly, the adventurers, and Cassandra. Lucian didn’t want to give his opinion, he said he preferred people with more experience to choose.

The competitors who stood out in some way would be chosen by them for the army, and the top four in each category would already have a job and prizes.

The first fight would be between two mages, one was tall and apparently weak, he used a large staff that looked like he was making a lot of effort to carry, and his face looked like he hadn’t slept for a few days. His opponent was the opposite, the mage was muscular and looked like he was in the wrong category, his arms were showing and you could see the big muscles, he was dressed like a barbarian, anyone looking from the outside would think they were looking at a wrestler, or a worker who carried a lot of weight during the day. A mage was the last thing anyone would think of.

Kaly was narrating the match, she introduced the two, the first came from the Military Empire and the second came from the Holy Country of Draven, people thought that the origin of each was switched, no one would have expected someone so weak to come from the Military Empire. The muscular man seemed to be more the Empire’s type.

When the fight began, the muscular man cast several fire spells, shaping the flames to be balls at first and arrows at the end. The weak man moved very quickly, he dodged all the balls and wasn’t hit.

The movement showed that his appearance had been created on purpose so that he could gain an advantage by having someone less concerned about his strength, the movements were precise and he didn’t attack, he just kept moving and dodging.

After a few minutes he threw up his staff, which floated in the air, the weak man removed his hood and made his body covered in water magic. The two of them were demonstrating their skills, as they wanted to increase their chances of being called up, in case neither of them made it to the first round.

The strong man changed the magic, he started throwing small spears of ice, at first glance they looked like arrows, but they were shaped like spears.

The weak man was no longer moving to avoid the blows, the water was acting as a shield, the strong man watched as the spears were destroyed, but the water was left with chunks of ice, he could freeze the shield.

The strong man took out a wand that was in a holder on his belt, he used the wand to amplify the spells and threw hundreds of spears, he repeated this several times at an astonishing speed, the weak man was covered in ice.

The strong man began to laugh at the situation. But he was hit from behind with wind magic and was thrown against the wall, he started spitting blood, the mages appeared and used healing magic and offered healing potion.

While the strong man was casting the spells, the weak man left the water magic activated and came out of the shield so fast that he wasn’t noticed, when the strong man celebrated, he cast wind magic from a short distance that was impossible to avoid.

"He’s talented but dumb. He shouldn’t have celebrated without first checking if that man really was inside that ice cocoon," Cassandra said as she ate a cookie on the table.

"It was easy to see him moving, maybe he’s just never fought someone so fast, that might partly explain why he underestimated that man. But, let’s be honest, everyone here underestimated him, his appearance seems to have been created so that weak people think they can win, even some stronger ones, so it creates a small feeling of victory."

"I agree, but I don’t know if it would be wise to consider him for the army," said Zai.

"For what reason?"

"I agree that he’s strong, and can cast a lot of spells at once, but he seems disconnected. I’ve fought fast monsters, some of which moved without me even knowing where they went. In that case, I wouldn’t let my guard down until I’d managed to escape or kill them. He knew that other man was fast and yet he didn’t consider that he might have run away."

Everyone agreed, as adventurers they had seen a lot, they knew they could never underestimate their opponents, even when they managed to get the upper hand, there was always a way to lose.

The second fight would be between spearmen. The tournament wasn’t just following one category at a time, they were mixing it up to avoid the people watching getting tired.

Kaly barely introduced the two competitors and the red-haired man used his spear to send his opponent flying.

"What a dull fight, I don’t know if the one who flew away was too weak, or if the one who threw was too strong. I can’t give my opinion," Cassandra continued eating.

Orphelia and Amanda stared at Cassandra, they were envious because Cassandra had a statuesque body and ate non-stop, they couldn’t maintain their weight without making some sacrifices with food.

Everyone agreed that they couldn’t give their opinions based on what they had just seen.

The third competition would be the only one for archers; they would be chosen on the basis of their aiming skills.

The sixteen competitors entered, and they stood facing a target, it was 40 feet away. Kaly introduced everyone, then she started the competition.

"Aren’t they too close?" Lucian asked.

"Wait a minute."

The targets started moving, they had a pattern and little by little the archers realized it, they all hit, so they all went to the second phase.

They walked back about 20 feet and when Kaly said they could start, the targets moved, but in a different pattern.

The competition involved them figuring out the pattern and getting it right based on time because it wasn’t enough just to know how the targets moved, they had to get it right.

The first one hit the target and gradually the others got it right.

"Now take three steps backward, at this point, you will be scored, and we will eliminate the person with the lowest score at the end. So try to hit it closer to the center. If you miss you just won’t score, but try not to miss," Kaly said while Lucian kept trying to understand.

"What’s the point of eliminating so far?"

"If they couldn’t hit these targets at this distance, they’d be useless now that the competition really starts."

The target moved in the same pattern, but it was faster and would be harder to hit. But they all hit it, some just around the center.

When the last one hit it, a screen appeared, showing all the competitors’ scores.

The center was worth 100 points, each ring around the circle was worth 10 points less as they got further apart. The first ring was worth 90, the second 80 and so on until the ring worth 30 points.

The explanation had already been given to them before the competition, so they knew that at some point they would be scored.

At each new stage, they walked three steps backward and tried to hit the target, until the sixth stage the target didn’t get any faster, it just moved in a different pattern. But in the seventh stage the rules changed, they got too far away, it was about 300 feet from the target, now each score would be worth double and the best would be decided.

"Choosing the people who stood out in this competition will be easier, the system itself chooses the score, so I can consider them the best," Cassandra said as she sipped her tea.

Her hunger didn’t seem to end, Orphelia and Amanda kept looking at her.

The archers were more nervous, the competition involved a bit of that, since they were going to the battlefield, the nervousness was created when the screen with the scores disappeared, they had to rely on the hits and no longer observe and know what their score was.

The archers began to make mistakes, the targets were moving faster and the errors were piling up. The audience was quieter in this competition, as they didn’t want to hurt the competitors. Skill with the bow also depends on concentration.

Kaly didn’t like the silence, because if the adventurers couldn’t keep their concentration, then they wouldn’t be any good in the army.