Last Charge

The young prince Edward of the Cantiaci Kingdom was the third son of the current Cantiaci ruler.

From a young age, the prince had proved he was much smarter, much more talented in fighting and much more suitable to rule compared to his two older brothers. However, he was born in a monarchy and the circumstances of his birth ensured he would never even have the chance for a future as a ruler.

However, one thing he had that his older brothers didn't was the favor of the queen. His mother did everything she could to open up a way for him to rule. That was, by giving him the chance to rule another kingdom. The prosperous neighboring kingdom without a prince.

Not only was the Lioness Kingdom a promise of territory to rule for him, it was also a promise of a beautiful princess as his future queen. For those, the black prince had long set his eyes upon the throne.

He tried everything to reach the spotlight, from gifting small trinkets to the princess, befriending her, getting to know more about her and so on. The tournament two years ago had bolstered his confidence and now that the princess had come of age, he planned to use the cavalry tournament as a stage to finalize his plan.

He put the princess in a tough spot in the disguise of trying to present honor to her.

To his surprise, the seemingly-timid princess was bold enough to dare reject him in front of the audience and the royals. That was enough to make his blood boil and now, a nameless squire from Lioness Kingdom dared to mock him. Of course, he would not let this go.

The duel tradition done by the knights was something that had existed for as long as the order itself. Now, all he needed was the knight commander's permission to hold such a challenge on this occasion.

On one hand, it was inappropriate to permit such a personal duel in an officially sponsored yearly tournament. However, the declaration had reached the audience' ears and drove them wild with excitement, forcing the commander to accept.

Thanks to what transpired today, the crowd wanted to see a performance from the nameless yet powerful squire against a champion. The fact that said champion was also a prince didn't even cross their mind.

The knight commander ended up giving his permission.

The black prince smiled. He was so excited to show the ungrateful princess a lesson.

The prince and the squire stood on opposite sides of each other. From where he stood, the prince could see the foolish squire standing on the opposite side.

The trumpet was sounded and the prince kicked his horse. The horse galloped fast, scattering dust into the air, ready to hit his opponent.

The prince was a veteran rider and he could see from afar how Emery showed many openings in his charge.

He smiled. Today, he would prove his might to the ungrateful princess. "Fools!"

The prince's posture was perfect, his aim was true. No matter how he saw it, his lance would hit the squire first.

Brackkk!

To his shock, the next thing Edward saw was the blue skies above. He was thrown off his horse and his back hit the ground.

No matter how much he tried to deny it, to rationalize his defeat, no answer came. He was speechless beyond words, for he was sure his lance would hit the inexperienced yet somehow lucky squire first.

The crowd was cheering even louder than before. The nameless squire's name echoed all over the arena. Everyone was singing their praise for the undefeated contestant.

The still shocked prince climbed up back to his horse in disbelief, before he pulled the reins, letting the horse trot back to his aide.

Edward could not believe what happened. There was only one reason he could think of for his defeat.

"He must be cheating! I'm sure he's wearing special armor underneath his current one!"

When the prince's aide gave him a lance, Prince Edward decided to take his own lance. Unlike the prepared lances, this lance was made of solid wood and though it would not be enough to cause any significant injury, it was more than enough to pierce the armor and reveal the squire's underhanded tactics.

"I will prove it, I will prove you cheated your way here!"

The prince had lost his first charge. If he lost another, that would mean the biggest embarrassment in his whole life and to the name of the Cantiaci Kingdom. In addition, everything he worked so hard to achieve would go down the drain.

Therefore, with this one last charge, even if the nameless squire didn't cheat, he swore he would beat the nameless squire to the ground.

The trumpet resounded again, marking the beginning of the second charge.

The black prince pulled the reins of his brilliant black horse and charged forward. This time, he was using a real lance. There was no way he would lose.

"You will learn your lesson for daring to go against me, kid!"

The prince aimed his lance directly towards Emery's shoulders. This time, he was completely sure his lance was able to reach the squire first.

Brackkkk!

"…"

Unfortunately, he cannot believe it… Once again, the prince saw the blue skies, he flew off his horse and fall hard to the ground.

After a second of silence, the crowds instantly cheer loudly. It was the loudest cheer ever.

Lanzelot! Lanzelot! Lanzelot!

They are expressing their admiration for Lanzelot, the nameless squire who managed to defeat the famous silver knight and previous champion.

But, after a moment, the cheers suddenly turned into silence. They realized something strange about their new champion.

The young squire sat on top of his horse, unmoving, with a piece of broken wood piercing his shoulder and blood spilling out of it.