Chapter 275 Equestrian Competition, Black Knight Riding
The last event of the competition, the Equestrian Competition, takes place in a village on the outskirts of Lundu.
The entire village was temporarily requisitioned and became part of the competition venue, making it as lively as a major festival.
In the camp, blacksmiths, cooks, and cobblers set up colorful tents to provide services to the knights participating in the competition. Yeats rode his horse through the camp and saw a knight holding a lance, wearing mail and a hooded helmet, getting on his horse with the help of his attendants.
His mount is a heavy black draft horse of the breed "Charr Dragon Blood Horse".
Huge and majestic, about two meters tall, with a tuft of flowing mane on his forehead.
This kind of draft horse is famous for its huge strength. It can weigh more than 1,000 kilograms and can carry a total of more than 300 kilograms of armored horses and heavily armored knights. It is a veritable battlefield weapon when charging.
In contrast, the "Roland Thoroughbred Horse" has a snow-white coat, a more elegant and agile appearance, and is known for its speed.
It is said that the Knights of Roland are more susceptible to the courtship of noble ladies’ daughters and are inseparable from their dashing white horses.
The famous Knight of the Round Table, Gawain, was dubbed "Prince Charming" by later generations. Some scholars pointed out that his mount was a Roland thoroughbred horse.
Yeats watched the black "Shire Dragon Blood Horse" walk away for a while.
The heavily armored knight who struggled to get on the horse noticed Yeats and immediately called his attendants to help him dismount. He immediately took off his helmet, placed his right fist on his plate chest, and saluted respectfully:
"Dear Earl Mr. Yeats Berlandi, I am Randall from the Hayne family in the Southern Province. It is an honor to meet you here."
Through the ability of photographic memory, Yeats has already Almost all the nobles and nobles in the Golden Lion Kingdom have been remembered. The head of the Hayne family is a young baron, and Randall is the son of a baron. He was defeated by June Lannister in a duel. Like Yeats, he continued to participate in the equestrian competition.
Yeats held the reins in his hand, nodded slightly, and said with a smile: "Knight Randall, your dragon-blood horse has been bred very well."
"Your Excellency, you are exaggerating." Randall looked humble. "Dragon-blooded horses are a specialty of South County. If you like them, I will send someone to escort two dragon-blooded horses to your territory to express my respect for you!"
Any dragon-blooded horse is worth thousands of gold. Randall's investment in this horse is just to curry favor with Earl Yeats, the popular man in front of His Majesty.
But the reason why Yeats was valued and promoted by the king was mainly because Yeats did not belong to any faction. In this case, how could Yeats accept the other party's heavy gift, and then have Suspected of forming a clique for personal gain?
"I appreciate Knight Randall's kindness."
Yeats said calmly: "If there is a need, I will send someone to buy a dragon-blooded horse from you. As for giving it away, there is no need. .”
Randall was stunned for a moment, then understood the implication of Yeats's words, and quickly lowered his head and said:
"What you said is that, my lord, I was presumptuous, please forgive me!"
Yeats showed another smile and said: "I have long heard that Knight Randall is excellent in equestrian skills. I am very much looking forward to your performance in the upcoming competition."
Randall was surprised and happy, but he Expecting that the majestic Earl actually encouraged me, I was even a little frightened, and said respectfully: "I will definitely live up to the Earl's expectations!"
This is just a polite word, Yeats is determined to be the champion of the equestrian competition. .
Otherwise, it would be difficult to report to the king.
“Drive!”
Yeats went deep into the camp and found that the atmosphere of the celebration was even richer——
Family flags of various colors were erected in front of the tent and fluttering in the wind. They were polishing weapons or chatting with each other, while noble daughters gathered together to make secret glances at the knights they liked. A wooden fence surrounded the camp, and outside the camp there was a playing field that was more than three times the size.
If you want to enter the camp, you must first pay a gold coin, which dissuades many civilians. Most of the people who can come to watch the game are nobles. Of course, there are also demon hunters and adventurers who come to try their luck in the competition.
It is mentioned in the knight literature novels of the Kingdom of Roland that knight competitions are quite elegant and romantic. The knights are like male peacocks competing for glory, and the ladies watching the competition will unabashedly cheer for their favorite knights, throwing flowers, gloves, ribbons, and even spending a lot of money to support them.
When Yeats arrived riding Roland's horse, he immediately attracted the attention of the audience.
He won the crown in the poetry festival and won the championship in the duel. He was both civil and military and had become a man of the hour in Lundu.
Not to mention, he was made an earl at a young age and seems to be more popular than the legendary "Knight of the Round Table" Langstro, who is favored by the queen!
Wherever Yeats went, his eyes followed him. This was also an invisible pressure.
Yeats, however, was used to the spotlight.
It is worth mentioning that according to tradition, commanders need to pray to the God of War before fighting on the battlefield, and in competitive competitions, the subordinate god of the God of War [Black Knight] is enshrined.
The Black Knight's authority includes riding and martial arts. The famous [Black Knight Riding] can be said to be the most extraordinary riding skill in the entire continent.
A knight who masters this riding skill will never fall off his horse, and can combine elegance and practicality, allowing the combat skills on horseback to be more powerful.
The Roland people extracted the performance part of the Black Knight's riding and later evolved it into the "dressage" in the equestrian performance, from which we can get a glimpse of the charm of the original riding.
In the center of the camp, there is an altar of the Black Knight. On the altar is a marble statue of a war horse and a chess piece. There is also a king's chess table nearby for people to have fun in their spare time.
The equestrian competition was about to begin, and Yeats was about to go to the Black Knight Altar to pray when an acquaintance stopped him.
“Why, you see me leaving in such a hurry?”
Juen rides a maroon mare, with a light military uniform, short short hair, and a mean tone.
"You also participate in equestrian competitions?" Yeats asked casually.
"Are you afraid that I'll ruin your success in winning three consecutive championships?" June retorted.
Facing June who was in a state of rage, Yeats smiled faintly, letting you ridicule and sarcastically ignore me.
Seeing this, Jun became more and more itchy.
On the day of Colin's wedding banquet, June was surprised to find that she had not received an invitation, so she sent a letter to Yeats to inquire, but she did not expect that Yeats ignored her at all, which really made June resentful.
The red rose of Lannister loves nothing more than holding grudges.
At the end of the wedding banquet, many banquet guests also kept secret about what happened that day, which made June even more suspicious.
Duke Lannister has a keen sense of politics and has a premonition that a storm is coming, so he has returned to the territory first so that even if the chaos comes, he can mobilize the troops as soon as possible.
Ju En’s only trustworthy intelligence channel is Yeats, but her brother actually kept it from her, which really made June unhappy.
"Hey, respected Earl Yeats, didn't you hear?" June said angrily.
Yeats sent a message: "You should be lucky that you did not receive an invitation to Colin's wedding banquet, otherwise it means that you have been regarded as a thorn in His Majesty's side..."
June was stunned for a moment, with surprise in her eyes.
Yeats briefly summarized King Fan’s intentions and the urgency of the matter, which he had no time to reveal to June at the time.
Now, the Duke of Suffolk has been executed and has achieved initial success, leaving only the crusade against the Blood Spider.
"So that's it..." June looked thoughtful and murmured: "No wonder only a few nobles were invited to this wedding banquet... His Majesty borrowed the Blood Spider Lord's sword to kill the disobedient ones. People.”
"Let's talk about this equestrian competition." Yeats calmly changed the subject, "Is this jousting a joust or another form of competition?"
Lance jousting is a classic form of knightly competition.
On two long and narrow tracks, two heavily armored knights held lances, faced each other, and charged at the same time.
The lance and the iron cavalry charge with great momentum. The two cavalry collide until one falls off the horse, and the one still on the horse wins.
The probability of casualties in this kind of competition is very high. Even if there is fighting spirit to protect the body, it is common for a lance to see blood and pierce the body.
However, lance sprinting is the basic skill of knights on horseback, so even if it is bloody, this form of competition is still very popular in the Atrium Continent.
June sighed, her anger dissipated, and even felt that she had wrongly blamed Yeats, and whispered:
"This time there are three main events, horse racing spurs and mounted target shooting. , riding the horse to charge, the knight with the shortest total time wins, and the champion can obtain the inheritance of the black knight."
Yeats was slightly surprised and said in surprise: "What inheritance?"
" Of course [Black Knight Riding] ”
Jun glanced at the war horse statue on the altar in the distance, with a hint of longing in his eyes.
“This inheritance belongs to the category of talent. It is the divinity of the Black Knight. It appears in the image of a king’s chess piece. By digesting the power of this piece, you can master the god-given talent of riding.”
"I am a knight who follows the way of the Black Knight. My father specially told me to try my best to win the championship, but..." June glanced at Yeats, sighed helplessly, and shook his head silently.
Yeats's riding skills were mediocre, not even as good as many knights in this game. This riding talent just made up for his shortcomings.
Hearing these three major projects, Yeats smiled and thought, no wonder King Lionheart not only gave me the Crazy Lion Halberd, but also asked me to train in archery, and even helped Carrot break through to the king level... ...This is the obvious inside story!
Yeats sighed: "In my opinion, this [Black Knight Riding] is destined for me, and I should win the championship!"
June glanced at Yeats sideways, and chuckled: "Your riding You may not be better at martial arts than me, let’s see what’s true in the competition... drive!”
She took a few steps with her whip, reined in the reins, and turned around and said:
“That’s right. I just saw some of your demon hunter disciples. The one named Jero has an excellent mount. Remember to ask him if he is willing to sell it, please."
Soon.
Yeats saw the "excellent" war horse in June's mouth.
An old horse that was almost emaciated to death feebly gnawed the alfalfa in the manger. Jero waved his hand to shoo away the flies flying around the old horse. He caught a glimpse of Yeats and said cheerfully:
"Hey, Lord Earl, what a coincidence, you come to compete too?"
< br>Yeats couldn't see anything special about this old horse. Maybe it was because he was not good at riding and his horse-reading skills were not good enough. Yeats cleared his throat and said:
"I have nothing to do in the manor, why not come here to get a bonus."
Jero smiled and said: "I won't let you, but..."
He looked around, grinning and showing his silver-encrusted teeth: "The price is negotiable!"
Then he finished. This meant that Jello was willing to fake the match as long as Yeats offered a good price.
Yeats was helpless, but he also understood Gerald's temper, and he also knew that Gerald was a strong enemy. In the original work, as the chosen god of the Wild Hunt, Gerald is excellent in both horsemanship and swordsmanship, and he is also a destined son.
But it is a pity that Yeats is the designated champion!
"Someone asked me to ask you..." Yeats glanced at the skinny draft horse, "Do you want to sell this horse?"
Jero's smile suddenly faded, he weighed his words, and said in a deep voice:
“This is not for sale.”
Yeats raised his eyebrows.
Jero put his hand on the thin horse, and there was a rare tenderness in his eyes: "He helped me escape from many dangers. Although he is not a famous horse, he is a very powerful guy... Wait, you You will see it.”
Jero raised his eyes, his eyes were bright, and he said firmly:
"In this competition, no rider and his mount can beat us!"
Yeats gave a slight pause. Startled, he smiled and said, "I'll wait and see."
*
The autumn wind swept up the sand and stones on the playing field.
The sky was high and the clouds were wide, colorful flags were fluttering, and the spectator seats were bustling with excitement.
A well-dressed official, holding an edict, began to read out the king's words of encouragement to the knights and explain the rules.
There are ten tracks on the racecourse, and there are three major stages. After riding the horse and leaving the starting gate, the knight must first pass through the [Horse Racing Ring] area and hit the three hanging rings with continuous rifles. Ring target.
This requires the knight's precise spearmanship and cooperation with the war horse, so that the war horse can seize the opportunity to leap up and thrust out the spear. If unfortunately you fail, you will lose a lot of points. You will miss out on the championship, and it will also attract a lot of boos.
After passing the [Horse Racing Ring] area, you will come to [Mounted Shooting Target]. You need to gallop while drawing your bow and arrow, and shoot the target in the distance. The score is determined by the number of rings.
Finally, they came to a long straight track and asked the knights to [charge their horses], and the scores were determined based on the ranking.
In the Kingdom of Roland, a "dressage" link will be added when the knights appear. The knights dress elegantly and control their horses to perform to the music. The more popular the knights, the louder the cheers. They are quite famous in future generations. Appearance.
Yeats's reputation is so great that when he appeared on the stage, the cheers in the audience were like ocean waves.
Luobo was not flustered but overjoyed when encountering such a scene. He stood up and walked a few steps using only his hind hooves, which attracted bursts of applause.
Subsequently, Yeats came to his own horse racing gate and found that the track next to him was Randall Knight.
"Your honor, Lord Earl." Knight Randall, wearing a bucket helmet, nodded.
Wearing a visor-style helmet, Yeats raised his visor and nodded in greeting.
Bang!
Perhaps the Charles dragon-blooded horse was too close to Carrot. Carrot kicked back, causing the dragon-blooded horse to stagger a few steps.
Randall was a little confused. The Earl’s war horse has such a big temper!
Yeats coughed dryly, indicating that it was an accident, and then slapped Carrot on the head repeatedly to indicate that you should stop drifting. If you lose to Jero's old horse, you will suffer a big loss.
Carrot neighed proudly, indicating that he is just an old pawn, so why be afraid!
The referee has boarded the starting podium.
The knights in the gate held their breath.
Phew!
The flaming arrows rose into the sky, exploded into brilliant sparks, and the gates opened at the same time.
Clang!
Yeats closed the iron gate and rode his horse out of the gate.
Ten horses came out of the gate at the same time, swinging away the billowing dust, their hooves were like thunder, galloping like the wind, the momentum was spectacular!
(End of this chapter)