Altura

I stood calmly before the crowd that had come to judge me. A bunch of unreasonable people, one and all.

“I must once again request that you not do it, your grace. The citizenry is hyped as it is, your presence will only complicate matters.” Aswelth advised. The General had arranged for a talent competition to take place among all youths less than thirteen years old. A contest of creativity, art, and science.

I wanted to participate. Or at least spectate if that was unacceptable. But Aswetlh insisted that the competition be allowed to move forward informally, stating that my presence would complicate matters.

“Why would it complicate matters Aswelth? Surely the participants do not think that I would remain unaware of such an event? Of course, I would come.” I replied.

“The competition is low stakes, your grace. A fun event with minimal awards, but if you were to come, it would immediately turn into an event to impress you. The last time something impressed you, your grace, you granted a reward of thousands of gold coins for it.” Aswelth said, his tone cautionary.

“And has it not been worth it? The woman used the money to build up her cloth business, a business to manipulate and change the physical properties of plants to suit our needs.” I countered.

“The value of the investment is not in question, your grace, but the fact it happened implies that it could happen again, and that could have any place with your presence transformed into a competition to impress you. A burden that would take the joy from this event.” Aswelth countered. I suppose he had a point. I might have been a tad liberal with my purse.

But in my defense, it was worth it, and I had made sure to register it as a Grant, albeit one that did not need to be paid back. I could just go to the competition incognito.

“I will stay here then. Just go.” I said, acting cross to shoo Aswelth out. I needed to change and then sneak out if I was going to get to the competition in time.

Aswelth opened his mouth, obviously wanting to say something, but kept it in and left.

Acting quickly, I changed into a brown dress, and covered myself in coveralls, making sure to include a hoodie. Using the window, I crept out the window and into the nearby tree. The first escape was the hardest part of it, the last time I had the advantage of ordering people quiet, this time the people around would have to choose between their General and their Archduchess. I wasn’t quite ready for that.

I watched out for when the guards were looking away from my direction and flew to the next tree over, and then following the same, I sneaked out of the Mansion entirely. The crowd outside was, as usual, large. But this time it had a particular bustle to it, and was going in a single direction. The competition. How exactly was it still low stakes if half the town showed up to support their kids?

I melded into the crowd, following them to the competition venue. The guard houses. How predictable. But at least it was safe. I followed the crowd into a training ground and stood a few rows back. A front row seat would draw too much attention, and besides, I could see just fine with my enhanced stats.

The centre of the training grounds was occupied by a largish stage that was obviously where the competition was supposed to take place. The crowd filled in, and the participants entered the stage.

A few minutes later, the competition began. The first round was a drawing contest. The children brought out their works of art to show them before the crowd. I had to admit, they were not the best, barely workable paintings with limited realism within. But for pre-teens, there were some excellent examples within.

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The art pieces were brought before a panel of judges that would rate them, a system that proved itself ineffective when the first place had three ties. In an attempt to pacify the panicking children, the judges assured the participants that all three of them would get the first prize, and the rest of the winners would also get their reward.

Next up was the writing competition, which had the children reciting their poems, speeches and stories before the crowd. The show was dull. The speeches were unhooking, the stories predictable and the poems crude. I could not really fault the participants, a pre-teen could hardly be expected to give a professional performance, but it did not quell the fact it was boring. However, the allure here was supporting the children, not deriving entertainment from the show.

And a part of the crowd seemed to agree with me. A number of people in the front row had moved back, clearly preferring to watch from the back, no longer as enthusiastic. I moved back also, curious to see what they were talking about.

“Do we really want to wait? The competition is duller than I thought.” a young woman remarked.

“Yes, the short runs will be soon, they are bound to be more interesting than this. Besides, what did you expect, Firda? An excellent show?” her companion replied back.

“A bit less repetitiveness. The last three stories were all about some monster or the other. And all of said monsters were killed by their parents. A bit of novelty would be appreciated. Perhaps we should go have lunch and return for the sports section. Did you not want to visit that new stall in the market, Kirae?” Firda answered.

“I did, but I doubt we’ll be able to, the stall owners are here cheering their kids. Just suck it up and watch Firda.” Kirae said as the two fell into an argument. I moved on to a group of men along the wall.

“The useless competition is yet another unneeded expense. Just look at this crowd, cheering on the children for some half-cooked stories. I bet these children will grow up to be brats that think too well of themselves.” one man said. I frowned at this statement.

I knew, from experience, that there would always be some parents that protested school activities because it didn’t interest them, the kids' opinion did not really matter to them. But the comment about expenses had me worried. What was it that worried them so?

“I dunno, Martin, the competition seems ok, but the task from a few weeks before really worried me. A million gold for some metals? What’s in those metals? A spirit stone mine? The Archduchess is getting increasingly careless with her spending. The task thing was especially ridiculous”

“Can the arch duchy even afford it? The crafting thing was still workable, even if she is paying those idiots too much, but the latest allotment for tools is simply ridiculous. The money could have better uses, like the military.” another man replied.

What fresh nonsense. The military was getting plenty of money, the Ducal guards were lacking in nothing, and the Adventurer’s Guild had plenty of funding. And why exactly was getting tools ridiculous?

“And why should the military get more money? Do tell me, gentlemen.” A young woman said, suddenly entering the scene.

“Why? because they do not have enough funding! Do you know how much money it takes to maintain arms, to train a soldier, and for him to feed a family?” the man replied back, angry at the interruption.

“I do, the answers are, respectively, nothing and far less than they are paid. The Archduchess in her wisdom has provided free maintenance to the Ducal guard and their salaries, if you are not aware, are more than any other organization. What really is the problem? The fact that craters now have a chance to catch up to their ‘betters’ the soldiers?” the woman replied, her tone dismissive.

“The Archduchess is spending too much, the treasury cannot sustain it, priorities have to be made, and they should fall on the people who are defending the arch duchy.” the man replied.

“Oh, and are you her treasurer? How do you know that the treasury cannot sustain it? Do you know that the Duchy of Merden, that the Archduchess recently attacked, had a treasury of a few billion spirit stones? The valley was poor before, but the Archduchess is not.” the woman said.

“The duchy of Merden has been around for decades, how would the Archduchess get so much money?” the man said, scoffing at the woman’s point.

“The archduchess looted a variety of illegal holdings by the Organization. And is descended from a prestigious family from another continent, I would not be surprised if she had a large amount of savings. And besides all that, the leaders of the Organizations are involved in the workings, how about you trust them and not speak things you have no idea about?” The woman said, smirking as she walked off.

What an interesting exchange.