“Equality may be a fiction but nonetheless one must accept it as a governing principle.”
BR Ambedkar
A few days before the competition at dinner, “Don’t you think I could compete against half of the men out there.” Mother asked Lady Acacia affronted. Mother could probably break most men over her knee if so inclined. She must have been mulling over the sticking point for a while.
“Of course not but it is a matter of dignity, we can hardly have men wrestling with women on display.” She replied. “Furthermore I hope that you as the mother of Lord and Lady Silversea are not considering competing. You can hardly hand out the prizes if you are collecting them all.”
“I was not intending on competiting.” Mother answered quickly as if to cover up the possibility that she had indeed thought about it. “Aside from wrestling then I believe that there should be only two categories for the Silversea Games the locked and the unlocked. Those under 10 who have yet to be able to assign their stats the children and those older than ten who can the teenagers and adults.”
“And the wrestling?” Lady Acacia asked.
“If you insist that the wrestling competition should be split by gender why not skip that competition from the games entirely to keep it based solely on ability rather than create brackets based on gender.” She argued back.
“Very well,” Lady Acacia pursed her lips in displeasure. “That would be acceptable I suppose.”
. . .
The preparations were finally complete and the day had arrived. It was time to open the first Silversea Games. We had outdone ourselves by carving the seating into the mountainside to view the games. For many of the townspeople of Wester, it was their first visit to the Isle at the centre of the lake. Grandfather had a reputation for grumpiness within the family, outside of the family he was viewed as hostile bordering on dangerous. The history of this opinion had yet to be explained to me but it meant that no one had ever trespassed on the island before or after our arrival on it.
They arrived by boat from the town, the boats shuffling people back and forth across the lake as quickly as they could. I had never realized so many people lived in the town. Our cousins we interspersed among them all.
The prizes were prepared. Nail, finger and thumb-sized pearls were strung on a ribbon to award the winners whoever they were. If an individual won enough events they would have enough to make a necklace. The organization of the event was not set in stone we had no heats to establish the top competitors but everybody knew everybody here and knew what they had a shot at competing for. The event would be called and then anyone who wished to compete in it would step forward for it. We had hung up a list of the events for everyone to think about beforehand.
People had started arriving early and the events would probably take the whole day. Mercurio looked like he had made out like a bandit setting up stalls for our food as well as ones that had sold, beer, wine, and even cushions to soften our stone seats. But it looked like the last of the people were arriving now. Now was the moment that Lady Acacia had prepared us for had arrived.
My Cornu playing had improved greatly under her tuition. But it helped that I had Virtuoso to ensure I made no technical errors anymore. I opened the ceremony on the Cornu with a Reville. The instrument alone was enough to gather everyone’s attention. The music itself kept their eyes fixed on me. Lady Acacia felt conflicted about the fact that I was opening the ceremony myself. On the one hand, it would be good for my music levels and charisma stats. On the other hand, she felt it was not necessarily a Lord's place to do so. She planned to teach someone else to do it by the next time we held a set of games for the town.
Silence spread through the seated audience that now eagerly awaited the announcement and the games they had all gathered here for.
“Pioneers of Wester Isle, we gather here today to celebrate the success of Wester Town and the inauguration of Lord and Lady Silversea.” Lady Acacia did not raise her voice to shout but her voice magically boomed out across the audience. As she spoke Aleera and I stepped forward beside her raised our hands and with whispered words released our magic to create light. It was a clear way to demonstrate that we were no longer mere commoners but nobility with magical power. The silence froze as some of the audience stilled with shock at our magical abilities. Lady Acacia continued cheerfully, “To celebrate the rising of the two young scions to Lord and Lady they are putting on the first-ever Silversea Games with prizes to be had for all who win.” Our cousins and the other branches of our family strategically placed throughout the arena clapped and cheered the announcement, breaking the silence and the rest of the town joined in soon after. Our house had a large family and made up a decent percentage of the population enough to sway their first impressions of the Silversea House.
“First up is the archery competition. Those whose stats are still locked may step forward.” She continued after waiting for the applause to die down. A few children from the island lined up to have a go but without stats and the majority of them without skills for archery the first children’s event was over quickly. Fun for the individuals and their parents but there was not a lot to their display of skill and I was left wondering if I could not have done better myself despite my lacking height.
“Next is the archery competition for the unlocked and adults. Anyone who wishes to compete please step forward.” Two dozen individuals with their bows and arrows stepped forth to compete. We had only set up a dozen different targets so there was a little jostling as they stepped forward to compete. Even our cousins Chase, Diane, Fianna, Huntly and Rigel were competing but they were in the second line. It looked like their father had decided to abstain from the competition today.
“Since skills make such a difference to all activities we will be awarding prizes based on three different categories. Speed, Accuracy and Power of shot. First, up will be speed for three shots. On your mark, Fire!”
A dozen individuals released their arrows with a plethora of skills being used to speed up their remaining arrows while some just used pure stats and experience to make up for the lack of a specific archery-related Quickdraw skill. Grandfather for once happy to inform revealed the skills he had spotted happening, Quick shot, Flicker shot, Rapid fire, Quick draw, Double shot and . . . Triple shot. The winner of the first dozen clear with the ultimate 3-shot skill, Triple shot. The rest came in closely behind with a sole individual without any archery skills coming in last.
“Why not just have the one round of accuracy?” I whispered to Grandfather. We were on display our first display and I was attempting to make a good first impression.
“Well if the goblins were storming your walls what would you want most speed, accuracy or power?” he asked rhetorically. “There is a need for each one but it depends on the situation. You would like every shot to be accurate but not at the expense of speed when a mass of enemies are attacking you want as many arrows in the air as possible. But what if they are armoured? Then you either need amazing accuracy to target gaps you will have to have the perception to find or the penetrating power to go through their armour. This may be a game right now but it also helps us to see who would be best at what depending on the situation if it ever turned real. Wester Town has walls for a reason.”
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Our conversation was interrupted by Lady Acacia magically raising her voice once more, “Retrieve your arrows, and await your turn for the round based on accuracy.” The line collected their arrows before the next line of archers stepped forward. “On your mark, Fire!” she declared. Another line of arrows buried themselves into the targets. Grandfather once more listed out the skills pointing out the best to have. While another winner was marked down to be awarded later.
“Next up we have accuracy. More time will be allowed for this within reason. Take your time and may the best archer win.” She stated. It was interesting to see that among the two dozen archers that at least half a dozen women were competing as well. Moreover, they seemed to be just as quick and accurate as the men. The winner of the first round was one of the women with the Triple Shot skill.
Grandfather continued to outline the possible skills being used, Precision shot, Target centre, Seek target, and True flight, it was a little harder when they were taking their time and the skill could be any number of ones. He was perhaps unsurprisingly knowledgeable about how to hit a target accurately.
Having gone through the round for accuracy we finished with the final round a test of power. Once again judging by their shots Grandfather made guesses at the skills the two dozen archers might have had. Power strike, Piercing shot, Sprial strike and sometimes he would suggest that the archer was just using pure stats. Each target had a tree trunk stacked up behind it. The strength of their shots was measured by how far into it they could bury their arrows. A few arrows could not stand up to the strength of their shots and unfortunately had to be discounted. There were a few arguments over those but in the end, people agreed to measure the power by the depth into the target their arrow had gone. The winner’s arrow through had managed to go through the target as well as the trunk behind it without disintegrating. That time it was a man.
“I’m not saying that a woman cannot be stronger Kai, stats make anything possible. Just look at your mother. She gives your dad a run for his money. But on average and in general, they are working against a natural disadvantage.” He continued to discuss the competitors enjoying the skills displayed. The winners were congratulated but prizes were to be awarded at the end of the day, not the start. So Lady Acacia moved on to the next event, athletics.
This had been divided up into a sprint, a long distance, long jump, high jump and javelin. The sprint was in front of the seats we had carved while the long-distance race went all the way around the island to finish in front of us once more. The number of skills Grandfather mentioned seemed less for the running and jumping when compared to archery, he only suggested a few, double step, quick step, long stride, and double wind. His reasoning as always was, “No kill, no skill. It is easier to pick up skills with archery as you are in the process of gaining a percentage of a creature’s experience. It is harder to pick up the skills through running unless you are actively chasing down an animal on a hunt or using it to flee something that would kill you.”
“I’ve picked up Running and Sprint easily enough,” I argued back.
“Those are the common skills and you have fast learner to help you level them. You have yet to pick up a higher tier of skill.” He dismissed my comment.
“Children, children, focus.” Lady Acacia interrupted us. “We need to record the winners as well as work out the general skill selection of the town.
That was right she never suggested anything that didn’t achieve two objectives at the same time or more. The Silversea games were first to introduce us to the island as their new nobles, second to alleviate any grumbles about our elevation with games, bread, pearls and performances. Third and finally it was to work as an informal and uncomprehensive survey of the abilities of our future subjects. Grandfather was not just telling me the possible skills for solely my personal interest, they were also being written down to highlight the unaffiliated talent and build plans for how they could best be deployed. Knowledge was power and we needed more of it.
For the running, many people just used their pure stats to compete and that too was being noted down by Grandfather who was giving rough estimates of their level of dexterity and strength based on how quickly they could start the race, their endurance based on how long they could maintain such a pace, and their vitality based on how quickly they recovered. It was all probably wildly inaccurate but it did provide a fun guessing game while we watched the competitors and I would get better at it in time.
When it became time for the javelin. The list of skills grew longer again but there was repetition and overlap with the ones already described for archery, Precision throw, Target centre, Seek target, and True flight, a skill he explained could be used however you could. Target centre could be applied to archery, the javelin or even if you were throwing your glass across the room. It might not work as well or as accurately with a lopsided mug but it would improve an object’s flight and inform you where you needed to make the throw whether or not you could actually achieve it.
After Athletics came boxing. Many of the competitors had alternated between events. Some of them tackled the archery and then sat out for the races. Others tried everything once but didn’t stick with any of it. They attempted the events they thought they had the best shot at, either through stats or skills. Many of the runners had to sit out the boxing through simple exhaustion from their races. Others recovered enough to give it a go. They managed to get enough time to recover due to the need to have pairs for the fights and a league to work up through.
With the boxing taking a while the fencing was started at the same time. Allowing several matches to take place at the same time. This took us up to lunchtime and a break from the competition. Everybody seemed excited by the competition and any concern about the island's new nobles seemed to lose out to the chance to win pearls and pride in the competition. There was even some minor betting taking place over who people thought would win which Aleera was attempting to make a profit off of using Grandfather’s skills at judging threats and people’s levels, skills and stats. She seemed to be doing okay so far.
After lunch to start the afternoon was the only race I would be taking place in. The equestrian race! There were not enough horses on the isle for a child’s race so I competed against the adults. While my Horse riding skill had reached level 7 over the week’s preparations I had yet to gain any other skills for riding which put me at a disadvantage. My advantages though looked big enough to cover that. Firstly my weight was nothing compared to the other 3 riders. Secondly my horse, Midnight was by far the most powerful horse in the lineup. It would be pure stats against whatever skills the other riders might have.
“To start this afternoon’s events we have a horse race. Not only that but the young Lord Callen Kai Silversea will also be competing.” Her loud voice boomed across the isle.
I found myself sitting astride Midnight at the starting line waiting for the start to be called. To my left sat a Chestnut mare which seemed as excited by Midnight as her rider was excited by the race. “Good luck little lordling.” Her rider nodded looking down at me despite the height of my horse.
“May the best horse win,” I replied quietly confident in my horse.
While the rider of a Dunn horse added, “May the best rider win.” The final rider of a Grey horse said nothing merely waiting for the race to start.
“On my mark, get set, go!” We needed no loud noise to signal the start listening to Lady Acacia’s voice.
Midnight charged out onto the course. We held the home-field advantage able to practice here every day. We sped through the white salt flats on the black sand-covered road we had made for the event. I ignored the others not looking behind as I focused on us running the best race we could. We had started well and were leading the way and setting the pace as we rode out of sight of the audience round the corner.
We were not though out of earshot of the other riders behind us and I heard one shot, “Second wind.” As the Dunn rider began to pull abreast of us. We didn’t attempt to pull ahead. I knew how to maintain our pace and despite the Dunn pulling alongside us, I knew Midnight would have the strength and stamina to accelerate in the last stretch. Gradually as we circumnavigated the isle we began to pull ahead again before taking the lead once more.
“Keep going Midnight,” I ordered as we turned the last corner. Before finally as we reached the last stretch, I commanded, “Sprint Midnight.” I held tight as he gave his all we flew over the finish line. Winding up way down past the end of the course. We finally turned to see the other horses thunder over the finish line. The Dunn horse came in second, the Chestnut third while the silent rider came in fourth.
“Congratulations, Midnight,” Grandfather said as he caught up our reigns and walked us back to our stand from where we had been watching the events. Midnight was carefully walked to cool down and looked after by Des and Sinis once I had made my way off his back.
“Congratulations Lord Silversea,” Aleera whispered as I returned.
“What’s next?” I asked.
“Now that the horse racing is complete the rest of the afternoon will be in or on the water.” She answered.