"So Falco. Ignoring the bomb Ares just dropped on me out of nowhere, what happened. Why did you wake up in the past?" I said, obviously trying to get this conversation back on track.
"What's a bomb?" really Falco? That's what you focus on?
"It doesn't matter right now. How about this. You tell us how your life continued and then we figure out what to do?"
"And how would you be able to? Forgive me if I am wrong but aren't you two just normal people?" Falco questioned.
"Well....I am what "could be considered normal". But that idiot over there certainly isn't." Ares said, pointing at me.
"Hey. You're just as abnormal as me Mr. Ifightwarsforfun."
"You know I don't do that."
"And you know I know you just lied."
"What?"
"..."
"..."
"Whats this now? Remind me again what happened before you woke up here?" I asked quickly before Falco could possibly ask more questions about things that shouldn't be discussed right now.
"First you explain what he meant just now."
"No."
"Fair. Kid get to talking."
"You're the same age as me....."
"HA you wish!"
"Now what's that supposed to mean?"
"Nevermind. Ignore that idiot. But do tell."
And so Falco began to tell us his story. The story of his life before he woke up in the past. Three days before his fate was decided for him. Turns out getting hated by an entire town for killing their only way to protect themselves from some evil demonic bullshit, was worse than it sounded. He eventually was approved to become a battle mage after he was cured of his chronic illness. And then he fail in the final stretch of the last important battle. Everything fell apart after that. Falco certainly did after his dragon, a black one called Sidian, was killed. And yes....technically speaking the people of this continent are racist against black dragons as they were known to hate humanity and desire nothing but their destruction. Not that that mattered to me as I still remembered Abraxas, the grave-dragon that killed me previously. Honestly even without a witness such as Falco telling us that the entire thing was a giant ass lie by the mages, I would not have believed it for a second. Neither did Ares, though mostly because we had talked before about everything that was supposed to happen. And yes. Everything seemed the same at first. But once Falco began telling us of the demons and their fallen soldiers, we quickly realized the entire war was definitely taking on unprecedented proportions. And now that we were here, I had a feeling things would escalate quickly.
Eventually Falco finished with his story, one that would have brought grown men to tears....but not us, seeing as I was part of a child-soldier camp and Ares was literally a greek god of war. And there was one thing Greeks were better at than making demigods and wars. What could that be you ask? Why tragedy of course.
The day the Ambassador came, a proud man by the name of Lucian Valcyr. Originally he was only known as "The Ambassador" but eventually the Queen of Wrath Catherine gave him his last name to honor the decade long service he performed flawlessly as her teacher/mentor. Valcyr was led around by the local nobility of which only two, maybe three were actually noteworthy. Sadly neither participated so the only ones that led the Ambassador around were people whose names were as forgettable as their faces.
The day after his arrival, the tournament/ceremony was opened. First were those of noble descent that desired to join the Queens army in her time of need. One of the most clever participants was a girl by the name Bryna. She chose to join the archers and when the challenge was declared. Long-Distance archery that would end when the first person had emptied their quiver, she realized that while she lacked in upper body strength to succeed, the rules never mentioned a set distance that was to be held. So while everyone else was staying back and firing their arrows at targets they could hardly see, she began walking forwards closer and closer to the target while shooting arrows that grouped perfectly in the center of her target. The result. She won. Both because her grouping was the thightest but also because she had finished her quiver first. Though that only because another participant had accidentally forgotten to notch his arrow and let it fall to the ground.
Then there were the different challenges for the different combat styles that were recognized by the Academy of War. Those included mainly swords and shields. Sadly the presence of spears was neglected. After the archery event was over, it was time for the peasants that wish to become knighted later on to start. During which Falcos friend Malaki was participating but lost due to the local nobility having it out for him and paying several people to focus on him first. It was a proper JJK jumping. Malaki was down within a few seconds barely putting up a fight.
Then nearly at the end of the entire ceremony Falco used his own noble title to declare a duel between Malaki and the Ambassador with the condition that if Malaki won by surviving for a minute without losing his sword, he would come to the academy as a student and get the chance to be knighted in the future.
The local nobility wasn't entertained by it but they did nothing as they did not think Malaki would succeed. Sadly he did. He won and it was later revealed that, although the Ambassador had held back, he was part of the best knight order in the kingdom. The nobles faces looked as if they had ground their teeth on gravel after they found out.
And what were Ares and I doing while the ceremony happened? We were off in the distance, looking through binoculars and commenting ruthlessly on their stance and form. Basically we were moderating the tournament to ourselves with rotten remarks and worse commentary. If some prim and proper folk had happened upon us during that time and caught even a fragment of what we were saying, they would likely have fainted straight into a comatosed state from shock.
We refrained from showing off during that time. But it would happen soon.