"By the Lord’s grace, we were able to safely conclude the individual competition (jousting) without any fatalities. I believe this tournament was more successful than previous events, with plenty of entertainment. I shall grant all participating knights the honorary title of Breisburg Tournament Knight."

The Tournament Knight title was an honorary designation given to all knights who participated in the tournament. It wasn’t particularly rare, but in noble society where honor was valued, it served as proof of tournament participation, so some knights took pride in it.

Of course, not me.

Anything but victory is meaningless.

I was currently being supported by Hilda. She’d cried so much her eyes were all puffy, but she was still lovely and beautiful. It’s all over now, so can’t you stop glaring at me? My wife is scary.

My final opponent Wilhelm was listening to the Grand Duke’s speech alongside his associates. This match had deeply impressed upon me what kind of fighter the great freelancer truly was. A genuinely ridiculous monster.

The tournament individual competition had generated countless talking points.

As the Grand Duke said, there was plenty of entertainment.

The emergence of newcomers and the fall of the strong, the Knights commander’s provocation and the brawl—everyone from nobles to commoners gossiped about it all. And the crowning spectacle was the individual finals.

It had been a truly fierce match.

Wilhelm seemed quite at peace. Retiring from tournaments freed him from a lifetime of bondage and offered him a fresh start. I was honored to have been the great freelancer’s final opponent.

The bigger your reputation grows, the more people expect from you. Rather than feeling burdened by excessive attention, I worried more about getting dragged into pointless affairs.

But my status had risen too, and though it was a small town, I’d become the lord knight of Feuzen. Since I was no longer a powerless duchy knight, at least I wouldn’t be easily pushed around by outside forces.

"I’m fine now, so you don’t need to support me like this."

"You fool. I told you not to overdo it, so why did you push yourself so hard?"

"When you tell a man not to overdo it, it’s in his nature to overdo it even more."

She seemed to have mastered the technique of pinching without anyone noticing. I had nothing to say to Hilda. I’d shown my beloved wife such reckless overexertion that I’d nearly made her faint.

I recalled the finals match that had tormented Hilda’s heart.

When Wilhelm and I fell off simultaneously, my first thought was that I could win if I just held out a bit longer. But expecting a favorable outcome after falling off just once was nothing but wishful thinking.

Crack! Thud!

"Ugh!"

The great freelancer seemed very angry and mercilessly drove his lance home. To endure this, ordinary fighting spirit wouldn’t cut it. I constantly braced my muscles and absorbed his attacks.

And I held out until the fifteenth pass.

I must have broken countless tournament lances worth 1 silver coin each.

After the sixteenth collision, I was the first to fall off.

I tried to hold on, but it wasn’t easy.

Being the finals, the ransom was enormous, so I hesitated.

But fleeing like this was something my pride wouldn’t allow, so I challenged again.

And I fell off a third time after just ten passes.

After falling off so many times, I was getting the hang of it.

No wonder Fiel fell off so often without getting injured.

I paid the ransom and requested another rematch. After paying the finals ransom twice (excluding simultaneous falls), half of all the ransoms I’d earned had vanished.

But humans are foolish and repeat the same mistakes.

When I fell off the fourth time, my stubbornness surged and I immediately requested another rematch.

80% of the ransoms I’d earned in the individual competition were gone.

This time I emptied my mind and clung on tenaciously.

I concentrated and concentrated to the very end, enduring and enduring again.

Did heaven take pity on my efforts?

After fourteen passes, I managed to knock Wilhelm off his horse.

His strength was finally starting to fade.

The stunned gasps from the audience, who’d already accepted my defeat as certain, were still vivid. Michael and the knights especially went wild.

"Brother-in-law! Just a bit more! Just a bit more!"

"Oh, the glory of victory to the Lord of Feuzen, and the money to me!"

The bastards who’d bet money on me were fanatically losing their minds with their noisy cheering. You think I’m going through this hell for your sakes? Anyway, it was meaningful progress, and confidence surged.

To recap: in the first match, Wilhelm and I fell off simultaneously, recording a draw. Then I fell off three times in a row. In the fifth match, I finally handed Wilhelm his first decisive fall.

Wilhelm challenged me again. The natural course of action. But somehow his body looked stiff. Had he gotten injured from the fall? His gait had been strange even before the match.

Maybe this next pass would be the last.

I charged in sync with Mont Blanc. Carrying my heavy frame in the saddle through such a long battle, Mont Blanc seemed to be tiring faster than expected. The same went for Wilhelm’s horse. Both horses’ speeds had dropped.

"Crack!"

Wilhelm’s lance struck the center of my shield precisely, and my lance also connected with Wilhelm’s shield. As we crossed and passed, which of us would be the last one standing?

Now it was a battle of willpower.

"Wilhelm von Terese, come forward."

Snapping out of my reverie, I watched Wilhelm’s back as he stepped forward at Grand Duke Karlus’s call. Not a trace of regret showed on his wrinkled face. Had the fight been that satisfying?

"You who came from Bavaria have graced the individual competition with excellent skill representing Altringen. I’m honored that your final match as one called the great freelancer took place in my city. If you wish, I’ll permit you to settle in Beren."

"Thank you, Your Highness. However, I am a Bavarian and have family in Munich. Your words alone are infinite glory for the Terese family. I shall sincerely pray for God’s grace upon you."

Wilhelm politely declined the Grand Duke’s offer.

The Grand Duke soon lost interest, as if he’d expected as much.

Wilhelm, returning to his position, now looked at me.

"The victor of the tournament individual competition, Wolfgang Ritter von Streit, come forward."

I stepped forward at Grand Duke Karlus’s call.

After assuring Hilda, who’d been supporting me, that I was fine, I stood confidently before the Grand Duke.

In that moment, the shock that had felt like it would shatter my entire body revived vividly. The finals naturally replayed in my mind like a flashback. The grueling fight that stretched to a staggering twenty-five passes would be remembered as one of the fiercest battles of my life.

There had definitely been something wrong with Wilhelm’s physical condition.

His accuracy had dropped noticeably past twenty passes.

It ended when I, having dragged it into a long battle, knocked Wilhelm off.

The great freelancer forfeited the rematch.

I’d been bracing myself, expecting him to challenge again as a matter of course, but he gave up so readily that I was caught off guard. But watching him exit with his subordinates’ support, I realized his body had indeed been failing him.

Thinking about it carefully, Wilhelm’s body had to have been under strain.

First, he’d struggled more than expected against my father-in-law.

If my father-in-law hadn’t injured his shoulder when he fell, he might have beaten Wilhelm.

Fiel, who faced Wilhelm in round 5, withdrew after falling five times. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

That had been no easy match either.

Perhaps Wilhelm had gotten injured when he and Fiel fell simultaneously.

At his age, it must’ve been grueling to fight such fierce matches back to back.

The problem was that I—maintaining peak condition and physical state through the medical service because the Knights commander had infuriated me—was his final opponent. Since winning on technique alone was impossible, I’d committed to a long battle. I recklessly endured through stamina and strength, dragging Wilhelm to twenty-five passes.

Without the cumulative toll from my father-in-law, Fiel, and the unintentional contribution of the Knights commander, would I have defeated Wilhelm and claimed victory? It was the result of remarkable timing and luck falling into place.

And as the price, victory came hand in hand with tremendous muscle pain. Fortunately, nothing was broken or seriously injured. However, considerable strain on my ribs and lower back made movement difficult.

So Ted and Oscar had to support me just to get back to the waiting room. Hilda burst in while I was taking painkillers and muscle relaxants. Since there were no more matches, a noblewoman’s entry was now permitted. And that led to the awards ceremony.

Her still-angry gaze is scary.

She’s still glaring at me as I stand before the Grand Duke.

"The Lord of Feuzen became not only a victor in war by the Lord’s grace, but also the victor of this honorable tournament. Therefore, I grant him the title of Tournament Champion Knight."

"I shall become a knight worthy of this honorable title."