The awards ended with 5 gold coins in prize money and a shield as a trophy. With countless spectators sending generous applause and cheers, the incident-filled individual competition came to a complete close. From now on, I could officially use the title Tournament Champion Knight.

From now on, anywhere I went, I could be introduced like this:

[Duchy knight, head of the Streit family, Lord of Feuzen, and honorable Tournament Champion Knight, Wolfgang Ritter von Streit]

The longer your official title, the more influential a noble you’re considered. Having started as a mere duchy knight, this was the first time my title had grown this long. Something ordinary nobles would envy.

If the Gale Knights (tentative name) were officially established, the title Gale Knights Commander would also be added to that introduction. In order, it would go between Lord of Feuzen and Tournament Champion Knight.

Not only did I complete the quest and gain 1,000 points, but my family’s prestige score had also reached 2,000 points (Recognition 41%, Governance 41%). I was curious how this governance stat would apply to ruling the territory. The system said higher governance affected the territory’s prosperity and rebellion.

I could check once I returned to Feuzen.

But Michael and the knights hoisted me up again and circled the arena.

No, you lot. Please stop already.

The gamblers who’d bet on me seemed happiest about my victory. Well, the miracle of silver coins turning into gold coins had just happened, so it made sense.

My father-in-law was also very pleased, ostentatiously applauding me from among the ministers. Ministers who rarely even watched had attended the awards ceremony because it was the individual finals. The symbolic significance was considerable. The Finance Minister’s sour expression was satisfying as always.

After the awards ceremony, I was resting in a private room for VIPs away from the arena. I didn’t return home because the team competition preliminaries started in the afternoon. The War Ministry was participating, but my father-in-law and I were both absent due to injuries.

Actually, I didn’t really have injuries.

My muscles weren’t torn and no bones were broken.

After taking painkillers and muscle relaxants, the pain had noticeably decreased.

I’d recover with some good rest, but Hilda, who loved me too much and worried even more, had forcibly confined me here. Sabine and Priscilla were guarding the entrance while I worked hard to appease the sulking Hilda. I broke into a sweat because she seemed angrier than expected.

"Ahem, may I hold your hand?"

"Priscilla. Hold it for him instead."

"What? Miss?"

Hold the hand of Priscilla, who was going to become Hans’s wife? I’d whispered words of love the night before and promised not to overdo it, then blatantly broken that promise, so Hilda had every right to be angry. This seemed to be the first time she’d expressed such strong dissatisfaction toward me.

The atmosphere was turning frosty when Michael entered the private room with terrible timing.

"Oh, Gale Knight! You defeated the great freelancer and brought glory to Beren!"

"What kind of song is that? Don’t tell me it’s a new song about me."

"Gale Knight heroic ballad, Chapter 3. It’s a really great song."

Oh Lord. Please just stop the heroic ballads from multiplying. My toes are curling. As I knew, Chapter 1 was the story of saving the crown prince from a cowardly French assassin, and Chapter 2 was the war hero story of repelling the vicious French invasion.

The story of defeating the legendary freelancer in the tournament became Chapter 3.

Three Chapters composed in that short a span.

Street minstrels seemed pointlessly diligent.

"But somehow my beloved sister still seems angry."

"You know me well, brother. I was just about to get angry at you too."

"Rest well! Even without you and Father, we’re championship contenders, so don’t worry about the team competition!"

Michael, who’d confidently burst into the private room, fled the moment he saw Hilda’s fierce glare. The team competition commanders were Michael and Viscount Loewenbert alone.

I didn’t know the viscount’s command style, but Michael specialized in defense, so they probably wouldn’t lose easily.

I cautiously approached Hilda while reading her mood and placed a hand on her shoulder. At first she tensed and wouldn’t let me embrace her, but soon she glanced at me, then sighed deeply and settled into my arms.

Somehow, I felt like she was letting me off easy.

"Wolf, I’m angry because I love you."

"Of course. I know that. I won’t overdo it again. Trust me."

"I really resent the me from a week ago."

Hilda, who’d said participating in the tournament was her wish, resented her past self. So I comforted her, telling her never to think that way. After Hilda’s mood lifted, I could truly rest.

Waaah!

The team competition was as fierce as the individual competition and had the appeal of watching various strategies unfold. In that regard, the War Ministry’s strength in team competitions stemmed from their experience commanding duchy armies.

The Grand Duke’s Guard and Imperial Knights didn’t participate. The Guard commander and Knights commander were both sidelined with injuries, and there were no suitable replacements to lead them.

Coincidentally, I’d sent both commanders to the duchy hospital.

Because of that, there was an uproar about the lack of commanders to escort the Grand Duke.

Hey, that’s not my fault, is it?

If they were worried about absences from injuries, they shouldn’t have let those two compete in the first place.

The Steinhof family participated with Fiel at the center, becoming the War Ministry’s strongest rival. Fiel stood out in the team competition too, crushing the regional team knights head-on in round 1 and routing them instantly.

If the War Ministry was a solid shield, Steinhof was a sharp spear.

If the two families met, it would truly be a battle of spear versus shield.

I’d need to return to lead the War Ministry’s offense.

But right now, Hilda was taking devoted care of me.

So I leisurely watched the team competition matches.

Ten teams total participated in the team competition preliminaries. Originally sixteen teams had entered, but many withdrew because their commanders had been injured in the individual competition or had forfeited.

Of these, five teams advanced to round 2: the War Ministry, Steinhof family, freelancer Terese team, Offenburg family, and Beren Lance Cavalry.

Tournament audiences treated team competitions as the main event over individual competitions.

There was a reason the crowd loved brawls.

Team competitions were essentially organized brawls.

The difference was that they involved strategy and tactics.

In the War Ministry’s case, Michael acted as the anvil, absorbing enemy attacks, while the viscount led a small cavalry force as the hammer to strike from behind.

Hammer and anvil tactics were the most basic, but equally effective and had been reliably employed for ages. Offenburg used a similar approach.

Meanwhile, Steinhof and the Beren Lance Cavalry preferred frontal assault tactics. Watching them felt like seeing tanks pushing through trenches—if those two clashed, it would be reminiscent of tank-on-tank warfare.

The Terese team used tactics centered on breaking the fight into individual duels. That approach was thoroughly customized for tournaments.

Doing that on a real battlefield would be a recipe for getting picked off one by one, but team competitions were 15-on-15 fights, so it was ideal for knights confident in single combat.

Team competition rules were simple.

Basically best two out of three.

First, attack opponents until lances break. Once lances shatter, draw blunt club-swords and beat each other. No forfeits, no surrenders.

If you fall off, you’re out, so you have to quickly exit the field to avoid getting trampled by hooves.

Very straightforward rules where you win if even one person remains standing at the end.

Team competitions were the safest and most entertaining matches fought on horseback. There was the disadvantage of having to scramble off the field the moment you fell, but as the most popular main event, they were beloved by the audience.

Among the five teams, the one advancing on a bye was the Beren Lance Cavalry.

The commanders leading each team came out to draw lots, and this time the cavalry commander’s luck was good.

The man who’d been the first to charge in during the brawl also had amazingly good luck with draws. When I asked later why he’d fled the jousting field so quickly, he shot back asking where you’d find a lunatic who fistfights a knight in full armor. Hmm, I was surprised he was sharper than I’d given him credit for.

The War Ministry had truly bad bracket luck.

The same went for Offenburg, who’d drawn them.

The first round 2 match pitted Steinhof against the Terese team, meaning the winner would advance straight to the finals. But the second match between the War Ministry and Offenburg meant the winner still had to face the bye-advancing Beren Lance Cavalry for a spot in the finals.

Looking at the bracket confirmed by lottery, Michael clung to me in dismay.

"Brother-in-law! Help!"

In the end, I decided to participate in the team competition too.