Cover by https://www.deviantart.com/linredliner
The story is based only on the anime and its concept was created before the announcement of season 2, so when it comes out, many things may be incorrect.
Four heroes from ancient times, four Twin Souls...
— Everyone is here? — the judge of the competition, looked at the competitors, silently counting them. — It seems so. As you know, the rules are simple, the first to knock down their targets wins. You probably know that during this tournament, the use of magical weapons and armor is allowed, but this competition and the next one forbid it, so you will get ordinary bows and arrows, and the magicians here will be watching you to see if you are up to something. Is that clear? — the judge saw everyone nodding. — Good. The entire competition is won by the one of the 6 winners of their duels, who has the best time, and now please approach the urn from which you will draw your numbers, and then based on them your opponents will be assigned to you.
The drawing was carried out efficiently, Menno drew 2 so he started first, Christian 10, which made Menno breathe a little with relief.
— Your opponent is Sir Dougal, who is a really good archer, but his strong and weak point is his methodicalness, he shoots at a constant fast pace, so if you manage to shoot down 2 targets faster than him, it may provoke him to accelerate, and then he may make a mistake.
The conversation was interrupted by the appearance of Lord Haart's daughter, Evie.
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(Evie looks)
— Don't let her lovely face and appearance fool you, the girl can fight and fight well, I dare say even better than some of the knights here. — Said Christian, who stood right next to Menno. — You could say that she inherited all the best traits from her parents, from her looks to her talent for fighting.
— Greetings knights. I have been given the honorable duty of patronizing this tournament competition. Fight, worthily, so that I may honor one of you with the highest prize. You have prepared your body and your spirit, so it is time to enter the ranks! — After these words Evie sat on the throne that was prepared for her from which she carefully watched the competitors.
Then the trumpet sounded and the herald appeared:
— Before you is the captain of the royal guard Sir Dougal, nephew of the king and a first-class archer. He will only target blue shields. — Then his gaze turned to Menno. — Against him a new, more widely unknown lord... he represents the Ironfist family, here is Sir Menno. He will only target red shields.
— May the best win. — Dougal announced and took his place on the line.
— May the best win. — Menno repeated, nodded and also took his place.
After giving them the bow and arrows, they both drew the first arrow and waited for the signal. There were twice as many arrows as targets, so you could only miss once on the target, and there was also the pressure of time and the opponent's skills, so Menno tried to focus solely on the targets, ignoring the rest of the surroundings. The conditions were perfect, no wind, no sun in the eyes, so all that was left was to hit the target quickly.
The sound of the bugle gave the signal to start and it began, Menno shot almost flawlessly, missing only three times, but he shot fast enough to gain an advantage over Dougal, who, according to Christian, kept his pace and thanks to that managed to win, although the difference was small, only 10 seconds or less. And it only worked because Menno, unlike Dougal, who had become a habit, did not draw the bowstring all the way to the end because nothing affected the flight of the arrows, so there was no need for that, because if he had, he would have lost badly.
