Chapter 659: Chapter 307: Someone Cheated?
Olivia noticed Leon’s slight hesitation on his face.
“….Does this one not feel right?”
She curiously took the lance from Leon, raised the lance head to feel it.
Once in hand, the girl slightly furrowed her brows. She brought it close to her cheek, swaying the lance while listening carefully.
At this moment, hurried footsteps approached, someone shouted from behind the group: “Wait a moment! Everyone, my lords.”
Leon turned his head.
They saw a plump man, dressed similarly as a quartermaster, jogging over.
“Sorry, my lord, this batch of lances has already been chosen by another group of lord knights, payment is done, someone will come to pick them up tomorrow.” The chubby quartermaster apologized with a smile.
The guiding quartermaster was a bit surprised, “This pile is sold too? So fast? This competition is indeed intense.”
As he spoke, he turned to Leon, somewhat awkwardly, “My lord, let me find some for you again, rest assured, apart from these sent from the Farayel Domain, there are still many riding lances crafted by craftsmen from the King’s Domain in the warehouse. The craftsmanship from our Klonia Territory guarantees to be no worse than those Western artisans.”
The newly arrived plump quartermaster repeatedly nodded, pointing to a nearby pile of spare lances, “Yes, you see, that batch is crafted by our local Oran Craftsmen Guild, made from Quiruin Iron Pine, crowned blunt tip, and both elegant and of good quality, I guarantee you’ll be satisfied.”
Leon felt slightly odd inside but just gave a slight nod, didn’t dwell on it, it doesn’t matter whether it’s Levia Poplar Wood or Quiruin Iron Pine, as long as it meets the standard and is usable.
Following the two quartermasters over, he tried that local batch, indeed the feel and weight felt much more balanced, without that faintly heavy sensation.
After paying, he reserved that batch, Leon and his party left the warehouse.
While planning to return and ask Lokhak to arrange for someone to pick up the goods, halfway back, he felt Olivia gently tug at his hand.
“Leon, just now that lance made from Levia Poplar Wood felt a bit strange.” The girl raised her eyes and said earnestly.
“Strange?” Leon recalled the earlier feeling and nodded, “I also felt it was a bit heavier, the balance of the lance body was particularly forward, the weight distribution wasn’t quite balanced.”
Olivia shook her head, “Not only that, I heard faint friction noise from inside, not solid, although fitted tightly, that sound is like metal being compressed inside the wood.”
Leon was surprised upon hearing, “You mean… the lance has a steel core encased in a wooden shell?”
“Yes, I think I heard it correctly.” Olivia said confidently.
Leon certainly did not doubt her judgment.
“….Interesting, could someone be trying to cheat in the competition?” Leon glanced back at the warehouse.
In contests in this world, the lances used are all wooden, unlike the steel lances used by Knights of Valor on the battlefield.
This is intended to reduce the terrifying lethality of mounted knight charges.
Wooden lances also increase the difficulty for skilled knights hitting each other off horseback, along with the splendid visual impact when lance bodies burst open from a clever, angled impact, entertaining the audience.
But if the wooden lance core was lined with steel, Leon suspected that this might aim to fully transfer the force of the knight’s charge to the opponent.
As long as one can knock the opponent off the horse, or even injure them, then even without the glory of the blast, just relying on the score for knocking them off would be enough to win the duel.
However, doing so, Leon felt the risk was considerable, if the wooden lance shell broke revealing the steel core, undoubtedly, the knight would not only face severe punishment and public humiliation, becoming a laughingstock, mocked globally, but could also risk losing the knight title. The consequences were very serious.
On further thought, Leon found it strange, those lances, even the whole pile, were reserve competition weapons prepared by the official contest warehouse, not some personal cheating tools of any knight.
Stroking his chin, Leon’s thoughts continued to diverge.
Upon careful thought, it also made sense, perhaps someone bribed the contest’s quartermaster, leaving a record through this intermediary method so that if exposed during the competition, they could claim it was an officially provided reserve weapon, evading the charge of cheating.
Of course, it cannot be ruled out that someone intended to use this batch of lances to frame a particular knight, ruin their reputation.
The possibilities within are simply too many.
“Should we go back to check again, or report this to the contest officials immediately?” Kovis suggested after overhearing their conversation.
Upon hearing, Leon shook his head: “No rush, we’re just speculating casually, besides, just now the attitude of that fat official was quite coincidental… If we go back and openly reveal it, if something is going on, we might alert them.”
Though with his current status, reporting it upwards, this matter would promptly be thoroughly investigated.
But now with no evidence, perhaps it would just alert them, and the batch of lances still lying quietly in the warehouse without a buyer.
Plus, he only touched one lance earlier, he couldn’t determine whether the other lances in that batch were normal competition gear.
After all, perhaps it’s merely a simple case where one lance did not meet quality standards, and a craftsman secretly inserted an iron rod for support.
Sometimes, certain discoveries that seem alarming might merely be the result of someone doing something ridiculously foolish without thought, leading to a misunderstanding.
If it’s merely a misunderstanding, causing a ruckus might bring bad luck to a bunch of people, from the quartermaster managing the warehouse to the craftsman supplying the reserve weapons.