I Will Be the Greatest Knight
Chapter 68: Audience

Chapter 68: Audience

An audience wasn’t what the girl was expecting the first time she had to show her father her progression on shooting arrows while on horseback. As she brought Sorrel out to the fields beyond the barracks, she dreaded the sight of a few knights standing around as well as Felix and Leif.

If she wasn’t mistaken, there were even a few apprentices and squires inside the barracks, peeking out their windows if they were inside during that time. It felt like she had an audience which was making her even more destined to fail.

What was worse was that there were other beginner archers or already established archers within the knighthood who weren’t given that level of scrutiny. She had a feeling it had a lot to do with her father.

The large, Sünstoian man stood in the field, waiting for her with Sven and Gunnar on either side of him.

Seeing that the best archer knight on the knighthood was there, Sir Sven, then nerves started piling on and she really didn’t want to mess up after all the times she had shot alongside him.

However, feelings weren’t communicated outwardly and she kept her thoughts to herself. She even managed to keep lifting her head and her eyes forward. Perhaps the only useful thing from her past life was the way that they trained women to ignore discomfort and face everyone with this demure politeness. She had the ignoring discomfort part down but her personality was more fiery and insistent on proving itself. As long as her facade remained neutral that was all that mattered, she supposed.

Sir Arthur stroked the horse that he was so used to having in his stables. He hadn’t seen the animal all winter long and it was nice to see him working well for Arthur’s precious child even still.

"Are you ready?" Arthur asked his daughter as he looked up at her.

She had pointedly been keeping her eyes elsewhere so no one would be able to get a read on her thoughts.

If she didn’t have to worry about how others perceived her, she may stare at her father and silently beg him to make this situation leave altogether. If she stared at Sir Gunnar or Sir Sven, people might think she was seeking their approval. However, if she took a different route and stared at the apprentices who had been by her side through the passing months, they might be able to read her enough by then to know that she didn’t want to be there in the first place.

They were also the ones she wanted to prove herself to the most because they were her current competitors.

"Yes, father," she responded, using his less casual name so she could further emotionally pull herself from the situation and hopefully perform to the best of her abilities even though she knew it was something difficult for her.

There were a couple of squires named Bren and William who were not much younger than her but were asked by Sir Gunnar to bring out targets she could practice with. When they were set away from those wanting to observe, all the girl could do was take Sorrel far away and try to prove her oneness with the war horse.

He was such a good horse that control with her knees and leaning back to stop him wasn’t an issue whatsoever. It was all within her to succeed in the test.

The first gallop she would attempt was a casual and easily kept pace by her horse. It was the pace she felt most confident in despite the uneven ground she was having to be tested upon.

As she squeezed her knees and went forward, she had to tighten her core and practice perfect posture that followed the movement of the horse so she wouldn’t be working against its natural cadence.

She then unsheathed an arrow and ran its feathers through her fingers to ensure that it was straight enough to give her the aim she required to be precise. Target practice was nothing to her yet they had to go and find a way to make it difficult.

It was almost funny to her as she placed the arrow in the bow and tried to find enough stability that she could aim and not make a fool of herself in front of a good archer like Sir Sven or her father who always had such high hopes for her.

She read Sorrel’s cadence a bit late and, unable to even bother shooting the first target, she was past the second before she was even able to release the bowstring and hope that something happened that was positive.

She leaned into the saddle heavily to stop Sorrel as she anxiously watched the shot tear through the side of the practice dummy—hitting only hay and rucksack but not the wood that she was aiming for. If it had been a monster or beast, she would have torn through an outer layer and only made it angry but not defeated it.

"You can try it again!" Arthur called. "Do it faster this time."

Her expression was focused as she turned her head to her father and nodded at him once.

That time, she decided to go towards the mountains rather than away from them meaning the audience was ahead of her. She wondered if it would unsettle her a lot but she felt up to the challenge and focused enough.

With the same preparation as before, the girl let out a calming sigh before she got far enough away to give her a chance even though her father asked her to go faster that time.

Irene squeezed her knees against her horse’s sides tighter than before and Sorrel easily received the message she was sending. He took off faster that time and she felt the pressure as she lined up the shot, knowing people could watch her every expression that time.

She raised her bow and tried to read Sorrel’s movements. However, once she felt it was time to let the arrow fly, simultaneously, smoke rose to the sky in the distance and a tree in the forest fell to its side with a massive thump.

Everyone’s eyes went in the direction of the thump and they all saw the chilling sight of an ogre standing up between the trees, its sickly yellow eyes turning to the knights.

Everyone had missed Irene’s arrow hitting a nearly perfect shot at the practice dummy.

The noise of weapons being unsheathed rang throughout the Duke’s lands.

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