The healer knelt beside Ranok and helped him drink a potion. I watched for a moment. I was pretty pleased with the new Mini-Water-Spear-Of-Dueling™. Patent pending.

It had been just the right amount of force, and my Perception comfortably in the triple digits, I had great aim and missed Ranok’s vitals. It would have done no good for anyone to kill this guy. He was an asshole, and he had tried to kill me, but this was a competition. Besides, his magic had been really interesting, so I couldn’t hate on the guy too much.

The crowd was cheering, and I turned to wave at my family. Father was on his feet, laughing and clapping. Mother looked like she wanted to rush down here, while Danek was saying something to Alik with a big grin on his face.

I grinned back and waved. I even gave myself a bit of kinetic boost under my soles and rose in the air to wave at the crowd. They really liked that.

“This is a disgrace!”

I looked towards the nobles’ seats. The Belator section was agitated. Their leader stood up and pointed at me. I recognized the man as Ranok’s father, who was to take over the governor’s position, if they had won the Silver Sea Tournament, and through that gained the political power to oust the Salakin.

He was a tall man in wide-flaring dark gray and red robes. His salt and pepper goatee was long and adorned with golden bands. But the most distinct feature about him was that he was apparently a really sore loser.

“You expect us to accept this? You bring a sorcerer from Baros to fight for your House, and now you sit there pretending you have won an honorable victory?”

I was pretty sure I wasn’t from Baros, but bad guys gonna gaslight. The governor’s smile disappeared.

“Raul of the House Belator,” he said firmly. “This is unbecoming after a loss. Luka entered under the same rules as your son. If you had an objection to his participation, you should have raised it before the tournament.”

“Before we knew what he was? You told us he was a fisherman’s son from Asaid!”

“He is.”

“Then explain this!” The man gestured angrily towards the arena. “My son has trained with proper teachers for years. You expect us to believe this child learned to defeat him in some backwater village?”

I felt rather pleased with myself. Apparently my magic was so good that my entire childhood was now in question.

But there was something pretty ridiculous about this accusation.

“Wasn’t Ranok brought here from Baros?” I asked.

Raul Belator turned towards me. “My son is a member of House Belator. Our family has interests in these islands. The preparations were overt and happened over many years. We did not sneak him in.”

“You totally snuck him in,” I said. “Veena is actually from the Tapoka archipelago. You just didn’t have anyone stronger here, so you went shopping in tier 1.”

“These are vile accusations!” Raul said. “Ranok was born here, and we can prove it.”

“Raul, please,” the governor said wearily. “He was shipped to Baros as soon as he could travel after birth.”

Okay, but so he totally came from Baros. He is only technically from here.”

“That doesn’t matter!” Raul said. “We honored the rules of the tournament.”

 “Yeaaah, technically,” I said. “But you brought a horse to a pony race. Giving him proper teachers and all that expensive equipment. I came from a fishing village on Asaid.”

A few people in the stands laughed. Ranok’s father looked annoyed, but I wasn’t finished.

“I don’t mind. He was strong, and I had a good time. But you can’t literally breed your son to win this tournament and then complain that the governor found someone stronger. You were perfectly happy with the competition until he lost.”

There were murmurs of agreement from the nobles’ seats. One of the men from the lesser houses stood up. “We accepted Ranok Belator’s participation, even though for all intents and purposes he was from Baros.”

“That is different,” Raul Belator insisted. “My son’s identity and training are known to everyone. We have concealed nothing. We petitioned all this through the proper channels. This sorcerer is a mystery. For all we know he was bred as a weapon solely for this competition.”

Mother let out a strangled cry of outrage., but father placed a hand on her shoulder and stepped forward.

“He is my son,” father called out. “You can come to Asaid and ask anyone there. We have no reason to lie about where we come from.”

Raul Belator gave my father a flat look.“I am sure the governor has rewarded you well.”

Father’s face darkened. “Are you calling me a liar?”

The governor deftly cut in at this point. “Enough Raul. You will not insult my guests because your son lost a match. Sit down.”

That only seemed to anger Raul Belator. “Your guests? Is that what we are calling them? You have promised them money, protection and passage to Baros. Everyone knows it. What else have you promised this boy for securing your position?”

He sure seemed to know quite a lot about our agreement. Almost like he had a Spy making sure he knew what Salakin’s next play would be.

“You seem very well informed,” the governor said.

“I know enough to recognize what you have done. Your daughter could not win this tournament, so you found someone to win it for her. Have you no respect for the families who sent their children here to compete? These are underhanded mercenary tactics! This cutthroat operation is not within the spirit of the Silver Sea Tournament.”

The noble families murmured unsurely.

I had heard enough.

It was one thing to complain about losing. But this guy had helped arrange for a cave to be dropped on my head, and now he wanted to lecture us about fair competition?

I reached into my satchel and took out the bone flute. Then I gave Raul Belator a sweet smile.

“Let’s talk about cutthroat, shall we?”

Ranok looked at my hand and sighed to himself. 

His father turned towards me with an irritated expression. “What?”

“This flute. Someone left it where I would find it, then blew up the cave when I went to have a look.” I held it up so he could see it properly. “I was wondering if it belonged to you. Or maybe Ranok?”

The people near him stopped talking. The nobles murmured again, but there was a different tone. They sure did a lot of murmuring to decide who they should side with. Opportunistic little sneaks. Well, I guess I should go through with this to get them to side with Salakin, or Veena would smack me.

“You should be very careful, boy,” he said. “That is a serious accusation.”

“Yes,” I said. “It was a pretty serious attempt to kill me.”

A murmur spread through the seats. Some people had apparently heard about the expedition, but others were looking at the governor in confusion.

I waited. I wanted them to hear this part.

“We were hunting Awakened Beasts so I could get stronger for the tournament. Someone followed us and prepared a cave with artificed charges. There was an artifact inside to tempt me into going deeper, away from the others. Then they set the whole thing off while I was standing there.”

I looked at Ranok.

“My mother was in that cave too. Did you know that?”

He said nothing.

His father stepped closer to the edge of the seating area. “A terrible thing, if it happened as you say. But you have no grounds to accuse my family. Having a disagreement with someone does not make them responsible for every misfortune you suffer.”

“Exactly!” another Belator man said. “These kinds of accusations are just a diversion! The Salakin family will say anything to get what they want!”

That quieted everyone. The lesser nobles were clearly sitting on the fence.

But the governor was on top of this, so I just got to enjoy the show.

“Then perhaps you can explain why a servant arrested in my household knew about the attempt on Luka’s life,” the governor said. 

The Belator lord looked at him. “A servant?”

“The Spy,” the governor corrected. “House Belator Spy. He has been quite helpful since we explained that Salakin winning the tournament is the only thing between him and a blade.”

“Another wild accusation!” Raul Belator said. “I will not have my house besmirched—”

“Shut up!” one of the lesser noble house leaders said.

“Sit down!”

“What is this about a Spy?”

I looked between them with interest.

The governor hadn’t told me how that was going. I had been busy training, and he had been busy doing governor things. Apparently some of those things had been useful.

“What has he told you?” a noblewoman near Salakin seats asked the governor.

“He passed on information about Luka’s magic, his interest in artifacts and our preparations for the expedition. He knew of the plot to assassinate Luka in the jungle. He can testify.

Ranok’s father gave an angry laugh. “So you arrest a spy in your own house, and we are to take his word that he works for me? A man like that would say anything to save himself. Likely you paid him to lie for you!”

“He had letters of correspondence on him, as well as a few artifacts designed for espionage. If this is not enough for the noble families of Aligapa, we can arrange to bring truth serum from Baros.”

For the first time, Ranok’s father seemed unsure what to say. But the governor sure did. He addressed the lesser noble houses.

“My daughter was in on that expedition,” he said. “You have no idea how angry I am. She risks her life willingly, as a Warrior in service to our city. Just like the brave sons and daughters of your families. We take care of each other in the jungle, that is dangerous. If one of your families had joined us, it could have been your scion murdered by Belator.”

Raul Belator stood still, his arms hanging limply at his sides. He saw the nobles, as they seemed to finally decide which side to take.

Then another noble spoke.

“An attack on the governor’s daughter is a matter for all of us!”

“Preparing Ranok on Baros, espionage, assassination attempt.”

“Despicable!”

Several people voiced their agreement.

I looked at the flute in my hand. “You know, I was going to just enjoy winning the tournament and let the governor handle the rest. But then you started talking about how unfair it was that Ranok lost. You did this to yourself. Sow, meet reap.”

I turned towards him and used kinetic magic to flick the flute at him. 

“You had people following us through the jungle. You spent money on explosives and left an artifact for me to find. All that trouble to get rid of me before I even fought Ranok. And now you want everyone to feel sorry for you because I came back and won anyway?”

There were shouts from the crowd.

“That’s right!”

“Let the boy speak!”

It looked like Raul of the house Belator had nothing more to say. His face had gone entirely white, and he just stared at the flute in his hands mutely.

The noble houses were now fully united against him and they cheered.

The governor signaled to his guards.

“Raul of the House Belator. You and your son will remain in custody while these matters are investigated. Your men will surrender their weapons and artifacts.”

“You cannot be serious.”

“I am.”

Two Belator guards moved towards their lord. The Salakin men stopped in front of them, and for a moment nobody moved.

I started gathering mana. I wasn’t quite finished showing off today if they wanted to make an issue of it.

But one of the other nobles raised a hand to his own guards. “Assist them. We will have no fighting here.”

The Belator lord turned towards him in disbelief. “You would support this? Your house and mine were—”

The other noble cut in. “I support an investigation. If you are innocent, you should welcome the opportunity to establish it.”

The man had been sitting beside him for most of the tournament. They had seemed pretty friendly then.

I looked around the nobles’ seats. Nobody was speaking up for House Belator. A few were watching the governor, while others had turned their attention to me.

I supposed they had all seen what they needed to see.

House Salakin had won. Veena and I were the only competitors left, and we were both fighting under its colors. Whatever these people had hoped to gain by supporting Belator, they weren’t getting it today. Opportunist little sneaks. 

Danek caught my eye from the stands. He was watching the same thing and paying rapt attention. I chuckled under my breath. Good thing I had an opportunistic little sneak in my own corner.

The Belator guards surrendered their weapons. After that, it was over quickly.

Ranok’s father kept protesting as they took him away. He demanded witnesses, threatened to contact the main family and called several nobles by name. None of them came to help him.

The proctor waited until the governor returned to his seat before stepping forward.

“Luka, son of Jonaka, from the island of Asaid, advances to the final!”

The crowd erupted again.

I waved, and this time mother actually made it down to the arena. She scooped me up and kissed me several times before I could complain. Father joined us and put a hand on my head.

“You did well, son.”

“Thanks, dad.”

Danek and Alik came over too. Alik wanted to know about the last spell, while Danek looked like he was having the best day of his life.

“How much did you win?” I asked him.

He told us and we all gave him a stunned look.

“Approximately,” Danek shrugged. “There will be defaults and rearrangements I will have to deal with tomorrow.”

“You bet how much exactly?” father asked with a shocked expression.

Danek gave an embaressed smile. “I bet everything.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be like a careful businessman?” I asked and laughed.

Danek got uncomfortable and muttered something about betting with me involved was different. I didn’t really understand what he meant, but I wasn’t going to pry, if it was embarrassing for him.

Veena found us a moment later. 

She waited while mother put me down, then stood in front of me with her hands on her hips. “You had better not be thinking of forfeiting.”

I looked at her. “Well, we already won. I thought—”

“No,” she said fiercely. “I know what you’re going to say, and I won’t have it! I know you’re stronger than me. Everyone here knows it now. That doesn’t mean I want you to hand me a victory.”

She glanced towards the arena. “I trained hard for this. Prepared for years, you know. I pictured myself in the finals every night when I went to bed, because I knew how important this was to our family.”

I only waited, because she had more to say.

She gave me a complicated smile. “It is good that you won, you know. I am… grateful.”

There was a silence between us, and my strange little family smiled fondly around us.

She inhaled and continued. “I want to fight in the final, and I want you to take me seriously. I would rather lose properly than have everyone think you felt sorry for me. I don’t want you to hold back.”

“I'm not going to shoot you through the shoulder like Ranok,” I said.

“Obviously.”

“Then technically I'm holding back.”

She growled. “You’re insufferable.”

“But I promise to push you,” I said. “And give you the tournament finish you were training for.”

She got a little flustered at that, and her cheeks flared red.

I liked Veena. She could be a pain in the ass, but she worked hard, and she had been looking forward to this tournament long before I arrived.

“Alright?” I said. “Let’s give them a good show.”

She nodded and gave me a small smile.