“Well, at least knock to let me know you’re back!” Alessia huffs.
I want to tell her she’s the most adorable woman I’ve ever seen, with pink cheeks and nothing but a towel around her body, but I know better than to say something that may incite murderous intent. Instead, I bow my head apologetically and retreat to my corner.
“I will next time. I’ll wait for you to finish up down here.”
Alessia rolls her eyes, surprising me with the slightest smile. “No, there’s no need for that. Get up here. I’m not done with my bath yet.”
She retreats into the bathroom, leaving the door open. I feel like I’ve been kicked in the gut, but in the best way possible. I exchange a disbelieving look with Lief.
“Did you hear what I heard?” I choke out.
Lief nods. “Mhm. Exactly as you heard.”
“Okay. I’ll be going, then. You wait down here.”
“Go get her, you knight in shining armor, you!”
Rolling my eyes, I run up the stairs and close the bathroom door behind me. Alessia’s already back in the water, a thin tuft of bubbles hiding her body from view. Mina, who I find seated by the changing seat, gives me a polite wave.
“Welcome back, Aurelio.”
“Thank you, Mina.”
“Forget the formalities, guys. We’re in the middle of an important discussion,” Alessia reminds us. She looks at me. “What idea did you have that was so brilliant you had to shout it?”
“You’re going to love this: a knight’s tournament.”
Mina and Alessia exchange a glance. “Tournament?”
“Yes, a tournament,” I confirm. “Knights already compete in local tournaments within their own training arenas. It wouldn’t be hard to put together one big event where all the capital’s knights competed for top prizes. We could develop a whole new ranking system that identifies our most skilled knights with this tournament.”
“Okay, but what does that have to do with Daelia? How does that keep her out of Krasta?” Mina questions.
“We’ll announce the knight’s tournament with a public announcement. We don’t need the Holy Mother’s permission to reserve Daelia’s time for matters of royal importance, right? Well, we’ll announce that the winners of this knight’s tournament must face down Daelia in the final round, one on one. The top three competitors will get a go at the Hero of Celestia.”
Alessia’s eyes fly wide. “Aurelio, that’s brilliant! Dealia will have to train like hells to make sure she beats the top competitors, so she’ll be busy right up until the tournament. In the meantime, our missionaries and knights get busy in Krasta, our intelligence reports will come back to us, and the citizens of Celestia will have a big event to look forward to that boosts patriotism right when we need it the most.”
“Alessia, what if we make the prizes for the top ten knights automatic general rankings in the royal army?” Mina gasps.
I nod enthusiastically. “That’ll have every knight in the kingdom fighting tooth and nail to bring their best to this tournament.
“Right! And when the tournament’s over, we’ll have a highly trained batch of knights raring to prove themselves, especially those who didn’t perform as well as they’d hoped. We’ll be able to organize an army to march on Krasta in a matter of days.”
“If we add knights to the soldier ranks, who knows how large our army will become,” Alessia says, a grin lighting up her face. “Krasta will probably surrender just at the sight of us, and then no bloodshed will happen at all!”
Ah. She wants to march on Krasta to force an end to their civil war, I infer. Smart. That’s the fastest route to peace that I can see.
“I like this idea. We’ll have to announce it later this week,” Alessia says. “When will we be sending the missionaries, do you think?”
“Not for a couple of weeks, at least. They’ll need time to organize and gather supplies,” Mina says.
“Perfect. That gives me time to relax and iron out the details of this tournament before we announce it.” She looks at me, her eyes shining gratefully. “Thank you, Aurelio. You’re brilliant, as always.”
“No need to thank me. I just happened to come up with an idea that fit the situation. You easily could have done the same.”
“Still, I appreciate it.”
Alessia gets out of the water without giving me warning. My heart leaping into my throat, I quickly turn around while Mina helps her dry off. When she goes to get dressed behind the changing screen, Mina comes to tap me on the shoulder with a wink.
