At those words, Sovell immediately straightened, his expression tense.
Artoria likewise drove Lancelot back with a stroke of her sword and said to him:
"Lance, wait a moment. Brother Kay, how did it go?"
During their two years in Benwick, they had not met Tristan of Cornwall, but both sides had continued exchanging letters through their trade connections.
A month earlier, Tristan had sent a letter.
He said that the king of Ireland had challenged Cornwall, putting forward Ireland's foremost knight, Mahans, to invite Cornwall's finest knights to face him in single combat.
They would fight not merely for victory, but to the death.
If Cornwall won, Ireland would cease raiding its merchant ships from that day onward.
But if Cornwall lost, it would become Ireland's vassal and pay vast quantities of gold and silver in tribute every year.
Many of King Mark's knights had already been defeated, leaving only Tristan.
Before setting out, Tristan had written a letter to Sovell and the other two.
And barring anything unexpected, today's letter should contain the final result of the challenge.
It was not that Sovell doubted Tristan's martial prowess. It was just...
Tristan's skills leaned more toward archery. Although his swordsmanship was also among the finest in all of Western Europe, he remained a little short of the very best, such as Sovell.
But when it came to Tristan's skill with a lance... he was not particularly proficient.
Sovell had also heard a little about Ireland's knight Mahans.
He was the younger brother of Ireland's queen, gifted and intelligent from childhood, and the current foremost knight of the Knights of Fianna. His spearmanship was said to be unmatched, while his swordsmanship rivaled Tristan's.
The Knights of Fianna were Ireland's most powerful knightly order. In the past, they had not been a