Mentally shrugging her shoulders, she decided to investigate the issue later. Whilst it wouldn't really affect her, she didn't like that even more unknown variables were rearing their head this early on.
She had enough on her plate already just trying to get Delphina's memories to one hundred percent.
Skills not working properly? Now that was an awful kettle of fish to spill out; it seemed she couldn't be as arrogant going forward, just assuming they would smooth things out for her. Luckily, she had skills to stack and interchange similar effects till it was a guaranteed success.
Though that meant the penalty tonight would be worse.
Shivering slightly at the thought of the potential future, Delphina realised she had been staring off towards the different Knight squads for some time now. Rather than concentrating on the scene in front of her.
"Sister?"
Smoothly turning her head and giving Pietro a small smile, she apologised to the final squad that was introducing themselves.
"My apologies, I was just thinking about the Tournament structure. I think our personal squads participating might be a touch unfair to the others. But please continue, brother."
Ignoring the odd look Pietro shot her, she smiled at the Deputy-Captain who stood at the forefront.
"Ahem, it is no problem, Your Ladyship. We of the Silverwraiths are glad to make your acquaintance!"
With this, the eight squad members snappily hammered their fists on their chests as one. Once the obnoxious ringing sound subsided, the Deputy continued.
"If it is not too presumptuous, I have a suggestion for the Tournament structure that may help with your concerns?"
Glancing at Pietro's face as he said this, the Deputy was clearly worried about stepping out of line with Delphina.
Seeing this, she stifled a laugh.
Instead of clamming up, she chose to cough into her fist and give Pietro a playful wink. Watching him stealthily roll his eyes at her behaviour, Delphina continued to snicker behind her hand, feeling somewhat victorious.
"Yes, yes, such a handsome and stoic Captain in front of your squad."
This victory was cut short as Pietro stepped closer to her and proceeded to sneakily throw a kidney punch.
Wheezing out another cough in surprise, Delphina had no time to rectify the situation as he smoothly moved his arm around the tops of her shoulders in a friendly embrace.
"Go ahead."
"Yes, Captain!"
"My suggestion is that we engage is one on one bouts, bound by the level of both the Knights and the Hunters. This is to prevent individual squad members from being unfairly caught up in inter-departmental grievances!"
Delphina immediately understood where the Deputy was going with this.
"I have no problem with it, I already am aware there are some Hunters who won't be participating. But doing individual bouts will take far too long for one day."
Turning her head up to look at Pietro, she ignored the tingling in her lower back that seemed to become worse the longer she looked at his face.
"Shall we do a free-for-all, constrained by the different levels to begin with, and the top 5 of each continue to the one-on-one bouts?"
Slowly uncrossing her arms as she said this, she subtly manoeuvred her left hand down behind Pietro's back. Waiting till she finished her question, she swiftly seized a handful of muscle on his lower back and squeezed.
Narrowing her eyes at him a she did so, all he did was watch her stealthy moves out of the corner of his eye. She knew he knew that she knew that he knew what she was doing the whole time.
Waiting until his lips became slightly pale from the pain, she then turned to face the Deputy again, releasing Pietro from her torturous pinch.
"However, that is precisely why my personal Hunter squad and brother's Knight squad cannot participate. It would be unfair to the others. Unless you want to face off against your own squad specifically?"
Widening his eyes at her question, he appeared to think for a moment before nodding.
"Yes, Your Ladyship. I would rather put forward a single Knight than let our younger team members miss out on this opportunity."
"Okay! Brother, what do you think? You said you'd organise the Tournament after all."
Finally removing his hand from her shoulder, she breathed a sigh of relief as he stepped back to stand in front of his squad.
"Yes, let's do it that way, sister, let each of our squads fight until there's one representative. They can then join the Elite Knights free-for-all. The top four can then be placed into the Tournament to face an enemy of their own level."
Openly giving him a thumbs up, the Tournament structure was decided on.
"Ah, wait. What about the other Sword Masters?"
To this, Pietro replied by just giving her a flat stare.
"What's that look for? I can't be the only Sword Master besides Pietro, surely?"
"Sister, just say you want to participate. I don't mind."
"Oh!"
Rubbing the back of her head, she shyly smiled.
"Was it that obvious? Hehe…"
Striving her best to be cutesy as she said this, she finally knew what she looked like when her eyes rolled back. After all, Pietro was doing just that in response to her… Antics.
Rubbing a hand over his face, he sighed rather loudly before straightening back up.
"No, I understand, sister. It's not like you've sparred with the Knights properly; I should have arranged for it sooner. We'll make it a grand finale for everyone to watch the Sword Masters free-for-all."
Turning around, he then ordered the Silverwraiths to coordinate with the other Knights to get the venue set up for after lunch.
Seeing as Pietro was busy, Delphina decided to sort her own issues out.
"Jenkins, you caught all of that, didn't you?"
The pinching or the punching, my Lady?
Snapping around to glare at him, she pouted at the relaxed stance he had, hands behind his back and legs shoulder-width apart. He really did look like a Soldier at the moment.
"You know full well I meant about the Tournament, go inform the Hunters about the arrangements. Especially… Those four."
Sighing as she remembered the state they had been left in, she still had no doubt one of the fuckers would make it through the preliminaries to the finals.
Right away, my Lady, I will be back to accompany you to the Soldiers momentarily.
Mimicking his posture, Delphina nodded to the automaton. Watching him bow his head in response and stride off back the way they had come, she kept her eyes on him till his form was no longer visible.
"Brother, can you come here for a moment?"
Listening to the soft chorus of voices behind her suddenly stop, she waited till Pietro's heavy footsteps made their way to her.
"Sister?"
Lowering her voice so only he could hear, she leant back to whisper near his ear.
"Send your squad away, we need to talk in private."
Keeping her eyes still in the direction Jenkins had gone, she couldn't tell what expression he was pulling, but she practically felt his muscles tense with how close he had chosen to stand.
"Sure… Are there any problems?"
Sighing loudly as he wasn't getting the hint, she decided to move on from her momentary suspicion. Turning her head towards him, she decided to update him on other issues.
"The Burgess Knights are almost here. Did you know?"