Then it hit me, it was the gentlemans smell that was throwing me off, he didn’t smell “common” a commoner by the very nature of working in dirt, dung, and grim, and not having much better to clean themselves in than a ditch, or stream if they’re lucky had a kind of smell to them. Mostly a mild earthy aroma with touches of sweat, and whatever their occupation was, sometimes covered by lye soap.

Hey we did our best!

The gentleman smiled “That makes sense, what are your plans for the tournament then?”

I chuckled “Work, I don’t have much opportunity to do much else if I want to eat more than one meal a day. But if I do have time I’ll probably make a few bets once the preliminaires are over. ”

The gentleman chuckled, and nodded “I can understand that, what is it that you do to work?

I could tell that this gentleman was sizing me up, his questions were intelligent, he was educated. I figured he was a noble, or a very successful merchant. I kept my deduction to myself for the moment. “Four days of the week, I work for the butcher two of the days of the week I work the local farms, and finally I rest one day reading what I can.”

The gentlemans eyebrows rose at that, “You can read son?” he asked in surprise.

I nodded “Not many books around here, I think I actually have read all the books in the county at least all the ones I could get my hands on.”

The gentleman nodded, stood, and excused himself, but before he departed “ I said in a lower voice under the general humm of the inn. “If you’re going to pretend to be a commoner, take a walk through a herd of sheep.”

The illicated a smirk from the gentleman, as he made his way out of the door.

Eventually the tournament began, the preliminaries were a spectacle in unskilled, ungangly brawling, where winners were mostly chosen by mere dumb luck. I was glad that I didn’t start betting right at the start. But eventually everything mellowed out, and there were thirty two competitors, as predicted the sponsored competitors did well for themselves. It was time to start betting.

Sixteen pairs of competitors, I picked one, Justin VS Grady. Taking a leap of faith I put all my money on Grady because Grady, while somewhat older than Justin, had a lot of scars on his face, and knuckles. More scars translated to me more experience, or better tolerance for pain at the least.