For a moment there, he was tempted to join the fight. To stand up, walk over to the pile of wooden swords, pick one up, and face a knight. Let the other knights watch. Let them see their Baron step into the arena and swing a sword like one of them.
He imagined it: the crowd going quiet, the fighters stepping aside, the chosen knight looking nervous but determined. They would try their best, of course. They would want to impress him. They would want to show him what they could do.
But then he thought against it.
Who knows what would happen? Since they would be facing him, they would try to put in so much expectation because they set their hopes too high... and end up winning against him?
That would be embarrassing. Not because losing to a knight was shameful, they were trained fighters, after all. But because of the expectations.
