Chapter Six

Sir Percival pulled the note Merlin had given him out of his pocket during the intermission. After reading it he passed it down to Sir Elyan, who read it and then passed it down to Sir William who passed it to Sir Phineas and so forth.

Eylan nodded at Percival and together they made their way to the center of the room where the contestants were standing so the audience could get one last look as they voted.

"Percy! Ely! Come to see my perfection up close. That is quite kind of you. Scoring me a 5 is quite silly when I am clearly a 100 but do not worry I won't take it as an insult."

"Shut up, Gwaine" Leon spoke exasperated at being looked at and measured like life stock. "Hello Percival, Eylan, such a shame the both of you couldn't volunteer as well."

Both knights snickered at the contestants before jotting down a quick number on their papers and moving towards the prince and servant.

"Hello." Merlin said smiling at the two, "how did you like the contest?"

"It was very entertaining." "It was quite good." The knights responded with a Cheshire smile.

Elyan and Percival took a last look at Merlin before turning to Arthur.

"Sire."

"Gentleman." Arthur nodded at them as they quickly took down their notes and walked over to Sir Kay to give him their votes.

Meanwhile the queen was walking through the crowd listening to people whisper about the scores they were giving.

Sir Leon much to his pleasure and dismay was not scored highly. That isn't to say he did not do well but his performance was quite lacking to several in the crowd.

Sir Gwaine appeared to be a fan favorite among several of the ladies both of the lower town and courtesans.

Merlin also did well. With being close to the Royals, quite attractive, and getting to know a majority of the city from helping Gaius it was not surprising to discover that the court warlock had several admirers.

Lastly, her husband. As king he did very well. Similar to Leon he did just well enough and was attractive to gather several votes, however his performance needed a bit more. Unlike Leon though he was the king and despite his words to vote fairly and without bias several people would still be voting for him.

It seemed like the winning team was quite clear to everyone as well as the winner. Gwen didn't know whether she should be happy or not. She just knew that at the very least maybe now her husband would want a shave so she wouldn't have to keep kissing the squirrel on his face.

Gwen had just finished marking down her ratings for each of the men and was heading for Sir Kay when she spotted her brother whispering suspiciously with a group of knights.

She pursed her lips and misstep changed her direction to walk towards them instead.

"Hello. I hope you are all enjoying this tournament. "

After the formalities that must be taken when talking to a queen one brave knight finally answered for the lot of them.

"I am glad." The queen said before turning to her brother, "Eylan, would you care to walk with me? It feels like we are overdue for a brother-sister chat."

Eylan smiled tightly, "I'd love to." and offered his arm.

Gwen quickly steered him to walk around the chambers. "What exactly are you up to?"

"Im enjoying the tournament."

"I wasn't born yesterday, Eylan. What are you and the knights up to?"

Eylan laughed, "Alright. You caught us, we're planning a coup."

Gwen's eyes widened for s millisecond in surprise before narrowing, "You shouldn't joke about treason. Even if you are the Queen's brother. Now tell me, what is going on?"

"Alright. Well, give me a moment. It's easier to show you." Eylan stepped away from Gwen and went to Sir Rupert the final owner of the note and had him slip it in his hand as inconspicuously as possible to any onlookers.

Once he returned he passed the note to his sister.

"It's from Merlin."

Gwen slowly opened the note and gasped. The note didn't have a message. Instead a drawing of the king with a set of donkey ears and a literal caterpillar shaped mustache.

Gwen snorted and brought her hands to her face to cover up her laughter. She quickly folded the piece of paper and returned it to Eylan. "You must burn it. Go now. There better not be any copies either or you'll be joining Merlin in the stocks."

Eylan nodded making his way to do just that leaving Gwen with a humorous smirk and made her way back towards Sir Kay to hand in her vote.

Eventually, with all the votes tallied up and the final scoring written for each contestant all that was left was for Gwen to announce the vote.

"It is time for the moment you all have been waiting for."

Gwen pauses for the crowd to settle down and for effect.

"The Team of Sir Leon and King Arthur with a total ranking of 450 as a whole places in 2nd place…"

Another pause for everyone to settle down.

"... leaving the team of Sir Gwaine and Merlin in first place with a total ranking of 600."

The cheering was quite boisterous but the queen wasn't done yet. She raised her hand up for the crowd to settle down and held it up until the entire room had quieted down and we're waiting with bated breath.

"It is time for the Individual Rankings. We will start with Sir Leon. Sir Leon please step forward."

He did so and Gwen moved to step next to him.

"You scored fairly well. Unfortunately though you did place last due to poor performance. Sir Leon scored a total of 130 points-" brief pause for applause from several of the knights and some other courtesans, "Thank you Sir Leon. You may step back."

"Sir Gwaine, please move forward."

He did and Gwen moved to his side now.

"You were certainly a fan favorite and gave a great performance. However shockingly you rank only third with a total of 285 points."

Several in the crowd booed but Gwaine managed to settle the crowd down. She asked for a round of applause for the knights and then for him to step back.

"Lastly, since knowing who placed on second will automatically let everyone know who placed first, I will just say that the man who placed second was very very close."

Gwen paused, "Before I announce that person. I just want to thank everyone again for showing up to this contest. It certainly was not necessary but it is very much appreciated. Thank you all for doing your part in this ranking."

"Now as i mentioned the ranking was very close with a 5point difference. The winner with 325 points is…"

The End

A/N

ALRIGHT! Okay yeah I know. That was a bit of a dick move lol, but like seriously though if you do the math (math with numbers I literally pulled out of my... well lets just say mind but really its more like another part of my body) then you will see that it all makes sense. Also I mean technically the game was always meant to be rigged from the start. I did think of doing a switcheroo and I kept messing with the numbers back and forth so Arthur would win and then Merlin and then back and forth till finally I just gave up and left it with the winner that I mentioned above. If yall wanna do the math then just get the team total and subtract with the individual total of the knights mentioned and you'll get the winner. But like its right in the name soooo yeah.

Who do you think should have been the winner? Anyone want Leon to win? I kinda thought about it, but that would have just made him miserable.

Anyways...

Thanks again all for reading and Merry Christmas Eve and Happy Holidays!

~Agent C.