A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 1104 Movements of the Battle Board - Part 7
1104: Movements of the Battle Board – Part 7
1104: Movements of the Battle Board – Part 7
“There is one way,” Oliver said.
“We conquer the lands that we came here to conquer, and she will be assured her safe return.”
Kaya twisted his lips unhappily.
“Do not look down on her, if she means something to you, Kaya,” Oliver said.
“It was her own will that brought her here.
Though she was not on the frontlines, she was dragged through the same battlefields as us.
I know that I would not want to experience the terror of staying in a carriage when war is going on around me.
You’ve got to give her some respect for that.”
“Of course, Captain… Of course I see that.
But she’s too kind-hearted a woman for a place like this,” Kaya said, wearing a conflicted expression.
“She shouldn’t be made to see the same things as us.
All those corpses burning, and she was so near it.”
“The Lonely Mountain as it stands is the safest place for her,” Oliver said.
“She can fulfil her duty to her Lady, whilst remaining as safe as she could possibly be this deep into Verna lands.
The time to worry for her safety has passed.
To ensure that safety remains the same, we can only keep ourselves strong enough to ward away any threat.”
“…And we are the defenders of this mountain now,” Kaya noted, a resolute look in his eyes.
It was the truth.
Two thousand of them remained behind, and whilst they remained here, they were the sole defenders, without even General Karstly to watch over them.
In his place, there were instead two Blackthorn Colonels with shared command, though Oliver knew little about the two of them.
“We’re gathering the men for training,” Oliver said.
“Have you seen Jorah?”
“I think he went to gather breakfast for the men as well, Captain,” Kaya said, increasing his formality to a degree, seeming to realize that he was speaking too familiarly earlier.
“And what of you, Sergeant-Major?” Oliver said.
“Where do your thoughts lie, after the battles that we have overcome?
When they are not with Pauline, that is.”
Kaya flushed slightly, realizing how out of place his conversation had been with his Lord.
“Firyr has grown stronger, Captain… Much stronger.
I do not wish to be left behind.”
“Oh?”
“I think it is time that I crossed through the Second Boundary as well.
I do not think myself to be much weaker than Firyr.
Of course, he is a man that has endured more than me, and I have to recognize the strength of that… But I don’t think I can keep losing to him.
I have my own sort of way of fighting… There’s surely a way to make myself even more effective,” Kaya said.
“Indeed, there will be,” Oliver said.
“Especially against the tactics that these Verna men are so fond of employing.
Those heavy shields that even spears struggle to pass.
They require a man to get in closer, and use the weight of the shield against the enemy.”
There came a flash of realization from Kaya at that.
“…To use the weight against the enemy,” he said.
It was something that was only possible to such extremes for him, for his hands were still relatively open as he fought, with his spiked-gauntlets.
He was very much in a position to reach out and grab those shields, dragging them forward along with their men.
A single powerful tug, and there was little that even the strongest men could do to control their weight.
“Damn it all,” Kaya said.
“I wish I had realized that sooner, Captain…”
“It is something that will need to be practised before it is employed.
It is a good thing that you did not realize it sooner.
It’s a dangerous method, after all.
There will be spears searching for you as you do it.
But nevertheless, I think it puts you in a better position to break apart their heavy shield walls than any of us.
You don’t need to bash your way through them with unreasonable strength.
You can use martial technique against them, and then sow chaos when you step through,” Oliver said.
“I might go as far as to say that if performed properly, you could dismantle an entire heavy shield wall by your lonesome.
Your style for fighting in close… It will cause the greatest degree of harm from there.”
The young Sergeant-Major clenched his fists.
The look on his face told Oliver that he could see the scene as Oliver described it.
He could imagine himself inflicting that sort of chaos amongst those men.
No matter how tight and how heavy those shield walls became, it meant nothing if that weight was pulled the other way by a man like Kaya.
His hands were ridiculously strong, and he had the build of a wrestler.
Even without the Second Boundary to augment him, he could cause chaos there.
“Can I go further still, Captain?” Kaya asked, looking up.
“It was you that gave me this strength to fight on the battlefield in the first place.
If not for you, I would be stuck wielding a spear, and I would think myself to be weak.”
“You can go further,” Oliver told him.
“All of you can.
There are monsters dwelling in the three of you.
If you struggle with the lock, one day you will find the shape of the key, and you will find yourself like Firyr, propelled into the Second Boundary, and the Patrick armies will be stronger for it.
I have many hopes for you.
You, in particular, Kaya.
The martial style they you utilise is rare enough that it might be integral come future missions.”
“Not Jorah?” Kaya said, looking up in surprise.
“With how he commands on instinct, without hardly having ever properly studied strategy?
Or Karesh, who’s so much stronger than I am?”
“They have their uses,” Oliver said.
“They will be monsters in their own right.
But only you will be distorted by strangeness, and you must use that strangeness to your advantage.”
Kaya nodded slowly, letting the words fall through the lines of his mind, as he sorted them into the right categories.
A feeling was beginning to spread in his chest.
He’d already been ready to train that morning, having seen Pauline, and vowing to himself to protect her, but now that will to train had grown into something that was almost a manic desire.
