A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 1106 Movements of the Battle Board - Part 9
1106: Movements of the Battle Board – Part 9
1106: Movements of the Battle Board – Part 9
“A troubling thought,” Verdant said.
To most men, it would have seemed an inspiring one, but Oliver had to agree with his attendant.
He nodded.
“I would say so,” he said.
“I wish to live and die as a man.
The prospect of infinity terrifies me.”
He paused there, remembering the initial reason that they had gathered at all.
They were still in search of Jorah, and yet Oliver had found himself well and truly distracted by the nature of their conversation.
It stabbed right at the heart of what Oliver found important, and it was difficult not to have it sway his attention entirely.
The matter of progress was both his greatest friend, and his most feared enemy.
“Huh?
Where’s that damn Kaya… Oh!
Morning, Captain.
Morning, Vice-Captain,” Karesh said, bowing once he noticed Verdant and Oliver.
“Kaya’s gone to train,” Oliver informed him.
“We were on the lookout for Jorah, but apparently he has gone to ensure breakfast for everyone.
What of you, Karesh?
Does that greatsword against your shoulder mean you have the same intentions as Kaya?”
“Yes, Captain,” Karesh admitted.
“I thought I might be able to get some training in before we started breakfast, but it seems that my cousin has gotten the jump on me.”
“And how do you find matters currently?” Verdant said, taking Oliver’s question that he had posed earlier to Kaya, and using it before his Lord needed to.
“Matters, Lord Idris?” Karesh said, tilting his head.
“Concerning our strength, and that of our enemy,” Verdant elaborated.
“Oh,” Karesh said.
“Mm.
Well, we need to be stronger, I think… The fact that damn Firyr… Er, I mean, Commander Firyr, has gotten ahead of me properly now… It does sting a little bit.”
“You’re going to miss the competitions that you had,” Oliver noted.
“Well, at least I’ll miss having the chance to beat him, Captain,” Karesh said, frowning.
“What does it even take to go through the Second Boundary?
After all the battles that we’ve done, how come we’ve all not gone through it yet?” ƒгeewёbnovel.com
“It takes progress,” Oliver said.
“For a start.
It takes suffering.
It takes, oftentimes, responsibility.
There are many sacrifices that Claudia seems to accept.”
“…I think I’ve hit a brick wall then,” Karesh said.
“I don’t know how to go further in anything.
I train, and most days it feels like I’m going backwards rather than forwards.
Even in the battles with Khan and Amion, I didn’t feel like I was at my strongest…”
“Such is the way the river flows,” Oliver said.
“But a man with experience, who has spent multiple years in the same Boundary is likely to be met with the same thing.
It’s the pressure and need for a Boundary Break.”
“You think I’m there, Captain?” Karesh said, his eyes lighting up.
“It is far from being an impossibility,” Oliver said.
“But to break through, you need something mighty.
To overcome all those forces that seek to take progress away.
You need to overcome a mighty amount of resistance if you want to take that final step.”
The hope that Karesh had dangled in front of him was quickly snatched away, and his shoulders sank.
“What more can I do?” He murmured.
“I ain’t good at anything but swinging this sword.
Jorah’s got a hundred men under his command.
He’s way more likely to pass through than me.”
“Perhaps,” Oliver agreed.
“It seems too that Kaya is on a path of progress.
He might be just as close to a Boundary Break.”
The large youth’s eyes widened hearing that.
Jorah seemed like one thing to him – something that he could almost take for granted – but hearing that Kaya was in a similar sort of position hit him like a boulder.
“I-is that true, Captain?” Karesh stammered.
“It is true,” Oliver said with a raised eyebrow.
“Did you believe your cousin to be incapable of it?”
“No… No, of course not, I just didn’t expect it so soon, Captain… When you say he’s on the pah to progress do you mean..?” Karesh said.
“Inevitably,” Oliver replied.
“For the stage that the three of you are, Jorah included, that is the inevitable next step for you.”
Karesh gritted his teeth.
“Am I really as close as they are?” He said.
“That would depend, Karesh,” Oliver said.
“I can not push you to it.
But it seems that both Kaya and Jorah have their reasons that they wish to be stronger.
Do you have the same such reasons?”
“I do!” Karesh said.
“Of course I do.
With Firyr ahead of me, I can’t stay in the same place too long.
But what do I do, Captain?
I can’t think of anything.
No matter how hard I puzzle on the matter, no new ideas come to mind.
I just train, but I don’t feel as if I’m getting anywhere special with my training… I think I might be doubting myself.”
It was a position that Oliver knew only too well, for he had fallen into it many times himself, and indeed, he had once more fallen into it.
On the edge of the Fourth Boundary, he found himself clawing at the same door as Karesh.
For that reason, it seemed almost hypocritical for him to offer advice, but given that he had an answer – one had immediately arisen to his head when the question was offered – he could not hold it back.
For Karesh, at least, he thought it might lead somewhere.
“We’ve been given a new environment, Karesh, with new problems, and new enemies,” Oliver said.
“Surely the battle with the Verna, with Khan and with Phalem did not leave you without any sensation of surprise?
You do not mean to tell me that you knew how to overcome all the new tactics that they sent our way?”
Karesh frowned.
“No.
I don’t think I was able to overcome any of them.
Even their heavy shield walls, I don’t know what to do with them.
And when their chariots come, as everyone says they will, I think I’ll be even less useful.”