A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 1119 An Army in need of Improvement - Part 6
1119: An Army in need of Improvement – Part 6
1119: An Army in need of Improvement – Part 6
“Then at the very least you facilitate it,” Verdant said.
“You can see where it flows, and then the very image of you, symbolic or poetic, or literal – it serves as an inspiration for even the lowliest of men to dare to reach for more. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
I ask you this, my Lord.
What happens when you reach that Fourth Boundary?
These men that most would call peasants, and slaves, and even those broken men that we’ve seen ride under Yorick’s banner, and those everso proud Blackthorn men, what would happen to them all?”
“I know not,” Oliver said.
“They might grow disillusioned, realizing the unfairness of fate.
Why should I be granted the role of the Fourth Boundary when no others would be?”
“Because you’re the one with the will to seize it,” Lasha put in, speaking up for the first time in a short while.
“Indeed, I am in agreement with the Lady,” Verdant said.
“You are the foundation upon which these soldiers dare to build.
You are a grand city, with the highest of walls, and only because of your support do these men feel prepared enough to reach for more.
If you grow, they shall grow.
They’ll dare to grow.
You open the world up for them.”
“Verdant…” Oliver said.
“You’re growing too impassioned.
You’re forcing me towards another one of your beliefs.”
“That’s a cruel accusation my Lord,” Verdant said.
“I acknowledge that I have indeed grown impassioned, but I shall not force you in any direction that you do not pull yourself in already.
I will simply not allow you to deny yourself.
You want this, do you not?”
“…I do,” Oliver said, looking away.
“Despite my duty here, if times were different, I would dedicate it all to the sword.
I wish to forge into all my old styles all that I have learned here in seeing Karstly do war, and crossing swords with Khan.”
“Then do it, my Lord,” Verdant said.
“You will hinder no one.
These men will grow.
You have seen them today.
They can be free of you for a week, and they will not slow for the lack of you.
However – if you do achieve what you set out to, you will transform both of them, and you will transform us.
You will become a victory condition of the highest order.
A Sword in the truest sense.
You will stand in a Boundary that even these great Generals have struggled to climb to.
Is it not worth going all that way?”
“I wish to see it,” Lasha said earnestly.
“It has been three years, Oliver, and I have been watching you, expecting it to come… I can sense that it is near.
You have been holding yourself back.
You need not hold back any longer.
Even if it means I have to begin to command in your place for a while, I shall do it.”
“The two of you…” Oliver said.
“Sense it is near?
I can barely sense that myself.
I don’t have a clue how you suppose that you can.”
“I simply believe that I do,” Lasha sniffed.
“I do not think I am so far away from the Third Boundary myself… Though I am more unsure about that.”
“If you’re unsure about even yourself, then how can you be so sure about me..?”
“My Lord, is it not worth a try?” Verdant pressed.
“Is there anything more to think about, when we weigh the positives and when we weigh the negatives, what more are we losing?”
“It could be that I ought to be spending this time honing in on my strategy and my use of Command,” Oliver said.
“That would be more sensible, wouldn’t it?”
“It would be, my Lord,” Verdant said.
“But that has never been your approach, has it?
You come from a place of overwhelm, rarely precision.
The most precise path does not need to be the one you follow, for you harness a strength that is magnitudes higher than what ought to be expected of you.
Indeed, I believe this road to be your one.”
“In a week, the two of you expect me to cross the Fourth Boundary?” Oliver said, clarifying.
“In a week, at the very least, I expect you to be far closer to the Fourth Boundary than you otherwise would have been.
I believe your training time at the moment to be more valuable than anything else these thousands of soldiers atop this Lonely Mountain can do,” Verdant said.
“Which is why it is such an affront that these fools have interrupted it.
They will pay for that.”
“Hah!
Now you’ve gone a step too far,” Oliver said.
“Will you at least allow me to speak with Samuel?” Verdant asked.
“For what purpose?”
“For the purpose of enhancing the chances of your success?
Surely this is a proposition that Karstly’s man is sure to wish to agree to?” Verdant said.
“If you can be granted a degree of privacy, so that you might train without the potential for someone to stumble upon you, and irritate you, as these last men have, would that not be a boon?”
“It would be,” Oliver said.
“But do you really think Samuel will take us seriously?
I can’t even take you seriously.
You believe in my chances of success far more than I do.”
“I do not think that to be true, my Lord,” Verdant said.
“I think you to be merely silencing the part of yourself that thinks it.”
As if on queue, Ingolsol’s voice finally reached Oliver.
“It is about time,” he growled.
“The Fourth Boundary should have been ours long ago, if not for your fear.
I deserve further power.
I will not remain a mere Fragment of the Third Boundary.
It is insulting.
Do you not believe so, wench?”
“All Fragments wish for growth,” Claudia said.
“It is only natural.
We are pieces of divinity, and pieces of divinity aim to coalesce.
We wish for more of ourselves than we previously had, until we are whole.”
“Until we are Gods once more,” Ingolsol seconded.
Oliver could practically see his smile.
“Even if it means tearing the body of our Vessel to pieces – we will be Gods once more.”
