A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 739: Cleaning Up - Part 7

"…" Oliver didn’t know what to say. With Skullic’s input, it made the situation with the High King seem even more real. It wasn’t as though Oliver had dismissed it before, but his grasping of the nature of the conflict that he was involved in didn’t seem to nearly have the accuracy of Skullic’s.

He’d assumed it was a cat-and-mouse game, politics, more than anything… but there was another side to that, and it was the strategic side and the military evaluation of their positioning.

"Now, if I’m playing that board, and I see those two moves made. One, a distancing from Asabel, the only piece supporting your position, and two, and blatant building of a target worthy of attack, I’m thinking ’trap’ even more so. I’m likely going to spend days staring at the same position, assuming I’ve missed something," Skullic said. "That is, if I was going against an opponent I deemed worthy.

If I was going against some I assumed to be a fool, I’d call their bluff, and all-out attack when they were weakest."

"…And which way do you suppose they’re evaluating me?" Oliver asked.

"The latter, probably," Skullic said gravely. "I’m afraid that showing that sort of weakness to a power that overestimates itself is only inviting conflict."

"Have I blundered?" Oliver asked.

"No. You’ve made the best moves available to you, based on your temperament. The game isn’t over yet, but understand that you’re in considerably volatile territory now, boy. Tread carefully. You seem to want to spare Princess Asabel’s feelings, by not using her merely for political advantage.

Well, commend you for that, I suppose – but if you want to rectify your position on this board, to justify what you’re doing in Solgrim, you need her back, even more strongly than before," Skullic said firmly.

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Oliver was shaken by the man’s seriousness. He almost wished that he’d consulted with Skullic earlier.

"What will you do?" Skullic pressed him. "Will you forsake your pride, and clarify matters with the Princess, or will you leave things as they are?"

It was a hell of an ultimatum to suddenly get hit with. Oliver couldn’t help but think that if Skullic knew the true circumstances surrounding their argument, he would have been much less likely to push Oliver towards it.

The problem, to Oliver, seemed to be one with the Princess herself. But wasn’t that what everyone thought whenever they got into an argument? That the other person was somehow wrong? But even phrasing it as an argument seemed wrong to Oliver. It was hardly an argument.

The Princess has suggested something preposterous, something that he could never do, because he’d accidentally tread on a mine that he shouldn’t have.

He couldn’t even be sure that she wouldn’t do something, even if he didn’t meet her, to be frank…

"Fine," Oliver said. "I suppose I’ll arrange something."

Skullic relaxed. "Good, that’s the mature decision. Your career as a leader amongst men will be one of sacrifice. There will be many times when you have to sacrifice your personal wants, and the personal wants of others for the sake of the group. This is one such time."

There came a nod in reply from Oliver. Indeed, he’d agreed to meet with the Princess, but in his mind, it wasn’t for the sake of pressuring her to dispel rumours that the relationship between the two of them had fallen apart. It was more an attempt to make sure that she would not do anything rash.

She was too thoughtful a person to leave what had happened between them untouched, after all. She was seriously taken by her conviction that her ability to heal – as she declared it – made her some kind of monster deserving of execution. That didn’t sit right with Oliver, but he didn’t know what he could do to change her mind.

Still, he figured, he likely had to see her at some point. With Skullic pressuring him to do so for the sake of politics, he had all the reason he needed.

"What’s that look on your face for?" Skullic said.

"What look?" Oliver asked.

"You’ve just got a look like you’re planning something irritating… Am I going to wake up tomorrow with reports of another incident?" Skullic said. "You’ll be making me an old man at this rate."

"I wasn’t planning anything," Oliver assured him. "Nothing beyond what we’ve already discussed."

Skullic eyed him suspiciously, guessing that there was some sort of way Oliver had avoided lying, but also avoided speaking wholly truthfully when he’d said that. The General could sense trouble like a bloodhound could sense prey.

"…Just don’t go over the top," Skullic said finally. "Have we discussed everything? I believe you wanted to get men to occupy this fort, didn’t you? Have you dragged up enough coin for that?"

"We were going to hire men of the peasantry and below, and train them up to save some coin," Oliver told him, as openly as he dared. He knew if he explicitly mentioned slaves, then the General would react even worse than Verdant had. "Then, as Verdant suggested, we’ll place some Serving Class men amongst them, to hopefully raise up the standard of the entire group."

"Peasantry?" Skullic frowned. "I know you have a history with fighting amongst the peasantry, but I can’t help but wonder whether they’ll really be worth the coin that you pay for them… Surely you’d be far better off waiting until you have enough coin to be able to sustain trained men?"

"I’ve a belief in the peasantry, General," Oliver told him firmly. "And even those below the peasantry. They’ve lived hard lives. It will work to their advantage, in the end."

"I don’t deny that, but grit is a tough substitute for seven or eight years of training. It’s no substitute for battlefield experience either. A true army of peasants… One of those hasn’t been raised in hundreds of years," Skullic said. "And even then, it was mere numbers that won them their battles, rather than quality."

"Battlefield experience seems more important to me than training," Oliver said. "Even with all the training that these Serving Class students do, they aren’t nearly battle-ready. They’re in the same position as the peasants, just with a few extra fancy thrusts."

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