1419: An Unexpected Guest – Part 1 1419: An Unexpected Guest – Part 1 “What do you an by that?” Nila said.
“Sort of like… We can hold two thoughts in our head, but the value of those two thoughts is different?” Oliver said.
“I still don’t get what you an,” Nila said.
“Like, a rabbit is one bit of information, a cow is another bit of information, and a horse another.
If you went through like ten different animals, and had to hold them in order, that would be pretty hard to do,” Oliver said.
“Right…” Nila said, trying to imagine it in her head, and indeed struggling.
“But two more complicated thoughts are easy to hold in your head.
Like, I don’t know, ‘attack the left flank’ for the first thought, it’s pretty broad reaching, and you can attach a lot of things to it, and ‘hold the centre,’ is also pretty broad.
You don’t need to rember every little bit of information, you just focus on those two general concepts, and do the best you can, and you find things aren’t so overwhelming,” Oliver said.
“Huh…” Nila said.
“I think I get what you an, actually.” She nodded to herself.
Rarely did she get the opportunity to hear Oliver talk academically.
She found herself looking at him with a renewed respect, whilst he, for his part, looked almost embarrassed.
“It’s weird to talk like this with anyone,” Oliver admitted.
“It’s strange to delve into what my thought process on certain things are.” “I’m enjoying it!” Nila said.
“I an, I don’t get it entirely yet, but I sort of do.” “I wonder if I can show you the point that Battle beca easier for , where I stopped needing to concentrate as much…” Oliver said, staring at the board.
“Well, I suppose, actually, this here is a good place to start.
You see my cavalry unit, in the middle of your n, irritating you?” “Yup, I wish I could throw it into the fire,” Nila replied.
“Right, because it’s there, your responses are limited,” Oliver said.
“I don’t need to keep track of all the extra bits of information, because I know that you have to deal with the threat that I’ve put in front of you before doing anything else.” “Ohhhh!
Ohhhhh!
Wait!
Oliver!
I actually get it!” Nila said, feeling a sudden spark of realization.
“It’s like, when you’re hunting, and you startle the prey in a particular direction.
You get all its attention in one place, and it can’t ignore you.
But because it’s focusing everything on you, you’ve got another hunter behind it, and his shot is easy.” “That is… different to how I considered it,” Oliver said, a finger on his chin.
“I don’t think it’s exactly the sa as what I was getting at, but it doesn’t feel any lesser.
If that works for you, I think you should stick to it.” “Okay, okay, so what should I have done here?” Nila said, pointing to the middle of the board.
“Earlier, you kept attacking , and I didn’t know what to do.” Oliver smiled at that.
“That is sort of how I play.
I relentlessly attack, and as soon as I stop attacking, I feel as if I’m lost.” “That’s what you did with Volguard too, wasn’t it?” Nila pointed out.
“Was it?” Oliver said, tilting his head.
“It was,” Nila said firmly.
“You kept attacking , didn’t you, because you thought it was funny to get rid of all my hunting ideas.” She pouted as she said it, not forgetting the mory of Oliver’s bullying.
“Ah, yes…” Oliver grinned.
“It turned out, that was indeed what I was up to.
But hmm… I wonder what more there is to that?
I thought this was how I always play..?
I wonder if I was doing sothing different against Volguard than I was here…” “At the very least, you didn’t manage to get anything fancy like this,” Nila said, pointing out the cavalry piece, which was to her becoming an increasing eyesore.
“Right… I didn’t have nearly as many tactics available to .
I was just attacking sowhat mindlessly, and it turned out to be fine in the end… I wonder why that is?” Oliver pondered.
His eyes began to grow less focused again, as he once more fell into thought.
Nila had the feeling that he was thinking upon sothing new, and so she dared to keep her silence until he was ready to teach her again, hoping – even if it was just for her own benefit, after she was enjoying receiving her tutelage – that the teaching of her would help Oliver in so sort of way after all.
Chapter 23 – An Unexpected Guest A week before the tournant, the preparations were proceeding even more smoothly.
There had been minor alterations throughout the entire process, as Oliver – and other mbers of his household – ca up with new ideas to be added.
One such idea ca a week before, and sent Greeves spiralling into a fit of rage.
“Oh, it’s a charity even now, is it?
Piss off!
You should realize yourself just how hard this whole thing is to put together, without us throwing away coin on more pointless things.” “Now now,” Oliver said.
“It won’t take much of our coin at all.
We might even make a small amount.” He’d co to the realization, in hearing the price of the entry fees for the tournant, that there was little chance of any peasant being able to pay their way into it, unless they were a mber of so nobleman’s army already – which, as things stood, was unlikely, for the nobles much preferred to make soldiers out of Serving Class n than peasants.
Oliver thought that to be a terrible sha, given the potential his own Patrick n, as mbers of the peasantry, had demonstrated.
He thought if he had heard of a tournant going on years ago, he would have delighted at the opportunity to enter, and to win so coin, but he would never have had the money to spare to make up the entry fee.
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