A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor Chapter 1691 - 1691 Like a Bird - Part 8

1691: Like a Bird – Part 8 1691: Like a Bird – Part 8 “Then in this hand, Nila,” Oliver said.

“There’s sothing that I fear even more.” He clenched that fist.

“That little lightness on that battlefield.

That little glimpse of sothing.

Sothing beyond .

Heights that I’ve never flown to.

Victories that I could never achieve.

Not the Boundaries that Claudia offered , not the strategy that Volguard sought to put into , or the sword that Dominus struggled to teach .

But sothing else.

I fear that thing.

It’s right there, tempting , begging to look and listen.

But I fear for what I might beco if I do.

I was forced to in that battle, to turn towards it ever so slightly – and look how I had to operate.

Our n must have thought the strangest man on the planet.” “Perhaps,” Nila offered.

“Perhaps it was strange – but it worked, didn’t it?

Because it was strange, that was the very reason it overca Fitzer and Tussle and the Ersons.” “…Maybe, Nila,” Oliver said.

“It tears at .

I think it’s as if fear exists, and then every part of tries to find a thing to fear.

A reason to feel the fear even more.

So things drive towards movent, but they worry even more.

There’s sothing… There’s sothing strange.

When I heard that the enemy were approaching – as Blackthorn put it – when he said that we had a matter of weeks before they ca… I felt relief, Nila.” He looked at her, desperation written over the entirety of his face.

“What in the na of the Gods does that an?

Those weeks leading up to the battle with the Ersons?

Did I pretend that anguish?

Am I just a monster that craves battle?

How has it been worse in these weeks that have followed the battle – how is the warmth of victory that much more crushing?” “You didn’t,” Nila said, grasping for his arm, and digging her fingers in, before he could lose himself too firmly in his own thoughts.

She forced him to look at her.

“You didn’t,” Nila said.

“You suffered more than anyone.

You did everything you could.

You did the impossible.

You burned yourself, Oliver, so that we might achieve that victory – and that was why these n died for you.

Because they could feel the burden that you took upon yourself, the heights that you aim to reach.” “…Why the relief, then, Nila?” Oliver said.

“A long ti ago,” Nila said, “do you rember?

I followed you around with my bow when you were hunting monsters.” “Ah… yes,” Oliver said, smiling at the mory.

“That was when we had first t, wasn’t it?

Dominus had set those tests.” “Those ridiculous tests,” Nila said, nodding.

“You’d hurt your leg, and you were still pushing yourself to fight that Hobgoblin.

I could not have been more furious with the two of you.

It was soooo stupid.

I didn’t understand it.

And I didn’t understand why it is that I couldn’t keep up with you in that… Or why it felt so wrong to try and force myself in that direction – to try and do what you did.

I thought that was surely where I ought to be.

I thought that, just because you were a boy, there wasn’t any reason I couldn’t match you…” “Mm,” Oliver said.

“And I still hold to that!” Nila said.

“Just because you were a boy – I would never lose to you.

Or any other boy for that matter.

I swear it!” “Yes, yes, I do believe you,” Oliver said, grinning at her, having heard the sa thing a thousand tis before.

“But… For that to be true, I’d have to have the feeling that it was the right thing to do,” Nila said.

“When I hold my bow, it’s right.

It feels right, like I’m where I should be.

I could stay for months in the forest, in the cold, and be hurt all the while, but I’d still be happy with my bow.” “Please don’t,” Oliver said.

“That would be a terrifying few months to have to wait through.” “If you’d let finish…” Nila said.

“Sorry, sorry…” Oliver said.

“Only when I saw you fight that Hobgoblin did I realize,” Nila said.

“That was your world, the world of the sword.

Dominus told that I would find my answer, my way forward, in watching you.

And I believed him, because he seed so wise… And he was right, even if it wasn’t in the way he thought it to be.

There are things that we are ant to do, Oliver, things that feel right.

For you, once, it was the sword… But now, I wonder, perhaps it was more than that?” “…What do you an to say, Nila?” Oliver said.

“You speak of your First King,” Nila said.

“Almost too much for my liking, and you say he was insane for the way he could do battle with so many human lives, and take all those risks, and if it were all a grand fantastic ga… For a normal man, maybe it is.

When I listen to it, I think the sa thing… But I don’t think you’re a normal man, Oliver.

Well, I an, that’s obvious.” “What are you saying?” Oliver pressed.

He was hardly looking at her as if she was Nila any longer.

He was enraptured enough that she might have been a ssenger from the Gods themselves.

She almost gulped, but found herself surprised by her own lack of nervousness.

It was as if she was saying exactly what she needed to say – exactly what was right to say.

“For you, Oliver, that natural place, it might be the battlefield,” Nila said.

“You suffer when you are away from it, and you are excited to return to it.

Is that not true?” “It is, Nila… But—” “But, but… What it ans to command?” Nila said.

“I know.

We’ve talked about this before, and you know my opinion.

I think it’s a cruelty.

That’s why I could never be a soldier.

I despise those that send their n to their deaths, just because it’s their duty, or whatever.

To rob hos of families, for causes beyond themselves… I’ve never understood it, and I still find myself hating them… But… But I don’t know everything.

Even though I feel that way, isn’t it strange how, the way you treat your n, and the choices they make for themselves, it doesn’t seem like tyranny, Oliver.”