"…" 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 assud it was a cat-and-mouse ga, 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 sa position, assuming I've missed sothing," Skullic said. "That is, if I was going against an opponent I deed worthy.
If I was going against so I assud 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 ?" 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 temperant. The ga 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 rely for political advantage.
Well, comnd 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.
Discover hidden stories at My Virtual Library Empire
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 argunt, he would have been much less likely to push Oliver towards it.
The problem, to Oliver, seed to be one with the Princess herself. But wasn't that what everyone thought whenever they got into an argunt? That the other person was sohow wrong? But even phrasing it as an argunt seed wrong to Oliver. It was hardly an argunt.
The Princess has suggested sothing preposterous, sothing 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 sothing, even if he didn't et her, to be frank…
"Fine," Oliver said. "I suppose I'll arrange sothing."
Skullic relaxed. "Good, that's the mature decision. Your career as a leader amongst n will be one of sacrifice. There will be many tis when you have to sacrifice your personal wants, and the personal wants of others for the sake of the group. This is one such ti."
There ca a nod in reply from Oliver. Indeed, he'd agreed to et 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 so 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 so 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 sothing irritating… Am I going to wake up tomorrow with reports of another incident?" Skullic said. "You'll be making 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 so 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 n to occupy this fort, didn't you? Have you dragged up enough coin for that?"
"We were going to hire n of the peasantry and below, and train them up to save so coin," Oliver told him, as openly as he dared. He knew if he explicitly ntioned slaves, then the General would react even worse than Verdant had. "Then, as Verdant suggested, we'll place so Serving Class n 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 n?"
"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 re numbers that won them their battles, rather than quality."
"Battlefield experience seems more important to 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 sa position as the peasants, just with a few extra fancy thrusts."
Reviews
All reviews (0)