A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor
Chapter 1376 - 1376: Secrets of the Past - Part 6

"Now there is a wise noting," Volguard said, nodding his head. "As Lady Felder has said, there are many other professions in which battle is done – without their lives on the line. At least, not directly. The quality of their lives might be impacted by the outcome of such competition and battles, like with merchants, and I suppose a fitting example would be hunters, with one sitting with us.

The most competent hunters shall hunt the largest quantity and highest quality of meats, and other hunters will be forced to pursue other means, because of the competence that they run up against."

"I would prefer that too," Oliver said. "But as long as there is an option that trumps all other options, in the form of violence, death will always be on the line. It doesn't matter how much coin you have when a knife is thrust in your chest, or how many facts you've collected, or how many friends you have. When you're assaulted, man on man, violence is the chief instrument that wins out.

It's the final resort that will always stay there."

"But even amongst the violent men, we see different types. The soldiery and the Swords, they are who do the direct confrontations. They take lives in the literal sense. That is the final solution that you spoke of, Ser Patrick. Then what of strategists, who do not their killing directly?

How do they differ from the merchant that doesn't kill the starving villager directly, but in the end, his actions will have weighed into that result?"

"…The General is just closer, I suppose," Oliver said.

"Given that on a battlefield, death is always going to be the final divisor, can a soldier enter a battlefield without risking death. Can a merchant enter business without risking coin?" Volguard asked.

"Of course, he can't, but it is a General's job to ensure the lives of his soldiers," Oliver said.

"Ah," Volguard said, waggling his finger. "It is a General's job to secure victory for his men. That is why a General rises to his position – because he is better than any other at securing victory on the battlefield. Those that excel in saving men take on different roles, like a field medic."

"But surely there are degrees to victory, and the optimal victory will always involve the fewest sacrifices," Oliver said.

"Naturally," Volguard said. "But victory, in the end, is the aim."

"So you're of the opinion of the First King then, Professor? We should battle, and not worry overly about whether our men live or die?" Oliver said, with a hint of accusation in his voice.

"Ah, now, I didn't say that. I merely wish for you to think about it differently. In the time of the First King, life and death weighed differently. I imagine he saw far more death than we do today. It was as difficult a period for the Stormfront as can be imagined.

But as far as victory went, the First King was able to continually secure it – and because he was so adept at securing victory, he could then secure victories, whilst conserving the lives of his men," Volguard said. "Competence was what saved his men, not compassion."

That sentence struck Oliver with all the force of a warhammer. He opened his mouth to reply, but found himself unable to. In the end, Volguard himself had to offer him a helping hand out of his hole.

"Even in theoretically understanding that, putting it into action, now there's a different problem," Volguard said. "There is a reason that I chose theoretical strategy over the battlefield itself, after all. I have read the works of the First King, and that is as close as I can come to understanding him – using mere logic.

In his position, however, I would tremble with the lives that I held in my hands… And I could say that I would certainly perform worse for it."

"You would perform worse when you have something to protect?" Nila asked, unable to stop herself.

"A valid question, Lady Felder," Volguard said. "We are given to think of the battlefield as a place of emotion, of stubbornness. With a fierce intensity, we can will ourselves to victory, in a certain sense.

We block out the pain we are afflicted with, and are able to manifest a degree of strength, in line with our desires… But on the strategy board, as a strategist, those emotions and wants do nothing but cloud the mind. For a strategist, nothingness, complete tranquillity… That is where I find myself to do my best work. I say that with a degree of dogma, for I firmly believe in the truth of it.

But I imagine, for General Skullic, if you were to ask him, he performs his strategy differently."

"Overthinking it certainly seems to ruin my own strategy," Oliver said, thinking on it. "When I try my hardest to perform strategically, I do my worst work. I only seem to be able to do something in it basically by accident. And on the battlefield, where I really focus and concentrate… I find myself overlooking something important in the process."

Volguard nodded. "That sounds reasonable. When you prepare yourself overly to confront one threat, you leave yourself vulnerable to another. One must be continually balanced, to prepare for all things simultaneously… As soon as you concern yourself with the problem of solving all problems, you realize that no matter how you might try, you are unable to do so.

Thus, you stop trying, and you start trusting. You build a trust in your own abilities, and hope that when the moment comes, whatever it might be, you will have the skills necessary to deal with the adversity."

The Professor pulled up a small table, and set his Battle board down on it. "Now, with all that said, shall we get down to our lesson?"

"If you would, Professor," Oliver said.

"Well, I shall disappear then," Nila said, stretching her arms above her head, before standing up.

"Oh? Will you not stay, Lady Felder? I would talk with you a while longer, if I could," Volguard said.

"…Won't I be in the way?" Nila said doubtfully. "I'd be distracting both of you."