A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor
Chapter 1379 - 1379: Secrets of the Past - Part 9

"Excellent. I'll try and find more things like that, in the hopes that it upsets your strategy," Oliver said.

"If I might weigh in…" Volguard said, interrupting their banter. "Strategically, the development of this position necessitates a slow continuation of our attack, Lady Felder. Naturally, Ser Patrick is a dangerous foe, but if we carefully surround him, and make our threats clear, even he will have to back away."

"…Can we do that?" Nila said. "I thought we couldn't chase him anymore."

"There are still pieces we've yet to use. Our remaining spearmen might be too slow to avoid getting caught up in the arrow fire, but…" Volguard said, highlighting a part of the board with his finger, leading Nila towards the answer.

Nila's eyes lit up. "The horses!" She said in excitement. Naturally, once more, Oliver could tell that she was thinking of using mounted men in a hunt. "You can realllly harass dangerous prey like this. You'll wear it out, without as much risk to yourself. Well, more ponies than true horses, really…"

"Indeed, we still have our lone cavalry piece, all the way back from the opening stages, sitting where it was initially put. Our advanced cavalry unit is already exerting pressure on the left flank, but I do believe that we can exert more, and make it riskier for Ser Patrick to keep his bowmen situated as they are," Volguard said, driving the cavalry piece forward towards the right flank.

Oliver's next move was instant. He didn't know if it was corrected or not, but it was certainly the move that he'd been eyeing up from the start – an opportunity to counterattack. He took his own cavalry piece, and ran it through the entirety of the encirclement, right towards the flanks of Nila's advanced bowmen, past her cavalry units.

"Didn't you say that you had to leave me somewhere to run in these encirclements of yours? You're ruining your own ideas."

"Quite a reckless piece," Volguard acknowledged. "With no defenders, and no previous play to build up from, the cavalry unit Oliver has brought forward is particularly weak. A valid strategy would be isolating a weak piece, and using the numerical advantage gained in its elimination to win a straightforward numerical attack. That is, a strategy that is more inline with what a hunter might think."

"Picking off the weak from the herd," Nila said, nodding to herself. "That makes sense. Maybe we shift our focus then, and eliminate that cavalry unit first."

"If that is what you wish to do," Volguard said. "Cavalry units are particularly weak to spear units. We should be able to eliminate it in a dice roll of spear units without losing anything ourselves."

Volguard pushed his spearmen up towards the front of Oliver's cavalry, threatening to capture it on the next turn.

In response, Oliver did nothing for the piece. Instead, he brought his own line of spearmen crashing forward, right into the line of Nila's bowmen, risking them to the arrow fire that they would receive on the next roll of the dice.

"W-what's that?" Nila said.

"Another rather reckless counter attack," Volguard said, stroking his chin. "Yet… I have the feeling that it can't be ignored. The continuation of play for him begins to look rather strong."

"The continuation of what now?" Nila said.

"…What his next moves might look like," Volguard said, though it was quite clear now his attention was entirely focused on the board.

"What do we do?" Nila said.

"The position grows rather complicated now. Ser Patrick, in instigating chaos, has allowed a many few tactics to begin to present themselves towards both sides. This muddies the water of strategy. For, if one doesn't have the prerequisite calculation ability, they will not be able to see the strategy at all, beyond the tactics," Volguard said.

"Okay, sorry, Professor, but I have no idea what to do now," Nila said. "And I reallllyyy don't want to lose to Oliver. Can I tap out here?"

"If you so wish," Volguard said. "I thank you for your input regardless. You have succeeded in making this a more interesting game than one that Oliver and I would otherwise play."

"One that I can win, for once," Oliver said.

"You see a road to victory?" Professor Volguard said, looking at him over his glasses.

"Not at all. I just refuse to lose to Nila," Oliver said. "And besides, I'm certain I can tear apart her hunting ideas, at the very least. So I think I'll enjoy doing that."

"What? You're the one that told me to use them!" Nila said, fuming.

"You shouldn't have listened to advice from your enemy," Oliver said with a shrug.

"It's my first time playing…" Nila said.

"And I don't know the meaning of mercy," Oliver said. "Or more like… it's too funny not to attack you."

"You're so childish!" Nila said, horrified. "Isn't this meant to be a serious lesson? Aren't you trying to learn something? After you missed the Professor this morning… now you're acting like this?"

"The spoils go to the victory," Oliver declared.

"That isn't even a proper response," Nila snapped back. "You're so embarrassing… Can't you at least pretend…"

"There is no pretending to be had," Oliver said. "Let us see your precious hunting tactics laid bare on the Battle board."

"This isn't what I wanted when I woke up this morning…"

"Fear not, Lady Felder. Battle is not so simple a game," Volguard said. He rolled his dice, and began firing arrows down on Oliver's spearmen. It was an unfortunate roll for Oliver – he'd hoped more would survive, but of the four spear units he'd sent charging forth, two had already perished.

Oliver dared to ignore them for a second turn, and bring his bowmen storming up into range. Now, both his spearmen, and his cavalry unit were threats for immediate demolition. There were beginning to arise a good few tactics that Volguard could use.

Ordinarily, he would scold Oliver for his tantrum-like attack, but today, the Professor was quiet, and he was thoughtful in between each move, sometimes spending whole minutes to think. Oliver thought that to be a good sign. The Professor could see far more than he could, and whatever he saw seemed to trouble him.