A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor
Chapter 1382 - 1382: Brilliance - Part 1

Oliver leaned back heavily into his chair, his arms folded into contentment on his lap. "It feels good to be on top, Nila, let me tell you," he said contentedly. "This is what it feels like to be king, to have everything…"

"You didn't winnnn!" Nila said.

"And a beautiful – albeit it rather loud – woman to go along with it," Oliver said. "Truly, there could be nothing more that I want for…"

"You can't hide behind a compliment," Nila said. "You didn't win. I'm going to take your tea away now. Liars don't get to drink it."

It was awfully petty, but it was a very Nila line of thinking. She took his fruit tea hostage, and put it on a table far out of the way of his reach. Oliver had to pretend he wasn't genuinely upset about that – he'd been looking forward to drinking it after all.

"…Your turn," Volguard said, interrupting the silence. Oliver gave a small smile to himself. He was a lamb going towards the slaughter, but never had he felt so satisfied in it before. It was strange, just how fun it was, poking fun at Nila through the Battle board.

He made his moves without too much thought. He half-heartedly harried Volguard's advance, as he attempted to get to the other side of the board, and then he made reckless stabs forward, attacking Volguard's pieces in manners that he'd call stupid, as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

They were decisions that he thought to hurry his end, but somehow, ten more turns passed, and the Professor was deep in his thought.

And then, Oliver took one of Volguard's pieces, without much thought, having gone to the other side of the room for just a moment, and wrestled his tea back from Nila, as she tried to stomp on his foot.

He didn't pay it much mind, knowing that Volguard would instantly recapture as he always did. And yet, the Professor didn't.

Oliver stared at the board, confused. It wasn't that Volguard had missed the opportunity – it hadn't been there at all. Somehow, the whims of his strategy had built in his favour, to the point that he'd been able to secure an entire piece, without recompense. In the endgame, that was a fatal blow.

"Uhhhh…" He didn't know what to do now. Being up a whole piece in the endgame, provided he made no insane blunders, was practically as good as a victory. Volguard usually crushed him in the endgame one sidedly, but that was provided that they were equal, or at the least, Oliver only had a slight positional advantage. Now, he had a whole piece.

"Indeed," Volguard said. "It is your victory."

"Wait..?" Nila said, as confused as Oliver.

"How did that happen?" Oliver said.

"I was unable to foil your attempts," Volguard said. "Your attacks presented quite a troubling amount of tactics. You have my commendations, Ser Patrick. It appears there is hope for your strategy after all."

"But I don't understand… I was just messing around," Oliver said. The only thing he'd focused on was teasing Nila. The ending moves of the game, as far as he was concerned, were just a formality. But somehow, it had all been tied up in a bow with his victory.

"I will make no excuses," Volguard said. "Perhaps the unconventional nature of your methods is what defeated my experience. Whatever it was, you have bested me. That is the first time, is it not? Congratulations, Ser Patrick."

"…Really?" Nila said, looking at Oliver with big round eyes. "Realllly? Today of all days? Haven't you been bothered by your strategy for the longest time?"

She looked as if she was barely holding back an excited outburst, as if she was looking for permission to let loose.

"Well, yes…" Oliver said. "But I can't really accept this as a victory. After all, you were made to play a style of strategy that you are unused to, in accepting Nila's hunting strategies… I can't call that an achievement."

"You do not think I can manoeuvre my way through territory that is unknown to me?" Professor Volguard said. "You are a harsh critic of your elders."

"That is not what I meant…" Oliver said.

"What sort of strategist would I be if I was unable to reform myself, after being given command of men in a formation that I was unused to?" Volguard said. "Strategy encompasses the entire state of all different battlefields, not merely the ones that we prefer. Still, an encirclement attack – that is what saw you to your victory here. Was that not the same strategy that you bested belonging to Zilan?

Perhaps, trying to throw a net on you, might be the least advisable method of doing battle against you."

"Well… I can't say… It was different. I didn't do well there, either… I was too slow. And Zilan bested me in the counterattack," Oliver said.

"Before you once more bested him again, relying on your sword," Volguard said. "I would not say that you erred particularly strategically there – at least, from the sources that I have heard. But of course, I could not say you operated to your fullest capacity either. Make no mistake, Ser Patrick, whatever you might think of the game that we just played, that was a brilliant victory.

I have a mind to show General Skullic it, and have him formulate an opinion."

"…It can't be," Oliver said, shaking his head. "I didn't do anything… I was just joking around."

The Professor smiled. "You played the Battle board. 'Played', Ser Patrick. Is that not what you described the First King as doing?"

Oliver attempted another game with Volguard after that sudden victory, only to be immediately rebuffed.

'Played,' he thought, hanging on Volguard's words. He went in with the same intention, merely on playing around, but he was crushed as suddenly as he had expected to be in the game previously. The battle had only just managed to make it to thirty moves, before Volguard saw Oliver's General defeated.

In a strange sense, Oliver found himself relieved to have lost. For, at least it meant that his understanding of Battle wasn't entirely wrong. He supposed that, in thousands of Battles, as bad as he was, it made sense that he would score at least a single victory against Volguard. There was nothing more to it than that.