A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor
Chapter 1389 - 1389: Brilliance - Part 8

"I do feel stronger," Nila said. "Is that what the Second Boundary is meant to feel like?"

She was well aware that she rarely talked about these kinds of topics with Oliver, even though she knew they were important to him. She made a conscious effort there and then to try and find a better line of conversation through it.

"Physically, you mean?" Oliver said. "I do remember you saying you could use heavier bows now. Though I don't suppose that matters to you for the most part, does it?"

Nila shrugged. "It depends on the animal, really. But for the most part, no."

"If you were a warrior, you would have been such a mighty threat," Oliver said. "At the Second Boundary, you could likely wield one of the Academy's black bows. That will send an arrow hurtling that can punch straight through plate armour without issue."

"Maybe… I suppose it's good to have that, when times are terrible. But I'd prefer not to seek out the terrible times," Nila said.

"That does seem to be a sensible way of putting it," Oliver said. "But for some people, the battlefield isn't so terrible."

"…Is it terrible for you?" Nila asked.

"I wonder. It is terrible when those close to me are taken by it," Oliver said. "But perhaps I don't find it as terrible as other people do. I have found my place there, after all."

"You don't fear dying there?" Nila asked, glancing at him, so that she might see his face when he answered.

"My own death?" Oliver said. "Hm… Only to the degree that I would be leaving business unfinished, I'd find that to be sad. It's the deaths of my men that pains me, though."

"That isn't the answer I wanted to hear…" Nila said with a pout. "Every time you go away to battle now, I'm going to be terrified, even more so than before."

"Oh? Why's that?" Oliver said, oblivious.

Nila fumed. "We're courting, aren't we? Isn't it only natural that I'd care."

"Are we? I thought we were hunting?" Oliver said.

"You're sooooo stupid," Nila fumed. "Can't you be serious just for a second?"

"Ah, but teasing you is the most fun part of my day," Oliver said. "Besides, I think you would find me to be rather boring if I was serious all the time."

"That's not true… The Oliver and Beam that I know have always been a plenty serious person. You've always been running after something… And you never quite say what's on your mind. You always look like you're thinking something, but you never share it," Nila said. "Can't you at least share what you're thinking about today? What kept you up so late last night? I thought you'd done well in your strategy."

She was beginning to understand just how important his chasing of competence in his different areas was. Oliver seemed practically wounded when he wasn't moving forward in some way. And at times, those wounds would begin to show on his face, in new stress lines, or in the lacking sleep that she saw today.

"Hm…" Oliver said, humming it over. He'd overtook Nila on the trail with long strides, making her rush to keep up with him. From how long it took for him to answer, she thought that he wouldn't. "Various things, I suppose. The Gods, the Fragments, the First King… and yes, my strategy, and my responsibility to my men."

He didn't seem keen on elaborating any further than that. He seemed awfully sure that Nila would be content with such an answer. When she pressed him, she saw the surprise on his face. "What about the Fragments?" She asked.

"Hm? Oh… I wondered about Claudia, and her nature," Oliver offered tentatively, like a rabbit daring to show its face from behind a bank, wondering if he would be shot down.

"And? Did you find anything?" Nila asked.

"You never talk to me of Gods, and Fragments," Oliver said suspiciously.

"Do you not want me to?" Nila said.

"If you wish to, it is not as if I will refuse you, but you needn't force yourself to have an interest in something that you don't care about," Oliver said. "You do not need to mirror me perfectly. I enjoy our time together, because we are such different people."

"I'm not forcing myself," Nila said. "I am interested… It's just a strange thing to talk about. I don't know. I don't feel like I can really talk about it with anyone else…"

"You talked about it with Lasha, when you both crossed through the Second Boundary," Oliver noted. "She talked about it with me, but you never came looking for any such advice."

"Because…" Nila didn't say the rest of it. She just twisted her lips in dissatisfaction. The Fragments, she felt, were too deeply tied to a person's heart, and in sharing that heart, she risked exposing what she was truly thinking, deep down.

"Then, let me ask you a question," Oliver said. "Something from my own curiosity. You don't have to force yourself to answer it, but it might be useful if you did. How does Claudia behave with you, as the Fragment that you have?"

"She…" Nila paused, trying to find the words. "Is quiet, I suppose?"

"You don't often talk with her?" Oliver asked.

"Not unless I'm especially upset, and then she seems louder," Nila said.

"And when you talk with her, what does she seem like to you?" Oliver asked.

"She's kind," Nila said. "And she's silly."

"…Silly?" Oliver said with a frown.

"Hm? Did I say something strange," Nila said.

"Not at all," Oliver said, but the frown on his face still hadn't disappeared. Clearly, that wasn't the answer that he was expecting.

"She sort of seems a little like Stephanie, I suppose," Nila said, trying to rectify her previous answer, and to do away with Oliver's troubled look. "But wiser, naturally… She's realllly childish, but really clever. Sometimes she's kind of scary because of that."