A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

It seemed a fairly simple order, though it was complicated in the fact that it required its receiver to think, and consider the best approach in carrying it out. In that sense, it differed from the straightforward commands that Skullic had delivered up until then.

The Sergeant straightened up, to Oliver's surprise. He'd thought he would be more hesitant, given his earlier signs of apprehension at his sudden promotion, but he hardly seemed to be thinking about it. Any signs that he was nervous to be commanding such a large force were washed away. The man spoke as if he had been doing this for decades.

"Close the gaps!" He commanded. The men slammed closer together like a tidal wave, even more crisply than when Skullic had commanded them himself. Oliver's jaw dropped at the difference. He'd already been impressed with how Skullic had gotten them to move, but this was something else entirely.

"Lower the spears!" He shouted, and the spears were lowered with a crispness, ready to run through any enemy that might have been in front of them. Everything they did seemed faster, and stronger. Then came the inevitable order to advance. "Forward!" The Sergeant shouted, and all at once, that wave of Command was directed firmly in Oliver's direction.

Unmistakably, it was of the same quality as Skullic's. He recalled it as though he was recalling a scent. Though it was the Sergeant giving the commands, he did so as an extension of Skullic, and somehow, that served to make the Command even stronger.

"Do you understand?" Skullic asked.

"Not one bit," Oliver declared. He hadn't even sensed a true connection between Skullic and the Sergeant.

"You will be able to see it more strongly in time, but the reasoning is simple enough. Because this is a force I am unfamiliar with, I fill an element that they are familiar with in my Command. The result is what you see in front of you," Skullic said. "I delegate my Command through another person – such is the true function of Sergeants and Captains."

"…" Oliver was too in awe to say anything. His heart was pounding. He'd seen something extraordinarily powerful, and he hardly understood a bit of it. Though explanations in Command did serve a purpose, it was the feeling of the process that really cemented the reality of it home.

Even with Skullic's explanation, though he could see the logic behind it, he couldn't fathom how it might work in actuality.

"Of course, bridging the gap between myself and a foreign force is not the only use of such Command Delegations. It also serves to magnify my Command amongst my own force. Each Sergeant and Captain acts as nodes through which my Command is amplified," Skullic said.

"I don't suppose this makes an awful lot of sense without using it in practice, and I doubt you'll be able to use it yourself for a time… But I have shown you it despite that, in the hopes that it might be an option, should you need it."

Oliver nodded, determined that he would put it to use, if at all he could. He hadn't truly been able to experiment with Command as properly as he would have wanted, but there was good reason for that – he hadn't ever been in full command of a significant enough number of men to make use of it, not since using Solgrim. Now he was and he had another tool in his arsenal.

"With this, I shall not lose, General," Oliver said firmly.

"Ah, the delights of youth," came a reply before Skullic could even hope to get his out. The two of them – General and boy – glanced up towards the steps to see a Minister descending.

Any nearby servants hurriedly made to bow. Even Skullic nodded his head in respect. After all, here in the Academy, even Ministers were above the likes of Generals, by the smallest fraction. "Minister Hod," Skullic said.

"The very same," Hod said, sharing a smile with both him and with Oliver. Oliver couldn't recall the last time he'd seen the Minister. He didn't think that it had been since the trail.

He bowed as the man came closer. "Minister Hod – I have been meaning to come and visit you. I should have done so much sooner, given all that you did for me in the Trial."

"Preserving justice is not for the sake of an individual, it is for the sake of a nation," Hod told him, amiably enough. "I would have been irritated by such a visit. I do not need thanks merely for the sake of politics."

Oliver couldn't tell whether that was approval or disapproval for his actions. "Nonetheless, I should have said something."

"I would have rathered that you'd done something – and you have been, thus I have no complaints," Hod said. "It is my single duty to ensure the nurturing of you young Tigers, and I need not be present unless when I am needed."

That statement seemed to invoke a certain implication. "…Does that mean you are needed now?" Skullic asked, cautiously.

"I am, I believe," Hod said, "given the nature of the gravy that the two find yourself swimming in. You've been outmanoeuvred, haven't you?"

"You found out a little too quickly for my tastes," Skullic said, twisting his lips. "This is far from public knowledge, Hod."

Looking at them, Oliver thought the two to be of similar age. One might have thought that would have made them comrades, in some sort of sense, being the only men their age to be placed so highly within the Academy, but as Oliver listened, he couldn't detect any sort of closeness between them. The opposite, even. They seemed to be on guard with each other. Experience more content on My Virtual Library Empire

"Some things can be inferred, others can be intercepted when they are deferred," Hod said, smiling at his own witticisms. It was a considerable change to the passionate man that Oliver had seen present himself at the trial. This was the same clownish man that he'd been accustomed to seeing before.