A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

"It is an old man lamenting the fact that I could not take your strategy further," Volguard said, waving Oliver's remark away before Oliver could call it a true compliment. "You have done well, in what little time we've had. I am certainly not ashamed of your abilities as a strategist.

You will leave here being one of the best strategists that I have let loose out onto the world – but I dare say that I have failed to tap truly into your potential."

"That does sound suspiciously like a compliment…" Oliver noted.

"To talk rationally about one's own talent without being overcome with positive or negative emotion, that is certainly difficult," Volguard said. "Though I would ask that you humour me.

I think you to be mature enough now, that we can speak measuredly about your abilities, and not have you turn into one of many young nobles that are so overly enamoured with themselves that they fail to see their flaws."

"I would say that we can," Oliver said, growing a degree more serious.

"Do you have expectations as to your achievements in this coming campaign?" Volguard asked.

"I do not know the specifics of our operation, but at the very least, I want to contribute significantly," Oliver said.

The Professor nodded his approval. "Very good. That is the right approach. Premature and reckless conclusions without the proper information at hand will only hinder you. I tell you this with all the seriousness I can muster: go into this campaign as a student. Do not believe that you have even an ounce of certainty in your conclusions.

Look at everything with fresh eyes. Disregard everything that you have learned in small-scale battles, and only allow yourself to become reacquainted with that knowledge when you have confirmed for a certainty that it will work in total war."

"Is it that different?" Oliver asked. "Skullic warned me of the same. He supposes that battles of this scale will be far different to anything that I have undertaken myself."

"Oh, it is different, Patrick. So remarkably different," Volguard said. "You have seen the morale that can be gathered when a certain number of men unite under a single leader. Imagine it in numbers approaching twenty thousand? That is when Command is felt as strongly as gravity. It is an undeniable force."

Oliver shuddered at the description, because he could well imagine it. He was well acquainted with his own Command by now, but he would not yet call himself accomplished. Still, he knew enough to imagine what it would be like if he multiplied its strength tenfold.

"That is but one element. Each man is a unit of chaos. Chaos combines, and through them, the most unexpected of outcomes occur, in all corners of a battlefield. With three hundred men it's still possible to get some semblance of order, but with thousands, it is very much like seeing two seas go to war with each other. From the smallest elements, there can be sparked the largest of bonfires.

Your influence shall be both weaker than it ever has been before, but stronger too, if you can learn how to turn the momentum of your own conflict into a force that can carry into the battle as a whole," Volguard said.

"You speak like a man that has seen it for yourself," Oliver commented. It was one of many attempts to bait Volguard into talking about his own history as a battlefield strategist. Oliver thought the attempt would be rebuffed, as it had been hundreds of times before – the strategist seemed to want to keep his history to himself. This time, though, Volguard sighed and indulged him, albeit slightly.

"You will not hear stories of greatness from me, I am afraid," the Professor said. "My time spent on the field of battle was short lived. I am far better in theory than I am in the heart of it. No matter how well we attempt to approximate what a battle is with our theorems and strategies, it all means nothing if we cannot make it work on the true field of battle… Ah, but I keep saying battle.

Make no mistake, this is not a battle, it is a war."

"There will be sieges, and there will be field battles, I have no doubt," Volguard said, "but victories in those smaller battles shall mean nothing if it does not win us the greater war for their territories. Do not forget that. Do not overcommit in your excitement in these small-scale battles. Learn the mind of your General, understand his intentions, and then act in accordance with them.

Then, you shall find yourself to be a most useful piece."

"I shall keep all that in mind," Oliver said.

"Indeed, I hope you shall," Volguard said. "But more importantly, victory shall stretch above any ideal. If you hold victory above all else, and can shift your ideals in order to best approach it. Perhaps then, you will grasp what you aim for."

The passion that the usually stony-faced Professor exuded as he talked about a future that was undoubtedly not his own, demonstrated to Oliver just how kind-hearted the man truly was. As a teacher, none seemed to encapsulate the ideals of the profession more than he. Oliver did not overlook that fact.

"These years at the Academy, Professor… If not for you, they would not have nearly been as successful as they are," Oliver said. "I came here embarrassingly lacking in education, but even as my strategy teacher, you have seen to it that I had no weaknesses, that I could hold my head proud as a noble, no matter the category."

"Aside from alchemy, I assume?" Volguard said with an amused smile. Oliver winced. That had been a particularly bad choice of course for him. He'd chosen it after he'd been kicked out of martial lessons, and he'd never managed to get it to stick. All he could was just enough to pass at the very bottom of the class. For some reason, the teachings just had never managed to break through to him.

"Come on, Professor…" Oliver said.