A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 958: The Frontline - Part 10

"True enough, we are not the giant pillars upon which this army rests. We are men in between. I would not call us insignificant. We are in the perfect place to make a change on the battlefield. We are freer than higher powers, so too do we have more strength under our command than lower place men. Do not underestimate what it means to be a Captain, Oliver," Lombard said.

Lombard left Oliver with those words until evening came hurtling around, and sure enough, as Lombard had told him they would, a soldier of General Karstly's inner circle came to summon Oliver as a Captain, to invite him to this meeting.

"This is most interesting," Verdant commented as they went.

"What is?" Oliver asked.

"The fact that you are being treated as a Captain without question, my Lord," Verdant replied. "Had this been any other army, no matter how many men you'd brought yourself, you would have found it difficult to be afforded the authority that you currently have. No doubt this is the influence of Lord Blackwell and Captain Lombard."

"…I see," Oliver said. He hadn't considered it. To him, it had seemed natural, but then when he thought about it, he supposed he'd been presumptuous to expect to keep the same command that he'd been afforded elsewhere.

The meeting was meant only to be for officers, and so Oliver had only been able to get away with bringing Verdant and Lasha along, though he wasn't really sure if it was worth bringing her, especially when she was marching with such clear disinterest, as if she couldn't remember why she'd been brought long in the first place.

"This way," the soldier told them, as he guided them through many rows of tents, towards a section of the encampments deep within Karstly's domain. As they were now, thousands of men were still strewn around Lord Blackwell's castle, but in the coming days, they too would be organized and sent to different posts, just as Oliver was being sent away in the advance force.

Lord Karstly's tent was as large as one would expect from a General. It could have held a hundred men inside of it without trouble. Rightly, given his rank, Karstly should have been staying in the castle along with Lord Blackwell, but for whatever reason, he'd been left outside. Oliver wondered whether it was a decision on Karstly's part, or an order from Lord Blackwell.

The doors of the tent were tied open, leaving the entrance wide and inviting. There already seemed to be a good many men gathered before Oliver and his group arrived, and they were sharing quiet conversation.

"Please wait a moment," the soldier told them, holding them at the entrance to the tent, before disappearing inside. He rushed up to speak to a man with long white hair, wearing shining armour of steel plate, so brilliant in its shine that it could have been silver.

The man ducked his head down to give an ear to the soldier's report, and nodded, a smile brightening on his face. He looked over to where Oliver and his group stood by the door, and then motioned with a big arm for them to come inside.

"Join us, Captain Patrick, Lord Idris, Lady Blackthorn! There's room enough already," the man said jovially.

Oliver was only briefly impressed by the fact that the man seemed to have either remembered or been informed of all their names. It was very different to the treatment that he'd expected to receive – and the treatment that Lombard had warned him of. He wondered which of General Karstly's officers he was.