A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

Beam grabbed them and slung them over his shoulder, before jogging back to the front line, and throwing them towards the fire.

The men were already moving the other kills that he had made, with cheerful expressions, and sounds of jubilation.

"If I'd had to do another battle with a Gorebeast, I would have killed myself long before it got to me, I tell ya," one of them said. "Too tired for this kind of work. But shifting bodies? I'm all in."

Another one pointed out the presence of Judas. "Look at him. He's easily shifting three bodies by himself. The Captain might seem cold at times, but he cares for us, he does. He's lessened the burden on our shoulders in one fell swoop."

As Tolsey listened, he couldn't help but nod in agreement, though it was a hesitant nod, filled with uneasiness, as he struggled to process just what he'd seen. With a wave of his hand, Lombard called Beam over. He'd wiped that shallow smile from his lips and replaced it with his usual commanding expression.

Though, even though his face seemed indifferent, his words were not. "Good work, boy," he said. Rare words of praise from the Captain that merely expected things to be done, and only acknowledged their competition. He rarely complimented work, for his workers rarely exceeded his expectations.

Tolsey couldn't help but feel a little jealous at that, even being a thirty-year-old man as he was. It made him feel silly to think about it. But he'd joined the Captain's squadron for a reason. He admired the man. Even amongst all the troops that fought upon the Eastern front, his name was still spoken loudly and often.

"Was that it, then?" Beam asked. "Good enough for demonstrating my worth?"

Tolsey was amazed by how composed the boy seemed, despite having fought such a seemingly intense battle. His breathing hardly seemed to be out of control either, even as blood coated his clothes. He couldn't help but think: is this really a boy of the Second Boundary? He seemed far stronger than that.

"Indeed, you have proved your worth," Lombard said. "I can see by the look in your eyes that you're expecting reassurance that I will fulfil my end of the agreement – and indeed I will. You'll be privy to information that I would otherwise not share. After today, it makes sense that you would form a key position in our defence, after all."

Beam nodded, apparently satisfied with that.

Lombard continued. "Due to the frequency and the scale of the continued monster attacks, we've been unable to set up defences on the forest's edge, as we have elsewhere. We've never had enough leeway to get any building work done."

"So you want me to hold off the monsters while building work is taking place?" Beam guessed, rather impetuously. Tolsey still couldn't get used to the way that he spoke to the captain. Even a noble such as himself would lavish him with a much higher degree of respect than that – and these words were instead coming from a peasant. "I can deal with the enemy, the problem is what makes it past me.

I'm not confident none will."

Lombard nodded with that assessment. "You have the wits to match your skill in combat," he noted quietly. "I had hoped you would be able to match the work of 4 or 5 squadrons by your lonesome. A high expectation, to be sure. But you surpassed that completely. I could confidently leave the entire defence of the forest border in your hands, if such a thing was necessary."

Hearing that, Tolsey was about to protest, but before he could, Lobmard had already raised a hand to quiet him.

"However, one must not push a sword towards its breaking point, and there is no need to stretch you so thin. Two squadrons should be enough to assist you, with them playing a more defensive role to minimize injury. We'll begin on building work immediately with those numbers," Lombard said.

"That seems fine to me," Beam said. "How long are you wanting me to defend for?"

"If you could cover it from dawn until dusk, that would be significant," Lombard said lightly, as though it was a simple request. Even though the days were shorter now, and dawn until dusk was only a period of eight or nine hours at most, Tolsey couldn't support putting that entire shift on the shoulders of just a single boy – even the soldiers themselves switched every few hours.

"Captain – I have to object. Leaving such an important duty to an outsider is too much. Besides, he might be strong, but that's such an impossible workload. Surely we're only inviting disaster by doing that?" Tolsey said, looking towards Beam for support, as though he supposed the peasant might agree with him.

But the boy merely shrugged. "I do not mind doing it. It will be good training, after all. If I can have your help in dealing with these shadows, and ridding the forest of monsters for good, that would make my time well spent."

"And you will have it," Lombard said. "We find our common cause there. Though I am hesitant to spend so much manpower dealing with another threat besides the Yarmdon, we are being forced to, regardless of whether we want to or not. We've taken significant casualties, Tolsey. If the Yarmdon were to attack now, I am not confident we would last."

"But surely… Surely with you and I?" Tolsey murmured.

"Just because I am of the Third and you of the Second? The Yarmdon have their own paths to strength, their own Gods that they pray to. They are no weaker than ours. In fact, the average Yarmdon man might be stronger," Lombard said gravely. "You have only been on the front lines for a little over a year, and even then, we have not seen significant combat together.

I'd ask that you trust more in my judgement."