The weekend had flown by between me swinging my sword and me watching the knights performing their exercises. I had learned from my mistakes and improved my form but was still a far cry away from being able to consider myself a swordsmen. Seeing me observe in the courtyard got the knights to notice me pretty quickly. I became friends with them by Sunday as they joked around with me and gave me tips. They were a great group of people, and surprisingly I came to learn that we had a new vice captain coming the following week to replace the old one who had retired. Rumors were that it would be a female knight, and was the talk of the courtyard between all the knights.
Now that it was Wednesday, I really needed to impress Nathaniel to complete my mission. He was the last tutor that needed to be impressed, and the deadline for the mission was Sunday. Realistically, however, the deadline was Friday since I didn't have classes over the weekend. This pushed my anxiety through the roof as I thought of ways to impress him. The only thing I could come up with were potential ideas during our discussions based on EoR gameplay.
As I nervously waited in the study for Nathaniel, I took another quick glance at my stats.
{Stats: Ray Glouse}
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Strength: 2.06
Dexterity: 2.04
Constitution: 1.57
Intelligence: 3.09
Wisdom: 3.09
Charisma: 5.01
Luck: 9
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Since there were still a couple of days left in the week, my stats hadn't increased as much as the previous week. I was surprised, however, by the increase in my charisma stat and my physical stats. It seemed that the extra sword training helped with improving physical stats, and combined with my normal physical exercise has cause a nice overall increase. While admiring my stats, the door opened and Nathaniel Hawk entered the study.
Nathaniel was a younger man probably only around 30 years of age, his family had contributed during the war and was thus given a barony. He treated Ray respectfully, and was very keen on conveying the topics in an understandable manner, much to Ray's delight. One thing Nathaniel was enthusiastic about was strategy, and the various factors on the battlefield that could be used to gain an advantage over the enemy.
"Master Ray, today we will be going over a historic battle and how we achieved victory over an overwhelming force utilizing strategic thinking. Do you have everything you need to start the session?"
I nodded my head as I prepared my pen and notebook.
"The battle was fought in the Asphora forest, hence it is known as the 'Miracle of the Forest'. The number of Pulinan troops was around 5,000. There plan was to cut through the forest and attack us on the east side while another detachment would attack us from the north. Their objective was to pincer the city of Rugeld, an important manufacturing hub for us. Do you know what their main exports are?"
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I knew about Rugeld from EoR, you were able to purchase many high end items there if you had enough coin. As Nathaniel had said, it housed some of the best blacksmiths and artisans of the Bauran Empire, however, Rugeld had become known for one special item during the war.
"Rugeld is known for its high quality weapons and artisans. During the war, they were tasked with supplying the front lines with armor, weapons, and their famous crossbows. The crossbows are made from the blessed trees of Asphora. Their accuracy and build quality is renowned throughout the continent."
Nathaniel raised his eyebrows at my detailed answer and nodded his head.
"Correct master Ray. I am surprised you know about the blessed trees of Asphora. Since we are on the topic I will briefly go over where the name comes from. It originates from a legend known as the priestess of the woods. As the legend goes, a priestess to the goddess Vulma had lived in the forest as an act of devotion. Any who came across her were blessed with healthy offspring and a fruitful harvest. Many people from across the continent came to visit her and receive her blessing. It is said that on the day she died the heavens cried out for her and that multiple rainbows had appeared over the forest. Ever since that day, the trees there have been blessed in their quality and numbers."
I wrote this information down in my notebook because the forest of Asphora was an important location for those associated with the goddess Vulma. There was a hidden piece of divinity in the forest that would aid any who serve the goddess. I, of course, knew about this from EoR but had no real idea how to get their physically since the game had used a map based system.
"Now, the city could only dispatch a mere 1,500 troops to contest the invaders in the forest since they needed to reinforce the northern side of the city. While on their way to the forest, it had begun to rain causing the ground to become slippery and the line of sight to become minimal. Along with these conditions, night had begun to fall and the only light available in the forest was the moonlight that shown across the tree canopy. If you were the commander of these troops, what would your plan be in this situation?" He looked at me with his hands on top of each other, observing me.
I had to think about this deeply. Mages were incredibly rare in this world, and none were in this battle which meant that no magic should've been involved. Considering the troops were from the city itself, they would have a better understanding of the forest and its terrain. A thought suddenly came into my mind when thinking about all these factors.
"Since we are a smaller force, the first thing I would do is create small units to harass the enemy as they traversed through the forest. Secondly, since visibility was low and we could prepare, I would have set up hunting traps throughout the forest using the mud and fallen leaves to camouflage them. Along with this, our goal would be to hit and run, not stay and fight. I would have everyone wear lightweight, dark clothes armed with crossbows and short swords. If I were to position my units in such a way that I could have them rotate with each other, it would create a constant rate of fire on the Pulinan troops. They would need to use torches or some other light source to travel through the forest, which would be easy for target identification. All these factors would cause their plan to ambush the city at night to fail. If they were to have aborted their attack, reinforcements from other towns would have arrived in time."
I held my breathe after I was done with my answer. I needed this to impress Nathaniel for the mission, and I had done as much studying as I could in order to devise strategies that would impress him.
After a couple seconds, a smile broke out across Nathaniel's face.
"Young master Ray, that is an excellent response! As you correctly stated, the majority of the troops were natives of the city of Rugeld, and knew the forest down to the roots of the trees. They did indeed use hunting snares and traps that were given to them from the citizens of the town, but you missed one important thing."
He paused for a second before dramatically revealing what I had missed.
"You forgot about the importance of prayer! Before the troops headed out, they received a blessing from the local Vulman church, and were marked with the symbol of Vulma by the priests. Of course, this was just a simple way to boost morale, but it served its purpose in invigorating these troops in a numerically disadvantaged situation."
He was smiling throughout the entirety of his explanation, and his overall excitement rubbed off on me causing me to smile as well. While we were wrapping things up, I heard a soft 'ding' as the system appeared before me.
[Congratulations on completing Mission 2! Rewards have been given. Good luck in the rest of your endeavors.]
I couldn't help but laugh as I read the notification, looks like I successfully finished one mission. All I had left was to run like hell!
{Stats: Ray Glouse}
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Strength: 2.06
Dexterity: 2.04
Constitution: 1.57
Intelligence: 3.09 -> 3.24
Wisdom: 3.09 -> 3.24
Charisma: 5.01 -> 5.11
Luck: 9
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Credits: 1000 -> 1050