Olivia’s Memory
The Training Ground at the Gateway to the Land of the Dead
After finishing her lunch the girl made her way to the training ground as she always did, only to find that unusually, Z had gotten there before her.
“You’re early,” she said, already drawing the sword that hung at her belt. But Z stopped her.
We will not be training today.
“Huh? How come?”
To be precise, we will not do any training that involves moving your body.
Z walked over to her and wrapped her up in its cloak. This was so unexpected that the girl was taken aback. Z gave no sign of noticing her confusion, clicking its fingers without a moment’s hesitation. The girl’s field of vision squished and twisted, before moments later, she was looking out on a forest she had never seen before.
“Where are we?” she asked. Z walked on without answering her. She followed, until they emerged from the forest to a precipitous cliff.
Do you see?
“Yes of course...” the girl said. “Are those humans?”
Correct. They are humans, like you.
“I never knew they were everywhere like that...” The grassy plains below them were crawling with humans as far as the eye could see, far too many of them to count. She was reminded of legionnaire slugs, which she hated, and felt her face screwing up.
Those humans are only the smallest fraction of the whole of humanity.
“Even though there are so many?! Eww...”
She had known in theory that many humans existed in the world. But of course, being told a thing was vastly different from seeing it with her own eyes.
On the left are the forces of the Kingdom of Lussa. On the right are those of the Highland Duchy. The Lussans field two thousand soldiers, while the duchy fields four thousand. Can you tell which has the advantage?
“Obviously, the Highland Duchy.” The number of soldiers greatly influenced the outcome of the battle. Z often told her so.
Your training today is observing the battle about to take place. I shall return when it is over.
Z made a sweeping gesture with its left hand and was sucked away into a swirling black vortex. The girl, left alone, reassessed the forest behind her.
In other words, I’m staying here until the battle is over? The atmosphere in this forest was entirely different from the forest where she lived. The sun’s rays were bright even beneath the trees, and no gloomy mist hung over the place. The girl felt very comfortable there.
Now, if there are tasty things to eat in there, it’ll be perfect... Her mind on how she was going to get her dinner, the girl turned back to the battle unfolding below her.
Perhaps ten minutes before the sun would set completely, as the girl dug into a dinner of gray boar, dark mist began to coil up from the ground beneath her and eventually coagulated into the shape of a person.
It is over.
“Yeah. The Kingdom of Lussa won.”
The Lussans had only half the number of soldiers of the Highland Duchy. How is that the duchy still lost? Explain it to me.
The girl cleared her throat, then began to speak.
The biggest factor in the Highland Duchy’s loss was their overconfidence in the strength of numbers. They had tried to secure an early victory, sending in half their forces to charge their opponent. In response, the Lussans had gone on the defensive, but the duchy’s forces broke through their defensive lines one after another. At that point, their victory seemed all but assured. If, at this point, the Highland Duchy had carefully observed the Lussan army’s maneuvering they would surely have seen that this was not a conventional defense, but a “defense in depth.” They failed to notice that the Lussans were whittling down their forces, and though they successfully made it deep behind enemy lines, they lost a great number of their soldiers in so doing. By the time they did notice, it was already too late. It was not long after that that the Lussans surrounded their main force, and just like that, it was now they who were outnumbered. More salient still than the difference in numbers was the difference in morale, and the duchy’s forces now retreated in disarray before the Lussan pursuit.
“—and I think that’s about it?”
An overreliance on strength of numbers and a disregard for tactics is a short path to defeat. If one is to lead soldiers in battle, good strategy and a keen tactical mind are indispensable. Going forward, you shall observe many more battles so that you may develop such a mind. Is that clear?
“Got it!”
Then let us return. Z spread its robes wide, and the girl, interpreting this as “come here,” threw herself happily into its arms. In the instant that the robes closed around her, her vision twisted once more, and then the girl was standing back in the training grounds. For some reason Z, its robe still spread wide, stood staring upward. Olivia followed its gaze, and saw the whole of the sky was a deep and beautiful red.
“What is it, Z?” she asked, but Z said nothing as a dark hole opened to suck it inside. Olivia was left standing there, mystified.
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