Chapter 28: Chapter 28 - The First Steps Into Leadership

Now I doubt there are any of you who know what a battle state really is, so here’s my explanation.

Basically it’s when a person reaches a state of mind that is so calm that every action of theirs is guided entirely by instinct and technique.

See it as a sort of flow state.

It can be extremely potent in a battle, and also very dangerous on a battlefield.

When a person reaches this sort of state on a battlefield they can’t differentiate between friends or foes anymore.

Which in and of itself is a major drawback.

But in a one-on-one battle, it’s actually terrifying, the person in the battle state will ignore all injuries or dangers, and simply continue following their instincts, and the techniques that are ingrained into those instincts.

Ignoring all injuries and dangers could also be a drawback, but if a person truly relies only on their instincts and a good technique, there isn’t really a chance of injury to begin with.

And the technique I had taught Daniel was one of the best there was.

It had made me one of the most dangerous and well known assassins in the world after all.

At that moment, I don’t know how, or why, Daniel was in the battle state.

He was just mechanically going through the motions of the drill I taught him for my technique.

There were absolutely no emotions in his eye, no reactions to anything other than going through the drill.

One swing after another, one stab after another.

His breathing steady, his movements fluid and flawless.

"What’s wrong with him?" Worick asked, still standing a few feet away from us.

I didn’t really know how to answer him.

There were only a limited number of people who even knew what a battle state was.

"Nothing," I answered, signalling for him to stay back. "He’s just in a deep focused state."

I needed to handle the situation very carefully, a wrong move from me could trigger Daniel’s instincts to protect himself, which meant that he would attack me without a second thought.

Was I afraid of him?

Absolutely not, I had a lot more battle experience than him, which meant that even if he was completely driven by instincts.

He wouldn’t be able to touch me.

But if he was triggered into attacking me, he wouldn’t stop until either I was dead, or he was no longer able to attack me.

And I couldn’t bring myself to hurt him like that.

So I did the one thing I knew would definitely break him out of that state.

I waited.

I observed.

Trying to find the perfect timing to make my move.

And finally the moment he pulled back for another swing at the tree, I stepped forward.

Right into his embrace.

My lips meeting his with force.

I even added a bit of tongue, just to make sure the message got through to him.

I could literally feel the moment Daniel snapped out of the battle state.

His entire body stiffened up, and the next moment he had wrapped his arms around my back, kissing me back with everything he had.

I’m not too proud to admit that I might have gotten lost in the moment.

In the feeling of being in his arms.

But that moment was broken by Worick clearing his throat from behind Daniel.

Once again Daniel stiffened up, but this time he reluctantly stepped back from me.

With a deep sigh, and a look in his eyes that promised a very thorough continuation of what I had started there, he turned around to look at Worick.

"I’m sorry to interrupt the moment, but I really need your advice Daniel." Worick said.

"Advice?"

"Yes, your advice. Now do you think we can go somewhere to talk, or do we have to do it standing up?"

Daniel turned to look at me.

Now obviously knowing what this was about, and what it would lead to, I only smiled at him, and nodded.

"Sure I guess, let’s go back to the inn." Daniel answered.

So we made our way back to the inn, and since I had forgiven the big idiot, the walk was done hand in hand again, like always.

A couple of minutes later we were sitting at the same table we sat at the day Worick and I made our plans.

"So what advice do you need?" Daniel asked.

"I’m going to start implementing some of the suggestions you made," Worick started with a slight smile on his face. "But there are still a few things that I need to ask your advice on."

"For starters, how do we determine the tax rate we’re going to use?"

Daniel sat in silence for a few moments, pondering the question.

"Well firstly you’re going to need to determine a budget of expenditures the village would have, and then you need to determine how many villagers there are that would actually be taxable, and what their median income is."

"Once you’ve done that you can determine a tax rate that would fit the budget, and also not completely wipe out the spending power of the villagers." Daniel answered.

"Usually tax rates work on a sliding scale that is determined by the yearly net income of the tax payer, but for now, and for the low amount of initial tax revenue the village would need, a low-end flat tax rate would actually be better."

Worick had written down everything that Daniel had said to him, and he was clearly astounded by the way Daniel thought about finances.

"And how would we determine the budget for the village?" Worick asked after jotting down everything Daniel had said.

"The easiest way would be to choose a couple of the most important areas you would improve upon with the tax revenue, and then calculate the amount of coin it would cost."

"When you do this I would suggest you over-budget the expenses instead of using conservative or realistic costs, that way you won’t have a shortfall on your budget."

"Any surplus you’d have in the end could simply be allocated to another area, or held over to the next year’s expenses."

I had thought that Daniel looked sexy when he was moving through his drill with the log, but the way his brain worked might have actually beaten even that in my eyes.

"Any suggestions for the areas we would need to focus on most at the start?" Worick asked.

"Defense, and infrastructure." Daniel answered immediately.

"As of now the living conditions of the villagers are actually very good, so the two most important things you could possibly focus on should be defense and infrastructure."

"Infrastructure because it would significantly boost the economy through trade, and defense to protect the infrastructure and improved economy from outside attack."

"Fantastic," Worick whispered, as he made notes of this.

"You wouldn’t be interested in becoming the chieftain now would you?" He asked out of the blue.

I almost leaped over the table to strangle the elderly elf.

I mean that had not been part of the plan.

I had told him that Daniel would never be interested in it.

And Daniel’s answer was nothing I didn’t expect.

He burst out laughing.

Most men would leap at the chance of such an honor, some even kill for titles and status.

Yet there Daniel was, laughing at a man offering him a position of power.

"I’m definitely not interested, I just want a simple and relaxed life running a few businesses." Daniel finally answered, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Then how about an advisory position instead?" He asked with a small smile.

Now that was more part of the plan, we had always planned for him to ask Daniel to take on an advisory role for him.

That way we could slowly work him into the role of chief, slowly handing off more responsibilities and public decisions to him, until it was too late for him to do anything but accept his role.

"Sure, I would be happy to give you any advice you need if you come and find me." Daniel answered.

And so Daniel took his first steps into leadership without even realising it.