A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 959: The Frontline - Part 11

"Aha!" The General said, taking the comment with a strained smile. "I have been accused of that, admittedly."

"…Queen Asabel must place a great deal of trust in you," Oliver noted. He could see why. A straightforward man like Karstly was exactly the sort of person that Asabel would have preferred to deal with. From what Oliver could see, she had enough scheming characters around her already.

"She is a Queen worth serving," Karstly told him proudly.

"My Lord…" A soldier came over to whisper into Karstly's ear.

"Forgive me, gentlemen," Karstly said. "I must go and greet the other Captains and Colonels. Please, take a seat if you can find one. I do not imagine it will be much longer before I can speak to you all together."

He dashed off at that, and went to greet another group of men at the door as warmly as he had greeted them. "He's certainly a charismatic man," Oliver noted. "Not who I'd expect to be leading an attack like this… Nor who I'd expect to be leading the Blackthorn men."

"I wonder if they like him," Lasha said. "They do not seem very happy."

"Is that not the way they always look?"

"It very well might be."

In short order, they saw Lombard arrive as well. He exchanged a few polite words with the General, before he scanned the tent and came over to Oliver once he had found him. Tolsey was in lockstep with the man, looking incredibly nervous, despite the strength that his great big bushy beard seemed to indicate.

"How did you find him?" Lombard asked, skipping the pleasantries.

"Tamer than I expected," Oliver replied. "That cannot be a General."

"There are men capable of separating their battlefield presence from their day-to-day life. I do believe that man to be one of them," Lombard said. "At the very least, none can fault him for ignoring his men."

"No. I suppose not," Oliver said.

"But you still sound unsure," Lombard noted. "Good, keep that unsureness. If you were too quickly impressed by him, then that would be just as big a reason to worry."

"For what it's worth, I rather like him…" Tolsey put in mildly.

"Very good, Tolsey," Lombard said, acknowledging his input with the briefest of lines. The Vice-Captain sighed in defeat.

It wasn't really the place for any sort of extended conversation. Even as they stood in the corner for more privacy, there were men all around them. If they raised their voices even a little, then they could quite easily be overheard. It wasn't like those men were keeping to themselves either.

Theirs were studious eyes, evaluating everyone that they could, for as long as they could without offending anyone. For the Blackthorn Captains and Colonels, that period of evaluation seemed to drag on for far longer than the rest, as if they were daring someone to say something.

There was a distinct aura of aggression coming from them, directed at everyone in the tent, save for Lady Blackthorn. Other men noticed it, and they liked it not one bit. Oliver wouldn't have been surprised if a fight had broken out, but General Karstly stepped in long before that could happen. Whether purposefully, or accidentally, it was hard to tell.

"Well, I suppose we had better start," he said, clapping his hands together, silencing the tent in a single cheerful motion. It was a surprising thing. It wasn't a charisma that Oliver was at all used to. If he'd been asked whether he thought the man to be commanding, he would have said no, and yet the tent had obeyed him without question. "There might be a few stragglers who come along later.

I ask that you make room for them when they do arrive. If you would make a little space around the entrance now, I think that would be better… Yes, indeed, like that. Thank you very much."