Tacticians Do Not Sleep Much

Kiran sighed as he was turning the pages, there were too many books to read and almost no time to waste.

And now he was reading what, according to Alfonse, was the most basic manual for anyone who wanted to learn how to be a general.

The Art Of The War was its title.

According to the book, there were five factors that could determine the result of a war.

The method: it means to induce the people to have the same objective that the leader, making sure that the people will follow their leader without feeling afraid to die.

The weather: It's necessary to consider the seasons of the year to take advantage of them and avoid the disadvantages of having soldiers dying of freezing or things like that.

The land: Some places are better to travel and others don't, fields are better places to fight, but more exposed to ambushes, if the general knows the advantages of the land, it will help him to decide if to use cavalry or infantry.

The leadership: this was divided into other subtypes.

Wisdom: The ability to plan tactics and change them if it's necessary efficiently.

Humanity: Love and compassion for the people, and be aware of their desires.

Courage: Do not hesitate to take the opportunities that ensure a victory.

Then the remaining factors.

Firmness: It's the severity with which to keep the discipline of the troops.

The general that dominates all these factors, wins, the others are defeated.

Therefore, in plotting the plans for military actions, check each of these factors with the utmost care.

The art of the war is the art of deceiving.

When you are strong, you must look weak.

When you are near to the enemy, you must make them believe that you are too far.

When the troops are moving, you must make it look as if you were inactive.

By doing this, you will get the victory by confusing them.

Considering all that, Kiran was sure that his victory was pure luck... sighing again, he continued. Minutes became hours but he wasn't aware of that as he kept studying.


At least six hours had passed. Kiran was gradually falling asleep, but he refused to let his body beat his mind.

It wasn't the first time that he stayed awake all night. He was used to studying for several hours for his exams. But now he was going to be the tactician of a real army and therefore he was even less willing to be lazy. Lives wouldn't be at risk due to incompetence under his watch.

"Kiran?"

Kiran didn't react, he wasn't used to hearing that name as his own yet.

"Kiran!"

Of course, when somebody yells at you then it becomes pretty much impossible to be unaware of somebody's else present in the room.

"Ah?"

In front of him, he could see the princess of Askr wearing a pajama and looking at him.

"Why are you still here?! do you know what time it is!?" the princess was looking at him as if he was insane.

Kiran simply placed a hand on his chin as he answered. "I guess you had to go to the bathroom or something and that's why you're awake. Well, there are no watches or any other kind of clocks in this world so missing track of time is kinda easy." he should try to get one of the sand ones. "It's very likely, given your reaction to me being here, that it's too late, but it's not like I care about that," he said, after that, he tried to resume reading.

Sharena shook her head slightly at this "But you need to sleep! your body needs it!"

"Well, Sharena, the night is half of a day's time, and that means that that the night is half of a life's time... I guess," he shrugged, that's what basic logic would say but he had never really bothered to do the math to try to prove it. "Do we have to sleep every day? if you want to be healthy, the answer is yes you have to, but if you want to protect your soldiers when you are a tactician you have to study tactics by sacrificing your time... I mean, that's some common sense... duh." he rolled his eyes and raised his book to ignore her.

"But what would happen if you collapse of exhaustion in battle?" Sharena crossed her arms.

He placed his fingers on his eyes in frustration. "Obviously, if I'm so tired, I'm not going to join the battle, I'll just give the orders. Besides, you don't have to worry. It's not the first time that I don't sleep at all and you saw that I was able to handle the situation very well. I mean, just the day before getting summoned it was one of those days I spent the night studying." although the reason why he did that time was not so much about a future test...

"How dare you to ask me not to worry about you?! You're our hero and I'm sure that you're our friend now! it's natural that we worry about you!"

Well, it seems this princess's heart matches her hair in color.

"And I know that, but your worrying about my health isn't going to be a help for our mission, it's a hindrance. I appreciate it, I really do, but it's not what we need to end our mission." Kiran growled as he rubbed his forehead.

"But-"

Kiran growled again, but this time as if he was a beast "It's enough Sharena! if you're not going to really help me, then just go... I don't want to sound angry or be rude, but seriously." he sighed very loudly.

Sharena seemed saddened about what Kiran had said.

"I'm... I'm going to leave..."

Kiran could say that he saw little tears on Sharena's face.

He kept looking at where she had left for several seconds... trying his damn best to pretend he didn't care.

But he was fooling none... kinda literally since nobody was around but still.

"Tch... stupid human emotions... now I have to fix this now or I'll not be able to sleep at all because of guilt." Kiran said as he started to run towards Sharena's room... or where he supposed it was considering he was following her.

He knocked on the door...

"Sharena..."

She opened the door after a while. There were, indeed a few tears on her face, Kiran grimaced, seeing what he had done.

"Listen, I'm not going to retrieve what I said, I'm only here to make clear that I REALLY don't want to be mad at you... I need to learn more tactics, because if I don't... you could die just like it almost happened before... I don't say that you don't have to be worried about me... but if you really want to help me... I'd say it would be much better to help me to learn, don't try to keep me away from it, help me with it. If you do, we'll finish those books faster... do.. do you understand?" He smiled.

"I... I guess we can try..." she seemed to be more interested in the ground at that moment.

"Can't we?" he laughed. "So, please, stop crying... knowing that a life form is suffering because of something I did it's one of the few things that makes me cry..." that was partially a lie, but if that made her stop feeling sad he was not going to complain.

She nodded.

"Well, I should go now, I'll see you tomorrow." but before he could leave, she took his arm.

"Wait!"

"Uh... yes?"

"I guess I should thank you for being so determined to help us... even if we just met yesterday and this isn't your world..."

"Well, you're welcome. well, this time yes, I'm going to leave, goodnight Sharena."

"Goodnight Kiran..."


No, this isn't a romantic scene, just to make it clear, Kiran doesn't like Sharena that way he's just too much altruistic, but he has a scientific thought in which the emotions and the authority are worthless, the only thing that matters is the arguments, so he's not going to let somebody stop him if there's not a very good logical reason for it, it doesn't matter if the person that tries to stop him is crying or angry at him, even if someone tries to use the force to obligate him to do what they want, Kiran will fight back.