I awoke in a strange land for the second time. I pushed myself up quietly. I took a deep breath as I realized that I was still in Askr. I looked down to find the dark blue tunic and wool pants that were lent to me. I leaned back into the bed, letting my mind wander. I don't know how long I was waiting there before someone knocked on my bedroom door. I ignored Sharena's voice on the other side; as I mentioned before, I didn't like conversing. She entered anyways. "Oh, you are awake! We all thought you were lost. Come on; everyone is waiting for you at breakfast." I sighed as I swung myself out of bed and kicked on my slippers. I followed her downstairs silently, grunting in response to the few questions she asked me. She pushed open the door to the mess hall, and I followed her inside. Everyone was already at least halfway through each of their omelets. "Hey!" Sharena whined. "We said we were going to wait for Maxis!"

Anna shook her head. "The food was getting cold, and we didn't want to eat cold food."

The blonde lowered her head slightly and turned to me. "Sorry, Maxis, I was really hoping we could eat together."

"'S fine." We sat down and began eating our omelets. I usually didn't like eggs anymore, but it tasted a bit better for some reason. I still wasn't big on sausage, though.

"Sorry that it's cold, too."

"'S fine."

"Hey, Maxis," Anna spoke. "After breakfast, I want you to follow me down to the war room so I can teach you more about tactics."

"'Lright."

"Can I come, too?" Sharena asked excitedly.

Anna shrugged and smiled. "Sure. It will be a good experience for you." A while later, Sharena and I finished our breakfast and followed after Anna. Sharena and I sat at the war table as the red-head grabbed a piece of chalk and began writing on the chalkboard. "Weapons… outside… the… weapon… triangle. Now! As I'm sure both of you know, the weapon triangle consists of swords, axes, and lances. Everything else falls outside." The blonde girl beside me raised her hand. "Yes, Sharena?"

"Isn't there a magic triangle, as well?"

"There is! Fire and dark magic beat wind magic, wind magic beats lightning, lightning beats fire and dark, yadda, yadda, yadda. Although come to think of it, I think I've seen the two triangles overlap… Anyway, the weapons outside of the triangles are as follows: Bows, daggers, and staves. If we assigned colors to the weapons inside the triangles, these ones would be gray. Of course, staves aren't necessarily weapons, which brings us to our next topic: Healers are for healing, and fighters are for fighting."

Sharena raised her hand again. "Why would healers be used for anything else?"

"Good question! Some staves can be used to weaken the enemy instead of heal allies. Not harm, though. The staves I'm referring to can make enemies weaker or slower. Even induce a temporary state of panic. Bows and daggers, however, are still proper weapons. Er, actually, daggers are mostly used to weaken foes by digging through armor and draining magic resistance. Bows, as we've seen, are suitable for taking down fliers. The number one common occurrence between the three is their long range. I believe we discussed that, though?" I nodded. "Good. We've already talked about how far a unit can move, but I'd like to inform you of the additional rules to movement. Infantry are slowed by forests, taking a while to get into one. Cavalry can't enter forests at all. Fliers, of course, go right over them, and the slow movement of armored units means that they'll take the same amount of time to enter a forest as an infantry unit.

"Oh! That's another important thing! There are two different kinds of attacks, physical and magical. Physical involves everything but staves and tomes, and magic, of course, means only tomes and staves. We call the resistance to these, defense and resistance. One's defense can be raised by equipping armor and training to block attacks. Resistance is built by… well, it isn't easy. You just have to take magical attacks until you get used to them. Another thing! Your enemy could be faster than you, so be careful. They could dodge or parry your attack, get in your blindspot, and hit you more times than you can count as a result. It's important to understand your enemy's strengths and weaknesses, as well as your own."

"Sun Tzu said that," I interrupted. "Then you need not fear the result of a hundred battles."

Anna raised her eyebrows. "That's exactly right. Is Sun Tzu a warrior from your world or a tactician, maybe?"

I shrugged. "He wrote the Art of War. That's all I know."

"He must have been really smart!" Sharena spoke.

"I'm sure he was."

"Either way," Anna interrupted. "Let's get back to the lesson; then we can talk about Sun Tzu afterward."

"Oh, sorry, commander!"

"That's alright, Sharena. Now, where was I? Ah, weapon types would be a good topic! Maxis, you've seen the weapons that Alfonse, Sharena, and I use, right?"

"Mm-hm."

"Those are our personal weapons; you'll never find one that will match any of them—unless it's fake, of course. But there are many other weapons. There are weapons deemed 'killers,' 'brave,' 'jewel,' and different ones for armored foes. 'Killers' are particularly sharp or even serrated, making inflicted wounds even worse than usual. 'Brave' weapons are odd; users can strike twice when they attack first but get struck twice when they don't—something I don't understand. 'Jewel' weapons are even weirder though; they're colored and seem to make the weapon triangle even more effective."

"Maybe it's magic?" Sharena supplied.

"Yeah, you're probably right… Anyway, these weapons each have a situational niche. It's essential to take note of them and know which one to choose for the situation. I think that's everything to go over. Any questions?" Sharena shook her head vigorously, and I shrugged before shaking my head as well. "Good. If you need any more info, you know where to me. Er, in my office, that is. And Alfonse is usually in the library, but he's not really a conversationalist. Anyways, I have some work to do. Have a good rest of your day, you two." At that, the red-head left the room.

"What did you think, Maxis?" Sharena spoke beside me.

I winced a little. "I dunno. It was fine."

"Hey, I know! Let's go to the library! Maybe we can learn more about tactics there!"

"Sure."

We made our way through winding halls until Sharena opened a door. I entered behind her and raised my eyebrows at the sight. It wasn't impressive, per se, but the overall aesthetic was unlike any library I had entered back home. It was old to put it simply. But it wasn't so simple. It was organized, but haphazard; dusty, but not neglected; empty, but not lifeless. The floor was wooden, the walls were bookshelves, and the ceiling was shaped like a church's, a large chandelier that had seen better days hanging above. There was even a second story accessed by a staircase in the back of the large room. The bookshelves that surrounded us were stocked, but not with much, I would say. Not to mention dusty, like I said, with more dust on some shelves than others.

"Ah! Hello, Brother!" Sharena spoke as she noticed the blue-haired prince pouring over a book. A notably tall stack of the things sitting on the table that he was standing over. "I thought we might find you here!"

"Hello, Sharena. Hello, summoner," Alfonse greeted with a deep bow. "How does the day find the both of you?"

We both responded with 'good,' but one of us gave their answer with a lot more enthusiasm. "We were hoping to find some books on strategy."

"Truly? It's good to hear that you are taking an interest in such a thing, Sharena. Though I'm afraid that I don't know where such books are…"

"Really? Well, that's no good! Come on, Maxis, let's go see if we can find them!"

"Sure." Sharena moved to the nearest shelf and began scanning for something useful. I followed after her and started reading the spines. I hadn't given it much thought, but it looked like every book was written in English.

There was The Dragons of Khadein, The Butcher Slave, Thunder on the Hoshidan Plains, The Many Deaths of a Single Priest… I pulled out the last one and looked at the cover. It showed what appeared to be a bearded priest trying to bludgeon an identical priest with a wooden staff. Must be the same guy. I slipped the book back into its spot.

"Er, Sharena," Alfonse spoke. "I believe that those are all fiction."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess you're right." She moved down the shelves, scanning the titles. I followed behind, not caring much for gawking at the selection.

Alfonse must have realized my indifference when he approached us. "Er, Sharena, I believe that it would take far too long to find anything; the library is in desperate need of sorting."

"Oh, yeah…" The blonde turned towards me. "Sorry, Maxis, but I guess we won't be able to find anything."

"I'll let both of you know if I find anything. For now, you should explore the rest of the castle."

"Ooh, yeah! Great idea, Brother! C'mon, Maxis! Let me show you around!"