Keith surveyed the battlefield. It was littered with the dead, the fallen, and the injured. It was a lightning offensive, they had little time to prepare. Cavalry, swordsmen, crossbowmen, pikes, catapults, ballistae and heavy knights all rested beyond the walls, hundreds of legions strong. The city burned in a dozen places, but they held the line well enough. The sheer scale of the battle was a sight to behold, with almost the entire north and western side of the city under attack from a dozen different ranks of units. He looked over at Keiren, who was pondering the best possible defense, hoping for minimum casualties, while maximizing damage done to the Templar forces. Keith then stared down the commanders of the Templar forces. She was the biggest threat, her raw strength was a force to be reckoned with, especially with the second commander. He boasted expertise in tactics and positioning. The third was just as bad, she was a master of misdirection. They were cunning, crafty, and sure to try something unexpected, so he needed to be ready for it. Richard looked over at him and nodded. This was their most desperate plan, their boldest defense.

Keith picked up a small wooden piece, and moved it along the wall. It was a risky move, but he hoped to scare Jade into moving elsewhere. Keiren turned the tall tower pieces to face the far flank, where Keith had just left from, covering the remaining swordsmen. "Muskets to west side?" Natani asked with a smirk. "What are you playing at?"

"Maybe I'm lulling you into a false sense of security." Keith smirked back.

"Nothing false about it." Telk reached for one of his pieces, the ones with staves, and placed them near the walls. "With this, I rain fire on your troops, destroying them."

"Not so fast!" Richard said with a grin. "It's a trap! I have my shield casters here, and they protect our musket soldiers. Your magic is useless here." In the last few days he had been pouring over dozens of military manuals, studying tactics and strategies. Everyone noticed a sudden shift in his combat style, at least in this game, as his movements became much more precise and clear. He had taken to focusing on the supportive units, his shield casters staying hidden while he moved the crossbows and halberdiers to defend the most oppressed areas.

"Ah, so you finally show your hand. Cavalry and heavy knights assault the main gates, crushing your crossbowmen, and we sweep the town. Victory for the Templars." Jade said, moving the wooden horses through the gate. "Your pikemen are engaged on the east flank, your towers covering them, muskets and shield casters on the west, and you left the gates almost entirely undefended." Keiren frowned. Cavalry was always the biggest thorn in the side of the defenders.

"Maybe, but it took a lot to get to this point. Your siege engines are all destroyed, your ladder carriers are crippled, and the bulk of your swordsmen are down. It was a very costly battle. There is no way you would hold the town."

"Hold it? No. But take it, yes." Telk leaned back in his chair with a smirk. "This certainly helps, but with this game the Templars do not need to worry about losses, all they have to do is capture the city. Yes, with our strategy, it could be possible for a counterattack to drive them out, but you also forget that once the Templars are in the city, it will become a bloody fight, even worse than what we have already seen."

Keiren sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, and we know that they won't call off an attack until they need to. We destroyed half of their forces before they finally retreated, so we should establish that as our cut off point for a fight."

Jade leaned over the map, looking at the pieces and parts that were scattered around. "I agree, but it would not have helped you in this case. There was no overwhelming loss so great that it would have caused a retreat, and well over half of our pieces are still on the board. If anything, it would be you that is forced to retreat, though that is unreasonable for multiple reasons."

"We needed more information." Keith frowned. "If we had known what soldiers you were bringing beforehand, we could have prepared better."

"Information is a luxury in war." Richard said dryly. "Scouts risk their lives to bring back information that might become outdated by the time it reaches people who can do anything about it. It's why watch towers and outposts are so crucial to defending borders. Just look at the east side of the Kedaria Mountains. There's dozens of little encampments that can see invasions and pirates miles away, raising the alarm and rallying soldiers to respond to any threat."

"Actually, that's not a bad idea." Keiren said, his face lighting up. He stood up and fetched a map of the larger area around the city. "What if we built some? There's some hills we could put them on to give them a better vantage point, and it could give us the edge we need to prepare our defenses properly."

"Watchtowers take time to build, time we may or may not have." Jade leaned back next to Telk, her towering form dwarfing the short Basitin even more than normal. "I agree, we should have them built, but it could be beneficial for us to look for ones that may not require as much work. This used to be Keidran territory, perhaps there are a few that remain from then?"

"Could be. Sythe might know about some. Or Flora, since she did grow up around here." Natani scanned the map, looking over Keiren's shoulder.

"We could go check out a few areas." Richard said with a smile. "Look around, find some old ruins, could be fun. A nice little adventure."

"Alright, if you volunteer, then I'm not going to stop you. But I've got a city to run, so I'll be staying here, though I wish I could join you." Richard, Natani and Keith stood up together as Telk reached for one of the pieces on the board.

"Perhaps while you are away, we should see if there are others who wish to test their mettle in our little game of war. It would be good to sharpen the skills of our men, making them think more tactically, more carefully." he said as he took in every detail of the horse and rider that Jade had used to overrun the town.

Keiren smiled. "Sure, but the way we do things might not be the best for everyone. Maybe we could come up with rules and regulations. Perhaps even make it a game of slight chance. There are always variables in war, it would not be entirely unheard of for someone to overcome overwhelming odds. We have seen it before, and we will see it again."

"Perhaps, but this should not become a distraction from our other duties." Jade said, strangely smiling as she pondered the idea, her fingers twirling a small wooden cube that had been little more than a placeholder for unknowns. "Though it may be too late for that…"

…

A few hours and a short conversation later, Sythe was smiling. "Actually, I do know where we could start looking. I didn't grow up around here like Flora, but there are some prime spots that would have been crucial during older conflicts, and thus they most likely have remains of something there. The best place to look would be where Ishtaer territory overlapped with Keidran, as there might have been skirmishes along the borders." He reached over for a small book that held a number of maps, flipping though it. "Here. It's only a few days north, on top of a hill. It wouldn't be visible from Edinmire now, but if there was an actual tower, we could use that as a base, and build up from there."

"Not bad." Richard said with a smirk. "Knew you would come in handy eventually. Shame it only took, what? Seven months?" Richard promptly got a smack on the back of his head, but he laughed. "Come on! I've gotta give you some grief!" Sythe turned away with a smirk on his face too, and chuckled. "Alright. A few days there, a few days back. Shouldn't be too difficult of a trip. Keith and Natani are coming too. I'd ask Trace and Flora, but they've got their own things going on. Meet us by the front door in an hour, yeah?"

"Will do. Shouldn't take me too long to get packed, just have to let Zen know I'm headed out."

Richard raised his eyebrow, confused. "I mean, sure? Why? You two aren't exactly close…"

Sythe chuckled, smiling. "Well, he offered to teach me how to defend myself, and in exchange, I'm going to teach him how to read."

"Oh. I didn't realize he didn't know how."

"It's a rather foreign concept to you, isn't it? Well, most Keidrans actually don't know how to read more than the most basic levels. Generally, you learn at a young age, but once you're seven, maybe eight, you stop learning things like that and instead go into whatever craft you devote yourself to. Humans and Keidrans both have colleges and universities, even academies like the Templars, but it is a very human concept to send children to school to learn. It's not something that's super common, but in some of the larger cities, there are schools dedicated to teaching the youth in places like Morlin Hall and Durlon."

"I know. I… I grew up in Durlon. I went to a young school. It's just something that seems so strange to me. I grew up with everyone around me being able to read, write, being… human. I'm just not used to all the Keidran culture. Or lack thereof in this case."

Sythe smiled as they walked through the halls. "I wouldn't say a lack of culture, but a different one. See, instead of youngsters going to a school where everyone learns the same thing, they spend time with their family or with a trade master learning specialized teachings. It's not uncommon to see young wolves working the bellows of a forge, foxes tracking deer through the woods in the shadow of a hunter, tigers bending and shaping wood to make bows. Sure, they lack a general knowledge, but their own specialized knowledge far surpasses most others. Can you honestly tell me that you being able to read has given you that many opportunities outside of school that someone who doesn't read wouldn't have gotten?"

"I suppose not."

"Then consider what someone looks for in an apprentice. If you were a smith looking for someone to run your forge, would you want someone who can read and write, do math and speak languages, or someone who can tell if metal has impurities by simply looking at it?"

"I guess when you put it like that, it's a clear choice. But they both have their merits. You can't run a business without someone to keep the books and records."

"Sorry, but beg to differ. Many local places don't have bookkeepers or scribes. Sure, it helps, but it's not necessary."

"Then why did you choose to learn how to read and write? If becoming an apprentice is so much better, then why didn't you do that?"

"I did become an apprentice. As a diplomat, it was my job to be able to seamlessly go between two worlds, and thus I learned better than most how to do that. Sure, outside of my field of knowledge, I'm kinda useless, but when I'm in my prime, I'm second to none."

Richard was quiet for a minute, processing everything. "I don't think you're wrong. Both have their merits, both are necessary to society. One gives a general knowledge, the other a specialized knowledge. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer here."

Sythe scoffed. "Oh, there's a wrong answer alright: not learning. If you don't learn anything, you can't grow. You have to rely on everyone else for everything."

"That's true. No arguments there. Now go get packed up. We'll leave in an hour."