Four Split Personalities

It really isn’t that difficult; even Lian, whose grades don’t exactly count as outstanding, can handle it with ease. As long as she’s serious, she won’t make any mistakes.

Starting a few minutes ago, the instructions Teresa has been giving have gotten shorter and shorter, and Lian’s job is to turn those terse lines into commands that the Battle Six type can understand, then do some harmless fine-tuning within the prescribed limits.

In theory this shouldn’t put any strain on her at all. After all, as someone who’s constantly around Foster Ward (if you misread that, go face the wall), Lian herself might not have much in the way of military attainments, but she’s a very capable secretary. Whether it’s her work as secretary in the student council, or the daily chores in the Law Enforcement Force, she’s always been able to carry out Foster’s orders perfectly.

And those orders all tend to have one thing in common: the higher the level of the person giving the orders, the lower the workload pressure on everyone else in the system.

The difference between a good leader and a useless wine sack lies right here. The former lets their team achieve twice the result with half the effort, while the latter not only acts as a negative buff, but after screwing things up will also make others take the blame.

Foster Ward is without a doubt a good leader.

And at this very moment, the one wearing his vest, sitting in front of the sand table with a demon-bright smile, Teresa Tarosa, is naturally also an excellent Commander.

So by rights, Lian’s job ought to be very easy.

So, why is it "by rights" and not "in fact"?

The reason is simple: Her Highness the Witch doesn’t actually like playing her cards by the book—or rather, the opponent she’s facing right now doesn’t allow her to play by the book.

Playing by the book gets you killed...

As for how you die, you can refer to Richard Ryan and that poor Mr. Morrison of the Skalan Duchy.

So Teresa simply stopped playing by the book. In her own words, she just "picked up the tempo a little."

And that’s when Lian started to find it a bit much.

We can keep using "chess" as an example here.

For instance, in most situations, whether it’s a simulation match or an actual War, it can be compared to both Commanders sitting across a board playing a game.

Maybe it’s chess, maybe gomoku, maybe Chinese chess, go, even Jungle; anyway, it’s not Ludo.

It’s just that, depending on the situation, forces, environment, and the individual level of the Commanders, the game isn’t very fair. A clumsy Commander might only be able to place one piece every two turns, while an excellent one might even manage two moves in a single turn.

All in all, everyone is carefully reading the situation and having a good game.

Motan and Teresa, though, are playing a lot wilder...

How wild? Put simply, the two of them haven’t limited themselves to "one board." Instead, they’ve opened up a bunch of smaller boards inside many squares of the big board.

The fun part is, a lot of the time, only if you win the game on a small board can you place a piece in the corresponding square on the main board.

This sort of thing isn’t exactly rare, since War itself is a fairly complicated thing. For example, that naval battle Ramollok had with Morrison before would be a small board inside the big one—fulfill the objective and you get to place a key piece.

But... the number of small boards between Motan and Teresa is just ridiculous!

See that big swath of red lights on the main screen, all heralding a Fierce Battle? Those are the small boards between the two of them.

Dozens of them.

Dozens—enough to drive any Common Commander insane!

You have to keep an eye on each one, think on each one, place a piece on each one, and exhaust your mind over each one.

You have to set priorities, give the most suitable guidance at the right time, make full use of every single piece, and carefully consider the connections between them.

Two people playing dozens of games at once—no matter how you look at it, that’s insane.

At least, in Lian’s eyes, it’s absolutely insane.

But to the ones actually doing it, it’s not such a big deal.

There’s no need to say more about Teresa. This fourteen-year-old girl, who took first place in the Warfire League and won herself the title of Witch, might have zero actual combat experience, but in simulations she is unfathomably deep, and it’s been who knows how many years since she last went all out.

As for Motan, by rights he’s just a shut-in, and he’d never even touched this field before. There’s no reason he should be this strong, yet he’s just unreasonable in this regard.

When he’s in his other two personalities he’s still manageable, but when he’s being "Hei Fan," he’s truly heaven’s favorite.

It’s just that...

"He has three disadvantages right now."

Teresa didn’t mind in the least that Senior Lian ignored her, and simply remarked on her own, "First is what I just said: the forces in a simulation aren’t real people. That’s the first key thing holding him back. Second, as a member of the Practical Faction he’s never dealt with simulations before; even if he can find a knack for it, the fluency of his orders will take a big hit. And last, and most important, his tactics aren’t systematic and lack any real accumulation. Put nicely, he’s imaginative; put bluntly, he just goes with his feelings."

Lian let out a soft breath, and in the middle of her busy work lifted her head to glance at Teresa. She shrugged. "I only understood the second one."

"My dear prince—" (Lian shivered) "—his sensitivity to people’s hearts is very sharp, whether it’s the enemy’s or his own."

Teresa raised her index finger and wagged it, Gently drawing it across the Shadow at the center of her field of view. Then she picked up a special feather pen and began writing on an instruction card, speaking gently as she did so. "But in this simulation, whether it’s the troops under his command or the soldiers under mine, they’re all just emotionless symbols. Even if he wants to read them, there’s nothing to read. In other words, at a moment when he’d normally be able to do a lot, the only person he can actually read right now... is me."

"Mm, I’ve got the Black Vatican Priest’s first disadvantage now."

Lian dipped her head slightly, then asked curiously, "And the third? What do you mean by his tactics aren’t systematic?"

"I mean his foundation in military matters is actually very poor. Aside from some of the simplest, most straightforward formations and Combat Techniques, he’s basically no different from a layman."

Teresa wrote at an unhurried pace, speaking just as unhurriedly. "The upside to that is that he can break out of the shackles of conventional thinking and do things from outside a lot of basic military common sense. The downside is that it’s hard for him not to be lacking in structure and order. After all, any tactic that’s been passed down to the present has already stood the test of time, and yet he can’t wield them proficiently. So... I’ll teach him."

Lian’s gaze sharpened, and she blurted in astonishment, "Teach him? When?!"

"On a sunny afternoon, we sit together under the parasol at the door of some dessert shop, smiling as we dissect one classic case after another, reviewing one exquisite tactic after another."

Teresa snapped her folding fan shut and shrugged. "That kind of thing is mostly impossible, so my choice is to teach him through this match."

Lian frowned for a moment, then relaxed into a smile. "You’re going to fight a teaching battle?"

"A teaching battle?"

Teresa blinked, then chuckled. "Of course not. If I actually had that kind of mindset, it wouldn’t even take half an hour before he blossomed on multiple points and smashed my front line, and then I’d just have to watch helplessly as he snowballed, step by step crushing the troops in my hand. There wouldn’t be any other outcome."

Lian deftly lifted her small hand and flicked Teresa’s cheek, signaling her to stop keeping people in suspense.

"Saying I’ll ’teach’ him just sounds nicer than it is."

Teresa smiled, her expression serene. "In reality, I don’t need to do anything extra at all. Just by going up against someone like me, with solid fundamentals, he’ll be able to learn everything he needs."

"Can he really do that?"

"Of course he can. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have set his sights on this jam region."

"The jam region’s been targeted?!"

"If I guessed right, it’s probably a small elite force, mainly light cavalry and Spellcasters."

"Then we..."

"Flatten it."

"Eh?"

"Flatten it, including that patch of woods."

Chapter 1313: End

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