Chapter 74: Style Of Leadership

Chapter 74: Style Of Leadership

“Sometimes, we must make harsh calls on an expedition. Not everyone returns to our home alive, so it is up to a Knight to make the correct calls to bring survival.

Just like the wasteland tests you, so will the people around you.

It is up to you to stand firm and never bend to death's whims.”

- On Leadership, Grandmaster Oak (293, 3rd Era)

Dust and sand haunted the wasteland. Its pervasive nature infected every single thing that passed through it. Despite the week of dragging the centuria through the wasteland, Erec couldn’t help but dwell on the annoying feeling of sand stuck in his Armor.

It was just another thing on top of the pile irritating him.

Jefferson was the first on that list. The senior Knight’s constant complaining and fighting was the reason Erec sulked away from the camp. Erec’s eyes drifted back to the trail of his footprints in the dirt behind him. A self-appointed scouting expedition, while helpful, was utterly an excuse to get away.

Everything he and his friends agreed to, Sir Jefferson found fault in. The annoying prick kept flexing his rank, yet he did worse than nothing when it came to trying to ease the already worried centuria. He went around doom speaking and trying to cast the already worried troops deeper into their fears about the White Stag. Claiming they’d lose their minds to the White Stag eventually.

Jefferson also insisted they cut loose the possessed they struggled to bring with them.

Not that such a suggestion wasn’t worth merit, but it was a calloused move that Erec didn’t want to do unless they ran low on supplies. Besides, Boldwick’s direct orders called for them to return home with those poor people.

High above, the sun hung in the sky and blazed its full might upon the desolate world. It was as always a witness to their struggles, as it had been since the dawn of humanity. Did it pity them from so far above? Or was hate burning within it, the same angry inferno that Erec found in himself?

Erec’s eyes scanned the horizon, his view adjusting to zoom slightly at a distance. It was easier to scout now as they left the rocky terrain. Far in the distance was a small pack of walking-geckos. They were some weird mute breed but otherwise harmless to human numbers this big.

[...Oh my.]

“What is it?” Erec asked, watching one of the walking-geckos trip over its malformed tail and struggle on the ground.

[A breakthrough!] VAL chimed in his head, the excitement carrying through in its weird way that emotions colored its tone. [After that assault in your head with the White Stag, I took readings during and after... I was curious why those creatures fused with a radio tower to accomplish their goal.]

“...It was strange, yeah.”

[They powered the structure to give off a precise radio wave, then fused the radio wave with anomalous energy.]

“Really? That’s... Kinda crazy, but I don’t understand why that changed things.” Surprising, and not what he’d thought a being like the White Stag would be capable of. But if that was the extent of it, why had it been in his and Boldwick’s dreams for so long yet unable to do a thing? “...But it could already reach us mentally before that. What’s the difference here?” Ñøv€l-B1n was the first platform to present this chapter.

[Have you heard the term “Constructive Interference?”]

Erec shook his head. “I didn’t exactly get the best teachers growing up, nor the time; no, I haven’t run across the term.”

[Waves interact in a few ways. How to explain this? Think of ripples on the surface of your cistern tanks down below. They can cancel one another out, but if they touch at the right angle, they can grow into a more substantial ripple. What a surprising intelligence. The White Stag determined that the proper application of anomalous energy operating at a certain ‘energy level’ could merge it with a radio wave of the right length and achieve a greater result.]

“...That sounds terrifying.” Erec shivered, trying to put together how much that threatened his people and how they might fight back against its discovery.

[Indeed. But it does open a door the White Stag likely didn’t think you humans would be able to puzzle out.]

Just as Boldwick predicted, the man wanted to run away and hide.

“This can’t keep going on,” Erec whispered over to Garin, who nodded.

“You’re right. This is dangerous, but he’s sure to call us out on rank if anyone goes against him,” Garin whispered back.

Colin scoffed. “Rank? He’s from some barony. I’m the son of a duke—“

“Most of these people are commoners. I’m betting if you walked up there on the merit of your family, they’d find an issue with you trying to call shots in this circumstance.” Garin said. Trying to be diplomatic, huh?

Erec sighed as he watched more soldiers gather around. Every second that Jefferson continued spewing this nonsense, it’d only get worse. They couldn’t just concede to what Jefferson was aiming to do. Not with Boldwick’s orders and not for their long-term safety. Hiding away in a cave while everyone fought would only end badly, especially as their rations began to run out.

And they would run out. These wastelands weren’t precisely a bountiful place to forage from.

“Erec, you need to stop him,” Garin said quietly.

“Why me?” Erec asked, confused. He’d expected his friend to take the stand and do something. Garin was the one who was good with people, and if anyone stood a chance at deescalating the situation, it’d be him. Sending Erec in was like sending in a fire to a fuse...

“They’re looking for a strong leader. Someone who can lead them to safety through hell. These people had to kill their friends and since then, struggled to force-feed those very same brothers and sisters who slew others among them. Jefferson is up there telling them that we have no hope and need to hide—there isn’t anyone within our ranks besides you that can counter that narrative.”

“If I go up there—it won’t end well,” Erec worked his jaw. Already the sparks were flaring inside of him, even from the sidelines.

Coward. The beast cried out inside of him. There was almost a visceral disgust at the man welling up inside, and getting closer would only heighten the feeling.

“It doesn’t need to end well.” Garin said. “You have the reputation already. Use it.”

The reputation? Had word spread about him to the centuria? About how he fought? Or was it from seeing him take out their previous Knight Protector—a woman far above his rank? Either way, the implication of that was a bit troubling. And... It didn’t need to end well?

Just what did people see him as?

Erec cleared his throat. Even Colin was looking at him expectedly.

But he didn’t have a single plan. No clue what to say or how to deal with it. The fact that the course of this mission likely rested on his shoulders. Yet both of them were looking to him to solve this problem.

[Would Bedwyr hesitate?] VAL asked, and Erec stopped.

That was a dirty blow.

The anger swelled in him; and caught flame. Just a bit. A small controlled fire in the pit of his stomach. Enough to eliminate the distractions, to burn away the weakness and hesitation.

What did these people's opinion of him matter anyway?

Erec pushed past the crowd of gathered soldiers; they made way easily enough once they saw it was him. Jefferson’s voice quivered and broke as he stepped into the ring of people. His head locked on the older man.

“W-what is it you want, initiate?” Jefferson asked.

“Coward.” Erec growled out as the crowd went quiet.