I got up at 8.00 am I guessed because the sun was already shining and the soldiers were gone. I went to the dining pavilion, had some food and went to the stables to se Max and Bella. Finally when I was passing the training ground from the stables I found Eva there. I went near her and asked "Hey, where have you been?" but she didn't answer the question I asked "Last night I went to see the king and asked about your skills and techniques. He was not at all satisfied with your skills and techniques. He said that you use your hilt more than your blade and you use some sort of unusual techniques like throwing sand on the horse. The main think that the king was angry at was you helped the soldier you fought at first." "But Eva what are you telling me to do? They are all our soldiers. Why should we kill our own soldiers? And the sand technique I used because I had no other choice. They didn't even give me a horse but they tell me to fight three swordsmen at once!" I was becoming angry every moment. "Okay, leave it. I don't have any problem in you using those techniques. We should win the war. That's enough for me. Okay, listen. Let's see about today's plan. First you study some commands the commander must know. In the afternoon we do some combats with your short sword, SEA SLICER. After that I'll show you where we should assemble our soldiers and from where we should start the war. At night we discuss some strategy with the king." she finished. Then she took out a scroll and gave it to me. The scroll was old and pale like it was written a thousand years ago. I opened it and saw many words of different languages on the right side and on the left side where the words of English. Both were in different fonts.
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"The heading says Commands a Commander Must Know. There are about nine commands. There are many other commands but I'll take care of them. You must know these nine commands because you need to use these commands in war I've written in your English on the right side so that it'll be easy for you to study. I'll go check the horses and come. Meanwhile you study these commands." She said and got up. Before she went out of the ground "Eva!" I called her. "What?" "Can you-can you read this for me? Just for once. It's kinda difficult to read." "Yeah sure. Now look and listen carefully. The pronunciation is very important. If you pronounce it differently our soldiers may attack us." she said and sat beside me and started reading. While I was listening a sudden question emerged in my mind. I blurted it. "Eva?" "Mm...hmm?" "How can you speak my English so fluently? You are a 17th century girl and you speak my English so fluently. How?" she thought for a while and said "Actually Oliver, I do not speak your English. I just speak 17th century English but you hear 21st century words and I can understand you because I can hear 17th century words when you speak. That is a bit of magic involved. The juice that you drink daily is reason for it. A small amount of magic powder in the juice. Has your doubt been cleared? Now listen." But I was not able to listen. How many magic powder did they have? I was wondering. They can time travel, they have hidden tunnels and now they have a translation juice. Eva finished reading and asked "Understood?" "mm...hmm" that's all I could manage. Then she went and I started to study. It was not easy. I couldn't even study my textbooks which are in y own language in my century. How can I study a scroll which is in a different language? Somehow I memorized all the nine commands. Eva came back and asked "Finished?" "Yeah, almost." "Okay let me ask." I recited to her. She corrected some mistakes and said "Okay Oliver. Good." When I finished studying it was almost noon. We went to the stables and took our horses and went to see from where should the soldiers assemble and from where they should start the war. We went to the edge of the tents. I was standing in front of a huge ground that was going on and on until it met the sky in the distance. My eyes couldn't take in the whole ground in one sight. I had to rotate my head by 180 degrees to see the whole ground. At a distance smoke and dust was flowing everywhere. At one side of the ground flowed the river soar. If you see this ground from the air it would look like a huge brown paper with a margin. "This is the place from where we should assemble our soldiers. There is a certain position for the soldiers. You must know the order so that you can give your commands according to it. So listen very very carefully. At the front over there," she pointed a few meters into the ground ", that is the position of us. At the back of us fifty rows of horsemen, each row ten of them will be standing. Then on either sides of them swordsmen, 150 rows with hundred soldiers each, will be standing. At the back of the horsemen, misoi gigantes, the men you fought in your second test will be standing. There will be hundred rows of them with 10 of them in each row. So we have thirty thousand soldiers, thousand giants and five hundred horsemen. If you include us in the horsemen category then there will 502 horsemen. Then at the back of the army there will be huge machines called the artillery. This artillery is used to shoot large number of arrows at the same time. Each artillery can shoot thousand arrows at the same time. We have ten of them and so we can shoot ten thousand arrows in a single time. Tonight we'll discuss the strategy with the king. At that time I'll tell you how we had fought these many days. If you have any new plans you can tell there." she finished. "Are you fighting with the same strategy for two weeks?" "Well, yes" "How many times have you made the opponent retreat?" "In the first week, when Carlo was there, we were winning continuously for almost three days. Then Carlo was dead and I also was gone, in search of you, the sub-commanders could not the hold the army till 6 pm. The most they could do was, hold the arm till 5 pm." "What should we do to defeat the opponent?" "To defeat the opponent we need to kill their commanders, invade their tents and kill their king or arrest their king. All this have to be done before 6 pm. At 6pm a horn will be blown from both the sides and the war would end for the day." After that we went to the dining tent and had our lunch. It was about 2pm. This was the first me and Eva were eating together after coming to the past. While eating I asked "Eva, can you tell me the strategy now? I have a strategy in my mind. If both of them are same, okay. If they are different, I can tell you the strategy and you can help me convince the king tonight." She gave me a look like saying 'Convincing the king is not so easy.' Instead she said "Okay I'll tell you in our tent after eating." Then we went to our tent and she started telling me the strategy.
