Chapter 57: Chapter 58: Advisory One, Written by My Own Hand for the Edification of My Beloved Ones, the Denizens of Machrae Diir, Regarding the Arts Martial:

1. The honor of the mortal duel is no honor. Any dirty trick you do not use is an insult to your opponent's fighting spirit. In short: cheat.
2. Here is a true secret: nearly everyone already adheres to #1 when the lead hits the blood and the gutted ones scream. Therefore, you must perfect the greatest cheat of all: be the very best at fighting fair.
3. Proceed to also be the very best at cheating, just in case.
4. Deception is crucial to the art of war. If you can convince your enemy that you are merely a fool who constantly achieves strategic brilliance by random thrice-damned accident, then you have truly mastered strategy. It is therefore vital that you never refer to yourself as a fool while fighting.
5. The more advantageous a technique or weapon is, the more pressure you will place upon yourself to win when you use it. Enduring this pressure saps you of strength needed for battle. Thus there can be much advantage in suboptimal choices.
6. But eventually you need to stop being a whiny little bitch and get used to the pressure. The first time you beat a master swordfigher's elaborate technique with a single swing of a club, it's impressive. The tenth time, no one believes that anyone you defeated was a master anymore.
7. In battle, people often try to kill you. Reflect on this if my use of gendered insults bothers you.
8. Accustom yourself to enjoying every slur, humiliation, defeat, agony, and perverse joy you ever encounter. Otherwise, they will inevitably be used to break your spirit.
9. It has been written that the hilt of a sword is poison. This is true. It has also been written that farming is nobler. This is a lie. If the farmer did not produce food, armies could not march. Not even children are innocent in war: they are very convenient for propagandists.

10. Think and feel whatever you like, so long as it keeps you fighting. The only ideals that still matter are measured in foot-pounds, joules, penetration at range X, and blast yields. The only one who tells you what you can or cannot do is your logician.

Addendum 1a: if you wanted war to be exciting and make you feel amped up to dethrone god, you did not actually want to fight war.

... but you live in Machrae Diir. *You* already knew that, dear kindred. Oh! Yes--let that be one final point:

11. Never fight alongside anyone whose primary argument in favor of supporting them is that they'll definitely win. The confident soldier and the frightened one are both cut down by the MG's burst. But the frightened, at least, does not pull you to your feet just before it hits.

Addendum 1b: the final sentence of #10 should read, "The only one who tells you what you can or cannot do is your LOGISTICIAN."

As you can see, I am very skilled in applying #4.

And of course: the frightened soldier is LESS likely to pull you to your feet.

They still might.

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