A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 710: The Road Home - Part 9

Oliver looked at Nila. She stared back at him with determined eyes. "I thought you were going to hunt – that you didn’t like the battlefield."

"No sane person likes the battlefield," Nila said. "But who says I need to be on the battlefield to help you? If you ever need a good shot of a bow, I can do that – but I’m other things now too, Beam. Or at least, I hope I am… I have my company, after all, and thirty different employees."

"Thirty!?" Oliver said. "You’re that big already?"

She smiled at his reaction. "I am. And I’m pleased I am. Listening to you tell all that you’ve been up to makes me glad that I’ve worked hard, so I at least have something to be proud of… Even then, though, it doesn’t seem to be enough. Oh, Beam, how are the Gods so cruel to put you in such a difficult spot once again?"

"Look what it done to him, though," Greeves pointed out. "Cruel they might be, but they’re making a dangerous man out of him. Mere months have passed, girl. What happens when he turns twenty? Damnation. Those nobles don’t know how right they are to fear him… But aye, I think the tide is turning in our favour."

"You think so?" Judas said doubtfully. "But we don’t have any men."

"We’re the fricken’ lowest of the low. The boy’s seen a slave’s shackles, as have I. You two know what it means to grow up a peasant. Yet here we are in the deadlocks of a competition – if we’re surviving, then we’re winning. They know nothing of true grit.

They’ve sent assassins your way, thinking that they know darkness and depravity – we can fuckin’ show them how it’s properly done," Greeves said, his rage burning as hotly as if they had targeted him himself.

"Greeves…" Nila warned. "You’ve cleaned up your act… Are you really going to step back into that world?"

"I will if I have to," Greeves said, a predatory look on his face. With his connection to the man, and to Ingolsol, Oliver understood that want only too well. Ingolsol delighted in the emotion. Whatever plan was brewing behind Greeves’ eyes, he wanted in on it. "Send some assassins their way, sow discord. They would never expect whose hand it came from."

Tempting though it was, Oliver too cautioned him. "There are things to be done that wouldn’t be as dark as all that, Greeves. Sabotaging military outposts and the like… Wait, what am I even thinking? None of that matters right now. It’s all political. Verdant agrees that they can’t make moves for my head anymore.

They’ve lost their chance."

"And even if they did, who would they send..?" Greeves finished for him. "They would need to summon a force of a hundred at least. That isn’t going to pass by unnoticed."

"So what do we do?" Nila asked, bringing them back to it. "No knives in the dark, right? We don’t need that."

"I need to raise an army," Oliver said. "Skullic has gifted me a hundred men to practise commanding, but I need a hundred of my own. The Academy is the place for that. If I had the coin, I should be gathering more of them."

"How much are you making?" Greeves said. "You said you were aiming for fifty gold pieces a week, or something outlandish?"

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Judas almost choked as that figure was brought up again. Even Nila was raising an eyebrow. Greeves, for his part, seemed unmoved.

"Aye – that’s the aim, anyway. We’re relying on Nebular the Alchemist for distribution as well. It isn’t guaranteed that he’ll be able to sell all that we offer," Oliver said.

"So, sell it through me," Greeves put in.

They all looked at him suspiciously. "What?" He said. "It’s the obvious choice. I’m better than some young pup. I could send them halfway around the country, put them in places where they’re sure to get the best prices."

"And what’s your price, Greeves?" Oliver asked.

The man smiled. "A quarter. I’ll turn that fifty gold a week into more than a hundred for you, but I’ll be keeping a quarter of it."

"Greeves…" Nila cautioned. "Don’t you see the position we’re in? This is no place for your greed."

"See further, girlie," Greeves told her. "I’m throwing my lot in with the Patrick’s. I’m not going to be spending all that gold on whores. That’s gold that I’ll put towards buying out those lower-town stores in Ernest. Those noble bastards don’t seem to understand the weighty politics a few well-placed stores can get you. That’s a weight to throw around."

"That will be a lot of power," Oliver noted cautiously.

Greeves met his gaze. "It will be," he agreed. "And a dangerous man to grasp the reins of it. But that’s what you need, ain’t it boy? You’ve already got your moral allies. I don’t doubt that Idris boy is capable, but he’ll be as restricted as you.

You need a properly cunning man. This village is where you’ll find them. You need the gritty sort. There’s three of us in this room, and you may not trust it, but we’ve reason to be loyal to you."

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"No, I trust it," Oliver said firmly. He could feel the weight of their loyalty through Ingolsol. It was enough to forget who he was at times. Through the passion of Greeve’s speech, he could feel it most acutely. There was a resolute determination in it.

"If it’s money that you need, then I can help…" Nila said. "You’re hunting monsters, aren’t you? I could send some of my people to the Academy to make your work more efficient."

"It only works because it’s him, though," Greeves pointed out. "If it were so easy to kill Hobgoblins and Gorebeasts, everyone would be chopping them up and selling their parts, but then those parts wouldn’t be worth as much."

"I know that," Nila said. "But the fact is, Beam is far stronger than the likes of those, isn’t he? He slew a Boulder Crab, after all."