A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 733: Cleaning Up - Part 1

"He keeps the excess? A greedy man, my Lord… If he wished to assist you, surely he ought to have been a little less gold-eyed about it?" Verdant said disapprovingly.

"No. As with you, it makes sense. I do not need men to throw away their lives for me. If our businesses can be mutually beneficial, then they should be. Even if Greeves were to get two hundred golds off them, as long as he raises my initial number from sixty to a hundred, I would not begrudge him the extra," Oliver said.

"It seems to me though, that I need to double that number… Two hundred golds a week, and I should be able to comfortably pay the wages of a hundred men on the outside, and twenty men on the inside, whilst still having an amount left over should any difficulties occur."

"These are certainly larger numbers that you’re proposing," Verdant mused. "I am impressed. Just a month or two ago, you were bemoaning your lack of coin, and now I would wager that your weekly income – on profit purely generated yourself – is like within the top number of the Academy."

"It’ll have to go even larger, though," Oliver said. "But how..? Monster slaying seems to be reaching a deadlock. The number of monsters we can comfortably slay without culling their number completely is already as pushed as we can get it.

There was talk with Greeves about potentially travelling somewhere, and slaying overrun monster populations, but given the distance we’d be travelling for that, and the inconsistencies in the quality of the monsters we’d be slaying, it doesn’t seem as strong an idea as we would like it to be."

"It still rings of promise, my Lord," Verdant said. "Perhaps something for a future occasion? On that same note, would you like me to inform Nebular of the changes to your agreement? I’m sure he’d want to know, given how invested he was in improving his own distribution procedures."

"No… I’m going to have to speak to him myself," Oliver said. "Since I’ve likely inconvenienced him, it’s the least I can do."

"Very good, my Lord. In other news, it seems that the Asabel Pendragon faction has been making significant strides. Whilst you were gone, I received an announcement that the transition of lands had begun, after her meeting with the High King. She’s assuming her Quarter Inheritance fully, and her father’s retainers are being moved out," Verdant informed him.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

"Is that so?" Oliver said, a little coolly. News of Asabel was still something of a sore spot for him. He didn’t know quite how to address the situation with her.

"Indeed, my Lord. Given a few weeks, and she will likely be a truly – albeit fledgling – force to be reckoned with," Verdant said. "A worthy ally to have… That is, if we’re still allied with her?"

"I don’t know the answer to that, Verdant. But I can only assume so. She’s a good woman all the same, and doesn’t seem likely to break promises. Though, do not expect the same level of closeness between us as before. I doubt we’d ever meet, unless it was absolutely necessary," Oliver said.

Though clearly troubled by that news, Verdant managed to nod regardless. Even he, it seemed, could not see through the situation that had transpired between Oliver and the Princess. Oliver was glad to see that. He didn’t need the problem to be poked. Given the nature of it, the fewer people that knew what had actually happened, the better.

When Nebular came to deliver a portion of Oliver’s coin the next day, he was ready and waiting for the man, in Verdant’s old advice house, having anticipated the time of his arrival.

"Oh, Ser Patrick," Nebular said, caught off guard. He’d grown accustomed to simply leaving the coin in the advice house, or simply giving it to Verdant when he was able to catch the somewhat elusive priest. Rarely, if ever, had Oliver been there waiting for him.

"Hello, Nebular," Oliver said, politely enough, from his position at the table, cradling a cup of blackberry tea by the fire – the same tea that Princess Asabel had given him all those weeks ago. "How’s business?"

The alchemist grimaced at that. "It’s good… I think. About as good as can be expected. I was enthusiastic about expanding my sales, given that it’s something I’ve never really succeeded at in the past when I’ve tried it… but it’s not happening as quickly as I would like. I think I’m going to have to work hard for the whole week to get the whole amount sold."

Continue reading stories on novelbuddy

"Ah, then, you might not find my news to be too distasteful," Oliver said.

"News?" Nebular repeated, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. "Are you proposing changes to our arrangement, Ser Patrick? I thought we’d agreed that the split of coin is fair, no..?"

"It is," Oliver said. "Relax. I don’t intend to decrease your share so suddenly, not after we’ve already agreed on the matters that currently stand. However, I’ve been in touch with an old associate of mine, experienced in distribution outside of the Academy. He supposes that he could sell what we’re attempting to far quicker than we likely could."

"Quicker?" Nebular said, latching onto that word. "How quick?"

"Quick enough that we’d be getting the weekly pay that we initially decided upon," Oliver said, though he didn’t mention anything about how they’d also likely be selling for more. He felt a little bad omitting that part, but given that Nebular’s share included the task of distributing the goods, he imagined the alchemist would simply be happy to keep what he had, whilst doing less work.

"That’s a little troubling, Ser Patrick," Nebular said slowly. "I’d been quite invested in this distribution business… It would seem that my efforts are wasted. So too would my leverage over my share of the coin be put in trouble, given that you don’t need me to distribute…"

"Your share will stay the same, at least for the next few months," Oliver assured him. "These are changes on my end, so I would not allow them to inconvenience you, when we’ve already struck a deal."