A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 926: Order in Short Time - Part 3

"There will not come such a day," Claudia replied strongly. "You do not understand what you speak of. You should not wish for the return of imbalance when we have already seen the effects that it can wreak. We have barely managed to survive it by the skin of our teeth."

"Weakness! We are a fort of strength now," Ingolsol growled. "We have progressed much, and there has been no sign of the sickness' return."

"Enough, you both," Oliver murmured in his carriage, forcing their conversation from his mind. The two of them fought like brother and sister, at times. The years hadn't been much of an antidote for that. They were quicker to argue than ever. His control over their presence had extended, though. Just as they could rise up unbidden, so too could he dismiss them at times.

"Did you say something, my Lord?" Verdant asked. They were sharing the carriage with Blackthorn's two retainers, now that there was space freed up, and those present seemed to think that he'd been talking of them. Conversation had paused, and their eyes turned to him.

"Oh, no, nothing at all," Oliver replied, repositioning his head on his hand, as he enjoyed his chance to finally look out of the window, after strategically positioning himself so that he could finally snatch it.

…

…

They returned to the Academy when the veil of darkness had been deep for a good few hours. With it being spring already, the days were long enough that the darkness began to mean something once more. It made it obvious just how long ago they ought to have been sleeping.

Lady Blackthorn had fallen asleep in the carriage, and Amelia had cooed over her soft snoring, growling at all of them to keep quiet, so as not to wake her. Despite the fact that all those present were by far her social superior – aside from Pauline – they ceded her request with practised dismissiveness.

Amelia was a rare creature, and her eccentricities, at times, could be forgiven, provided that she did not go too far.

When the carriage finally came to a halt, the Lady in question lost her head's position on the edge of her seat, and went collapsing forward, looking quite like she was about to land on the floor. But before she could, her hands stretched out, and she overcame the pull of gravity, looking about the darkened carriage with round eyes that were filled with alertness.

"What are you, a cat?" Oliver commented. "Stand up, we're leaving. The rest of us are fancying the chance to sleep as well."

With Oliver's voice, she seemed to remember where she was. She stood up and dusted herself off expressionless, and glanced at the rest of them, as if nothing had happened. Her retainers smiled, thoroughly endeared to this side of Blackthorn, whilst Oliver merely sighed, and forced his way out of the carriage.

The thought of a bed was a tempting one. Verdant was already making plans to make it to his own quarters – though they were not so rich a quarter as those he had occupied when he'd lived here permanently – and he was in the midst of bidding his goodnights to his Lord when a guard interrupted them.

"Skullic did?" Verdant said, receiving the message from the guardsman with a frown.

"He did. Apologies my Lord, with the late hour and all…" The guardsmen said, seeming to realize that he was being troublesome.

"It's fine," Oliver said. "I suppose if he's asking, I may as well see to it. He's given us a good amount of assistance, after all. I was going to need to see him eventually."

"Then I shall come as well, my Lord," Verdant said.

"That's most unnecessary," Oliver said.

"I will not sleep whilst my Lord is still busy," Verdant said resolutely.

"Hah… Fine," Oliver said, knowing full well how stubborn Verdant could be. It was the last thing that they needed when the hour was already so late. "You can inform General Skullic that we've returned, and that we'll be with him shortly, when we've put down our things."

"Very well, Ser," the guardsman said, saluting. These days, Oliver was on reasonably good terms with most of the guardsmen. They respected the victories that he'd steadily been adding up, and he'd always made sure to treat them with a degree of respect, which in time, they too returned.

…

…

"You've done something," was the first thing that Skullic said as soon as he opened the door to see Oliver.

"What? That's an uncouth accusation, General. You already knew what I was going to do in the Capital," Oliver said.

"Goodness, Oliver, don't phrase it like that, you'll give Daemon a heart-attack!" Mary said.

"What did you do, Oliver?" Skullic said more firmly. "Verdant, what did he do?"

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"You need not worry, good General, he has not done anything to get himself into trouble," Verdant said.

"What did he do?" Skullic repeated for the third time. "The longer you ignore my question, the worse I'm expecting your answer to be."

Oliver shrugged. "I just beat the High King to the punch. He was asking the crowd for enlisters, and I took the opportunity to have a good look at him in the process. For some reason, I don't think he liked me."

"The jokes are not helping," Skullic said. "You ought not provoke an enemy until you have the sword safely positioned around his neck, or unless you are attempting to lure him into a trap. Riling a foe up, and giving him motivation without good reason is a foolish endeavour."

"Volguard is a fan of using emotion to cloud the enemy's judgement," Oliver replied.

"Volguard? You're not Volguard," Skullic said back. "I can guess that your actions were not done with any ounce of strategy. You were angry, and you merely wanted a stab back at the man. That doesn't constitute strategic manoeuvring."

"Whilst you are no doubt right, General Skullic, do you not believe that after all this time, my Lord was justified?" Verdant said. "The High King made an open mockery of Blackwell. He tried to make the man beg, as if he was nothing more than a vagrant. He called him a failure in front of thousands."

"…I expect Lord Blackwell supposed that might happen, just as well as I did," General Skullic said, heaving a sigh. He looked tired. Oliver had learned that he preferred to rise early and go to bed early – this time must have been awfully late for him. "We expected it, but to have it done nonetheless. It doesn't please me to hear.

The man is to be admired, doing what he did, with as little as it had… But, that doesn't excuse your reaction, Patrick."