A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

"Right…" Oliver said, nodding. He'd overlooked that possibility. In his head, he'd planned to finance the entire thing himself, and had wondered just how much it might cost. He'd been a little bit anxious about the numbers in all honesty. But Nila was right. To attempt to do things all himself would be to neglect the bigger picture, to use his resources inefficiently.

Nila was looking at Greeves with an intense amount of pressure in her eyes. The merchant heaved a long sigh, eventually relenting.

"I suppose I could send some coin your way as well… though it runs contrary to my plans of expansion in Ernest, I suppose there's ways that I can make it work in my favour," Greeves said, clearly bemoaning any coin that he would have to part with. "Eh, what about this? I'll get those other little rats to loosen their purse strings a bit, so how about you expect a little less from me."

"Greeves…" Nila growled.

"Just a little less," Greeves said. "It'll get done, but just because I've coin don't expect me to spend it all in one fell swoop. I'll get the others involved to share that damn burden."

"I get it," Oliver said. "You don't have to overturn all your plans for mine, though your assistance in the matter would be appreciated. Organizing it as well might have to fall to you…"

"I don't mind doing work like that. I'll talk to some of the construction boys and send an estimated price your way when I can. You should be saving your coin and looking to recruit some good serving men as well. I say serving men… But some tough peasants would do just as good, wouldn't they?" Greeves mused. Find adventures at My Virtual Library Empire

"If they were experienced. The Serving Class have been trained – for the most part – at the Academy, though. There'll be a difference in quality," Oliver said.

"Pah. Judas is way more useful than any of those Serving Class louts, ain't he?" Greeves said.@@novelbin@@

"Probably… But where are you going to find fifty or more Judas'?" Oliver pointed out.

"A slaver's market, for one…" Greeves said.

"We're not using slaves," Oliver said firmly.

"I didn't say keep em' as slaves. I was saying we find some tough ones, and we free em'. There's some tough bastards in those slaver cells, if you've the eye to look," Greeves said.

Oliver wasn't exactly excited by that prospect. Slaves, whilst not explicitly illegal in the Stormfront, were outright frowned upon. There were enough laws in place restricting slave use that it became too inconvenient to keep them.

Nobles especially were basically barred from keeping anything of the sort – it would have been a great scandal if any of them were discovered with true slaves in their employ.

"I suppose that would work…" Oliver said cautiously. Whilst not excited, he didn't have the luxury of looking for much better. His coin was finite. He needed men as quickly as he could get them.

"Of course, you'd have to discipline them properly, before you'd be confident in having them guard a town. But I reckon if you have a mixture of em', different backgrounds, they'd soon sort each other out. Besides, the ones with poorer training, naturally, you pay less until they're more experienced," Greeves said.

"I suppose…" Oliver said.

"I think you'd be able to handle them, Oliver," Nila added helpfully. "If you took them on a few of these missions of yours, they'd be getting training on the job, right? I think – though he's disgusting – Greeves is probably right about looking for men outside of the Serving Class. Peasants are just as good, and freeing slaves for the purpose is good too, isn't it?"

It was surprising to hear that from Nila. He wouldn't if his experiences in the Academy had softened his expectations from women. The girls that he'd met with were good-hearted sorts – and so Nila too was – but they didn't have the hardness that a peasant girl had. That understanding of reality. She didn't baulk, even when slaves were brought up, though she no doubt herself frowned upon such things.

"Right," Oliver said. "If you're willing to do that, Greeves, then that would definitely be helpful."

"It will be of use to me as well, somehow, I have no doubt," Greeves said, with a satisfied smirk.

"Couldn't be a little bit more loyal..?" Nila said, twisting her lips.

"Come now, the boy understands me, don't you, Oliver? I'm a changed man, in some respects – but not at the cost of my ambitions. I will serve you more usefully than any man, as long as you carry me in that direction. I'm more a partner, than a true servant. That works just as well, doesn't it?" Greeves said. "You have enough retainers bowing to you already."

"Well, I suppose it does work well enough," Oliver smiled. "But the day you raise a hand against me, Greeves, will be the day that those dreams of yours burn. Even with our history, I will not show you mercy."

The gold flecks in his eyes made that point rather clear. Though there was a clear sheen of sweat on Greeves' head at the threat, he took it well enough otherwise.

"And that fuckin' look there is why I have no intentions of betraying you…" Greeves said.

"Not even when you know the High King would pay a handsome amount for information on any of these little chats that we've had?" Oliver said.

"The High King?" Greeves scoffed. "You think I'm the sort to value a man on mere title? The man was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. If I were to look him in the eye, I'd find only weakness there, and scorn for me. Naw, you need not waste your time fearing that. My hatred for their types is about the only thing that outweighs my greed."

"Awfully honest, aren't you?" Oliver said, smiling thinly.

The merchant shrugged. "So are you. If I weren't honest, you'd no doubt get suspicious. I'm aware that I have that effect on people, and more aware still of what a little nightmare you can be when we're aiming in opposite directions."