A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

The foundations didn't extend into the ground. That was one stipulation that Verdant had informed him of. The structures were to be built so that they could easily be demolished. Once the owner of a store graduated, any property that he'd built would be demolished upon his leaving, to make way for the new waves of noble students that were passing through.

"Hello, Gras," Oliver said, slowing to a halt. The large boy seemed surprised that Oliver had remembered his name, as did the others. But whilst that surprise might have won him a temporary smile, it did not last long. The yellow-shirted student shifted uncomfortably, hesitant to share something.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Quickly now. I'm on my way to class. Did you give thought to my offer?" Oliver asked. He'd previously offered to pay Gras two silvers for work that Gargon was paying him one silver for. It had been a childish little bit of interfering, but it was something that Oliver was beginning to take more seriously now.

At first, thirty golds had seemed like enough, but after spending time around Blackthorn and Verdant, he'd quickly realized how paltry it was when it came to achieving the things expected of a noble. The reconstruction of a Patrick estate would take far, far more than the mere thirty golds that Lombard had given him.

"We did, Ser, gracious as it was, we told Lord Gargon of it, to see what he had to say. Just a loyalty thing, you see. We can't have other nobles thinking that we'd walk out on a contract just like that. It would be bad for our reputation. Lord Gargon… he wasn't happy. But he's increased our pay to four silvers to match your offer," Gras said, awkwardly.

"Sorry, Ser."

"It's quite alright," Oliver said with a smile. "You're making four times what you originally were, are you not?"

Gras nodded hesitantly. The others were listening in on their conversation, evidently, they were quite pleased about this turn of events as well. But they feared the tension it would cause. More than that, they feared Oliver's reaction to it.

"Then make sure you take his money, and we'll leave it at that," Oliver said. He spared Gras a brief nod, and then continued on his way to the Central Castle. They watched him go, dumbfounded.

Oliver smiled to himself as he walked. Gargon's reaction was typical of a pride-filled noble. Greeves would have skinned him alive for his lack of merchant sense. He'd doubled his payment to the workers, seeing it as a battle between Oliver and himself, as though this were a bidding war.

But it had been a mere passing comment that Oliver had made on a whim. It wasn't like he'd actually had to pay the workers 2 silvers each – for twenty workers, that would have been 4 precious golds – but Gargon, on the other hand, would actually have to make good on his boast. 8 golds to his initial 2.

It likely didn't mean anything at all to someone of Gargon's wealth, but still, Oliver couldn't help seeing it as a small victory.

He crossed through to the Central Castle, unsure of really where it was that he was meant to be going. Verdant had given him directions, but a long list of directions spoken as words didn't mean nearly as much until you saw the place in the flesh.

He passed the dining hall, and then decided to ask. The student pointed him further into the bowels of a castle, towards a set of stairs. It was the first time in any of his classes that he'd had to ascend to the second floor. In fact, now that he realized it, he didn't think he'd ever gone up a floor in any of the castles.

On the second floor, he couldn't help but note that it seemed considerably more stately. There were statues lining the hallway immediately after the stairs, and as he crossed into the next one, they were replaced by suits of armour, each clutching a sword pointed down towards the ground.

There were banners lining the walls too. Sigils that he'd started to recognize, of some of the larger noble houses. He recognized Lord Blackwell's owl, a sigil that he was intimately familiar with by this point, considering he wore the pin of his chest wherever he went.

Even the blue carpet that lined the way seemed less trodden than the carpets in the other castles. Well, that did make sense. If this was a class exclusively for nobles – and an optional class at that – then there wouldn't be much reason for other students to be heading in this direction… Unless, of course, there might have been other classes that were being held up there.

As of yet, Oliver knew no such things.

There stood a large wooden door at the end of the hallway. It was the destination that both Verdant's directions, and the earlier student's directions seemed to mark. They'd both said that the door was distinctive for its size, and it would be hard to miss.

Indeed, as Oliver glanced down the hallway, the other doors set into the walls were nearly half as small. If size was to be his main indicator, then this would be the place.

He knocked on the door just in case.

"Enter," came a firm voice, and so he did.

He pushed open the door with a certain amount of authority. These castle doors were heavy, and if one did not assert himself with a strong initial pull, they could be something of a fight to get open, especially in places where the hinges had been left to rush.

Oliver took in the room as the door swung open, realizing that it was distinctly smaller than he would have expected. Not really big enough to hold a class in – were there so few people in attendance?

And it was richly furnished too, the typical stone walls that he was so used to seeing were lined halfway up with varnished wooden panelling, and then there was the rug of the bear on the floor, and the head of an antler set as a trophy on one wall.