A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor
Chapter 1396 - 1396: Childish - Part 2

"Wait? Is that how blatantly they're going about it?" Verdant asked. "They're simply saying, directly, that merchants ought not to trade in Solgrim?"

"Aye, they're not hiding from it. They're saying there's security issues in Solgrim, and any who trade there henceforth will be unable to do business with the guild – until the issue is solved, they say, but we know that it'll never be solved to their satisfaction. They're the lawmakers," Greeves said.

"That's a rather overbearing strategy from Ferdinand," Verdant frowned. "I wonder what Lord Blackwell thinks of that approach? Surely he is keeping an eye on the situation, having noted the competition to my Lord…"

Everyone was wracking their heads. Once more, it was Oliver's living room that had become their meeting place. Skullic was quietly reading the books of the First King in the corner, not saying a word, whilst Greeves, Oliver and Verdant attempted to put their heads together in fixing the problem. Both Judas and Blackthorn – who stood in the capacity as mutual bodyguards – elected not to say a word. They both seemed to have come to the conclusion that this was a problem far beyond their pay grade.

"I wager he will not care," Skullic said helpfully, not looking up from his reading. "Overwhelming force is a valid enough strategy."

"…I suppose so," Verdant had to admit, given that was how he himself fought, with that overwhelming strength of his. "But do we know the limits of this strength? If we start to push back, can we even win?"

"We've got no choice, Lord Idris. We have to tighten up everything, squeeze up every last drop of resources that we have, and hope that it's good enough. The repairs, at least, are pretty much done. The builders are finishing up the last of their jobs, so we have no issues there," Greeves said. "But it's going to be an uncomfortable few weeks, I reckon. We're going to have to do some cunning bits if we want to get anything in retaliation."

"By that you mean, something shady," Oliver noted. "You'll threaten the merchants and their families if you leave. You'll threaten the villagers in integration, trying to get information on the Guild's informants."

"Aye, and what of it? I'll go even further still. I'll send some of my men into Ernest, see if we can find something on those damn old men in the Guild. It won't be easy, but that's the winning card that we're looking for, a bit of blackmail," Greeves said.

"How foolish this is…" Oliver said.

"At least there, we've found our agreement," Skullic said. "What a waste of time."

"A waste of time, indeed," Oliver agreed.

"…Eh? Is that the attitude you take? After all this pissin' effort has been put in?" Greeves said. "We're at war here, Patrick, or do you not notice? You declared competition yourself, didn't you? I thought you made that declaration, ready to go all the way to the bloody grave with it?"

"I might have at the time," Oliver said. "I thought it might have been good for both our village and Ernest to have a healthy bit of competition, but this could hardly be called healthy. We've immediately resorted to cutthroat tactics. It's a scourge. We've inconvenienced the populace, just for our game."

"That's your game," Greeves spat. "You brought this."

"I brought the competition. I didn't invite them to fight the way they did," Oliver said easily.

"So you're dodging blame, and refusing to fight?" Greeves said, shaking his head. "I should have known better than to listen to you on matters of governance. Reckless doesn't work here. All you know is your sword. Should have left this to me… We could have gradually clawed our way upwards."

"They were intent on suffocating us anyway, before we declared competition," Oliver pointed out. "The matter with the extra height on the walls, and the like. For as long as the Guild holds power over us, we will be unable to grow as we wish to."

"And that was the point of all this, to snatch something away from them, in order to grow as we wish to!" Greeves snarled.

"We needn't stick to that until the very end," Oliver said. "Really, it was a bit of a diversion recruiting Harmon, I think. We knew it would irritate them, that was why we did it, do you not recall? We enjoyed that option, because it was a way of fighting back, after they'd gone out of their way to inconvenience us."

"Well, if that's what you were thinking, then pity help us," Greeves said. "We're at war, and you're set to playing pranks. We've got to fight them, man to man. If we don't put on some serious faces, and be ready to drench our hands in muck, we're not going to get anywhere."

Oliver leaned back in his check, letting it swing off the ground. His smile hadn't faded. Indeed, they were in a serious situation, but he could not bring himself to let his mood be destroyed by that. So many times, he had succumbed to seriousness when it was unnecessary. As of late, a light was beginning to peel into his world, and he was unwilling to let it go. He wondered if there was any sort of solution to their war that wasn't a direct confrontation, but that line of thought quickly ran to a halt.

"Competition, eh… and we've ruined it," he mused, amusement never hanging far away from him. He'd spent that morning teasing Nila once again, and he delighted in the memory of her irritation. It quickly brought to mind a thought, along such a teasing line, something that would have annoyed Nila, if she were the competitor, rather than Ferdinand and the Guild.

As much as he tried to throw that thought from his mind, and think in more conventional terms, he simply couldn't wrestle it back away. It overtook him, and his smile grew all the wider. "You know… I'm thinking, that might actually work, as stupid as it is."

Verdant and Greeves had been talking in his absence, and Greeves' fury was deepening, seeing how close to laughter Oliver was. "You won't be laughing when you see the villagers homeless," he said.

"Well, well, there's still a few weeks before any of that. We don't need to despair," Oliver said. "As it happens, in thinking of solutions, I ended up being a bit distracted."