A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor
Chapter 1405 - 1405: Ambitions - Part 2

"…I don't know what to make of that sort of encouragement," Oliver said, staring blankly at the letter after having received it. At the very least, he was mildly pleased that Karstly had seemed amiable enough in his responses, but in typical Karstly fashion, he'd left something cryptic in there along with everything else.

Nila plucked it out of his hands to give it a read. She'd made sure that she wasn't left too far behind in the learning of her letters, and she didn't have much trouble translating the scribbles to some semblance of meaning in her head. "You're not going to take his advice, are you?" Nila said. "I think the hosting of a tournament is already strange enough, you don't need to add to that."

"I suppose I didn't warn him that the Generals would be competing… I do think I need to send another round of crows out with messages about that. It wasn't as if I could have said it before checking with Lord Blackwell ahead of time. On that note, I should also inform them of Lord Blackwell's backing."

"You need not, my Lord," Verdant said. "That is the presumed state of affairs, from any noble that you have contacted. They would never have expected that you hosting it by your lonesome was an option."

"Well, if you suppose so, then that will save me some work," Oliver said.

As whimsical as the idea of tournament making had come to him, the actual planning of it was beginning to mount. The merchants, in particular, were stressing a great deal about hosting the masses. Naturally, they would be able to make a large sum of money with the number of people coming through, but to truly capitalize on that number, they would need a far larger amount of stock than usual.

To that end, Nila had begun hunting at a rate that was almost alarming. She knew the forests well, and how much their respective populations could take, and she knew that the land nearest Solgrim already needed to be left until next year before it was put through any degree of harshness. She'd had to go further afield, on horseback, to find land that was appropriate. But one would never have thought that she was that busy, with how much energy she had.

Her eyes were aglow, even now, late into the evening, after working and riding since dawn. The more nobles that sent in their replies, and the more days that passed, that energy of Nila's only seemed to increase, whilst Greeves' shoulders slumped further under the workload. It was almost as if she was draining his energy rather directly.

"This is going to be soooo much fun, Oliver!" Nila said, for what must have been the thousandths time. "How many people do you suppose are coming now?"

"Well… I don't know at this point," Oliver said, scratching his head. "We have Queen Asabel's reply today… And that sort of confirms that this thing is happening, and we don't need to worry about numbers any further."

"What!? You didn't tell me that!" Nila said, practically jumping for the letter that Oliver pointed to, with its broken dragon seal.

"She's committed all the retinue that she can spare for the events," Oliver explained to her, as she read through it. "Though they won't all be able to arrive on the same day. She's apparently going to have different members come at different times, though she intends to stay for up to a week herself."

"It's bloody ridiculous," Greeves said. "Do you know how much gold we've already made in all this, Nila girl?"

"…I don't," Nila said.

"I put out a somewhat outlandish entry fee among the initial round of letters," Oliver admitted, scratching his head. "And, for some reason, everyone is agreeing to it. Naturally, I didn't ask for any sort of fee from Queen Asabel, given that her presence is a benefit enough to us… But she's pledged a further five thousand gold coins for our prize pool, and to ensure that each member of the Pendragon faction can freely enter the tournaments if they so wish."

"You choked five hundred gold coins out of Skullic as well, for the same privilege," Greeves said. "And Karstly gave the same. And Blackwell… And General Tavar… General Broadstone… General Rainheart…"

"Does that mean my father doesn't have to pay?" Lasha asked.

"Indeed. Queen Asabel has already more than paid his way. The same naturally goes for Lord Idris, though I doubt he'll be competing," Oliver said.

Verdant gave a wry smile at that. "I very much doubt that myself, my Lord. My father has never been particularly fond of games with the sword."

"Wait, it says here that Lancelot intends to compete," Nila said. "It seems like Queen Asabel's men are just as excited too, huh? That's great news! It'll be perfect. We never got a chance to thank her for what she did for Solgrim. This'll be a great opportunity to try and pay her back. We'll have to make sure that she has a lot of fun."

"Naturally," Oliver said. "We'll aim to do the same for everyone, of course. But then… Sort of aiming for it seems wrong too. I feel like the more I plan these different things, the more I'm going to drain the joy out of it. I think, perhaps, it might be better just to think up various things that amuse me, and toss the planning Greeves' way."

"Are you trying to bloody kill me!?" Greeves shouted. "I'm at the end of my rope here."

"He really doesn't look that good…" Nila said, studying the worn merchant. "Perhaps you should try and lighten his work load a little bit, Oliver."

"Everyone has been busy," Oliver said. "Nila is hunting from dawn until dusk. Verdant has been sending follow-up letters to all the nobles that have agreed to come, and trying to solve whatever specific requests that they might have."

"At the very least, tell me what yer format this damn tournament is," Greeves said. "If we know what we're doing, at least we'll know how much land we need to rope out."