A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor
Chapter 1416 - 1416: Oliver Patrick - Part 3

"They're good," Nila said. "We're going to have two stalls in Ernest, and then another two outside the walls. I had Greeves check over the numbers, with our projected profits and the like, and he thinks that we've got a good chance of being able to open another store in Ernest after this."

"Really? Just from a few days of selling at a tourney?" Oliver said.

"Right?" Nila said excitedly, lifting her head up. "It's crazy, isn't it!? I thought we were going to be stuck at our current size for a little while longer, since with all the taxes, and the upkeep costs, it's been hard to make any headway, but all of a sudden, we have this… It's amazing, Oliver! It's such a good idea!"

"…Well, I wouldn't go that far, I was just messing around," Oliver said, pulling a face as if he was troubled. That he could make such expressions, when around so many impressive people, he always seemed stalwart and in control – it made Nila feel privileged that she was allowed to see them. It gave even more layers to that wild and beastly beauty that he had. She didn't think she'd ever have her fill of it.

"If that's just you messing around, then you should mess around more," Nila said, jabbing at his cheek with a finger. "It's amazing, really, really. You should take pride in it. It isn't just luck, as you keep saying. Greeves said it's because of the connections that you've made that you were able to pull that trick – and I know just how hard it is to get those connections. I've been trying for yeaaaars to get some more backing in Ernest, but no one even looks my way."

"Then they must be blind," Oliver said. "The most impressive little hunter in the kingdom, and with a pretty face to boot. You ought to have the upper hand in any negotiations."

"Shut up, stupid," Nila said, her cheeks reddening ever so slightly. "So anyway! I'm saying, be happy with the outcome! Be proud! You've done well. It really is going to be a blessing for Solgrim. After the High King's attack, the tournament will give them everything they need to recover, and then some. It's perfect, reallllly."

"Mm," Oliver said, resuming that thoughtful expression of his.

"Be proud!" Nila said, driving her finger into his cheek with even more force than before.

"Yes, yes, I'm very proud," Oliver said with a lazy smile, putting his free hand onto her head. She tried to swipe at him, but found the matter to be difficult, when she refused to still let his other hand go.

"Hmmmphh," Nila said. "Then why do you always look so troubled, and so thoughtful?"

"Much can go wrong," Oliver said with a shrug.

"But you've done all you can in regards to that," Nila said. "You don't let such things worry you enough for you to be thinking on it all the time. And I hardly see you practise with your sword, for someone who would usually be ever so excited to cross swords with Generals. It's strange, is what I'm saying."

"About that…" Oliver said. "I wonder what it is that I ought to do."

"Your strategy again, is it?" Nila said, heaving a sigh. "You're far too hard on yourself. I think if you stopped to look, you'd see just how incredible what you already know is."

"I'm well aware that I've been burdening the people around me with it," Oliver said. "But it's just such an itch. I can't really cast my mind off it, without getting some form of progress in it. I feel like an incompetent. It's irritating."

"But you're not…" Nila said, trailing off, when she realized there was more Oliver had to say.

"I've been thinking what I would need for a bit of a final push. I feel like I'm stuck in the mud in it. I need to change something fundamental. And the only way I know how to do that is with… well, a challenge, I suppose. Yorick was talking to me the other day, telling me how humiliating it would be to get beaten pathetically in front of a crowd of nobles, and I was thinking, perhaps I can use that in my favour. It would be a pathetic sight, if I were to enter the Battle tournament, and lose pathetically in the first round."

"But you hardly care what the nobles think, for the most part, do you?" Nila said.

"Even I'm capable of feeling some form of embarrassment," Oliver said. "At the very least, I feel strong the embarrassment of incompetence. If it be any other sort of embarrassment, I doubt I would think on it… But this might be enough to make me come up with something new."

"So basically, you think you can frighten yourself into getting better at it?" Nila asked. "Do you not think that you have done enough by now that you ought to reward yourself, by sitting back and enjoying the tournament?"

Even as she asked it, she knew that Oliver was not that sort of mad. Since she had known him, as the ragged youth that had once been called Beam, she'd never seen anyone work harder than him. His was an industriousness that put all the creatures of the forest to shame. Yet his goals were loftier. He always seemed to be reaching his hand up towards the sky. He didn't seem happy unless he was doing so.

Even now, as he furrowed his brow and expressed his frustrations, Nila thought that deep down, he might have even been happy with the situation. From the way she managed to worm the occasional smile out of him, she was even more sure of that fact. He was a man that was only content when he had a boulder that he was struggling to push uphill.

Now she saw his eyes glowing gold with excitement, and she heaved a long sigh. When he got like this, his presence was kingly and overwhelming. It never failed to make her chest flutter with a dizzy sensation, as if something was sucking in all the air of the room. At times, he could be as peaceful as a pet curled up before a fire, and at other times, he was a giant, far larger and grander than any room that he stood in..

"…Very well," she said. "If you think that it will be fun, then do so."

"No, I think it will be difficult," Oliver said with a frown.