A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor
Chapter 1651 - 1651: Swirling Fires - Part 4

"Might be I'd put you in an apron and stick you behind that counter then, eh?" Greeves said. "The real money is to be made in the big deals with suppliers, aye. I prefer that. But something like this? I don't think I'd mind it so much now. Something I could care about."

"Is it 'cos of Nila?" Judas said. "She's been getting a lot of shops in here lately, and they're doing well—"

"Obviously not, you fool," Greeves scowled. "Aye, she's done alright for the little string bean that she is. But we're after grander things, we are. There's no Merchant Guild in the way anymore. When this war is over, they're going to have to rebuild this place from the ground up. They're going to have to reallocate the properties – someone's going to forget their papers. And that's where opportunity sits, eh Judas? And for war heroes like us?"

"Are we war heroes, Boss?" Judas said, scratching his head. "I don't feel like we did as much as the others… They were out there on the battlefield, bleeding, while we were waiting."

"And how pissin' terrified were you waiting, eh? At least those fuckers knew they weren't going to be burned alive. We took a risk, we did. We knew they could very well torch Solgrim to the ground, and then where would we have been?" Greeves said, slamming his fist into his chest. "That's courage, that is. A man ought to be rewarded for his courage, no?"

"I don't know… I reckons it was Firyr and the rest of them that got us to stay," Judas said, pulling a face. "I was ready to leave. An' it was the rest of them that overturned Prince Hendrick's guard, and got your dagger close enough to reach his neck."

"But it reached, didn't it, Judas?" Greeves said, drawing up closer to the man, and looking up at him with a fierce intensity. "Look at the state of me, eh? I ain't no pissin' soldier. I could stand to lose some weight. Now I wouldn't call meself fat, but this is a soft stomach, it is. I'm not going to lie to myself – and yet it was my dagger that found the Prince's neck. A bloody Prince, Judas! Think of that, eh? Think of that! What merchant can claim to have held a Prince's life in his hands, eh? The world is ripe for the plucking, I can feel it. There's opportunity to be had. We can do whatever we wish."

"You know, from outside, we can hear every word that you're saying," Nila offered, kicking the door open with a boot so that she might stick her head round. "And I'm glad to know that my stores bother you, Greeves. I would have hated for them to go unnoticed." She stuck her tongue out at him, with a thoroughly childish look on her face.

Greeves had the grace to go red. "You pissin' little brat. You shouldn't be listening in on people like that. Didn't yer mother teach you better? I'll bet she did. She's a good woman, that one. Not like her daughter. You've grown up all wrong and twisted you have."

Nila skulked in across the floorboards like a fox, eyeing the open doorways that led from the main shop floor into the backrooms. Whether it was a wariness that she'd always had, or whether it was exclusively the product of the wars that they'd been fighting, it was difficult to tell that this point. But when she neared Greeves, her expression was one of the utmost mischief.

"You're up to no good, aren't you?" She said, sounding almost delighted by that fact. "What are you doing in old shops like these, hmmmm? I heard your scheming. You're trying to be all poisonous again, aren't you Greeves? Once a slimy merchant, always a slimy merchant."

"Look here, you, I've done my jobs. Done what's asked of me. What's wrong with wanting a little more?" Greeves said. "There's no harm to be done in turning opportunity into advantage. Ain't that what this is, just an opportunity?"

"If you stay alive, it is," Nila said. "But most don't have the opportunity to do that. So you'll forgive me if I begin to hate you just a tinnnnyyy bit more when I hear you talking of robbing these stores from the ones that owned them, and snatching advantage where our soldiers can only be concerned with making it through the day. You can't expect Oliver to cast a magic spell in every battle that we fight. Do you not see how close we came in that last one? You shouldn't be putting more pressure on him."

"This isn't about the boy," Greeves frowned.

"It is," Nila said, pointing a finger. "When you're making plans, as if victory was certain, rather than putting everything that you have into securing the victory. Can't we just aim to survive, Greeves? And then the scheming can come after that."

"I think ya misunderstand the Boss, Nila," Judas said. "Scheming is what he does to survive, ya know. Like how a fish needs water to swim in, or a bird needs a nest. When the Boss is all stressed, he likes to go and scheme."

"…You pissin' traitor," Greeves said, glaring at him. "Every time, ain't it? Who fuckin' pays you, eh? Everytime Nila or Oliver is about, you're quick to switch sides, aren't you? You're a sly one you are Judas. I don't need you psychoanalysing me either. I'm just checking out the spots, Nila. You ain't needed here to be involving yourself."

"I will be if you're up to no good," Nila said. "You better not start anything that will cause Oliver trouble."

"Do I look like I could?" Greeves said, twisting his face in complaint. "Besides, he's what I'm betting on, after all. And I'm a betting man, in the end. He's my favoured horse, and I'll collect my winnings when he pulls out ahead. Ain't that only fair?"

Nila shook her head. "I wish you'd see it slightly differently, but I guess after all this time there's no changing a man like you. Have they found you yet? Those Blackthorn men?"

"Hm? Why would they want to be finding me?" Greeves said.

"They were asking after you earlier. General Blackthorn sent out his logistics men to check on the state of our supplies. He asked Oliver for our logistics team… But we don't really have one?"