A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

"Group training exercises?" Oliver laughed. "Stronger than a Hobgoblin, and you'd probably need twenty of these students to comfortably clear it without getting injured."

"That is indeed what they're for. It's been known for several factions to join together on hunts, and mobilize forces of up to five hundred men," Verdant said.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Gods… This changes everything," Oliver said with a smile. "I thought I was going to be stuck looking for an opponent. I thought it was going to be years without a true battle to test myself against, but they're here as well, and by what you say, they're even stronger."

He clenched his fist, nodding his head to himself.

It was rare for the others to see him looking quite so excited about anything. There was always a detachment to him, or so Lasha thought. He'd always be a step away from them, as though hiding and holding himself together.

He put forward a strong front, and he was quick with a smile whenever they were socialising, but as soon as silence took over, there was a brooding look to him. The face that he presented to the rest of the student body was not the true face of Oliver Patrick.

Who even knew what the true face of Oliver Patrick was? Lasha certainly didn't. She'd only known him a handful of days, and she still couldn't put a finger on his personality. Again, today, what she had come to expect from him had been subverted.

He almost seemed like a child with how excited he'd grown from his conversation with Verdant. But there was a cunningness to his eyes now as well, as though he was threading several dots together, and rearranging his reality to solve previously immoveable problems.

When he stopped speaking, the room remained silent for nearly a minute. Oliver's drumming fingers on the desk were the only sound to be heard.

Why? Couldn't they make conversation as he thought? Why was it him that they waited on? There were so many of them in the room. That Peter – the priest's underling – was nervously shifting, looking for a good opportunity to open his mouth, but what of Amelia and Pauline? Amelia was always quick to say something, why wasn't she speaking now?

Lasha certainly wouldn't be the one to break the silence. She looked back over her shoulder to see why Amelia hadn't. But the girl who was so outspoken was watching Oliver just as intently as everyone else.

The tapping of fingers stopped, and Lasha jumped as Oliver pointed at her with a sudden vigour.

"This changes things for you, Lady Blackthorn," he said, his voice energetic and lively. She knew he was passionate… at least as far as his anger went – she'd seen it wielded against Bournemouth – but this was her first time seeing that passion directed with positive emotion. It was startling. He seemed to light up the entire room.

"Me? How so?"

"If I'm going to do something, then I'm going to make sure that I do it well," Oliver declared. "We've been training for a handful of days now. I'm getting a feel for it, and I feel comfortable making a proper commitment to it, now that I know what it's about."

"Okay..?" Lasha said, uncertain.

"But that's only if you're sure this is what you want. I think it'll be exciting to see you grow stronger, almost as exciting as seeing my own progress. But that's only if you're fired up enough to go through with the training," Oliver said.

"I already am, aren't I?" She replied, tilting her head.

"I mean, proper training. True battle. Let's see you fight a handful of goblins. That was the turning point for me – that was what started my path to strength. It's one thing to train with a sword, and it's another to put that training in practice whilst something is clawing at you, hungering for your life," Oliver said. Lasha felt a shiver at his words.

Somehow, the passion in his voice painted a vivid picture of that scene.

She found herself glancing at the light scars on his cheek. They didn't do anything to diminish his appearance… quite the opposite. But they pointed to a cruel upbringing.

"Was this what you did..? Is that why?" She pointed to his cheek.

Oliver felt the marks where she pointed, and his eyes lost a little bit of their light. He shook his head. "No. The goblins were the fun part. These were from… a time before that. Regardless, I see hope for you now.

If we can appropriate this forest, and get use out of it, it changes everything."

Verdant interrupted his excited speech just for a moment. "A pardon, my liege. I think I understand your excitement, but I don't yet quite understand your aims. A failing on my part – one I assure you will be solved in the future, as I grow to understand you better. My point is merely that, if you were to explain your intentions to me, I would be able to act more appropriately to see them fulfilled."

"I don't have anything quite so solid to act on yet," Oliver said. He sounded as apologetic as his retainer. "Maybe I need to fix that, if I'm to have more retainers… Regardless, I was thinking, it would solve a few problems for me. One would be my own training. The other would be Lady Blackthorn's training, and then the third would be the training for any retainers that I gather."

"For your retainers, my Lord?" Verdant asked.

Oliver smiled in return. "Indeed. I think I'm beginning to understand now, just what this Academy is for. Retainers, and the Games… What we're doing is building an army, is it not, Verdant?"

Another silence met his words. Lasha's skin tingled, as though to shiver, but she didn't feel cold.

A smile returned Oliver's and the priest nodded his head in thoughtful agreement. "Indeed… Indeed."

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Finally, the blood was back.

He hadn't realized how much he'd missed it.