A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 615: Skullic’s Mission - Part 1

"Nowwwwww today’s a good morning for killing," a jovial voice sang out. "Would you look at that! Beautiful winter sunshine, the freshest breeze. By the Gods, you couldn’t get a more perfect day – and with it all, there’s even a beautiful woman. Damn, she overheard me. I’ll blame it on you.

You can handle the heat, can’t you? This is the start of a long and prosperous relationship, after all. You can stomach this little bit of fire, eh?"

It was early in the morning, the sun had just barely come up – which given that it was winter, didn’t make it that early – and the other Academy students were still sleeping. Breakfast was held later on a weekend, giving the students time to lie in.

Whatever hopes they might have had of a lie were soon disturbed by Skullic’s loud proclamations. Oliver had never seen him outside of his room in the Central Castle and it was only once he was outside that he realized how lucky he’d been.

He’d never been at his best in a morning, Oliver hadn’t. He’d merely endured it because he needed to. To see the contrasting type of person in Skullic, a man that evidently seemed to be a fan of the early hour, it made him realize just how much he was liable to hate that type of person.

He hadn’t given them a single moment of quiet since Oliver had arrived at his office, and now that he was outside, he blamed his outburst on Oliver, as Mary glanced back at them with a fierce glare.

"I told you, it wasn’t me!" Skullic protested. He was almost like a child.

"I’ve been around you for long enough Daemon that I know the sound of your voice. Gods, I know more of you than I know of myself – a hard fact to come to terms with," Mary said.

"But you pledged yourself to me!" Skullic protested. "Surely you should be delighted to see that your efforts haven’t been wasted?"

"Don’t say things that are so easily misunderstood," Mary said, sparing an apologetic glance for Oliver, who was still having a hard time figuring out their relationship. Almost as hard a time as he was having figuring out Daemon’s personality.

"Misunderstanding? How could it be so? My dear, why not announce it here and now? What better person to tell than a Patrick?" Daemon asked.

"What worse person to tell, more like?" Mary countered. "Meaning no offence, Ser Patrick… But a politically delicate matter isn’t exactly a Patrick’s territory… Wait! That isn’t even the point! There’s nothing delicate to discuss! Stop trying to get inside my head!"

"Not only your head—" Skullic began, only for Mary to hit him, the slap echoing across the courtyard.

She said nothing more than that, she only marched heatedly on ahead, whilst General Skullic was left rubbing his cheek, a rueful grin on his face.

"Yes indeed, today is going to be a good day," Skullic said, slapping Oliver on the shoulder. "You’ve done well in coming up with what you have. I was expecting some more intricate, spun by the Idris boy, but this will do well enough – and now you serve me too in it. We will both declare ourselves servants of the High King. Bestowers of peace on the land."

"Are you going to be joining me, General?" Oliver asked. He couldn’t help but think that it would be over far too quickly if the General were to join in.

Skullic’s face fell, as though he’d just realized. His mouth twisted in a frown and he clenched his fist. "My beautiful day of bloodshed… Hah… No. I have other matters I’m forced to attend to. But you’ll have a hundred of my men with you." Experience tales at novelbuddy

"To command?" Oliver asked.

"Hm? Oh, no," Skullic laughed. "Hm. Actually, I suppose I shouldn’t be laughing at that. See, when one hears that from a boy of fifteen, the usual instinct is to laugh… This is all quite confusing. That beautiful sleep I had is wearing off.

Let’s see. I’ll give you ten men to command today, I suppose. If you perform well, I’m open to giving you more. For today, though, you’ll follow the orders of my Captain."

"You haven’t told me what we’re doing, though," Oliver pointed out.

"Isn’t that obvious?" Skullic said, as they neared the main entrance hall, their feet clacking a rhythm upon the corridor tiles as they went. "Killing. They’ll all likely be that simple. This person here needs killing, in the name of the High King, cut him down. Today, it’s a bandit encampment. A few peasants have gone rogue.

They’ve gone and requisitioned an old military for and they’re holed up in there, assaulting trade caravans."

"How many?" Oliver asked.

"Two hundred, three hundred, around that mark," Skullic said.

"And we’re sending in a hundred men? Against fortified enemies?" Oliver asked.

"A hundred trained soldiers, boy. Our resources aren’t infinite. Though you were employed to this position out of a degree of maliciousness, these are tasks that need doing. Our forces are stretched thin, with the war in the East. We don’t have enough men at home to deal with brigands and rogues. We’re making the most of the resources that we can," Skullic said.

"Besides, if you’re anywhere near as good as the dreadful reputation you’ve built up, this should be a walk in the park."

"Right…" Oliver said.

"You don’t look the part, though," Skullic said with a disapproving frown, now that he looked Oliver up and down. "You look like you’re on the way to the Grand Forest. You haven’t even got armour on, boy. Are you trying to ensure that my men don’t take you seriously?"

"I need to buy some armour for this sort of work," Oliver said. Throughout his combat career, he’d never trained with the weight of armour. It continually slipped his mind. Though, he supposed with the gold he was making with Nebular, he could easily afford to put some extra coin into that sort of thing.

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