A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 725: Ferdinand - Part 8

"Oh, come on!" Nila said, exasperated, but unable to smile all the same. "Ser Patrick came to see you, and you’re still acting all silly."

"Stephanie! David! Come now," Mrs Felder came to the door, calling after them, looking bashful at their misbehaviour. "Ah… Beam. Goodness, you look well. Nila said so – but I couldn’t believe it for certain until I saw it myself.

Myyyy, you’ve gotten even more handsome, haven’t you?"

"Me?" Greeves said, affording a mock bow. "Why, thank you very much. You’re looking beautiful yourself, Mrs Felder."

For some reason, Mrs Felder giggled at that, when everyone else would merely have shot a look filled with the highest level of disgust. In the place of her mother, Nila did just that, her eyes bearing untold accusations. Greeves accepted the frightening look with a mere shrug.

With a yelp, David caught Stephanie, wrapping his arms around her waist, and hefting his little sister up as though she was no more than a sack of potatoes. Stephanie squirmed like an angry cat. Oliver smiled, thinking that he could see a bit of Nila in her, despite the marked difference in hair colour.

David set Stephanie down in front of Oliver, crossing his arms proudly, as though he’d just succeeded in a most dangerous mission.

"I’ve caught her, Ser!" He declared, offering a salute. "I knew you were a knight, Ser! Even before the others did!"

"So he says," Nila said, pulling a face at Oliver. "Or so he’s claimed, ever since he heard the news. But, what can you expect? Little boys are always trying to do things to impress people, aren’t they?"

There seemed to be two barbs on that jab, meant for two people, rather than just David. Oliver gracefully sidestepped the comment.

"What clued you in then, David? How did you figure me out?" Oliver said, trying to be as friendly as he could be. He wasn’t used to dealing with children, so even that friendliness turned out to be a little intimidating for a boy like David, but he stood his ground well.

"You were hunting goblins, Ser!" David said, formally, still saluting. "No one else in the village did that on purpose!"

Apparently, seeing Lombard’s soldiers in the village had a reasonable effect on a boy that age, who sought to copy the disciplined way that they responded to orders.

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"He’s got a point," Nila said. "I think he might have got us there, to be honest."

"I did a bit of goblin hunting at one time, though," Judas said, scratching his cheek. "You don’t think I’m a knight, do you, boy?"

"Nope! Too ugly!" David said. He didn’t seem to understand why everyone started laughing in response to that comment. He’d said it with the utmost earnestness.

"Too ugly!" Stephanie echoed, pumping a fist, and then giggling, rushing off. Again, David rushed after her, but not without a parting comment.

"Thank you for rescuing my sister, Ser Patrick!" The boy shouted before he went.

Mrs Felder watched them go with love in her eyes, not bothering to admonish them this time. "The same comes from me, Beam. Thank you. More than you could ever know. Thank you."

It was embarrassing to respond to an outpouring of emotion like that, but, if anything, Oliver was building up a considerable amount of experience in doing so, after speaking to the other villagers as he had. Still, when it was from someone that he was a good deal closer to, it hit all the harder, and it was difficult to keep a straight face.

"Thank you as well, Mrs Felder, for taking care of me all the times that you did," Oliver said seriously.

"My, if I’d known that I was taking care of a knight, I would have been even more careful," Mrs Felder said, a mischievous look in her eye that told Oliver she too saw through that narrative. "Will you be staying for lunch? I’ve been making a stew out of some of the rabbits that Nila caught the other day. It’s just about done, if you can spare the time for it."

"I can," Greeves said, grinning. Again, Nila looked ready to kill the man. Her hunting knife was well positioned at the side of her hip, and her hand was hovering awfully near to it, and getting closer every time Greeves spoke with such a suspicious smile to her mother.

"Actually, mother… Oliver was going to visit the statue," Nila said carefully. "But perhaps we could bring it with us?"

"Ah…" Mrs Felder’s mood sombered at the mention of the statue, and she nodded seriously. "Of course. I’ll serve up some bowls for you – the nice deep ones, so you shouldn’t have to worry about spilling it as you walk."

"I’ll be around more often from now on, Mrs Felder," Oliver told her. "As often as I can manage it. It would be good to see more of you, if you could manage it."

The woman brightened up considerably as Oliver mentioned that – as if it was at all possible to get her to smile more. "Really? That’s amazing news! Of course, whenever you visit, I’ll have something prepared for you, if you wish to."

"Is it really that surprising, mother?" Nila said. "Solgrim is his now. Why wouldn’t he be visiting more often?" Stay updated via novelbuddy

"Oh, because Ferdinand was here every two minutes, was he?" Greeves said. "Cut the woman some slack, you little fox. The clarification was necessary."

Mrs Felder watched the exchange warmly. "I’ll go and get that stew for you now," she said, eventually excusing herself. "I can tell you’re in a hurry."

"I should probably have managed my time better…" Oliver mused, watching her go.

"You’ve done well enough. Don’t worry about it. Mother isn’t upset. She kept telling me that you didn’t have to visit, if you didn’t have the time," Nila said. "But of course, I told her that I’d make sure that you had the time. Even for Stephanie and David."

"Though they didn’t have much to say," Judas noted, frowning as the two children went back to their playing.

"They’re children, Judas. Not poets. You’re having a child of your own, so you better get used to it. Just seeing you, most of the time, is enough, and being able to talk to you if they want to," Nila told him.