A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

Chapter 427 Retribution - Part 2

"Oh? Are we not meant to be professors? No, I mean, beneath these pretentious titles of ministers, are we not just professors of a higher rank? And yet you insist it is not our job to correct the boy's ignorance? There seems a floor in that argument, oh dear minister. Would you point it out for me?" The youthful man said, his wit quick, as he lounged atop his seat of stone.

The old man opened his mouth to hasten a reply, but General Tevar cut them both off.

"Silence! Both of you! I will not have you march down the same beaten path with every meeting that we convene!" There was anger in the General's tone, but more than anything, what lay there was exasperation.

"A game then, Marcus, what do you say? Have the boy guess who we are. He clearly doesn't know, and old Lazarus there bemoans him his ignorance, but is a pupil's worth not his ability to learn, his ability to notice? Well, he hasn't been told directly, so let him guess.

Let us see whether the pup of old Dominus has more to him than his father's sword," the man said, his arguments were convincing, and from the way the others shifted in his seat as he spoke, Oliver guessed that he was accustomed to getting his way.

General Tevar sighed, a trace of his earlier strength leaving him, tiredness replacing it.

"If you must have your games, Hod, then have them quickly, before your words weary me more quickly than these years do," Tevar said, his voice dripping with reluctance.

The minister that Tevar had called Hod grinned at that. It seemed an unusually childish expression on his face. What followed that was even more childish, as Hod swung his legs up onto the arm of his chair, giving up all pretence, and lounging as properly as if this were his own chamber. "Go on then boy, impress us, you heard the man. Put the pieces together. It can't be that hard, can it?"

"Well, if you insist... I suppose I'd label you the Minister of Logic," Oliver said.

"Some weapons master he turns out to be when he gets tossed around by his own students," Hod said, stifling a yawn. "If you ask me, I think it's about time to get rid of the bore. He's loud, and irritating. If he's weak on top of that, then what use is he to the staff?"

"HOD!" General Tevar thundered, a vein bulging on his forehead. "That's quite enough! We've tolerated your outbursts out of respect for your position. You will now do us the courtesy of holding your tongue."

The Minister of Logic shrivelled back into his chair like a scolded child, and made a show of fastening his lips together, a show that Gavlin almost smiled at, whilst the other two responded with looks of exasperation.

"Well, boy, do you dispute these charges?" General Tevar asked.

"I do not," Oliver said. There were over two hundred witnesses. It would be foolish to claim otherwise.

"Are you aware that the sentencing for striking a professor is immediate expulsion?" General Tevar asked gravely.

"He's been here two days, and didn't even know who we are. How do you expect him to know that?" Hod pointed out. Oliver half expected the General to round on him, after he'd warned the man against interrupting, but Tevar merely grunted in acknowledgement.

"He makes a valid point. You almost certainly were not aware of these facts," Tevar noted.

"And yet, ignorance is no excuse," the Minister of Information chimed in. "If a child murdered his mother, we would not allow the child to escape sentencing, merely because of ignorance."