“For someone preparing for war, you look surprisingly not busy.” Nela commented as she and Mireille entered the great hall to see Braydon already sitting down and waiting for the servants to bring food.

“I have done everything that I can do at the moment. Roan is slowly sending mercenaries my way and Rhydian is training the new recruits, but other than that, there is not much for me to be concerned about until the end of the month.” The end of the month was still just under two weeks away and only on the last few days would Braydon be very busy. Harvest was around the corner but since the roads in Cliforge had been sorted out and he had agreements with merchants, there was not much for him to do than wait for the revenue to come in on that front.

“Then you should have time to tell me about how the recruiting of tutors is going.” Nela looked at Braydon expectantly. If the school had not been set up with the expressed purpose of training people that would suit Braydon’s needs, Nela would have been more than happy to be finding people of her own volition.

“I doubt you will be surprised that Karim accepted the offer. However, I have still not really found a decent scribe that would be willing to teach writing.” It was more the case that Braydon had other things on his mind and had not started looking but he didn’t need to mention that. Nela would probably guess as much without his input.

“And you forgot to look for a scribe.” The snark came from Mireille instead of Nela, completely blindsiding Braydon.

“Wha-” Braydon would have had a comeback prepared for Nela, it was a part of their game that he had gotten used to, but Mireille? He knew that she did not hold back when commenting on people that she did not like but other than that she rarely made any attempts at humour.

“She learnt from the best.” Nela just looked on, proud of what she had wrought. Mireille looked on with an attempt at her usual neutral face but it was obvious that she found it extremely entertaining to be the one to throw Braydon for a loop instead of Nela this time.

“Apparently. In any case, I do not have particularly many friends in scholarly circles, Sam was always their darling and I doubt that has particularly changed much now. If you know of anybody that might fit what we are looking for, it would be a great help if you could ask them for me.” Braydon looked back to Nela once he had regained his bearings. He knew where he was weak, academic pursuits were definitely that area. If George was the socialite and Sam the studious one then he was the one that had more muscles than brains. Even if he did not like to admit as much.

“I will ask a few people that I know from the capital but I doubt that many of them would want to move from their well paid and prominent jobs to the most remote part of the entire Kingdom.” Nela had a point, most scribes already had a job and they were always well paid ones. It was doubtful that they would want to work for him even with his great feats in the civil war.

“That is a bridge I will have to cross when I reach it. Hopefully things might change after next month.” Braydon doubted that scribes were the kind to be particularly interested in this or that conquest but the growth in influence he would gain if successful might change their minds.

“So this means that you will have a lot of free time over the next week?” Nela asked, changing the topic once again.

“Yes…” When she said that, it could mean one of two things and Braydon was not sure which. It could mean that her and Mireille wanted to do something with him or she had some task for him that he would not enjoy.

“Good.” Nela did not say any more which only made Braydon more nervous than if she had asked him to write copious amounts of letters.

“Good?” It was not the answer Braydon had expected.

“Hahaha, you should see your face.” Nela couldn't help it anymore and started laughing. He had looked more frightened than most people would when facing down an army alone. Or at least she imagined that he did, she doubted that Braydon would look afraid of facing an army alone. He would probably be excited by the challenge.

“Very funny, I didn’t look that bad.” Braydon said that but he looked to Mireille for confirmation.

“Hmmm.” Mireille looked intently at the wall. He might have thought she was just being herself even six months prior but Braydon knew that she was more than comfortable talking to him and Nela already. She was obviously trying to avoid saying anything.

*sigh*

“Ok, you got me. So was there anything you wanted beyond poking fun at me?” He gave up and looked back to Nela.

“Oh nothing in particular.” That didn't sound promising to him but it was at least better than her previous answer.

“You can really never let me rest in peace, can you?” She had definitely done it on purpose.

“I am not your enemy, why would I want to kill you?” Nela’s response was immediate.

“What do yo… Oh.” *sigh* Braydon wondered what Nela meant for a moment before realising that she had outwitted him once again.

“Learnt from the best indeed.” Braydon confirmed. It was almost as if Nela had decided to prove it after she said it. And knowing her, there was a fair chance that she had done it for that exact reason.