"There's also Advanced Strategy being taught to the third years, down that way," the blonde boy put in. "We could guide you there, if you wished, ser, but again I would advise against it, for the reasons that I said earlier. Also, it would be improper for members of the serving class to go so close to the doors of a noble classroom."
But even as he put in that complaint, Oliver was walking in the direction of Advanced Strategy, which happened to be at the end of the corridor in which those two serving class boys had been heading down. "Advanced Strategy sounds interesting," he said as he walked. "I must be a third year then, right, since I'm fifteen?"
The two older students were left a few paces behind him, as Oliver seized the initiative with enthusiasm, and strode towards the doors of his first class, even as the sun threatened to disappear beyond the horizon, and the curtain of darkness fell once more.
They whispered urgently to each other, in a blind panic, as Oliver got further and further away. Eventually, they must have decided it was best not to offend him, even if – at first glance – he seemed to be relatively easygoing, compared to many of the other nobles that they'd had the displeasure of interacting with.
They reached an agreement, and had to hurry after him at a run. How was it that the boy had managed to cover so much distance so quickly when he appeared to be walking at a rather leisurely pace? The wooden heels of their boots clapped against the stone of the floor as they ran.
Abruptly, Oliver came to a stop outside of a thick wooden door, riveted with iron in lattices across it. The dangling ring handle almost invited him to push it open, and he could hear a voice booming in lecture inside it. He was sure this was the room that he wanted, despite the several other – seemingly identical doors – that had been strewn along the corridor beside it.
Stay tuned to empire
"This is it, right?" Oliver confirmed with the blonde boy who had given him the point in the first place.
The blonde boy was too stunned to reply at first. His curly-headed friend – with his cheeks a rosy red from his flustered state, and the shininess of sweat on his forehead – answered first, affably, and with a smile of his own. A human responding to the intentions of another human, forgetting his class. Oliver decided he liked him.
"My name is Kaya Forefoot, ser," he said, honestly, and enthusiastically. He seemed just as pleased to be giving his name to a noble as Oliver did collecting it.
"You owe us no favours, ser..." his friend said carefully, more reserved, his eyes seeing beyond what was merely in front of him, with obvious intention. "But as for my name, I am Jorah Millmaster, if it pleases you."
Two entirely different people, through and through, he had none of Kaya's upfront honesty, but despite that, Oliver decided that he liked him too.
"Very good, and I am Oliver Patrick, once again, thank you for your assistance," Oliver said, nodding his head briefly at them, enough to make both of them stiffen, as the noble came perilously close to bowing to the mere serving class.
Oliver pushed the door open with nary a knock. He merely grabbed the iron ringlet that served as a handle, and thrust it bristly inwards, as though he was palm-striking a goblin. Both Jorah and Kaya were forced to step swiftly from the view of the door, lest their yellow shirts be seen, and they be accused of spying on a noble's class.
They walked away hurriedly, but as they did so, they couldn't help looking back at the odd boy that had introduced himself as Oliver. They wondered at the soldier's scars on his cheeks, but neither of them yet said it aloud.
Mostly, what they wondered at was the unbelievable confidence needed to enter a class halfway through on his first day, to break that unwritten taboo, and immediately incur the ire of the professors.
Of course, the reason for his confidence was simple: Oliver had no understanding that he was breaking etiquette. He merely forced open the door, briefly acknowledged the sudden silence that had befallen the classroom, and then turned to close the door again.