"I told you not to do it, you know…" Oliver said, grabbing a larger piece that he was sure was a breastplate. "It makes me uncomfortable to have my retainer feel obliged to lend me coin."
"Oh, no, you are mistaken, my Lord. I headed your command. This is no lending of coin from I," Verdant said. "It would have been a grave mistake for me to go against the word of my master."
"Indeed it would have been," Oliver agreed, but now he was frowning. "So who then are they from… and how on earth did you manage to wheedle someone else into fulfilling your desires?"
He soon had the answer to that question himself. The armour had been delivered in padding crates, along with a carrier of goods, on the back of his wagon. Now, it was mere paper that stopped Oliver from looking any further inside, and soon enough, he was undoing the string that held it all together, and revealing the chestplate for himself.
