How to Unlock & Romance Oliver in Sovereign Tower

Oliver sits energetically stirring his soup and observes that you have a nice cafeteria here. What begins as a man carefully not complaining about his previous employer ends with him apologising for burning down your village.

Dialogue Choices:

• Take the compliment,
  • “That is indeed one of the many advantages of the position.” (Ah, yes. What a truly fantastic perk, being allowed not to starve to death. Thank you, Boss. He shovels a large spoonful into his mouth. I’ve known worse, you know.)

Dialogue Choices:

• Follow the hint,
  • “Bad experience with your former employer?” (He looks down at his soup.)
  • “I suppose all work has its negative aspects.” (Romance-gated branch) (That’s true. Being a knight isn’t worse than anything else, right? Well, even if not all jobs involve bending over backward for people. Or putting in unpaid overtime. Well, uh, those are just examples. He’s very, truly happy you hired him.)

Dialogue Choices:

• Press him,
  • “Bad experience with your former employer?” (+1 affinity) (Ah, no, no, not at all. He has absolutely nothing against his former employer. But, eh, he wasn’t referring to him. Not at all. No urgent files they had to finish by midnight, no endless meetings where nobody listens to anyone. None of that.)
  • “Don’t worry, I’ll treat you better.” (Romance option) (A rare moment where he stops performing gratitude.)

Dialogue Choices:

• Call out the performance,
  • “I’m not going to go talk to your former employer, you know.” (He is now stirring his soup awkwardly.)
  • “You don’t sound very… convincing.” (T-to be a bit more transparent, the Empire and its territories have a rather particular working culture. Almost all the counties distrust each other, but they smile for the portraits and official speeches.)

Dialogue Choices:

• Respond to the apology,
  • “It’s nothing. I did consider smashing your skull at that moment though.” (A direct callback to the choice that recruited him.)
  • “But you obeyed your orders anyways…” (He has no defence for that.)

Dialogue Choices:

• Close it,
  • “It is… So I hope you’ll repay us in full.” (I, uh, y-yes, Boss.)
  • “I think it’s pretty noble of you, actually.” (+1 affinity) (He stumbles over the compliment entirely. A-anyway, he says, he’s finished his soup, aha. A little crouton floats on the surface of the soup he hasn’t actually finished.)

You find Oliver deep in a book. This is the most important scene he has, because it contains the single largest affinity gain available from any knight in the game, and it is easy to walk straight past.

Dialogue Choices:

• Get his attention,
  • “(Squint to try to make out the title.)” (You lean forward, back hunched and eyes squinting, with a discretion so lacking that it pulls your knight away from his reading entirely.)
  • “Hello.” (The direct approach.)

Dialogue Choices:

• Three ways in, one romance-gated,
  • “I didn’t know you were such an avid reader.” (You sense a hint of regret in his voice.)
  • “You want to become a mage?” (He was once enrolled at the Great Academy in Moonvale, the best in all of Bretania. He had started a course in applied arcanism, specialising in offensive spells. Unfortunately, well, no, fortunately, otherwise he probably wouldn’t have ended up here.)
  • “If you like, I can recommend a few books of that kind.” (Romance option) (The warmest opening available.)

Dialogue Choices:

• If you took the reading route,
  • “Great. Keep up the good work.” (-1 affinity) (Dismissive, and he feels it.)
  • “Would you like to practice more?” (+1 affinity) (The encouragement he is fishing for.)

Dialogue Choices:

• On why he left the Academy (Wise -1 on the last),
  • “I understand. I didn’t end up here by choice, either…” (Shared ground, and he takes it.)
  • “You don’t necessarily need that to perform magic, do you?” (Ever since that dre– uh, that opportunity was taken from him, the rug pulled out from under him, it’s hard for him to see it as anything more than a mere hobby.)
  • “Degrees are pointless.” (Wise -1) (He does not agree, and it shows.)

Dialogue Choices:

• The decision (Kind +1),
  • “This Academy offers accelerated programs. You could still earn your diploma.” (+3 affinity) (The single largest affinity gain from any knight in the game. This is what funds his studies and unlocks his Three-Heart Event, which does not exist otherwise.)
  • “A shame. But you can take comfort in this, you’re already a very good knight.” (Kind, and it closes the door on his mage arc.)

This scene only exists if you paid for his diploma. Oliver scribbles in his notebook by the window, then asks whether you knew certain magical rituals can be affected by the weather. It is him showing you what your money bought, and it contains the harshest affinity penalty he offers.

Dialogue Choices:

• Answer him,
  • “Yes, of course.” (He thought he knew too, but then he was surprised.)
  • “No, but it seems logical.” (The honest answer, which he prefers to the bluff.)

People often think performing a pyromancy ritual in the rain is counterproductive. In reality it is not an absolute rule: high pressure favours the rise of flames and the concentration of magical energy, while low pressure scatters them.

Dialogue Choices:

• Follow the lecture,
  • “And with this weather, what are your conclusions?” (Ugh, today, even though the weather’s nice, the air density and slightly unstable pressure force him to stay cautious. So he’ll limit himself to a light ritual. A small flame, let’s say, just enough to roast a few sausages. Mmm.)
  • “Could you perform a pyromancy ritual today?” (The same lecture from the other side.)

Dialogue Choices:

• Congratulate him, and this matters,
  • “Pleased to see that our investment has been a wise one.” (A-ah, yes, your investment. Your cold analysis seems to trouble him a little. Perhaps you should wait for the quarterly performance review.)
  • “Your performance review is excellent.” (+1 affinity) (A-ah, yes? You’re revealing the results of his quarterly review ahead of schedule?)
  • “The most important thing is that you have achieved your dreams.” (Romance option) (A-ah yes, is that really what you think? I-is that the most important thing for you? He fidgets, clearly struggling with feelings his employment contract doesn’t cover.)

Then he thanks you properly. Professionally speaking, and beyond, he is truly grateful for everything you have done for him. This dream, for him, was practically dead and buried. Quite out of reach.

Dialogue Choices:

• Answer him, and one option is the worst thing you can say to Oliver,
  • “Let’s say a slight deduction from your salary for a few months.” (-2 affinity) (A-ah, yes, seems logical, he supposes. But he really thought you wouldn’t do that. I don’t remember reading that in the contract.)
  • “You should never feel indebted to your employer.” (Wise +1) (Professional, and fair.)
  • “Your smile is my greatest reward.” (+1 affinity, Kind +1, romance option) (O-oh yeah, you think so? He’s had so little encouragement from people close to him. It feels strange to realise it was you who made the difference. Who would’ve guessed that work would end up being his source of fulfilment, really.)

Oliver offers you a smoke. What follows is the only time he stops calling the job a job, and the funniest and bleakest line in his entire arc arrives in the first thirty seconds.

Dialogue Choices:

• Accept or decline,
  • “Why not.” (You sit together on a small stone bench nestled among the flowerbeds.)
  • “No, thank you, I’m trying to quit.” (He takes a long puff from the instrument he twirls between his fingers, then hands you the reed stem anyway.)

At the Empire, he explains, on duty, only smokers get proper breaks, so non-smokers end up missing out a bit.

Dialogue Choices:

• Five ways to respond, two of them worth affinity,
  • “I imagine your job at the Empire didn’t help.” (+1 affinity) (At the Empire they quickly realised he was effective, especially on slightly longer missions. His curse, you see. Too good for them to let him rest even a little. He chuckles lightly, then coughs.)
  • “The Empire forced you into a certain… pace, huh?” (+1 affinity) (The same admission, arrived at more gently.)
  • “Have you always been prone to stress?” (As far back as he can remember he has always been someone rather stressed. His parents said he cried over nothing, and he could already feel that tension rising before certain days. Like a trembling inside him, you know?)
  • “I understand… smoking also helps me with stress.” (Meeting him where he is.)
  • “And you’ve never found… anything else to help with your stress?” (Romance option) (The bold one, and the one that opens the rest of the scene.)

The herbs in the reed pipe have burned completely, and the last embers fade slowly in the heart of the stem. Around you, the smoke spreads into a vast ocean, rippling under the caress of the rays of sunlight.

Dialogue Choices:

• Respond to the quiet,
  • “… It’s difficult to function alone, isn’t it?” (He guesses he still has quite a way to go.)
  • “Recognizing this is already a step forward.” (But he feels, well, he thinks saying it out loud helps a little. Like it lets you get rid of it somehow.)

Dialogue Choices:

• The turn, romance-gated,
  • “(Smile without saying another word.)” (The platonic close.)
  • “You know… I could listen to you talk like that all day long.” (A bright flush colours his delicate cheeks in an instant. Your words seem to trigger a whirlwind of conflicting feelings in him, emotions he finally seems ready to let show. A-ah, I, you.)

Dialogue Choices:

• Say it,
  • “Yes, I… care about you.” (B-boss. Well, I mean. The sharp hesitation in his words shifts into an awkward mix of tenderness and gentle panic.)
  • “I believe you have touched me more deeply than anyone else ever has. I had to tell you that.” (The same, delivered without hedging.)

Dialogue Choices:

• The final choice in his arc,
  • “You’re probably right, it’s not reasonable. And it breaks my heart to admit it.” (A-ahh. It’s probably better this way. Each word seems more painful than the last. Maybe in another context, we could.)
  • “To hell with company rules… I love you, Oliver.” (At your words, you feel everything he had held back finally daring to burst in his chest. He presses himself against you, seeking the comfort he had never dared to ask for before. His voice is no more than a whisper: and if someone comes looking for us, we’ll just have to say it was overtime.)