Chapter 1542: Milo’s Fight
Ogur and Oran were twins 13 years of age. They were the children of the Noublis Family, one of the noble families in Holt City. It was not part of the ’high noble’ faction, but it was still very prominent, not too far below the likes of the
Basically, most of those who served directly under the royal family were nobles themselves, with the exception of elementalists with special mutations as well as powers, which was how Milo got into this in the first place.
For this generation, however, only one, Ogur, was blessed to be an elementalist. Ogur was also the younger twin, so Oran was under quite a bit of pressure to do well even when he was younger.
To make up for what he lacked, Oran worked very hard to improve his fighting prowess. It was to the point that even the adults were impressed.
It was not a surprise, then, that he became one of the undefeated fighters in his age range. The only one who could defeat him was Callen Glen, who served the genius prince.
He had gotten over his jealousy with his brother, even a bit proud that he had managed to do so much without elements. He had also been working on defeating Callen Glen, and he believed it was an achievable goal.
But look at this now? Another elementalist appeared and was suddenly pushed—undeservedly—next to him.
The boy naturally wanted to put this brat a peg or two.
"I’ll teach him," Ogur said with gritted teeth, raising his weapon and pointing at the younger lad. "Come."
Milo bit his lips before lunging forward. "HYAAA!" he yelled, swinging his daggered fists against his peers.
However, it was easily avoided by the older lad, and with a flip of his palm, Milo found his face smack on the floor.
This got a lot of the kids to chuckle. Milo bit his lips, embarrassed. It was one thing to be laughed at by the evil adults in Voumi, but it felt especially embarrassing if he was seen like this by his peers.
He couldn’t even get back up because his rival was holding his head down to the ground—and he had no power to lift his head. He could feel the boy leaning down, sneering at him.
"So that’s all you can amount to eh?" he asked, voice close, intimidating. "Don’t you dare think you can climb with that! It is repulsive!!"
"I don’t think you can even accomplish anything with those weak arms of yours!"
Milo paused and didn’t struggle, his mind heading elsewhere.
If he were to ever have the chance of finding his sister, he’d need to be strong enough to travel. Right now, he couldn’t even land a hit on another kid.
He...couldn’t afford to be a useless wall-weed anymore.
He lost but... he didn’t give up.
He’d catch up, he’d grow strong—at least strong enough to hold his head high in front of these people, and especially in front of his sister!
...
For the next few days, Milo worked with renewed energy. From dusk till dawn, he trained, exercised, and honed his form.
Even if he was filled with bruises, he continued to work beyond the lessons assigned to him.
The palace was rich and well-lit, but in the servants’ quarters, only the common areas were lit by magical tools. This was already quite luxurious, in fact.
Sadly, this also meant these public places would be filled with other servants maximizing their day. Milo, who needed to catch up with his peers, needed more time. So...he found a compromise.
Around the palace, there were lamps that would always be lit. He’d find himself underneath these lamps, studying and practicing the written language he had to learn more about.
It was too expensive to take notes, but vellum guides for writing were lent to him and this was what he studied.
This was not cheap, though, and if he damaged it, he’d be seriously punished.
Later, when he learned enough of the written language, he’d memorize the names of important members of the royal family and nobles.
During this time, he also continued to challenge the twins regardless of how they beat him up. Anyway, they were determined to do so without him asking, and it felt like he had some control by asking.
Anyway, as long as there was a bit of improvement, he was fine being pummeled. They weren’t going to kill him anyway, and they definitely enjoyed venting on him, so he could be sure his life was safeguarded.
Then, a few days later, the twins had to be called for a special training in the outer barracks (something they went through once every few months, which lasted a few days).
Usually, they would not go at the same time, but the Master was being sent to a distant mission, so they had to do it at the same time.
Milo made sure to take advantage of the freedom to build his foundations more. He stuck with the teacher a lot who, despite being grumpy, apparently appreciated his grit and taught him a bit longer than he did with others.
Several days had passed like this, and—even if his reflexes had a lot to improve on—Milo had been impressed with his improvements.
Eventually, it was judged that he could start serving the master at least in his palace. Accompanying the master during social events was still a long time away, but this was fine, and Milo wasn’t confident he’d do well over there anyway.
Milo was filled with bruises and was limping when he first started his formal job, but he didn’t complain and accompanied the young boy wherever he was, as long as he was within the City.
His job was to hand him whatever he needed—the papyrus, the ink, and grinding ink, food, drinks, and so on. He would be like an extra space with a mouth that shouldn’t be used often.
He would often get yelled at for being so slow, though (because he was in pain) but all he could do was endure.
No matter what, these were still very good conditions compared to others’.
His eyes looked at the back of the young boy, noble and strong, even if he was arrogant.
Really arrogant.
And annoying.
Milo was not a part of any noble family here, but he knew he still needed to become exceptional either way. If he wanted to live a better life, he had to get this boy’s favor and protection.
So...how should he go about it?