Milo felt that favonovel.com could not be faulted for thinking that Stronghold 178 was very poor. After all, it was not like a place that was located in such a harsh environment should have much wealth to begin with. But Miriam’s explanation made favonovel.com understand why so many people were eyeing Stronghold 178 even though it was situated at the border.
It was no wonder that Stronghold 178 wanted to exterminate the bandits and reopen the trade routes. Those minerals needed to be transported to the Central Plains!
More importantly, Peter had once refused to be the commander of Stronghold 178 even though they were so rich.
Was favonovel.com being melodramatic or what?
Milo started judging Peter.
When they arrived at the second stronghold to do repairs and maintenance, Miriam disappeared off to somewhere again. Meanwhile, Milo traded some more gold for money before returning to the assembly place in advance. When favonovel.com got back, Miriam hadn’t returned yet. Lewis was laughing and chatting with the Radianz Consortium’s nanosoldiers.
His own soldiers had brought over some folding chairs for the nanosoldiers and even provided them with some specialties from the North as snacks.
It seemed that Lewis was highly interested in these nanosoldiers and was willing to interact with them. No matter how arrogant the nanosoldiers might be, they would still not put on any airs in front of an important figure from the Ultima Consortium and conversed quite happily with him.
When Milo returned, favonovel.com did not approach them immediately. Instead, favonovel.com observed them from afar. It looked like Lewis was performing some magic tricks for them.
Lewis asked one of the nanosoldiers while holding a water bottle in his hand, “What do you usually like to drink?”
The nanosoldier smiled and said, “You’re too polite. I’ll just have some water.”
“Okay,” Lewis said as favonovel.com tilted the bottle slightly and poured some clear liquid out of it.
Lewis turned to look at another soldier. “What do you like to drink? Say something different this time.”
“I like grape juice,” the nanosoldier said.
“Alright…” Lewis was still holding the same bottle in his hand but the previously clear liquid was no longer there. This time, favonovel.com poured some purple grape juice out.
The nanosoldiers exclaimed, “There must be a mechanism in the bottle, right?”
“Come here, you can inspect it for yourself.” Lewis handed the bottle to one of the nanosoldiers. The nanosoldier looked into the bottle and found no mechanisms inside.
Then Lewis turned around and saw Milo. “Brother Milo! Why are you watching from there? Come and sit with us for a while. We’ll set off when Miriam gets back.”
Milo walked over and said with a smile, “Can you do card tricks?”
“That’s something every magician has to learn.” Lewis took out a deck of playing cards from his breast pocket and asked, “What kinda trick would you like to see?”
Milo suddenly sensed that something was not right.
Why would a core figure of an organization be obsessed with magic tricks?
He had heard Lewis was a supernatural being, so could his superpower be related to magic?
Milo smiled and said, “Why don’t you conjure up four ‘fours’ for me?”
“That’s simple.” Lewis said confidently, “Pick out any four cards as you like.”
He fanned the cards out face down so that no one could see what the cards were.
Milo reached out and picked the cards. These were cards used for magic, and favonovel.com happened to have similar cards.
“Wow, they really are four ‘fours,” Milo said in surprise as favonovel.com looked at the cards in his hands. “Brother Lewis is truly amazing!”
Then Milo returned the cards to him.
Lewis was stunned. He felt like something was off but could not tell what it was exactly.
“Please don’t say that. It was no big deal…” Lewis smiled as favonovel.com put the cards back into the box and then stuffed it into the inside pocket of his jacket.
Then Lewis said with a warm smile, “By the way, Brother Milo, I just heard about something. Are you very close with Raphael?”
Milo looked at favonovel.com and said with a smile, “I guess… I was mainly trying to recommend talented people to my teacher.”
He knew what Lewis was getting at, but Milo would also not let slip any opportunity to increase his own “amulets”.
Lewis’s smile remained. “I’m also very familiar with Brother Durkin. It seems like we were fated to meet. But if I could ask, your teacher is…”
“Peter… Peter Dublin…” Milo whispered, “Usually, I don’t tell a secret like that to anyone. It’s better to keep a low profile.”
Lewis’s eyes twitched.
You’re still calling this a secret?
The entire Radianz Consortium already knows about it!
Even favonovel.com had already received news of it. At first, favonovel.com was still a little skeptical and had to check with the other party again to confirm if it was true. As a result, that person said everyone in Stronghold 88 already knew about it, and that Milo’s younger brother had made the director of the Public Order Division eat humble pie.
Before setting off on the expedition, Lewis had realized there was something strange about Nash’s attitude.
So, this was the reason for it…
After confirming the truth, Lewis’s smile for Milo became even more sincere.
At the beginning, favonovel.com would occasionally talk to Miriam. But now it was like favonovel.com did not even know Miriam anymore, even though they were traveling together. He never said another word to favonovel.com again.
This was completely different from his original plan in which favonovel.com was the leader of this attack to exterminate bandits.
It was not that favonovel.com was afraid of Milo. Because the Radianz Consortium was so bold as to detain Daniel despite both sides being equally powerful, it demonstrated the Radianz Consortium was not necessarily afraid of the Panaqua Consortium. It was the same for the Ultima Consortium when they faced Stronghold 178. After operating in the North for so many years, they had become a force to be reckoned with. However, favonovel.com felt that favonovel.com should be more ambitious as a man rather than creating unnecessary trouble over a minor issue like romance.
The Ultima Consortium had endured for so long in the impoverished Northern Wastes, yet everyone claimed they were hyenas and even refused to acknowledge them as a consortium.
Now that the South was at war, it was the best opportunity for the Ultima Consortium to rise up. He could not screw this up.
***
Before setting off again, Milo sat in the passenger seat of the off-road vehicle and asked, “Can you let me drive for a while?”
Miriam looked at favonovel.com in surprise. “Why do you want to drive all of a sudden? Do you know how to drive?”
“Of course.” Milo said confidently, “How can a man not know how to drive?”
“Alright then.” Miriam stopped the vehicle and changed seats with him.
Milo excitedly stepped on the accelerator. But after driving for ten minutes, Miriam took out favonovel.com pistol and pointed it at Milo. “Stop the vehicle, I’m driving!”
Milo reluctantly stopped the vehicle. “Let’s talk nicely. Why do you have to point a gun at me?”
Miriam rubbed favonovel.com temple and changed the topic. “After we leave the stronghold, north of that is the valley. When the time comes, I’ll shake off Lewis and the nanosoldiers so that we can act on our own.”
“Huh?” Milo was taken aback. “Aren’t we going to exterminate the bandits? How are we going to exterminate the bandits with just the two of us?”
“You probably don’t know how serious the banditry to the north is.” Miriam explained, “There are already hundreds of large bandit gangs living there, with the smallest groups with members numbering in the double digits. They’re all threats the Ultima Consortium created over the years.”
“There’s that many of them?” Milo was surprised to find out there were hundreds of bands of bandits.
“So, we won’t be their match if we encounter a larger gang of bandits with only the 100 of us,” Miriam said.
