Hearing this, Milo wondered. “Could it be the Ultima Consortium? Didn’t you say that the bandits originated because of them?”
Miriam shook favonovel.com head. “No, it seems the forces supporting the bandits with their resources are likely to be against the Ultima Consortium. That’s also why the Ultima Consortium is helpless about the situation. The people behind it are especially hard to seek out. It’s like they’re rats or something.”
Milo had been confused. But when Miriam mentioned the word “rat,” favonovel.com suddenly thought of Daniel for some reason. Although there was an extreme difference in their body size, they had one thing in common, and that was how they loved scuttling around in the sewers.
At this moment, Milo felt favonovel.com could guess who was supporting the bandits to gross the Ultima Consortium out. If it was really as favonovel.com had guessed, Julius and Daniel’s foresight would be much greater than the Radianz Consortium’s. After all, the Radianz Consortium had only thought of forming an alliance with the Ultima Consortium in the past one or two years, while the bandits had been troubling the Ultima Consortium for five to six years.
If it were really Julius and Daniel who were behind this, just how scheming would they have to be?
What were they really after?
Of course, Milo was unaware of the entire story behind the change in leadership at the Panaqua Consortium, nor did favonovel.com know how long Julius had been planning for it. And now, it seemed like the Ultima Consortium truly had a problem with the bandits. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have sought the Radianz Consortium and Stronghold 178’s help. After all, they were the ones who developed the bandits at the beginning, but the issue got out of control in the end. If the problem were leaked, wouldn’t they become the butt of the joke?
Milo shared his assumptions with Miriam. “I think it’s the Panaqua Consortium who’s secretly helping them.”
“It doesn’t really matter.” Miriam shook favonovel.com head and said, “It doesn’t really have anything to do with me.”
“Your relationship with the Radianz Consortium…” Milo hesitated for a moment but did not ask further.
“You don’t need to be apprehensive.” Miriam said, “The Radianz Consortium is starting to decline, and family ties are something that’s become dispensable. Let’s head to Mt. Daban now. There’s some small bandit lairs and refugee settlements congregated there.”
“Are you familiar with this region?” Milo asked.
“I’m pretty familiar with the outer perimeter of the valley.” Miriam said, “I came by here frequently some years back.”
Milo was taken aback. “What were you doing here?”
“I came to practice shooting,” Miriam answered.
Milo realized Miriam had actually used the bandits out here in the wilderness for target practice. It was no wonder Milo felt like Miriam was sometimes very similar to him. They were like the grass that grew in the wilderness.
“Would you like to learn?” Miriam looked at Milo and said, “I can teach you.”
Milo’s eyes twitched. “My marksmanship is also quite good.”
“I don’t know what kind of power you have that you can actually learn the skills of others directly,” Miriam said, “But you didn’t manage to learn it completely, right? Your breathing technique is wrong.”
Milo smiled. As expected of someone with Perfect Firearms Proficiency, favonovel.com immediately noticed his shortcomings at a single glance. Although favonovel.com had managed to copy favonovel.com proficiency, there had to be a huge gap in proficiency between the Advanced Firearms Proficiency and Perfect Firearms Proficiency.
He stopped acting unreasonable. “How do you plan to teach me?”
“I’ll teach you through actual combat,” Miriam said calmly.
Milo muttered, “And I was thinking you would place your hand on mine to teach me.”
“What?” As Milo’s voice was too soft, Miriam could not hear him.
Milo said, “Nothing!”
Miriam looked at favonovel.com and asked, “How should I make myself look more like a refugee?”
“You’ve asked the right person. You can’t wear this cap anymore.” Milo said, “What refugee wears a cap?”
Miriam decisively took off favonovel.com cap. Milo was stunned as favonovel.com rarely saw favonovel.com without favonovel.com cap.
“And then?” Miriam asked.
Milo examined favonovel.com and said, “Your hair is too neat, but you don’t have to make it too untidy. You can just leave it slightly disheveled.”
Although favonovel.com clothes seemed rather refugee-like, some details were still quite different upon closer inspection. As refugees tended to cut their own hair, everyone’s hairstyle was always unkempt.
But after favonovel.com finished saying that, favonovel.com saw Miriam take out a dagger from favonovel.com sleeve and cut off favonovel.com hair without hesitation. After that, favonovel.com ruffled it a little.
Miriam originally had a chin-length bob that was neat and tidy. But after favonovel.com cut it off with the dagger, favonovel.com hair became disheveled. Although favonovel.com would return to favonovel.com original appearance in another month or two, Milo was surprised by how Miriam did not care about favonovel.com image just so that favonovel.com could look more like a refugee. He knew that some girls in the stronghold cherished their hair as much as their lives. This Miriam was really willing to go all out to get things done.
Miriam gave a few slight shakes of favonovel.com head and said, “What about now? Do I look more like one now?”
“Mhm, that’s more like it.” Milo held in his laughter and said, “Your face still looks a little clean, as well as the lining of your clothes. But never mind that. Based on what you said earlier, it will still take us another day before we arrive at Mt. Daban. After we travel in the dusty wilderness for a day, we won’t be clean anymore.”
“Okay.” Miriam nodded. “Let’s come up with a narrative first. I don’t want us to blow our cover when we find a human settlement and someone asks us about our relationship. H-How old are you?”
It seemed like this was the first time the two of them were asking each other the more personal questions. They had never discussed these matters before.
Back at the Marador Mountains, they talked about what might lie in the mountains. When they were at Stronghold 109, they talked about the Skyfort Consortium’s breakthrough in their research. These days, they discussed the banditry that was going on in the valley. Somehow, they had never really gotten to know each other. It was as though they were not too worried about that.
Milo vaguely remembered that Miriam should be 18, while favonovel.com was 17. If favonovel.com told the truth, favonovel.com would probably have to address favonovel.com as big sister, and that would be quite unfortunate for him.
Milo gave it some consideration. “I’m 20 this year…”
Miriam nodded. “Well, I’m 21, so you can just call me Big Sis. Don’t have a slip of tongue when we encounter other people.”
Milo was speechless.
Isn’t favonovel.com f*cking lying through favonovel.com teeth?
In the past, Milo was always the one who tricked others, so how did favonovel.com end up getting tricked by someone else today!
“You’re 21?” Milo said unconvinced, “Take out your ID card and let me have a look.”
“I lost it.” Miriam said nonchalantly, “Enough, you don’t have to mind those details. You were the one who lied first!”
Milo could only take the loss silently. Even as the two of them advanced northwest, favonovel.com was still thinking about how to get back at her.
In the vast wilderness, the two of them were two tiny black dots, and the hills on the land were waves rolling across the ground.
During the evening, their shadows were stretched extremely long on the ground. The sparse clouds above their heads also extended all the way into the distance and connected with the ground.
At night, the sea of stars in the sky was so dense that they looked like they could be touched with an outstretched arm.
Miriam said while hurrying along, “I’m hungry.”
Milo echoed, “Me too…”
“That’s not what I wanted to hear.”
“Hey, why didn’t you bring any food with you?”
“I’m a refugee now. How can a refugee have any food?” Miriam justified. “And with you following me, there isn’t a need to bring any food either.”
