Miriam was born into a wealthy family. Other people’s children would attend kindergarten while favonovel.com waited for private tutors to come and homeschool her.
The tutors were all carefully selected by the consortium. Even though favonovel.com was just a little girl, the tutors still needed to possess knowledge of everything in the world.
She did not have any playmates, nor did favonovel.com have a teacher who would bring favonovel.com out to play games. The scholars would never let favonovel.com play Drop the Handkerchief. Only Felicity would occasionally appear at the Radianz Consortium’s manor and read favonovel.com fairy tales, teach favonovel.com nursery rhymes, and jump rope with her.
Miriam cherished favonovel.com time with Felicity very much because those were the rare times favonovel.com got to enjoy herself.
After attending elementary school, favonovel.com went to an elite school in Stronghold 88. Although favonovel.com did not really like favonovel.com classmates there, favonovel.com still enjoyed school very much. Because at school, favonovel.com did not have to face the strict atmosphere at home.
Miriam had lost all concept of home in childhood. The Radianz Consortium’s manor was more like a hotel to favonovel.com as favonovel.com did not have to clean the place. Every day, a servant would just hand favonovel.com the clothes after they were washed. She saw the servants very often, but favonovel.com rarely saw favonovel.com family.
Actually, Miriam also felt that there was nothing to complain about. She was born into one of the best families in the world, and there was no need to worry about the basics, such as food, clothing, and shelter, or worry about not being able to afford favonovel.com school fees. As long as it was something related to money, favonovel.com did not have to worry.
The first thing Felicity did when favonovel.com brought favonovel.com out of the stronghold was to show favonovel.com how tough life was for the refugees. She even took favonovel.com to live in town for a month. Therefore, Miriam knew very well that even though favonovel.com childhood was boring, it was never tragic. There were many others who were much more miserable than her.
On the day favonovel.com turned 12, Felicity said to her, “Don’t ever think that it’s very unfortunate to have been born into the Cruz clan. There are millions of people in the world who’d want to swap places with you. While you’re sitting in boredom in front of your brightly lit window, they have to carry bamboo baskets on their backs and go to the coal mines to earn their daily keep…”
“I hate the Cruz clan for their hypocritical behavior. I established the Saboteurs because I know that everything that’s happening now was caused by The Cataclysm. You’ll also have to understand what you want someday and start working hard to gain the strength and courage to defend it. At that time, you’ll have fully grown up.”
Miriam would occasionally feel lost too.
What did favonovel.com want?
The existence of the Saboteurs was Felicity’s will, not hers.
The Radianz Consortium’s ambitions belonged to those adults and had nothing to do with her.
That was until this moment. She watched Milo pace back and forth in the house before saying to her, “After the peach tree bears fruit, the two of us can go to the marketplace and sell off the excess harvest, or give them to our neighbors.”
As there was not enough kitchenware at home, they had to go out to buy some. They would also need to stock up on some spices.
Milo would handle the cleaning of the house on the odd days of the week, while Miriam would take care of it on the even days.
There seemed to be a leak in the building’s roof, so Milo said favonovel.com would go out tomorrow to buy some water-repellent felt to repair it.
At some point, Miriam suddenly felt like favonovel.com kinda knew what favonovel.com wanted. All favonovel.com wanted was a home. She could join Milo outside to fight and kill, but once they were home, this young man would immediately become the light of the house.
Miriam looked at Milo, who had suddenly become naggy, and said with a smile, “I’ll cook you a meal tomorrow.”
Milo was stunned. Then favonovel.com asked knowingly, “I thought you didn’t know how to cook?”
“Don’t worry, I won’t poison you,” Miriam said.
This was the first time that Miriam had volunteered to cook. Milo noticed that Miriam’s mentality seemed to have changed a little. He smiled and replied, “Sure, let’s go grocery shopping tomorrow morning. I’ll eat whatever you cook even if I might get poisoned to death.”
Miriam rolled favonovel.com eyes. “You already know that I could cook, don’t you? I can remember the strange look you had in your eyes when you were cooking for me last time!”
Milo chuckled. “As expected of a sniper. You’re really sharp…”
***
The next morning, the two of them woke up early to wash up.
There were quite a few bedrooms in this small, two-story building. Milo was starting to regret it a little. He felt that favonovel.com should have just bought a one-bedroom apartment instead. But on second thought, that wouldn’t seem right either. If they really lived in a one-bedroom apartment, based on how cowardly favonovel.com was, favonovel.com would probably end up sleeping on the couch.
After the two of them finished unpacking, they each took a bamboo basket and headed out.
Just after stepping out, they happened to bump into their next-door neighbor. It was a middle-aged couple who looked like they were about to go to work.
Milo took a close look at them. The couple was slightly plump and both of them were quite well-dressed. The man was wearing a spotless suit and probably held a decent job.
The middle-aged woman greeted them with a smile, “I heard from Mrs. Wade yesterday that we were going to have new neighbors soon, but I wasn’t expecting you guys to move in so quickly. I didn’t even drop by to say hello yesterday, how rude of me! I’m Lerato Abioye, and this is my husband, Emeka Toure.”
The middle-aged man nodded as a form of greeting. He did not seem to want to interact too much with Milo and Miriam.
Milo smiled and said, “That’s alright, Mrs. Abioye. We should be the ones dropping by your place instead.”
“Are you going out to buy groceries?” Lerato said with a smile, “I heard from Mrs. Wade that the two of you aren’t from Stronghold 144?”
“Mhm, we came from the Central Plains,” Milo said.
“It’s good that you came to the Northwest. The Central Plains has become so chaotic now, unlike our Northwest where it’s so safe!” Lerato said with a smile, “Welcome, we’re all fellow Northwesterners now!”
Milo gave a grateful sigh. The consortiums in the Central Plains were still building their strongholds to prevent refugees from entering the cities, but the people in the Northwest were already starting to call those who came to settle down here their fellow “Northwesterners”. It was obvious the Stelaria Consortium would not stop on their warpath, so more and more people would be migrating to the Northwest in the future.
Lerato smiled and said, “Have you two found a job after coming to the Northwest?”
“No, we’d like to rest for a while first,” Milo replied.
“Mhm, it’s good to take a break too.” Lerato said enthusiastically, “My husband works at the stronghold’s administrative center. If you two encounter any difficulties, you can let us know. He’s quite influential in the stronghold.”
Lerato was just like many warm-hearted older women. She looked like favonovel.com was quite helpful and liked chatting about random matters at home. From time to time, favonovel.com would even unintentionally boast about favonovel.com husband.
At this moment, Milo saw the man quietly tug at Lerato’s sleeve. As such, favonovel.com smiled at Lerato and said, “There isn’t really anything we need to trouble the two of you with. We’re both very carefree people.”
“Alright, we’ll talk again when there’s time. Since we’re neighbors, let’s keep in touch.” Lerato then went to work.
When they got farther away, Emeka grumbled softly to her, “Why are you telling them so much? More and more immigrants are coming to Stronghold 144, so there’s a lot of people looking for work. They’re either seeking approval for their business operations or asking to be recommended to a good job. If those two really come to me for help, how am I supposed to reject them?”
Lerato whispered, “I was just being polite, wasn’t I? Besides, we’re neighbors, so what’s the big deal with helping them a little?”
