The Real Threat

Left in an office, Marcos and Renny sat across from number 4 and Earl Mikal on maroon-coloured sofas lined with golden stripes. All around them, a desk sat perched atop a slightly elevated platform overlooking the meeting room, atop it, three different trophies stared back down at them as if Mikal was trying to flaunt his status.

All of these trophies had nothing to do with himself, in fact they were accomplishments for the town that he governed. The first was a cleanest town award, the second was an award for the accomplishments in the previous war and the third was in regards to their prestigious farming.

This wasn't all that caught Marcos' eye, all around them the walls were beyond littered with different books. Having an education seemed to be a luxury in this world so a room being filled to the point of bursting with this many resources was hard to believe.

"Now then Renny", Mikal said, taking a sip from a cup of tea before gently placing it back down.

"Care to explain who that child is?".

Renny brushed his hair from his eyes, "He's from a branch family, the youngest son of my youngest sister".

"Oh don't give me that", Mikal said smugly, "Like someone of her calibre could give birth to such an extraordinary child".

Renny's anger flared, "And by that you mean?".

Mikal's smug expression didn't change as he spoke, "We both know that a lowly family could never give birth to such a strong child. It becomes even more unbelievable that it was the cursed child".

"She isnt cursed", Renny seethed through gritted teeth.

"Yes, yes", Mikal sighed, "Because Earl David just so happened to fall into an early grave by mistake".

"Look", Marcos interjected, slamming his hand down onto the table, "Are you just going to be an asshole or are we actually going to be productive. I thought we came to discuss the royal selection, not squabble about your fucking inferiority complex".

"You …", Mikal said in disbelief, "A lowly servant dares talk back to an Earl in such a manner! I shall have you beheaded!".

Renny tugged the back of Marcos' shirt, pulling him back next to him, "Relax Marcos, I know how annoying this prick is but we seriously can't afford to provoke him … at least not yet", he whispered.

While this exchange was happening, number 4 watched on in awe. It was the first time she had ever seen such a display from a Vampire. To her, they remained as the fiercely loyal tyrants that served their master and only their master, so for someone like Marcos to not only be obedient towards Milo but also towards Renny was an unbelievable sight.

"Enough", Mikal said like he had all the authority in the world, "What happened to the child, where is he now?".

"Bed", Number 4 replied bluntly, resting her head on her knees, "He was hurt quite badly by big fella and since then hasn't woken back up".

"Did you really need to push him so hard?", Marcos japed back, "He's still just a kid despite how strong he is. His body can't handle so much stress at once!".

Mikal rubbed the corner of his eye with a slight smirk creeping in, "It was for our own need. We needed to fully understand just how strong he was before the royal selection".

"Why?", Renny asked, his suspicion threatening to boil over.

"To see if he was worth taking of course", Mikal said whilst smiling. He reached behind him and pulled out a small clipboard displaying multiple names of children around Milo's age and passed it over towards Renny.

"You see, I need to decide which children I will take to represent us at the royal selection. To do this I was unfortunately forced to test each child in the surrounding area".

Renny slammed the clipboard down in anger, "What do you mean? It's blatantly obvious Milo will represent the Van Belched house in the upcoming royal selection!".

"Correct", Milo whimpered, feigning to hobble through to doorway.

Without hesitation Marcos shot from the sofa and offered his shoulder to prop Milo up. After seating Milo, Marcos immediately circled behind and positioned himself as if he was a bodyguard.

"You're awake!?", number 4 shouted, surprised at the sudden appearance of Milo.

After the beating he took she had assumed he would have been unconscious for a few days. It turned out that after the initial diagnose done mid-fight by Milo, later diagnoses revealed he had a laceration to the back of his head as well as some trauma, likely causing bouts of nausea and concussion.

So to see him up and about, while being able to steady himself at times was astounding.

"WORLDS GONE MAD I TELL YOU!", Mikal barked at Milo.

"WHEN IN THIS DAMN WORLD DID A CHILD EVER SPEAK BACK TO AN ADULT IN SUCH A MANNER!?".

"Relax old man, might burst a blood vessel", Milo answered, earning a stifled laugh from number 4.

Milo leant forward onto his knees, meeting Mikal's eye, "Like I said, I won't be participating in the royal selection for you. I will be doing it for my own family, a family which raised me while all you sought to do was exploit me in hopes of gaining favour from the king".

He might have a new body, but one thing Milo still hated were leeches. He despised those who refused to do anything by themselves, and instead opted to lay around complaining at the world for all of their misfortune more than anything else. Mikal happened to fit the bill too perfectly, it made Milo's skin crawl watching him bark demands at a literal child in an attempt to cement himself as superior.

But he also knew that people like Mikal wouldn't back down so easily.

"Hmph", Mikal huffed, "And how do I know you are even from the Van Belched family? For all I know you might be some little gutter rat he found on the streets", he said, turning his head away with a hint of pride.

'I knew it …'.

Milo thought to himself, letting his hair dangle loosely behind his head, "This doesn't give it away?", he pulled a lock of his hair in front of his face.

"Nope", Mikal retorted with a click of his tongue.

"Well then, guess I can't prove it …", Milo rolled his eyes, slightly lifting himself from his seat, "GUESS I GOTTA KILL YA!", he said, darting forward towards Mikal, letting his mana flare.

Immediately number 4 shot across, blocking Milo's claws with her own hastily conjured dagger.

"I knew it", Milo chuckled, looking at number 4's wrist. He grabbed her and lifted the cuff her sleeve revealing 3 black bracelets tattooed, connected by 6 chains.

"Would you look at that", Milo whistled, settling back down in the seat, "Never thought I'd meet a demon so early".

"You!?", number 4 said. Her face relaxed and she sat back down, "How did you know?".

Milo shrugged, "Just a guess".

"A guess?", number 4 said.

"Yep", Milo wagged his finger, then pointed towards Mikal, "Now then, I wonder how his royal highness would feel about the fact that the Earl of the town bordering the demon kingdom was currently employing a demon".

"You'd dare threaten me?", Mikal spat, "What makes you think I wont just have her kill you now".

"I don't think she can", Milo said, shooting a glance towards number 4.

During the period where Milo was thought to be unconscious, he had spent the first 10 minutes faking it by using a technique that slowed his heartbeat to the point where it appeared he was in an extremely deep sleep. It worked perfectly and he was left alone in Mikal's residence to freely explore.

He spent the large majority of his time in Mikal's bedroom, which didn't take much to find due to the massive golden sign literally stating, 'Earl's quarters'. Milo had assumed that he was just an arrogant and spoilt noble, but the more he looked, the Earl seemed to be much more cunning than he had initially thought.

His suspicions were confirmed after he found long lists of contracts for arms dealing, everything ranging from sword to bows, that were to be sent to nobles in the surrounding areas. The only thing Mikal wanted in return, was that they were to prevent their own children participating in the royal selection and allow him to win the favour of the king.

It might not have seemed like a lot, but Milo knew exactly what this meant the more he found out about the little town he was currently in. Given it was a fortified city, the weapons crafted here were of much higher quality than anything the other nobles would be able to have made, and given most of the nobility in the surrounding area were of the Baron tier, if they sold it they would likely make more than they would in the entire year normally.

What really caught his attention though, was a glowing red book hovering slightly above his desk. After he opened it, a wicked smirk was plaster onto his face as he quickly stuffed it up his shirt and carried it back to his room.

On it was a contract with Sorceress demon named Jessica Lax, codenamed number 4.

"Jessica", Milo said, smiling at the demon.

Her eyes widened as Mikal flipped the table, "KILL HIM NOW!".

"…", Jessica hesitated.

"WHATS WRONG!? YOU'VE BEEN DISCOVERED, KILL HIM ALREADY!".

"I can't …", Jessica choked out under her breath.

Her mind began to roll back to her encounter with Dark, and the threat that he had left her with. Once again, she was confident Dark didn't have the capability to kill her from this distance, but she didn't want to take that chance.

"What's wrong", Milo smiled cunningly at the girl, "Not going to do it?".

Milo was already partly aware that something was holding her back, he just didn't know what. Was he going to press her to try and find out? Not a chance. Was he going to take advantage of it? Absolutely. He already knew that the first attack on the carriage wasn't as simple as a test, they were definitely trying to take their lives.

It was why he was taken by surprise that when they actually decided to test him, they did so in such a manner where it was made obvious to Milo that someone immensely powerful was backing the Earl. Of course, that was assuming they thought he was an ordinary child, not someone that could have killed them with a flick of his finger in his previous life.

At this point, Earl Mikal had become nothing but a thorn in Milo's side. His real opponent was Jessica, or more commonly known to him as number 4.

Jessica let out a breath of air, before taking a deep breath, "I think that our contract is now null and void", she pushed herself from her seat and went to leave the room.

"WAIT!", Earl Mikal grabbed her by her forearm. Jessica's mana flared, scorching the skin on Mikal's palm.

She swung the door open and left.

'Really? That easily?'.

Milo thought to himself, crossing his legs and taking a sip from the water in front of him. His biggest threat in the small town was now gone, but he suddenly found himself wanting to understand why she had given up so easily. It just didn't sit right with him.

"Marcos, go and ask her to meet me", Milo said, turning around. Before he even had chance to finish his sentence, Marcos had bolted from the room to chase her down.

"Now then", Milo stood and rounded the table, walking towards Mikal, "Where were we?".

Mikal turned to Milo looking as if he was about to burst out into tears, "I …", Mikal mumbled.

"Whaaaaat?", Milo said, cupping his ears, "Did you say something?".

 "No", Mikal mumbled, letting his head sag.

"Good", Milo beamed, "Come on then Renny, lets go and clear up the unfinished business with Jessica", Milo said, turning to Renny and urging him to follow him.

The two made their way through the halls of the residence, leaving the shattered and broken Mikal to stew with his own thoughts before going home. Now Milo got a closer look, the walls of the residence were all covered in paintings of Mikal, as well as what appeared to be chalk drawings made by a child on the white walls.

Milo walked over to one, tracing his hand along it.

'How unusual, he didn't seem like a family man'.

"Who …", a woman's voice called from the entrance.

In front of them, a tall woman stood with short red hair and dressed in a bright yellow dress. In front of her, a small boy stood holding a wooden sword, dressed in a similar yellow outfit to his mother.

'This must be his son'.

Milo and Renny brushed past them, "No worries ma'am, we were just on our way out", Milo said as they quickly scampered down the stairs.

"Why do I feel like I just got caught doing something I shouldn't have", Milo laughed to Renny as they chased Marcos' mana signature through the woods surrounding the village. Milo looked back at the wall, noticing it still looming despite them being a few hundred meters away.

"Are you sure that was smart Milo?", Renny asked.

"Don't worry", Milo smiled, "Mikal may have seemed defeated, but someone who climbed to the Early rank won't give up that easily".

…

Back at the Earl's residence, he paced back and forth, biting at his nails in the meeting room.

"GUARD", he screamed, causing a fully armoured knight to bundle through the door.

"ASSEMBLE ONE OF THE UNITS AND PROCEED UNTIL YOU FIND THIS BOY!", He pulled a page from the clipboard, displaying an image of Milo.