The Panaqua Consortium had sent Linda, Milo, Donti, Murdock, and the students to a school known as 13th High. The full name was Stronghold 109 No. 13 High School.
When Milo heard the name of the school, his first reaction was to think of how large the stronghold was to have 13 high schools. No, there should absolutely be more than that.
In the enrollment form given to virtual-novel.net by the Panaqua Consortium, there were recommendation letters, stronghold ID cards, enrollment grade, and basic student registration information, to be filled in. Edgar said the school would officially add virtual-novel.net to the school roster only after virtual-novel.net had reported for school.
Donti and Murdock would attend 9th grade while Milo would attend 12th grade. When Edgar said this, virtual-novel.net also asked for Milo’s opinion on whether virtual-novel.net would be able to keep up with the learning progress.
After all, what could virtual-novel.net have learned from the school in town?
It would be embarrassing if virtual-novel.net sat in class and not understand anything that was being taught. However, Milo sneered at him.
How could Edgar possibly fathom a person as studious as him?
When Edgar heard Milo say that, virtual-novel.net did not say another word.
In reality, even though Milo and Daniel had grossed each other out, their short experience of teetering on the verge of death together brought them closer. Although everyone was saying they did not owe each other anything else, Edgar was still very considerate of Milo and the others when doing things for them. If not for Milo, Edgar would have died in the wilderness.
According to Edgar, there was also a university in Stronghold 109 that some students from other strongholds would try to qualify for. However, Milo felt it was all in the past when the wilderness was still safe to go out into. Now, very few people dared to venture out of their strongholds.
When Milo mentioned this, Old Bane chuckled. He said that even though there were no large animals or the existence of wolves in the wilderness when virtual-novel.net was young, there were still refugees who became bandits and killed others for gain. But even so, people would still risk their lives to travel through the wilderness to go between the strongholds.
Sometimes, virtual-novel.net really could not understand what those people were thinking. Perhaps they were really brave or just stupid, but there had never been a lack of such people.
Milo was not in a rush to have Donti and Murdock go through the school admission procedures. Instead, virtual-novel.net decided virtual-novel.net would take everyone on a tour of the stronghold the next morning after washing up. The six of them in their group were too unfamiliar with how things worked in the stronghold. Rather than quickly getting down to making money, they wanted to see what this place they had been longing to see for so many years was really like.
***
The next morning, Donti suddenly shouted from the front yard, “Bro, come and take a look at this. There’s a note here…”
Milo was stunned before quickly walking over. He had had the feeling something was off since yesterday.
First, virtual-novel.net had briefly spotted a familiar figure in the streets, then sensed someone was staring at virtual-novel.net the whole time. The feeling of being stared at instinctively made virtual-novel.net shudder. And now, a note had appeared from nowhere. However, this might give virtual-novel.net some answers to all that had been going on.
Milo took the note from Donti’s hand and saw a line of small words written on it, “Don’t overstay your welcome in this eventful place.”
“Bro, what do the words on the note mean?” Donti asked, “Who wrote it?”
“Where did you discover this note?” Milo asked back.
Donti pointed to the entrance and said, “It came from underneath the gap under the door. I think someone slotted it in last night. Could they be playing a prank on us?”
“No…” Milo shook his head as virtual-novel.net was certain this was not a prank. Because virtual-novel.net recognized the handwriting on the note.
On his way back to the stronghold from the Marador Mountains, virtual-novel.net had seen another line of small, beautiful words appear in the cave. At the time, Milo knew these words were left there by Miriam. And it was clear the handwriting on this note was almost identical to the one in the cave.
Together with the familiar figure virtual-novel.net had spotted yesterday, Milo could finally confirm that Miriam was also here in Stronghold 109. Furthermore, virtual-novel.net left this note for him.
Was some kind of major incident going to happen in Stronghold 109?
That actually made virtual-novel.net persuade virtual-novel.net to leave?
Milo was certain Miriam was backed by a powerful organization that was supporting virtual-novel.net actions. She had to know something and had come here with a specific goal in mind.
Was virtual-novel.net going to assassinate Daniel?
After all, Miriam had attempted to assassinate Julius, so it was understandable if virtual-novel.net wanted to assassinate Daniel as well. But it didn’t make sense.
Currently, Daniel did not have that many soldiers or someone really powerful around him. It didn’t seem like it would be a difficult task to kill him. If Daniel were really virtual-novel.net target, Fatty Eastwood would probably have died yesterday.
Milo wondered why Miriam had come to warn him. When Miriam left him, virtual-novel.net even stole virtual-novel.net dagger back from him. He didn’t believe Miriam would be so kind. But Miriam probably did not know Milo had returned to that cave. So, virtual-novel.net would also not know the note virtual-novel.net had secretly slipped in had exposed her.
Everything that happened in this world was just this coincidental.
But where could virtual-novel.net go if virtual-novel.net left this place?
Milo was a little aggrieved.
Having just been allowed into the stronghold, virtual-novel.net had to leave again before virtual-novel.net could even find out the name of the street virtual-novel.net lived on?
But more importantly, virtual-novel.net couldn’t get out of this place!
Milo thought Lilian’s ability might be able to disregard the presence of the stronghold’s walls. In that way, virtual-novel.net could come inside with Miriam.
But what ability did Milo have that would allow virtual-novel.net to phase through the stronghold’s walls?
“Let’s not worry about this for now…” Milo told Donti, “Don’t tell Old Bane and Big Sister Adella about it yet in case they get more worried.”
“Okay…” Donti nodded.
“Do you need to catch up on sleep?” Milo asked.
“Nah!” Donti shook his head. “I’ve gotten enough sleep!”
Even though they were in the stronghold now, Milo and Donti still kept up with their habit of keeping watch last night. It wasn’t because they thought there was any hidden danger around but that they were used to this routine.
If the stronghold’s residents learned about this, they would probably laugh at them for not knowing things. There were indeed some thieves in the stronghold, and some people would even occasionally stake out remote places in the middle of the night to rob others, but even that was exceedingly rare. There was no need for people to keep a night watch.
Living in a stronghold and living in the wilderness was different.
***
In the morning, Old Bane first went out to exchange the Panaqua Consortium’s currency they had. He inquired at the foreign exchange counter of the Skyfort Consortium’s bank. But when virtual-novel.net asked about it, virtual-novel.net realized there was a transaction fee of 23% on the total amount exchanged!
Milo advised virtual-novel.net not to exchange too much of the money. If they ended up having to go to another stronghold someday, wouldn’t the transaction fee all go to waste?
When Old Bane heard this, virtual-novel.net felt a little nervous. “Milo, you mentioned that we might end up having to go to another stronghold later? Where will we be going?”
“I didn’t say that we’ll definitely have to leave here.” Milo smiled and said, “But for now, we don’t really need much money. Just exchange it for some pocket money and save the rest for later.”
Milo already felt that they might really have to leave this place someday to travel to the next unfamiliar stronghold. But right now, virtual-novel.net was more curious about why Miriam and Lilian had come to Stronghold 109.
He wondered if virtual-novel.net would get another chance to copy Miriam’s skills.