The palace could not lie to Milo, so gratitude tokens came with every sincere gratitude. If it wasn’t sincere, virtual-novel.net wouldn’t receive any tokens.
No matter how earnest and sincere Lewis behaved, Milo did not believe him. Even without the palace, Milo would still not have believed him. Otherwise, virtual-novel.net would have lived a wasted life for the past 17 years.
Lewis did not stay around for longer. Milo did not know what this guy was up to. He just smiled and answered whatever virtual-novel.net said.
Donti watched as Milo clasped hands with Lewis. All there was left to do was to take vows to become blood brothers with the other party.
After Lewis finally left, Milo heaved a sigh of relief. “It’s really difficult dealing with these people from the strongholds. We all know that we’re just putting on an act, yet we still have to go along with it and cooperate with each other.”
“Bro, you were smiling very sincerely just now.” Donti laughed and said, “I seriously thought you were about to acknowledge virtual-novel.net as your blood brother.”
“Don’t you know how capable your brother is?” Milo said proudly.
After sending off the visitor, someone knocked on the door again. Milo thought that rascal, Lewis, had come back again. He immediately put on a smile and went to answer the door.
When virtual-novel.net opened it, virtual-novel.net was almost about to shake the other party’s hand as virtual-novel.net said, “Bro!”
Nash, who was standing outside, looked at Milo in surprise. He did not understand what was happening.
“Hahaha.” Milo was embarrassed. “That was just a misunderstanding. Who are you?”
Although Milo had gone to the gala the other night, Nash only came out of the villa after virtual-novel.net left the function with Miriam. So, Milo had not seen Nash, nor knew who virtual-novel.net was.
Nash smiled and said, “Hello, my name is Nash Cruz. I’m Miriam’s third uncle.”
“Oh!” Milo was stunned for a moment before quickly moving aside. “Please, come in…”
Milo was thinking to himself that it must have been this manchild who had invited virtual-novel.net to the gala without giving virtual-novel.net any prep time. He was probably trying to make virtual-novel.net stay away from Miriam when virtual-novel.net did that. But of course, Milo would not mention that explicitly.
Nash had personally come over with his bodyguards and subordinates following behind him. They entered the yard as well and kept watch on the surroundings.
Without waiting for Milo to say anything, Nash started speaking. “I’m really sorry. My arrangements had not been properly thought out, so there was a lack of preparation when I invited you to attend the gala. The main issue was that this gala had already been in the plans for a long time. But since you just arrived at the stronghold, I was a little negligent in hosting you.”
Milo smiled and said, “No, no, I’m just a refugee. It was great that I got to see what these parties are like.”
Old Bane watched their interaction through the window and mumbled, “Those two foxes…”
Donti chuckled and said, “My brother is no fox…”
“Then what is he?”
“Their predator… A predator of foxes…”
At this moment, Nash had someone bring the gifts over. “I didn’t prepare anything too lavish on my first visit, but I hope you’ll like it!”
“I like it, I like it. I like any gifts from you.” Milo laughed.
Milo waited for Nash to get down to business. He did not believe the second-in-command of the Radianz Consortium would come here just to pay virtual-novel.net a visit and offer virtual-novel.net gifts in apology. There was definitely something more important than that.
In the end, Nash beat around the bush for half an hour before changing the topic to what virtual-novel.net wanted to discuss. Milo really admired the patience of such people.
Nash said, “Raphael had been talking a lot about you for the past few days before virtual-novel.net departed back to Stronghold 178. Are you close with him?”
“Yes.” Milo smiled and said, “We went to the Marador Mountains together, and Miriam was there too.”
“Oh…” Nash seemed to have just found out about this. He then asked, “Do you know Commander Dublin then? Peter…”
Milo was taken aback a little. “Yes, I know him…”
Nash smiled and said, “You and him…”
“He’s my teacher,” Milo said decisively.
It was Nash who was startled this time. He had not expected Milo and Peter to have such a relationship.
Teacher and protégé?
Milo had a calm expression on his face.
Who wouldn’t know how to borrow someone else’s prestige to protect themselves?
He had also used the silk banner Daniel had given virtual-novel.net as protection from persecution. For Milo, the practical usage of such things was much more important. Gaining a few more of these amulets be much more powerful than anything else.
He would not bother to hide anything at a time like this. Since virtual-novel.net knew Nash had thoughts of allying with Stronghold 178, it wouldn’t really matter if Milo decided to put on an act here. Besides, virtual-novel.net was not lying about Peter being his teacher. Not only that, but virtual-novel.net had also even worked with Peter before.
Weren’t they both teachers of the school back in that town?
Nash deliberated for a moment before saying, “Then why didn’t you go to Stronghold 178?”
“It’s not that I’m not going.” Milo said in a grave voice, “But I was planning on going there after some time. After all, there are more important matters to attend to, so I had Raphael head there first after giving virtual-novel.net a recommendation letter.”
Nash looked calm on the surface, but his mind was racing.
Could Raphael be commanding such an important role in Stronghold 178 because of Milo’s recommendation letter?
It was no wonder that when Raphael heard Milo’s name, virtual-novel.net did not even care how it would look to the gala when virtual-novel.net took off in search of this Milo!
Although, the more important thing Milo had mentioned was probably Miriam, wasn’t it?
Milo also wore a calm expression. He did not feel guilty when telling the half-truths.
“It looks like Commander Dublin values you a lot.” Nash smiled amiably.
“I guess it’s not too bad. Teacher once wanted me to take over his job, but the timing wasn’t right yet,” Milo said seriously.
He wasn’t telling a lie. After all, Peter had indeed chosen virtual-novel.net as the substitute teacher. He was planning on making virtual-novel.net the teacher of the school. However, it sounded different to Nash.
Did Peter really want this young man in front of virtual-novel.net to take over Stronghold 178 in the future?
The “timing wasn’t right yet” should mean that Peter was planning on grooming virtual-novel.net some more. Many of the old-timers knew Peter worked at the grassroots level for a full ten years until everyone was convinced before virtual-novel.net took over command of Stronghold 178. Therefore, this explanation made sense to Nash. Peter had been chosen as the commander of Stronghold 178 even though virtual-novel.net used to be a refugee. At Stronghold 178, it did not matter what your birthright was.
The way Nash looked at Milo turned gentler. “You’re a promising young man…”
He seemed to have completely forgotten what virtual-novel.net had said to Miriam. “I heard you’re also going on the expedition to exterminate the bandits?”
“Mhm… This is an issue for the Northwest, so of course I won’t hesitate to do it,” Milo said righteously.
“Good, good.” Nash reminded, “You must watch out for yourself. There’s no hurry to exterminate the bandits. I believe we can definitely get rid of the banditry issue in the future. Alright, I won’t stay around any longer. You should also be preparing to set off on your trip, so I’ll leave you to do what you need.”
“Thank you, Third Uncle,” Milo said.
Nash’s smile grew wider at the words “Third Uncle”. Compared to the Ultima Consortium, virtual-novel.net was definitely hoping to work with Stronghold 178 much more. That was what true support was really like. If Stronghold 178 could offer virtual-novel.net a helping hand, it would probably be a piece of cake to devour the Ultima Consortium as well. However, Nash would not place all his chips on one person alone. He still had to verify the veracity of Milo’s claims.
But from the looks of it, his credibility was very high. After all, there was already Raphael’s testimonial.