The sounds of vultures and other scavengers could be heard clearly, along with the tunes of compressors and other machinery. Worn-out plastic, torn clothes, broken wood, and rusty metal piled into hills. These hills stretched as far as the eye could see.
If you hadn’t figured it out yet, the current scenery was that of a garbage dump.
“….Hmm..”
In such a place, someone rose from a pile of garbage bags with a groan. This person with a sleepy look on their face was none other than Miko.
“Yaahh~!”
He released a big yawn while stretching his upper body.
“……..”
He looked around smacking his lips together. His eyes were partially closed. After looking around in silence for a while, he spoke.
“Where the hell am I?”
He looked around some more and then-
“Whatever. I sleep.”
He fell back into the garbage and started to sleep.
*Rustle!*
He soon was reawakened by some rustling beside him. He sat up again and looked beside him.
“Yahh~!”
There, someone else rose out of the garbage and sat up. Just like Miko did, they smacked their lips with half-closed eyes. They looked around a bit before turning to Miko.
“……….”
“………”
The two looked at each other in silence until-
“Yo.”
“Yo.”
They greeted each other and yawned in unison.
“This is a surprise. It’s the first I’ve seen you here. You new?”
Asked the person.
“…I guess I am.”
“I see. Well, welcome to the club.”
“Thanks, but where am I?”
“The Empire’s garbage dump. You don’t remember how you got here?”
“Now that you mention it…..”
A few hours ago, Miko, who was being dragged through magic training by Momo, was feeling very tired. Knowing his biggest weakness was magic, Miko put in a lot of effort to change this. The problem was Miko clearly overworked himself. After all, magic wasn’t the only thing he was training in. Miko’s obsession with victory caused him to put in a lot of work to minimize his chances of any form of failure. However, Miko’s lifestyle for the last couple of years was one of slacking off and laziness. So it wasn’t easy to break that trend. Eventually, his lazy side started clashing with his thirst for victory, resulting in a mess in his mind. But in the end, Miko was one who stayed true to his desires.
He was lazy.
So he decided to skip Momo’s training and went somewhere to slack off, even if it was only for a bit. For some reason, he chose an alley to do this.
“Momo would never think to search for me here.”
With such reasoning, Miko, who was technically a prince, fell asleep in a dumpster. From then on, it’s easy to guess what happened next.
“Well, at least I got to sleep in the middle of the day again. It’s been a while since I’ve done that.”
Miko sounded pretty proud of himself.
“I don’t get it, but good for you.”
Said the person. Miko took a good look at them. They were fair-skinned, a bit muscular, had black hair, emerald eyes, and was dressed like a poor man.
“Oh, the name’s Darry by the way.”
The man, Darry stretched out his hand toward Miko.
“You’re Miko, right?”
“Yeah. I’m surprised. You don’t seem afraid of me.”
“Why would I be? Just because everyone else is?”
Darry chuckled a bit.
“I believe in freedom. That includes freethinking. I won’t just hate or fear something because others said I should. I’ll make my own decisions and bear the responsibilities for them.”
“….Is that so?”
(What is this guy suddenly talking about? Actually, why am I talking to a random guy in a dump?)
Miko examined Darry again.
“Darry, do you live here? You said you never saw me here before after all.”
“Ah, no. I just get drunk and pass out in dumpsters often. I come here at least once a week.”
“…I see.”
Darry stood up and dust the garbage off him.
“Anyway, I’m heading back home. What about you?”
“I’m gonna stick around here. I feel like I can really be lazy here.”
“Then I guess this is it.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
He started to walk away.
“If we meet again, let’s have a drink together.”
Miko watched him leave before laying back down to sleep.
“What a weird guy.”
Miko quickly fell asleep after. By the way, Momo, who used a spell to track him, found him later and tried to have him recycled for skipping out on his training.
*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*
Currently, Miko was in the plains far away from the capital. He was running for his life while carrying a giant boulder.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”
He screamed while explosions erupted behind him. He was running in a minefield, so he had to run fast enough to escape the explosions caused by the triggered mines.
“Come on, lift the boulder higher! Move faster!”
Momo was sitting on the boulder he was carrying.
“Hm…It looks like he’s getting a hand at it.”
She said while tapping the boulder.
If you looked at how Miko was carrying the boulder, you would realize he wasn’t actually touching it. The boulder was floating a few inches off his fingertips. This was done by him using mana to make it levitate. Momo was making him do this to improve his mana control. By the way, he wasn’t actually running. He was using magic to propel himself forward while levitating. His legs were moving because of reflex.
“If I was using Vita this would’ve been a piece of cake.”
Miko complained.
(Making me do three complicated movements simultaneously using magic is diabolical!)
He screamed in his head.
(I have to use two separate applications of levitation to not only levitate myself but the boulder too! I have to propel myself forward while floating! Finally, I have to create a downward force below my feet to trigger the mines underneath me! All of these are complicated on their own, much less when you have to do them together!)
He gritted his teeth.
“You’re definitely not seeing heaven, you evil woman!”
“Quit complaining. Using three different applications of magic at once is perfect for training. If you continue to do this, you’ll be able to learn more advanced applications and you won’t be stuck at beginner’s level.”
Momo slapped the boulder.
“The reason I never made you do this earlier is because I doubt you could without any affinity towards magic. However, you’re a proxy now. Your affinity has increased ten folds, so it’s time for you to work towards catching up with everyone else.”
“You’re just trying to get me killed!”
Miko shouted as an explosion almost reached him.
“Quit overreacting. This isn’t enough to kill someone as tough as you. Now speed up! We have another 20 laps to complete!”
“Damn you, woman!”
Elsewhere.
“Miko?”
In the unruly country of Gael, the trio of Hina, Ace, and Sora were in their living room in their apartment. Ace was playing a handheld game console, Hina was reading a comic, and Sora was cleaning various instruments that were in front of him.
“By Miko, are referring to the emperor’s grandson? The one everyone calls a monster?”
Sora asked.
“Yeah. We became friends with him while you were on tour.”
Hina put down the comic and took up another one.
“Friends? That’s strange. You two aren’t the sociable type.”
“How rude. We’re plenty sociable.”
“That’s right. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have gotten so familiar with so many women.”
Ace frowned.
“Yeah, but that’s mostly through the Internet. You barely meet them and end up getting dumped after they found out you’re a gang leader..”
“Why are opening up old wounds, man?”
Ace put down the game.
“Ace, why do you look like you’re gonna cry?”
“It’s your imagination, Hina.”
Ace wiped his eyes.
“Come to think of it….”
Sora ignored him.
“Wasn’t Miko said to be androgynous, just like Nero and Nova? Is that true?”
“Yup, it’s true. It’s because he inherited Tia’s looks.”
Hina answered.
“Tia?”
“Tiamat. She’s real a beauty. I couldn’t even bring it in myself to sketch her, in fear of not being able to reflect her beauty properly.”
“Tiamat, my lord and savior!”
Ace suddenly shouted in reverence. Sora looked at him with furrowed brows.
“Since when have you gotten so religious?”
“After I met god.”
Ace clasped his hands in front of his chest.
“Met? You guys met Tiamat? How?”
“…Sora, could it be you haven’t heard?”
Hina and Ace were a bit surprised by Sora’s question.
“Miko is Tiamat’s proxy.”
“Really?… That’s pretty interesting.”
Sora was surprised at first but quickly accepted it.
“…I think I know why you approached him, Hina. You wanted to use him as material for your stories.”
Hina nodded.
“I thought so. So what kind of person is he for you two to be interested in him?”
“Oh, we didn’t mention how Miko was involved in the Igor thing.”
Hina and Ace narrated their meetings and interaction with Miko, Tia, and Momo. After listening to everything he was a bit surprised.
“Looks like a lot happened while I was in Lushan.”
He entered deep thought for a bit.
“So the reason you mentioned him?”
“We wanted you to meet him.”
Hina showed a bright smile.
“I’m sure you two would get along.”
“…….”
“You don’t seem interested.”
She started pouting.
“No, I am. I was always a bit curious about him after hearing the rumors about him. It’s just I have other stuff on my mind.”
He paused for a bit.
“While I was on tour I generated a lot of money for the company, yet they selfishly demanded I make more music and sell more records. This is something I’m very displeased with. But at the same time, I know they’re only acting like this because they’re being pressured.”
He stopped cleaning his instruments.
“I’m starting to get fed up with having a slave master over me with a whip forcing me to work. It’s killing my creativity.”
“That’s why you suggested we take down Nebulous?”
Hina asked. Sora nodded.
“I’m all for it, but I’ll have to admit it’s easier said than done. We’re talking about the empire’s crime god here. He has thousands of subordinates, own dozens of legitimate and illegitimate businesses, controls every crime organization in the Empire, and is said to have so much power he could break away from the empire and form his own country if he wanted to.”
Ace’s eyes sharpened.
“Taking down someone like that with the three of us is impossible. That’s why I tried to enter his world and organize a force to give us a fair chance…But that failed.”
“What happened with Black Spades was unfortunate but honestly, I never liked that plan. It had too many risks, and Nebulous allowed it out of whim.”
“Then what should I have done? Just hope for some miracle?”
Sora became silent for a bit.
“…Nebulous is indeed powerful, and what makes it worst is the fact he has a backer in the Dragna Clan. It’s also someone with enough power to allow him to run free.”
“Then…”
“But, he’s mortal. They might call him a god, but even gods can be killed.”
A sharp glint appeared in Sora’s eyes.
“However, I won’t say we should recklessly attack him and get ourselves killed. I’m just saying we should look for a definitive opportunity to strike, instead of undertaking suicide missions.”
“…Well, if it’s that, then I have no problem.”
“Hey.”
Hina called out to them.
“How about we try to get Miko’s help to take him down?”
“Is he the type to help others out?”
“Nope. He’s the type to step over a dying person just to get one place closer to the front of the line.”
“If so, why suggest we ask for his help?”
“Because Miko is the type to cherish his friends and family while ignoring everyone else. I’m sure if we make him acknowledge us as his friends, he’ll help us out without us needing to ask.”
“You mean manipulating him in to help us?”
She shook her head.
“I really like Miko, so I would never try to manipulate him.”
“I see.”
(You just want an excuse for befriending him. You don’t really care if he helps us or not, you just want to get closer to him)
Sora thought.
“Are you sure you don’t like him in a different way?”
“No way. I just like surrounding myself with interesting people.”
(Sounds like an excuse to me.)
Sora sighed.
(It looks like she still has a hard time getting close to people, that’s why she’s looking for any excuse to get closer to Miko…I wonder if it’s the same for Ace?)
He turned to Ace.
“What do you think?”
“Well, Miko is pretty skilled. I fought him twice and he was a handful…Either way, as long as I meet my messiah, Tiamat, I’m fine.”
(…Well, Ace will always be Ace.)
Sora sighed and tapped his finger on the guitar on his lap.
(Hina’s mindset is a bit of a problem though. She still has a hard time getting close to people other than us. She needs to view people as characters to interact with them but you can’t form relationships like that…)
He sighed again as he turned to Hina.
(It’s really hard being the big brother.)
“How strong is Miko?”
“Don’t know, but he shouldn’t be weaker than us.”
“Then that’s good. However, we will not try to make him help us. If he wants to on his own accord then it’s fine.”
“I’m fine with that.”
“……..”
Sora looked at her in silence while she smiled.
(Before taking on Nebulous, Hina needs to get over her trauma. If she doesn’t, she’ll still be trapped even if Nebulous is taken down.)
He pondered it for a bit.
“Maybe I could use Miko to solve this?”