"I must say, I'm impressed that you were more than capable of keeping something like this secret for such a long time", Milo said, running his hand along a damp wall heading down a spiral staircase.
Renny trudged slowly just in front of him, lighting their path with a single candle that continually flickered to and from life. After Renny's discovery of Ava, an explanation was due. After lining up everyone involved, Renny thought it best to confine Ava beneath the residence in a dungeon.
Renny ignored Milo's remark and continued down the staircase. Milo found himself in wonder as his hand constantly scraped the walls, prying free all kinds of moss and dirt.
'How on earth is it damp beneath the ground?'.
They reached the bottom of the stairs and found themselves facing … a dead end.
"Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?", Milo complained, tapping the wall with his foot.
"No, it isnt", Renny growled back, pressing a specific brick into the wall, setting off a series of violent tremors.
'Geez, the hell is his problem'.
Milo thought to himself, watching the wall in front of him magically open.
Ever since Renny had first discovered Ava, he had been extremely pissed off and hadn't given Milo a chance to properly explain himself before shutting himself away in his room.
It made things more complicated than they needed to be, but Milo also understood that an event like this couldn't just be brushed to the side for most people. He was the abnormal one, he knew that, if anyone else got attacked they wouldn't simply be able to get up and continue on with their business as if nothing happened.
But Milo also knew that something was off with Renny, he just didn't know what it was.
"Here", Renny mumbled, pointing to a single cell at the far end of a dimly lit corridor.
'They've really got the freaky ambiance down here haven't they'.
Milo pulled out a small wooden stool from the corner and took a seat in front of the cell. He looked in, noticing that it wasn't lit and Ava was chained from the wrists, hanging slightly lower than her normal standing height.
"So? Find out who she was?", Milo asked Renny, keeping his back to him.
"She's …", Renny hesitated.
"Out with it, we haven't got all day Renny", Milo japed back.
"She's my wife's families aide", Renny mumbled.
"What!?", Milo said surprised, looking at Renny, then back to Ava who began to slowly open her eyes.
"Haaaa", Ava let out a tired breath, "To think I'd end up being held captive by you of all people".
"…", Renny didn't respond, instead he turned away and let Milo do all of the talking.
"Ava?", Milo asked, "What made you come after me?".
He had accidentally inhaled a deep breath of air, falling into a series of coughs.
'Damn! Stinks of piss down here'.
His eyes floated around the cell, landing on a steel bucket tucked away behind a small wooden bed that was barely big enough to hold a normal person.
'A piss bucket? No surprise it reeks then'.
"No reason", Ava averted her eyes, staring at the floor beneath her.
Milo looked over his shoulder towards Renny, who stood stiff watching Ava begin to struggle with her chains.
"FUCKING HELL!", Milo screamed, snapping Renny from his daze, "PUT YOUR FUCKING EYES TO USE!".
Milo let out an annoyed breath and turned his attention back to Ava. It was no secret that Renny was shaken by the reveal that Ava tried to assassinate Milo, but Milo didn't think it was a fair excuse for him to be out of sorts, especially not as a leader of a noble family.
He began to doubt if Renny would seriously be able to handle a higher rank. If he couldn't even handle something as simple as betrayal by an aide he once knew, he didn't stand a chance when the more dangerous people got involved.
At this point, it was only logical for Milo to completely take over the interrogation and pry as much information from Ava as possible. The only reason he hadn't done so already was Renny's eyes. It made Ava lying a completely pointless act that he could see through, helping him get the answers he wanted faster.
"Was it Bryaner?", Renny asked with a downcast look.
This single sentence made Ava's eyes widen for a split second, an act that Milo quickly latched onto.
"Is that the Viscount?", he asked.
"Yes, my wife's maiden name was Enalise Bryaner. As you have probably deduced, the Viscount is Lord Bryaner, my wife's father", Renny said, again refusing to meet Milo's eyes.
'I see, so that's it'.
Milo rubbed his chin, finally beginning to understand why Renny seemed so bothered by this.
He couldn't believe he hadn't been able to put the dots together earlier. It wasn't so much as a betrayal from an aide, it was a betrayal from his own wife. Or at least, that was what Milo speculated for now.
If that was to be the case, it meant that not only would Renny lose his own wife, but Pavlor who was due to fight in the tournament would likely lose his own mother.
'So that's it …'.
A wicked smirk was plastered to Milo's face, "She couldn't kill her own son, so she wanted me gone. Is that right Ava?".
"EXPLAIN!?", Renny ordered.
Milo raised his hand, cutting Renny off, "It's simple really. Enalise knew that not only am I more talented than Pavlor, but I am by far the better candidate to become the next head of the family. This little fact was bound to come to light should we both participate in the upcoming royal selection".
"In a lacklustre attempt to counter this, Enalise needed to quickly dispose of me. The fastest way to get rid of someone is to simply kill them, and the easiest way to do that is through someone of much higher standing".
"What are you getting at?", Renny asked, his eyes narrowing on Ava watching her grow visibly paler by the sentence".
"She wasn't summoned to the Viscount, she ran there herself Renny", Milo said, turning to Renny and placing his hand on his side, "I'm sorry".
"But continuing on", Milo quickly changed tone and the subject, "If I was killed by a Viscount's aide, then a small Baron house wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it. Of course, that was assuming that everything went according to their plan …".
Milo held up 3 fingers, "3 … she made 3 crucial mistakes … or more accurately, 3 crucial underestimations".
"The first, was that I would simply fall to Ava. Of course she did get me, but what she didn't account for was Marcos, Melissa and Rebecca".
"The second, was that we wouldn't be able to figure out exactly what she was thinking if Ava was caught".
"The third and arguably the most revolting one of them all, she underestimated her own son. She was already under the assumption that no matter what, Pavlor would remain as the helpless child he was when I first arrived here".
Milo leant forward, resting his forearms on his knees, "Well, am I right Ava?".
"No", she replied, spitting at the floor.
"A lie", Renny said as his eye flared.
Ava's face sank as she watched his eyes swirl. Her head dropped when the realisation she wasn't going to be able to get out of it finally began to set in.
"What the hell are you?", she spat.
"Hm?", Milo responded.
"What the hell are you? How does someone just causally figure out an entire plot that took nearly a year to come up with!?", Ava roared, the entire dungeon began to shake as her voice echoed throughout the chamber.
Although he had been asked this question, what Milo was more concerned about was the actions Enalise was going to take when she learned that Renny understood her actions.
'Actually …'.
"Renny, can we keep this a secret?", Milo asked, causing Ava and Renny to both look at him with caution.
From the moment he said those words, the cogs in Milo's mind began to turn, coming up with an insidious plot that would trap the Bryanar family.
Renny let out a tired breath, "Explain again".
"It's simple really", Milo said lightly with a smile, "As brutal as I am", his mana flared, "And as desperately as I want to kill the girl, I don't believe we are yet capable of taking on a higher household. Therefore, we let her go and have her report that she failed in her mission".
"How will th …", Renny tried to speak.
"But, we have her say she failed as she was overpowered by yours truly", Milo said, gazing back at Ava.
"What will that accomplish", Renny asked.
"Accomplish huh?", Milo responded with a shallow, solemn smile.
"It won't accomplish anything really, I just need peace and quiet. I hate to admit it, but I can't handle all of this back and forth just yet. I've had 3 attempts made on my life since you told me about the royal selection, 3 Renny, do you understand just how absurd that is".
While thinking this, Milo's mind began to drift back to the assassination attempts. He found himself puzzled by a certain aspect of every attempt.
'Actually, why is it me?'.
To his knowledge, the only ones who should know about his abilities are those in the Van Belched family. Of course, Enalise leaving and informing her family was something that seemed inevitable no matter how you sliced it, but that didn't mean the Earl should have known about him.
"RENNY!", Milo bolted from the stool, the pieces finally falling into place for him.
"Go and tell Marcos to scour the surrounding area", Milo's face twisted into a frown, "Tell him to kill anyone who looks remotely suspicious".
It hadn't occurred to Milo that because of the Earl's rancid personality, word of his talents may begin to spread far and wide leading to an influx of people wanting him dead.
"NOW RENNY!", Milo screamed, forcing Renny into a sprint.
He slumped down on the stool, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers, "If only I was as strong as …", he stopped his words, noticing Ava staring back at him.
"What is it?", Milo snapped, causing her to stumble back against the wall.
"I wanted to hear the rest of that plan", Ava replied.
Not looking at her, Milo responded, "There really is nothing else, all I wanted you to do was say you lost to me and that I was far more powerful than you imagined. After that, I was planning on letting Marcos watch your house to ensure they didn't try anything, but with him hunting down … or I suspect hunting down more nobles, the plan can't go ahead right now".
"So I'm stuck here", Ava moaned, letting out another annoyed breath.
"Afraid so", Milo stood and pushed the stool back into the corner before making his way back up the stairs.
He fell into thought along the way, wondering if it was really possible for him to claw the Van Belched name out of the hole it found itself in. He had suspected that nobility wouldn't be easy to surpass, but this was on an entirely different level than what he first suspected.
The nobles he had encountered so far were willing to cut all ties to their own children to ensure he didn't grow, as well as others willing to throw away every advantage they had just for some petty revenge against him.
'They're all idiots'.
After he made his way out of the dungeon, he stared out of the smashed windows, peering back down at where Ava once lay. It was an unbelievable situation, all of his fears had come together at once. The emblems, the nobility, the sacrifices, all of it had converged in a single point far earlier than he could have ever anticipated.
After all, who thinks to target a 12-year-old child?
He understood the concept of culling a problem before it grew too large, but this was plain ridiculous. His eyes darted towards the horizon, feeling the mana in the air change an explosion rang, followed by a crashing sound, followed by a guttural scream that could terrify even him.
'I guess Marcos really is massacring them'.
Renny was stood beneath the window waving, "It was as you suspected! Multiple scouts were found in the surrounding area, Marcos is dealing with them swiftly!".
Milo responded with a small thumbs up, but let his head rest against the freezing window ledge.
'What the hell man'.
He watched the explosion in the distance continue to fire off, followed by the same guttural yells.
'It feels like I'm back in war …'.
He lifted his head and bolted out of the window, running towards Marcos.