"This is … quite bothersome", Rebecca said, lifting a stack of paper and moving them from one desk to another. Melissa was seated, scribbling on each page that was passed to her.
"It is", Melissa said, dropping the quill and slumping back into her chair.
The two girls found themselves locked in the library ever since Milo had arrived back at the residence. Unlike Milo and Pavlor who were spending countless hours each day preparing for the Royal selection, due to Melissa and Rebecca's age they were ineligible for participation and therefore were left to deal with the financial side of the Van Belched family.
It wasn't a job either of them wanted, primarily down to the absurdly low levels of income compared to the large sums being spent due to Milo's sudden development. Even for Melissa, finding the correct middle ground between profit and loss was an exhausting task that she was starting to deem as impossible.
"Hey … Rebecca?", Melissa said, pouring herself a glass of water.
"Hm?", Rebecca murmured, moving more papers onto Melissa's desk.
"What do you think about Milo these days? He seems to have reached far beyond the level he should", Melissa said, pulling a book from the shelf behind her and flipping open the first page.
"Whatever do you mean?", Rebecca asked, snatching the book from Melissa's hands and placing it back on the shelf.
"Oh don't give me that. You know exactly what I mean. We come from a small branch in the middle of nowhere yet somehow Milo has gone well beyond the scope of his growth and has managed to reach Ascent realm. Not to mention that crafty little brother of ours seems to be hiding even more secrets up his sleeves", Melissa ranted on, earning looks of confusion from Rebecca.
"I always thought he was weird", Rebecca replied bluntly, "But then again, he is our little brother, and he has done a lot for us … and as much as I hate to admit it, we haven't exactly been the best older sisters to him, have we?".
Although the two girls hadn't exactly had the chance to be older sisters, Milo being a freak of nature and all. It was a fact that despite this, the two of them found themselves wishing that they could do more for him.
They both knew that in terms of combat Milo was already far beyond their help. In other words, they had no idea how they could possibly be of assistance to him. Yet Milo still kept them around and continued to show them new tactics and ways of fighting every now and again.
Rebecca was the one who benefited most from these small exchanges. After she had first started to learn martial arts, Milo quickly found himself growing annoyed by her staggering lack of progress. But instead of merely laughing at her, he dropped hints that pointed her in the correct direction, allowing her skills to blossom.
On top of this Milo engaged in pointless discussion with Melissa about new ways to potentially wield mana. To Milo it may have seemed as frivolous chatter, but his sisters wished they could repay him some way as they found themselves enjoying his company.
"What do you suggest then?", Rebecca asked Melissa.
"Honestly", Melissa twirled a lock of her hair around her fingers, "No idea".
"Come on Melissa", Rebecca smirked back at her, "Aren't you supposed to be the genius".
"Fine", Melissa pushed herself over the desk, leaning in to whisper to Rebecca, "How about we try this?".
…
Back in Milo's room, he found himself in inner turmoil once again. A seemingly common theme with him as he struggled to get to grips with his own emblem. He had all of the information he needed, what he couldn't understand was how the emblem actually functioned.
It didn't make sense as to how only he could see the souls that appeared after he killed something. The only conclusion he could reach was that somehow, his brain must have been wired differently, therefore allowing his eyes to perceive things that others could not.
That little theory of his was quickly stomped out when he thought about Renny. Well, Renny's emblem was pretty self-explanatory considering that his eyes were quite literally different from others. Milo quickly added Renny into a group that he called, physically superior beings.
This group was used when a person had something different about them physically, which as the name suggests, made them a superior being to those around them.
Next up was Marcos.
His emblem allowed him to enter into a contract with a master, therefore basing his strength on his contractors. This once again was understandable and matched his race. For this group, Milo named them, the genetically inclined.
Meaning that, people in this groups emblem was passed or given to them based on their genetic makeup, rather than a random draw like his and Renny's. Of course, Milo was able to quickly deduce that he didn't fit into either of these groups. It wasn't even close, he couldn't begin to pinpoint exactly what his emblem even was.
'What a pain in the ass …'.
He hadn't thought much of it when he first learned of its ability, but the more he thought about it, the more he began to feel as if it just didn't make any sense.
'Tell me, why do you possess an emblem that was thought to be lost in ancient times?'.
Darks words hung in Milo's mind as he sprung from his bed.
"That's it!", he swung open the door to his room and sprinted down the hall towards the library.
He clattered through the doors, nearly spinning them off their old hinges, "MELISSA!".
It made sense to him to go to the person who seemed to be the most intelligent when it came to the past, his older sister.
"Sir …", a young maid whimpered from behind the bookshelf.
"Yes?", Milo mumbled, stunned by the maids beautiful appearance. She had short auburn hair that nestled neatly at her shoulders, coupled with bright red eyes that somehow lit up the entire room. Her pale skin was as pristine as it got.
"Ah sorry", Milo said, rubbing the back of his head, "I don't believe I've ever met you before".
"Oh no! My apologies", the maid dropped into a sudden bow, "My name is Ava sir!".
"Ava …", Milo mused, "That's a wonderful name, did your father give it to you".
"I have no parents sir. I was raised in a church", Ava responded, keeping her eyes firmly fixated on the floor.
Milo felt his face flush from embarrassment, "I apologize".
"No, not at all sir", Ava lifted her head and met Milo's eyes with a wide smile, "I didn't even meet them, so I don't really care".
'Ouch, what a heartless girl'.
Milo chuckled to himself watching her go back to sweeping the book spines.
"Have you seen my sisters?", Milo asked.
"The young misses? They left for the town when I arrived at the library", Ava responded, continuing with her sweeping.
"Oh … I see", Milo said leaving the room with his head hanging. It wasn't often he found himself actually needing to rely on another person, but at the current moment in time when his very mental state seemed to hang in the balance, he didn't have the luxury of being stubborn.
"Damn what the hell …", Milo stumbled forward, latching onto a nearby window ledge. He brought his hand up to his forehead, feeling a sudden bout of drowsiness overtake his mind.
Behind him, he heard footsteps rapidly approaching. He turned his head slowly, his eyes fighting to stay open, "Ava … what?", he mumbled, falling to floor in a deep sleep.
Ava stood over Milo's unconscious body, "I must admit, it's not often someone is able to resist my speech for as long as you did", she dropped to one knee, prodding at Milo's face with her finger, "Just what the hell are you?".
"Roar!", A water dragon burst to life from down the hall, slamming into Ava's side sending her hurtling back a few steps.
"The hell!", Ava snapped her head up, watching Rebecca stumble forward with her arm outstretched.
"Was hoping that would catch you off guard", Rebecca smiled at Ava, water dripping from her palms.
"It's fine, you did well", Melissa said from behind Ava, sweeping past her.
"You!?", Ava said surprised by Melissa's golden glow surrounding her, "You can use light magic!?".
"Yes", Melissa replied, placing two fingers on Milo's throat to check for a pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief and climbed back to her feet, "Now then", Melissa's mana flared, shattering all of the windows surrounding them, "What the hell were you trying to do to my little brother!?".
From the moment they had re-entered the residence, Melissa was able to tell that something was wrong by the lack of activity from the maids.
"Who are you!?", Rebecca barked from behind Melissa.
'This idiot. Is this some kind of cliché story?'.
Melissa sighed to herself watching Rebecca brush past her to get to Milo. She picked up his unconscious body and retreated a few paces.
"I'll leave her to you", Rebecca said as she tucked Milo away behind her.
"Alright then", Melissa said, turning her attention back to Ava, "Now where were …".
*Crash*
"Ack!", Melissa was flung through a nearby window, falling 10 feet onto her back. Ava jumped down after her, withdrawing two black daggers from her socks and driving them downward.
Melissa narrowly rolled out of the way, swiping at Ava's feet. Ava leapt, dodging the attempted attack and springing off her palms, she kicked downward towards Melissa's chest.
Melissa's mana flared, creating a small orb of light slightly above her core that shot through the bottom of Ava's foot. Ava spun on her back foot, leaping a few paces away. Melissa stood, slightly shaken she brushed the hair from her eyes and conjured a small dagger made of light.
'Never thought I'd have to use what father taught me'.
In an instant Melissa flashed behind Ava and swung down at her back. Again Ava pivoted, sweeping Melissa's legs from under her and driving the dagger towards Melissa's unguarded throat.
"NO!", Rebecca squealed from the floor above.
A hand gripped Ava's forearm, preventing it from following through.
"Woah there!", Marcos said, pulling Ava away and throwing her through a nearby tree.
His figured blurred as he reappeared above Ava's body and stomped down on her spine, "Who are you?".
He looked down and after receiving no response, shook his hand in front of her eyes, "Ah! She's unconscious".
He turned to Melissa and Rebecca, "Anyway, nice work ladies".
Melissa bit her bottom lip and slammed her hands into the ground in frustration. While trying to sift through all of the negative thoughts plaguing her mind, Marcos spoke again.
"Why do you look disappointed?".
"I … couldn't win", Melissa meekly answered.
"Was that your goal?", Marcos asked, towering over her hunched body.
"I just wanted to do something for him …", Melissa mumbled under her breath.
"Then you succeeded", Marcos replied, pointing towards Rebecca where Milo was slowly regaining consciousness, "When you wish to protect someone, winning doesn't matter as long as they remain safe. She may have overpowered you, but you won this fight Melissa".
Melissa stared up at him, her eyes swimming in admiration, "I …".
"Well", Marcos quickly changed the subject, "I thought you two were just some helpless girls bound to leach of my masters future success, but I guess I was wrong about that too".
Marcos wasn't one to get drawn into long, drawn out talks with anyone besides Milo. He also knew exactly what those eyes Melissa had were asking him, and he certainly didn't want to get burdened with it.
"Train me?", Melissa blurted out.
'There it is …'.
Marcos thought to himself, letting out an annoyed puff of air.
"He can't", Milo called from the window, peering down at Melissa with half opened eyes. He was using Rebecca as a crutch, with his legs still wobbling although Melissa couldn't see that.
"He needs to focus on growing his own strength currently, but he will certainly give you a few pointers", Milo said, earning an annoyed look from Marcos which quickly subsided.
"As you wish", Marcos said, dropping into a small bow before instructing Melissa to follow him.
Milo smiled watching them walk off down the path. He pushed himself away from Rebecca and tried to stand on his own, but his legs quickly buckled and he was caught by Rebecca again.
"Sorry", Milo mumbled, disgusted at himself.
"It's fine", Rebecca smiled, reaching into her back pocket she pulled out a small golden bracelet lined with jade jewels and passed it to Milo.
"Here, something from me and Melissa", she said, turning slightly red faced.
"You went into town for this?", Milo asked, slipping the bracelet on. He smiled watching it dangle around his wrists, "Thank you, both of you".
"What brought this on though?", Milo asked, still leaning on Rebecca's shoulder as they made their way down towards Ava's unconscious body.
"We can't do much to help you Milo", Rebecca responded bluntly again, "But we at least wanted to act as older sisters to you before you got too big for it".
Milo felt the same warmth he felt when he watched his family bubble inside of his chest once more, a smile crept onto his face without him realising, "Come on now, no matter how old I am you'll always be my older sisters right?".
His sudden words caught Rebecca off guard, who came to a sudden stop and stared at Milo with a surprised expression, "You … really mean that?".
Milo cocked his head to the side in confusion, "Of course, unless you plan to abandon me".
She wasn't surprised because she was shocked, she was surprised because she had always made the false assumption that Milo wouldn't actually care about them. It was a trend she had seen far too often, and one she partook in herself when she took extreme care of her appearance.
"I see", she shone a warm smile and continued to walk until they finally reached Ava's body.
"Who is she?", Milo asked, kneeling down next to her and checking for her pulse.
'I really hope Marcos didn't kill her'.
"Ava?", Renny muttered as he turned the corner.