Garbage. That was all that could be seen as far as the eye could see. The sounds of vultures and other scavengers could be heard clearly, along with the sound of compressors and other machinery used to recycle and burn the garbage laying around.

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 under a pile of garbage bags in a sluggish manner. This person with a sleepy look on their face was none other than Miko.

“Yaahh~!”

He released a big yawn, while stretching his arms and upper body.

“……..”

He looked around while smacking his lips together. His eyes were partially closed as it seemed like he had just woken up. After looking around in silence for a while, he spoke.

“Where the hell am I?”

He asked. He looked around some more and then-

“Whatever. Sleep.”

He fell back into the garbage and started to sleep.

*Rustle!*

He, however, was awoken by some rustling beside him. He sat up again and looked beside him.

“Yahh~!”

There he saw someone else rise out of the garbage and sat up. Just like Miko did, they smacked their lips with half closed eyes. He looked around a bit before turning to Miko.

“……….”

“………”

The two looked at each other in silence before saying-

“Yo.”

“Yo.”

That was all they said before yawning in unison.

“This is a surprise. It’s the first I’ve seen you here. You new?”

Asked the person.

“I guess I am.”

Miko responded.

“I see. Well, welcome to the club.”

“Thanks, but where am I?”

Miko asked.

“The Empire’s garbage dump. You don’t remember how you got here?”

The person asked.

“Now that you mention it…..”

A few hours ago, Miko was being dragged through magic training by Momo was feeling very tired. Magic training was Miko’s least favorite, because he wasn’t that great at it compared to his other skills.

To make up for that, Miko had put in an immense amount of effort and was slowly seeing results. The problem was that 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 years was one of slacking off and laziness. So it wasn’t that 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.

“Well, at least I got to sleep in the middle of the day again. It’s been awhile since I’ve done that.”

Miko said, sounding 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 names Darry by the way.”

The man, Darry stretched out his hand towards Miko.

“You’re Miko right?”

Darry asked.

“Yeah. I’m surprised. You don’t seem afraid of me.”

Miko said.

“Why would I be? Just because everyone else is?”

Darry asked.

“I believe in freedom. That involves freethinking as well. 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?’

Miko asked himself.

“Darry, do you live here? You said you never saw me here before after all.”

“Ah, no. I just got drunk and past out in dumpsters often. I come here at least once a week.”

Darry replied.

“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.”

Miko replied.

“I see. Then I guess this is it.”

He then started to walk away.

“If we meet again, let’s have a drink together.”

After saying that he quickly left. 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 running for his life while carrying a giant boulder.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

He screamed while explosions occurred behind him. He was actually running in a mine field, 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 said while 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 that he wasn’t actually touching it. The boulder was floating a few inches off his fingertips.

This was done by him using magic to make it levitate. Momo was making him do this to improve his mana control. Miko’s weak point was magic, for him to improve that he need to learn better 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. It was really hard for him to do three complicated movements using magic at once.

It was three because he needed to keep himself and the boulder afloat, which was two separate applications of levitation. He needed to keep himself moving forward which was propulsion. Finally, he had to create a downward force below his feet to trigger the mines underneath him. All of these were complicated on their own, much less when you have to do them together.

“Quit complaining. Using three different application of magic at once is perfect for training. If you continue to do this, you’ll be able to learn more advance applications and you won’t be stuck at beginner’s level.”

Momo said.

“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 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.”

Momo replied.

“Now increase the pace! We have another 20 laps to complete!”

“Damn you, woman!”

Miko shouted as he continued to do Momo’s strict training.

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 hand game console, Hina was reading a comic, while 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.”

Said Hina.

“Friends? That’s strange. You two aren’t the sociable type.”

Sora said.

“How rude. We’re plenty sociable.”

Hina replied.

“That’s right. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have gotten so familiar with so many women.”

Ace said.

“Yeah, but that’s mostly through the Internet. You barely meet them and end up getting dumped because of your job as a pro gamer.”

Sora replied.

“Geh.”

Ace couldn’t refute what he said.

“Come to think of it….”

Sora suddenly looked like he remembered something.

“Wasn’t Miko said to be more beautiful than most women, just like Nero and Nova?”

He asked.

“Yup. It’s true. But it couldn’t be helped because they got their looks from Tia.”

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.”

Hina said.

“Tiamat, my lord and savior!”

Ace suddenly shouted in reverence.

“Since when have you gotten so religious?”

Hina asked.

“After I met god.”

Ace answered with a serious face.

“Met? You guys met Tiamat? How?”

Sora asked.

“Sora, could it be that 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 see. So what kind of person is he for you two to be interested in him.”

After that, Hina and Ace started to recall 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 out touring.”

He said.

“So the reason you mention him?”

“We wanted you to meet him.”

Said Hina.

“I’m sure that you two would get along.”

“Hmm, I see.”

“You don’t seem interested.”

Hina said with a pout.

“No, I am. In fact I was always a bit curious about him after hearing the rumors about him.”

Sora answered.

“It’s just that I have other stuff on my mind.”

He said.

“While I was on tour I generated a lot of money for the company, yet they selfishly demanded that I make more music and sell more records. This is something that I’m very displeased with. But at same time, I know that they’re only acting like this because they’re being pressured.”

He stopped cleaning his instruments.

“I’m starting to get fed up of having a slave master over me with a whip, forcing me to work, killing my creativity.”

“That’s why you suggested that we take down Nebulous?”

Hina asked. Sora nodded.

“That’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 that he could break away from the empire and form his own country if he wanted to.”

Said Ace.

“Taking down someone like that with the three of us is impossible.”

“I agree with what you said. Nebulous is indeed powerful, and what makes it worst is the fact that he has a backer in the Dragna Clan. It’s also someone with enough power to allow him to run free.”

Said Sora.

“Then…”

“But, he’s mortal. They might call him a god, but even gods can be killed.”

Sora said with a sharp gaze.

“However, I won’t say we should recklessly attack him and get ourselves killed. I’m just saying that we should just look for an opportunity to strike, instead of keeping our heads down whenever his name is brought up.”

“Well, if it’s that, then I have no problem.”

Said Ace.

“Hey.”

That’s when Hina looked like she had an idea.

“How about we try to get Miko’s help to take him down?”

“Is he the type to help others out?”

Sora asked.

“Nope. He’s the type to step over a dying person just to get one place closer to the front of the line.”

Hina said.

“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 that if we make him acknowledge us as his friends, he’ll help us out without us needing to ask.”

She said.

“You mean manipulating him into help us?”

She shook her head.

“I really like Miko, so I would never try to manipulate him.”

“I see. You just want a justification for befriending him. You don’t really care if he help us or not, you just want to get closer to him.”

Sora said.

“Are you sure you don’t have the hots for him?”

“No way. I just like surrounding myself with interesting people.”

Hina denied immediately.

‘Sounds like an excuse to me.’

Sora thought to himself.

‘It looks like she still have a hard time getting close to people, that’s why she’s looking for an excuse to get closer to Miko.’

He started to analyze Hina’s behavior.

‘I wonder if that’s the same for Ace?’

He turned to Ace and spoke.

“What do you think?”

“Well, Miko is pretty skilled. He drew with me after all. Either way, as long as I meet my messiah Tiamat, I’m fine.”

Ace answered.

‘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 others and need excuses to do so. Is this the result of losing too much?’

He sighed.

‘It’s really hard being the big brother.’

He thought.

“How strong is Miko?”

“Don’t know, but he shouldn’t be weaker than us.”

Hina responded.

“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.”

Sora said.

“I’m fine with that.”

Said Hina. Sora looked at her in silence while she smiled.

‘Before taking on Nebulous, Hina needs to get over her trauma. If she don’t she’ll still be trapped even if Nebulous is taken down.”

He thought.

“Maybe I could use Miko to solve this?”