What is the most important thing in the Bright Castle? Some might say food, others shelter, some might even say company. Frankly, they're all idiots, the real commodity is soul shards. Milo had come to learn that over his stay in the Bright Castle. He and Eva shared a room, they had devoured a decent amount of soul shards, at least enough to keep them on their feet.
Milo had also come to learn that gambling was an extensive hobby of the people in the walls of the Bright Castle. In fact, it was so popular that he and Eva had gone to investigate it themselves.
Which is why...
"Bet on black!"
"No you idiot, bet on red!"
"Should we bet on a number?"
"Terrible idea, put twenty soul shards on black."
"Fine.. should've bet on red."
Milo grumbled something as he handed Aiko the twenty soul shards from his sack bag. Despite his hopes, Aiko didn't care that he was a frequent customer of her cousin's shop, so they gained no favor from her. Eva had attempted and failed at wooing her with profit as well.
Eva had one last resort up her sleeves, and that was Milo's Aspect, it may have been possible to get Milo to become a precious individual. A VIP, if done properly of course.
The thing with technology is that it didn't work within the confines of the Dream Realm, while progress was being attempted to be made, it simply just refused to budge. Milo was a solution to this problem however.
His [Machine Control] Aspect, as the name suggested allowed him to control machines. What counted as a machine vastly varied.
He had learned that things like pulleys and what some would consider primitive/medieval technology simply didn't work with his Aspect. It seemed to require some sort of power system, and digital make up.
It also needed to be within Milo's reasonable power to control. Something like the cube from Carmen had proved to be a hassle, something like the governments entire network system would probably just destroy his digital composition and thus his soul.
That was the other thing Milo had discovered, after much testing. He had once again gone into the digital composition of the cube, and purposefully injured himself. He felt the very foundations of his soul shake from that, and it took nearly an hour in Eva's hold to heal him.
In the end of it all, Milo was a valuable tool for one thing. Comfort and entertainment. Imagine how much more fun those lavish parties the Bright Castle threw occasionally with music playing or with actual lights instead of lanters and candles?
That was their last resort however… because once he started there was no going back. It would paint a target on his back. "I'm useful, you should want me." Everyone would want him for theirselves.
They're multiple ways to use this both to his advantage and disadvantage. So pulling out his cards this early wouldn't be helpful.
This was already ignoring the covetous behaviors of those around him and Eva. A powerhouse with a prosthetic? Priceless, a healer that can also do a myriad of other things? Priceless.
That was how they survived, be useful, be needed. Kindness was a virtue they could seldom afford but they did what they could. The occasional soul shard donation when some didn't feel safe staying in the outer settlements.
But often times kindness was mistaked for weakness, and Milo and Eva had exploited this thoroughly as well.
Backstabbers? Lured and shaken down? Lazy bums? They had nothing to shake down so they got off with some threatening.
What about people who attempted to steal their memories and soul shards with sheer brute force? Doesn't matter how powerful a sleeper is, they likely aren't beating a group of twenty others, right?
Well, today might be one such scenario. The other gamblers at the other side of the table seemed thoroughly pissed by black winning.
Eva smacked his shoulder roughly with a grin "Told ya, always bet on black."
Milo smirked as well "Yeah yeah I get it." Aiko handed him the bag of soul shards they had won, of course, she tried to hide as she snuck a few for herself. Milo would have to blackmail her later.
'Does everything resort to violence in this place?'
Milo suddenly felt his prosthetic pulled as someone attempted to yank the bag out of his hands. Milo raised his hand to move
Eva had moved quicker, she had taken a knife from a nearby table and stabbed it through the man's hand.
Immediately the situation escalated. Their were no words shared between the three, but clearly it would be a fight to the… death?
Milo pondered if there was really any point in going that far. Well, it was only natural actually. If the guy who had attempted to rob them tried to get away, it would show that he wouldn't fight back if he was wronged.
If Milo and Eva attempted to get away from the situation, they would be seen as much too soft, everyone wants to be injured, no one wants to be killed.
Such was the world, and so it would now come time to kill someone.
'Is this really worth it?'
Milo seperated his internal thoughts and his actions. He was already upon the man, grabbing him and allowing his prosthetic to bite into the guys skin.
It pierced through the shoulder where it gripped, than Eva had retrieved the knife she had stabbed with and stabbed him directly in his side.
The man's screams were anything but pleasant. Milo looked around, the eyes on them weren't pleasant either. There was such a thing as too far perhaps…
Milo grasped Eva's shoulder. His message passed on through touch alone
'Enough'
Eva allowed herself to calm down, not before knocking the man unconscious, and then plopping her hand onto his head.
"How long do you suppose we'll be here?" Milo asked
"An hour more than likely."
Milo nodded and looked at Aiko
He leaned forward and whispered.
"You can overlook this in favor of the soul shards, right?"
Aiko nodded, and all was well. Milo leaned on the roulette table, idly chatting about dinner with Eva.
The Bright Castle wasn't exactly filled with options, but there was enough to be somewhat satisfied with. A full belly was always a commodity.
After the man stopped bleeding and his wounds closed, the two left having gained fifty soul shards. They would split fifteen each and use the remaining twenty as tribute payment.
After eating a basic dinner, the two returned to their room.
"I'll shower first" Milo made his way to the shower, if you could even call it that. Afterwards, he sat at the small wooden desk in the room.
'This is… starting to get tedious.'
Milo had seen many injustices within the Bright Castle and in the Dark City. Whether it be murder, bullying, assault, and other unsavory things. He saw executions veiled as trials, and violence veiled as order.
Was it necessary? Maybe, after all, the Bright Lord Gunlaug's death would incite a war over the throne.
Did that mean Milo liked it one bit?
'Hell no!'
With a somewhat heavy heart, he moved towards the straw mattress, laying down on it gently.
"No practice this time?" Eva called out, hair still slightly damp from her washing.
"I suppose we should." Milo stood up, and the two got to practicing different motions of combat. Milo had begun to experiment with his prosthetic even more. The complexity of his changes, what he could do, what he could accomplish, had all improved.
Sometimes it felt unfair, have a Nightmare Creature that can protect against slashes and stabbing? His prosthetic could just turn into a warhammer and crush the damn thing.
All and all, the Bright Castle was comfortable if you were willing to throw away a bit of your morals and honor. Keep your head down to thode above you, and look down at those below you.
'Stale, I feel so stale.'
***
Luckily, Milo had his prayers answered, as Changing Star had challenged and killed Andel. Milo and Eva could finally get on the move.
After the spectacle was over, Milo looked over at Eva.
"Let's do this."
"Yep, let's."
They had to get powerful if they wanted to keep up after all. They're plenty of ways to do it, but an expedition would be perfect,
An expedition to gather the materials for perhaps the most important item of Milo and Eva's safety.
That being the cube that Milo had stolen from Carmen, and how it could be used to gan access to Carmen's Database.
If this failed, then as Eva had so elegantly put it
"We'll stay the hell out the way"