Since a long time ago, wolves have been a symbol of strength and luck in Italy. In Rome, people have seen them as the sacred animal that will bring good news if you encounter a wolf before attending a battle.

To Pavia, his wolves were even greater than that.

When he was still a small and skinny child, they were the guardians that appeared inside the darkness. Through his shadow, the wolves followed everywhere he went, looked after and protected him till the day he was fully grown up.

Thanks to them, he had survived from starvation, the freezing cold, dangerous chases and several deadly fights.

They had watched over him in that dark and damp basement and will continue to do the same every single day afterwards.

"My Andrea is very sensitive to arcanum."

The man caressed the energetic wolf from its neck straight to its back.

"Meat with a high amount of arcanum is his favorite. It doesn't matter if it's from a monster or an arcanist."

His voice sounded the same as the one who was boasting about their family's member.

"Can I touch it?"

Balloon Party came across them and curiously watched the black wolf.

"If you think your arm is a burden on your shoulder, then do it."

The man smiled with his usual threatening eyes.

"Geez. You're so selfish."

Despite saying so, the girl didn't get any closer to the wolf. She also gave up the intention to decorate it with the themed-ribbons for her next party.

"5 minutes left. We should hurry up."

Vertin closed her pocket watch and announced her companions.

Receiving the signal from Pavia, the wolf raised its neck, moved its ears and nose slightly before running to a certain direction. Right after it was Pavia, who didn't need to pay much effort to keep up with its speed.

"I and Miss Necrologist here will catch up with you later."

Not everyone in this team had terrific physical strength and endurance like Pavia, Sonetto and Vertin. Tennant may be able to run along with them, but please, she didn't want to be soaked in sweat again if it weren't for an emergency situation like yesterday.

As the blond-haired fraudster saw the two girls nod and leave this area, she turned her head back and met with the yellow eye that seemed to be lost in thoughts again.

"Want to share with me what has bothered you lately?"

Tennant had noticed something strange from the girl in black. Although most of the time the latter was quietly listening to others' conversation, her beautiful yellow eyes would react differently based on their contents.

Like when they talked about the preparations for the journey, they widened a little and were full of expectations inside. Or when the nurse from the Marino clan told her something while they were treating the patients, those eyes lowered and were filled with sadness.

And now, Tennant could easily spot the confusion as well as the familiar sadness in them.

"I don't know if Federico De Luca was actually a good or terrible person. Still, I want to hear his wishes."

The way Necrologist looked at Tennant was as if she was facing her image that was reflected in Tennant's eyes.

"And then, as a necrologist, I will try to fulfill them to the best of my ability."

With the unwavering determination in her eyes, she finally decided what she would do next.

"I'm no one to judge your decision or to ask why you wish to do it."

The charming woman took out her hat and put it on her chest.

"But one thing for sure,..."

She approached Necrologist, lowered her body and let those crimson eyes of her attend to the other's mind.

"I'm always at your service, my lady."

..........

Following the wolf's lead, they returned to an area that they had already searched before.

Except for one place.

"The glass house!"

Sonetto exclaimed in surprise.

"We didn't enter it because of the lock outside."

Unlike the rusted fences of the cemetery, the lock of the glass house was new and retained its shiny appearance when there was light shining on it.

"Moreover, there was no trace of a tombstone or a person could be seen inside."

The glass house was about 16 m2, an average size that people with normal eyesight wouldn't ignore such a figure of a grown-up.

"Move aside, secretary."

Leaving his reminder, Pavia took out his gun and aimed at the lock.

BANG!

As they thought there would be a deafening noise coming from the collision between the bullet and the iron lock, the bullet just went through the latter and met with the sturdy ground.

"Tsk...Another cheap trick."

The man was unhappy since it had cost him a precious bullet. He had hoped for something more difficult than this.

Vertin pushed the glass door and came inside.

Welcoming her was the one that they had been seeking nonstop for at least one hour straight.

Francesca Mozzoni or the name they usually called her, Mrs. Mozzoni.

Flowers in yellow and white surrounded the old lady as well as the tombstone behind her. There were drooping sunflowers at the left and small white and yellow daisies at the right.

The two kinds of flowers were grown separately from each other, but intersecting around the single tombstone.

"You've made it, Timekeeper."

Red light emitted from Mozzoni's thin body, then gathering at her injured arm. After a while, it quickly faded and completely disappeared.

Mozzoni stretched that arm freely, as if it was never severely wounded by a lupara.

"Having a hurt arm around before a war wasn't a wise choice."

The old lady looked at the gray-haired girl and her teammates. When she spotted Pavia's wolf which was about to return to his shadow, she chuckled.

"It seems the lucky goddess will be on our side tomorrow."

"It depends on the secrets that you haven't told us."

Vertin didn't want to give the old lady any chance to change the subject.

"You saw my severe arm was cured in no time, right? It was my Arcane Skill."

Mozzoni slowly explained the mechanism of her Arcane Skill.

"A part of my body will return to ít previous state at 8 a.m today, if any member of your team meets me before the time passes 8 p.m today."

"Or else, I will lose control of a part of my body for 12 hours."

"Those were the betting money and conditions of my bet - my Arcane Skill."

Next, Mozzoni used her wrinkled fingers poked into her right eye and tapped it lightly.

"An eye and one third of my lifespan were the deposit for my bet from 1945 till now."

"You meant...!"

A clear answer popped out at the same time in Sonetto and Vertin's head.

"Yes, the main cause of this incident is me."

She frankly admitted, as she knew in this situation, hiding her biggest secret wasn't necessary anymore.

"I have made a bet to bring my Federico back, but everything has been out of my control."

"How can we stop it?"

Again, the gray-haired girl just got straight to the solution of this incident. Stories should be put aside before they could successfully close the case.

"I thought you may be patient to hear this old lady's story first."

"There's not much time left."

Vertin couldn't say that she wasn't mad when realizing that the person standing in front of her was also the one who caused all this mess and indirectly led her teammates into danger from time to time.

Yet that person, Francesca Mozzoni, now acted like all the losses her Arcane Skill had made weren't anything important compared to her dead son?

"Goddammit."

"Um...Timekeeper?"

Hearing the hesitant call from her chief assistant, Vertin knew that she had let that swearing out of her mouth.

"Nice howl."

Pavia gave her his praise.

The remaining members also came here with the help of Click and Balloon Party.

"Do you mind if I check his tombstone?"

"Sure, go ahead."

Mozzoni stood aside, revealing the tombstone she had covered behind her back.

It was just a regular tombstone like others in the cemetery, except for its name and date of birth and death. There was no trace of moss at its surface, so was weed.

When the tombstone was about one step from her, Necrologist's hands left the small glass cage she had been carrying all these times. Instead of falling down, the glass cage floated in the air.

Next, she crossed her fingers together, put them before her chest and lowered her head, as if praying to God.

"Your name was Federico De Luca. Born in 1920s and died on April 18th, 1945."

"You were the only son of Francesca Mozzoni."

"......"

As she expected, the tombstone remained silent.

Necrologist touched its smooth surface, feeling the connection between the deceased and his tombstone.

Then, she turned back and faced the expectant gaze from the deceased's mother, shyly asking a question that she thought was inappropriate and insolent.

"Can I... bring it along until we can meet him?"

This time, the old lady couldn't give her a quick reply like before.

"...I will help."

Mozzoni let out a sigh and agreed to dig out her son's tombstone.

"Actually, your permission has already helped me."

Necrologist preached something mysteriously and before the curious eyes of others, the tombstone that had "Federico De Luca" name was pulled out of the solid ground.

"I will give him back to this place when we can handle the situation."

While she nodded, the half-body sized tombstone disappeared into thin air.

"Is this... counted as a kind of being taken hostage?"

Everyone all turned their sight to the orange-haired chief assistant.

"I mean, Necrologist's action made me think of a case from an old newspaper."

Sonetto seriously tried to recall the title of that strange news.

"It was called 'An angry Florida man took an urn of his neighbor's grandmother and threatened to throw the ashes in the river if his neighbor continued to let their dog bark at his cat.'"

"The title was too long, but it definitely caught people's attention."

Click commented.

"Right?! My curiosity was totally piqued when seeing the caption."

Sonetto happily shared her experience with the ghost reporter.

"Your companions are really unique."

Mozzoni got closer to Vertin.

"Thank you for your compliment."

"Now can you give me the answer?"

She didn't forget her intention when she got here.

"The bet has already reached its final stage. Even if I die, it may still continue."

"According to the previous bets I have made, or I succeed in bringing Federico back to life, or the ritual must fail to end this bet."

"More importantly, the result must occur at the ending moment."

"Ending moment?"

"Yes, the exact date and time when Federico vanished."

"So, we just need to ruin his preparations, right?"

Balloon Party rubbed her chin.

"It's not that easy."

Mozzoni frowned, yet the challenging fire in her eyes showed that she was somehow excited.

"Zanelli is my best student and successor. He's the type of person that will be overcautious when his achievement is near."

In spite of the fact that she was almost killed by him, the way she told about him was still full of pride.

"All routes to Messina may have already been blocked when we are discussing the solutions."

"Nah, you're spitting so much nonsense, la vecchia."

Pavia smirked.

"Tutte le strade portano a Roma."

(All roads lead to Rome.)

The old lady's expression looked dumbfounded for a moment, before the powerful laughter came out.

"Nice speech, ragazzo."

It was 9:05 p.m. More than 12 hours left when the ritual was performed.

—--------

Tick... tock... tick... tock

Sound of several wind-up clocks had played an important role in helping the man continue to stay awake for a whole week.

Tomorrow would be his most important day, so he didn't want to let any mistake have a chance to take place.

Lack of sleep could be replenished with some health potions, but if he fell asleep for a single second, all of his preparations would totally fail.

"I will never ever lose to anything... again."

His voice had changed a lot today, to a higher tone he really really hated.

As he wrote down the final word in the leather notebook, an unexpected pain quickly spread through his body.

"Urghhh!"

The color of his right eye turned to emerald green, while red strokes gradually disappeared.

"Get out, get out!"

The memories that didn't belong to him once again tried to dominate his head and replace his own moments.

You're Federico.

"I... I'm... Fe-"

You're Federico.

"Urghhhh!"

Your pains were unknown to anyone, uncared for by anyone.

"I don't need... to be pitied by you..."

Accept me.

"Shut up..."

That ritual will not work. They will never accept you again.

"Don't impose... your self-righteous thoughts on me!"

Who was he talking to?

Was it "that disgusting person" or himself?

...It doesn't matter anymore.