Every member who first entered Vertin's suitcase was all surprised by the vast space inside it. 

The first part of that space was a building that could expand and add more than 50 rooms for the increasing number of arcanists joining the Timekeeper's unit from time to time.

The other part was called the wilderness, which consisted of land, a magical lake, a few old structures and was surrounded by the water. 

With Vertin's permission, everybody was free to build, grow and decorate whatever they liked in the wilderness, as long as they didn't cause any danger to others.

That's why the current wilderness was a diverse combination of a ripe crop, blue flowerbeds, gloomy woods, stones, tents, a helicopter covered with moss, a working traffic light and so on. Even Baby Blue once compared its diversity with the Wonderland.

Right now, Pavia was enjoying his afternoon in the gazebo which was built by Druvis III and decorated with the help of Sotheby. This place was fully furnished with wood chairs, a round wood table at the center and some pillows. There was also a fine tea cup set, but they were now in the cupboard in the kitchen and only brought out when the girls held their tea parties.

Unlike some members who were shy or found it awkward to come in, he himself didn't mind using this spot for entertainment because there was no one claiming to be the owner of it after all.

Moreover, the gazebo was located inside the small wood created by Druvis III's arcane skill, so the shades and the quiet atmosphere here made it perfect for the man to do his things without being bothered by the noises outside.

...Although that advantage wasn't applied for today.

BANG

A silver bullet grazed Pavia's cheek as soon as he instinctively leaned his body to the left. Immediately, the man set down and flipped the round table to make a temporary shield covering his body.

Behind the table, his ears caught some quick footsteps that were getting closer to his hiding spot. They were quite light, which meant the attacker wasn't a grown-up man or woman and seemed to be more like a child to him.

After estimating the distance between them, he quickly left the table to avoid the next attack.

THWACK!

A sharp blade cut through the wood table, right at his previous hiding spot. It was long and curved, similar to the blade of an axe.

From his new position, Pavia could finally see the appearance of the culprit. It was a short black-haired little girl wearing a cloak that was as red as her crimson eyes.

A new face, but he remembered a few things that Vertin had mentioned about her.

'Extremely hate wolves and will kill them on sight, huh...'

Actually, Vertin had said the full phrase "big bad wolves", however, Pavia assumed it and "wolves" as one since he didn't see any difference between them.

While the girl in the red cloak was using her leg as a fulcrum to pull out the axe blade, the man smiled, revealing his white fang.

In the next second, his knife clashed with her axe.

CLANG

"Good reflexes, brat."

Pavia stared at her, his irises behind the lens shrinked.

"You have learnt to wear human's skin." 

As she spoke, the young huntress furrowed her eyebrows. The killing intent in her crimson eyes became more and more dense.

"You must die here, monster."

Their weapons separated and instantly collided with each other again. Despite her small body, the little girl could compete with Pavia in the aspect of strength with no sweat. 

Also, she knew how to control her breathing as well as took advantage of the terrain of the woods to conceal her presence from someone who was lowering his guard a little like him.

From these points, Pavia guessed she had been trained to hunt down enemies that were about 2 - 3 times bigger than her. Based on her movements, she may have joined some real battles and gained her own experiences.

'At a young age like this...'

The outlaw mercenary was too familiar with this case.

Children in the slums all learnt how to survive, so they all knew how to hold a knife as soon as they gained consciousness of their surroundings. From young to old, from men to women, everyone could put them in dangerous situations in no time.

Why he knew those things was because he used to be one of them too.

The man didn't care if his enemy was a child, a teenager, a middle-age or a dying old man.

Dare to see him as a prey, then they should have prepared their fate as his prey already.

During their violent encounters, Pavia didn't go all out. He held back a little, enough to watch his prey at the closest distance and not to endanger his life. 

Whenever he spotted any sign of weakness from her, he would finish off her life with a fatal blow.

Nevertheless, the little girl was tougher than he thought. Her attacks became more ruthless and stronger as time flew. As if all of her vengeance had turned into an endless source of energy for the fighting machine, her.

Gradually, his survival instinct was stimulated by the pure joy of fighting and until he realized something else, he had not been restraining himself anymore.

That was when Vertin and her friend came and stopped them.

Both Pavia and the little girl, whom they called Mondlicht, had several cuts bleeding on their bodies. None of those were severe wounds thanks to the timely intervention of the two girls.

He didn't know what Vertin talked to that brat with the red cloak afterwards, but she had been on his tail since then.

At first, it was a bit annoying because of her obvious watching eyes, which she believed she had hidden very well. 

'Still just a kid.'

The man nonchalantly thought as he found her sight temporarily changed to the chocolate-flavored gelato box on his hands.

The other day, he was taking a walk outside the suitcase, when he saw her image reflected in the glass of the children's clothing store. 

The little girl was helping an old lady to cross the street. Sometimes, she raised her head to check if he was still standing on the previous spot. 

Pavia thought these days he must be bored to the point that he even spent some minutes watching that brat finish her job and see the old lady gave her some candies as a treat.

'Time to get some missions.'

He stretched his shoulders and went to find Vertin.

........

The escort mission on Friday didn't go as planned. 

That f*cking sucker that they needed to escort turned out to be an accomplice of child trafficking.

"I will give you double, no, ten times the money if you protect me till the end!"

Hearing his urgent request, the outlaw mercenary wondered if his occupation as a mercenary was that obvious.

"You know..." He replied with a smile, "...a mercenary like me still has my own professional ethics."

He took out his knife and slowly approached his former escort target.

As if being threatened by his movements, that f*cking stupid trash pulled out a pistol and aimed right at his body.

"Stop! Or I will....sh- shoot you!"

"Better aim at my forehead or my heart."

His irises shrinked, his fangs revealed.

BANG

The bullet left the barrel and was easily avoided.

"From now on, my attacks will be legitimate defense."

His announcement was heard by all people on the scene, including Vertin. Before everyone could react, the blade of his knife had already slid a beautiful cut on that trash's throat.

"It was lucky that Mondlicht didn't come with us today."

When they returned, Pavia heard Vertin say those words. He didn't care much as always, but somehow the word "lucky" kept repeating in his mind for a while.

'Yes, it was lucky that the brat didn't follow me as usual.'

He looked at the crescent moon above. His pals were surrounding him, some rubbed their heads on his hands.

Another long night had passed.

The man returned to his usual routines, eating sweets, checking his wolves, taking a walk, and enjoying a large scale meal.

He also found a new entertainment - teasing the little girl.

When walking, he would suddenly stop and look behind. The young huntress would be startled by his actions and jumped to a place to hide. Sometimes he found her red cloak floating on the branch, sometimes he saw a part of her axe blade peeking out of the rock.

Of course, he definitely was bored to hell these days.

The only thing that he didn't expect was that the brat finally came to talk with him face-to-face.