Looking outside of the cab, Victor thought back on his hectic morning.

Somehow he ended up with getting a puppy, paid for its treatment and got back to open his shop in time.

Life is sometimes unpredictable… I prob can feed her something out of the fridge and on my lunch break go to buy some supplies.

Softly caressing the puppy on his lap, he saw familiar scenery opening from the window view.

Arriving at his little shop, Victor paid the taxi driver and flipped the closed sign into ‘open’.

‘’Welcome to your new home. I should probably think of a proper name for you when you have woken up.’’

Placing the puppy on the couch gently, Victor went on to brew himself a cup of coffee.

While Victor was mixing himself his daily dose of his gogo juice, a certain puppy laying on the couch opened her eyes.

Confusion filler her murky eyes and she turned her head warily to observe the surroundings.

Seeing an unknown man fixing himself a drink, the thought that this man had rescued her from the streets popped into her mind.

Celebrating her freedom while pretending to still be asleep, the puppy considered her own condition and eventually just decided to go with the flow.

Why should she not take advantage of the clueless shopkeeper and take refuge while waiting for the wounds to heal properly?

The man came back from the somewhat shabby kitchen that only had some basic appliances like: Fridge, coffeemaker, freezer and so on.

With leisurely steps, the man strolled towards her resting place.

With a strange coffee cup in his hand that was covered in strange symbols, the puppy tried to keep her eyes shut while sneakily taking a peek every once in a while.

Hearing the steps closing in, her heartbeat started to rise for an unknown reason and she desperately tried to control small shivers from occurring.

Goosebumps? My instincts are screaming danger if I even imagine to establish even slight dominance.

Feeling the tension, the rescued puppy resigned herself to fate.

Briefly imagining various scenarios, her thought was cut short by tender patting by the unknown man.

‘’There there… You will be just fine… I just thought up your name. How does Pepi sound?’’

Realizing that there would not be an immediate danger to herself, the uncontrollable shivering stopped abruptly and the puppy let go of her tension.

Opening her eyes towards the unknown man, she could feel the goodwill he was radiating from his gentle smile.

I see… He felt pity towards me.

With great effort Pepi decided to show her gratitude by shakily getting up and licked the man’s hand. She saw the man’s complexion getting brighter by the second and was scooped into his embrace.

‘’I knew you would like your new name! Pepi the Pomeranian! My name is Victor, welcome to the family.’’

----------------------------------------

Isaac stood in a window across the street from a burning wreckage of his former production site.

Dressed in a neat suit, he was puffing a quality cigar while mumbling curses in between of the puffs.

‘’Fucking wankers… Can’t even cover up your tracks properly. ROBERT GET YOUR ASS HERE!’’

The associate manager that Isaac came to visit came running with sweat rolling down from his bald head.

Standing subserviently in front of Isaac, he wiped his head on the sleeve.

‘’Pathetic. Clean yourself up.’’

Isaac took a handkerchief out from his inner pocket and threw it at Robert’s feet.

‘’Yes sir! I am sorry sir! Then please excuse me.’’

Isaac’s eyes turned colder by the second as the manager groveled on the ground like a maggot, wiping his head with the now soaked handkerchief.

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‘’Why don’t you stand up and act like a man? Is it because you know you fucked this up or are you intending to give me service despite knowing that I have a wife?’’ Isaac spat out with disgust and caressed a luxurious ring on his left ring finger.

Startled, Robert shot up to his feet faster than he had ever moved before. The previously shiny and cleaned forehead started to form sweat droplets with a speed visible to the naked eye.

‘’I am sorry sir. I did not intend to insult you.’’ Robert panicked and quickly lowered his gaze.

‘’Do you not know any other words but sir and sorry? We have clear protocols for everything. THEN. WHY. CAN’T. YOUR. ACTIONS. FOLLOW. THEM?’’

After the furious shout, silence reigned throughout the building. Despite the sound isolation, the whole building echoed the rage of the grandmaster class fighter. The busy atmosphere that Isaac had seen when entering was now deathly silent and still.

Isaac turned his back on Robert and looked out from the window at the burnt site. Reaching for a new cigar, he placed it on his lips and brought his fingers at the tip.

A loud echo of fingers snapping resounded the office and Robert fearfully observed how the guildmaster lit a cigar with mere friction heat coming from snapping his fingers.

‘’Robert… I am willing to give you one more chance.’’ Isaac muttered while puffing his freshly lit cigar.

Hearing Isaac speak, Robert almost got on his knees again but recalled Isaac’s disgust of it and simply gave a 90 degree bow while swearing that he will do anything.

‘’I will not fail master! Even if it takes my life!’’

Finally Isaac turned to Robert from facing the window, he walked in front of him and straightened Robert’s jacket.

‘’It is a very simple task. Do you see that box on the corner?’’

Isaac pointed at the corner of the room where an unsuspecting cooling box was peacefully lying on the couch. Robert’s gaze followed Isaac’s finger and saw it while still bowing.

‘’You will deliver that giftbox to the Spider, and the organization behind him. After the delivery, it is your job to find their main base of operation. Simple enough?’’

Hearing this, Robert shed tears of gratitude for his guildmasters mercy.

Watching the overly large frame of Robert still bowing like a slave, Isaac concluded the matter like that and stumped the cigar on Robert’s neck.

‘’I expect good news within two days, Robert. This is your last chance for redemption.’’

Robert maintained the deep bow even after hearing the door slam shut and experiencing the uncomfortable feeling of still burning cigar sticking in his neck.

Waiting for a few minutes, Robert was sure that the boss was not coming back anymore and straightened his large frame upright.

That was a close one… The boss has sent people to sleep with the fishes from less. What’s in the box though?

Suppressing his curiosity, Robert took the sealed box and left for his home to change the clothes and take a shower.

Nobody can blame me for a spoonful in my pants, right? The boss is fucking scary when hes angry…

While driving an inconspicuous black car, Robert made a few calls to his loyal subordinates.

Gathering information from a few men that were not present during the annihilation of his production site, he had a clearer picture of what went wrong.

It would seem that this problem is not as easily solved as I thought. FUCK!

Arriving at his home, he took a long shower while constructing a sure fire plan to deal with the Spider and put a fresh combat suit on.

Putting on finishing touches on his battle gear, he admired his large frame in the mirror.

These babies are so hard to find the right size.

Jared has become such an asshole thinking that he’s the only good manufacturer inside the guild that he intentionally makes the shoulderguards narrower for me.

After redeeming myself I have to whoop some sense in his skull.

While Robert was flexing his overgrown biceps in front of the mirror, an unknown shadow was watching his figure from the darkness.

Yes, Isaac had no confidence in Robert's ability and had the external help from Maximus follow his footsteps.

Two, the shadow that keenly observed Robert was trying to restrain the bloodlust that was rampaging inside it.

Without the explicit instruction to not touch Robert before he completes delivering the box, Two would not have been too interested in keeping this failure alive.

Recalling the mission that it got from Isaac and how to solve the problem Maximus was so keen to suppress, Two tried to patiently lurk until the main course was served.

It left an unnoticeable mark on Robert, and disappeared from the vicinity for appetizers.

Robert heard a cold growl from the far distance, and instinctively knew that whatever was making the sound, was strong.

I have to complete this mission perfectly. Runa City is becoming pretty fucking dangerous these days. Wait for me brother, I’ll surely see you fixed up soon enough and then we can just disappear from Duma’s influence. Yep, the world is a big place. There is bound to be a place where we can start fresh.