Miles returned to Veteran Aomine Stronghold with the red orb he looted from the vampire, hidden in his armor. He had no time to check the item yet, because he was suspecting Prince Dark following him back to learn his identity.

Prince Dark could use the Dark Curtain ability to hide in the darkness. Miles had no way to find his whereabouts if Prince were to follow him. Because of this, Coin also couldn’t feel the AI wristwatch. So Miles wasn’t sure if he was being followed or not.

After he entered through the giant doors of the stronghold, he turned to look back and saw nothing but empty air behind him. He sighed with relief.

“Phew. I guess I was being paranoid.” Miles said, walking towards the building.

All strongholds were equipped with many security measures. To prevent monsters from infiltrating them, there were types of equipment to discover invisible or camouflaged enemies.

Prince Dark wouldn’t be able to enter through the door without ringing the alarms. When Miles saw there was no one behind him following, he relaxed and walked forward towards the magnificent building.

When he arrived at his room, he took off his armor and jumped on his bed. He was so tense for the whole day, and now he was in a safe place, he felt the exhaustion kicking in. He closed his eyes and fell asleep. He was extra cautious when he entered the room he rented with his original identity because he was still wearing his armor. He was going to rent another room as he alters identity, Ezio or The Marooner, but he couldn’t find time to do it.

Knock, Knock!

“Miles, are you in there?” A female voice came and woke Miles up after some time of sweet sleep. He felt that he was very energetic and he didn’t feel that tired anymore.

“Just a second, I will be there in a second.” Miles got up from bad yawning and checked the time. He slept only for 3 hours. He went to a small bathroom attached to the room and washed his face. Then, he hid the things that should be hidden just in case.

“Hello, Quinn. Do you need anything?” He opened the door and asked while blocking the way in.

“Not gonna invite me in or what?” Quinn asked with fake sadness on her face.

“The room is a mess. Rain Check? I will cook you monster meat next time.” Miles said with a smile and closed the door behind him. He couldn’t let anyone inside to protect his secrets. And who could resist his monster meat special dish offer?

“So be it. I heard you were looking for me from my assistant. Wanted to see me?” Quinn said, inviting Miles to walk with her to her office.

“Yeah. I wanted to say that I accept your offer.” Miles said following behind her. He started to like this ebony beauty because of her easy-going nature. He even thought about what it would feel like if Quinn was his sister instead of Marcela.

“I am glad to hear that. I wish you came earlier though. We fought a humanoid monster in the forest and you would be a great help.” Quinn said and shook her head.

“Humanoid monster in G-Circle? Was it loose?” Miles asked, feigning surprise.

Loose monsters were those leaving their circles. The eagle that had chased him when he left the weird cave-place, where he found the armor, was a loose monster. It entered the G-circle even though it was an Frenzy-Rank monster. Monsters rarely left their circles for reasons unknown to humans.

“Nah, it was a Grunt-Rank monster, I don’t know the details though. Anyway, let’s go and meet with the team.” Quinn took Miles to the practice area for military use only. Now that Miles was in the hunting team, even though he wasn’t part of the military, he could make use of it.

When Quinn and Miles arrived, more than 5 people were waiting in the yard. The woman in the front was observing their training.

“Lucy!” Quinn called the lady in a green military suit. She wasn’t wearing any armor because she was in the safe walls of the stronghold, and only wearing training suits of the military.

Miles couldn’t tell her rank, because she wasn’t sporting any epaulets. She had brown hair fastened at the top of her head, her green eyes reminiscent of the grassland Miles once saw. Daisies were growing everywhere as one could see. Her body was proportional like drawn by hand, but her eyes looked keen and stern. She looked beautiful and dangerous at the same time.

“LT, it is about time.” Lucy said to Quinn and looked at Miles, then ignored him. “Are you sure about the hunting team? All of these feeble cissies have no training at all. How can we move organized with these ragtag and bobtails?”

Ragtag and bobtails behind her rolled their eyes when they heard her remark and continued to practice the moves Lucy taught them earlier. They all signed the damn contract because of the salary, but they were having second thoughts thanks to the stick-in-the-butt Lucy.

“It will be fine. We will train them for a week, then they will get better as the days pass.” Quinn tried to appease Lucy, but she wasn’t listening.

“How can they be?” She wanted to speak more, but Quinn cut her off. “Look, this is Miles I mentioned earlier. He will be a great contribution to the team.”

“The Oafish? I doubt so. I told you we should recruit that metal man, he would be much better than this puny.” Lucy didn’t even look at Miles. She spoke as he was not there.

Miles wanted to answer, but Quinn held his arm and said, “Watch your mouth, Lucy! Miles is part of the team, whether you like it or not.”

“You are the boss.” Lucy ground her teeth and looked at Miles. “So you are the Oafish who used the medicine. Don’t think you are some hot shit just because you were able to use it at your age. You just suicided and survived, luckily.”

“I will try to remember that.” Miles answered. Even though he was angry at first, he figured out this woman’s character and didn’t see the point of creating a ruckus.

Lucy was a military woman and wouldn’t approve of anyone weaker than her. It was how it worked in the military. But it didn’t mean Miles would work hard to prove himself. It wasn’t Miles's character. He wasn’t going to change it because of an arrogant lady.

“Hmmph.” Lucy snorted and pointed to the five waiting for them with her head. “Join others, we will practice archery.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Miles gave a military greeting and walked to the five. He wasn’t going to act like a spoiled young master over a lady acting arrogant beyond belief. Miles grew up with one of them and was immune to their kind.