“Luicelia?”
“Yeah?”
“Why did you do that?” The man who’d found himself splashed with blood wore a wry smile on his face, like he wasn’t too pleased with the woman’s actions.
Of course he wasn’t! What was the point in splashing your own ally with blood after the enemy was defeated?
“Sorry…but Arus said it was important to look cool after you finish a job,” Luicelia said with a frown.
“Looking cool only matters if there’s someone to look cool in front of.”
“You’re here,” she pointed out.
“Then don’t splash blood on the person you’re trying to impress,” the man said. He pulled a handkerchief from the breast of his clothes and wiped his face off. “Anyway. I thought he was going to try and spring a surprise attack on us, but instead, he was just frozen in place. Talk about a letdown.”
“Yeah, true.”
“Hmm. Didn’t expect to run into one of Rudeus Greyrat’s secret labs in a place like this.”
“I guess my uncle really liked making secret bases. I always find them when I’m on missions with you, Henry.”
“Probably because we always end up deep in forests.”
The man whom Luicelia had called “Henry” was Henry Macedonias. He was her partner, and a man cursed to be “difficult to recognize” by others.
Henry used his curse to specialize in intel gathering. The curse was a powerful one, so much so that almost nobody could remember him. That meant anyone who could potentially be his enemy also forgot about him right after they saw him. He was the perfect intelligence operative; people even forgot they had just spoken to him.
That said, his curse was a double-edged sword. He lightened the effects of the curse by regularly wearing a mask, but if he took it off, most people couldn’t remember his name or face. It was quite unfortunate. Even among his actual family, only his mother could recognize him. His father struggled to.
As for why the Ogre God Empire had taken in such a suspicious character, it was because his grandmother had connections to the Greyrat family. Sadly, even she didn’t remember Henry was her grandson. There were few within the Ogre God Empire capable of knowing the human called Henry.
However, the Superd perceived people differently than others with their third eye, so Luicelia was one of the few people who could remember Henry’s face. While she possessed the powerful combat and detection abilities of the Superd, she was also as stubborn as her father and as scatterbrained as her mother. There were few who could provide her with proper support in the field. In that sense, their pairing seemed destined to be. As they say, every Jack has his Jill. Henry and Luicelia were deeply compatible.
Henry would infiltrate deep within the enemy, collect intel, and figure out where a target was located, and Luicelia would hunt them down. This was how the pair overcame all manner of trials and defeated their enemies.
“Ah, look.” It was Henry who picked up the book that their target had been holding. The volume number was written in Silent Code. “Isn’t this volume 29 of The Book of Rudeus?”
“Is that a big deal?”
“It’s a thing of legends. It’s the only volume that hasn’t been located and reproduced. The Asura Kingdom’s been searching for it high and low. Plus, the president’s been collecting them, so we might get a nice bonus if we bring it back with us.”
“Oh, that’s good. So, what’s it say? Read it.”
“Fine. Lemme see…”
Luicelia pushed Henry to open the book, and he did as he was told. As an intelligence operative, Henry handled all kinds of intel and was fluent in many languages. Obviously, he could read and write Silent Code, also known as Japanese.
“Um… ‘Things have finally calmed down, so I think I’m ready to talk about the reckless behavior of both my son, Arus Greyrat, and my little sister, Aisha Greyrat, as well as the biggest mistake of my life.’”
After reading the text aloud, Henry exchanged looks with Luicelia. Arus and Aisha. Two names that both of them were extremely familiar with.