A few days later, in a room at the Ogre God Empire’s base located in the Red Wyrm’s Jaw, an elderly man was writing. His eyes were vacant, his mouth was half-open, and he was barely gripping the pen in his hand. Even though he barely possessed the strength to continue, he didn’t stop. He wrote his name down on one piece of paper, then the next, and was about to do the same on the third page before he whispered an “ah,” then wrote Rejected instead.
The elderly man let out a big sigh and looked at the stack of papers he had yet to write his name on. He groaned regretfully.
He wasn’t on the verge of death—he just hated paperwork.
It was then that a young man and woman entered the room.
“Master, we’ve returned.”
“Ooh, welcome back.” The older man stopped writing and stood up with a smile on his face.
“We finished off all four people.”
“I see, I see. Well done.”
“What’s our next mission?”
“I’ll be putting you both to work when it comes to the Asura Kingdom invasion, but we’ve still got some time until then. Rest up for now.”
“Understood.” Henry saluted the man, while Luicelia nodded with a glum expression on her face. Henry continued, “By the way, after we took out the last target, we found something really interesting.”
“Go on?”
“Here.”
The old man raised an eyebrow after studying the object Henry presented him with. “Ooh, The Book of Rudeus, huh? And the missing volume, no less. The president’s going to be thrilled.”
“Indeed. But, um, about what’s inside…”
“Hrm?” The older man took the book and opened it up to the first page. After reading what was written, he froze in place. A few moments later, he released a long sigh. “So…this is about back then.”
“I figured we probably shouldn’t read this, so I didn’t get very far in. Going by the opening passage, it didn’t seem like a particularly happy tale.”
“Hrm? No, well… I suppose it is a record of when there was some discord in the family.”
“Something people would be better off not knowing about?”
“Oh, nothing like that. It’s just a little embarrassing. A reminder of the mistakes I made when I was younger,” the older man said.
Henry looked a little surprised. “You mean even the Wind God Arus went through a period where he made mistakes?”
“Of course. People don’t age equally, but youth causes all of us to make mistakes.”
The old man was Arus Greyrat, commander of the Ogre God Empire’s Second Army special forces and the right hand of the Dragon God Orsted. He was also known as the Wind God Arus. Together with the Lightning God Alexander, he was one of the Second Army’s most powerful weapons. Some years back, he’d come out victorious in the combat tournament held in the Ogre God Empire. In both name and form, he was the greatest swordsman in all of the north. He used a magic sword style called Sword God Berserker, which integrated the traditional Sword God style with unpredictable sword techniques and silent spells to create an ever-shifting style of swordplay.
On top of that, he was known for his levelheaded and gentle nature, and he always looked after his men. He was the leader of Ruquag’s Mercenary Band—the original form of the Second Army—and despite his advanced years, he was still considered an authority among the Dragon God Orsted’s men.
If he had one weakness, it was that he started drooling whenever he saw a beautiful woman with large breasts. That being said, he would only ogle and go no further than that. When drinking, he often told others that he was proud of the fact he’d never been caught in a honey trap.
While he had his deficiencies, he was a good man. He supported the Dragon God Orsted, possessed authority thanks to his participation in founding the Ogre God Empire, and was seen as an important figure. Despite all those accolades, he was still an amiable fellow.
That was how Henry appraised Arus, anyhow. It was hard for Henry to imagine Arus having an embarrassing past.
“I’m interested in hearing about this. Ever since I was little, I always felt you and Lucie were basically perfect,” Luicelia said with great curiosity.
Arus let out a pained laugh. “I definitely wasn’t the perfect kid that Lucie was. Far from it.”
Luicelia grew up slower than most. Part of it was because she was a Superd, but even though she was technically close in age to Arus, they hadn’t experienced the passing of time the same way. By the time she was aware of her surroundings, Arus was already a mature young man.
“Hrm.” Arus surveyed the top of his desk. There was a mountain of work that he didn’t want to do.
He averted his gaze from it all. He had to get it done, but he certainly didn’t want to.
“If you’re that curious, want me to tell you all about it? This was back when I was a teen. I didn’t know anything yet… Hell, I wasn’t even thinking about anything. I was just a straight-up idiot.” Arus leaned forward on his desk and stroked his white beard.
Luicelia quietly sat herself down on the floor. She was fascinated to hear about the failures of the cousin she’d known since she was little. She might have struggled with wearing her emotions on her face, but she was empathetic and loved to chat, much like her mother.
After seeing Henry follow her example, Arus smiled jovially.
“Now then, where should I start? At the time, I lived my life like an embarrassing idiot, probably worse than your everyday thug on the street—”
“Surely you exaggerate? I respect you quite a bit, so I would prefer that you didn’t debase yourself so harshly,” Henry interrupted.
“Well, aren’t you a charmer? But here’s the thing: Everyone goes through a foolish phase. This was all a long time ago for me.”
And so Arus began to tell his story—the story of his past mistake.