"...A thousand duels, undefeated! He even went against Morgan of Valor before Ascending!"
"No way…"
"What do you mean, no way? The recordings are all over the network, dude!"
"No, Luster is right. I don't know much about the Dreamscape, but it is a fact that he contained a manifesting Gate as an Awakened. Alone."
"I also heard that he is a bastard son of a Saint from the House of Night… maybe even of Nightwalker himself…"
"Actually, some say that he was created in a secret government laboratory from the DNA of powerful Nightmare Creatures. But the research was abandoned, with all records destroyed, because he was the only test subject who did not go completely mad."
"...I've heard that he is a woman, though?"
"Does he look like a woman, you idiot?"
"Well… now that you say it… he is strangely petite. Has anyone seen Captain undressed?"
"Belle. Did you get hit in the head during the last battle?!"
"Keep your voices down! You'll wake him up!"
…Already awake, Sunny was laying on his comfortable bed and listening to his subordinates gossip at the front of the steadily moving Rhino. His expression was… hard to describe.
'These fools…'
He had expected that much from Luster… but Kimmy? Not to mention Belle. Belle was supposed to be their reasonable senior, damn it!
With a sigh, Sunny rose, threw a neutral glance at the suddenly quiet trio, and then went to the kitchen to make some coffee. He poured himself a cup of the fragrant drink, added some synthetic sugar to it, then sat down in the lounge area of the APC and took a delighted sip.
Throughout all of it, three pairs of eyes were following his every move. Sunny shifted slightly, then looked at them in return.
"What? Is there something on my suit?"
His black bodysuit had already repaired the tears it received in the battle against the stone hive. Its smart fabric was truly something else… the more Sunny wore it, the more he understood how well-designed this unusual uniform was. One could argue whether it was dapper or not, but overall, he was extremely satisfied with his new equipment.
Hearing his question, Kim and Luster suddenly looked away with furtive expressions.
"No, no. It's nothing. Uh… you look great today, Captain!"
Sunny raised an eyebrow.
Belle, meanwhile, continued to stare at him with a strange expression. For some reason, Sunny suddenly felt an impulse to cover his chest with an arm. He frowned.
"Anything you want to ask?"
The swordsman simply nodded and smiled.
"Yeah… Captain, are you Mongrel?"
Luster and Kim flinched and looked at him with horror. Sunny, meanwhile, scowled.
"...Who are you calling a mongrel, bastard?"
Belle shook his head.
"No, I mean… are you Lord Mongrel? You know, that guy?"
'Damn. As expected…'
Truth be told, the moment the question had been asked, he had no choice but to answer. Sunny just stalled a little to collect his thoughts.
He shrugged.
"Oh. Yeah, that's me."
Then, Sunny took a sip of his coffee with an absolutely nonchalant expression. Luster and Kimmy, meanwhile, were staring at him in shock. Their eyes were as wide as saucers.
For a few long moments, there was nothing but dead silence. Sunny enjoyed his drink for a bit, and then scratched the back of his head.
"Ah… but don't tell anyone. It's a secret. I wasn't really supposed to become known to the public… you know?"
Their expressions slowly changed. A hint of grave understanding appeared in their eyes. The three looked at each other, and then Kim resolutely nodded.
"Of course, Captain! We will keep silent about… about who you really are. We'll tell Samara, Quentin, and Dorn, too. Don't worry!"
Sunny nodded with satisfaction.
'Isn't it great, to have such understanding minions?'
Of course, he had no idea what it was that they thought they understood. But that was the beauty of it… he did not need to. The best and most convincing lies were those that people built in their heads themselves.
Human imagination was a wild thing… whatever idiotic theory his soldiers decided to believe, be it that their Captain was a secret love child of a famous Saint or a product of a forbidden government experiment, it was all good with him.
The point was that they would keep it to themselves.
Just like that, a few more people learned that he was Mongrel. Sunny felt a bit sad about that fact.
On the bright side, it seemed that he would have no problem summoning the Mantle of the Underworld in the future, at least now when the cohort acted independently of other human forces. Luster, too, was looking at him with a newfound reverence.
If there was one inconvenient thing about the revelation that Captain Sunless was, in fact, the famous Lord Mongrel… it was that Belle kept throwing strange glances at Sunny.
'What... the hell...'
With a friendly smile, Sunny took his cup of coffee and returned to the back of the Rhino. Climbing back onto the bed, he then took out his communicator.
There, a new message was waiting for him.
As his smile grew a little wider, Sunny concentrated on the lines of text.
"Rain: Hey, Sunny! How are you doing? Everyone is talking about the Southern Quadrant campaign… that is where you went, right? Are you an officer now? Tell me so that I could brag about it in school. One of my classmate's sister is apparently an ace MWP pilot.
She won't shut up… uh… stop talking about it. Anyway, are you doing well? The news says that everything is going great, but my dad seems very stressed. I don't think I've ever seen him so tense. Oh, I am doing well, myself. A few kids in my class stopped coming to school, so… I guess they are at the Awakened Academy now.
But I am not showing any symptoms, yet. I am practicing my archery and swordsmanship every day, though. You'll be proud of your pupil!"
Sunny reread the message a few times, then finished his coffee, grinned, and started composing a response:
"Sunny: Hey. An officer? Gods, who do you think I am… of course I am! Let me tell you, I am a captain of the most elite unit in the whole army. I have a bunch of powerful Awakened under me, and a reputation so fearsome that other Masters want to be my friends. The Devil of Antarctica, that's what they call me… well, I'm sure someone does… maybe.
Just yesterday, an actual Saint personally expressed gratitude to me. I will probably get a medal soon, too. Oh, I am also in charge of a cutting-edge armored personnel carrier called the Rhino. You won't believe how amazing it is. Let me describe it! First of all..."