'Crap!'
Marcus had not made too many mistakes with his double life, but now he had just committed his stupidest error ever. Since he was out of Borealia, he had gotten too comfortable and acted like he still knew Novack despite the two of them never having met while he was in his current form.
He began racking his mind for some way to recover this blunder, but thankfully his better half was quick to bail him out.
"Oh, sorry about that, this guy with me is actually Irene. She obtained a unique skill that allows her to disguise herself, and currently she is acting as my husband to ward off and unwanted advances that would be coming our way if we arrived without partners."
Novak looked befuddled by this explanation at first, but it seemed that he bought it after a moment of thought. There were plenty of unique skills out there, and one that allowed someone to disguise themselves would be considered fairly tame.
Of course, a good part of what Mrazivý had said was a lie. While Marcus was also Irene, he was not currently in disguise, nor did his form changing have anything to do with a unique skill. Plus, they really were married.
"I get it now. Good to see you again Irene." Novak said, looking a bit awkward about the whole situation.
"Likewise, Novak. Ah, but while I'm in this form, please call me Marcus. Also, please try to keep my identity a secret."
Novak nodded his head and said his lips were sealed. And thus, another person sort of became privy to Marcus' double identity.
With the initial reunion conversation over, Novak brought Marcus and Mrazivý over to the rest of his party.
Clay, who was in the middle of stuffing his face, was the first to recognize Mrazivý and his expression morphed into one of utter shock.
He and Mrazivý had just finished making their way around the banquet and speaking with around seventy percent of the adventurers present.
Most of them had been friendly enough, but some of them seemed a bit too bloodthirsty and tried to intimidate them.
Thankfully none of the other mithril rank adventurers they met were anywhere near as powerful as they were. Without using an appraisal skill Marcus could not know for sure, but he gauged most of the other mithril rank adventurers to range from the low fifties to low sixties level wise. A few had seemed a bit stronger than this, but not by much. Certainly, none of them had been up to level seventy.
Nevertheless, there was one party that they had not yet met. The only adamantine party was not currently present.
Marcus' curiosity reaching its peak, he decided to ask Novak if he knew anything about the highest-ranking party that would be participating in the operation to reclaim the former capital.
"I've seen them a couple of times since arriving in Houten, but we haven't spoken. I'm pretty sure that they were here earlier but went off to speak with some bigwigs in private. They'll likely be back at some point though." Novak said.
When pressed for more details, he told Marcus and Mrazivý what he knew about them.
They were only a party of three, but apparently all of them were incredibly powerful. Each of them was quite famous among adventurers and even had nicknames.
"Their leader is a man named One-Stroke Kill Sato Tachibana. While the other two members are known as Annihilation Spear Lisa, and Unbreakable Bastion Adonis." Novak said, giving the names and epithets of the three adamantine rank adventurers.
Immediately Marcus was drawn to the name of the leader since it was almost certainly that of someone from Earth or the descendant of one. Plus, it also seemed oddly familiar. He felt that he had heard it somewhere before.
However, Mrazivý seemed far more excited about them when she heard the names. As a seasoned adventurer, she already knew about them. In fact, they were among those that she looked up to.