18 Father's disguise

"First we need a disguise," Hecathe wiped off the smile from his face and suddenly turned serious as he spoke up, "I need a way to hide myself so that people don't recognize me."

Xanie folded her arms and seemed to be thinking deeply about it.

Hecathe casually went and took a seat on the couch kept in the living room, "I was thinking of plastic surgery but I don't think I want to go through that much trouble. Something easier would be good. Maybe like a mask or a hoodie and cap."

Xanie suddenly clapped her hands together as she exclaimed, "I have an idea!"

"What is it?" Hecathe asked, not bothering to sound happy or excited about it.

"How about your father's disguise?"

"My father's what now?" Hecathe frowned as he questioned.

Xanie chuckled as she turned and headed for Hecathe's room.

Hecathe remained seated as he looked at the door and waited for her to return.

He could hear the sound of his wooden closet being opened, but he felt that it was useless for her to search in that closet. He had already rummaged through it and there was nothing in there that could be useless for him to hide his identity.

It sounded as if the girl was making a ruckus in that closet but before Hecathe could stand up and go to speculate what she was doing, she returned; her hands filled with some clothing material and a mask.

"What's that?" Hecathe asked as he squinted at the thing in her hand.

Xanie held up the mask and straightened out the cloak as she showed it to him, "Captain, these belong to your father when he was still alive. Your father was a hunter and hence, this type of outfit came with his occupation. Sometimes he didn't like to be recognized and so he would wear this."

Hecathe stood up and frowned as he took a step closer to the woman, "And how exactly do you know that?"

Xanie smiled brightly and her cheeks seemed to be blushing with embarrassment as she answered, "Captain, when you were away, I was tasked to clean your room every day. I only came across the secret compartment by mistake. When I saw the emblem on the cloak, I immediately recognized this cloth as the one that your father was wearing in one of his pictures."

"..."

"I thought you had thrown it away or burned it but it was quite a surprise to know that you kept it hidden away so safely," Xanie beamed as she added.

Hecathe took the cloak from her hand and flipped it to see the emblem on the back. It was an emblem that he recognized. In the diary that he had read, there was a picture of this emblem or to be more exact, it was a picture of Alphius and Marvin together and in the picture, Marvin was wearing a jacket that had this emblem printed on it.

It was the official emblem of the old government. All hunters and people working for them were given clothes that had such emblems printed on them. It was much alike a statement. There was only a section of the population that was allowed to wear this emblem and those who did were basically making a statement that they worked directly under the government.

"If you wear this mask and cloak, you'll definitely manage to blend in with the other ability users!" Xanie sounded pretty enthusiastic, even more than the man who had to wear it.

Hecathe picked up the mask and put it over his face. Somehow, this mask was a perfect fit for him as if it was specially made with him in mind.

In the very next second, as Hecathe was thinking this, Xanie suddenly spoke up, confirming his speculations, "This was made for you by your father. He hoped that..."

She seemed to be reluctant to continue what she was saying.

Hecathe frowned as he gestured for her to continue speaking.

"He made it for you because he wanted you to be like him. A hunter."

Hecathe almost wanted to laugh as he heard that. He had never actually met this father of Alphius, however, just from this one sentence alone, he had already judged the man's character. To want your son to follow your own footsteps instead of following what destiny has in store for them? It was something that Hecathe disagreed with.

Alphius might have been the man's son but that doesn't make them both the same person. His son doesn't need to like what he likes and doesn't need to do the same thing his father did. It was quite ignorant of someone to expect their children to do exactly what they wanted them to do.

"But now that the old government is dead... It's impossible to make his dreams come true," Xanie added awkwardly.

Hecathe chuckled dryly as he nodded his head ever so slightly, "That's just ridiculous. Even if the old government was still alive, I'd rather die than become a hunter."

Xanie didn't seem to be agreeing with the man but she still nodded her head as she heard him, "If you want to hide your identity, this can help you a lot."

"Wouldn't it be weird to suddenly see someone wearing this cloak? I mean the upper world is being ruled by the three willows of spring and this emblem belongs to the old government."

Xanie shook her head as she responded, "You don't need to worry about it. There are still hunters wearing this emblem. They might not be very welcomed or liked by the worshippers of the three willows but nobody would dare pick a fight with them."

"What if somebody recognizes me because of the mouth?"

Hecathe didn't have any major issues with the cloak and the mask, however, there was still this one thing that worried him.

The mask didn't cover his whole face. It covered the top half of his face and the mouth region was not covered making it look rather comical.

"Don't worry about that, Captain," Xanie reassured, "The common people have hardly ever seen you so they would definitely not be able to recognize you. Only people who know you really well would have a chance of recognizing you and I don't think there are many people like that. Even I don't know you that well to recognize you in that mask."

"I'll... Take that as a compliment," Hecathe responded as he put on the cloak that covered his entire body.

"..."

He put on the hoodie of the cloak as well and looked at himself in the reflection of the glass window.

His reflection wasn't really that clear because of the colorful scenery the window showed, but it was still enough for him to know how he looked.

The cloak covered most of him and the mask covered half of his face while the bottom half remained in the shadow of the hood on his head.

"Captain, I can't recognize you at all! This works well!" Xanie spoke up as she clapped her hands proudly.

Hecathe moved around a little as he tried to test the comfort of the cloak and he couldn't help but feel that the person who created this had to be a genius. This cloak was just perfect for agile movements with ease. It gave the wearer both comfort and performance.

"I like it," Hecathe answered after a thorough examination of all the pros and cons of wearing this disguise.

"What's the next plan then, Captain?"

Hecathe had a small smile on his face as he looked at the girl and answered, "You help me sneak out of here without letting anyone else find out."

Xanie's eyes widened slightly as she asked, "Captain, can't you just leave the underground city without sneaking out? I'm sure everyone will listen to you."

Hecathe shook his head and sighed at the girl's narrow intelligence, "If I do that, then everyone in this city knows what I'm wearing and where I'm going. Are you sure that all of them would be able to keep their mouths shut?"

"..." Xanie was silent as she heard this question.

"If the three willows of spring get the news that I'm on their turf, they'll chop me up like a pig. Xanie, I'm sure you don't want to see me as a piece of meat hanging up in a butcher's shop, right?"

Xanie gulped as she shook her head frantically.

Hecathe smiled thinly as he saw this, "You have to understand this, Okay? I'm trusting you and only you. Nobody else except for you and me know about this. It's a secret that must stay between us, Okay?"

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? I'm trusting you here. Do you want to go and announce this to the world or something?!"

"No no no! That's not what I was asking," Xanie panicked a little as she tried to explain, "I'm asking you why you're trusting me with this and not someone else? You didn't even remember my name before this, Captain..."

"Look I'm not going to lie. I randomly chose to give you this responsibility because you look like you'll be perfect for the job," Hecathe lied.

It was because she looked a lot like a worker in his company who had the same name but Hecathe would naturally not tell her that.

"Oh..."