"What do you mean dead?"
A burly man roared, his fist crashing onto the solid oak table before him. The impact split the wood with a deafening crack, sending splinters flying across the room.
His face twisted with unrestrained fury.
The pressure released by his voice alone forced the young woman standing before him to stumble back several steps. Despite that, the determination in her eyes revealed she was far from weak. Few could remain standing before the man when he was truly enraged.
She steadied herself, straightened her back, and repeated her report.
"The newly enrolled cadets of ESIS Academy have all been confirmed dead."
She paused briefly before continuing.
"Prior to that, the academy's sole heir, Ieros ESIS, was reported missing and is currently presumed dead."
"The acting principal, Miguel ESIS, has been investigated under numerous criminal allegations. However, due to insufficient evidence and his familial ties to the late ESIS couple, only minor offenses could be proven. He has been placed under probation and stripped of several privileges."
She lowered the document in her hands.
"However, because he remains the acting principal, the probation has little practical effect. According to the ESIS family's will, the academy, their estate, and all inherited assets remain under Ieros ESIS' name until he either returns to claim them..."
"...or is legally declared deceased."
The man's grip tightened.
Crack.
The table groaned again.
Even the stone walls seemed to tremble beneath the sheer weight of his aura.
Sweat trickled down the woman's forehead.
Her knees threatened to buckle beneath the pressure, yet she refused to bend.
"Any news regarding the boy's whereabouts?" the man finally asked.
His voice had calmed.
Ironically, that made him even more terrifying.
The pressure slowly receded.
The woman shook her head.
"No."
She hesitated.
"Before their deaths, the ESIS couple prepared several methods to locate the young master should he ever disappear. However..."
She glanced at her report.
"Miguel ESIS claims his cousin is grieving and wished to isolate himself following his parents' deaths. He insists the boy left voluntarily and requested that no one interfere."
Silence filled the room.
The man's eyes slowly turned crimson.
"That bastard..."
His voice dripped with restrained hatred.
"He's buying time."
"He intends to become the academy's permanent principal before anyone realizes the boy is gone."
The room shook as his aura surged once more.
Legally...
There was very little they could do.
Almost two years had passed since Ieros disappeared.
If the boy had truly died, searching now would accomplish nothing.
If he was alive...
Then Miguel had hidden him somewhere no ordinary investigation could uncover.
Launching a full-scale search of the ESIS estate without proof would violate family jurisdiction, something even the Association couldn't justify.
Five more years.
Once Ieros reached the legal age of twenty-five, if he had not appeared to claim his inheritance, every asset under his name would automatically transfer to Miguel as his closest living relative.
The thought alone made the man's blood boil.
He wanted to smash the table into pieces.
Instead, he merely tightened his grip until the wood splintered beneath his fingers.
"...Dismissed."
The woman bowed respectfully before leaving.
The moment the door closed...
The table finally shattered.
Elsewhere within the same city...
A lean man sat alone inside an elegantly furnished office.
A glass of whiskey rested in one hand while the other tapped rhythmically against the armrest of his chair.
Miguel ESIS.
His expression remained calm.
Almost too calm.
His latest investment had ended in complete disaster.
Every operative he had sent into the forest was dead.
Even the expensive mana bombs they carried had been lost.
Recovering their corpses had accomplished little.
Except...
The sword wounds.
His fingers tightened around the glass.
There was absolutely no way he could mistake them.
Those sword techniques...
They resembled his elder brother's.
Crude.
Unrefined.
Incomplete.
But unmistakably from the same lineage.
Which left only one possibility.
"Ieros..."
He whispered the name under his breath.
"He survived."
The thought clung stubbornly to his mind.
Like a flea biting a place he could never reach.
He had personally watched the monsters drag the boy's broken body into the depths of the forest.
How had he lived?
Could he really have awakened at that exact moment?
Even if he had...
Awakening wasn't some miraculous cure.
It couldn't regenerate a dying body.
Nor could it explain how a sheltered twenty-year-old had become strong enough to slaughter trained hunters within barely a year.
None of it made sense.
His mind raced through countless possibilities.
None satisfied him.
The Association was already watching his every move.
If he dispatched search teams into the forest now...
The Association would undoubtedly do the same.
Whoever found the boy first...
Would decide his fate.
Miguel wasn't foolish enough to gamble on that.
The Association possessed far more resources than he did.
To make matters worse, his idiot brother had prepared layers upon layers of security around Ieros' identity before his death.
Every reliable tracking method required Ieros' direct biometric authorization.
His fingerprints.
His blood.
Or the boy himself.
Miguel slowly rubbed his temples.
His greatest obstacle...
His greatest headache...
Was a twenty-year-old boy who should have been dead.
He let out a long, exhausted sigh before finishing the whiskey in one swallow.
"How..."
He muttered bitterly.
"...can it be this difficult to kill a child?"