—King Henry's PoV—

I was now back at the palace. After having my men investigate the incident, they found a dead man in the back halls that led to the Waiting Room. The other staff identified him to be the announcer, Crankenstein.

This was definitely strange. The mana detector indicated that he was somewhere between the False Sage realm or True Sage realm. It did not make sense for someone at that level to be working as an announcer. If anything, he should be working at the Wizard's Tower.

Something didn't add up. There was also the changing in weather that could only be caused by the creation of a level 2 Domain. Other than the headmaster, there shouldn't have been anyone else on the campus capable of creating a Domain.

When Headmaster Samith heard of the incident, he rushed over here as fast as he could. I had known him for a long time so I was almost certain it could not have been him. Right now, I had my suspicions on my brother, who was in cahoots with Lenard, who had tried to poison me.

I had also received a spacial letter from Headmaster Warren of the Magic Knight Academy stating, "Hiro is one of our representatives." In all honesty, I had no idea of knowing if it were true or not, but according to the Participant Records, Hiro has stated his affiliation to be part of the Magic Knight Academy.

I had some people search through the Transportation Records to see who came to the kingdom through transportation. In total, there were 36 students from the Magic Knight Academy. Five were sent via airship, while the group of 31 came by teleportation. The five magic knight students who came to participate in the Magic Tournament obviously could not have been Hiro, unless they were able to clone themselves somehow.

With five excluded, there were 31 possibilities left for who Hiro could be. Excluding the females of the group, I am left with 18 people. One of them was a freshman, while the other 17 were sophomores.

I had my men investigate into each and every one of these males separately and compile the reports. Out of all of them, the freshman, Daniel seemed to be the most suspicious... The report stated, "During Strategic Observation Classes, he was able to win every one of his battles through luck." Either this kid was the one we were looking for, or he had heaven defying luck. But the following reduced my suspicions.

"Talent level: 2.00. All witnesses have reported that other than attending classes, Daniel would train in the training rooms. The other students described him as a "pitiful" workaholic. Even though he put in a lot of effort, his luck was the only factor that allowed him to win in his Strategic Observation Classes. It is highly likely that during the Magic Tournament times, he was spending his time in a training room. Other than the training rooms, he has been found to visit public bathrooms quite frequently, sometimes taking up to three hours to take a dump before coming out."

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Looking at the picture attached to the report, he seemed to be around the same height as Hiro as well. It was disappointing, but I figured it was unlikely for someone with a talent of 2.00 to be him.

I turned the page to the next report.

—4 minutes later—

As I was about to turn the page, I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in."

The door opened outward and revealed my lovely daughter.

"Have you found him yet?" She walked over.

"Mmm, not yet. Would you like to look through the reports with me?" I thoughtfully said. I recalled that she had spent quite a bit of time with Hiro so she should be better at spotting him.

"Of course!"

I handed her a pile of the previous reports that I had just looked over.

"Tell me if you find anything." I said.

Just as I was about to turn the page to the next report, she said excitedly, "Found him!"

I raised my eyebrow as if I did not believe her. Well, I honestly couldn't believe her even if she wasn't revered as a genius. I was certain I had looked through that pile of reports rather thoroughly.

"Show me."

She handed me the report of Daniel, the one I had previously dismissed a while ago.

"What makes you think it's him."

"This picture was taken today and if I'm not wrong... He's wearing the same pants as Hiro!" I glanced at the picture and facepalmed.

"Sweety, you do understand that those pants are the academy's uniform pants, right?" I said to her.

"...I guess? But I remember how he fought in Strategic Observation Class. Everyone says it's luck, but I don't think so. I used my Magic Analysis skill on him when I first saw him fight and when compared to Heero, they are both in the same physique and magic realms; they are both Beginner Knight realm and Beginner Magus!" She said with intense enthusiasm that almost swayed me.

"But think about this logically, would it be possible for someone with a talent of 2.00 to be as strong as Hiro, who could beat you easily if he used his full strength. I'm sure you remember the Waiting Room incident. If he weren't fast enough to save you, you would have been killed by his counter attack. This is why I always stress that you should also train your physique." I said, trying to persuade her.

"Hmm, alright I guess." She said that even though I saw the stubborn look in her eyes. It was that again huh.

It looked like she still believed she was right. Well, there's nothing I could do to change her habit. Bad habits are the hardest to change. Even though she is stubborn, she is my daughter nonetheless. I can only hope this stubborn attitude of hers does not create any troubles. I can only sit back and support her when she ascends the throne.

In the end, our(my) closest guess was a sophomore by the name, Larry. He was 11 and had an astounding talent of 8.67.

...

"What do you mean it failed!?!" Mathew yelled.

"I'm sorry sir! Crankenstein was missing which led to the Demonic Slaughter Formation failing." A guy was prostrating on the ground not daring to look Mathew in the eye.

"WHAT? Where's Crankenstein! Bring him to me!!! Also, address me as your majesty you impudent fool!"

"Yes, your majesty. We have lost all contact with Crankenstein but our spies have found that he was killed in the back hallway leading to the Waiting Room."

"Killed? Hmph. Lucky one you are. Now get out of my sight!" Mathew dismissed him.

He took out a circular device and pressed a button. A hologram of a man with a pair of black horns protruding out from both sides of his head appeared. He was sitting on a throne decorated with many jewels. He was the literal textbook definition of extravagance.

"Your greatness, the plan has failed."