The Martial Unity

Rui discussed a few more matters before wrapping up the discussion and leaving. He didn't have time to chitchat with Commissioner Reze about irrelevant matters. He knew that there were some things that he needed to do before he could fulfill his plan.

However, once they were done, he could immediately set out.

Meanwhile, Chairman Deacon had not been sitting still either.

With a large proportion of Deacon Industries' intelligence department furiously scouring the entirety of the Shionel Confederation for Rui Quarrier, they had managed to cover a large amount of ground in a very short amount of time.

On top of that, there were a lot of retroactive analyses conducted on existing data on the Voider when re-analyzed in context with Rui Quarrier being the prime candidate. It was difficult to find absolute and incontrovertible proof that Rui Quarrier was the Voider if he really was the Voider, however, if he wasn't the Voider, then it would be a lot easier to prove that he wasn't.

It seemed counter-intuitive, however, someone who was the Voider would certainly hide evidence indicating that they were the Voider. Someone who wasn't the Voider would not hide evidence that they were not the Voider.

This key difference meant that the evidence for the latter was easier to find than evidence for the former, especially when the former was clearly good at leaving behind no evidence.

Thus, if Rui Quarrier was not the Voider, chances were that there would be something or the other that strongly and reliably indicated that they were not the Voider.

Deep down in his heart, Chairman Deacon knew that Rui was the Voider, but he still had retained enough rationality to trust his intelligence department's verdict regardless.

"However, we have found absolutely no indication that Rui Quarrier and Voider may not be the same person," The deputy director of the intelligence department of Deacon Industries informed Chairman Deacon. "This is rather odd since we have been able to disqualify almost all other B-rank Martial Squires from being candidates for the Voider even when we disregard the fact that they are too weak to be the Voider given how strong the Voider likely is. However, it truly is odd that we have been unable to confirm Rui Quarrier and Kane Arrancar's presence outside the Shionel Dungeon during times when we know for a fact that the Voider was inside the dungeon."

Chairman Deacon's eyes narrowed. "That's rather odd if they had no connection."

"Yes sir. In fact, in the nine months that Rui Quarrier has been in the Shionel Dungeon, not once have we been able to confirm that he was anywhere outside the dungeon during times when we are certain the Voider was within the dungeon. Furthermore, the earliest confirmed Voider raid of the Shionel Dungeon occurred just a few days after Rui Quarrier and Kane Arrancar entered the Shionel Confederation."

"Hm," Chairman Deacon grew more certain of what he already knew. "Any other suspicious patterns?"

"Yes sir, the number of hours that Rui Quarrier and Kane Arrancar have spent in the dungeon in nine months is lower than ninety-nine-point-eight percent of all Martial Squires in the Shionel Confederation," the deputy director mentioned. "Now there isn't inherently anything suspicious about spending only a few hours on average every day in the Shionel Dungeon, there can be corroborating circumstances with that, but the question does arise of what they do in the remaining part of the day. According to the innkeepers of the inn that they have resided in, they're gone for almost all of the day, most days."

"And on top of that, they mysteriously did not return to the inn after the Voider left the final floor of the Shionel Dungeon, despite not having entered the dungeon according to the logs," Chairman Deacon narrowed his eyes. "It's been a few days since then, and they still haven't returned. Furthermore, their last log is that of them exiting the dungeon, thus there is no way they died in the Shionel Dungeon."

The intelligence deputy director nodded in agreement. "True, sir. All these little unlikely coincidences that we have noticed in hindsight truly come together to paint the picture that you're certain about. However, this isn't absolute proof."

"The only reason I insisted on a grounds-up analysis on the prospects of Rui Quarrier being the core behind the Voider was to see if I was blatantly wrong, but everything I hear and see simply further confirms what I have already come to know," Chairman Deacon growled. "Given that Rui Quarrier has not been sighted since before the clearing of the Root Floor, and has seemingly mysteriously vanished, it would be explained if he was aware that he has somehow become exposed to us. In that case, searching for him may very well be futile if he has already left the Shionel Confederation. It will be exceedingly difficult to investigate his whereabouts, especially considering he has some form of stealth."

The intelligence deputy director nodded. "I am inclined to agree, sir. Manual investigation given how little information we have is impractical. This is especially true considering the Voider has connections with Guildmaster Bradt Patrick, which means they do have an ally capable of evading our surveillance."

"In that case, we can focus on other methods," Chairman Deacon noted. "The background check revealed that he lives in an orphanage that he was born and brought up in, have our Kandrian office branch in the Kandrian Empire deploy our regional Martial Apprentices to abduct them covertly. Leave behind a covert message of sorts that he should understand. He'll definitely realize what is happening, and given that the report indicates that he cares for them, he'll be forced to bargain for them. I'll make him suffer through them."

Chairman Deacon found it to be a pity that Rui didn't have a son, he would have been able to inflict the same that he had been subjected to by Rui.

"Ah well," He growled. "A mother will have to do. I'm going to have his eyes pried open with force so he doesn't miss the things that I do to her in front of him."