Various thoughts flashed through Michael's mind when he realized that Alice knew his sister. He had been convinced that he didn't care about his family anymore. Only his brother had been of importance to Michael. Despite that, something in the back of his mind kept nagging at him, telling him to research more about his sister, and find out more information about her.
Doubts popped up in his mind, and he began to wonder what must have happened for Hesta, the 'War Empress', to disappear the day she advanced to the 4th Tier. While his mind went down the rabbit hole, Michael didn't even realize when he opened his parents' chat.
He listened to the messages they'd sent, only to end up frowning deeply. The audio files they sent through starnet messenger were deleted shortly after Michael listened to it, but Michael didn't pay much attention to that. He could only frown, staring blankly at the now-empty chat between him and his parents.
"I really hate you," Michael cursed quietly.
His parents barely mentioned Danny before switching their focus to talk about him, Hesta, and how their lives have been in the last few years.
Michael figured that his parents wouldn't be useful, but he was once again disappointed about how little they seemed to care about him and his brother. Danny died, yet they didn't even sound sad in the audio files. Michael even thought that he heard a trace of curiosity and excitement in his father's voice, but he genuinely hoped that he was mistaken.
'Why am I even disappointed in them? Does that mean I still have expectations? Am I hoping that they will return, bring Danny back from the dead, and that we can become a happy family once again? That's nonsense…'
Michael hated himself for the thoughts flashing through his mind. He subconsciously knew that he wanted everything to return back to normal, and that he would forgive his parents for abandoning them if they could bring Danny back from the dead. However, that was just wishful thinking. His brother was no more, and his parents wouldn't return. Even if they would come back, they wouldn't be able to bring Danny back.
Michael didn't even realize that he was still in Alice's office with the Zenovia siblings. They silently kept observing the constant changes in his expression, and could even listen to his parents' audio files since Michael didn't bother to use headphones to listen to the audio files alone.
Alice and Kaleb looked at each other for a while, complicated expressions plastered all over their faces. Then their attention moved back to Michael, who opened the crystal watch's research engine to look up information about his sister.
"War Empress Hesta…no information?" He mumbled, pressing his lips together in annoyance.
Why was everything about his family so difficult? He couldn't find a single piece of information about his sister even though Alice said that she was a prodigy amid prodigies.
Michael glanced at Alice, who wanted to say something. But before she could say something, Michael had already opened the Bartholomew Network. His Diamond Membership access granted him permission to research information that was restricted to even Tier-4 Awakened. His hands moved smoothly across the holographic keyboard's surface, looking up his sister's name.
"Oh? There are three files," Michael blurted out, not expecting to find anything. He tapped on the first file, only to be rejected. A red notification popped up on the holographic screen.
[Access denied. Higher authority required!]
Michael frowned and looked over to Alice, who had shut her mouth after seeing him continue to research.
"Did the government delete her information, or was that the work of the High Nobles, the Superior Families and the Great Clans? Or is there another reason because it makes no sense that I cannot find any information about my sister if she was as powerful as you mentioned," Michael pointed out, not sure whether he was angry, frustrated, or just helpless.
He didn't even know why he was researching his sister after having repressed thoughts about his sister and parents for so long. Would it change anything if he found out who Hesta was? So what if she was powerful and special?
"Actually it's none of that. News about your sister has always been suppressed. Many families were curious about her and started collecting information, but they found almost nothing. Only private channels and information agencies were able to find and collect information about her. Even then some information got lost. It was always presumed that Hesta was related to a world-class hacker who was capable of bypassing the most secure security system to delete all information about her. But that was never confirmed," Alice revealed, making him feel mildly annoyed.
"After she defeated the group of Tekur, and a bunch of descendants at the 4th Tier, people got more interested in her. However, they quickly lost interest after the War Empress disappeared. Some descendants in their 20s and 30s might still know about her because some of them encountered her in the past, but most families must have forgotten about her. After all, she never resurfaced after disappearing nearly a decade ago."
Michael nodded his head slowly, trying to digest the information.
'Deleting information. Isn't that just like the chats with my parents? Everything is deleted shortly after the audio files have been deciphered and listened to.'
Michael's gaze returned to the three files stored in the Bartholomew Network. He knew that he wouldn't be able to feel at ease without finding out more. Michael hated his own curiosity right now more than ever.
"Do you know where the old man is?" Michael asked Alice.
"Old man?"
"Kraft Viton. Do you know where he is?"
"Oh…there were some problems with an important client of the Bartholomew Corporation. Something happened with the Kolr–Kolbenschein family's territory or something like that," Alice answered, clearly not really interested in the Bartholomew Corporation's business.
However, Michael felt that something was odd. Even Kaleb frowned when he heard the family name.
"Do you mean the Kolbenheim family?" Kaleb asked, and Alice nodded.
"I think that was it. But I'm not too sure. I was focused on the Berserker Chieftain when Kraft told me that he would be busy for a while," She said, causing both Michael and Kaleb to look at each other with widened eyes.
"You mean something happened to Frederik's family?" Michael asked, while opening his chat with Frederik Kolbenheim to write a message.
[Michael Fang: Hey, I heard that something happened. Are you and your family fine?]
He sent a message to Frederik before switching to Jacqueline, hoping that he would receive a reply as soon as possible.
[Michael Fang: What happened to Frederik's family?]
Michael forgot about the files related to his sister and frowned deeply staring at the chat in front of him. Frederik might not be his best friend, but Michael took a liking to his tenacity with time. The Barbaric Couple's personality improved a lot during the last few months as well. Frederik and Jacqueline were more likable now, especially since both were trying their utmost to grow stronger.
They realized that the world didn't revolve around them and that everyone worked hard to become stronger. Thus, they did the same, spending day and night to improve their strength, deepen their knowledge, and expand their territory to grow even more powerful.
'I hope it's nothing too bad,' Michael thought when he received a message from Jacqueline.
[Jacqueline Orlando(Annoying Girl): Igor Kolbenheim's territory was attacked last week. He suffered major losses, but he is not severely injured and his territory won't fall. However…now Frederik's territory is under attack….He…has been in the Origin Expanse for the past three days, and there are no signs of him…I can't do anything to help him…I am so useless…I hope he is fine. He has to be. I will kill him if something happens to him!!!]
"Huh," Michael and Kaleb blurted out simultaneously. They looked at each other's crystal watch, only to see that they'd received the same reply.
Jacqueline must have copy pasted her message.
"A territory attack. It's not like that's something abnormal," Alice said with a shrug after she read the message from Kaleb's starnet messenger.
Alice was not worried about Frederik. That was a little reassuring, even though it was quite obvious that the Frozen Duchess couldn't care less about Frederik Kolbenheim. All Alice cared about was her family, her territory, and results. At least, that was the public consensus. She was cold and heartless to everyone but her family.
"His family is rather small but they're filthy rich. Their connections might not be comparable to the Zenovia family, but they have enough money to invest as much – if not more – into their offspring as High Nobles and Supreme Families invest in their descendants. Igor should have invested a great fortune in Frederik's territory and growth. Don't worry too much," Alice said somewhat coldly as her eyes moved between Kaleb and Michael.
Her voice might be cold but her words were reassuring. Michael and Kaleb looked at each other and smiled lightly.
"I would rather fight myself," Michael said, which was approved by Kaleb.
"Same here."
Neither Michael nor Kaleb had been too worried about Frederik because they knew that their friend had been working hard to grow stronger recently. Overcoming this ordeal would allow him to grow even stronger than before. A territory attack was a great opportunity even though it could also devolve into a disaster. Nonetheless, it required Alice's intervention to reassure them that everything would be fine.
The tiny traces of worry and doubt dispersed as Alice cleared her throat.
"Either way. Let's get back to business," Alice said, changing the topic while intensely staring at the two youths.
"Business?"
"Yes, business," Alice said, smiling lightly at the two youths, "Precisely, your business as students is to give me - your teacher - a report about your battles, tactics, and future plans for the Battle Exchange."
Alice smiled at Kaleb and Michael, but the two young men could swear to have never seen a more devilish smile. It wasn't Alice's ordinary cold and nearly expressionless smile. No. It was something far more terrifying.
"Are you serious, sis?" Kaleb blurted aloud, only to groan in pain as Alice's hand smacked flat on his head.
Tears welled in Kaleb's eyes. That was how hard Alice hit him.
"I am your teacher right now, and I'm disappointed as your teacher!"
"Disappointed? But we almost defeated Maria Wang and her team! That's amazing, don't you think?" Kaleb said stubbornly, only to receive another loud smack on the head.
"If winning against them involves sacrificing yourselves, I don't even want to imagine how you and Michael will end up fighting in a life-and-death battle when your territory is under attack," Alice thundered, "Will you rely on others to protect you after you collapse onto the ground mere two seconds into the battle? In that case, you might as well rush into the enemy's camp and present them your head on a silver plate!"
As Alice said the last few words her head flicked to Michael. She stared at him coldly, causing Michael to press his lips together, knowing damn well that her last sentence was directed at him.
"If you guys fight like that against the Tekur, you might as well go home. That way you will live at least."
