Noah blinked, staring at where the man sat. 'How?!'

For the man to have noticed him in the darkness, when his subordinates didn't, that meant the man was strong. Probably stronger than Professor Cecilia. If that was true, that made the man at least A-rank.

Noah doubted that the man was S-rank though. If he was, he wouldn't be in a stalemate with another A-rank mage, Principal Kael.

Noah exhaled, standing up. There was no reason to hide anymore, especially when the man knew where he was.

However, that didn't mean he wouldn't be wary. While Noah did have an S-rank spell, Void Bolt, he lacked something just as important.

A strong body to go along with his magical firepower.

Lord Rowe had the A-rank body to go with his magical strength. That meant that if he got hit by an A-rank spell, he wouldn't go down in a single hit.

It also meant he was faster and stronger than Noah. With a wide gap between them.

While he was wary to get close to the man, his instincts told him it was okay.

Calmly, he grabbed a chair sitting against the wall, placing it on the other side of the desk, the third side facing the wall, and the fourth side facing the room.

"Good." Lord Rowe nodded, his voice deceptively calm. But Noah could see the confusion swimming in the man's eyes.

There was a few seconds of silence as the man simply stared at Noah, looking at him, but not seeing him. It was as if the man's mind was far away.

If he knew just how magically strong Noah was, he wouldn't have his guard so low before him, but Noah didn't mind. Let the man keep thinking of him as an ordinary FFF-rank student. It gave him the element of surprise.

But in this instance, he wanted things to just be done with, so he cleared his throat. "I heard you've been looking for me."

Lord Rowe blinked, his eyes focusing back on Noah. "Yes." He finally said. "I have. And now, I've found you."

Noah leaned back in his chair. "And now, you've found me. So, what are you going to do about it?"

Lord Rowe tilted his head, staring at Noah. "Let's start with a question. Where were you on the day my daughter was taken?"

Noah leaned forward, holding the man's gaze. He could see it. Lying to the man was not the right course of action here. So, he told the truth.

"I was with Arlo Kael, Leo Hargreaves, Galahad Lawless, Bronn, and Cal. I don't know their last names. They're second year students."

"If you go check the records, you'll see they also disappeared on the same day as your daughter. However, since their parents were not as influential as you are," Noah nodded at the man, "their disappearance was not as public."

"However, I know what happened to them." Noah said.

Light immediately entered Lord Rowe's eyes, and he leaned forward, hand gripping the table. The desk creaked as he stared at Noah with an intensity that would've been uncomfortable to anyone else.

"Tell me." The man snarled. "If you lie, you die."

An aura of danger descended on the room, enveloping everywhere.

Maybe it was his repeated exposure to Soul Pyre over three months, or the despair he'd faced during that period, Noah was unfazed.

Instead, his eyes were cold, holding the man's gaze.

He wasn't worried. One of his shadows had their hand fashioned into a sickle, pressed into Lord Rowe's throat.

Right now, they were incorporeal. But once he fed them with mana, they'll become solid enough to slit the man's throat.

And if the man somehow managed to survive it, it would have given Noah enough time to form a spell. Just a single Void Bolt, and the problem would be taken care of.

However, he didn't lie. He answered the man's question truthfully.

"On that day, I left the academy with Juniper," he began. Lord Rowe was paying attention to every word, cracks forming in the desk.

"However, we were not alone. Arlo had hitched a ride, and he sat on the roof until we got to the capital. When we arrived there, he left us alone."

"And?" Lord Rowe growled.

Noah didn't mind the interruption. "Juniper and I went shopping. I bought clothes, and she bought some of her own. Then, we returned to her carriage to keep them there."

Lord Rowe said nothing, but his eyes had the light of recognition in them.

"Ah." Noah nodded. "You saw the clothes, didn't you? I would appreciate it if you returned them to me. I bought them with my own money, and as you can see," he gestured to the room around them, "I'm not so rich as to abandon perfectly good clothes."

"And?" Lord Rowe hissed instead, a hint of menace in his voice. He was growing impatient, and his eyes told Noah that he wouldn't be afraid to use force if necessary.

"And that was where we parted." Noah said. "Arlo came back and met me there, and we left to meet up with the rest of the group. Leo, Galahad, Cal, and Bronn. And Juniper left to meet her friends."

Noah paused. "And that was the last time I saw her."

The edge of his desk shattered into splinters, Lord Rowe's grip crushing it. The man gritted his teeth, eyes burning.

"Continue if you don't want to lose your life." He growled, his voice dark, and his eyes even darker.

"That day, Leo had found a gang, who was willing to grant access to a monolith to academy students. That was where we spent the day." Noah said.

"Cal and Bronn died inside the monolith. They were killed. By the monsters. Arlo used his skill too much that day, and had to be hospitalized in the infirmary."

"Then, the next day, I was arrested by the Investigation Authority." Noah's voice went dark. "I never saw Juniper again except for that morning. So, who was the person Juniper saw before she disappeared?"

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