Chapter 91: Status: Deceased

"At least one that I noticed. Commander Holtz didn’t react, and neither did Maela."

Ernest looked back at Zishan’s military record. He fed another trace of Mana into the register and opened the personnel information attached to his original enlistment.

His expression changed.

Elinox noticed it. "What is it?"

"The central military registry carries his legal name and House affiliation," Ernest replied, "but the personnel record forwarded with his enlistment to the Eastern Formation doesn’t mention House Walker at all."

Zishan leaned closer.

Ernest continued, "According to this version, you had no surviving parents. You were raised by your grandmother, and she died shortly before you entered military service."

Zishan stared at him. "That’s exactly what Commander Holtz and Maela told me."

Elinox’s eyes sharpened. "Then, they weren’t hiding anything from him. That’s what his records actually told them."

"Yes." Ernest’s attention remained on the register. "Unless someone already recognized the Walker surname or knew who Zishan was, there would have been little reason for an officer at the eastern front to connect him to a Marquess House."

Zishan thought about the soldier who had repeated his name back then. ’So that guy really did recognize it...’

He looked toward Ernest again. "Then, why does this record say I grew up with a grandmother when the noble registry says I was adopted into House Walker?"

Ernest’s expression hardened. "That’s something we need to find out. The legal adoption is recorded here. The background information sent with your enlistment contradicts it."

Zishan slowly leaned back. "So somebody gave the military a different version of my life."

"It appears that way."

Zishan kept reading, ignoring his remark.

There was another entry beside his name.

His eyes narrowed.

STATUS: DECEASED

He looked at Ernest before moving his gaze to Elinox.

After that, he gently placed his palm on his chest and said, "I’m alive."

Ernest nodded. "I can see that."

Zishan looked back at the record. "Then, why the hell am I dead?"

"That’s what I’m trying to understand." Ernest opened the filing information connected to the declaration.

Elinox walked closer. She was also curious.

The military record showed when Zishan had entered active service and when he had been assigned to the Eastern Formation. Another entry showed the date he had been deployed toward the battlefield.

House Walker’s record carried a formal declaration of death. Ernest opened the filing information attached to it, and his expression changed.

Elinox noticed. "What is it?"

"The filing date."

Zishan leaned farther over the desk. "What about it?"

Ernest moved the military record beside the civil declaration. One showed the date Zishan had been deployed toward the eastern battlefield. The other showed when House Walker had actually submitted the declaration registering him as deceased.

The dates were the same.

Ernest looked at the record again to make sure he had read it correctly. "This wasn’t filed after you went missing. House Walker registered your death on the same day you were deployed."

Zishan stared.

"Wait." He looked from one record to the other before pointing at them. "This one says I was sent to the battlefield."

"Yes."

"And this one says I died."

"Yes."

"On the same day?"

Ernest nodded.

Zishan frowned. "Was I sent there already dead?"

Elinox looked at him.

"I’m serious! How does this make sense?"

"It doesn’t," Ernest answered, frowning. Then, he checked the military record once more. "Your military status never recorded you as dead. After the Eastern Reserve Station fell, you were listed among the missing because your unit couldn’t account for you."

"Missing."

Ernest nodded.

Zishan pointed at the House record. "Then, these people skipped the missing part and went straight to dead?"

"House Walker did."

"And they declared it when I was sent out?"

"According to this record at least," Ernest confirmed.

Zishan went to the nearest sofa and slowly sat down. He did not know the people whose names were displayed on the registry... those who were related to him. He recalled nothing about any experiences he had gone through with them... like eating or living inside their estate. Other than that, he could not even remember that he was an adopted child or how and why Marquess Walker adopted him. Neither could he recall whether the Marquess himself had treated him well before all of this happened.

Yet somebody inside that House had already decided that Zishan Walker was dead on the same day he had been sent into a battlefield. ’What the fuck is going on?’

The System remained silent.

For once, Zishan appreciated that.

Elinox looked toward Ernest. "Could this be an administrative mistake?"

"A death declaration for a member of a Marquess House?"

Ernest shook his head.

"It would require supporting household records. Somebody submitted it, and somebody from the House had enough authority to have his status changed."

Zishan rubbed the side of his head. "Maybe they thought I was going to die."

Ernest stared at him.

Zishan slowly lowered his hand and continued, "That sounded worse after I said it."

"Much worse," Elinox replied.

Ernest leaned back in his chair. "Do you remember anything about being sent to the Eastern Formation?"

"No. That’s one of the parts completely missing. I don’t remember who ordered me to be sent to the battlefield," Zishan replied.

"Did you volunteer?"

"That... I also don’t know."

"Did House Walker send you somehow at some point?"

Zishan shook his head. "You all already know I don’t remember anything..."

Ernest stopped questioning him after that. And he returned to the House registry. "There are several biological children listed here."

Zishan looked at the names again. "Those are my siblings?"

"Legally, they are," Ernest replied.

Zishan counted them. "So they’re legally my siblings. We’re just not related by blood."

Elinox nodded from the side. "Basically."

However, there was something wrong about it. Something about the arrangement started bothering him.

"But amongst all of us, why was I the one sent to war instead?"

Ernest’s eyes moved across the family registry before stopping on two of the names. "At least two of the Marquess’s biological sons were already of service age when you were deployed."