Rhodes began his investigation with the guild's photo albums.
Since Mira said Mest had joined the guild a long time ago, even if there weren't any individual photos of him, he should at least appear in some of the group photos, right?
Rhodes himself had a few photos featured in the guild albums, like the one taken during the Harvest Festival.
However, after flipping through the entire album, Rhodes didn't find a single photo of Mest.
Even the art collections that Reedus had placed in the library had no trace of Mest.
Was this person really as mysterious as Mystogan?
Although the possibility was small, it wasn't entirely unlikely. After all, even when asking Mira, Cana, and Elfman, they all couldn't clearly explain anything about Mest.
It seemed that if Rhodes wanted to understand Mest, he would have to check the past mission records. However...
Since Rhodes had assisted Mira in organizing mission records before, he knew just how many missions were completed each month and could imagine how terrifyingly large the yearly record collection must be.
Just thinking about the mountain of data gave Rhodes a headache.
"I'd also have to borrow a pair of Wind Reading glasses... but Levy doesn't seem to be here today."
Levy had recently been taking on a lot of individual missions—although she wasn't confident, she still wanted to give it a shot when the opportunity presented itself.
There were few like Rhodes who hadn't cared about S-Class from the beginning.
"The 'Guild Members Registry'? That could work. At least I can find out what year Mest joined the guild, which could help narrow down the search."
The first name in the registry was Master Makarov, followed by Porlyusica, then Gildarts, Macao, Wakaba—old-timers, all of them.
The names were listed in the order members had joined the guild. Except for the First Guild Master Mavis, the record didn't include any deceased or retired members.
Rhodes reasonably suspected there was another book in the guild that recorded all members throughout its history.
He carefully flipped through each page, starting from the beginning, and then again backward from the end—still no trace of Mest's name.
"No way..."
Rhodes, clutching the registry, went to find the Master, wanting to get some answers.
Makarov frowned slightly, sensing something wasn't right. "Mest? Of course, he's a member of our guild. Why are you asking?"
"Because his name isn't in the registry, and there's no trace of him in the guild photo album or the art collections." Rhodes flipped to the last page, pointing to his own name. "Even my name is listed here, which means the registry has been updated recently. If he's an old member from years ago, there's no way he was just forgotten."
Makarov felt a bit troubled. Mest not being in the photo album was intentional since any photos of him had been put away.
As for the registry, it was a book connected with living magic. When the guild mark on someone's body disappeared, so did their name from the registry.
Mest's original guild mark had been temporarily erased to work undercover, so naturally, his name vanished from the registry.
Although his undercover work wasn't under his real name, all possible measures had been taken to keep it secure.
That way, when the registry was shown to the Magic Council for regular guild personnel audits, nothing would seem amiss—the original intention behind creating the book was precisely to deal with those audits.
He hadn't expected Rhodes to come across it at a time like this.
Makarov sighed. "Why the sudden interest in investigating Mest?"
"Because I'm going to be Cana's partner. Isn't it normal to investigate your opponents before an exam?" Rhodes said. "You know my methods."
"..." Makarov nodded.
Indeed, this child wouldn't even take on a simple mission leaving Magnolia without first researching the area thoroughly—let alone something as important as the S-Class exam.
Being cautious was definitely a good thing, but at a time like this... even Makarov hadn't thought of such details.
Should he temporarily restore Mest's guild mark? But that guy might be in the middle of a report to the Council or something—this would be selling him out!
"Ahem..." Makarov thought for a moment and said, "I have some photos of Mest. He rarely takes pictures, so I kept them for safekeeping. As for the registry... it must have been a mistake during transcription."
Rhodes stared at him, his expression seemingly asking, Do I look like an idiot to you?
Making extra copies of photos wasn't that hard, and something as important as the guild registry couldn't just be overlooked.
"Could you at least pull up a few of Mest's mission records for me? I mean the normal, non-confidential missions—surely there must be something?" Rhodes pressed on.
"At this stage, all of his missions are indeed confidential." Makarov felt a bit uncomfortable being scrutinized by Rhodes—lying to his own guild member...
Wait, he wasn't actually lying! "Anyway, there's no need to doubt Mest's status as a guild member."
"Well..." Rhodes suddenly paused. "Hold on a moment."
He took a few steps back, scanning the guild hall: "Erza, could you come over for a moment?"
"Hm?" Erza approached. "What's the matter?"
Not far away, Mira also hurried over, curious. It felt like she'd missed some big gossip in the time it took to serve a plate of food.
"Erza, stand here in front of us and be ready for combat. Mira, you step back a bit—here, stand behind her." Rhodes pulled Mira behind Erza.
Erza looked puzzled. "Combat? Against whom?"
Makarov looked helplessly at him. "What is all this?"
Rhodes hunched down, pressing Mira's head gently to get her to lower herself a bit too.
Mira slapped his hand away but felt like something amusing was about to happen, so she still played along, hiding behind him.
Rhodes cautiously asked, "Master, is there any kind of magic in this world capable of controlling your mind?"
Makarov's forehead veins throbbed. So this kid suspected he was being controlled!
Calling Erza over was just in case he lost control and went berserk, wasn't it—to have someone strong enough to handle him?
Maintaining such caution even in a situation like this, Makarov didn't know whether to feel proud or annoyed.
"Hahaha..." Mira clutched her stomach, laughing uncontrollably. She didn't know what had transpired, but Rhodes had somehow arrived at this serious conclusion.
He even anticipated the possibility that the Master might attack them if his cover was blown.
This was just too funny!
"Has the Master been controlled? Are you certain?" Erza opened her right hand, and a longsword appeared in her grasp. She was genuinely ready to protect Rhodes and Mira at any moment.
Makarov sighed helplessly. "Mental magic works in such a way that if the target becomes aware they are being influenced, they can easily resist it.
Unless the caster's magic power far exceeds mine, making it completely overwhelming."
"..." Erza lowered her sword—yeah, that didn't seem very likely.
Besides, if someone with magic power far above the Master wanted to target them, there'd be no point in resisting.
Rhodes thought for a moment. "Then..."
Makarov gave him a look. "Don't tell me you're about to ask about memory-altering magic?"
Rhodes nodded.
"In theory, memory magic can indeed affect those with far greater magic power. However, if you become aware that you might be under such magic, it can also be easily broken.
I've already checked myself and haven't been subjected to anything like that. Are you satisfied now?"
Makarov glared at the brat hiding behind Erza, itching to smack him.
After he finished speaking, Mira and Erza paused. "Master, I..."
Makarov raised a hand to stop them from continuing.
He gave Rhodes a stern look, jumped down from the counter, and turned his back, saying, "Follow me."