"Are you sure you want to fire him?" Edric asked, frowning.
"Yes," Logan responded simply, nodding.
"Wouldn't it be better to wait until we have proof on the others?" Silas interjected. "Otherwise, the other board members will put their full attention on clearing their own traces."
Logan sat down. He'd already considered that exact question when making his decision.
"In many cases, that would be the best option," Logan said, nodding slowly. "But not in this specific scenario."
"Sure, the other board members will be alerted by my actions," Logan started. "But nothing would really change, since they've mostly had their attention on clearing traces the minute I hired an external company."
Smiling, Logan continued. "Instead, firing one of them now might make them panic."
Looking at Silas, Logan watched his expression change from confused to clear in seconds.
"That panic might make them careless," he said, smiling.
"Correct," Logan smiled.
'The board members also aren't stupid,' Logan thought. 'If the investigation doesn't deliver results for a long time, they'll easily guess that I'm trying to get rid of all of them.'
"It might be for the best," Edric said, giving a slow nod. "Firing all the board members at once would also lead to more problems."
Logan nodded, taking another look through the papers.
'I need to know more about my family,' Logan thought, looking at the years of embezzlement. 'I don't understand how they didn't catch on to this.'
Thinking about it, Logan realized he didn't actually know anything about them at all.
'I've never even really thought about why I was a so-called orphan for so many years,' he thought. 'Outside their names, I don't... know anything.'
Snapping out of his thoughts, Logan refocused on the topic at hand and discussed his plans for the next day.
After planning it out in detail, Silas and Edric left him alone in his room.
'Tomorrow will be quite the day,' Logan thought, snapping the lid off one of his hydration bottles.
Looking at the system cooldown on the system panel, Logan sighed.
'I haven't gotten lucky with my draws the past few weeks,' he thought.
Throughout the six weeks, he'd only allowed himself to spend 10 million each time the system cooldown came off.
'And all I managed to get was a Gold Core lightning technique and some A-rank herbs,' Logan thought in frustration. 'From now on, I shouldn't use the system for anything under 100 million.'
Glaring at the three-day cooldown, Logan closed the system interface.
Walking to his bed, a small mechanical compartment raised out of the floor. Inside sat a single training manual that looked like it had been dragged through the mud countless times.
'I've almost got the first stage under control,' Logan thought, taking the manual.
Sitting down on a couch, Logan read through the final part which he'd struggled with.
'I've managed to spread my fire mana throughout my entire body except my brain,' Logan thought. 'According to the manual, actively keeping it inside my brain is the final step, with the result being increased reflexes.'
'But I just can't seem to keep it there,' he thought, remembering the last time he'd tried. 'A minute after the mana went through my brain, I felt a sharp sting. It broke my focus, and the mana slipped out right after.'
'It's like my body has some automatic protection set-up when mana reaches my brain.'
Thus, Logan decided to research every single page of the first stage once more, hoping to find a clue that would explain him how to turn it off.
'But where the hell could I find it?' Logan thought, scratching his head in irritation.
An hour flew by as Logan studied, until he finally headed to bed.
Like the day before, he had not been able to find anything useful inside the manual.
'I might just need to train it by trying time and time again,' he thought, crawling under the covers.
As the memories of today went through his head, Logan couldn't help but grin as he stared at the ceiling above him.
'Tomorrow will be an interesting day,' he thought.
The next day, Logan woke up early to get his daily training in. This time, neither Silas nor Edric were there to help him.
'Both of them are busy setting this up properly,' Logan thought, slashing his glaive down on a training dummy.
Finishing up his physical training for the day, Logan washed up and decided to prepare himself for the meeting he was going to give.
It didn't take long before he'd put on the brand-new suit which Edric had delivered to him a few days prior.
'Thank God Edric ordered some tailor-made suits for me,' Logan thought, looking at himself in the mirror.
Logan didn't get a lot of time to admire his looks. Hearing a knock on his door, he knew it was time to go.
"Good morning, Edric," Logan said, stepping out of his room.
"Good morning," Edric greeted, smiling a somewhat nervous smile. "Are you ready?"
"As ready as I can possibly be," Logan said.
'Today will be the first step to making this business earn more money,' he thought, smiling.
Entering a large meeting room, Logan noticed a total of 17 people present this time.
'Four board members from different locations managed to make it here in time,' Logan thought, satisfied.
Having reviewed a great deal over the past six weeks, he knew the Mercer family controlled three S-rank dungeons. All of these dungeons needed to be guarded by at least two S-ranks at all times.
'We have a total of 14 S-rankers within the company,' Logan thought. 'Six of whom are now in the room now.'
Logan glanced around the room as he sat down, searching for the target of today's meeting.
Spotting Harold, he subtly continued glancing at the rest of the board members without changing his expression.
When everyone got seated and silence fell, Logan opened the meeting.
"Good afternoon, everyone," Logan started, gaining everyone's attention. "Thank you for gathering here once again."
"Now, this meeting will be a little different from usual," he continued, flashing a small smile.
Everything remained silent until Logan put a few stacks of paper in front of him.
"Silas, would you mind?" Logan asked, gesturing at Silas who sat beside him.
Silas gave a small nod and used his wind affinity to slide a stack of papers to each board member around the table.