Immediately upon returning to his office, Charles requested a comprehensive background report on Benjamin Nystrom.
That afternoon, Calix and Felix Hunter returned to the palace with the report in hand. They were soldiers of the First Guards and they were also a part of the five guards who were a part of Charles's inner circle. But, their bond went much deeper than duty.
The Hunter family had served Isadoran royalty for generations, and the twins had grown up alongside Charles, becoming his closest friends and most trusted confidants.
"Charles, this is the report." Felix said, handing over a slender file with a puzzled expression.
Charles opened the folder. He found only a single sheet of paper. The report, dated five years ago, was almost blank. It included Benjamin's full name, birth date, birth place, and "Orphan" was written where a lineage should be. His secondary trait was listed as Unknown.
"He has an AA license," Charles noted, his eyes narrowing at the medical license number. "You wouldn't expect that. He's far too young."
"We saw that too," Felix said. "It takes years of experience to even apply. He must be pretty bright."
While local licenses started with prefixes like IS (Isadora), XE (Xenos), ZE (Zephyr), AR (Arcadia) and were valid for ten years, AA licenses from the Andromedus Medical Authority, the foremost medical body in the empire, were rare. They allowed one to practice anywhere in the empire and were valid for only five years.
Charles flipped to the travel log. It noted Benjamin's exit to Xenos twelve years ago and his return to Isadora this year. The twelve years in between, the years that should have contained his doctorate, his residency and work experience, were missing.
"Why is there only one page to this report? Where's the rest?" Charles asked, flipping the paper over to search for additional text, but finding only a blank page. "Did you contact the Imperial Censor Division to verify this report?"
"I did," Felix said, his frustration evident. "According to them, his entire record is marked as A.O.T."
An A.O.T., an Act of Tempest. Legally, it was an "act of god," a designation used when records were accidentally destroyed due to unforeseen circumstances and incidents.
"They were incredibly dismissive," Felix continued. "They claimed Benjamin was part of a batch of AA applicants whose files were caught in a climatic event upon return of the original records. They couldn't tell us where or when. They just said previous records couldn't be retrieved. The records were also noted to be insignificant."
"Something is definitely fishy," Calix chimed in. "We checked the Imperial Archives for backups of their records or a disaster log. They have no backups of the records and no disaster log."
Charles leaned back. "To lose a batch of files for AA applicants and not document the disaster? In this day and age, it's unheard of. That's definitely not some accident."
Such a loss might occur once in a while to a single, stray file, especially when the transport of original documentation was required. But, to have a batch of records, especially of those with high-credentials, vanish without a single disaster log to report the incident was unheard of.
"I think we should cross-reference the other A.O.T. files from that period," Charles said, his mind already working through the logistics. "If we narrow the search to doctors who were applying for or renewing an AA license that year, we might find out what's going on."
"AA licenses are rare enough that we'd only be looking at a hundred or so records for that time frame," Felix noted, though his expression remained wary. "The difficulty is the access. We would have to petition the Andromedus Medical Authority directly. The AMA is quite bureaucratic. A request like this could take weeks."
"Then let's get to it," Charles replied firmly. "If a formal written request is required, I'll sign it."
"Charles," Calix warned, "if we push the AMA, we're stepping past Isadoran jurisdiction and straight into the Empire's. Are you certain you want to get involved in something like that?"
Charles leaned forward, his brows furrowed in deep thought. "Let's see if we can even get our foot in the door first."