Havoc was indeed not the fat merchant. The fat merchant had never stepped foot onto this planet and had always been far more interested in increasing his wealth in other ways.
Havoc, however, wasn't afraid to stoop to any low to rise. The fat merchant had long since gotten used to his lavish lifestyle within the Fourth Dimension, he had no grand hopes of starting from the bottom of the Fifth Dimension and working his way all the way up again. The two were simply vastly different people.
One was as boisterous as possible while the other was quiet and reserved, laying in wait for the perfect chance to strike.
At first, Havoc didn't immediately recognize Leonel. Compared to the last time he had been seen, the difference was too great.
Leonel had matured by two years, firstly, making his jaw more defined, his back wider and his shoulders more broad. Beyond that, his hair was no longer long and its color, along with his eyes, were completely different.
For a person who had only seen Leonel once, it would have been easy to ignore the signs of familiarity and even possible to have even not connected the memories together at all. But, Havoc was different.
Compared to the others who had almost dead eyes as they scanned their monitors, his had always been like that of a hawk's, scanning through every detail with a meticulous tediousness that others wouldn't care to suffer through.
It took a while, but Havoc finally remembered.
Years ago, he had taken some work on Terrain. Unlike the fat merchant who frequented that world to begin with, Havoc had been there because that was where his research led.
Terrain was a world exceptionally close to Earth and there had been a more than 90% likelihood that when Earth opened its doors for trade, Terrain would be the first it gravitated toward.
Havoc refused to allow lucky bastards like the fat merchant, without foresight and forethinking, to benefit from something like this. So, he had begun plans to carve out a foothold for himself.
Unfortunately, because of the suspicious nature of all his covert actions, he had been flagged by Shield Cross Stars a lot like Leonel had been. But while Leonel managed to have his erased in just a few weeks, Havoc still bore his mark to this day, something that enraged him to no end.
Due to this mark, he had to delay a lot of his plans and could only barely get this job.
That aside, he ended up getting swept up into the war not much unlike many others who had come from different planets and had thus seen the projection of Leonel's wanted poster.
Until this point, Havoc had simply stored this at the back of his mind. Though the reward was exceptionally handsome, it didn't matter if he couldn't find or locate Leonel for himself.
But as time passed, Havoc began to notice something odd.
Outside of that time on Earth, he had never seen a single wanted poster for Leonel. This was odd, especially since Leonel was supposedly a Tier 4 Fugitive. Shield Cross Stars should be doing everything in their power to find him, especially since he should be the only criminal of that caliber in the Milky Way. There was no excuse for him to have been ignored for so long.
That was when Havoc's senses went off. There was something not quite right about all of this.
So, he began to monitor Earth as well. In the last few years, Earth, having entered the Fourth Dimension, began to open itself up to forms of trade and communication with the outside world, making this task far easier.
And, as expected… Earth didn't even receive a warning for destroying a ship of Shield Cross Stars and neither was Emperor Fawkes placed on a wanted list either.
This made even less sense than Leonel's wanted posters not having been placed anywhere. It just didn't make any sense.
However… Havoc had an advantage others hadn't. During his stay on Terrain, he became quite familiar with the merchants that frequented the small planet. With how meticulous he was, how could he not take the time to know his enemy?
After realizing that something was wrong, Havoc began to reach out to them. Using tactics that were sometimes covert and sometimes even overt to the point of threats, he managed to piece together a narrative that he was fairly certain was true.
Firstly, the charges levied against Leonel were, in all likelihood, false.
Secondly, the true perpetrators were the Cities of Terrain.
Thirdly, for Shield Cross Stars to neglect this, and given their odd actions in detaining him when he hadn't done anything wrong, likely meant that the Cities and Shield Cross Stars were in cahoots.
Fourthly, for them to take this path instead of countless others they could have, this meant that Leonel's background was most definitely not simple. It was difficult to tell if these were connections he had through his grandfather – since Emperor Fawkes remained untouched as well – or if they were ones he had alone. Either way, it didn't particularly matter.
And fifthly, if he could learn all of this, he was certain that Shield Cross Stars could as well. But they hadn't either because they didn't care to, didn't want to, or very few of them were aware of this matter to begin with.
From Havoc's understanding, it was definitely a combination of all three.
This meant something quite simple. He would be a fool if he simply ran out of this room, shouting at the top of his lungs that he had found a wanted criminal. Even if he got some immediate gratification and even a large part of the reward, his life wouldn't last very long afterward.
But, there was one piece of information he had been holding close to his heart. As cautious as he had been with everything else, he had been even more cautious with this one.
That Mistress Heira of the Keafir family had disappeared that day according to the information he had gathered. But, what was more important was her full name now that her marriage would no longer happen.
Heira Ovilteen.