Honestly, Uvogin had been a waste of talent.
That was excessively high praise for a motherfucker who had cost me one of my lives, but he really was that good.
Durable enough to withstand a one-billion-zeni Explosion. Powerful enough to blow a person’s head off with a single ordinary punch. Animal instincts, plus tenacious vitality.
If someone told me to assemble a raid party to take down Meruem, Uvogin would absolutely be on it.
Didn’t I have comparable firepower?
Mine cost a fucking fortune. And since I was hopeless at defense, I had to worry about dying every time I used it.
Enhancement-type Hatsu were great for raising damage, but their safety measures had been completely thrown out with the rice. Having to worry about getting killed by my own technique was a problem.
The entire category was basically: “Defense? Figure that out yourself.”
Still, taking down the strongest spear the Phantom Troupe boasted was huge. I could be a little more confident about surviving from now on.
That didn’t mean I wanted to face off against the Phantom Troupe’s leader, though.
"Silva and I received a request from the mafia. They want us to eliminate the Phantom Troupe, which has infiltrated the underground auction house. It seems they’ve hired a large number of other assassins as well… but they’ll all be riffraff."
"I don’t think there’s anything I can help with."
How was I supposed to squeeze myself into a boss fight that Silva and Zeno had to raid together?
I couldn’t even properly take down one of that guy’s subordinates.
By my standards, Uvogin had won.
Even an Explosion squeezed to its absolute limit at full power hadn’t been able to break through him, while I couldn’t endure the aftereffects of the attack I’d launched prepared to die alongside him.
I was merely the one who survived.
If we fought again now, knowing each other’s techniques, I couldn’t win even if I spent all three of my remaining lives.
And they wanted someone like me to support them in a battle against Chrollo? That’s a no-no.
I casually showed Zeno my wrist, making it clear that I was already in no condition to give it my all.
"What, you’ve already died once? That must’ve cost you a monstrous amount of money. Who did you fight?"
"Number Eleven of the Troupe. An Enhancer."
"That was a losing deal. Why didn’t you run?"
"He was too fast for that."
At my answer, Zeno rubbed his chin and sank into thought.
"Silva, how about we handle this job ourselves and have Gotoh keep watch around the area? Looking at him, it seems like he’d get caught up in it and die if he came along."
"Gotoh. Can you spread En for about a hundred meters?"
I could manage that much.
"Yes, I can."
"Then if anything happens, stand watch somewhere away from the battlefield. My father and I will handle the request."
"Understood."
I bowed my head to indicate my obedience. At least they weren’t sending me out there to die.
But hadn’t they said over the phone that Illumi had come along too? Why were there only two of them?
Not that I was complaining. It was easier on me if Illumi wasn’t around.
Still, I was a butler, so I ought to ask.
"Is Master Illumi not with you?"
"He accepted another request. An assassination contract for the Ten Dons. Kalluto and the old man went there as well."
So two requests had overlapped in one place.
But if the request came from the mafia, weren’t the Ten Dons the clients of these two? The Ten Dons were an assembly of mafia bosses. They would make all the decisions there, too.
"So if one side completes their request first, the other request is canceled. Well, strictly speaking, the Phantom Troupe’s leader didn’t make a direct request, but their objective is to keep the Phantom Troupe’s leader alive."
I see. So that was it.
It seemed Chrollo knew he’d be fucked if things continued like this, so he had Hisoka deliver the request to Illumi.
They really were struggling desperately to survive too.
What kind of world was this, where even someone as skilled as Chrollo could die if he let his guard down?
I was newly grateful that my encounter with Uvogin had only cost me one life. If even one more member of the Troupe had been there, I would’ve lost my entire stack and died.
Since Mario Coin was a game-inspired life stack, there was a period of invincibility immediately after resurrection. But during that time, I was also in a state of Zetsu and couldn’t use Nen.
Those guys were more than capable of turning the area around me into a place where I was guaranteed to die during that window.
The Phantom Troupe really weren’t people you wanted as enemies.
"By the way, are you finished with all your business here?"
Old Man Zeno asked me while gauging Silva’s reaction. Silva didn’t look to be in a very good mood. He had nodded when I said I could use En for about a hundred meters earlier, but his aura had been surging. I’d better answer fucking promptly.
"My official duties are finished. The additional duties of courtesy will also end once I reach the airport tomorrow. But if you need me, I will remain here."
My protection of Neon, the mafia boss’s daughter, had only extended to the vicinity of the auction house. But if I gave it a little leeway, I could escort her to the airport. Naturally, I couldn’t go if these gentlemen didn’t permit it.
Still, I brought it up.
I figured Old Man Zeno would understand what I wanted.
"Then take that girl to the airport, and you get on a plane right away and return to the mountain ahead of us. I can use En out to three hundred meters, so don’t worry about that. A job should be finished cleanly."
"Understood."
I answered twice as fast as before. The difference between 0.1 seconds and 0.05 seconds showed the difference in my attitude.
As expected of Old Man Zeno. His mindset was fucking professional, and he treated his subordinates well.
Maybe not Canary, but that was just because she didn’t have enough seniority yet. Things would change once she got past the trainee stage.
I’d be home by tomorrow. Fuck, that felt good.
Could I really be this happy?
It would take five to ten years of collecting a salary to make up for the life I’d lost, but if I helped Kalluto with his personal assignments and played the game I had a bet on with Miluki, I could fill one stack within two years.
And it would go even faster if I got permission to pocket some change while running snack errands for the old man.
It was hard for a salaried worker to save ten billion zeni. Except for cases like Kurapika, nobody would hire a butler directly.
That was why this opportunity had actually been precious, but I ended up taking losses several times greater than any profit.
There was some money in a borrowed-name account set aside for donations to Meteor City, but if I withdrew and used that, it would still be treated as a donation, so it couldn’t count toward the price of a life.
Come to think of it, every member of the Phantom Troupe was from Meteor City, wasn’t they?
I might have been diligently doing charity work in the hometown of my own death flags.
Looking at it that way, I’d tripped myself up. What a fucking idiot I was.
Now that I had Zeno’s permission, I swiftly vanished from the two men’s sight.
It didn’t seem like a good idea to keep lingering around Silva right now.
Well, his family’s spare life had gone and casually lost one of its necks, so of course he wouldn’t be pleased.
To this family, I was armor meant for Alluka.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register