"Don't take it so personally. Gotoh isn't unaware of his own position. It's not as if he expected to end up fighting the Troupe here either."
At Zeno's words, Silva stopped unconsciously tapping his fingers against his folded arms. His expression had remained hidden, but perhaps his body had given away the slightest hint.
"My apologies, Father. He is your personal butler, after all. I overreacted."
It seemed seeing one useful tool lose a tooth had irritated him more than he realized.
"Didn't we decide to grant him a certain degree of freedom? To guarantee him at least as much freedom as Tsubone has. Stripping that away just because an accident occurred would be cruel."
"Yes. We did."
I hadn't expected him to be satisfied with so little, though.
Gotoh's existence was anomalous.
That held true even within the Zoldyck Family, where being extraordinary was hardly unusual.
He could fully draw upon two affinity types, possessed an aura pool that easily surpassed most Nen users, and developed Hatsu at an unrivaled pace.
Of course, his overall combat strength still fell short of Silva's or Zeno's, and when he encountered someone truly formidable, he could be handled as easily as he had been this time.
Even so, Gotoh displayed more than one could expect from a mere butler.
Not merely in skill, but in attitude as well.
If not for that attitude, they would have tortured the secret of resurrection out of him, imprisoned him, and made him Nanika's eternal food.
"There weren't any other Nen users nearby during the battle, were there?"
It would be troublesome if Gotoh's resurrection ability became publicly known.
According to Gotoh, it differed from post-mortem Nen: it carried numerous restrictions and would not activate unless its conditions were met.
Perhaps concealing the restrictions was itself a restriction. He had disclosed only two to them.
- For every person who knows of this Hatsu, the number of lives that can be saved decreases by one.
- He cannot resurrect from a death he did not perceive himself.
There were already four people who knew about Gotoh's [Reviving Plumber]: Maha Zoldyck, Zeno, Silva, and Illumi.
If this ability leaked outside, it would be no different from him having no ability at all.
Because of the second restriction, they had needed to tell even Maha Zoldyck and Zeno in order to train him. If he had possessed plenty of lives to begin with, they would have planned to tell the family anyway, but...
Illumi was excluded, as he had been the first witness to Gotoh's resurrection. The butlers who had witnessed it alongside him had all been killed, resetting the count.
But what if this led someone to track him down, permanently eliminating resurrection as an advantage?
They would lose one means of safely controlling Alluka. Was it any wonder Silva was anxious?
Yet Zeno seemed to think there was no need to worry.
"If there had been anyone, they would have been caught up in the fight and died. Every one of Gotoh's techniques is well suited to turning the surrounding area into a wasteland. And he said his opponent was an Enhancer. Just imagine how thoroughly devastated the site must be after a battle with someone powerful enough to give him trouble..."
Apparently able to picture it, Zeno concluded that only the people cleaning it up would suffer.
That was true.
His focus had narrowed because Gotoh had lost one life, but on reflection, Zeno's reasoning was sound.
If there had truly been a problem, Gotoh would have reported it directly earlier.
"I was overly sensitive. Thank you, Father."
Zeno waved a hand as though it were nothing.
"We're working right now. Clear your head of distractions before we go. We're professionals, aren't we?"
He was right.
Letting oneself be distracted by unrelated matters while working was not the Zoldyck way.
Silva put his thoughts of Gotoh in order.
Yes. He was bound to their family anyway.
**
Ah, should I just leave the Zoldyck Family?
The more I think about it, the less this seems like a place I can remain once old man Zeno reaches the end of his life. Even taking the optimistic view, Silva is the furthest the line of normalcy extends.
But look at the line of household heads after him.
Illumi, Killua, or Kalluto.
The worst, the best, or a total unknown.
Still, no matter how I look at it, Killua will probably completely ditch the Zoldyck Family to follow Gon, and Kalluto probably joined the Troupe around the Chimera Ant arc, so he won't live long.
That leaves Illumi, doesn't it? I'm fucked, aren't I?
I can vividly picture him sticking needles into the butlers' heads and ruling them with an iron fist.
No, no. This bastard stuck needles in Killua too, didn't he?
Seeing how he pulls that shit on his own family, he won't just stick needles into butlers—he'll stick them into all humanity. I underestimated that Illumi-fucking bastard.
If I don't want to see an ending that idiotic, then I really do need to make a break from the Zoldyck Family at the right time.
But not yet.
Because Hisoka is still alive out there.
Until the event where Hisoka kills every member of the Troupe happens, outside is more dangerous.
I may be a beaten-up butler, but there are monsters roaming around outside, you know.
Rather than worrying about whether I'll die today or tomorrow, I should swallow the poisonous soup and plan for tomorrow.
Why am I suddenly thinking this way?
To be honest, Silva gave me one brief glare, and it scared the shit out of me. He was seriously fucking terrifying.
Normally, I don't have much reason to see him, and unless it involves his children or Alluka, he doesn't meddle with me at all.
But the head of the family is still the head of the family.
There was a reason old man Zeno passed the position on despite being insanely skilled.
I hadn't remembered that old man Zeno and the family head had come here, but I had never seen Chrollo die in the original story, so I can guess what happens.
Illumi will probably kill the Ten Dons, the mafia bosses, first and make the contract cease to exist.
Normally, you might wonder why they'd accept two contracts that clash like this, but think about it from the Zoldyck perspective.
This is a goddamn jackpot.
They get paid by both sides while only needing to fulfill one contract. That's one hell of a profitable business.
As expected, the Zoldycks never take a losing deal.
But I took a massive fucking loss.
Fuck, this is bullshit.
How much did I lose? Even rough calculations put me ten billion zeni in the red, and if I count the loose change, it might add another million zeni.
"How did you suck up more money than that clown bastard?"
I should've run into that guy from the same Emitter class who shoots bullets from his fingers instead. I feel like I could've robbed him blind without much trouble.
Of course, even fighting him would cost me money since I'd have to block bullets with coins, but once you've lost ten billion, you naturally start hoping it'll stop at around one billion.
I really shouldn't fight characters from the original story.
In that sense, my decision to come to the airport now was extremely wise.
There was no chance of meeting any original characters with protagonist-level importance here.
All I had to do was see the mafia daughter board a plane with her bodyguards.
Then I could return to the Zoldyck Family.
That was all it was supposed to take, but...
Where the hell did her bodyguards go? Why is she alone?
Today is September 3rd, the very day after I fought Uvogin.
I had died and come back overnight, then met with my two masters, so I was a little late. I finally found the person I was supposed to guard, only for those guard bastards to be nowhere in sight.
Could they be any more fucking incompetent?
It's not like they're fighting the Troupe. They can't even manage to follow one girl around?
It makes me incredibly angry that those bastards can do such a shitty job and still have positive bank balances.
I lost ten billion fucking zeni, so why are you people earning money?
Still, if I go looking for the security detail, I might lose the girl. I'll follow her for now.
Going off the rails isn't good, young lady. Let's get you home.
Sure, traveling wherever the mood takes you can be nice, but I want to get off work too, you know?
How about we satisfy each other's interests just a little?
Whoa, Miss Neon. Why are you trying to go outside? You can't do that.
You can do whatever you like inside the airport, but could you please not head out into the hellhole that is Yorknew City? I'm begging you.
This won't do. I'll just grab her and find the other guards to hand her over to. If she goes outside, this becomes way too troublesome.
Besides, this mafia daughter stands out far too much. Even by this world's standards, she's pretty.
Look at her now. Some guy is coming over to hit on her. Judging by that unfashionable thing wrapped around his forehead, he has no sense of style.
Still, he is handsome. But if he learns she's a mafia boss's daughter, he'll probably shit himself.
Can't be helped. I refuse to let this job get complicated.
"Miss, there you are."
"Huh? Who are you, mister?"
Right. You don't know me. It's not like Kurapika would have told you about me, and I was mainly assigned to monitor the situation from afar, so you probably never saw me in person.
But I am a perfectly decent surveillant. You need to trust me.
"My name is Gotoh. I was assigned to protect you only for the duration of this auction. I was hired through Kurapika."
"Ehh? Kurapika did? Ugh, I really wanted to go to the auction!"
No, you spoiled little brat.
I can't postpone getting off work just to indulge one of your whims.
"Excuse me for a moment."
Then the man trying to seduce Neon suddenly stepped in and blocked my path.
What the hell is with this guy? Is he the type whose entire body gets taken over by his need to look cool in front of women?
"What proof is there that you're this child's bodyguard? From the looks of it, she doesn't even know who you are."
What kind of fucking logical-sounding bullshit is that? I just said I was hired by someone she knows.
I deliberately put on an utterly fed-up expression. You absurdly handsome bastard, could you go hit on someone else?
But he did not appear willing to back off so easily.
"You could have heard the name Kurapika from someone else. That can't count as proof."
"Ah! That's true! You're right!"
And why are you so shocked? I'm on your fucking side.
Whether Neon was genuinely empty-headed or simply didn't want to be dragged away by me, she was openly taking the side of a man whose identity she knew nothing about.
Mr. Boss of the Nostrad Family, you have my deepest sympathies.
How exactly did you raise a daughter like this?
Then again, maybe she turned out this way because you neglected her upbringing while busy committing crimes.
You probably deserve every bit of karmic payback you're getting.
I just don't know why it's reaching me too.
"I have no means of proving it, but if you wish, I can accompany you to where your father is."
If you really can't trust me, let's go see your dad. That should verify it, right?
But then my job ends there rather than at the airport.
"I don't want to... I can't trust you, mister!"
Yet Neon clung tightly to the man's arm and showed no intention of letting go.
That bastard isn't trustworthy either. How can you trust someone just because of his face? The man spoke with an openly smug expression.
"That's what she says."
What a fucking mess. If it weren't for work, I'd just let her do whatever and go home.
But why does this woman-crazy bastard's face look so familiar?
Is he some celebrity who appears on television? I feel like I've seen him somewhere. He certainly has the kind of face you'd put on a billboard.
But what is this unsettling feeling?
Should I use a little Nen?
Huh? What the hell?
His aura is fucking intense.
No, the density I can see is completely fucking absurd.
He's definitely Troupe-level...
Ah, fuck.
"I don't know who you are, mister, but I can't let a suspicious person approach a lady. I'm taking this girl on a date. If you follow us, I'll report you."
"Eek! So cool!"
Neon.
I think we're fucked.
This bastard is Chrollo.
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