One Week Later
-
Conrad sat at the head of the table and took a sip from his beer. After looking once at Adarte, Anisa, Reginald, and Lina, he nodded.
"Yes... one week has passed. Tell me about the information you gathered."
After Conrad finished speaking, Anisa pulled a piece of paper from her bag and began to speak.
More than reading from it, she was simply glancing at it to refresh her memory.
"We identified three Mafia families as targets. While choosing them, we also shared information with Reginald and Lina," Anisa said.
"These three families are, respectively, the Polunt family, the Rebmast family, and finally the Quarmir family."
"Each of them is highly suitable for our plans..."
Conrad nodded, and Anisa continued.
"The Polunt family was founded in Yorknew City and currently controls the largest human trafficking operation. According to the information we gathered, they control around 30% of the prostitution and trafficking sector. At the same time, they own many legal businesses such as buildings, hotels, cafes, and similar establishments."
"Their net worth is easily over 30 billion, Jenny."
Conrad took a deep breath and tapped the table several times.
"Naturally, a mafia family involved in trafficking on that scale probably doesn't care about consent. In general, they deserve to be wiped out."
Anisa nodded, though a strange and sorrowful expression appeared on her face. Conrad believed that expression came less from pity for the women and more from a personal memory. Still, asking about it or trying to learn more would not have been logical.
Everyone could have different and unpleasant memories in their past, and such memories should only surface according to the person's own wishes.
"The Rebmast family mainly manages groups of hired killers. Most of their business comes from sending armed men wherever they are needed. According to confidential information, many of these men were kidnapped as children and raised that way. At the very least, they possess assets and cash worth around 30 billion, Jenny."
Conrad shook his head from side to side, his face expressionless as he responded.
"Child kidnappers... and murderers... another fine target."
"And the Quarmir family?"
Anisa lightly touched her forehead, took a sip of her beer, and began speaking again.
"The Quarmir family is a little stranger compared to the others, and gathering information on them was more difficult..."
"As far as I understand, they make most of their profits from three narcotics: R30, R50, and R70. It doesn't matter whether the customer is a child, a woman, or a man..."
"At the same time, they cooperate with people such as orphanage staff and teachers to identify which students or individuals are vulnerable to drugs or likely to need them..."
"They have an overall net worth of around 50 billion, Jenny..."
Conrad smiled faintly and nodded.
"Yes... judging by these results, our targets are clear."
"What did you learn about the underground Mafia auction?"
This time, Lina began to speak.
"There isn't much important information. We only know that the Ten Dons control it, that extremely valuable goods will be present, and that mafia families from all over the world will attend."
Conrad took a deep breath and began thinking.
In truth, such matters did not hold much value for Conrad personally. However, being informed about these topics was far better than remaining ignorant, and keeping himself knowledgeable was important to him.
"There isn't much time left..." he thought to himself.
Conrad considered things for a moment before speaking again.
"We can assume that each of these three families employs at least one or two Nen users. From that perspective, this mission will also serve as a kind of training for all of you."
"Naturally, I will be operating alone during this mission."
"There are three families... Reginald and Lina, you two will destroy the Polunt family and seize all of their assets and property. This doesn't only mean killing them. You will also officially transfer their legal businesses to the three companies I established last week."
"These are 'Seeker Company,' 'The Hold,' and finally, 'The Voyage.'"
"In the later there will be just one, but it is like this for the time being."
Conrad then turned toward Anisa and Adarte and smiled.
"The same applies to the two of you. The people you'll deal with are the Rebmast family."
Reginald and Lina looked at each other and smiled. Adarte leaned back in his chair and grinned. At the same time, Anisa could not help but think to herself.
Rather than being assigned the Rebmast family, she would have preferred destroying the Polunt family. However, voicing such a request would raise certain questions. Even though she trusted her teammates, she preferred to keep her personal past to herself.
Because of that, she said nothing more.
Adarte straightened himself, tilted his head back, and emptied his beer in a single gulp before responding.
"For some reason, this reminds me of our first missions. It's been quite a long time since the Herivo family."
Reginald and Lina looked at each other.
"Hmm... unexpected. I didn't know the Herivo family incident was because of you," Reginald said with a smile.
Adarte scratched his head and smiled helplessly.
"I thought I had already told you... Sorry about that."
Reginald smiled and shook his head, showing that it was not a problem.
"As for me, I'll personally deal with the Quarmir family. The mission begins tomorrow evening."
-
After Conrad announced the date the mission would begin, the group dispersed to focus on their own matters and spend the rest of the evening as they pleased.
At that moment, after being left alone, Conrad slowly raised his hand and whispered.
"Black Ring..."
Along with his whisper, black Nen slowly began to appear, and two seconds later, white words and numbers manifested upon it.
"Black Ring Individuals – '5'"
"Black Ring Total Stored—'5''"
Conrad smiled.
"Within one week of using the new ability, five more people have become Black Ring individuals..."
Conrad returned to his hotel, entered his room, and, after ordering himself a fine meal, sat down at his table and looked at the clock.
The moment it passed exactly midnight, the Black Ring faintly glowed, and Conrad felt an amount of nen enter his body so small that he would not have noticed it if he did not know the exact timing beforehand.
"Yes... the ability is working. Even if the combined 0.005 nen aura gathered from five humans means absolutely nothing to me, at least I can see and feel that it works..."