"If there isn't a second manga artist named Roy, then that should be me."
Roy spoke with a faint smile and a gentle tone.
The moment Roy acknowledged his identity, Milluki became even more excited. Somehow, he whipped out a pen from nowhere and blurted out incoherently, "Then, Roy-sensei, could you give me your autograph? I'm one of your loyal fans, and I'm also the chairman of the Kukuroo Mountain Fan Club!"
"Hey, hey! Since when did our Zoldyck family at Kukuroo Mountain have a fan club???" Killua cut in on the spot. There were so many things to complain about that he did not even know where to start.
The chubby second brother shot Killua a sidelong glance and said, "Just because you don't know about it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I'm the chairman, and Canary is the vice chairman…"
"Nani?! Canary is your vice chairman? What the hell happened?!"
"What's so strange about that? I saw you give Canary your skateboard, so I gave her a few manga volumes, and then she became my vice chairman."
Killua's teeth started aching from anger.
Roy took Milluki's pen and was just about to sign for him when he suddenly saw the chubby second brother lift up his shirt and expose his soft, pale belly.
"Excuse me, Roy-sensei, could you sign it on me?" Milluki looked at Roy with a face full of expectation.
Gon: "..."
Was this really Killua's older brother? He felt so weird.
Leorio: "..."
What kind of person was I just fighting with?!
Killua: "..."
This was way too embarrassing, seriously!!!
Especially in front of Roy, Gon, and the others, in public no less. Was being a member of the Zoldyck family supposed to mean showing off your stomach?!
Seeing Killua wear an expression so twisted he looked constipated, even Roy's mouth twitched. Looking at Milluki's little belly, Roy suddenly felt the pen in his hand weigh a thousand tons.
Sure enough, Zeno had not been wrong at all. Milluki really was very smart, but he was also way too jumpy and completely off the rails. It looked like Roy would have to train him properly in the future.
After struggling for a long time, Roy ultimately still could not bring himself to do it.
Not wanting to hurt Milluki's feelings, Roy suddenly had an idea and said, "I've got something to do tonight. Want to come with us?"
"Nani? That guy's coming with us?" Killua was the first to explode. "Roy, are you sure he won't just get in the way?"
"You're the one who gets in the way!" Milluki glared furiously. "I'm your older brother, you know!"
"Heh, an older brother who's fat as a pig."
At home, Killua usually just called Milluki a fat pig.
"You wanna fight, Killua?!"
"Bring it on! You think I'm scared of you?!"
"I just finished developing a new explosive. Want to help me test how strong it is?!"
"Come on, come on, you're brothers. Why are you two always like this?" Gon hurriedly stepped in to smooth things over.
"Who's his brother?!"
"I'm not his brother!!!"
Killua and Milluki shouted in perfect unison.
Roy pressed a hand to his forehead, and Leorio, standing nearby, was completely dumbfounded too.
Sure enough, the closer one got to the real members of the Zoldyck family, the more the legends surrounding them fell apart.
Legends really were unreliable. Seeing things with your own eyes was what mattered.
That was Leorio's truest feeling at that moment.
In the end, after all the commotion, Roy still brought Milluki along.
So Killua's huge cat eyes and utterly unwilling expression stood in sharp contrast to Milluki's smug, triumphant pose.
Roy believed the Zoldyck family would be more than happy to let him help train one of their direct heirs into a true powerhouse.
As for all the effort that would be spent in the process, Roy did not plan on billing the Zoldyck family for it. He just needed Milluki to work hard for him in the future. Yes, Roy was a very reasonable and fair person.
...
So that evening, when Roy and the others went to visit the Nostrade Family, the group had grown to five with the addition of the chubby second brother.
When Light had previously heard from Squala and the others that Kurapika's friend was the world-famous manga master Roy, he had not believed it. Even with Basho and Melody vouching for it, and with the autograph they had brought back for Neon, Light Nostrade had still only been half-convinced.
After all, it was hard to believe that a bodyguard he had casually hired would have connections to a world-famous figure like that.
With connections like those, why would someone still work in a dangerous profession like bodyguarding?
In any case, Light Nostrade could not understand Kurapika's thinking.
Still, whether he understood it or not, when Roy and the others came to visit him, he showed them more than enough warmth and respect.
After all, this was one of the world's top manga artists, a man renowned across the globe.
A person's status often depended in large part on the status of the people they associated with.
The kind of company a man kept said a great deal about his own standing.
And while Roy was "only" a manga artist, no matter the profession, anyone who reached the absolute peak of the world had to possess extraordinary ability in some respect. There was no harm in building a good relationship with a person like that.
This was the careful, cautious way Light Nostrade had always conducted himself, even before he rose to prominence through Neon's fortune-telling.
Because of that, once Neon's prophetic ability began to appear again and again, the Nostrade Family immediately soared upward and built a vast network of connections in the underworld.
That had everything to do with the painstaking groundwork Light Nostrade had laid over the years. He was a shrewd man who knew how to read people and handle situations.
That was the first impression Roy had of Light Nostrade.
"Kurapika has gone to the Underground Auction. He'll be back shortly. Please wait here for a moment," Light Nostrade said, receiving them with great enthusiasm.
"I see~" Roy nodded politely, then changed the subject. "Would it be possible to ask Neon-ojō-sama to tell the fortunes of the five of us?"
"Fortune-telling?" Light Nostrade first froze for a moment, then fell into thought.
He wants Neon to tell their fortunes? It's not impossible. Given his current status, he's still someone very much worth befriending.
After all, he had already heard that many wealthy families' children were extremely fond of this man's manga. Once those children grew up, the network Roy would possess would become something truly terrifying.
(End of Chapter)
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