Normally, they should have thrown him out right away...
But this man's strength was simply too terrifying, to the point that even Farlen was not sure whether Hunter A could actually defeat this newly arrived W.
The new W was too dangerous and unusually greedy...
"What do you want?" Hunter A did not seem angry at all, his voice remaining calm and steady.
Shiro smiled. "That psychic teleportation device. What's its operating principle?"
"The principle?" Hunter A sounded somewhat surprised.
Farlen, however, immediately laughed flatteringly. "Lord W truly has a sharp eye. That device is definitely several times more advanced than the League's research. I already mentioned it before. Our device is far superior to that newly promoted Kanto professor... I think his name was Shiro. You can rest assured."
"Shiro?" Hunter B muttered. "Who's that? A League professor? I think I've heard the name before."
Shiro glanced toward Farlen.
Was it just a coincidence?
Through his psychic perception, there were no unusual emotional fluctuations while the man spoke. He most likely did not know his real identity.
If they had truly discovered him already, then he would have no choice but to resort to violence.
Hunter A spoke again. "There is no need to discuss people unrelated to the current matter. As for the device principle you asked for, W, J should have it. You can ask her."
At the same time, the silent Hunter J sitting in the corner took out an aged yellow scroll and tossed it toward Shiro.
With a simple psychic scan, Shiro instantly confirmed it was genuine.
After putting away the scroll, the psychic power imprisoning Hunter D also vanished.
Hunter D clutched his throat and coughed violently several times before collapsing against the table and gasping for air. Sweat covered his forehead.
"After joining the guild, you must complete at least one Gym-level mission from the mission board every month. If there is a group mission, participation is mandatory. The twenty-six seats may freely mobilize some resources from any Hunters Guild branch and can obtain information at any time. Neglecting duties will result in expulsion from the guild."
Hunter A finished explaining everything in one go.
He then raised his hand. At some point, a silver card had appeared in his fingers before he pushed it outward.
The card bore a golden W symbol. It spun rapidly across the round table and slid in front of Shiro, where he pressed it down.
"This is your identity card," Hunter A said. "There is no need to use the previous token anymore."
"Then what about the rule where someone can directly become one of the twenty-six seats by seizing a token?" Shiro held the card without putting it away immediately as he asked, "Does taking the card count too?"
"For the sake of internal unity," Hunter A explained, "after this replacement of W's token, all twenty-six seats changed to cards. Even if subordinate hunters pick one up, promotion is no longer allowed."
"That's unfortunate." Shiro let out a regretful sigh.
At this moment, Hunter A pushed over another device resembling a tablet.
"This is the guild's internal device. It functions as both communication equipment and a mission receiver. The guild is rather loose in structure, so we often do not have fixed headquarters."
After speaking, Hunter A slowly stood up. Beneath the pale mask, a trace of longing flashed through his eyes before quickly disappearing again.
He asked in a deep voice, "W, do you have any more questions?"
Shiro placed both items on the table in front of him. Only after using psychic power to confirm there were no tracking mechanisms did he put them away.
Just then, Farlen stood up and quietly asked, "Lord A, may we leave first?"
After Hunter A gave a slight nod, Farlen and Hunter D immediately rushed into the corridor behind them at top speed, afraid that something bad might happen if they stayed any longer.
As for Hunter J, who had not spoken a single word from beginning to end, she also rose calmly and left without hurry.
A few moments later, only Hunter A, Hunter B, and Shiro remained inside the meeting chamber.
"W, do you have any more questions?" Hunter A repeated.
Facing the true controllers of the Hunters Guild, Shiro spoke in a low voice. "I do have a few more questions..."
Hunter A and Hunter B exchanged subtle glances before quietly waiting.
"Who is funding the Hunters Guild from behind the scenes?" Shiro asked.
"..."
After a moment of silence, Hunter A answered meaningfully. "No other hunter would ask this kind of question. Nor would they care about who funds the Hunters Guild… I can only tell you that they are the most noble people in the world."
Shiro already had an answer in his heart.
That familiar description... were they not the descendants of ancient kingdoms scattered throughout the Pokémon world?
However, there were many ancient bloodlines, and every region had different surviving royal descendants.
For example, in Galar, the bloodline belonged to the descendants of the sword and shield heroes.
In Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and other regions, the ancient bloodlines were definitely different too. Their kingdoms had not been the same, making it difficult for them to unite together.
"Which bloodline controls the Hunters Guild?" Shiro directly asked.
Hunter A fell silent briefly, seemingly surprised by the bluntness of the question. After a while, he replied in a heavy tone, "That, I do not know either."
He did not know?
Shiro frowned slightly.
But his psychic powers detected no lies.
The other man genuinely seemed unaware of which region's bloodline controlled the guild.
Perhaps the guild's operating methods, or the way both sides communicated, were extremely secretive...
Shiro did not dwell on the issue further.
He continued asking, "Then why is the Hunters Guild collecting Unown? What is the purpose?"
"Unown?" Hunter B's extremely hoarse voice carried a note of surprise. "Very few people should have ever seen those legendary Pokémon. Where did you learn about them?"
Shiro stared at Hunter A without answering.
"Unown..." Hunter A spoke calmly. "That was a previous mission. It seemed to have been personally issued by one of the honored nobles. The reward was generous, so one of the twenty-six seats quickly accepted it."
"As for the purpose, it was simply to increase power by collecting legendary Pokémon."
"Although Unown are mysterious, individually speaking, they are the weakest among all legendary Pokémon."
Shiro fell silent.
He deeply questioned whether these words were true, yet his psychic abilities confirmed that they were.
And the reasons all sounded perfectly normal.
The only strange thing was why they were revealing this information so easily.
This was completely different from the image of Hunter A he had heard from Koga. Could the real Hunter A actually be an easygoing person... or were these matters simply not considered secrets within the Hunters Guild?
Shiro could not figure it out.
"These things naturally aren't secrets within the guild," Hunter A calmly added. "It's just that most hunters don't care."
"The only things hunters care about are money and Pokémon."
As his voice faded, Hunter B let out several creepy laughs, sounding like a resentful elderly woman driven insane by illness.
The stone chamber felt heavy and suffocating. Much of the red paint had already peeled away from the old round table.
Hunter A's pale mask lowered slightly. "You should be from the League, shouldn't you, W...?"
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