(One month later)
"A lock from the famous actress Sara, including a DNA certificate proving its authenticity."
"The right arm of an Egyptian mummy."
"Skin from a Patient with Dracoderma."
"A Skull from a member of the Unicorn Tribe."
"One tissue used by the actor Son Remarch, including DNA certificate." 5 pairs of eyes landed on Harry as he said the last bit, who looked at them confused,
"What?"
Kurapika stared at him. "The flying tissue incident was you?"
Harry blushed a bit as he remembered how he caused a bit of a major uproar worldwide when he used Accio three weeks ago to get that dumb tissue.
Who even wants that stuff?
How should he have known that the actor was using it while at a public gala, and it flew right out of his hand where cameras caught the act?
"It's a different one." Harry replied, trying to sound calm, as they looked at him not believing him at all; at least they didn't ask him how he did that, assuming it was his Nen ability.
"…eh. Anyways. Good job, you five. All of you are hired." Said the head bodyguard with the two tattoos on his face as he caught himself, "I am Dalzollene, the head bodyguard. I look forward to working with you. You start right away; your job is to guard the boss on the way to Yorknew and escort her safely to her hotel room."
Dalzollene led them from his desk towards a table where he had already prepared a map of Yorknew City pointing at a location a bit on the outskirts: "We'll use a private airship to get to the Lingon Airport in the Yorknew Outskirts, a 35-hour flight total. From there it's another 90 minutes car ride to the hotel. He explained while explaining their route, "You newbies will be in the outer formation. Any questions?"
"Any idea who is after the Boss?" Kurapika asked, showing how inexperienced he actually is.
Before Dalzollene could reply, Harry chuckled, "Does it matter? It's a bodyguard job, so anything and everything. Usually it ranges from common muggers armed with fists or knives to armed assassins with guns and snipers. As for Nen Users, it's unlikely that you will be able to prepare since any capable User conceals the true extent of their ability. You will only be able to rely on your own battle intelligence."
"But if we know who actually might attack, we will be able to plan more specifically." Kurapika pointed out.
"In theory, yes. If an enemy should be so bad that he reveals his intent, they will be easy to handle. Preparing now for specific enemies would leave us open to truly dangerous foes. A general approach is a better one." Harry explained calmly.
Before the discussion could pan out, Dalzollene interrupted, "Harry is right. It doesn't matter who attacks. Don't assume who the enemy might be. Come, I'll introduce you to the boss."
Leading them through the Nostrade Mansion, Dalzollene made a point of it to pass by a particular portrait, a human encased in some kind of resin. Their former senior, apparently. He had failed his job. That's the criminal underworld for you.
The Nostrade Family is an upcoming family in the Mafia Community. In fact, it's rising in ranks thanks to their boss, Neon Nostrade.
A cute-looking 17- to 18-year-old girl with cerulean-colored hair and green eyes.
She is a Nen genius who developed the ability to tell the future in the form of fortunes she writes down.
Her father using her ability is making a name for them in the Mafia community.
Neon herself is the reason why they were hiring; she wants to visit the
Underworld Auction in Yorknew City for her hobby.
She is a collector who needs to expand her collection, a fucking flesh collector. Because 17-year-old girls apparently like to collect body parts… can't she do clothes or something?
Harry hadn't chosen the job because he cared about her hobbies or because it paid well; he had purely decided to join it for some of the opportunities it would create.
———
After a long and tedious airship flight—one that nearly tempted Harry to reveal more of his abilities and open a portal straight to Yorknew—and an uneventful drive from the airport, they finally arrived at their hotel.
On the drive to the hotel, Dalzollene asked Neon to write new fortunes for some of her customers in the Mafia community.
The information revealed through these fortunes changed their plans for the upcoming auction. No longer would Neon attend the auction personally; instead, they would send some of the bodyguards.
According to the information revealed in multiple Fortunes, the auction will be attacked. Harry already knew that, to his relief, he hadn't caused a Butterfly Effect that prevented the Phantom Troupe from robbing the Yorknew Auction.
With a bounty difficulty of rank A, the highest ranking in the Hunter World, they possessed quite the level of power and some of the highest known masteries of Nen overall. There should be quite a few powerful Nen abilities that he could add to his roster.
Everyone else would just consider them dangerous, a threat to their lives or wealth; for Harry, they are an opportunity instead.
That's why he is a bit annoyed right now. He had gotten the shitty job of guarding the spoiled brat with the fucked-up hobby.
As they split into teams, the hot chick Baise, the random large build bodyguard whose name he doesn't even know, and Tocino, the monkey-faced guy whose ability he had already collected for analysis and added to his collection, get to be sent to the auction.
Kurapika and Melody are assigned to the front entrance of the auction building to watch it. Basho and a Bruce Lee clone, who didn't even get a single voice line, are watching the rear entrance.
And of course Harry, together with the Dog Tamer Squala and their head bodyguard Dalzollene, had the pleasure to watch Neon Nostrade, who was throwing a tantrum.
A tantrum because she couldn't go to the Underground Auction personally to get a mummy and a pair of red-colored eyeballs…
Dalzollene had the most fucked-up job, and he tried to calm her as she threw everything in her room at him. Harry and Squala at least could guard other parts of their hotel suite and hadn't to put up with that shitshow.
In fact, Harry could lean back and enjoy the auction through a small portal he had created and stick to Baise while concealing it with In.
———
'He is a bit young, isn't he?' Baise mused as she thought about her last interaction with the youngest of the bodyguards, Harry.
Just before leaving, he had complimented her dress and even had the audacity to peek into her cleavage. As if she wouldn't notice it.
Quite the Pervert for his Age.
'That dress fits perfectly on you. We should go out one of these days, Baise. I need someone who can teach me how to dance.'
His voice resounded through her head again, as she remembered these deep and mysterious emerald green eyes, 'But he is already quite the looker; once he grows older, he will mature like a fine wine.'
Thinking about all the other options in her life, how every man always got intimidated by her ability or didn't fit her tastes, she licked her lips. 'Why not? Instead of finding the perfect pet for me, I could raise him myself. I could train and dress him right to my tastes. He is already strong for his age by becoming a Hunter, and his Nen ability looked strong. And he will just get stronger. Harry could be the perfect pet. Why not start with some nice dance lessons?'
"Everyone is here…" Tocino's voice woke her out of her fun planning as they looked at the filled hall of the building where the auction would happen.
"These are mostly Mafia leaders. We have even some head honchos here." Said Ivlenkov, a plump man with brown, backward-combed hair.
'Yes, they are being stupid,' thought Baise as she said, "I'm surprised."
"Why?"
"It's only an auction. They could send an agent." She pointed out dismissively.
Tocino replied with a grin as he leaned onto the railing, looking down at the crowd, "Their honor is on the line. For each winning bid, 5% goes back to the Mafia Community as a commission."
'Men and their egos.'
"Does that act as a bribe? Like the more they bid, the more they will receive? Baise asked as she began to get what this was about.
"Yeah, that's how the Mafia flexes its finances."
"So, this is a chance to improve their standings." She nodded as she understood.
"But some Gangs have gone bankrupt after overbidding." Tocino also pointed the risk out.
Looking at his clock, Ivlenkov realized, "It's about to start."
Heading into the auction hall, a large crowd of Mafia leaders and other personnel began to crowd the chairs inside.
Since each party could only send three people into the auction, they often had only one or even no bodyguard with them.
As the auction was about to start, the auctioneer appeared on a stage at the front of the hall, standing behind a podium.
Right behind him was a hulking figure with scars on his face.
'Damn, that guy looks creepy, even for someone from the Mafia community. Couldn't it be a good-looking guy?' Baise complained internally as she watched the start of the auction.
"Okay…" started the small, quite pale-skinned auctioneer, "Welcome everyone. So, I'm skipping the formalities."
'He has quite the bad grammar.' Baise tought.
Suddenly the hulking person behind him moved his hands, his fingers pointing at the crowd, as the tips of them fell off, hanging from chains, the inside looking like tubes.
'What? What is this?' She panicked as she stared disbelievingly at what was happening. 'Is that Nen?'
The smaller auctioneer put his hands on his ears, and Baise and her companions realized, 'They are going to attack.'
"Die." The big man said with a grin as Bullets began to shoot out of his fingers like a machine gun, piercing through the mass of Mafia members, leaving a trail of corpses, destroyed furniture, and blood behind.
Tocino was the first to react, "Get down." He shouted, pulling the balloons he needed for his Nen out of his pocket, making them expand to the eleven Nen Constructs that had attacked her and the other newcomer bodyguards as a test in the Nostrade Mansion.
But it was of no use; they at most acted as a quick shield that got ripped apart, each Construct being directly destroyed by a bullet.
'These Nen Bullets are so strong.' Baise realized in fear, 'Am I going to die?'
"Run! Inform the Bo-" Tocino shouted towards them just as a bullet pierced his head and he dropped onto the ground.
'He's right. I need to move if I want to live.' Both she and Ivlenkov rushed through the door trying to avoid the line of fire.
As Ivlenkov closed the door behind them, he pulled out his phone. "Baise, you go ahead…"
He dropped dead to the ground as a girl had hit him with a… vacuum cleaner?
She had a neutral, emotionless expression on her face as if she was taking a stroll thinking about nothing. She just killed someone and didn't care.
'Does that vacuum cleaner have teeth?' Baise realized in her panic that she managed to turn around and run, 'Move to the entrance. The others can help me!'
Then something hit her at the back of the head; there was a warm feeling as the world began to turn black.
Blood. Her Blood.
The last thing she heard was the girl speaking in a quite neutrally confused voice, "Huh, what's that purple stuff?"
( End of Chapter )
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