"Kakin's waters run deep. If we want to make a move there, we'd better be fully prepared," Kurapika cautioned.
He'd found a lot of information about Kakin online.
Kakin was an enormous country, but it was also relatively closed off.
Computer penetration there was extremely low. The internet was restricted and regulated. Even mobile phones weren't something everyone had. Although Kakin had undergone reforms since the Shinrinkan Incident thirty years ago, it was still, in many ways, a fairly underdeveloped nation.
In recent years, Kakin's economy had been growing rapidly—but that rapid growth had also widened the wealth gap at home.
The poor grew poorer, the rich grew richer.
Social classes were gradually hardening with time. Without some new catalyst, Kakin's prosperity might stall before long.
And that catalyst had appeared more than once in Kakin's history.
Or rather: whenever society became turbulent or the country's momentum stalled, a major event would erupt in Kakin—and the ancient nation would regain vitality and keep moving forward.
"That catalyst is the succession of kings," Kurapika said after sorting and refining the资料 he'd compiled over several days. "The closest example is what people called the most peaceful revolution in history—thirty years ago: the Shinrinkan Incident.
The details can't be found online, even for a high price. But what we do know is that after the Shinrinkan Incident ended, Kakin installed its current king—Nasubi Hui Guo Rou.
The country also shifted from imperial socialism to parliamentary democracy.
And some people online speculate that Kakin is the nation most likely to become V6."
The fact that Kurapika could compile Kakin's background to this level of detail in just a few days was proof of how terrifying his talent was.
Ronin—who'd read the manga—agreed with Kurapika's speculation.
The Succession War might be a special ritual embedded in Kakin's development—one that kept the country prosperous and never decaying.
Only, that ritual might require massive numbers of living people as sacrifices.
"Let's put Kakin aside for now," Ronin said, pulling the car over on a roadside near the mountains. "If it's not suitable to move against Kakin in the short term, then we'll collect the clan's eyes outside Kakin first."
Tserriednich had about eleven pairs of Scarlet Eyes. Ronin had absorbed four pairs already. Excluding himself and Kurapika, there should be thirty-five pairs total—meaning that even without touching Tserriednich, Ronin should still be able to obtain around twenty pairs.
"As for the mafia stuff—once you've mastered Nen, I'm handing it all to you," Ronin said as he opened the door and got out, also calling to Neon in the back seat, who was almost asleep. "I truly have no interest or patience for that."
"I have to train too? No way!" Neon complained loudly.
It was already June. Just yesterday she'd done another reading for Ronin and Kurapika.
This time it was a full four-poem set—but according to Ronin, the poems were "boring" and didn't match her identity as a "curse witch" at all.
Neon really wanted to argue that she was doing fortune-telling—prophecy—not cursing people.
Ronin had literally just been saved by her prophecy, and now he was acting like this. What a bastard.
"Quit whining." Ronin didn't care what Neon thought.
He pulled a shovel out of the trunk and tossed it to them after Kurapika and Neon got out. Then he also unloaded a handcart filled with rope and other things.
"Are we going to kill someone and bury the body?" Neon's eyes lit up at the sight of all the "tools."
"Of course not." Ronin flicked her forehead. When she held her head and glared at him, he locked the car and led them up the mountain. "We're going to dig the mountain—no, you two are going to dig the mountain."
This training method was exactly what Biscuit had used on Gon and Killua.
Ronin thought it made perfect sense. So once the time was right and he helped them awaken Nen, he planned to have them follow that regimen in the mountains.
As for himself, Ronin had a better way to train.
But that method only suited him for now—Kurapika and Neon couldn't use it yet.
Kurapika had no objections. As long as he could get stronger, he was willing to do whatever nii-san Ronin told him.
Neon, on the other hand, puffed out her cheeks in protest.
"Your ability is pretty useful. I'm not letting you go," Ronin said bluntly. "But if you stay with us, I can't protect you 24/7. So you need some ability to defend yourself. Unless you're not afraid to die—in which case you can just watch from the side."
Ronin wasn't going to sugarcoat it.
Even though he'd "abducted" Neon, he wasn't going to be her babysitter forever.
Ronin didn't know what happened to a powerless Neon in the manga. With Kurapika protecting her, she probably wouldn't die—but she also probably wouldn't get to keep her spoiled rich-girl attitude.
Kurapika wouldn't indulge her the way her father did.
And Ronin could guarantee that once Neon lost her ability, her father definitely wouldn't indulge her either.
If Ronin hadn't taken Neon from Molding City this time, her ending almost certainly wouldn't have been good.
Because Kurapika wouldn't be there to protect her—yet Light would still use her ability to bargain, exposing her uniqueness and drawing Chrollo with high probability.
Even if Chrollo didn't come, someone else would covet that prophetic ability.
Could Light truly protect Neon?
If anything went wrong, would a noble young lady with zero self-defense really have a good ending?
Of course, this was all Ronin's speculation.
He didn't intend to use speculation to convince Neon. If Neon truly refused to change—if she didn't care about her own safety and only wanted to freeload—Ronin wouldn't mind "keeping her in a golden cage."
Let her live as a rich girl and serve as his private prophet.
But right now…
Even though Neon looked unhappy, Ronin noticed her steps were noticeably lighter when she followed after Kurapika.
With her mother dying early and her father not caring for her, Neon hadn't yet developed the full-blown spoiled, tyrannical personality.
And from how she treated people in the manga, it was clear that aside from being a bit willful and having a strange interest in human organs, she wasn't a bad person.
Before they started digging, Ronin took weighted gear from the handcart and handed it to them.
He'd specially made it, modeled after the Zoldyck family gatekeepers' training.
First, build their bodies through weighted conditioning.
Then help them awaken Nen and move to the next stage.
That was the training plan Ronin had prepared for them.
~~~
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