These building blueprints were something Shiro had casually asked the Devon Corporation for, and he had requested quite a few copies.
Shiro only picked one for himself and added a Hunters Guild symbol to it, an Ultra Ball held within a golden arched display stand.
After hearing this, Hunters Y, Z, and X all relaxed. None of them had any objections. Although the reward had been postponed until the mission was over, the task still seemed to be neither difficult nor dangerous. It was basically just running errands.
"Right!" Shiro looked at their slightly relieved expressions and curled the corners of his mouth. "There's one more thing... an extra task I haven't mentioned."
The three seated hunters immediately became tense again.
Usually, these sudden additions were the real point. The dangers or obstacles involved would often put them in an extremely difficult position. Hunter W had clearly planned this from the beginning and had deliberately waited until almost everything else had been discussed before bringing it up.
Shiro's gaze was deep beneath his hood as it swept over everyone in front of him. "I need the three of you to dismiss some people from the Hunters Guilds in Lilycove City and Rustboro City. Some of the older Pokémon Hunters with considerable seniority."
At those words, Hunters Y, Z, and X all reacted differently.
Hunter Y looked worried. Hunter Z remained quite relaxed as if none of this had anything to do with him. Hunter X, however, was extremely tense. Under the psychic perception, the violent fluctuations of his emotions were far too obvious.
"Leader, I'm afraid dismissing some of the older hunters might not be a good idea." Hunter Y was once again the first to speak, trying to persuade carefully. "It'll be at least a few months before the new Hunters Guild is completed. For now, the current guild branches still need people to run them."
"Even after the new guild is built, we'll still need the help of these veterans. If we drive some of them away, the guild might stop functioning."
Shiro shook his head repeatedly after hearing this. He raised a finger and waved it back and forth a few times before tapping the tabletop.
"Keeping the guild running normally is exactly what you should be thinking about. Otherwise, what do I need you for? If all you have to do is run errands, then any hunter can do that, can't they?" He paused before adding, "Besides, I haven't even said which people I want dismissed yet. Do you three have some kind of difficulty? Is there something you haven't told me?"
Hunter Y's expression immediately turned much worse, and his eyes subtly glanced toward Hunter X. As for Hunter X, his emotions had already become too intense. Even though he desperately tried to hide them, his body was still trembling slightly beneath his black cloak.
Meanwhile, the four veteran hunters sitting on the right side of the sofa were also lost in their own thoughts.
The atmosphere in the waiting room gradually became strangely tense.
Shiro seemed completely unaware of their expressions. He picked up his teacup again, took a sip, and spoke in an unhurried tone.
"The Hunters Guild ranks its hunters roughly the same way the League ranks wanted criminals. S is the highest and D is the lowest. S-rank hunters are the top-ranked seated hunters and need to possess at least Gym-level strength. A-rank hunters... need to have at least Advanced-level strength, right?"
"From today onward, all A-rank hunters in Lilycove City and Rustboro City will be registered as expelled. They are never to enter the Hunters Guild again!"
Zzz!
Red light flashed inside the waiting room.
Crack!
The glass coffee table shattered across the floor in the blink of an eye. The teapot and teacups were knocked over and rolled away with it.
"Go to hell!"
An A-rank hunter sitting on the right side of the sofa suddenly exploded into action. The shorter man, whose face was covered in a thick beard, slammed his well-trained body into the coffee table and smashed straight through it. His fist, equipped with a giant knuckle guard nearly half the size of an adult man's head, came tearing through the air.
At the same time, a Hitmonlee jumped out of a cracked Poké Ball in midair. Its spring-like legs, which could freely stretch and retract, whipped toward Shiro on the sofa.
Everyone's eyes widened.
Hunter X was even more shocked and shouted as he rushed over. "Rova! What are you doing?"
Bang!
A dull impact rang out, and the incoming fist stopped in place.
The pupils of the bearded, muscular man named Rova contracted sharply. His eyelids stretched wide in disbelief.
"How is this possible?!"
One hand. A hand that was unbelievably steady, as if it had not used any strength at all, had caught his fist like it was nothing more than an ordinary soft sandbag.
The hand had blocked his punch at a speed Rova could not even see, clamping down on his fist like the steel jaws of an Aggron.
No matter how hard Rova struggled, he could not pull his right fist free.
"Your strength is probably around the level of an Intermediate-level Fighting-type Pokémon."
Shiro spoke with little interest as he used his other hand to hold the teacup and casually finished the light tea inside.
"With this kind of strength, you managed to make three Gym-level trainers give in to you?"
"And you have a Gym-level Hitmonlee as well?"
In midair, under the stunned gazes of everyone in the room, the Gym-level Hitmonlee seemed to have had time itself frozen. It remained suspended in the exact moment it had stretched out its spring-like leg to attack.
The Gym-level Hitmonlee could not even show the slightest struggle or change in expression. It was simply fixed there in midair, completely unable to move.
Everyone present was terrified, especially the A-rank hunters who were familiar with Rova.
Rova had always believed in the idea that a trainer should make themselves stronger through their own efforts. His physical strength was enough to rival many Fighting-type Pokémon, and most ordinary hunters' Pokémon could not defeat him one-on-one.
His physical abilities were absolutely among the best a normal human could possess. He could easily punch a crack into a wall or smash a person's head like a watermelon.
Yet Hunter W had caught Rova's surprise attack with just one hand!
"Leader!"
Hunter Y quickly slid down on his knees in front of the sofa. He completely ignored the broken glass scattered across the floor and lowered himself as he shouted, "I failed to complete the mission. I didn't know there was another Gym-level trainer hiding among them. I'm willing to accept the punishment!"
Before he could finish, Rova, who still could not pull his fist free no matter how much he struggled, reached out and took another Poké Ball. He threw it in a certain direction.
Rova himself had never expected Hunter W to be this powerful. He was completely different from the lucky fool that man had described, someone who had merely happened to obtain high-level Pokémon!
He had been played!
Knowing that he had been used as bait to test Hunter W, Rova simply roared, "Hunter W! What kind of leader are you? Lord R is the real leader—"
Shiro merely glanced at him without responding. Instead, he slowly stood up and exerted force with one hand.
Crack!
Rova let out a painful howl as his body convulsed and collapsed to the ground. His right fist, along with the giant knuckle guard, had been crushed into a mangled mass.
Shiro casually pressed down on his head and activated his psychic powers at full strength.
With the warning he had received, his psychic power quickly found the memory he needed. Scene after scene flashed before Shiro's eyes.
"Hunter R..."
The man who had escaped from Bertha and, by sheer luck, survived without going to the Hunters Guild headquarters!
He was also one of Hunter A's direct subordinates!
**
**
**
Thank you for reading! If you'd like access to extra chapters and want to support my work, you can visit my P@treon:
P@treon/SilverShark769
Vote with Power Stones for Bonus Chapters!
Your support means a lot, thank you!