After seeing Hunter R, there was no need for Hunter Y to say anything. He quickly lowered his head and did not dare look again, afraid of getting dragged into the matter.
The other A-rank Hunters who knew R were even more frightened. They had met Hunter R before and were also acquainted with Ravo, who was lying on the ground with his life or death unknown. Now that they had already been expelled from the guild and had witnessed this scene, they could hardly imagine what would happen next.
"Hah..."
Hunter R knelt on the ground with his chest heaving violently.
Just as he was about to shout that he surrendered and would cooperate with everything, a faint pink energy suddenly covered him.
Shiro was too lazy to waste time, so he directly used his psychic power to search through his mind.
Memories flashed back one after another, leaving him somewhat disappointed.
The big fish he had caught, Hunter R, did not know Hunter A's current location. Almost all communication between them had been one-way, with Hunter A giving orders.
Moreover, it had already been a week since Hunter A had last contacted him. If Hunter R had not been so deeply afraid of Hunter A and instinctively obeyed his orders, he would never have cooperated so readily.
Even so, he had already been prepared to abandon Hunter A and work on his own at any time.
"Ha..."
Shiro sighed softly and clenched one hand in the air. Several Poké Balls at Hunter R's waist immediately floated up. At the same time, the immense mental shock caused Hunter R to foam at the mouth before passing out.
"You deal with things here afterward."
As he spoke, Shiro separated two of Hunter R's several Gym-level Pokémon and gave one to Hunter Y and the other to Hunter Z.
The two were naturally delighted, while the remaining Hunter X also felt an inexplicable sense of relief.
Shiro, however, did not leave yet. He suddenly remembered something and said, "Oh, right. There was another traitor, wasn't there?"
The moment he finished speaking, he pointed into the air. His psychic power instantly transformed into a blade and pierced straight through Hunter X's chest, leaving a bloody hole.
Hunter X had never expected to be executed on the spot. He opened his mouth in shock, spat out a few mouthfuls of blood, then collapsed to the ground.
In an instant, most of the joy Hunter Y and Hunter Z had felt disappeared, replaced by deep fear and lingering dread.
Hunter Y swallowed hard and hesitated to speak. He had never expected things to turn out this way. This new leader's style was completely different from Hunter A's. If anything, he was far more frightening.
At the very least, Hunter A had never cared how the guilds under him were operated. He had never cared who was managing them either.
But now, Hunter W was actually going to clean up the guild and completely replace its personnel.
Hunter Y knew something about Hunter X's failure to complete the recovery mission.
However, Ravo had been the manager stationed in Rustboro City for many years. His strength had already reached the Gym-level, and he possessed several Gym-level Pokémon. Hunter X simply could not defeat him, let alone make him submit through strength.
In order to complete the mission as quickly as possible, the so-called recovery of the guild had only been an agreement reached verbally. In reality, Hunter X had no authority to interfere with the Rustboro City guild. The true management had still been in the hands of several people led by Ravo.
There was no doubt that this violated the rules Shiro had given them at the Hunters Guild headquarters.
The more Hunter Y thought about how he had simply stood by and watched, the more his heart tightened.
'The leader won't blame me for this, will he?'
"Leader, please spare us!"
After seeing Hunter X die on the spot, the remaining three A-rank Hunters were completely terrified. They immediately removed their belts and offered up their Poké Balls while begging for mercy.
Shiro glanced at them and simply waved his hand. "Since you have nothing to do with Hunter R or Ravo, you've only been dismissed. Pack your things and leave on your own."
After saying that, he looked at Hunter Y and Hunter Z. "I told you that you must report any situation to me, didn't I? You both know what happened with Hunter X, and I don't want to say more about it. If you encounter any difficulties or problems that you truly cannot resolve, remember to report them."
With that, Shiro's gaze swept across everyone present before he teleported away.
Only after he disappeared did the hunters present dare to breathe heavily again. The suffocating pressure he had brought with him had been enough to terrify them.
"Lord Y..." One of the A-rank Hunters still tried to curry favor with him.
Hunter Y took a deep breath. His expression was so stern that it was almost cold. "You three, if you don't want to die, get out of here!"
The three A-rank hunters exchanged brief glances before scrambling out of the guild.
Seeing this, Hunter Y felt a headache coming on. He and Hunter Z still had to complete their missions, yet the Rustboro City Hunters Guild still needed someone to manage it.
It seemed they had to find a few reliable people to manage the guild. Alternatively, they could have the hunters at B-rank take turns handling it.
As Hunter Y thought about this, he calmly took out his Pokémon and began dealing with the bodies.
* * *
On the western outskirts of Rustboro City, near the sea, there was a large estate.
The estate was very famous. Its interior was luxuriously decorated, with many rare plants and ornamental Pokémon. Anyone who had ever visited the seaside would have been able to see the estate standing on the mountain. Its elegant white buildings were particularly eye-catching.
Unfortunately, the owner of the estate was extremely mysterious. Those who knew a little about him only referred to him as Mr. T, yet no one knew what this Mr. T looked like or what his true identity was.
Only the old butler knew that Mr. T had been completely out of contact for nearly two months.
Inside the villa at the center of the estate, an old man who looked to be in his fifties or sixties sat in the middle of the sofa. He held a wine glass in one hand and crossed his legs as he sighed.
"Sir, you definitely aren't Mr. T. There's no need to hide it from me."
Sitting opposite him was Shiro, dressed in a black cloak. After leaving the Rustboro City Hunters Guild, he had followed the memories of Hunter T and found this estate.
The manager of the estate was the butler sitting before him.
"Even though you know many things that only Mr. T should know, and your voice is almost exactly the same..." The butler straightened his back and put down the wine glass in his hand while rubbing his fingers together. "I've been with Mr. T for too long, more than ten years. There are many things that even Mr. T himself might not know. For example, one of his little habits. Mr. T never holds a red wine glass properly by the stem. He always casually supports the bowl of the glass with one hand..."
Shiro also chuckled and put down the wine he had never intended to drink. He asked curiously, "Just that?"
"Of course not."
The old butler gave a helpless smile and pointed at the bottle of red wine that had only recently been opened on the table. "Ocean God. A limited edition that is no longer produced. One bottle starts at five hundred thousand Pokédollars."
"Mr. T couldn't possibly remain this calm after seeing me open this bottle of his."
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