Once the clock struck midnight, Conrad set out and made his way toward the Background Bar.
Since he had already prepared himself beforehand, it did not take him long to arrive.
The bar itself was a simple building painted red. It did not seem particularly busy, and only a handful of customers could be seen inside.
Conrad entered and smiled.
"Let's see..." he thought.
"Did they decide to die, or are they actually doing something legitimate?"
He swept his gaze around the interior for a few seconds before smiling again.
"That man should be Ervio."
Looking at the elderly man who was slowly wiping down the counter with an old cloth, Conrad calmly walked forward and approached the bar.
"Are there any mysterious regions around here?" Conrad asked.
Ervio smiled.
"I don't think so..." he replied.
At that exact moment, the Enemy Herald Ancient Script paper inside Conrad's pocket sent a pulse of energy through his body, similar to the signal from a small electric shock device.
Conrad took a deep breath.
"Good thing I predicted this," he said.
Ervio swallowed.
Under normal circumstances, the target was supposed to thank him at this point. If Conrad had expressed gratitude, the final part of the ability would have activated, allowing Nelera's plan to proceed exactly as intended.
But the target had not followed the script.
Conrad smiled.
Within a tenth of a second, he activated En, spreading it across a circular area with a diameter of one hundred and twenty meters, encompassing the entire bar and the surrounding building.
Then he looked directly at Ervio.
This time, the smile on his face was chilling.
It was the kind of smile that seemed capable of freezing blood and tearing apart a person's soul.
"Now," Conrad said calmly.
"Before I kill you, would you mind telling me why you tried to use a Nen ability on me?"
"The speed of your death will depend on your answer."
After speaking, Conrad let out a faint grin.
"Hmm..."
"A relatively powerful Nen user with decent potential."
Of course, he was not referring to Ervio.
The person he had sensed was a woman.
Young.
Silver-haired.
Beautiful.
And dangerous.
Ervio felt as if his heart had stopped.
Only seconds ago, the young man standing before him had appeared completely ordinary.
Now, however, he radiated such overwhelming pressure and killing intent that remaining alive for even another second felt like a miracle.
"I-I..." Ervio stammered.
"To be honest, I'm just a tool in all of this..."
"I truly have no intention of making an enemy out of someone like you."
Conrad nodded.
"Yes..."
"I can see that."
With a casual movement, he struck Ervio in the neck.
He did not kill him.
However, the impact was enough to send the old man collapsing backward, unconscious before he even hit the ground.
The very next moment, Conrad disappeared from beside the bar stool.
Then he reappeared in the alley behind the Background Bar, standing next to a large garbage container.
Looking at the silver-haired woman in front of him, he spoke calmly.
"One suspicious movement will get you killed."
Nelera began trembling.
Her breathing became uneven and rapid.
"How is this possible?"
"How can someone immediately realize that such a simple coded conversation is part of a Nen ability and then find me this quickly?"
The questions repeated themselves endlessly inside her mind.
At that moment, more fear flowed through her veins than blood.
The fear was so intense and overwhelming that it could have transformed a warm-blooded human into a cold-blooded reptile.
"Now," Conrad said.
"Tell me clearly and directly, without games."
"Why did you target me?"
"You should be a hunter yourself if you can upload information to the Hunter website."
"Who sent you after me?"
Nelera took a deep breath.
Then she bit her tongue.
The pain helped clear her thoughts and restore a measure of composure.
Finally, she began speaking.
"To be honest..."
"My problem is with all Hunters."
As soon as she said those words, the light in her eyes darkened slightly.
The change in her emotional state was delicate yet unmistakable.
"Ever since I was a young girl," she continued,
"The only reason I wanted to become a Hunter was because of people who believed they were important..."
"People who protected murderers..."
"Or they were murderers themselves."
Tears began falling from her eyes.
Then she finished her sentence.
"The hunters who killed my family."
"I have no personal grudge against you."
"If any other Hunter had been standing here instead of you, I would have used my ability to kill them as well."
Conrad listened without interrupting.
Resting his hand against his chin, he asked another question.
"Then why?"
"Why sell information about the Kurta Clan's region on the Hunter Website in order to lure hunters here?"
"What does the Kurta Clan have to do with this?"
Nelera released a deep breath.
It resembled the breath of a bull preparing to charge.
"I am Nelera."
"Nelera Ateka."
"The Kurta Clan was a clan that my family had some degree of connection with in the past."
"When I was sixteen or seventeen years old, a few weeks before they were exterminated, information about the coming attack was delivered to the Hunter Association."
"At least, my father delivered it."
As she continued speaking, she began laughing bitterly.
The laughter sounded almost mocking.
"What do you think the Hunter Association did with that information?"
"Or whatever they call themselves these days."
Conrad remained silent.
"Of course, they did nothing."
"They said the accuracy of the information had not been verified."
"One week later, the Kurta Clan was wiped out."
"And the very next day..."
"My family was attacked and slaughtered by Hunters from the Hunter Association."
"They wanted to cover up their own stupidity."
Conrad slowly shook his head.
In his opinion, Nelera's conclusion was slightly flawed.
It was possible she was right.
But there was another explanation that seemed more likely.
"I don't think the Hunter Association killed Nelera's family to hide a mistake."
"I think they killed them because the information her father possessed could expose the truth behind the Kurta Clan massacre."
"Rather than protecting themselves, they were protecting whoever carried out the slaughter."
"If both the information and the source of that information disappear, then the perpetrators remain safe."
Conrad thought about the matter for a moment before taking a deep breath.
"For the Hunter Association to take action like that..."
"Either they were acting for their own benefit..."
"Or they were protecting someone at a level even above the V5."