Not long after Hisoka left, Milia also arrived at the manor.
This battle had brought her huge gains as well, but while her money kept increasing, the amount of aura she was able to lend out remained pitifully small, and that was starting to trouble her.
Anyone who could become a Nen user, unless they were a complete newbie, would be extremely cautious.
A method like hers—renting out Nen—always made people suspect she had ulterior motives.
That was especially true with Transmuters, Conjurers, and Manipulators. People of those types seemed to naturally carry a certain distrust toward others.
That was also why Milia preferred dealing with Enhancers and Emitters.
"Oh, right. The Kastro you asked me to contact—after watching your fight with Hisoka, he reached out to me himself and said he wants to meet you." Milia handed over a slip of paper with the address of a martial arts gym written on it.
That was also the place where Kastro trained.
Ronin put the note away, planning to meet Kastro before he left.
"Are you planning to stay holed up here making money forever?" Ronin asked, looking at Milia seriously.
Judging from the growth potential of her ability, Milia definitely had some ambition.
But in Ronin's view, even though staying in Heaven's Arena could give her a huge network and plenty of wealth, the method of waiting for others to agree before lending them aura was just far too slow when it came to increasing her total aura capacity.
"You want to invite me into your team, don't you?" Milia immediately understood what he meant.
Even though she currently carried the title of logistics support, she knew perfectly well that her relationship with Ronin was one of cooperation.
She wasn't actually a member of Ronin's team.
"Yeah. I do," Ronin admitted openly.
If Milia's aura capacity could be greatly increased, then naturally the amount of aura she could lend out would increase as well.
This kind of temporarily borrowed aura wouldn't raise the user's apparent aura output, but it could increase their latent aura pool—in other words, improve their endurance.
But when Ronin used ninjutsu, the power of the technique itself wasn't really restricted by his visible aura output. What mattered more to him was latent aura.
The more latent aura he had, the more chakra he could convert. And the more chakra he could output, the stronger his ninjutsu would naturally become.
So to him, Milia was practically the ideal support.
"But I'm really not interested in what you people are doing right now," Milia said. She had her own plans for her life.
Taking revenge on the Phantom Troupe, collecting the Scarlet Eyes, or rebuilding the Kurta Clan—none of that was part of her plan.
A team like Ronin's simply wasn't attractive enough to her.
Staying in Heaven's Arena and slowly finding suitable targets to rent her Nen to—this way of growing might be slow, but it had the advantage of being steady and safe.
As long as she continued step by step, not only would her strength keep growing, but the risks she faced would remain low.
Ronin didn't continue trying to persuade her, because Milia was right. The team he was building really didn't have much appeal for her.
If she joined, she would mostly just become his subordinate—another support tool to help him grow stronger.
When you looked at it that way, there really wasn't much in it for her.
But how could that situation be changed?
Unless he could bring Milia into contact with a large number of Nen users—and those people all happened to need borrowed aura—there was no way to convince her to move together with him.
But if that were the case, then the whole operation would basically amount to investing in Milia. It still wouldn't bring Ronin enough benefit in return.
After thinking it over from every angle, it really did seem that Milia staying in Heaven's Arena and handling the team's logistical support was the greatest help she could offer him, and the best way for the two of them to work together.
With that in mind, Ronin gave up on inviting her.
If he was honest with himself, he could see something else too—his invitation to Milia wasn't just because of her ability. There was also a bit of personal selfishness mixed in.
Still, that kind of thing was better left to happen naturally.
"All right. I overstepped," Ronin said after sorting out his thoughts.
Kurapika and Neon, standing nearby, were both getting anxious, especially Neon. She was really rooting for Ronin and Milia.
Sure, Ronin felt like a reckless brute most of the time, but Milia was calm. Weren't they basically perfect complements?
And judging by the way Ronin had invited her, she could clearly tell there was some other motive behind it. How could he just back off like that?
But even if she wanted to say something to help, she couldn't come up with any good reason to persuade Milia.
Besides, had her fortune-telling poem even mentioned anything like this?
Kurapika watched from the side with no intention of speaking. It wasn't that he didn't want to say anything—it was just that this was something Ronin had to handle himself. There was nothing Kurapika could really do to help.
He'd be happy to see things work out, of course, but the contents of the prophecy poem also told him, roughly, that the time probably hadn't come yet.
At this point, the atmosphere had become a little awkward, and Ronin noticed it too.
He cleared his throat. "My next Arena match will probably have to be pushed back. We still have quite a few things to do, but I'll be back before the three-month deadline arrives."
"No problem." As if she hadn't noticed the strange atmosphere at all, Milia calmly sat down in the seat beside Ronin.
The group chatted while eating the fried chicken and fries on the table, and little by little, the odd tension began to fade.
Shizuku wasn't especially talkative, but whenever she did speak, it was always weirdly on point. The only problem was that what she said tended to be a bit too choking.
So Ronin's suggestion was that she should probably talk less and just stick to being a quiet, artsy girl instead.
Neon, on the other hand, got along with Milia extremely well. From collectibles to jewelry to clothes, she could talk about all of it endlessly.
And Milia was even more skilled in that area. Even the outfit she was wearing—something that only registered as "looks nice" to Ronin—was made up of various major luxury brands.
You could say Milia was the very image of a fashionable beauty.
Kurapika wasn't interested in any of that, so most of the time he was talking with Ronin about training.
Toward evening, Ronin went out alone for a while and, at the martial arts gym they had agreed on, met Kastro, who was in the middle of rigorous training in his practice clothes.
There was no complicated conversation. The two began with a spar and ended with Ronin easily crushing Kastro in close combat.
During the process, Ronin explained the distinctions between Nen categories to him and demonstrated them as well.
Soaked in sweat, Kastro lay on the floor of the training room and asked the question that had been bothering him:
"Why are you helping me?"
"I want to see whether, if you walk the correct path, you'll be able to defeat Hisoka in the ring three years from now." Ronin's answer was simple.
Kastro was a very stubborn man, just like Ronin.
And once someone like that had accepted a promise to fight Hisoka, they wouldn't waver because of outside influences.
So as long as Hisoka didn't die, Kastro and Hisoka were bound to have a second match.
Ronin didn't think Kastro would win, but he did want to see a great fight.
As for whether Kastro would be able to keep his life when that time came, that would depend on his own fate.