In a corner of the black market, a tall and skinny man with long braids awkwardly looked at the W-shaped token in front of him while shaking the card scanner in his hand.
"Sir, this is an old item from more than ten years ago. I only have a card scanner with me. I didn't bring one of those old scanners."
"It doesn't matter." Shiro pointed at the narrow door behind him. "Go call your person in charge and tell him Hunter W is here."
"...Alright." The braided man turned and walked through the door.
Shiro rubbed the W-shaped metal token in his hand and waited patiently.
He had seized this metal token from Felix back then. It was the symbol of one of the Hunters Guild's highest seats, W.
It was just that this was an older generation token. The Hunters Guild had already updated their system and switched to card scanners. The last time he came, they had mistaken it too.
He still did not know how Felix had obtained it. Did he really kill Hunter W, or did he get it by accident? Could Felix himself have been Hunter W?
Unfortunately, Felix was already dead, so there was no way to get an answer.
Not long after, the dark red wooden door opened once again, and a hunched old man in a black cloak walked over.
The old man did not hide his face. He smiled warmly and revealed a balding head like a Mediterranean hairstyle. It was clearly the same old man who had received Shiro last time.
"Haha, long time no see, sir. My name is Farlen..."
Farlen remembered Shiro very clearly. That physique, that aura, plus the metal W token. There was no mistake.
This was the ruthless man bold enough to sell a Rocket Team executive's Pokémon.
He had robbed a Rocket Team executive's Pokémon, then used the Hunters Guild to sell it back to Team Rocket. That was simply looking for death, yet he was not afraid of retaliation from the Rocket Team boss at all.
Besides, Hunter A also seemed to know this person.
Suppressing the questions in his mind, Farlen lowered his head slightly and said, "Sir, please."
Shiro gave a slight nod and followed him through the narrow door.
The braided man who had just run out earlier quickly lowered his head as well and acted respectfully.
* * *
After going upstairs through the narrow door, Farlen led Shiro into the second room on the left.
A matching sofa and table sat in the center of the room. The space was fairly large, and along the back wall was a row of glass windows that clearly overlooked the black market below.
"What do you need?" Farlen rubbed his hands with a smile, his old and crafty face looking somewhat wretched.
Shiro sat in the middle of the sofa and calmly said, "Some information."
"Information..." Farlen's smile faded as he dragged out the last word before quickly adding, "Depending on your question, the price will differ. One question, one price. If our answer is wrong and you can prove it, we will return the corresponding amount as payment for buying your information. But if you're simply dissatisfied, there are no refunds."
The rules were fairly reasonable. At least they were not some tyrannical terms.
Of course, to Shiro, it did not really matter. If there was a problem, he preferred using psychic powers rather than wasting money.
After thinking for a moment, Shiro asked, "Which highest seats still exist in your Hunters Guild?"
Farlen immediately answered, "Five thousand Pokédollars."
The price was very low because it was not an important question at all. Any Hunters Guild member could roughly answer it. Even people who spent years in the black market could sense it.
After all, some seats had indeed not appeared for a very long time.
Shiro took out the money and pressed it onto the table.
Farlen smiled as he collected it. With one touch, he finished counting the bills and slipped them all into his pocket.
"I happen to be one of the Hunters Guild's highest seats, F. I can also clearly tell you that only twelve highest seats currently remain in the Hunters Guild. The others are either impossible to contact or already confirmed dead."
"These twelve seats are: A, B, D, E, F, H, J, M, R, T, Y, and Z."
"No W?" Shiro probed.
Farlen's smile slowly disappeared. "I think you should know the answer to that better than we do."
Logically speaking, since this ruthless trainer held W's token, he should have already killed W. After all, if he even dared provoke Team Rocket, killing one of the Hunters Guild's highest seats should be nothing to him.
But this man was now asking whether W existed...
Could this token...
"I didn't get this by killing W." Shiro plainly said, "I took it from a Gym Leader, so I asked out of curiosity."
Farlen's expression stiffened.
Taken from a Gym Leader?
His mind raced as he tried recalling which top League wanted criminal had recently arrived in Sinnoh.
But criminals at that level were usually famous evil organization leaders with known identities. Why would someone like that still need the Hunters Guild?
Who exactly was this person?
Shiro stared at him and spoke once more. "Who is backing the Hunters Guild financially?"
Farlen wiped the sweat from his forehead and did not dare look at the mask covering Shiro's face.
He felt as though he was being interrogated by a high-ranking League official.
That pressure...
Yet this guy completely behaved like a wanted criminal. There was no way he was related to the League.
"Well..." Farlen fell silent for a moment, then replied, "As for the employers who post missions, it isn't convenient for us to reveal their information."
Shiro silently thought things over.
The employers who posted missions?
What he wanted to ask about was the person who founded the Hunters Guild.
But judging from how loosely organized the guild was, probably only the core highest seats knew the founder's identity.
As for posting missions… perhaps the guild really did direct hunters through missions alone. He still needed more information to understand the full situation.
Shiro continued to ask, "Do you know about the Unown?"
"Unown?" Farlen subconsciously touched his balding head. "There was once an S-rank mission related to them, but it was quickly accepted."
Shiro narrowed his eyes slightly. "And then? Who accepted the mission?"
Hearing that, Farlen gave a bitter smile. "Sir, I don't know your identity... but please don't make things difficult for an old man like me. Information like that definitely isn't allowed to be revealed."
"How much?" Shiro asked again.
"It's not about the money." Farlen hesitated for a long while before continuing, "Unless you're one of us internally, otherwise..."
At that moment, Farlen suddenly recalled a rule once established by the guild's founder.
Anyone who killed one of the twenty-six seats and seized their token would gain the right to apply for that corresponding seat.
As long as they passed the standard strength verification afterward, they could directly ascend to the highest seat and become one of the twenty-six most powerful people in the Hunters Guild.
Unfortunately, only a handful of people had truly risen through that rule until now.
Because the Hunters Guild's twenty-six seats had never once been completely filled.
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