Chapter 169: The Succession Contest Begins
Approaching were the Tenth Prince Kacho and his bodyguards, among them the familiar face of the Music Hunter, Melody.
Mord was about to greet someone when he suddenly sensed an extremely sinister aura approaching from another direction behind him. Without the slightest hesitation, his figure flickered and vanished directly from the spot.
It was coming from the direction of the Fourteenth Prince's quarters.
By the time Mord arrived, he found five corpses lying in a hidden corner of the Fourteenth Prince's room, and a dark shadow flashed past. Mord chased after it.
The shadow went straight to the Fourteenth Prince's bedroom and finally entered the sleeping prince's body before disappearing.
Upon seeing someone intrude, Oito panicked and shouted, "Help! Someone!"
Kurapika, who was guarding outside, heard Oito's cries and rushed over immediately. He quickly calmed Oito down.
"Your Highness, this is a colleague from the Hunter Association. He is not a threat."
On this ship, the only person Oito could trust was Kurapika. Hearing his words, she indeed quieted down.
"What's going on, Mord?" Kurapika turned to Mord and asked. He was also curious about Mord's sudden appearance.
Mord led Kurapika to the corner where the corpses were discovered.
In the room, the other servants and bodyguards had also rushed over after hearing the commotion.
Everyone was shocked upon seeing the bodies.
"What exactly happened?"
Kurapika began using his lie-detecting Nen Ability to screen the Fourteenth Prince's guards and servants.
It turned out that the hired Hunters had boarded the ship without even knowing about the Succession Contest.
"Mutual killing among the princes?"
"How is that possible! It's unbelievable that such a thing could happen in this world."
Upon learning the truth, the Hunters all showed expressions of shock.
In Kurapika's perception, these people were not lying. He stated, "This is the truth!"
Using his lie-detection method, Kurapika quickly identified two spies lurking near the Fourteenth Prince.
"I ask you two, are you on Prince Woble's side?" Kurapika used his chains for lie detection with his right hand while pointing a gun at the two guards with his left. At the slightest suspicious movement, he would not hesitate to pull the trigger.
"No."
"...No."
After a moment of hesitation, the two guards ultimately did not dare to lie.
"Shoot them! Kill these two right now!" Oito became agitated upon learning that the two had approached the Fourteenth Prince with malicious intent.
As a mother, she would never allow anyone to harm her child.
"Let them explain first, Oito. Please calm down!" Kurapika said.
"For our survival, their information is crucial. We can shoot them if they refuse to cooperate later."
Mord, who had been standing nearby, suddenly spoke up, "The five dead people weren't on Prince Woble's side either, were they?"
"Yes, each of them served a different master," one of the spy guards nodded and admitted.
"Each?" Kurapika seized on the key point.
"The royal family arranged for seven guards to protect Prince Woble. Why do you think it's exactly seven?"
Mord said, "It's the number of queens excluding Oito."
The spy guard nodded and said, "That's correct. Each queen is assigned a guard to monitor their every move, watching for any rebellious intentions from the lower-ranked queens and princes. Although the number of guards increases whenever a primary wife is added, lower-ranked queens are not permitted to monitor higher-ranked ones."
"Therefore, by regulation, lower-ranked queens only receive true security guards when an even lower-ranked queen appears. For Queen Oito, who holds the lowest position, even this system hasn't been explained to her yet."
In other words, the fourteenth prince, still an infant, faced a hellish start in this Heir Succession Contest. If not for Kurapika standing by his side, he would undoubtedly be among the first princes eliminated.
The deaths of these guards signaled the official beginning of the Heir Succession Contest.
Just then, an unexpected change occurred.
Mord suddenly looked up at one of the walls.
The next moment, seven or eight bizarre Nen beasts of various strange shapes suddenly passed through the wall and entered the fourteenth prince's room.
Kurapika and the hunters from the Hunter Association could see the existence of these Nen beasts.
The scene before them was utterly shocking, like a night parade of a hundred demons. Even the experienced Kurapika wore a grave expression, let alone the three association-specialized guards, whose hair stood on end and eyes filled with terror.
Queen Oito, being an ordinary person, couldn't see these Nen beasts. However, through Kurapika and the others' reactions, she sensed the tension of the situation and instinctively held the fourteenth prince tighter in her arms.
Only Mord remained calm, instead watching the Nen beasts with keen interest.
A slight smile curled at Mord's lips as he chuckled softly, "The succession battle has begun. These awakened Nen beasts are here to test each other's strength, but it's entirely their subconscious instinct that makes the scene so chaotic."
"Do you have time?"
Most of the Nen beasts merely passed through and left immediately, as if declaring their presence. Only one furry, giant rat Nen beast with four eyes suddenly spoke to one of the association-specialized hunters.
This hunter, named Zairde, hesitated before replying, "No, I don't have time."
After Zairde answered the giant rat Nen beast's question, a small rat identical to the large one appeared on his shoulder.
The Nen beasts in the room soon vanished from everyone's sight.
Hearing his companions say that all the Nen beasts had disappeared, Zairde repeatedly confirmed with them, "Are they really all gone?"
"Yes! At least there are no Nen beasts in this room anymore."
But it's clearly on my shoulder!
A look of shock spread across Zairde's face. The small rat wasn't just clinging to him—it kept chattering away, communicating with him.
"If you have time, tell me! Okay? Okay?"
Mord was the first to notice Zairde's unusual behavior.
"I don't have time! I don't have time!"
"I already said I don't have time!"
To the others, Zairde seemed to be arguing with thin air. Only Mord knew that Zairde had fallen victim to the Nen beast's ability.