Chrollo's faint smile had been gone for several months. It had been a symbol of his careful planning, but since Phantom Troupe members began dying one after another, it had long since vanished.
Now, Nobunaga still couldn't see him smile, and couldn't feel the solid relief of a weight lifting from his heart.
"Nobunaga, in your opinion, which organization is most likely behind Gelman?"
Nobunaga rubbed the stubble on his chin. After a moment's thought, he had his answer.
"The Elders of Meteor City still need us. They wouldn't kill the horse after it had ground the mill. The Ten Dons... It's not that I look down on them, but they really don't have the ability to pull this off."
"If anyone could do something like this, and had sufficient reason to do it to us, it would have to be the Hunter Association, the V5 above them, or the national power of the Kakin Empire."
Nobunaga's reasoning made Uvogin, Shalnark, Machi, and Pakunoda exchange glances. They had more or less reached similar conclusions, and they saw trust in one another's eyes.
Chrollo, however, remained silent for a long time. His cold eyes gazed toward the edge of the wilderness, and his profile looked as perfectly sculpted as a statue from Greek mythology.
Nobunaga didn't interrupt Chrollo's thoughts.
Uvogin, however, couldn't hold back any longer. He forced his burly frame past Nobunaga and stood before Chrollo.
"Uvogin, what are you doing?"
"Nobunaga, step aside. I'll say it. Why make things so complicated?!"
Towered over by the giant, Chrollo showed no change in expression as he turned and looked up at Uvogin.
Uvogin's eyes gleamed as he took a Gold Coin from his chest pocket and laid it on his broad palm. It looked tiny there.
"Leader, the Phantom Troupe's rule