The 287th Professional Hunter Exam's nominal final round was presided over by a stern-looking man in bizarre clothes.
The bowler hat on his head and the high-collared jacket he wore were both patterned in black and white like a cow's hide. His hat even had a pair of horns attached.
Everyone had the same feeling... This was a strange man.
However, not a single candidate who had made it through the earlier rounds dared to look down on him because of his appearance.
After all, all the fools who judged people by their looks had been weeded out in the earlier rounds.
"My name is Micenei Strome." The Ox Zodiac glanced down at the open report folder in his hands and began his introduction.
"I'm the vice chairman of the Hunter Association, and the examiner for the final round of the 287th Professional Hunter Exam."
Only then did everyone learn who he was—and that he held such a high-ranking position.
As Micenei Strome spoke, his thoughts drifted back to a month earlier.
After the Chimera Ant Extermination War celebration banquet, Chairman Netero had vanished without a trace. Then he suddenly reappeared and exercised his "chairman's authority" to make an appointment.
Gido and Micenei Strome were appointed vice chairmen of the Hunter Association, jointly overseeing its many affairs.
Afterward, Chairman Netero vanished again, this time taking Morel, Nobunaga, and the other members of the Chimera Ant Extermination Team with him. No one knew where they had gone.
Still, it wasn't unusual for a private organization to have one chairman and several vice chairmen.
Besides, Gido and Micenei Strome were both highly respected and dependable, so their appointments didn't meet with much opposition.
The outspoken core members of the "Anti-Netero Faction"—Triton Newtoral, Bucchi Ambitious, and Lupe Highland—did object.
They argued that ever