Gelman's Mastery of His Methods

"I'll pay, and you can name your price," Gelman replied sincerely. "Please, Biscuit."

Shizuku blinked her big eyes, clasped her hands behind her back, tilted her head, and thought it over.

"Hmm... I'll pass. If I ask Little Biscuit for a massage now and then, she'll probably be too embarrassed to charge me."

"Hey, Shizuku, you said that out loud!"

Biscuit jumped up from the bench and pointed at Shizuku.

"And I won't be 'embarrassed.' You'll have to pay in full!"

Shizuku covered her mouth, as if to stop any more little thoughts from slipping out.

"Too late. I already heard you!" Biscuit folded her arms across her chest, looking rather miffed. She glared at Shizuku, then turned to Gelman. "Are you really letting me set the price?"

Gelman nodded. "Of course. I'm the one asking you for help."

"Hmm..." Biscuit lowered her head and thought for a while, but finally sighed. "Gelman, do you know how many of the richest people in the world are Hunters?"

"I think more than half of them are Hunters." Gelman immediately understood what Biscuit meant, but played along anyway.

"That's just the publicly available data. Some Hunters have eccentric personalities and don't flaunt their wealth. Understand? As a veteran Hunter, I don't need your money."

"I flew here to help because I like you, Gelman. The same goes for Shizuku..."

While Biscuit was talking, Shizuku cut in.

"You're a veteran Hunter, so how old are you?" Shizuku asked curiously.

"Oh, that... I was cursed so I couldn't grow up. I'll stay twelve or thirteen forever."

Biscuit pressed both index fingers to her cheeks and struck a cute-girl pose, her face beaming.

That was a lie...

Gelman didn't call her out. Instead, he looked at Shizuku, who had been taken in by Biscuit and was nodding in dawning understanding, and asked, "Weren't you surprised to see a young girl come looking for me last night?"

"Exactly," Biscuit said smugly. "Gelman is right. I'm a young girl."

At that, Shizuku let out a surprised "Huh?" and looked at Gelman.

"I didn't think of it that way at first, but now that I think about it, it isn't strange at all."

"Not many children in Meteor City awaken Nen at twelve or thirteen, but some do."

Gelman finally understood why Shizuku hadn't been surprised that Biscuit could use Nen. He nodded, understandingly.

Watching them, Biscuit fell silent for a moment. She could guess that the real situation was nowhere near as simple as the two of them made it sound.

It wasn't that children who lived in Meteor City were more likely to awaken Nen. Rather, those who couldn't awaken Nen faced even harsher conditions and had little chance of surviving.

Gelman and Shizuku were children who had survived the law of the jungle. That was how they'd gotten the chance to grow up.

Biscuit thought for a moment, then shared her thoughts with them. "My 'price' can include Jenny, but it won't be mostly Jenny. I don't need money."

"Gelman, what really drew me here, besides you yourself, is the secret you've been hiding. If my guess is right, as unbelievable as it sounds, you must have come from..."

Before Biscuit could finish, Shizuku interrupted her again. "Gelman, you haven't told Little Biscuit about the Dark Continent?"

"No." Gelman gestured toward Biscuit as he answered. "She's Netero's disciple, the chairman of the Hunter Association. If I told her out of the blue, it would put her in a difficult position."

"One more thing, Shizuku. We have to keep the Dark Continent secret from outsiders. It's forbidden knowledge, after all. For now, only the three of us should know."

"If we need more teammates in the future, I'll explain it to them myself."

Shizuku nodded. "I understand. I thought you were friends, so Little Biscuit already knew about this, and I was the one who found out later. I didn't expect it to be the other way around."

Gelman turned to Biscuit and saw her looking at him with an extraordinarily complicated expression.

"What's wrong?"

"It's not a matter of 'what's wrong.' You told Shizuku, but not me. No, no, this isn't the time to worry about that..."

Biscuit pressed a finger to her forehead, looking troubled.

"I had a feeling, but this really is the Dark Continent the old man warned me again and again never to visit... What am I supposed to do with you two?"

"The Chameleon Stone you brought me before never turned up in the Hunter exclusive website's records, and you repeatedly refused to tell me where it came from. That made me suspicious."

"If it were something from the Six Continents, even from one of those 'forbidden zones,' you wouldn't need to be so tight-lipped."

"On top of that, the subtle changes in you made me think of the Dark Continent."

"But I still can't figure out how you managed to enter the Dark Continent right under the noses of the Hunter Association and the V5 nations. There wasn't enough time, either."

Netero and his companions had gone on an adventure and quietly entered the Dark Continent without the V5 nations' permission, but there was no way they could have made the round trip in just a few days.

Biscuit had been keeping an eye on Gelman's movements, and confirmed that he had never been away from the Six Continents for long.

How had he done it? Biscuit couldn't figure it out.

"Generally speaking, there are four requirements for going to the Dark Continent," Gelman said, not answering her directly. "'Permission,' 'means,' 'qualification,' and 'contract.'"

"In practice, I've only got one of those covered: the 'means.' It would be a hassle to explain it to you and Shizuku. It'd be easier to show you in person."

"Four days from now, once we're ready, come with me to the Dark Continent. Then you'll understand everything."

Biscuit froze. Faced with this bizarre and suspicious invitation, she was torn.

Gelman probably wasn't lying. His eyes hadn't wavered at all, and there was no point in telling a lie that could be easily exposed... The "means"?

A terrifying man, hiding a terrifying secret. But what should I do?

Should she heed her teacher Netero's warning and never go to the Dark Continent without permission, or follow her Hunter's instincts and take a look at that vast, dazzling New World?

When it came down to it, of the four requirements for going to the Dark Continent, the most important was actually the "means." "Permission," "qualification," and "contract" could be set aside.

That was what people meant by "act first and explain later." As long as you could bring back incredible results, the other three requirements would be fulfilled automatically.

That was the choice before Biscuit, and the same choice had faced Hunters throughout history. The decision would shape the course of each of their lives.