Starry Night.
"Emergency mission? What emergency mission?" Bred answered the phone blearly, yawning as he complained, "You really know how to order people around! I've only just gotten some free time..."
"Cut the nonsense and wake up, Bred!" Minister Honest abandoned his usual relaxed tone and sternly, even harshly, rebuked Bred for his attitude.
Bred smiled. "I'm perfectly awake."
"Do you know about the Phantom Troupe?" Minister Honest asked instead.
Bred raised an eyebrow. "A world-famous violent band of thieves, marked by a black spider. Its membership has always been fixed at thirteen, and every member is exceptionally powerful. Thus, when they set their sights on an item and cannot obtain it through theft, they have both the ability and willingness to use violence to achieve their goal by force. They do not care who they provoke, which is why they have repeatedly committed major crimes, massacres, and numerous incidents with extremely vile repercussions."
After a slight pause.
"But the most terrifying thing about the Phantom Troupe isn't their superb skills or dangerous methods. It's that they are a criminal organization with a legacy, possessing a unique 'will of evil'!" Bred added. "So... according to records, during the nearly three hundred years since the Phantom Troupe's birth, the government has deployed massive forces to wipe them out completely on five separate occasions. The Hunter Association was once commissioned to eradicate them as well. Every time, it was an utter extermination—yet someone always inherited their 'will of evil' and name, constantly reenacting the farce of 'the dead returning to life.'"
Minister Honest said approvingly, "Good. As expected of Bred."
"A few years ago, the Phantom Troupe set their sights on the Barutes Clan. But that warrior race had lived for generations on the bleakest ice fields of North Blue, surviving by