The banquet

After handing the key to Qiudaozi, the old butler called him aside for a few words.

As he left, his gaze seemed to drift toward Cordis.

From the look of it, the old butler had clearly grown suspicious of Cordis.

After all, the first thing this fellow had done upon arriving was ask whether he could see the Febola Stone. It was hard not to suspect he had ulterior motives.

Cordis knew what the old butler thought of him, and naturally, he also knew what the old butler had just told Qiudaozi.

It could only have been a warning to keep an eye on him.

Although Cordis liked gemstones, he was merely curious about this so-called Febola Stone.

From the very beginning, he had never once entertained the idea of taking it.

After all, he had seen plenty of beautiful gemstones.

At the old butler's request, Nedepu and Cordis stood guard outside the door.

Qiudaozi stayed inside. He was not to come out without instructions.

Meanwhile, on a hill some distance from the mansion, a group of people watched everything happening inside without taking their eyes off it.

Cordis had no idea what this Febola Stone was.

But they did.

It was formed from the most miraculous power in heaven and earth, and only five existed in the world.

The first four had all been bought by people who knew their worth and sent somewhere safe as soon as they left the auction.

Dozens of Nen users had even escorted them during transport.

There had been no chance to make a move.

This one, however, had been bought by a nouveau riche.

He had no idea what the Febola Stone was worth, nor how many Nen users dreamed of getting their hands on it.

He had even foolishly decided to throw a banquet.

And he had hired only three professional Hunters to guard it.

If they did not strike now, when would they?

Of course, how could the Phantom Troupe be absent from this gathering of people with ill intentions?

Almost everyone agreed that they should strike during the banquet that evening.

In the blink of an eye, evening arrived.

Cordis stood in front of the door, yawning and looking utterly bored.

He had originally expected some idiots to keep charging at them like madmen.

Yet those people had turned out to be surprisingly patient.

That had let Cordis spend the entire day openly slacking off.

Before night fell, the mansion's servants had finished setting everything up for the banquet.

Gold, fine wine, beautiful women, music-not a thing was missing.

It was luxury taken to the extreme.

Even Cordis was astonished as he looked down at everything below.

An enormous diamond chandelier hung in the very center.

On the stage in the middle stood a platform built from gold.

If he was not mistaken, that was where the Febola Stone would be displayed.

Even the ordinary wineglasses here had rims inlaid with pure gold.

This...

This was exactly the life I dreamed of.

At that thought, Cordis could not help envying the wealthy businessman he had yet to meet.

As night gradually drew closer,

the mansion's servants dressed in their uniforms and prepared to welcome the evening's guests.

Once night had fully fallen,

the guests and the host of the banquet arrived at the mansion one after another.

Quite a few airships hovered overhead.

Handsome young men and beautiful young women stepped out of them.

When the final airship came to a stop,

the old butler emerged from the mansion and looked up at it.

As the airship's doors slowly opened, a broad, stout man stepped out wearing an ill-fitting suit,

with an arm around a beautiful woman's waist, flirting with her as they disembarked.

Cordis had already done plenty of research on this wealthy businessman.

He had made his fortune in the oil industry.

His family had assets worth hundreds of billions. Though those assets had dwindled considerably by his generation, he was still a wealthy man renowned far and wide.

This Febola Stone had cost him nearly half his family fortune.

The young mistress he intended to give it to was the beauty whose waist he was holding.

The woman leaned coyly against his chest as though she had no bones.

One look at her expression was enough to tell she was an old hand at this.

It was just a pity about the wealthy businessman she had fooled.

At that thought, Cordis sighed helplessly.

If this Febola Stone really was as precious and miraculous as those people claimed,

ending up in this fellow's hands really was a shame.

With the host present, the banquet officially began.

Cordis received instructions from the old butler.

He was to patrol during the banquet. The banquet itself would probably be the hardest part of this commission.

He stepped out of the mansion.

His azure eyes stared expressionlessly at the distant hill.

"There are people there. A lot of them."

Cordis murmured to himself.

But he did not intend to tell everyone just yet.

Even if I don't tell them, they should already know, right?

Probably~

When the person on the hill holding binoculars saw Cordis staring straight at them, he was so startled that he nearly dropped them.

Fortunately, Cordis soon yawned, turned around, and went back into the mansion.

Only then did the people on the hill decide it had merely been a coincidence.

Yet, for some reason,

an uneasy feeling lingered in their hearts.

"Boss, that person looks like Cordis."

Shalnark watched everything at the mansion through his binoculars.

The Spider had coveted this Febola Stone for a long time, and once they learned that the fifth had been bought by a fool,

they came here without much hesitation, ready to strike at any moment.

They really had not expected Cordis to have accepted a commission here, though.

Chrollo had been leaning against a tree, reading.

When he heard Shalnark's voice, he put his book away.

He walked over to Shalnark, took the binoculars he offered, and looked into the distance.

After confirming that it really was Cordis, Chrollo sighed.

"Oh dear. This looks like it'll be more troublesome than expected."

The Spider had sent five members for this Febola Stone.

They were:

Shizuku, Shalnark, Machi, Uvogin, and Chrollo.

The others were not particularly interested in the Febola Stone. It was mainly Chrollo who wanted it so badly.

Aside from its beautiful appearance, of course, he also wanted to know whether it really was as miraculous as the legends claimed.

According to legend, aura also existed between heaven and earth.

That aura was the purest and most potent of all.

The Febola Stone absorbed the aura between heaven and earth, then took over a hundred years to form.

Thus, to an ordinary person, it seemed to be nothing more than a particularly attractive gemstone.

To a Nen user, however, it was a gift of power from the heavens.

Not only could Nen users absorb the aura within it to reach new heights,

but it could even allow some people to make a qualitative leap.

I'm going to write four installments today.

But I'll only post two.

You ask why?

Mainly because I don't want to write tomorrow.

Right now, I'm trying to decide whether to have Cordis join the Spider.

I know you definitely won't answer.

So I'll just decide for myself and have him stay out, then.