Milia worked fast. On the third day after Ronin won his match, she brought him good news.
When Ronin entered Milia's office, he saw a middle-aged man he hadn't met before.
His name was Vansen. He was the one responsible for contacting the Scarlet Eyes seller, and he would be the main negotiator for this operation. Ronin—the actual buyer—would instead disguise himself as an "assistant."
Vansen was a smart man. He didn't show the slightest curiosity about things he shouldn't ask.
"The seller is Vesley, a politician in the Republic of Padokea. His asking price is 1.8 billion jenny—about double the market rate. If it weren't that price, he had no intention of selling the Scarlet Eyes in the near term. Now that Scarlet Eyes have become a limited-edition item, their collectible value is rising."
As Vansen accompanied Ronin to the airship terminal, he proactively shared the information.
Their destination was one of the V5 nations: the Republic of Padokea.
V5 was essentially this world's United Nations—made up of the five most powerful countries, with various special agencies under its umbrella.
From what Ronin knew alone, that included the Hunter Association, the Immigration/Transit Bureau, the Dangerous Species Containment Bureau, the World Environmental Health Organization, and more.
After getting off the airship, Ronin didn't feel the Republic of Padokea was particularly special—maybe it was just cleaner than the places he'd been before.
The meeting point was a private club.
For safety, Ronin wore a hat and glasses. Unless someone knew him very well, it would be hard to recognize him at a glance.
The transaction went smoothly. The moment the Scarlet Eyes were produced, Ronin felt heat flare at his own eyes.
They were genuine.
Excited, he gave Vansen a slight nod.
Once the 1.8 billion jenny was transferred, the Scarlet Eyes were sealed into a case and handed over to Ronin.
Everything went perfectly. And after the deal was done, Vesley even volunteered a piece of intelligence.
"Back then, someone dumped a large batch of Scarlet Eyes onto the market—around twenty-something pairs. Nearly half of them were bought by a mysterious individual. And among them was one 'top-tier' pair—the most exquisite of all—still preserved inside a head.
That one pair alone sold for the astronomical price of ten billion. Sadly, I didn't get to see it myself, but I heard that compared to those eyes, every other Scarlet Eyes pair looked dull. That pair was even praised as a beauty surpassing the Seven Beauties!"
Vesley lit a cigarette, his chubby face full of regret.
"My guess is those people were the ones who massacred the Kurta. Honestly, what a waste. It was just a small village of a hundred or so people—why not keep them penned up and raise them?
Those bandits have no brains. They only know how to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs—draining the pond to catch the fish."
Vesley's voice was full of disdain and "regret," but to Ronin, the meaning behind those words was no different from an animal.
As for that "most beautiful" pair he mentioned, Ronin could guess—it was probably Pairo's, Kurapika's friend.
In the previous owner's memories, there were plenty of memories about Pairo.
He'd been a clever, warm, sunny boy—just physically weak, and with poor eyesight.
It was said that weakness came from lingering damage from when he'd saved Kurapika. And when the Kurta were slaughtered, Kurapika wasn't in the village because he'd gone to find a doctor for Pairo.
Ronin also knew who the "mysterious person" was that bought nearly half the eyes:
Tserriednich, Kakin's Fourth Prince.
And by this point in time, Tserriednich didn't even know what Nen was.
If Ronin infiltrated Kakin right now, could he steal Tserriednich's collection?
That could be a dozen or more pairs of Scarlet Eyes.
If he had that many, Ronin felt he could push his Sharingan straight into the Rinnegan.
And with the Rinnegan's power plus unlocked S-rank ninjutsu, Ronin felt that in the Hunter x Hunter world—even if he couldn't walk sideways everywhere—anyone who could threaten him, at least within the known world around Lake Mobius, would be extremely rare.
But he couldn't rush it. The target was a high-ranking prince of Kakin.
Even if he himself hadn't mastered Nen, his subordinates likely included Nen users. And Kakin carried its own air of mystery—moving rashly could trigger unexpected complications.
This needed long-term planning.
"If you hear more Scarlet Eyes news, Vesley-san—or if you obtain another pair—feel free to contact me," Vansen said as he stood to take his leave.
Ronin didn't like Vesley, but he had no intention of killing him either.
First, Vesley had solid connections and channels—he might be useful later when Ronin collected more Scarlet Eyes.
Second, there was a Nen user in the room who put immense pressure on Ronin.
A man who looked like he had no chin. He wore an inverted-V hairstyle and revealed only one eye.
And that one eye had been locked on Ronin since he entered—as if the moment Ronin showed the slightest intention of attacking Vesley, the man would strike and kill him immediately.
Ronin recognized him right away. He didn't know the name, but he knew the man was a professional Hunter—and one of the members of Beyond Netero's expedition team to the Dark Continent!
If someone could earn the trust of Isaac Netero's son, Beyond Netero, that alone proved his strength.
He felt dangerous to Ronin—similar to the threat Ronin had felt when Nobunaga blocked the terminal entrance back then.
Vesley really was cautious.
"Of course," Vesley replied with a sincere smile.
After all, he'd bought that pair for only 1.2 billion jenny, and flipping it just earned him a clean 600 million profit. In Vesley's eyes, Vansen was a walking gold mine.
He was even already plotting how to pry more Scarlet Eyes out of his "friends'" private collections.
After leaving the club, Ronin didn't rush back. Instead, he checked into a five-star hotel.
He needed to absorb the newly acquired Scarlet Eyes as soon as possible—both to avoid any complications and to increase his strength quickly.
He had a constant sense of danger: Uvogin would definitely come looking.
Especially with Milia's all-out publicity campaign.
And besides Uvogin, there was one more person who would absolutely come for him the moment they saw his name in the news—
Kurapika.
On the hotel bed, Ronin took the Scarlet Eyes out of the case. Nen spread over his hands and flowed onto the bottle, wrapping it.
Just like the first time, a warm sensation rose toward Ronin's eyes as the Scarlet Eyes inside the bottle began to melt.