"That brat… he's actually pretty interesting…"
Watching the figure disappear around the corner, Cole pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose once again.
An orphan raised in a welfare home. Exceptionally intelligent. Sharp at analyzing situations, with an excellent grasp of other people's emotions.
He had clawed his way up step by step among bounty hunters from a young age, and for someone his age, his strength as a Trainer was outstanding. Not long ago, he had passed the Elite Trainer certification. He didn't command many Pokémon, clearly favoring an elite-focused route. All things considered, he was solid material—someone genuinely worth investing for the League.
For a League investigator, digging up the background of an ordinary civilian with no special backing was trivially easy. A simple login to the League's internal network was enough to trace someone's entire history from childhood onward.
Cole might look unserious on the surface, always talking nonsense and acting flaky, but anyone capable of becoming a League investigator was anything but stupid. And he certainly wouldn't recruit someone of unknown origins to assist him.
Having the captain of the S.S. Anne hire five bounty hunters as external security had been his superior's idea—a deliberate bait-and-hook. As expected, it had reeled in two big fish.
Did that man named Mondo really think shaving his head and tattooing his neck was enough to hide who he was?
One of Team Rocket's mid-level elite cadres—infamous in the underground world for his Fighting-type Pokémon and his wildly aggressive battle style.
As for the woman named Lisa, she wasn't technically a member of Team Rocket. But the dirty work she'd done over the years was far from limited to one or two jobs. She was the purest kind of mercenary—someone who would do anything for money, including working for a criminal organization like Team Rocket.
...
Back in his room, Kael lay on the bed, quietly reviewing the terms he'd discussed earlier with the League investigator, Cole.
Helping was fine—but as a bounty hunter, Kael had one unbreakable rule: no work without pay. That was professional ethics. He would never do evil for money, and he would never work for free.
There were three conditions in total.
First: during the seven-day escort mission, all of Cole's security wages would be paid to Kael.
Second: Cole would arrange a temporary League investigator credential for him—purely nominal, with no actual authority.
Third: Cole would help him apply to the Joy family for the right to raise a Chansey.
Many people saw news reports about dark organizations launching violent attacks or raiding research facilities and assumed these groups were immensely powerful.
And comparatively speaking, they were. Against individuals, such organizations were indeed behemoths—strict hierarchies, massive financial resources, and high-ranking cadres whose strength rivaled the League's Elite Four.
But compared to the true ruler of this world—the Pokémon League—those dark organizations were still weak.
They could only hide in the shadows, barely surviving amid the power struggles at the League's highest levels.
If a regional League truly decided to eradicate a dark organization, a single order would unleash countless elites cultivated over centuries—along with Elite Four members and even Champions from other regions. Which dark organization could withstand that?
Of course, politics was never about simple suppression and annihilation.
In the eyes of those who truly ruled, balance was always the correct approach. As long as light existed, darkness would never completely disappear.
It was just like Kael's previous world—Earth—where the most powerful nation possessed unmatched military strength and cutting-edge technology, yet also harbored the largest number of criminal syndicates. Ironic, wasn't it?
...
"So," the silver-haired young man with foxlike features said calmly from the head seat of the conference room, his white-gloved fingers tapping lightly on the tabletop, "you agreed to all three of his conditions?"
"Yes, boss," Cole replied.
For once, he wasn't wearing his usual flippant, sleazy grin. He sat upright in his chair, hands resting neatly on his knees—like a student awaiting instruction.
Renard fell silent for a moment. The atmosphere grew faintly tense.
Then, suddenly, he smiled. His eyes opened slightly.
"He is an interesting one. If what you say is true, his potential is excellent. There's no harm him into the League. The first two conditions are no problem at all."
He paused briefly.
"As for the third… that will depend on his performance. If he does well, I'll do him a favor and help apply to the Joy family. If not—then I'm afraid there's nothing I can do."
"Hah…"
Hearing this, Cole finally let out a quiet sigh of relief.
For the boss to say this much meant he held no aversion toward the boy—if anything, he was mildly intrigued. That made things much easier.
After all, Renard's own excellence was unquestionable. Becoming the League's Chief Investigator at just twenty years old was no small feat.
Though perhaps the more critical factor was his grandmother—a woman who had served as a Ghost-type Elite Four of the Kanto League for nearly thirty years.
The legendary Agatha.