as a Hunter. It’s a rare case, but not impossible.]

Yanagisawa listed all the factors that denied his guess and finally made his conclusion.

“...Then that would be a no too, I guess?”

Yanagisawa thought that he still needed more materials to decide. So for now, he kept Akira’s name on the candidate list. The list had already been filled with so many names. Yanagisawa then moved on to the next Hunter.

“Are you the one then?”

Yanagisawa looked closely at the information displayed in front of him. It was about Katsuya.

[A Hunter from Drankam. The gang has always been thinking of him highly, but lately, his performance has been increasing significantly. In the past, his name had even come up in the reports to the City Management, but now some of the people in the City Management even recognize his strength. Judging from the numbers, it can even be said that it’s as if he’s a completely different person. If he’s someone who can connect to the old-world domain and get in a contract with them, that would explain the sudden increase in his performance.]

After listing all the factors that approved his guess, just like before, Yanagisawa started listing all the factors that denied his guess.

[But he only got this strong after that battle in Mihazono ruin. No, is it when he was fighting in that battle near the Seranthal building? Either way, it’s not when he was in Kuzusuhara ruin. None of them should be in Mihazono ruin. Or at least, there’s no past record of finding them in ruins other than Kuzusuhara ruin. Although putting my trust on the record without much evidence is a bad thing, I cannot just ignore it either. Moreover, he’s still far from being strong enough to go to that place. If I have to say, it sounds more like something happened in that battle near the Seranthal building that triggered his growth, it’s not a rare thing for Hunters to be pulled out of their slumps because of some kind of trigger.]

When Yanagisawa was about to make his decision, something piqued his interest.

“...Seranthal building, huh? And this date... I was there too when he came to the Seranthal building. But at that time, my appointment reservation was deleted. They usually only stay in Kuzusuhara ruin though, so did they come to the Seranthal building temporarily to erase my appointment reservation? If that’s the case, then this boy might... No, wait, it’s not right to force my guess like this. If I force it here, it’ll affect all my decisions later. In the first place, it’s all under the assumption that he can connect to the old-world. It’s just an assumption, it’s okay to use it for checking all the possibilities, but it’s wrong to put my bet on an assumption.”

When Yanagisawa was about to continue, he received a call from someone. He stopped there, checked the call, and frowned when he found that it was not from someone that he could just ignore. So he took a deep breath and smiled just like usual before accepting the call.

“...Uhh, it’s still Nergo, right? Or have you changed your name again?”

“I’ve given my name for the great cause, so it’s not something that I can do lightly numerous times.”

“I see. So, you’re still Nergo right now, huh? What is it then?”

Yanagisawa sounded pretty casual, but in contrast to that, Nergo replied back with a rather serious tone.

“Do you know anything about a young Hunter in Drankam by the name of Katsuya?”

Yanagisawa glanced at Katsuya’s information and faked ignorance.

“Katsuya?? Hmmm, ahh, uhhh, it’s that guy, right? That young Hunter from Drankam who has been doing pretty well lately, right? I heard that he even caused Drankam to break into factions. It’s that one, right?”

“Yeah. There’s something that I need to confirm about Katsuya to my other brothers. Or more like, I need their permission.”

“Permission? For what?”

“I want to secure him.”

Yanagisawa was surprised, he did not expect that from Nergo at all. But he replied with a light joke.

“Ahh, well, of course, I’ll help you out, but I’m still a part of the City Management staff, you see. If you ask me if it’s okay to kidnap one of our Hunters, I have no other choice but to say no. Or more like, in the first place, why would you bring that up to me?”

“We want to maintain a good relationship with you.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a possibility that Katsuya might be someone that we’re looking for. I know you’re looking for one too, right? Someone who could connect to the old-world domain from the Kuzusuhara ruin.”

Yanagisawa’s smile vanished. Nergo did not notice it at all as he casually stated.

“Katsuya can connect to the old-world domain.”

“...Ohh!”

Yanagisawa’s smile returned back. But this time, it was not a fake smile, he was really jovial after hearing that statement.