Chapter 48: Things X Untold

NARRATION

A month ago...

Just like the populous part of the village, the place where farms and crops are being harvested and planted gave a long silence to the two travelers.

Only the dusty wind whistled to their ear as they marched their feet on the ground. The plants around the field wilted and died, and the fruits in the carts abandoned, now molded and filled with various insects and bugs feasting over the free food.

No one is here. Just them.

As they made their way to the path provided, Archi saw something in a far distance. He stared at it, thinking about what he should say to his companion.

"I think... I found it." He simply said and Michael behind him approached his position, tried to look at what he saw. Between his eyes was a lonely tree on top of a hill, with a small swing hanging on its strongest branch.

="When I was a kid..."=

He can hear his wife's voice inside his head, remembering the moments of them being together. No threats and no curses.

="...we found a tree on a top of a hill. It was very lonely. So we decided to hang out around it so it won't be feeling lonely anymore."=

="It's very childish of us to think of that. But if there's a chance that that tree has feelings, then I didn't regret hanging out around it."=

"Shall we go, sir?"

The boy's question made him go back to reality and realized that he had been staring at the lonely tree from afar.

"Y-Yes..." He stuttered in his words and then, walked towards the tree, along with his companion.

After a short walk towards the hill, where the tree was standing strongly, they found a house on the other side, with a garden full of flowers and vegetables. The path was already covered with grass and the walls are being attacked by the moss.

They tried approaching the house, with their every step is caution. They took a glance at the building in front of the first, before entering the household, didn't bother to knock at the door.

"Is anyone here?" Michael yelled inside the house, made his voice echoed in the walls. But no one answered.

They tried to go upstairs, checking if there's something they can get from the rooms. They didn't encounter any strange situations while they're opening and entering rooms, which Archi thought it strange. After encountering the cursed arm man from before, they should have faced a bigger opponent right now.

In one of the rooms, Michael found a framed photo displayed on top of one of the drawers, full of dust and spider webs. In the picture, showed a maiden with long auburn hair tied into a loose ponytail, dressed in white with the brown apron on top of her skirt.

He recognized that it was his wife and he couldn't help but smile at her beauty and elegance. But then, this smile turned into a frown, as he realized what she had done to her family. Why did she leave? Why was she triggered by Secco's arm? What is behind this village that no one knows?

They couldn't find anything upstairs, so they decided to go to the basement. It was infinite darkness, so they lit up a torch to enter. The room was filled with packages and boxes of varieties of farming materials. The corners of the ceilings were owned by the spiders living in their webs. Farming tools were scattered across the room, some stood up, some failed to stand.

They walked to the quiet room with only one torch to guide their way into the darkness. It's a long silence filled with caution and care. They don't know what's coming for them, but they must always stay alert at any time.

The Philene Village... that was massacred a long time ago, is hiding a secret from others, which couldn't be known anymore. And that's why Java accepted this mission and let Archi escort her client.

"I'll check further in the corner," Archi said and walked towards the pile of boxes on the corner of the room. He placed the torch at one of the holders hanging on the wall.

Some boxes are completely empty containing only specks of dust and bugs. But among those, there is only one box that caught his attention.

He opened it, despite the insects crawling on its every part. Inside the box was a pile of papers with printed texts and photos of people unfamiliar with him. Out of curiosity, he grabbed those piles and took a peek of what's written. Java had trained him to study various languages so he can go to missions, so reading what's on the paper is a piece of cake for him.

"Subject 10... Qaiser Destron..." He muttered as he read the words written on the top part of a paper. An image of a man in his early 20s can be seen on the right side.

On the bottom part of the paper was a series of categories and classifications from different tests and experiments. Archi doesn't have any idea what all that means, but the last sentence of the paper widened his eyes.

=Conclusion:

The Dvion cell wasn't successfully invaded the subject's cerebrum, resulting in the cell to die and the subject to lose his left arm during the process.=

"What...?" Archi stuttered in his words, cold sweat dropped in his head. He couldn't believe what he had read on the papers, especially the conclusion. It was so messed up that he let his guard down.

"Ahhh!!"

Suddenly, Michael shouted in the middle of the room, causing the boy to turn his head around and panicked. His eyes became wider when he say his client struggling on the floor.

Until he realized that something was pulling him from below, causing a hole in the floor. He rushed towards the old man and grabbed both of his hands.

Unfortunately, his client was heavier than him and he couldn't fight the thing in the game of tag of war. He was being forced to use all his power, even used his Ren to enhance his feet to keep him from being pulled too and arms to tighten his grip.

He tried to peek at the thing on the bottom of the hole, but it was too dark for the naked eye. But that doesn't matter to him. All he had to do now was to save his client from his doom.

"A-Archi..." Michael said as he's struggling from the unknown entity in the hole. "Let go."

"What?" Archi widened his eyes once more as his jaw dropped from his face. He hoped he heard it wrong, but he knew he wasn't that deaf to mistaken what he said.

"Please... let go..." Michael said as he tried to stop himself from grieving. But then, his eyes were full of determination and courage. He knew that as an adult, he must do it. "I want you to live... and tell this to others. Don't waste your time for me."

"B-But..." Archi stuttered, didn't know what to do now. Then, a memory, a nightmare came back to him. It's the same as that time. That time when he knew that his uncle was gone, just because he wanted to go all by himself.

"My wife's journal was in my bag. Use it. And please... let me go." Michael didn't let the boy finished his sentence and finally let go of his hand. Now all that's left to do was for his companion to do the same.

"No! I don't want to!" Archi yelled as an accident. His tears flowing from his eyes, reminiscing the past he tried to prevent from coming back.

But then, he couldn't stop fate. No matter how desperate he is to hold onto Michael's hands, they're slowly slipping off. After a minute of struggling, they completely let go of each other and his client fell into the eternal darkness.

He was just standing there, spaced out, and stared at nothing in the air. Darkness surrounded him, but he didn't care. He then realized...

He lost someone again.

***

SECCO RASVIN

"K-Killua?!"

I exclaimed, couldn't believe that I can see him in a place like this. I know I said I'll be coming back and be with them, but I didn't expect it to be this sooner. And besides, I haven't found Pisacco yet, so this reunion with my friends is not perfect timing.

"Oh, Secco!" Another familiar voice can be heard not too far away. The crowd is finally reducing inside the station, causing me to see who called my name earlier.

His spiky green hair helped me find him, but what caught my attention the most, is his smile. His smile was strange. It wasn't the same as before. I can still see the cheerfulness and warmth in those, but there's something stuck in there. Sadness. There's sadness hidden inside that smile. Did something happen?

"Gon! You're here, too?" I asked, trying to absorb what was happening. I knew that Gon and Killua we're traveling together, but I'm still surprised at his presence. I wasn't used to seeing them here.

"We're here for some business," Killua answered my unintended question and stared at me straight in the eye. His face is neither irritated nor serious, it was just a normal face. It's not just Gon who changed since then, but Killua too.

I wanted to ask them about what happened after I left them in the Greed Island, but it looks like this is not the perfect time to interrogate them. A station is a public place and someone might be spying and eavesdropping on us.

"What are you here for?" Killua added a question, still in his poker face.

"H-Huh?"

"Yeah. What happened to Grenno?" Gon followed with another question, which I didn't answer immediately. My heart was pounding so fast, and my cold sweat poured from my forehead.

I don't know how to answer their questions. I wasn't ready to tell them yet. I wasn't ready to tell them that I'm looking for a Nen Exorcist on my own. I might become a hindrance to their current goal right now, which I don't have any clue what it is.

"W-Well, I..." I stuttered in my words, couldn't find the perfect sentence to answer their questions without bringing up the topic about the Nen Exorcist.

"Y-You two must be Gon and Killua." Then, out of the blue, a female voice with a bizarre and unfamiliar tone called for my friends. I didn't know where it came from but I'm thankful that someone interrupted our conversation.

I turned my head to the direction of the voice and found the scary-looking lady I just found hiding in one of the pillars of the station. Her black hair is still messy and curly, and her dark Aura is spreading towards us.

Then, all three of us immediately got into our defensive stances and I started to grab one of my bandages to get ready if an ambush will occur. But then, we realized that she doesn't mean any harm to us, and we stood straight, lowering our guard down.

"Allow me to explain everything. Why don't we have some tea?" She suggested, gesturing us to go out of the station. We all looked at each other, trying to find answers in each other's faces, but then, we just decided to follow since we don't have a choice.

We sat down on one of the seats in a nearby cafe and ordered different tea for our different tastes. I really don't like tea very much, since they're bitter as the coffee, so I just ordered a lemon juice instead.

I reached for the straw and started to sip the sweet and sour taste of my drink while listening to my companions' conversation which I don't have any idea what they are talking about.

"M-My name is Palm Siberia and I'm Master Knov's student." The scary lady said, hiding her spine-chilling face from us. Every time I looked at her, my body hair started to stand on their own. But I tried to focus her introduction to keep me relaxed. "He said I would only get in his way... but I insisted on accompanying him."

I don't know who Knov is. Should I ask her?

"Who's that?" Gon asked Killua with his innocent eyes like he didn't ask something wrong that could end a life. But I still can see the sadness in his eyes.

I was planning on asking about that guy, but thankfully, he asked first. I really don't want to interrupt their meeting just because I'm curious. I shouldn't be here, after all.

"Probably one of the guys with Chairman Netero," Killua answered, but the tone of his voice told that he was just guessing the answer. Both of his arms are crossed on his chest as one of his feet lay down to his other leg.

Netero? Did they meet Chairman Netero in here? Where did they meet them?

There are many questions I wanted to ask them, but like before, I won't interrupt their meeting. This is Gon and Killua's business, not mine.

"Y-Yes. He's the one." Palm, who was hiding her face all this time, raised her head with a wide smile on her face. Her dilated eyes were scarier than before. It looks like she was happy to hear his master's name. Does she have a crush on him? "He's cool intelligent, composed... B-But I only respect him, that's all."

This series of praises about her master continued for a long time, which poured a sweat on my face. Those actions confirmed that she, indeed, admired her master so much, too much that it made her obsessed with it.

She even absentmindedly added too much sugar in her tea as she is still babbling about the man called Knov. Then, she grabbed the tea with too much sugar and started to sip it, which made me twitch my other eye out of disgust. I noticed that Gon and Killua felt the same too.

"Hey, aren't we supposed to fight you?" Killua interrupted, couldn't take the shivering and creepy compliments coming from her about her master.

"I apologize. The Chairman and Master Knov said I couldn't accompany them any farther." She answered, and added that she wanted for her master to acknowledge her determination to join with them. And then, she ended up telling us about how gentle he is to her, and almost an hour of chattering from her mouth.

But what caught my attention was what she said. NGL? If she's talking about that, then that means, Gon and Killua wanted to go there, too? Why? Is it because of the Chimera Ant incidents that are happening around that place? Did they already encounter some of them?

More questions and theories are started to form in my head, and I really wanted to ask them about it. But I'll wait for this meeting to be over, then I'll go for a full interview.

"Okay! So what's the condition?!" Killua yelled, irritated at Palm's continuous sputtering of nonsense words. I don't know what he meant by the conditions, so I decided to listen further.

"Knuckle and Shoot's defeat." The latter answered, stopping her babbling. I don't have any idea who is this Knuckle and Shoot people, but I know that they are the challengers for my friends. It looks like Netero gave them a test, just like the time during the Hunter exam.

Palm started to gabble about many things, uttering different words and sentences coming from her mouth. But this time, it's not about Knov anymore.

"To think those vulgar, barbaric unmannered rats will be allowed inside NGL before me..." She muttered, causing her to accidentally release a dark Aura in the surroundings, which made my heart beat faster. Looks like she's out of control. "I can't allow that."

After that, she used a small amount of Hatsu on her seat, causing her tea to spill on the table. Gon grabbed a tissue and started wiping the part of the table in which Palm spilled her tea. After I've seen her behavior, I was convinced that she was an Enhancer.

She also said Palm can't fight them, but Gon and Killua must. Somehow, that triggered me. I don't want my friends to be harmed, but I know that they've grown stronger, and stopping them might just lead them into failure. I have my own business and just happened to be here, meeting up with them.

"Knuckle and Shoot are Sir Morel's students. They, too, received a condition." Palm added on her explanation, which again, didn't make sense to me. So that means, Netero had another companion and not just the Knov person. If their opponents are students of a Hunter as strong as Netero, then there's a low probability that they will win.

She also said that only one group will enter NGL in the next month, either Gon, Killua, and Palm or the other two guys.

I still don't know what is the reason behind their determination to go to NGL. As far as I know, the Chimera Ants are the only problem lurking in the place, and the fact that even Netero, the chairman of Hunter Association, went towards it showed that there's a high-level threat hiding in those areas.

And after encountering one of them, I know it wouldn't be an easy task to take them all, especially the one they called Queen. But all of that doesn't matter. For now, I must Pisacco and get rid of my arm, once and for all.

"Attention!"

Suddenly, a loud static yell of a man can be heard, echoing in every part of the town we're at. We turned our head on the street beside the cafe, and a man with a weird hairstyle holding a megaphone caught all the people's attention.

"My name is Knuckle Bine!"

I don't have any idea what he meant by that, but then, I noticed Gon and Killua's change of expression. From a normal face to a serious one.

Looks like they found their opponents fast.