Even though ordinary people had little connection to the mafia, darkness and light were always intertwined.
The Salvatore Malas Mafia family and the Ten Mafia Dons had many ties to the surface world.
So there were ripples of unrest, although not openly visible.
Because… the V5 intervened.
...
Republic of Padokea, Kukuroo Mountain.
"This world is becoming more and more restless..."
An elderly man, just returning from a job, walked toward the Zoldyck Family's Testing Gate, a banner hung across his chest, reading: A Kill A Day and Never Retire.
And those words were absolutely true.
"But that's good for us, isn't it?"
A deep voice sounded behind him.
Two meters and twenty centimeters tall, wrapped in a waterfall of silver-white hair, the current head of the Zoldyck Family, Silva Zoldyck, spoke in a deep voice.
His silver-purple pupils, under the dim light of Kukuroo Mountain, reflected a cold, crystalline glint.
His powerful body stood there, seeming even sturdier than the Testing Gate itself.
"The more chaos they stir up outside, the better our business will be."
Silva was simply stating a fact.
The more the underworld fought and killed each other, the more profit families like theirs, killers by trade, could earn.
This was the business they had always done.
"In the short term, it really is good..."
The previous family head, Silva's father, Zeno Zoldyck, stroked his beard.
"But in the long run, if they fight too fiercely and actually wipe each other out… then we will have no clients coming to place orders."
"The others' death is fine, but our financial backers should stay alive longer. These old bones of mine have yet to reach retirement age."
He finished smoothing his beard, clasped his hands behind his back, and walked inside first.
Silva followed behind him, and upon stepping through the Testing Gate, casually tossed the nearly-dead creature in his hand to the young, new butler, Gotoh, who had been waiting respectfully nearby.
"This is a magical beast I picked up from the Dogara Mountain Range. It's barely acceptable."
Silva stated casually, "Have it guard the gate. That's more than enough for it. There have been more and more idiots thinking they can just show up here recently."
Silva didn't care about people showing up to die.
But too many flies buzzing in his ears was simply annoying.
"The second young master said it's mainly because of information spreading online."
The young butler, Gotoh, responded: "Originally, Kukuroo Mountain and the Testing Gate were only known in the underworld and surrounding regions. But after the rise of the internet, many unknown secrets and intel began circulating online."
"This includes the legends of the Zoldyck Family within the assassin world. So a lot of amateur hunters and people who want to make a name for themselves found our address online and then—"
Silva finished the sentence: "They came here looking for us, right?"
His lion-like gaze swept toward the gate.
There, Tsubone was cleaning up the mess from yet another group of fools who had come earlier and been disposed of.
Tsubone could still handle these troublemakers for now.
But when she grows older, or if too many show up, it would become a problem.
"Seems like bringing back something to guard the gate was the right call."
Silva glanced at the beast, something like a wolf but not a wolf, like a dog but not a dog.
He had taken it back simply because it looked decent.
He had personally witnessed the ferocity of its parents, so it passed his standard.
With it guarding the gate, at least there would be something to deal with those idiots.
"Even if it can deal with them, being interrupted like this constantly isn't ideal."
Zeno walked slowly ahead.
"Get in touch with the Mimbo Republic. See if there's a way to reduce these clueless visitors or perhaps find some method to cut off their curiosity."
"Frankly, even if this place became a tourist attraction, it would be better than having gunpowder stench at the gate every day."
No matter how little he cared, seeing the gate in ruins after every business trip was unpleasant.
"Understood. I'll make contact."
Gotoh bowed slightly. "Then, this one—"
He glanced at the beast baring its teeth in his hand.
He didn't know its name.
"Hmm..."
Silva also didn't know what species it was.
But…
"Call it Mike."
He glanced at the three tufts of fur that had fallen on the floor and named the magical beast casually.
And so, the Zoldyck Family's Testing Gate gained a guard dog named Mike.
...
"... The internet, huh?"
On his way back to his residence, Silva began to think.
As the head of the world's foremost assassin family, he had to adapt to the times.
Failing to keep up could lead to fatal consequences for the entire family.
"It seems I need to pay attention to this internet, and this internet appears to be a kind of technology that requires familiarity to use properly."
"Someone familiar with it..."
He thought of the person Gotoh had mentioned earlier, his second son, Milluki Zoldyck.
Since birth, that child had been extremely ordinary, at least compared to other children.
Illumi had inherited the family's traits well and adapted naturally to their environment.
With his eccentric mother pushing him, he was already a proper assassin.
Killua was still young, so his abilities had yet to show.
But Milluki… He was already eight years old, yet even Silva couldn't find anything noteworthy about him.
He, Zeno, and even the deeply hidden Maha had observed him for eight years, yet saw no assassin-like qualities at all.
Instead, Milluki displayed gluttony and laziness to an extreme degree.
Even when trained by both the old and new butlers, he would pretend to comply, then disappear to hide and slack off the moment no one looked.
Even Maha could only fall silent watching him.
This was something the Zoldyck lineage had almost never produced, a child utterly outside their family's mold.
"Could it be that idiot Zigg, when he returned from the Dark Continent, brought back something troublesome...?"
The elderly Maha couldn't help thinking of the worst.
Years ago, his son, Zigg Zoldyck, had gone to the Dark Continent with Netero and Gourmet Hunter, Linne Horsdoeuvre.
They survived and returned, but the consequences were not good.
Now, Zigg was no longer here.
And Maha could feel that the danger in him hadn't vanished; it might have been passed down through blood.
Maha suspected that Milluki was the hidden danger.
Otherwise, it made no sense for such a disgrace to the family to exist.