"I understand."
The House Robot, after listening to Luke's arrangements, also expressed comprehension.
"I have here a list of the cooperative hunters who support you, Vice-Chairman. I'll find their common traits and formulate policies that benefit them."
"As for the rest, they will be treated differently."
The House Robot clearly understood how to carry this out.
And it even seriously considered for Luke: "But doing this... Won't it attract some public criticism..."
"Public criticism is public criticism, so what?"
Luke didn't care at all: "Their mouths are on their own faces. Let them say what they want, curse however they want, tomorrow I'll still be doing what I do."
"It's not like I'm going to lose a chunk of flesh."
Originally, after Pariston became Vice-Chairman, the number of missing professional hunters increased year by year.
He even set a new record since the founding of the Hunter Association.
But in the end, nothing happened to him anyway.
And Ging Freecss, he's someone a lot of people can't stand. Who knows how many times he's been cursed behind his back?
But the result? Didn't he still hold enormous power, status, and wealth in this world?
In this world, if cursing people worked, everyone would just curse, and no one would bother training Nen…
In short, with Luke's final decision, the measures were quickly approved and implemented.
Although the first ones to see this policy were the Zodiacs... when they looked at the content Luke provided, they honestly couldn't make sense of it.
"I can tell he wants to divide people into two groups, one to support, one to suppress, but..."
Kanzai scratched his head, still confused, his eyes showing some bewilderment: "The divisions he set, age 26 years 3 months to 37 years 11 months... Plus the number of missions taken, hunter profession... This whole series of requirements... I don't understand it at all."
Not only the age requirement, but there were also requirements regarding mission frequency, hunter profession, and even how many times they had traveled to certain countries, and so on.
Kanzai couldn't see any clear rules behind these criteria.
"What exactly is he aiming for with this kind of division?"
Not only Kanzai, but most of the other Zodiacs also couldn't understand it.
Only Cheadle vaguely sensed something about Luke's thinking, but she was still not certain.
Pariston, on the other hand…
"So quickly, he's already distinguished who supports him and who opposes him, and even found the corresponding dividing traits?"
The smile on his face remained as always, as though nothing could disturb him.
If others couldn't understand Luke's divisions, for him it was a different story entirely.
All the information about the cooperative hunters existed in his mind.
Once Luke's main criteria were announced, Pariston compared them with the cooperative hunters in his memory.
Very soon, he easily found the pattern.
And he immediately understood that Luke was officially beginning his support-and-suppression strategy.
"Earlier than I expected, and it's more explicit and direct..."
Pariston lightly propped his chin with his hands while murmuring in his heart: "But in that case..."
His lips slowly curved upward: "Doesn't that make things even more interesting?"
Originally, Pariston's only goal was to reclaim the position of Vice-Chairman.
But now, seeing Luke begin to flex his strength in that position... it unexpectedly ignited a long-lost sense of fighting spirit within Pariston.
It was the feeling of meeting a worthy opponent.
Aside from reclaiming the position, crossing blades with someone this formidable was also a certain kind of fun.
Just as Pariston was itching to challenge Luke…
On the other side, Luke himself did not stay in the Hunter Association.
Because he received a call from someone who hadn't contacted him in a very long time.
Someone who once left Meteor City to pursue her own adventures...
Someone who had never stayed in touch with the Phantom Troupe, though the troupe still kept a place for her... Sheila.
When the Phantom Troupe became famous worldwide, Sheila seemed to have vanished from the world.
But Luke knew that she had always continued her own kind of adventure.
And this time, she contacted Luke mainly because she seemed to have run into some trouble.
In a certain forest, she seemed to have gotten lost… in a place that appeared deserted, with no traces of birds or beasts, within a dense forest.
This place was recognized by the international community as completely uninhabited, with no evidence of life.
Yet within this deep mountain forest, there existed a peculiar tribe.
Households with uniquely shaped buildings were scattered through the forested valley.
And within one such valley, a fierce argument had erupted.
"I want to go see the outside world!!"
A young blond, green-eyed child, dressed in distinctive ethnic clothing, angrily pounded the table before the elder seated opposite him.
"Why can't I?!"
"No!"
An elder with a scarred head, a big nose, and a very short stature crossed his arms and directly rejected the boy's request.
"According to the rules of our tribe, you cannot go out."
The elder shook his head calmly. "Rules are rules. If it says I cannot go out, then you cannot go out."
"These rules are completely unreasonable!!"
The young blond, green-eyed child shouted loudly: "Do you have any reasonable basis for this?!"
"A rule that can't even convince a child, what meaning does it have?!"
Hearing this, the short, scar-faced elder simply stopped talking and turned his face aside.
"What you choose to do isn't something I can control..."
The elder said lightly: "But if the rules are broken, it is your family who will be punished."
"If it doesn't matter to you whether your family is punished because of you..."
He pointed at the boy. "Then I have nothing more to say."
The young blond, green-eyed child: "..."
He wanted to go out, but he also didn't want to involve his beloved parents.
Helpless, he could only stomp away angrily from the elder's house.
"You stinky old man!!"
Before leaving, the little boy still couldn't help but leave behind such a line.
In response, the short, scar-faced elder pretended not to hear it.
According to the rules, only the procurement personnel were allowed to go outside the village.
Some others, even after reaching more than forty years old, had never left the village.
The little boy who had been directly rejected by the elder had no choice but to come to find his best friend.