Conrad had no romantic feelings toward Elena at all.
He was simply applying a basic tactic. If Elena was going to act this way and make moves like this, then the most logical approach was to keep the conversation casual and entertaining so he wouldn't make her suspicious while also enjoying the situation himself.
"What kind of Nen ability is she using?" Conrad wondered at the same time.
"No… I mean, yes, of course I don't want you getting hurt as a friend."
"It's just a very unexpected situation," Elena said. Her face and emotions were completely natural and exactly how they should have been.
The only difference was that Conrad was much more used to Elena acting like her usual self.
Conrad smiled and took a sip of his drink.
"Elena isn't stupid enough to think I wouldn't notice this change."
"Maybe the ability still isn't functioning the way it's supposed to."
"The way she's acting right now could be related to the activation conditions of her ability."
Conrad took a deep breath.
"Honestly, earning extra money while also cleaning up trash works perfectly for me."
"Is that a problem?" he added.
Elena shook her head and smiled.
"Of course not."
Elena paused for a moment and looked directly into Conrad's eyes.
"Your eyes are really beautiful. I never paid much attention before," she said.
This time, Conrad's expression turned completely neutral.
"The ability… could be related to getting reactions."
"As long as I continue responding to her words and displaying certain emotions, she might be fulfilling conditions as if she's filling something up."
"But why is she doing this to me? It could be to make me talk, but an ability like this wouldn't work very well on me."
Conrad couldn't help but think about something.
Maybe Elena and Mizaistom saw him as inexperienced and foolish.
But that didn't make much sense either, because neither Elena nor Mizaistom were idiots, and they definitely weren't simple Nen users.
Because of that, it was impossible for them to see him as weak. At the very least, they would sense it.
Conrad immediately made a decision.
He was just about to say something when he stopped. He felt like he was about to make a big mistake and play into the hand of her for a moment.
"Thank you…" he said calmly instead of what he was about to do.
Conrad had almost stopped the situation by directly telling Elena to fix her behavior and act normally again.
But an instinctive feeling stopped him from doing so.
The image of Elena's Nen ability in his mind was becoming much clearer.
"Step one…"
"Request a meeting with someone, and have that request accepted."
"Step two…"
"During the meeting, remain at close range and make sure the expenses of the meeting are paid by the person who accepted it."
"Afterward, begin displaying extreme emotional behavior toward the target."
Conrad had thought the process through up to that point.
But the important thing was obtaining the expected reaction.
According to Elena's line of thinking, if Conrad was acting naturally in this kind of situation, then he would point out that the situation wasn't natural and try to stop her behavior.
If that was her expectation, and if the character Conrad had built up suggested he would react that way, then it meant that Conrad telling Elena to "act normal," "stop behaving strangely," or "cut it out" was one of the conditions her ability required.
Conrad let out a quiet breath.
"Simply getting a reaction probably isn't enough. Most likely, obtaining a negative reaction and having the other side demand that she stop is the first reaction Elena needs to go on to complete her ability and have effect on the target."
"That means she already started using her ability exactly as I suspected. If I'm not misunderstanding things, every action where I stop playing along with the game and break the rules… gives Elena another chance to activate her conditions. Even though I still don't know exactly how many conditions she needs."
"If it's a Manipulation-type Nen ability, then she probably needs to collect at least four or five different reactions. If it's only simple manipulation meant to relax me and make me talk, then gathering two or three reaction-based conditions should be enough…"
At that moment, Elena interrupted Conrad's thoughts and planning.
"Come on, let's get up and head to the bar. Let's eat something there," Elena said, touching her lips dramatically as she spoke.
Conrad smiled.
"The Nen world really is full of unexpected people and abilities," he thought.
Under normal circumstances, Conrad would have rejected the request. Deep down, he knew that requests could easily be used as conditions.
Nearly every strong and intelligent Nen user understood that.
But this time, Conrad understood the situation.
"Of course, sitting at the bar sounds fine," he said as he stood up.
At that exact moment, even if only for a millisecond, Elena's romantic and seductive expression reverted back to her normal one before she immediately regained composure.
Conrad wasn't careless enough to miss something like that.
"Rules…" he thought, focusing on the word that came to mind.
"Rules… laws and games. A female Nen user closely associated with Mizaistom… and Mizaistom himself is deeply connected to law."
"Playing Field and Rule Breaker. Once the game starts, those who break the rules are punished."
Conrad had now almost completely understood the entire situation.
"What a ridiculous and terrifying Nen ability…"
"The fact that they're testing it on me, and that this also counts as a Nen attack, proves how important it is to keep the secret hidden."
"Otherwise, why would they send a Hunter after another Hunter? That directly violated the rules of the Hunter Association."
Conrad and Elena moved to the bar, and Elena continued her behavior, constantly making requests that Conrad would normally refuse or not go along with.
After the situation continued like this for a while longer, another ten minutes had passed.
The conversations constantly revolved around requests, acceptance, and casual topics.
Conrad simply laughed things off and accepted the requests.
At the same time, he was also keeping track of the time.
"Every game has a certain duration. There is no such thing as an endless game without a time limit. When the time runs out, I'll receive some kind of signal or sensation."
"After that, I'll understand the situation… Hopefully she doesn't run away,"