Conrad continued responding to Elena's words and kept playing along without breaking the game.
At that moment, a moderate amount of nen leaked out from Elena, and immediately afterward, the clear focus in her eyes vanished, as though all the alcohol she had consumed had suddenly taken effect at once.
For Conrad, the nen release, the sudden emotional shift, and the heavy drunken state were more than enough signs to understand that Elena's nen ability had reached its limit.
"Hmmm… Looks like there's some kind of penalty limitation once the time limit ends…" Conrad thought and let out a light breath before asking:
"Elena, will you remember the questions I ask you after some time passes?" he asked.
Elena shook her head.
There was no smile on her face anymore, only a plain, neutral expression.
Her entire demeanor now looked somewhere between a drunk person and someone under hypnosis.
"No…" she replied in a sleepy tone.
"I won't remember."
Conrad nodded.
"What is your objective, and what are you trying to learn from me?" he asked.
Elena paused for a few seconds before answering.
"My objective… was to use my nen ability to place you under control... So, I can ask questions to determine whether the Hunter Exam and the Hunter License are some kind of nen ability… nen ability…and if you know about it "
Conrad took a deep breath and rested his hand against his chin.
"So my assumptions were correct," he muttered to himself before asking another question.
"Who are you reporting to, and who assigned you this mission?"
This time, Elena smiled.
"Mizaistom… After he called you to speak to you, he thought you became suspicious, so he assigned me."
Conrad nodded.
"If Mizaistom learns that I discovered the secret, what will he do?"
Elena paused for about two seconds and answered while swaying slightly.
"He'll want to speak with you… He'll make you sign a contract to join the Secret Hunter Group and ask you to keep the matter confidential. If you agree to keep it secret and sign the contract, there won't be any problems."
Conrad narrowed his eyes slightly and asked with a grin:
"And if I refuse?"
The color in Elena's eyes shifted faintly as her expression became serious.
"You'll be hunted…"
"Anyone who reveals this secret and spreads it gets hunted. Hunting them is not punishable in any country or within the Hunter Association. There's even a reward for it."
Conrad exhaled softly.
"Can you remember the commands I give you now after the effect you're under ends and report them to Mizaistom?" he asked.
Elena shook her head.
"No… I'll forget this entire conversation…"
Conrad rubbed his temples.
"Then when you wake up, will you realize your ability failed?"
Elena nodded.
"Yes… Because when I wake up, I won't be able to use my ability for a week. That alone will make everything obvious… that I failed..."
Conrad's mood began turning troubled.
At the moment, he strongly preferred that the truth about the secrets he knew remained entirely within himself.
Because of that, he needed to find a way around this situation.
"Hmmm…"
"What can I do to convince your normal self to lie about me and also convince Mizaistom that I know nothing and never noticed anything?"
The question was complicated and layered, so Elena, while under the effects of her own ability, sank into thought for a while before finally answering after around ten seconds.
"Death and money… I'm very afraid of death and money…"
"First threaten me with death, then reward me with money. One or two billion Jenny would be more than enough..."
"That way I wouldn't need to explain my failure, I wouldn't get killed, and I'd gain money… For me, for the normal Elena, that would be the best possible outcome."
Conrad nodded and asked with a faint smile:
"So, what exactly has been said about me so far?"
After Conrad's question, Elena began speaking one detail after another.
She explained how highly Mizaistom praised him, how the entire situation had begun because of that single sentence, and how Conrad's desire to grow closer to the Hunter Association's power had become the trigger behind everything.
She even mentioned that one day Mizaistom had briefly spoken about him with Isaac Netero, who had described Conrad as "interesting."
She couldn't say much more because she was not a hunter with access to particularly deep information.
Five minutes later, Conrad looked around the room and asked:
"Are you aware of anyone watching you, or is this a solo mission?"
Elena answered:
"A solo mission… Mizaistom would never allow other hunters to learn about this before things became certain, and he personally wouldn't take action that could endanger the mission… There's a chance you might notice him, so he wouldn't act directly…"
Conrad scratched the side of his head lightly.
"How long will this state last?" he asked.
Elena answered:
"About forty more minutes… Then I'll return to normal."
Conrad wasted no more time.
He supported Elena by the arm and immediately brought her up to her room, sat her down in a chair, took a shower himself, changed into new clothes, found some rope, tied Elena to the chair, and began waiting.
The passage of time did not feel particularly long, and within a few seconds, the drunken, hypnotized-looking Elena returned to normal.
Elena looked into Conrad's deep eyes and silently acknowledged the situation.
Conrad sat directly across from her, carrying a serious and threatening atmosphere.
"I suppose I failed…" Elena said in a helpless voice.
Conrad smiled.
"'Suppose' is the wrong word. You simply failed and lost," he added, his eyes growing even deeper and colder.
Even though his goals were different, Conrad could not deny that part of him genuinely wanted to kill Elena at that moment.
After all, she had launched a nen attack against him and tried to harm and control him.