__________ POV Narration__________
While Ashton was having fun and meeting up with Kurapika, Chrollo was standing around, thinking of ways for him and his group to escape from the mess that had ensued.
He didn't expect things to go the way they did. Even if he tried to subvert the attention of his pursuers, they were no longer after an item.
He couldn't trick them into believing Ashton was in possession of it. The death of the king complicated things infinitely.
And the worst thing, Chrollo didn't even understand how or why something like that had happened.
Few people that were present on the ship could've been able to assassinate the King, and even fewer could've stolen his appearance.
One of the people that came to Chrollo's mind was Ashton.
But, from his understanding, Ashton not only didn't have a way to steal someone's appearance, but he also didn't want to be involved in such conflicts.
Well, he was unaware if his teacher had such an ability. But he hadn't seen him use one before.
Which left Chrollo with the only other logical alternative. A stowaway that was extremely skilled.
Likely disguised himself as a passenger and decided that pinning the blame on the Troupe would be the most sensible solution.
At this point. He could only curse his bad luck. The circumstances matched too well, especially since the treasure that was missing was also in their possession.
Even if the missing treasure wasn't reported, he knew that its absence must've been noticed by now.
Chrollo realised that he had been duped. It left a sour taste in his mouth, especially since he also had no way of knowing who did it.
Right now, he had gathered all of the Troupe in one place. They were deliberating, trying to figure out a way to leave the ship. The authorities would definitely be prepared to meet them.
"Maybe we just proceed like normal?" Asked Shizuku, or the vacuum lady, with a hopeful tone.
The plan was to pin the blame on Ashton and disguising themselves as workers of the ship that was tasked with refuelling the Black Whale.
Not a horrible plan, but that would've only worked if the guards didn't have a 100% focus on them. Their current circumstances were not ideal at all.
"No... It won't work..." Said Feitan, probably thinking the same things as Chrollo.
"Things aren't looking too good... But let's not lose hope." Said Nobunaga, the oldest member among them.
Everyone looked to their leader for guidance, but Chrollo was also stumped. He didn't know what to do.
The only good thing that had happened was the Chain User not attacking any more of their group.
They also didn't manage to find him in their searches. Which meant that the User was sitting around in the First Tiers.
"Indeed, we've been in bleak situations before... We just need to figure a way out..." Said Chrollo thoughtfully. He could just keep hiding around, but he didn't want his group to reach the Dark Continent.
He didn't know much about the place, but he had learned enough about the previous expeditions to realise that the late King of the Kakin Empire really downplayed the dangers of it.
He didn't want to enter such an atrocious place. And he especially didn't want his Troupe, the people he cared about, to reach it either.
So, they stood there, talking and thinking to each other. Until the door suddenly opened, and a voice alerted everyone in the room.
"See? I told you we didn't get lost~" It was oddly melodic, but it helps a hint of mischievousness in it. Chrollo instantly recognised his teacher's voice.
And the dots finally connected in his head. Just as Ashton entered the room with the Chain user and the Chairman of the hunter association by his sides.
He suddenly realised just what had happened. His eyes widened as he wrapped his head around the entirety of the picture he had failed to see beforehand.
He had been played, by none other than his teacher.
His plans had all been circumvented and turned back onto him. And his teacher was the one to do all of that.
Ashton didn't even show a smidge of his malicious intentions in any of their meetings, bar the one in which he overstepped his boundaries.
Yet, here he was, bringing with him what was obviously Chrollo's enemies. The chan user was already prepared for combat.
In retrospect, he should've thought that Ashton would have some sort of grievance with the King after his warning during the presentation.
And he should've realised that Ashton was acting a bit too helpful in the beginning. That had meant that his teacher had always been aware of his intentions.
Something that frightened the young leader of the Troupe. His misjudgement and misplaced confidence had just lead to a confrontation he knew the Troupe wouldn't win.
__________ POV Ashton__________
I opened the room and entered it, my associates were already prepared to fight the Troupe.
All of Chrollo's friends were shocked to see us. Including the Zoldycks brothers.
I already gave Cheadle clear instructions to not harm them.
----(10 minutes ago)----
Her reaction was quite bad. "What!? They are part of the group that ASSASSINATED the KING! And you want me to just ignore them?!" She was quite mad at me.
I made a quick clarification. "Yes. You will ignore them. I wasn't asking, I was telling you that the Zoldycks are not to be messed with." My assertiveness seemed to further annoy her.
"That's preposterous! It's going to bring more trouble to the association!" Her ears were raised and her tail stood up. It was surprisingly amusing, the proper word for it is 'cute' though.
"I can bring a lot more trouble to the association than the V6... Besides, no one needs to know that the Zoldycks had anything to do with this matter. Only the three of us know that." She seemed to understand my point.
Although she didn't really like the first part, I guess a threat doesn't work well when she doesn't know me all that well.
But she seemed not to want any trouble, she accepted to leave the Zoldyck brothers out of it. After all, they were just two people.
And killing them would also bring the ire of the Zoldyck family. Which was never a good idea.
----(Back to present)----
"Oh wow! The atmosphere in this room is quite strained!" I said with a cheerful smile. My cold eyes betraying my facade.
I scanned the room looking at the shocked and angry faces of the Troupe members. Chrollo himself just stood there, wide-eyed and looking into the table.
I guess he's realised who the killer is huh? A bit too late.
Time for the theatrics to ensue.
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