In Ronin's view, the prosperity of Kakin's capital was enough to rival the cities of V5 countries he had visited before.
All kinds of glittering, luxurious buildings, along with designs that bordered on architectural wonders, filled the entire city with vitality.
This place seemed completely different from Kakin's overall environment.
And the key reason for that was that the nearby cities were all feeding resources into the royal capital.
You could even say that the resources of the entire country had been pooled together to create Kakin's capital—a falsely prosperous international metropolis.
The reason he called it false was because, by their second day here, Ronin and the others had already discovered that Kakin's society was actually disconnected from the outside world.
Everything only looked prosperous on the surface. Internally, it was extremely conservative and outdated.
Here, they couldn't even watch broadcasts of Heaven's Arena fights. Even the internet accessible through computers had been strictly filtered.
If they wanted outside information, they had to use hacking methods. But hacking was also under surveillance in this country. If discovered, Kakin citizens could face heavy crimes like lifelong imprisonment, while foreigners would be directly expelled.
On the streets of this bustling city, the popular music was still from the sixties and seventies.
People dressed quite fashionably, though. After all, in this world, clothing styles really couldn't be judged as outdated in the usual sense.
When they entered a restaurant, the walls still had bulky old CRT televisions mounted on them.
And what played on those televisions were programs with distinctly Kakin characteristics.
Ronin ordered some Kakin specialty dishes, but the taste was just average to him. It leaned more toward the Western food he remembered.
His own palate still preferred Chinese food, so after tasting a little, he put down his fork.
Neon and Shizuku, on the other hand, both liked the food here quite a bit.
Kurapika and Abaki had gone off together to investigate some matters, so Ronin took Neon and Shizuku to casually wander around the city.
At the moment, the restaurant where the three of them were eating was only about five hundred meters from the Fourth Prince's hotel.
Ronin's plan wasn't as troublesome as Kurapika's.
Once it got late at night, he would directly use the Shadow Clone Technique and have the clone enter the hotel to search for the Fourth Prince.
As soon as it found him, the shadow clone would attack without hesitation.
What Kurapika was mainly investigating was whether the Fourth Prince had been involved in the massacre of the Kurta Clan.
After all, the fact that he had purchased so many Scarlet Eyes was far too unusual.
Neon's fortune-telling hadn't produced any good result, so Ronin didn't hold much expectation for this attack.
What he wanted more was to use it to investigate certain things.
After eating, the group found a nearby café and sat down. From where they were, they happened to have a clear view of the hotel entrance not far away.
As the sky began to darken, luxury cars started arriving one after another, delivering elegantly dressed guests to the magnificent hotel.
During this process, Ronin actually saw the Fourth Prince.
When he got out of the car, he was dressed like some Middle Eastern tycoon, with plenty of gold ornaments on his body. His whole person radiated a kind of aristocratic air.
His expression, however, did not look especially pleasant.
Ronin's gaze only lingered on the Fourth Prince for a short while before shifting to the people accompanying him.
Among them, he really did spot someone wrapped in Ten.
That person followed behind the Fourth Prince like an utterly ordinary bodyguard.
If an ordinary person saw him, they definitely wouldn't notice anything unusual.
"From the look of it, it feels more like a warning to other Nen users," Neon said, describing the feeling she got from seeing him.
And just as Neon spoke, that seemingly plain Nen user suddenly turned his head and looked toward the café where Ronin's group was sitting.
Ronin didn't know what the man said, but several of the black-suited bodyguards following the Fourth Prince immediately broke away from the group and started approaching the café.
From the way one of their hands moved, intentionally or not, toward the gun at his waist while they approached, it was clear they had already treated Ronin's group as potential enemies.
"Interesting." Ronin was a little surprised.
But he quickly understood. The man must have used some kind of ability that allowed him to notice them the moment they detected him.
In that case, his Ten might be the trigger condition for the ability.
Anyone who could see his Ten would be detected by him?
If it was that kind of ability, then while it might not be much help in direct combat, it was certainly extremely protective.
At the very least, it gave him a major advantage in identifying enemies.
"How do we handle this?" Neon asked, looking eager to try something.
Ronin, however, looked at the Fourth Prince, who seemed to have noticed the situation behind him and stopped walking.
"I'll do it."
As he said that, Ronin directly formed the cross-shaped hand sign inside the café's private room and created a shadow clone.
The shadow clone used the Transformation Technique to change itself into Deidara's appearance, then pushed open the door and walked out of the room.
"What's going on?" Tserriednich was in a poor mood today.
After getting out of the car, he noticed the abnormal behavior of the bodyguards behind him, which made him frown slightly.
"We noticed something unusual. I've already sent people to investigate."
The Nen user who had discovered Ronin's group, Ingley, stepped forward voluntarily. To the Fourth Prince, his identity was simply that of an ordinary bodyguard with a clean background and decent ability.
But his true identity was actually a member of the Royal Army's Special Operations Unit.
And he was here to do only one thing: no matter what happened, ensure the Fourth Prince's safety.
As for his ability, detecting everyone who could see Ten by releasing his own Ten was a specially cultivated ability within the Royal Army.
Aside from that ability, he had another one as well, also a support-type ability.
But no matter which ability it was, their purpose came down to only two things.
First, ensure the Fourth Prince's safety.
Second, kill the enemy.
"Deal with it quickly," the Fourth Prince said indifferently, then turned and prepared to continue walking into the hotel.
But at that moment, the corner of his eye caught a flash of lightning.
Before he could understand what was happening, a violent collision sounded beside him. Then Tserriednich saw Ingley's entire body flying backward.
The glass in front of the hotel shattered instantly under the impact, and Ingley's body sprayed an abnormal amount of blood as he was sent flying.
At the same time, where Ingley had been struck, a figure wrapped entirely in lightning appeared.
And that figure was Deidara—the form taken by Ronin's shadow clone.