Getting into Kakin didn't require any particularly complicated inspections. Once Ronin, Kurapika, and the others pulled out their Hunter Licenses, they were waved through with preferential treatment.
Kakin was huge.
It had the potential to become a V6 nation, after all.
Yet from the moment they crossed the border, the overall impression wasn't great.
You could tell just by looking around that the country's happiness index wasn't high. Everyone seemed busy. Smiles were rare.
Every so often you spotted tents pitched along the streets. The people who climbed out of them were usually filthy and disheveled.
"In Kakin you can pretty much divide people into four categories," Kurapika explained as they walked. "Even though development is rapid and the country waves the flag of democracy, the highest tier is still the royal family.
"Below them are the nobles. After that come ordinary citizens—even the homeless we just saw still fall into that category.
"Beneath that are the Untouchables and the demi-humans."
"Demi-humans?" Ronin knew about Untouchables, but he hadn't expected to hear about demi-humans here.
The last time he'd gotten any real information on them had been from Owl.
The ten major mafia organizations that controlled the ten districts of the six continents didn't just use Meteor City as a supplier of illegal goods. They also absorbed large numbers of demi-humans.
Demi-humans had always occupied the bottom rungs of society across the continents. Brutal temperaments, powerful physiques, or some special skill—whatever the case, their bodies were mostly human but always carried animal traits. They lived at the very bottom.
In quite a few countries they had already vanished entirely.
Historical religious purges had often branded them heretics or unclean and burned them alive.
From what Kurapika was saying, demi-humans still had the right to exist in Kakin… but they sat at the absolute bottom of the social ladder.
The Untouchables ranked right beside them—people not even considered worthy of an identity. Born lower than dogs.
"Yeah. In the early days neither the Untouchables nor the demi-humans had it good," Kurapika continued. "But in recent years the Untouchables' living conditions have improved a lot. That's all thanks to Kakin's Second Prince, Camilla.
"Inside her own territory she granted Untouchables basic human rights. She even opened paths for advancement and the possibility of standing on equal footing with nobles.
"Because of that, Camilla carries enormous weight among the lower classes. Some ordinary people who can't scrape by anymore even want to become Untouchables just so they can live under her protection.
"That alone tells you how strong her appeal is."
Kurapika sounded genuinely impressed.
Investigating history had been difficult, but digging up information on the princes had been comparatively easy.
"Camilla doesn't protect demi-humans, though. The Fourth Prince, on the other hand, employs quite a few of them in the hotels he runs.
"You can probably guess the rest. The strong ones get used as bodyguards. The more distinctive female demi-humans become living advertisements for the hotels. Strictly speaking, they're just merchandise in the Fourth Prince's hands. If any of them suddenly died or disappeared, no one would even notice."
This part was completely new to Ronin. The manga had never mentioned it.
In the original story the Fourth Prince had shown up at a hotel, and later on the Black Whale there had been talk of "the Fourth Prince's friends." He also had close ties to one of Kakin's three great mafia families, the Ai family.
But none of that had ever touched on demi-humans.
"I've already booked a hotel," Kurapika said. "If we're willing to spend enough money, we can experience demi-human service for ourselves."
The women in the group all gave him slightly odd looks.
Kurapika either didn't notice or didn't care. He kept going.
"Upward mobility in Kakin is basically cut off. An ordinary person becoming a noble is almost impossible.
"Every major conglomerate has royal backing behind it. Even though the old reforms looked like they weakened the royal family's power, the entire country is still firmly under the Hui Guo Rou family's control.
"And the most hopeless thing about this place is the invisible kill line that actually exists. If nothing major changes in the near future, the number of homeless on the streets is only going to keep growing. A new upheaval could break out at any time."
Listening to Kurapika's breakdown, Ronin could tell the guy had truly done his homework.
After all, a little over two years from now Kakin would undergo its biggest transformation yet.
This ancient nation was going to challenge V5's dominance and try to become the sixth great power inside Lake Mobius.
They were even willing to make the Dark Continent public knowledge—partly because of secrets they were hiding, partly to redirect internal conflicts outward.
Exploring a new continent, expanding territory, hunting for the endless opportunities waiting out there… what could be more exciting than that?
It was the greatest chance the lower classes would ever get to climb the ladder, and the greatest chance the powerful would ever get to expand their influence.
After buying a solid off-road vehicle at a dealership, the group climbed in and headed for the capital.
"Kakin's building a massive shipyard out on the open sea," Kurapika said, his instincts razor-sharp. "They've hired huge numbers of workers. Looks like they're trying to construct the largest ships in the world.
"It's created a lot of jobs and drawn a ton of talent to the capital. I keep feeling like there's more to it."
"Yeah. King Nasubi Hui Guo Rou is an ambitious man," Ronin agreed. "Kakin might make a big move before long."
"Doesn't really concern us either way," Kurapika said. "This trip we have three things to handle.
"One: the Fourth Prince Tserriednich's collection.
"Two: dig into Kakin's history and find any possible connection to the Kurta Clan.
"Three: locate the Phantom Troupe members who might have slipped into Kakin as well. It's about time we settled things with them."
His eyes were steely.
Over the past half year he had spent most of his time in the Kurta ruins, but he hadn't neglected his own training.
If they ran into the remaining members of the Troupe this time, he wasn't planning to rely completely on Big Brother Ronin.
Ronin looked toward the horizon.
He just wondered how prepared Chrollo was.
Hopefully the guy wouldn't disappoint him.