Therefore, Saiyu felt that this meeting would be nothing more than a formality.
Then, after all the attendees had arrived, Chairman Netero alone was nowhere to be seen.
Everyone's expressions remained calm. Netero being late was entirely expected. It would have been strange if he had not been late.
After some time passed, Netero finally arrived at an unhurried pace, with Beans-san following behind him, drenched in sweat.
Judging from Netero's appearance, his beard had somehow been repaired, but Pariston, who was extremely sharp, still noticed it.
"Chairman, did your beard break again?" Pariston greeted him with a smile.
"Ahem, then let us begin directly."
After sitting in the main seat, Netero did not waste time with any empty formalities and had Beans begin the meeting's procedures.
Pariston, Cheadle, Botobai, and the others took turns reporting on the Association's internal work.
Next, they made arrangements for the next stage of work. The Association's secretarial department recorded and organized everything, then communicated and coordinated with various external organizations.
The meeting proceeded in an orderly manner. Pariston's control over the entire meeting and his grasp of its rhythm were extremely smooth, causing the meeting's progress to speed up considerably.
In the middle of it, Beans also raised the proposal to add Story Hunter as a new Hunter profession, and it passed very smoothly.
As for Netero, he sat quietly in the main seat and listened without expressing any opinion. In any case, the particularly important documents would ultimately need to be signed by Netero himself. With Pariston's personality, Netero would definitely have to verify them carefully when signing later.
Finally, more than two hours later, once every matter at the meeting had been fully discussed, Netero spoke again.
"Ahem."
Two simple coughs instantly silenced the meeting hall, which had become somewhat noisy because the meeting had ended.
Everyone looked toward Netero. This was Netero's absolute authority and leadership as Chairman, something Pariston could not compare with no matter how many supporters he had backing him.
"All right. Since this meeting is over, everyone may leave. The Zodiacs will stay. Of course, if anyone else would like to remain and observe, that is also allowed. All right, that is all. Meeting adjourned."
The moment Netero announced the end of the meeting, everyone picked up their briefcases and computers and left the hall.
Although they were allowed to stay and observe, everyone present who could attend this meeting was sharp enough to read the room. Coupled with the rumors that had been spreading inside the Association recently, who would be bored enough to get involved in the Zodiacs' business for no reason? Wouldn't that just be asking for trouble?
Thus, within three minutes, everyone had left completely.
Everyone except Roy, who still sat there unmoving, his expression calm.
In the now-empty hall, aside from Netero, Beans, and the Zodiacs in the front row, Roy was the only person left among the seats. Because of that, he stood out especially clearly.
Naturally, everyone present noticed him.
"My, I didn't expect there to actually be an audience member willing to stay. Are you planning to properly enjoy watching us Zodiacs get scolded by the Chairman?" Pariston looked at Roy and spoke with a smile.
That simple sentence immediately made the brows of the other Zodiacs twitch.
Some of the more hot-tempered ones also started to look displeased.
For example, Tiger Kanzai and Rooster Cluck.
Meanwhile, the ones who were better at thinking things through clearly noticed that something was wrong.
"With Pariston's personality, if this were just an ordinary staff member, he absolutely would not say something like that to deliberately provoke the Zodiacs' anger. This is clearly because he wants us to clash with the person who stayed behind."
Ox Mizaistom glanced at Pariston, then shifted his gaze to Roy.
"But what is this man's background? He looks very young, yet Pariston is paying this much attention to him. And Pariston even seems to know him?"
Aside from Mizaistom, Cheadle, Botobai, and Horse Saccho had the same thought. All of them became curious about Roy.
As for Sheep Ginta and Rabbit Pyon, they belonged to the carefree type. Snake Gel simply stayed out of anything that did not concern her.
In any case, everyone's gazes focused on Roy.
Facing the gazes of the Zodiacs, Roy felt no pressure at all. He stood up calmly and walked toward the front row.
"Hm?"
Everyone truly began watching this guy, the only person who had remained in the venue.
"Please continue. I'm only observing, just like the Chairman said."
Roy leaned his entire body back, adjusted into a relaxed sitting posture, then rummaged through his pocket and took out a bag of potato chips.
Including the time he had spent coming here, waiting for Netero, and sitting through the meeting, three or four hours had already passed. He really was a little hungry.
Mm. These chips were from a brand Milluki had recommended. The flavor was pretty good.
Beans was sweating buckets. Cheadle and Mizaistom wore strange expressions. Ginta put a finger in his mouth and seemed as if he was starting to drool a little. Pariston, meanwhile, still wore his eternal smile.
Ging was the first to break the silence.
"Got any more? Can you share some with me so I can try them?"
As he spoke, he stretched out his hand.
"This is the only bag. You can try the flavor first. Here."
Crunch.
"Mm. The flavor really is pretty good. I still have some tea leaves at my place. They'd probably pair pretty well with these."
The two of them started eating as if no one else were around, to the point that they even forgot to say anything else.
The corners of everyone else's eyes twitched as they watched. Netero stroked his newly repaired beard and chuckled.
"Forget it. Even if we have an audience, it does not matter. Next, I will give my assessment of the Zodiacs' work during this period."
Kanzai and Cluck had already been about to slap the table and start cursing, but Netero's light, casual sentence immediately forced them to swallow their words.
"During this period, the Zodiacs' overall situation has been fairly satisfactory to me. However…"
Netero stroked his beard and looked around the room.
"Some people's performance has not satisfied me at all. In fact, I think he does not deserve his seat among the Zodiacs."
(End of Chapter)
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