High-profile hunters arrived on the island among the relief crews deployed to assist New Kakin's reconstruction. Mussodji could feel their aura interfering with the island's energy flow. They remained in the port during the first three days. Then, two of them ventured through the forest late at night.
Their pattern showed they were looking for something, reminding Mussodji of what happened to the previous incarnation. If state rulers were still expecting the Spirit of Fâro, they might have sent skilled foes to neutralise her before an eventual deluge.
She reasoned that the sudden flooding on the island alerted the Kakin authorities. Even if they hovered around the creatures' cave, they might venture to the plateau if they didn't find an explanation for the unnatural flooding.
Mussodji understood she couldn't leave for Lake Mobius before ensuring her community's safety. She could end the ongoing madness by flooding the lowlands for good, at least enough to make the island undockable for months. It would be enough for a trip back and forth to the World Tree, but it wouldn't be a lifelong solution.
She needed to terminate the traffic to secure the area, which meant either disposing of the creatures or destroying the shore. Those were her only options, unless she could reach an entente with the settlers to ensure they would cease any cooperation with the creatures.
That last option sounded risky. Nothing would guarantee the settlers' faithfulness to any agreement. They knowingly lured people into a deadly trap to satisfy their greed. Only the promise of direct access to the ancient continent's resources would make them stop exchanging with the beasts, but she wasn't willing to help vile people monopolise the ancient world.
Sebastian thought drowning the island was the safe option, since it would render navigation impossible and effectively secure the plateau from outsiders. He added that the subsequent diluvian episode would only moderately affect the archipelago's residents. He was also sure the local government would resume their traffic as soon as the port could operate again.
Each passing hour added to the urgency, and she was tempted to give in to what was expected from her as an incarnation. Nothing could hinder her from travelling to the World Tree after a deluge, but terrible things could happen to the plateau if she didn't secure it.
After thinking the whole night, she decided to spy on the hunters. They were still out when the sky cleared before dawn, and she wanted evidence of any wrongdoings before choosing her course of action. She made a light rain descend on the lowlands. Focusing on the auras she sensed, she travelled through the water trails up to the hunters and eavesdropped on their conversation.
They suspected something was wrong behind the cave's gates due to the concentration of processed aura that oozed from there and the fact that no expedition had ever returned since they arrived. It seemed they had been spying in the port and only went out to seek explanations for bizarre happenings they noticed there.
Mussodji assumed they didn't know about the Spirit of Fâro since they weren't much concerned by the sudden flooding from two weeks prior. At least, they hadn't been sent after her, judging from how unsure they were of what to look for.
Her wariness of the pair appeased, and she noticed they seemed familiar, a tall brunette with glasses and a blonde younger man with a pendant hanging from one hand, mundanely dressed for a hot day. If they were hunters she encountered, they must have been affiliated with the Zoldyck house, or invited to their estate. She couldn't decide if it was a good or a bad thing.
She was still observing when the shorter one stopped walking and looked around. He told his companion that the aura hanging in the rain was suddenly stronger than a minute ago. It seemed he was highly perceptive and noticed the rain was unnatural.
She might have ventured too close to the duo, and now had to decide if she wanted to show herself or return to the lifeboat. Not wanting them to follow her there, she headed for a beach spot in the middle of nowhere. If they chose to follow her, she would at least lead them far from the plateau's path or her camp. That way, their trail wouldn't lead other people there.
Unsurprisingly, the pair followed her to the shore where she dived. Kurapika, the blonde man, kept looking for her in spite of having lost her trace in the ocean's imensity, and despite his companion calling for him to return to the beach. He finally gave up when the sun started rising at dawn, and the pair returned to the port city.
Hidden in the ocean, Mussodji kept spying on the hunter pair during the day. The two remained inside the relief vessel as the tall one was a doctor. She hadn't seen them walk into the local government's ship, and officials hadn't entered their relief ship either.
They returned to the secluded beach spot in the evening, probably hoping to find her aura there. After two days, she approached them as she was sure they wouldn't involve other people in their quest.
They seemed determined to find the aura's source even if they weren't doing so for the Kakin officials. She was curious to know their motives, and eager to discover why they looked familiar.
Her formation inside the water scarred them, and they took a defensive position. The blonde man dashed out of the water, his eyes shining red with apprehension, before recognition flashed in them. He looked perplexed, but still on edge, when he asked if he knew her.
Mussodji was now sure she had encountered them at least once. She guessed the pendulum he hung before himself acted as a lie detector, unless the aura item was supposed to protect him from whatever he thought she would do.
She answered that he might know her. The evasive answer didn't trigger any bleak reaction from the perceptive hunter, and the latter tentatively approached the shore. He remained out of reach from the waves, as advised by the taller one, but was close enough to look at her face's details.
He asked if she was the one who went missing one year ago from a cruise with the Zoldyck house's first son. She replied that she was on that cruise and that what happened there had been a complicated story.
At this point, the taller man joined his companion at the water's edge. The hunters exchanged a look before the shorter one asked her what happened to the butler, who was also on board during the events. She replied that he was still alive and asked what happened to the paralysed son.
They replied he was well alive and ready to get revenge at any time. Still, the discovery of his body made headlines, and he remained on the low ever since. Mussodji understood that encountering him should be avoided. She would have to find a way of contacting the house's grandfather without entering the estate.
If the hunters' association sent the two men, they could help her reach Zeno Zoldyck, and maybe the one who extensively wrote about the ancient continent. Even if the latter spent most of their time on the World Tree, they might often be on the roads.
She asked them what they were looking for on the island, and he hesitated before answering that the hunter association wanted to elude what was going on there. Several licensed and even unlicensed people disappeared there over the last three years.
The figures were exponentially growing, and they suspected something shady was ongoing on the island. The Kakin officials hadn't been open to cooperation until the port's destruction, and the hunters' council jumped at the first opportunity to get insights from the secluded place.
She asked if they had discovered anything, and he replied that the expeditions seemed foul. He then asked if she already knew what they were trying to understand. She replied that the officials were exchanging hunters with some humanoid creatures against resources from the ancient continent.
They were slightly confused, but looked grave as they connected the traffic to the surge in productivity and wealth that the Kakin Empire displayed over the last couple of years. She then told them she had to encounter a certain hunter who wrote about the ancient continent, and they asked what she was talking about.
Mussodji remembered that the ancient continent was unknown, and people believed the island was the new continent. As she was unwilling to disclose the existence of a community on the plateau, she told them the known world was, in fact, an archipelago in the middle of a much larger world that stretched beyond the island.
That was where the humanoid creatures harvested the resources they exchanged with the port city's officials. They had difficulties believing her words despite the blonde man's chain stating that she was telling the truth.
Even if they were confused, they agreed to help her reach the hunters' council as the one she was looking for was part of it. She then warned them that the undercover trade had to stop, and the island should be deserted, before she could leave.
For that, they had to convince the people at the port city that more calamities would occur. Starting the next day, heavy rain would pour daily, rendering the island impossible to navigate in a timespan of a month.
That was the time she allowed them to evacuate people before drowning the area. The pair tensed with apprehension and wanted to argue. They showed some bravado, but the fear from her formation in the water returned in their eyes.
The blonde man twitched his fingers as he debated whether or not to draw his chain. She then fused again with the ocean, prompting them to dash backwards. Finally, they shouted their agreement out loud before returning to the port on shaky legs.
Even if they didn't fully understand what was at stake, they reasoned that the sordid activities had to stop, and that she couldn't be an evil spirit if she gave them a gracious period to save the port's inhabitants.
Mussodji recounted the encounter to Sebastian, who couldn't follow her through the water. He had remained at the camp while she observed the hunters, and they debriefed together when she returned.
He was reassured she found a way to stop the shady operations on the island on her terms, but requested her not to always worry about him. He knew commuting would have been easier without him, especially with a target on their heads.
He was dejected by his inability to watch over her as he used to before she discovered the Spirit of Fâro's tricks, and nothing she said or did could help his mourning. As she laid in bed, she wondered if his spark would ever light up again.
As stated, Mussodji made a never-ending rain pour over the island for two weeks. The rain was light during the first day to let the hunters do their preaching work. The flow gradually increased, and by the end of the first week, only the officials and the relief crew were left at the port.
The governing body refused to give up their position despite the port being drowned. They resorted to their vessels' anchors to prevent themselves from drifting. At this point, they were unlikely to survive since aid from Lake Mobius wouldn't arrive for at least another week Eventually, they had to leave when the governor fell ill from the constant rain.
As the two last ships were prepared for the trip back to the known world, Mussodji boarded the hunter pair's vessel, hidden in the water flow. Her liquified body leaked on the floor to reach the terrace from which they were looking at the island.
The shorter one sensed her approach and let the taller one know she was coming. She formed before them and asked if she could hide in their ship for the trip, along with the rescapee butler, who was travelling with her.
The request was a lot since the other one was actively searched, and shouldn't be seen by anyone. She told them he could board incognito like she did, but couldn't remain hidden underwater. Pressed by the time, the pair agreed to hide Sebastian inside the shorter one's room.
The blonde man was the least likely to receive any visits, since he wasn't the doctor on board. She then liquified again to reach Sebastian and request the Spirit of Koni to help him channel her energy. The former hunter had been thoroughly exhausted from the short trip and had to rest as soon as they arrived inside the hideout cabin.
Mussodji was glad things went smoothly, but her respite was short-lived. From the moment Sebastian woke up, he expressed his distaste for Kurapika's aura. He stated his distrust of the blonde hunter, and the latter mirrored his feelings.
Their host was upset at Sebastian's lack of gratitude. He added that the former hunter was the suspicious one with a bounty on his head. It seemed the two men rubbed each other the wrong way, but she didn't understand why.
The cabin suddenly felt cramped with the three of them, and the two-week trip sounded longer than planned. On top of that, the pair of hunters was supposed to lead them to the council, meaning they would remain together for at least a few days after the trip.
As much as she trusted Sebastian, she knew he could overreact. She waited until the following morning, when their host exited the cabin, to ask what made the former hunter distrust the chain master.
He confessed his aura was dangerous and he felt it on the ship, during the first expedition five years ago. The shorter man was hanging around some royal princes and must have been hired by them during the succession war.
High-profile hunters had been on board the vessel to take part in assassinations for the count of princes willing to dispose of competitors in the race for the throne. He didn't know Kurapika's abilities but assumed they should be on guard around him.
He then reassured her he would remain awake at night to keep his eyes on their hosts. Mussodji didn't feel the same aversion for their host, but she refrained from voicing her lack of concern. His self-appointed overwatch mission seemed to be something the former hunter needed, and she would let him have that.
Still, she noted to spy on the hunters' activities during the day when Sebastian rested. She had yet to witness their abilities, and was open to learn anything she could eavesdrop about the association's council. Also, she might discover why they looked familiar to her.