Mako was wearing quite a decent outfit with a plain white shirt, blue pants, and a blue jacket. He looked quite good and it complemented his green-tinted hair.
Mako opened the door and was greeted by Benson who did a small bow before telling Mako to follow him. Mako did so and they were on their way toward the dining room. Following Benson, Mako could see a lot more of the place it was quite well-built with many decorative pieces displayed in the hallways.
"How long have you been working for Mr. Czolgosz?" Mako asked Benson trying to make small talk.
"Ever since I was a young man like yourself," Benson replied.
"Really? But you look so much older than him." Mako was shocked to know that such an old man had been serving Paul for so long.
"Oh ho, don't go on master's appearance, young man. People of his power level tend to age quite slowly. I assure you he is way older than he looks." Benson said with a small chuckle.
What Benson said was indeed true since people with abilities got sick a lot less and their average lifespan was larger than regular humans.
"So why did you end up working for him for so long?" Mako asked as he was now quite interested in knowing Benson's story.
"I was a rebellious young fellow just like teenagers are and made some wrong decisions. Long story short, I was involved in a gang fight and was about to lose my life, that was until my master saved my life. I had no talent when it came to abilities and could never achieve the level of strength as my master, but I had to pay my debt to him, so I became his loyal servant." Benson narrated.
Mako was quite saddened to hear of Benson's story, but one part of the story really brought him to think. If Benson had no talent as an ability user, how come his Analyze skill failed him? Mako decided to see if that was still the case.
[Analyze]
[Skill Failed (opponent level too high)]
'Huh!?' Mako panicked as he watched the Analyze skill fail again. If Benson was stronger than Rhino since he could still Analyze Rhino, but had no talent to be of use to Paul, then how strong were his other men, and how exactly strong was Paul?
Mako shuddered at such a thought as he was nowhere near the same level as them and he had to be careful not to get on the bad side of too many of them like El Diablo otherwise he might just lose his life.
"Sir? How strong are you exactly?" Mako asked Benson.
"He he, you can ask me that another time, but right now you are late and the others are waiting," Benson said as he reached the end of the hallway they were walking in and approached a tall double door.
Benson pushed apart the door and it opened to reveal a lavish dining hall with servers on each side and a long rectangular dining table that only had 5 chairs near one of the ends of the table.
Paul was sitting in the middle and the two chairs on his right were occupied by Leon and Rhino while only Bill occupied one of the seats on his left with the last one still empty.
Benson held the door open for Mako and gestured for him to go in.
"Thank you, sir." Mako thanked Benson as even though he was strong and a 'gang member' now, he still showed his manners everywhere.
"My pleasure, young man. And please call me, Benson." Benson replied as Mako walked through the door and he closed it back behind.
Mako took his seat at the table next to Bill and Paul said," Now that everyone is here, Let's start with the appetizers, shall we?"
The cooks standing behind the chairs nodded and proceeded to leave the room through a back door.
There was quite an awkward silence between them for a while with no one saying anything and Paul not having care in the world and sipping on some wine that a server poured him from a very expensive-looking bottle.
Soon the appetizers came out and everyone slowly and silently began to eat their meal. The appetizer itself was beyond delicious, It was a sous vide lobster with beetroot and confit vegetables. Mako had never tasted anything quite like it and it was quite the treat for him considering all he and Bill were surviving off of for the past few days was baked mac n cheese and breakfast from the bakery.
While eating their meal, the silence got too much for Rhino as he was the first to speak up.
"Why did you invite me?" He said in his usual deep voice.
"Cause I want to know more about you," Mako replied calm and respectful tone.
"Why would you want to know more about me? Haven't you ruined my life enough!?" Rhino replied with anger.
"That. That is why I want to know more about you. Listen, I didn't want to even participate in the tournament in the first place and was just fighting to protect my friend. I don't know how I ruined your life, but the way you fought me and the desperation in your punches seemed to me as if you were fighting for your life." Mako stated his reason.
"It was my life, and you stole it from me," Rhino said loudly.
"How did I steal it, I was just trying to get my friend out of trouble, and to do that I had to win," Mako said now raising his voice a little as well.
Before Rhino could reply, the chef came back to the table and stood beside Paul.
"Monsieur, are we prepared for the main course?" The chef asked in a very respectful manner.
"Yes, we are," Paul replied.
The chef nodded and signaled the waiters who started clearing the plates while some of them went back to what Mako assumed to be the kitchen to bring out the main course.
Paul signaled the server who was standing beside him the entire time and he poured him another glass of wine. While he was pouring his wine, Paul began to tell Mako the reason why Rhino was angry.
"Well, you see Mr. Grey, Enzo Ceros here was given a job by me and that was to help Leon win the Battle royal tournament. If he was to do that, I was going to help him in learning new skills that would help him increase in strength and become part of the elite members of the Dark Raven." Paul stated as sipped on his wine.
pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ "But then you burned my son and defeated Enzo and won the tournament yourself," Paul said as he looked at both Leon and Enzo.
Leon just expressed his dissatisfaction with a "humph" while Enzo just look downward unable to say a thing as this was his leader who was talking.
"He lost to you during the tournament because of his overconfidence and your clever tactics, but a loss was a loss. He pleaded for him to be given another chance and I agreed, but the same thing repeated with you defeating him." Paul continued.
"It was because of this that he has been demoted and is now not fit enough to look after Leon and has been relieved of that duty as well." Paul finished his narration and wine at the same time as he signaled the server to pour him another glass.
"But Father, I like Enzo. He is like a big brother to me. He is so much stronger than any other idiot you can hire." Leon finally had enough and voiced out his dissatisfaction with his father's decision.
Paul just stared back at Leon and he quickly shut his mouth so that he won't anger his father too much.
"The man I hired, is much stronger than him and he will take good care of you. He is a Level 4 Earth user after all." Paul justified his decision and Enzo's head swung even lower.
By this time, the servers had returned with the main course and served the dishes to everyone. The main course was quite divine, it was a traditional beef wellington served on a bed of fluffy mashed potatoes and asparagus with a concentrated demi-glace sauce.
This time; however, Mako was less focused on the food and more on Rhino's situation.
"Look, I am really sorry about ruining your big break. It was not like I had a choice." Mako said to Rhino who just quietly kept on eating.
"But Mr.Czolgosz, you should reconsider your hiring choice. I am sure Enzo could beat that Level 4 Earth user anytime considering he also has a level 4 ability." Mako said to Paul
Paul, Leon, and Enzo all dropped their cutlery as they all focused on what Mako just said. Mako himself was quite taken aback because he didn't expect this type of reaction from them.
"What did you just say?" Leon asked in a low voice probably because he was still in shock.
"Rhino. He has a Level 4 Transformation ability." Mako said.
"What?!"
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