"Wait, what do you mean? Why are we talking about the waitress now?" Harvey asked, confused. He even forgot for a moment about his fear of the three humans around the table.
"Huh? We were talking about the waitress all along. Why, did you talk about someone else?" Glottis looked around him in curiosity, trying to find the girl Harvey was referring to. "Are you talking about Emma over there? Forget her, she is so uptight and serious that when a guy hits on her she purses her lower lips."
"Pfft-" Gabriel let out a snort of laughter, making some of the diners nearby turn. When they saw the three boys, they just nodded with a forced smile and returned to their food.
"I don't think it's a nice thing to say..." Harvey blurted awkwardly. He did not feel comfortable with mocking people behind their backs, especially not ladies he wished to have a chance with.
"Who cares about 'nice'?" Gabriel berated him, "We are just guiding you to focus on the girls you can get into bed with and forget about those you have no chance with."
Harvey forced out a smile and nodded. He knew in his heart that he had no hope with any of the girls on that floor; he barely stood a chance with the girls downstairs. Here, the rich ladies would never glance toward a poor guy with zero charisma.
"I'm going to the restroom, I will be back in a minute," Harvey excused himself and got up to leave the table. He had to refresh himself. He was overwhelmed by unexpected the situation all this while. He had to take a few minutes to himself and get into the right mindset before he somehow got into weirder trouble.
"Sure, it's over there – go to the left corner and you will find the door there."
After he went, the three's smiles vanished. Gabriel and Duke weren't sure what they were aiming for. They planned to bully him in his class until he would cry and beg for mercy, but Glottis let him inside the group instead.
"Brother Glottis, what is your plan regarding Harvey? I thought we were going to turn his life into hell for being friends with Mike," Duke whispered as he leaned toward the other two, not letting outsiders hear the conversation. Gabriel wanted to know the answer to this question as well.
"No, my plan is to recruit him. I want to take him from Mike," Glottis said. The reason was the window that popped up earlier when he checked the mission "What's Yours is Mine."
+----------------------------------+
| Current Missions |
+----------------------------------+
| -What's Yours is Mine |
| -Details: Make someone on Mike |
| Teuto's side join you instead. |
| - Prize: Depending on the person |
+----------------------------------+
With completing this mission as a goal in mind, Glottis decided to steal Harvey, hoping he was important enough to reward him generously for one reason or another.
He chose Harvey as his target not because he believed in Harvey's potential but because he trusted Mike's great number of Fate Points as well as the fact he had no idea who else was easy to convince to switch sides. He only knew Titania as Mike's ally, but the girl seemed both useless and very loyal to Mike, making her a bad choice in all aspects.
"Recruit him? But you don't know if he is talented in something! Mike has no experience in recruiting people, he might have recruited someone completely random thinking he was a genius or something," Duke argued. He held Mike in contempt after falling for their trap last time and ruining his own name in front of everyone.
"It's fine, I'm the one recruiting him, so why do you care?" Glottis shrugged. He had plenty of money to spend and even with his relatively low authority in the family business, he could certainly recruit a promising youth when he saw one. Whether the 'promising' part was arguable, Glottis planned to find out soon.
Before the argument could continue, the waitress arrived, carrying a large tray in her palm above her shoulder. She placed it on a stand nearby and brought a few plates. When he realized the contrast between Harvery's dishes and everyone else's, a new idea came to mind.
"Here, Young Masters, your first dish," she smiled as she placed the lemonade and the oysters on the table. "The main dishes will be here soon."
"Great. I would like to invite one more thing first," Glottis called her before she could leave.
"Of course, what may I bring you?"
"Don't bring it to me, bring it to the other guy who isn't here currently. Bring him one of your salmon dishes, something not too wild, so a person who isn't used to expensive food and exotic cuisine can stomach it. Put it on my tab and tell him it's on the house because you like him."
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
"Of course, it won't be a problem," she nodded and left to pass on the order to the chef. She didn't even flinch at the request. The reason was simple; she knew the diners of this floor. The weirder the shit they ask for, the bigger the tip they leave afterward if you pleased them.
"Oh, Harvey, help yourself to the oysters," a minute later, when Harvey returned, Duke gave a big fake smile and pushed the plate in his direction. He was against the idea of recruiting the random nerd, but since his friend wanted it this way, he had no reason to ruin it.
"I can't, I didn't pay for it," Harvey rejected while staring at the oyster, gulping. He never tried something so fancy, but he still did not know the rich kids' intentions in inviting him.
"Bullshit, do we look like we count money? We can order everything on the menu just for the sake of it, and we still won't notice the money spent. Have a taste and tell us if you like the food here," Gabriel waved his hand in dismissal and pushed the plate further. Now, it was right under Harvey's face as though it was his personal portion.
"You are right, Gabriel, I think he is looking down on us. Waitress, I want every-" Glottis started shouting, making Harvey jump in his place like a scared bunny.
"Wait, wait! I will eat it, there's no need to waste so much money!" His heart ached just at the thought. Such an expense would result in at least 1500$. It took him at least three months to spend such an amount of money, including rent, food, and bills.
He took an oyster hesitantly and brought it to his mouth, tasting it carefully. He then took a whole bite and another, and another. "It's delicious!" He exclaimed.
"Have your fill then. Just don't get too bloated, you need to bang that waitress later. We won't let you renege on your word," Duke smirked lewdly as he gestured at the incoming waitress with his head.
"Young Masters, here are your main dishes," she started serving.
"Excuse me, I only ordered soup, I didn't-" Harvey panicked when he saw a plate of smoked salmon. The waitress heard Glottis recommend it earlier and chose to serve it, seeing it as the guaranteed way of avoiding a bad choice.
"Don't worry, Young Master," she smiled and touched his shoulder with her palm, "It's on the house from me, because I like you," she then turned around and left.
"Hey, Harv, wake up," Gabriel jabbed his shoulder. The boy was ogling the lady as she walked away, captive in his own fantasies of being a real young master. "See? Our job is going to be easy, she already likes you!"
"I..." Harvey stuttered, "I don't get it, what is happening? Why am I here?" He was lost. He was so lost that he could only confront them at this point.
"Because I want to recruit you, I know all about your abilities," Glottis said directly. "Look at what you can have if you follow me. The best food, the best cards, the best parties, the best women. Everything you want, you can have," Glottis declared. He had no idea what abilities he was talking about, but he assumed there was something underneath the surface.
"My- my ability- abilities?" Harvey's stutter worsened as his eyes widened in horror. All three were caught unprepared by the behavior.
"Yes, your abilities, I know all about them," Glottis said confidently. 'What the hell are his abilities?' he thought to himself. Just as Harvey continued losing his nerves, an ethereal window popped in front of Glottis, stealing his attention.
+----------------------------------+
| Full Inspection – Fate Override |
+----------------------------------+
| **Info** |
| - Name: Harvey Miller |
| - Age: 18 |
| - Fate Points: 85 (average: 10) |
| - Cultivation Stage: Null |
+----------------------------------+
| **Related Missions** |
| -[What's Yours is Mine] |
+----------------------------------+
| **Extra Information** |
| - family: Emily (Mother) |
| - expertise: One of the best |
| hackers alive |
+----------------------------------+
'What the hell is Fate Override?' Glottis said quietly in his head.
+----------------------------------+
| -System Notice |
| Fate Override allows you to |
| gain more information on |
| targets with less Fate Points |
+----------------------------------+
'Oh, that's awesome,' Glottis thought. It meant he had a reason not to spend all his Fate Points recklessly as they did have a meaning beyond the option of purchasing things with them.
"... talk- talking about". He refocused on the situation just to hear the last words of Harvey's stuttering.
"Hey, Duke, maybe you should ask the staff to turn on the heater. This boy is freezing here," Gabriel laughed.
The two young masters were almost sure that Glottis was bluffing since he was not supposed to even know about Harvey's existence before they introduced him less than an hour ago, but they did not want to ruin their friend's plans if those existed.
"Duke, Gabriel, leave us alone for a minute," Glottis asked his friends. Anonymity was a great strength for a hacker, Glottis did not want to reveal his future subordinate's abilities in front of outsiders.
"Ah, leave?" the two frowned at the request. It seemed inappropriate.
"Yes, it includes some information that I prefer to keep secret. Do you mind?"
"No, it's fine, Brother Glottis. We will go hit on the girls over there, I didn't see them before. Must be new around here."
The two walked away, leaving Glottis and Harvey alone.
"Young Master..." Harvey started talking again.
"Ah, be quiet, I don't have time for that blubbering. I know you are a good hacker. However, you have no resources to do anything with those abilities. You can never do anything big with the equipment you can afford without getting caught simply because of the technology you lack. If I wanted to, I could easily call the cops and have you arrested with plenty of proof."
Harvey's face turned redder with every sentence he heard. The fork fell from his shivering hand and sweat covered his face as though he was in the middle of a marathon.
"What do you want from me?" he clenched his teeth and said bravely. His voice shook, but he managed to get rid of his stutter.
"Nothing, Harv. I'm not your enemy and I'm not here to extort you. I'm just saying that I'm offering you a job, you can decline, and I still won't take action against you," Glottis started bullshitting the naïve boy. If Harvey dared refuse, he would find himself in prison within a week, with maximum punishment.
"However, think about all the things that you could achieve with my money, think about the better life you could give to your mom, Miss Emily. If she is or ever gets sick, you can have the best treatment. If she is hungry, she can have the best food. If she is thirsty, she can have the best... tea or whatever she likes."
"Herbal tea, Mom really loves it," Harvey said quietly.
"The best herbal tea it is. Young maids would vacuum your house during the day and your dick during the night. Tell me, can anybody else offer you this deal now? The earlier you join my side, the better position and influence you can have in the future."