Chapter 18 Ardito's Excitement
— Meanwhile - The Downtown Market —
A burly man, full of muscle 1.9 meters tall standing in front of a small steel safe. There are many tools used for force opening the safe on his feet. He is of course Bull, the owner of the chop shop that the three young men from the Veneziale ask to open this steel safe.
Usually, opening a safe is a kind of job that requires a delicate hand which is not suitable for him and the family has someone who is good at this, working at the main house.
The reason why he got this task was that he was trusted by Russo Veneziale, the young heir of the Veneziale family, he wouldn't rat him out to his father. This is one of Bull's strong points other than his massive body full of muscle that from the look he might be able to go toe to toe with a bear.
"Hmmm… how do I start? How do I start?" Bull mutters to himself while pondering about the tool he could use to open this safe while keeping the content intact, or at least 70% of it with his unskilled hand.
It took him hours to figure out the tool and how to open it after watching a step-by-step guide from the Net-Tube. Now, it is time for him to put all that knowledge into practice.
Bull then starts with the delicate tools that are used to open a small safe. He tried the method he learned from the Net-Tube for a few minutes and found out that it was useless. This safe is way more durable than a cheap safe used to demonstrate in the Net-Tube.
"Graaaagh!" Bull roared in frustration after some of his tools broke down in his hand.
ραпdα nᴏνa| сom "You piece of scrap! Just break already!" Bull roared before picking up a large sledgehammer he placed by the wall and was about to slam it down on the small safe in front of him.
Bang!
A sound of gunfire rang inside his chop shop and Bull instinctively duck down and quickly get behind the nearest cover he could find.
"Who the fuck are y ... oh ..." Bull was about to curse, but he paused when his gaze fell on a group of pale-faced people, two of them seemed out of breath as they tried to catch their breath, and one of them was holding a gun. He was, of course, Russo Veneziale, who let out a long, relieved sigh, as if he had escaped a calamity.
"Goddamn, it Bull! Why can't you be more delicate? That safe has a fucking miniature air bomb inside!" One of the capos slaps Bull on the head in frustration. They don't want to think about the consequences if they were to be a little bit late.
"Phew… There are a few dents here and there but it's still in good shape." Russo let out a smile and then gently picked up the safe and handed it over to his brothers.
"Ok, take that safe back and place it in the strongbox in the car. Let's go back." Russo ordered and kept his gun inside his suit and went back to the main house along with his people, Leaving Bull who was still confused as he was scratching his head and still digesting what had happened in his chop shop.
"What the hell? During the day he wanted me to open that damn safe and now he protects it like it was his own two balls. Are these the symptoms they call bipolar?" Bull commented on the strange behavior he saw from the young heir.
— 30 Minutes later - Veneziale Estate - VIP Guest Room —
Daniel, who is enjoying a massage from the maid while watching an animal documentary and chatting with Ardito who is sitting nearby from time to time got his enjoyment interrupted by the sound of a door opening.
He looked to the side where the door was and saw the three young men and the two capos walking in with a metal safe holding in their arms.
"Place it down," Daniel said and signaled the three young men to place the safe on the tea table.
After the safe had been placed, Daniel began to check the safe and found that it had been damaged here and there but nothing serious. He quickly kept the safe in his universal pocket stunning the people within the room once again.
After He's done. Daniel turns his attention toward the three young men. It is time for him to pass judgment, otherwise, these people might find it weird and might think that he was easy to be taken advantage of if he were to let them go just like that.
"Since I got the safe back, make sure you pay the compensation money to those people you troubled and demolish his home, especially the one you stole his money from." Daniel starts.
"Yes, Mr.Magitek" Russo agrees obediently without any sign of unwillingness which earns a bit of respect from Daniel since he knows that most of the people in power find it hard to admit their wrong and pay their dues.
Daniel nodded then continued.
"Since I've made a deal with your dad, I'll go easy on you guys with what I want you to do to repent for what you did."
Hearing what Daniel said, a happy and relieved smile appeared on the face of the three young men.
Daniel waited for the three young men's happiness to die down then continued.
"Since your action against the hobos could be seen as rude and rough. Then, I want you three to enroll in the best international butler school you could find. If your name isn't in the top ten of the graduates, don't bother showing your face to me. Do we understand each other?" Daniel asks with a smile yet not a smile.
But to Ardito and the three young men who heard what Daniel wanted, they wanted to scream aloud and shout "You are evil!" as they know what this actually entails.
Even though there are many butler schools in the world, the butler school that is the best could be counted on one hand. More than that, these best schools are very hard to enroll in and very expensive even though their financial status will not become a problem for their enrollment.
The true problem for them was the difficulties of these schools and the serious commitment it required for them to graduate let alone graduate in the top ten. And for the three energetic young men like them, enrolling in this school that requires both discipline and commitment like this is like forcing a Neanderthal to become a scientist.
It will be hell for people like them to go through that kind of experience.
Russo audibly gulps down his saliva as he is the only one of the three young men who have some inkling about what they are going to face in that kind of school.
"I ask you, Do we understand each other?" Daniel repeated, but this time his smile has become even more creepy.
"Ye… Yes sir, Mr.Magitek!" Russo accepted in fear then he fell into a depression as he was just coming back from Europe after graduating from the university there, and now he needed to go back and enroll in the school that was even more merciless than he had experienced.
"And you too, Mr. Veneziale. Gaining my favor isn't hard, but gaining my trust is a whole other matter. I might help you a bit in your endeavor of whatever you want to do in exchange for a favor or two." Daniel spoke through here, then his voice suddenly grew cold.
"But don't NEVER EVER think… that I'm in your pocket like the police in your payroll. Are we clear?" Daniel emphasizes the word "never" and "ever" then lets out a carefree smile so as to not push the head mafia too hard.
"C… Crystal clear sir." Ardito replied after he tried to calm his frightening heart to no avail as he had felt the full brunt of the hatred coming from Daniel.
Ardito's hands under the pocket were shaking non-stop as he felt like he was standing in front of a nightmarish monster that he had no hope to fight or even escape. Much to the surprise of the people in the room who saw Ardito shaking, they thought that their boss would be able to control himself no matter who he was facing
As for Daniel, He was just using one of his cards against Ardito.
Card: Frozen In Fear
Picture: A man stands before a hideous monster jaw that was about to devour him.
Rarity: Common
Type: Quick Spell
Mana Cost: 1 Dark
Description: Target cannot attack or block until that target owner's next turn. If the target has already participated in blocking or attacking the target will back out of that action.
Flavor text: As he stands before the jaw of the unknown, rows upon rows of sharp teeth within the abyss-like jaw are the last visage he has seen in his life.
The effect states that the target cannot attack or block, then Ardito would fear him for at least an hour before he finally calmed down while not affecting Ardito's other skills or movement much since Ardito isn't attacking or fighting someone.
He wanted Ardito to remember that double-crossing him was a very foolish idea. And it would be his last if Ardito were stupid enough to do so.
"Then, you must excuse me as I have a place to go after this. Don't forget to pay the compensation to the hobos, you hear?" Daniel excused himself and stood up from the chair and walked out of the VIP guest room with Annie the maid who quickly sent him to the door and called a taxi for him.
After Daniel had gone for a few minutes, many people let out a long sigh. Relieving in the fact that the god of calamity had already left.
As for Ardito, he was still shaking in fear while trying to suppress it which he had achieved a little bit of success as he could control his shaking hand to not be too obvious under the gaze of his underling.
"Dad, What happened… you are… shaking…" Russo worriedly asks.
Ardito slowly let out a daring smile while his heart was still palpitating in fear.
"Yes… It is as you guess, I felt fear for the first time after more than 10 years since I had reached and achieved what I have today. It's like I'm standing in front of a powerful and hungry monstrous beast that also has deep hatred against its prey." Said the head mafia.
"From the sound of it, It's not good at all dad." Veneziale Jr. comment.
"Exactly, It's not good." The daring smile was still present on Ardito's face as he continued.
"Now think about it, If we somehow manage to come under his wing and gain his protection. What will happen to our competitors, enemies, or even that damn Russian mafia! If he were to unleash his full wrath upon them?"
After hearing what Ardito said, a violent smile appeared on the face of the people in the VIP room as they could easily imagine what would happen.
"Dad, Isn't it not wise to pit Mr.Magitek against those Russians? If he knew that we planned this we would be worse than those guys. Don't forget, we already pissed him off once." Russo warned.
"And whose fault is that?" Ardito snapped at his prodigal son, making his son smile wryly in shame. Then explained.
"Don't worry boy, we won't do anything foolish as you said. I know those Russians well, Especially their leader. They won't stand idle if they know that we have a strong backup. And in order for them to declare their superiority. They will try to destroy whatever backup we have and then you could imagine the rest.
Hearing what Ardito said, a smirk appeared on everyone's face.
"All we need to do is just to keep the deal between us and Mr.Magitek going as per normal and faithfully do him favors here and there. They will eventually catch on and try to get themself killed by bothering Mr. Magitek."
Said Ardito, his smile grew wider as his fear and excitement mixed in creating a strange feeling of excitement for Ardito as if he was about to do a bungee jump.
Unnoticed by those present, a small modified scarab hides under the cover of the tea table in the guest room, and the entire conversation Ardito has just had with his cohort has been sent to its master.