North Starship Military Academy · Ocean Style Restaurant
Zachary Chase looked at the holographic images of aquatic creatures from an unknown galaxy, freely swimming in front of him. The entire restaurant had a very serene atmosphere. There were only a few dozen people dining in total. It was considered a relatively high-end restaurant in North Star. Only those from noble backgrounds would come here to eat, and it was said that half of the ingredients used were naturally grown produce.
The three beautiful ladies walking beside Zachary brought him an extremely high return rate.
"Junior Zachary, have you decided what conditions you'll offer Victor later?" Senior Suzanne Lane inquired.
"I have it figured out," Zachary said with a smile.
Seeing this, Senior Suzanne didn't say much, as her role was merely that of an intermediary. As for whether this matter succeeded or failed, she didn't care much; she was only stepping in to bridge the connection because she owed that person a favor.
"Suzanne, over here."
A voice came, and from a distance, Zachary could see a pale-faced young man sitting at a round table by the window, waving to Suzanne and her group.
Three people were already seated around the round table; one of them was Victor Hargrove, and the other was a new face.
Victor's expression was clearly not good. His gaze briefly met Zachary's, but he quickly looked away, appearing pitiful. Yet, Zachary still keenly sensed Victor's hatred. For such a fellow, one lesson wouldn't make him behave.
"Later, whatever thoughts you have, just say them. If we can't agree, we'll leave. Don't worry about us," Senior Suzanne whispered into Zachary's ear.
Zachary nodded.
Wendy Chase, following beside him, was a bit reserved. She looked at her elder brother with some worry; although her elder brother was a territorial baron, he had never been exposed to such a formal occasion.
Lily Xue, on the other hand, looked expectant; she loved such troublemaking occasions the most.
As Zachary and the others approached their seats, Senior Henry Tian ignored Zachary, who was supposed to be the protagonist of this negotiation, and instead directly pulled out the already empty seat beside him.
"Suzanne, come sit here."
The entire round table only had seven seats. This precisely corresponded to Henry's three people and Zachary's four people. And Henry had specifically left a seat beside him, which seemed to be specially reserved for Suzanne.
But Suzanne merely glanced at it, then smiled and greeted Henry: "It's fine, I can sit over here."
With that, she sat down with Wendy and Lily.
This made Henry a bit awkward.
And now, the only place Zachary could sit was the seat next to Henry.
It was then that Henry looked at the person in front of him and said indifferently, "This must be Junior Zachary, please have a seat."
Although he said "please have a seat," Henry had already taken his own seat.
At this point, the only one who hadn't sat down yet was Zachary.
But Zachary didn't walk toward the seat next to Henry. Instead, he placed his hand on a chair in front of him: "No need, I can sit here."
In that instant, the atmosphere in the room began to change.
Because Zachary's hand was resting exactly on the chair Victor was sitting on.
Victor's face was grim. He looked at Senior Henry, whose gaze shifted away.
Seeing this, Victor could only stand up with a dark expression, preparing to sit in the seat next to Henry.
Zachary sat in Victor's chair. When he saw Victor about to sit down, he directly picked up a glass of water and spilled it on that chair.
"Is there a seat for you here?"
The atmosphere once again neared freezing point.
Victor clenched his fists.
"Junior Zachary, don't be so aggressive. Actually, it was just a misunderstanding between Junior Victor and you before. Now that we're gathered to eat, let's just clear up this misunderstanding, and we can all be friends from now on," Henry stepped in as a peacemaker at this moment: "Suzanne, don't you agree?"
Suzanne smiled: "We are just accompanying guests this time and won't speak. Everything depends on Junior Zachary's own wishes."
"If he has a seat here today, then I, Zachary, don't have a seat. Senior, what do you think?" Zachary directly met Henry's gaze, showing no weakness.
A hint of gloom flashed in Henry's eyes, but he still said cheerfully, "Indeed, an apology should look like an apology. Victor, just stand."
"Waiter, please remove this extra chair," Zachary called out to a waiter.
The waiters here were not intelligent robots, but rather beautiful young female attendants, reflecting the high-end nature of the restaurant.
The chair was removed, and Victor stood like a pillar, positioned between Zachary and Henry.
"We're all sitting, and you're the only one standing. Does this mean you're superior to me and the seniors? That makes us very uncomfortable," Zachary looked at Victor with a smile.
Victor gritted his teeth: "You… what else do you want?"
"Kneel." Zachary casually uttered the word.
The expressions of the few people present changed.
Victor was enraged: "Zachary, don't go too far!"
"Too far? I heard you and your little brothers were shouting in my class earlier, saying that if you defeated me in a starship duel, you'd make me kneel and apologize to you? At that time, you didn't think it was too much?" Zachary looked at Victor with a smile: "Or is it that our young master Victor disdains continuing his studies at North Star?"
Zachary's final jab directly struck Victor's heart.
He absolutely could not drop out of North Star. His Viscount father—the future Earl—had more than just him as a son. North Star was one of the three best starship military academies in the Star Glory Empire, and his father had managed to pull strings to get him in. If he couldn't even graduate from North Star, his title might be snatched by his other brothers. His mother, upon learning of this matter, immediately sent a message, telling him to figure it out himself and under no circumstances to drop out of North Star!
"Junior Zachary, there's no need for this, is there? Junior Victor already knows his mistake. We are all classmates; there's no need to make the relationship so tense. Give me some face. Let's eat first and discuss how to resolve this misunderstanding between you and Junior Victor while we eat. I will definitely give you a satisfactory answer!" Henry spoke up.
"Face?" Zachary chuckled, his eyes narrowed as he looked at Henry: "Senior means I give you face, and you kneel for him?"
Wendy beside him gasped, wondering what was going on with her elder brother—had he eaten gunpowder today? It was one thing to provoke Victor, but he was even provoking Henry!
Senior Suzanne and the twin-tailed Lily looked at Zachary in surprise; they found that this junior seemed truly a bit different.
Henry's face darkened at this moment.
"Fine, I'll kneel!" Victor roared out the words, kneeling in the spot where the chair had originally been.
The height of the table perfectly blocked his head.
"This is perfect; it doesn't hinder our meal. Why are you all looking at me? Aren't we here to eat? Hurry up and order, I'm starving. Senior Henry, what do you like to eat? Just order whatever you want, don't be shy." Zachary directly raised his hand and opened the holographic ordering page.
Then, with the fastest hand speed, he randomly pressed on it. Wendy, who was sitting next to Zachary, didn't even clearly see what Zachary had ordered.
"I've ordered. See if you need anything else. Don't be shy; it's not often we get to have a meal with Senior Henry, so let's enjoy it," Zachary said with a smile, looking at everyone.
Lily almost couldn't help but burst out laughing.