Chapter 597 Service Dog

Benjamin slowly climbed out of the capsule and stretched a bit. He made his way out of his bedroom and then swiftly walked toward the kitchen to get himself something to drink. But just when he poured some water into a glass, he spotted something outside on the road. Well, it was rather hard to miss, considering that there was a single large truck and two smaller ones outside, each with the logo of a certain tech company.

With a slight sigh, Benjamin placed his glass of water onto the counter and made his way over toward the door. Once he opened it up, he immediately saw a classic men-in-black style bodyguard staring at him.

"How can I help you?" The old man asked, and the bodyguard simply looked Benjamin up and down multiple times, "Sir, I must ask you to remain calm. I am going to do a bodycheck on you before we proceed. Do you-"

"Like hell you will!" Benjamin replied immediately and pushed the man away from him, since Benjamin didn’t even realy know what this was about. He had a rough idea, but it was still a bit bothersome when people treated him like that. Especially in his own house.

"Sir, as I said, please remain calm or I will have to resort to fo-" The bodyguard continued and grabbed Benjamin’s arm forcefully, although the old man himself wouldn’t have that. He had memories of fighting against the one that held the title of ’best fighter’ in two separate worlds, turning a situation around against someone like this that obviously didn’t expect Benjamin to fight back was pretty easy.

The old man quickly raised his left arm until the bodyguard’s arm was in an awkward position, and the old man then proceeded to pull his arm away and punching the bodyguard into the throat. Just lightly, but it was still strong enough to make him gasp for air.

"What do you think you’re doing? This is my house, you know? You can’t come in here and expect me to let you walk all over me like that." The old man said with a voice that was basically a growl, but the bodyguard simply straightened his body back up and stared back at Benjamin before trying to pull something from his hip, although just then, a loud, familiar voice could be heard.

"You! What do you think you’re doing? Sorry Eisen, did he actually try to attack you?" That voice asked, and the old man looked past the bodyguard and lightly smiled, "Ah, as I thought. It was you, huh? Komer, this is a bit over the top, isn’t it?"

"Hm, you sure? Because last I remember, you told me that your guys’ lives are being targeted." The young man replied as he pushed the car’s door shut and looked down at the golden retriever in a special harness next to him, "Elly. Let’s go." He said, and immediately, the dog stood up and started walking toward the door while the bodyguard took a step to the side, "Wait." He then said, and the dog stopped walking.

"It’s nice to finally meet you like this, Eisen." The young man said, and immediately, the bodyguard turned his head toward the old man, "Tim, this man is the one that we came to visit? I thought you said that he was-"

"That he was a pretty amazing person. I know that he’s old and is missing an arm, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not amazing." Tim sighed loudly, and then spoke to Benjamin again, "Sorry about this. But what exactly just happened? Did he-"

"Try to pat me down in my own home? Yup. But it’s fine, I get it. You brought people from the security branch of the company here, so it would be weirder if they weren’t this careful. That doesn’t mean that I particularly enjoy being treated this way inside my home."

"Of course. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again. But well, could we come inside?" Tim asked with a light smile, and Benjamin just took a step to the side as he opened the door up properly. A few moments later, two young girls came out of Sophia’s room, herself and Kim.

They made their way to the livingroom after the bit of commotion and after noticing the trucks outside, "Hm? Wait, is that Komer?" Sophia asked surprised as she approached the young blonde man that walked around with bright red hair in the game, and the young man himself slowly turned toward her, "Oh, Alnico, right?" Tim asked, and the young girl slowly nodded her head, "Yeah... but what are you doing here?" She asked, before slowly turning toward the golden retriever in front of Komer.

With a bright smile, she squatted down and was about to rub over the dog’s head, "And who’s this cuti-"

"Sophia, stop it." The old man said, and Sophia looked up at him with a confused expression, "What do you mean? It’s just a cute dog!"

"Not the point." Benjamin sighed, but Tim simply laughed a bit as he squatted down as well and removed his leash from the dog’s, Elly’s, harness, "It’s fine, don’t worry. Elly, release." He said, and immediately, the behaviour of the dog changed. Before, it was simply silently standing there without moving its head around at all, but now that it was ’off-duty’, it started to look around a bit and even approached Sophia on its own.

"Are you sure?" Benjamin asked, and Tim immediately nodded his head, "Yes, it’s fine. She’ll know when I need her. She’s exhausted after that long drive as well, so it’s good to let her relax a bit. And I have more than enough people to guide me around right now." He pointed out, and Sophia, who was currently busy petting Elly, slowly looked up.

"Wait, what are you guys talking about?" She asked, and Benjamin turned toward her with his brows raised, "That dog is a service dog. Komer is completely blind. Well, Tim is, Komer is doing pretty well over there." The old man pointed out, and Tim just started to laugh, "Yup, it’s pretty insane what the capsules can do. But actually, Eisen... I’m surprised you knew... We’ve actually tried to hide it pretty well."

"Well, I just figured it out, actually." Benjamin pointed out, and Tim raised his brows rather surprised, "Could you elaborate on that?"

Slowly, Benjamin nodded his head, trying to recall the things that tipped him off to begin with, "So, back when we were first travelling on the giant ship, when you became a Fate Merchant. You activated your ability and everything became pitch-black all around you. You were freaking out at first, a bit more than I would have expected, but at the same time you were able to handle yourself amazingly in that pure darkness and got used to it immediately after calming down. Then, just a couple days ago you said that you definitely would not be able to become the new owner of your father’s company no matter what you do over there, so it would make sense that you would have some sort of condition that wouldn’t really allow it." The old man pointed out, and then looked down at Elly, who was trying to make herself familiar with this environment in case Tim needed her.

"Then of course, the service dog was a pretty good giveaway. That, and when you actually stood in front of me there, I recognized that you have glass eyes." The old man added, but the bodyguard right next to Tim just scoffed in response to that.

"Is something the issue?" Benjamin inquired, and the bodyguard slowly looked back at him before nodding his head, "No offense, Sir, but these eye prosthetics were created by one of our medical-technology branches. They were created with utmost care for detail."

"Sure, just that the pupils don’t change size." The old man replied, "That, and I can just see that the surface is smooth and hard."

Slowly, the bodyguard took a closer look at Tim’s eyes and then turned around toward Benjamin with a deep frown, "I don’t believe that. Sir, please follow me, I have to ask you a few questio-"

"Who the fuck are you to try and boss him around like that?" Andrew asked as he came into the room, staring at the bodyguard with a wry smile, and immediately, the bodyguard just stared at him in confusion, "A-Aren’t you Andrew Jones?!" He asked, and Andrew slowly turned his head toward him, "Yeah, so what?"

"I’m a huge fan, could you-"

"Stop this already, you’re acting anything but professional. Don’t make me send you back home." Tim said annoyedly, and the bodyguard looked at him with a bit of surprise before nodding his head, "Alright, I understand. Excuse my behavior."

"Mhm, please excuse him. He’s like that sometimes. Well, he basically raised me, so he’s a little bit too careful a lot of the time."

"It’s fine, I understand." Benjamin replied to Tim, and then slowly guided him over towar the couch, while Andrew sat down right next to Benjamin, "So, you’re here for that extra security, right?" Andrew asked, and Tim swiftly turned toward him, "Yes, that’s it. We brought a few things that we can use to prepare a safe-room somewhere around here. You said that you have a large basement, right? That would probably be perfect then. How big is it, actually?"

"Well, I tried to explain that to you already, but I’m not sure if we need any further reinforcement. There are three underground floors, all of which are reinforced enough to qualify as an actual nuclear fallout-bunker. There’s enough food, liquid, and living-space there to stay down there for a few months in the case of an emergency. And this whole house is already equipped with a top-tier security system that we actually bought from you guys after this house was broken into."

"...say what now?" Tim asked, "That’s... then why am I even here?"

"That’s what I would like to ask. I mean, the security system might be somewhat out-dated, but it still works pretty well." The old man explained, and Tim sighed loudly, "Is it alright if I have some of the people from the company take a look around just in case there’s something wrong after all..? It’s going to feel like I completely wasted my time because I was annoyed, otherwise..."

"Heh, you kinda did, didn’t you?" Andrew pointed out with a laugh, "You even missed Eisen and I dueling each other all day. He actually beat me once toward the end."

"..." Tim stayed silent, "Well, now I feel like a complete and utter idiot..." He sighed.

That’s what Tim thought, but without any of them knowing yet, the fact that he came here might have saved all of their lives.