Hollywood Zenith

" You know what to do. I would have done it myself, but you have served well under me, so I will grant you mercy."

" Grandfather, Please, it was not his fault. You don\'t have to do this." Aika stood up in front of him, but her knees were shaking.

" Sir," Hiroshi could only utter those words.

" Father" Abe was the same. He had known Benjiro since childhood and sympathized with him, but that meant going against his father.

The old man closed his eyes and breathed for a few seconds before facing Samuel. He locked eyes with him giving him an intense glare.

" Kozo? What do you think? What would you do if you were in my shoes?" The old man asked.

" You are asking me?"

" Yes, what would you do if someone kidnapped someone you loved? Will you forgive him if he returns them to you?" It seemed like he was testing Samuel.

" Execution would deter others from making the same mistake," Samuel said without batting an eye.

Everyone was surprised, especially the old man. He was sure that Samuel would try to justify, but he took the direct approach.

" Sir?" Benjiro stumped to the ground, lifeless. He was sure about his demise.

" Sami!" Aika exclaimed.

" Hahahaha, good, very good. You understand too. I was right about you." The old man was amused.

"Sir, you can\'t do this. I know your standing, but as the chief, I could not allow that to happen inside my embassy." Hiroshi objected; he lost hope as soon as he heard Samuel\'s answer. He half hoped it would somehow work with a Rothschild\'s presence, but it backfired.

" Me? I will not do anything. This boy will help me, right? I heard that Rothschild was top of the food chain in this country." The old man said nonchalantly.

" Gladly, but before that, I must formally introduce myself. I am Samuel Rothschild; it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

" Kenichi, I assume you already know about that, right? Kid." He said with a smile.

" I do, but It is our first face-to-face meeting. I heard that you have been busy collecting data on me." Samuel replied back, sharing some information.

" I am not in the mood to discuss boring stuff, but I commend you, people, for the effort. I don\'t have much time; how do you plan to deal with him?" Old man Kenichi pointed toward Benjiro.

" Young master, what are you doing? If you are worried about anything, rest assured I could take you out of here in a heartbeat." Arthur whispered in his ear. He was afraid that the situation was deteriorating fast and soon it would be out of his control.

Samuel only gave him a gentle smile in reply. Aika was also stumped by the development. She never expected any of this; now, because of her, Benjiro\'s life was over. She blamed herself for her hastiness but never expected Samuel to take her Grandpa\'s side.

" I think we don\'t need to worry about Benjiro as he is already dead. You can move on with your life."

Samuel\'s answer puzzled everyone, but Arthur and Kenichi got the message. They had lived a long life to know what he was implying.

"Kid, You-"

"From this moment, Benjiro is Ben from the Rothschild family and would enjoy the same liberty as the other people connected to us. As the youngest heir of the Rothschild family, I declare that any harm done to our people would be met with an equal and opposite response." Samuel said with a commanding tone while looking straight into Kenichi\'s eyes.

The old man was at a loss for words; this was the second time he had been shocked by this kid. He could not say anything anymore.

Benjiro, on the other hand, was also moved by the statement, he knew what this entailed, but he still couldn\'t believe it. It was the same with Aika, who was finally smiling.

" Aika, to prevent the same thing from happening in the future, you could directly contact me. I will make some time to have the matches with you. I hate to admit it, but I, too, had been having fun sparring with someone close to my age."

" Are you sure?" Aika asked. She didn\'t expect Samuel to offer her such a deal.

" Yeah, and to make it fair. If you could hit me once, I would grant you anything that you desire, but it had to be within my price range, alright? "

" I don\'t need a handicap! But I accept and don\'t regret it in the future. And always watch yourself in public; I can\'t guarantee anything."

" Deal."

It was a bit to keep her interested. But Samuel didn\'t know it then, but it would be his biggest mistake, and he would pay for it with his \'life.\'

" I think our meeting is concluded. Ben, get up; we are leaving." Samuel decided to go because the other party was silent during his chat with Aika.

" Hold on a minute. I admit I was wrong about you. Thank you for keeping her safe. Abe, give him that thing." The old man said softly while avoiding others\' gaze.

" Yes, Samuel. The offer still stands. I hope to see you in Japan soon, don\'t forget what you promised Shiro." Abe said his parting words. He was still processing the situation. He handed what looked like a gift to Arthur.

" Ah, yes, I will make the same offer. Tell Aunt Shiro that I said Hello." Samuel had nothing to say. They didn\'t open the package and left the embassy promptly. Samuel figured that it was a generic gift, but he would later find out that the contents of the gift would save his life.

" Father, I never hear to say such words to anyone," Abe said while looking at her father strangely. He had known this man his whole life, and only a handful of times had he heard his father thank someone sincerely.

" What can I say? I just felt like it. He would definitely be a good ally in the future. The Rothschild would soar to a new height when that boy grows up."

" New height? There isn\'t any height left to cover. They are already the most powerful family."

" There are many things that you don\'t know about. I am sure the future holds something new for everyone. Now, Aika, don\'t think you would escape your punishment."

" G-grandpa?"

Thus, began another round of lecturing for the little girl, who was busy formulating the plan to take Samuel down.

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" Boss, did you get everything?" Kate asked.

" Yes, It was a bust, but we did learn a lot about the targets. Especially that kid." Trent asked.

" He really was quite different from what others\' informed us. What\'s our next step?"

" First, get out of that place. For now, we only have the order to observe."

" Copy that," Kate said as she made her way out of the embassy.

They hoped to catch these people red-handed but only managed to record an exciting conversation.

They were shocked when they learned the meeting was about dropping off a little girl.

It seemed like overkill for Trigon to be involved in this. They knew that he was working for the Rothschild family, but it was the first time he had left the estate in years.

Now that he was active again, they had to bump their surveillance to avoid another massacre. His infamous stories were still fresh in the underworld\'s inner circles.