Please Take That Off

"This is great, I'm going to get extra pay. Even if the customer is the Emperor, I shall turn black into white. These customers will have no choice but to leave with a satisfied expression. And a 5-star review." Silently vowing to himself, he put on the waiter's outfit. He then faced the mirror and practiced a wide variety of smiles to prepare when facing the others.

While Ye Han is busy rehearsing his act for later, the group of girls is slowly starting to get incensed by the rather lack of hospitality. Especially, Eleanor, she had been living her life in lavishness and people will always do their best to fulfill her wishes. But this time, a mere restaurant dared to make her wait. Not even a single one of those fancy restaurants would dare to stand against her ire.

"This place is a sham. Let's go sisters. Luckily, there's a nearby place that Father owns. At least they won't treat us this way."

But before she could bring the others with her out, she heard a soft cry of protest.

"Ummm, I think that we should… wait for a while." A rare courageous performance was put up by the usually gentle Xue'er. It seems that she genuinely liked the place, which would explain her adamant attitude.

Faced with Xue'er's uncompromising gaze, Eleanor is left with no choice but to relent. "Okay. We'll wait. But if nobody shows up for another half an hour, we're leaving."

"Thank you, big sister, Eleanor!" Xue'er happily embraced the blonde.

Now that things have come to this state, they must patiently wait for a staff to serve them.

Back to Ye Han. After completing rounds of rehearsal, he has now deemed himself ready to face the customers. Since he is already a retired hero, he never bothered to appear like the usually bright and sunny person depicted in the legends, much more smile. After his awakening, the number of times he let himself smile can be counted by two hands. And with that, it's mostly smirking and not good-natured smiles. "When was the last time I smiled like this? It kinda hurts my face now." He said rubbing his cheeks.

"It's showtime." Wearing the brightest expression on his face, he approached the 4 girls who have waited for the long. As all of them appeared to be bored except for one.

"Good day dear customers! Welcome to Lemuria- eh?" The bright expression of Ye Han suddenly sank as his eyes shifted into a myriad of emotions with each of it having the same characteristic, despair. 'Why is she here? No, scratch that. Why are the two of them here? And who are these other two girls?'

For a brief moment, Ye Han's face adopted a grimace. But he immediately regained control of his disposition as he struggled to maintain his bright expression.

The first to turn around is Eleanor, who is about ready to spew scalding insults to anyone who will appear. The other 3 is only half a second late, with Akari and Alice having surprised expressions.

"The cosplay convention is right across the street. And for your information, you're late by a week." It was supposed to be a barrage of profanities to the management for making her wait. But seeing the waiter wearing an eyepatch brought an indescribable sense of defeat in her heart. Her whole life, she has witnessed eye patch wearing characters and most of them of very high caliber. But she can seem to only find this unpleasant feeling when facing the white-haired waiter.

"What a coincidence! Hello Ye Han!" The pinkette greeted in excitement.

Akari remained silent as her head moved for a curt nod. But once could notice the smiling expression of her eyes. As for Xue'er, she started blushing at the sight of him.

"No seriously, I can direct you to a cosplay convention. So please, take off that silly eye patch. I can't bear to look at your pitiful appearance."

"Eh?" Confusion painted Ye Han's face as this was the first time someone took notice of his getup. Not even the students (except for Freyja), neighbors nor strangers pointed it out. He wore it during the interview and the manager and she did not voice out any complaints. When was the last time someone voiced out their opinions regarding this? 'Oh right, that girl.'

"What seems to be the problem with my attire, madam?" There's no feeling of displeasure in his voice. And for one, he found the encounter amusing. This girl has been too annoyed.

"That!" She pointed at the patch of cloth covering his other eye. "Do you work here? With that set of clothes, I don't think so. Look, I'm an understanding person and so are my friends here. If you take that stupid thing off your face I promise you that nobody will make weird looks at you."

"Uh-"

"We all came here to eat. Why don't we do that? Could you please give us the menu?" Alice ended the conversation as Akari, at the side, forcefully dragged Eleanor by the arm.

Ye Han was quick to the uptake as he pressed some buttons on a device, uploading the entire menu to the girl's respective phones.

As they took their time choosing a dish, Alice decided to strike a conversation with Ye Han. "I have no idea that you work here."

"Yeah, just started yesterday."

"So is this a part-time job?" This time, it was Akari who talked with him.

"Yes, I work during weekends. I mean, I still have school." He replied. 'But if given a choice, I'd quit school anytime for this job and go full-time.' He wisely kept his thoughts to himself, his instincts once again screaming at him.

"That's so cool!"

'What? This guy is completely dirt poor. Why would he take a job even he is still a student?' Eleanor thought.

"Ummm, can I have the… featured dish… of the day?"

"What is this featured dish?"

"Our restaurant offers a different dish every day, courtesy of our resident chef." Ye Han already has a script prepared for this kind of scenario. 'I'm not a waiter. I'm a cook.'

"Then what's the featured dish this day?"

"Simple, Peking Duck."

"I'm out."

***

Located in a grand and majestic hall, adorned with the most opulent decorations is a massive bed. Large wooden beams stood erect at each of its corners. These beams were draped in curtains. Behind the translucence of the curtains, one could make out the figure of a woman laying down on a prone position. Various statues are scattered throughout the hall, looking as if they were alive. It's not just the statues, paintings filled the walls making the hall even more exalted.

But one thing seems to look out of place, a woman kneeling in front of the curtains.

"Reporting to the mistress, Viper is dead."

Silence filled the hall.

But after a few seconds, the woman behind the curtain let out a chuckle. She found the death of a person to be amusing, evident of the chuckle.

"I've already expected that. What I did not expect is for him to die under the hands of Zhi Ruo's granddaughter. Well, that guy has been bothering me, thankfully that girl did the job for me free."

"I have another piece of news"

"Go, shoot."

"Someone has been sabotaging our operations."

"I also noticed."

"What should we do?"

"Hmmmmm, we should recall the operatives. Order them to lay low. Even if I send you all, you won't stand a chance against her. We angered her too much this time."

The expression on the woman kneeling outside fell. Her mistress personally ordered a retreat. Just who is this enemy?

"I know that look. But trust me, she is someone on par with the Pillars and that's me making a conservative estimate. But don't worry, she won't dare to escalate things even further as long as I'm here. Just make sure to never touch her boundary."

A character that could make such a powerful woman to be involved is someone to be afraid of. Her mistress is someone on par with the Pillar. The so-called Pillars were the nine individuals considered the most powerful beings of humanity. They act as the final protector that supported humanity, thus the name Pillars. They are publicly known as the strongest, but hidden powers and individuals that can go against them existed. And her mistress is one of those people.

Her mistress was known to be someone who would act aggressively. She once roamed the world unhindered, flipped the sky and the sea with a wave of her hand. A powerhouse that nobody would dare to oppose. As such, the number of people she is afraid of can amount to only a few individuals, but this person made her invincible mistress restrain herself.

"Just who is this person?"

The woman put on a pondering expression, as she raised her head to the ceilings with eyes shut. "Have you heard of the Garden Project?"

The Garden Project. Those 3 words struck like lightning. "How could it be?!" She said in horror. "Don't tell me-"

"Yes. It is her." She muttered as her delicate fingers caressed an old scar on her chest. "The most beautiful flower. Yet, the most dangerous of them all."