User blog comment:Miskos3/Fairy Tail Chapter 488: The Two of Us, Always, Review/@comment-3285005-20160606152200/@comment-1359322-20160606161831

And you think that same Makarov would be so stupid to risk the lives of his children by just sending Natsu, Lucy, Happy as negotiators with August and then send Doranbolt to join them as an assassin knowing that they might be killed if Doranbolt screws up badly?

Makarov is the one who understands August's strength the most, he wouldn't pull something so dumb like sending Mest to do what he did in this chapter. That's the same as asking August to kill Natsu and the others.