Legendary Traveler: By Earning Progress Points I will Become Supreme!-Chapter 292: The New Challenger Returns

An hour after hanging up with Damien, Aoni found himself sitting in a booth at a café about 5 miles away from his dorm.

Sitting across from him was, of course, a bronze-skinned, pink-haired young man.

"Damn bro, I really didn't think you'd choose college, impressive!" Damien said with a teasing smile as he took a sip of his overly expensive latte.

"Well, some of us didn't get infinite choices; it was either school or the government, so I picked the lesser of two evils." Aoni spat while sipping from his equally expensive caffeinated beverage.

"Hey, hey, I was only kidding; there's no need to rub that in my face. Anyway, I am going to school, too, just in the next town over, so we can totally hang out like this from now on. OH OH, maybe I can come over and chill at your place."

"…"

"What?" Damien asked upon seeing the weirded-out look on Aoni's face.

"Nothing. I just didn't think that Mr. Fancy Pants would want to hang out with a lowly plebian such as myself. Don't act like I didn't notice the expensive sports car or the fact that your clothing is all worth more than my entire family makes in 10 years."

Silence

Although Aoni didn't mean to come off as rude or abrasive, the words kind of just spilled out of his mouth, and he immediately regretted saying them when he saw Damien's face fall.

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean it like that, hahh, I'm just under a lot of pressure and itching to get back to Genovia, I didn't mean to lash out."

"No, no, it's fine, I get it, I probably come off as some rich young master type or something like that."

"No young master is as goofy as you, dude," Aoni said flatly, causing Damien to snicker.

"Says the guy who needs a haircut and wears black hoodies in the middle of summer ppfft."

"Got me there, heh, anyway, what's so important that you dragged me outta my dorm to a snooty café, thanks for the drink by the way." Setting his mug down, Aoni reached for a cookie that probably cost about 2500 bucks.

"One sec…" Seeing that the conversation was taking a turn, Damien reached into his pocket. He retrieved a small device resembling a hockey puck, placed it on the table, and pushed the big button in the center. A bubble covered their whole booth, cutting off any sights or sounds from outside.

"Oh…fannncy, either you're about to try and assassinate me for some unknown reason or you have something truly important to say," Aoni said with a smirk and some crumbs on his chin, completely unbothered because after reading Damien's Inspection Profile, he knew the guy wasn't a threat physically in any way.

Checking that the device was working properly, Damien's entire demeanor shifted, as he took on a role more befitting of a young master, causing Aoni to shift his posture uncomfortably in the plushy booth chair.

"Does the name Markus Vandersalt mean anything to you?" Damien asked in a tone Aoni couldn't quite place.

"Nope, why? Should it?" Aoni rebutted, causing Damien's eye to twitch slightly.

"Aoni, if I could find it out, so can others, I know you were the last person to interact with him and if it weren't for me intercepting the info and doctoring it when I did, several goons would have shown up at your door and dragged you away to who the hell knows where."

"I don't know how you did it or why, but after beating you up, his territory suddenly got destroyed, and a hostile takeover occurred in the Vandersalt Construction Conglomerate. You can't tell me that isn't connected in some way."

Hearing this, Aoni's posture finally shifted. Sitting straighter and placing both hands on the table, he leaned forward and looked into Damiens' eyes for a long minute before responding.

"Were you keeping tabs on me, or was this a random one-off thing?" He debated whether or not he should make a move or hear his friend out.

"Hey, heyyy, don't give me kill this guy eyes, I swear there was no hostile intent behind it. I've been keeping tabs on your family because…" Now it was Damien's turn to shift uncomfortably, as he was clearly trying to figure out a way to explain something.

"Is it because of your family?" Aoni responded upon reading Damien's body language.

"You…know?"

"Hah…look, I'd have to be a complete moron not to understand you come from a high class family, and seeing as no one would talk to you after the examination and how everyone avoided you like the plague, it wasn't hard to figure out there must be a reason behind how they acted."

"Then right before you left, it was as if you transformed into an entirely different person the moment the limo showed up…AND, that driver grilled me like I was gutter trash, so tell me, Damien, what the hell is going on." freёweɓnovel.com

"Damn…I knew you were perceptive, but damn…sigh, well, my family…calling them overbearing and controlling wouldn't do them justice. From the moment I was born, I've had my whole life planned out for me. What I wear, who I interact with, all the way down to how my Territory is run, it's all heavily regulated, because my father is one of the four Dukes."

Pausing to see how Aoni would react to hearing this information, Damien was surprised to see his friend staring back at him as if he were the biggest idiot on the planet.

"Okay…and how does this relate to me?"

"Seriously? I dropped the bomb on you that I'm the son of a Duke, and your first response is," How does that relate to me? "Pfft." Covering his mouth and fighting back laughter, Damien instantly calmed down and began explaining.

Basically, the moment word got back to his father about him hanging out with a "commoner," it set many things in motion, and had Damien not gotten word of it all, things could have turned out extremely badly for Aoni, who was now put under a microscope.

Luckily, the Thurston Family's footprint on society was so minor that it didn't even blip on any big radars, so although it was unsightly, and Damien was basically forbidden from hanging out with Aoni again, that didn't stop the pink-haired young man from keeping watching out for his only true friend.