Mayor Bernard left, but Maron seemed to have set his sights on David, as he did not leave at all. Instead, he animatedly began to talk to David about all the exciting events that took place in Pelan City.
Standing at the side, Hans was relieved and heartened to see that David could interact and socialize himself with someone his own age.
It was not that he hadn't wanted to pave the way for David before, but David's stubbornness and hostility towards him made it almost impossible for the two of them to have a proper conversation.
While chatting with Maron, David retracted the Shadow Servant and made it hover above his head.
During that period, he paid special attention to Galen. Given Mayor Bernard's attitude towards him, the latter should be very powerful. If the Shadow Servant could not be discovered by Galen, there would basically be no need for him to worry about anyone else discovering it.
After the Shadow Servant appeared, Galen continued chatting with them like before, not showing any reaction at all, thus putting David's mind at ease.
"Hans, how is your health these days?" asked a middle-aged man who had walked towards Hans, showing him some concern.
However, after David heard that voice, he couldn't help but shiver at the realization that he was familiar with it. It belonged to the boss who was speaking to Amos over the phone, outside the police station the other day.
He couldn't have heard wrong, because David had heard that voice through the Shadow Servant. With the Shadow Servant's peculiar hearing, he wouldn't make a mistake in identifying the voice again after having heard it once.
"David, what happened to you?" Maron asked softly when he noticed something wrong with David's appearance.
"Nothing. Who is that guy?" David asked, thinking that Maron should probably know who that man was since he had many connections and had just introduced him to many of the guests.
"Don't you know him?" Maron asked with a look of bewilderment, looking at David curiously.
"Maron, I wouldn't have to ask you if I knew!" David retorted with annoyance, eager to hear the answer.
"That's Mr. Strat, the owner of this place, the Strat Hotel," Maron paused and then continued, "He is also Mrs. Hans' father."
David's pupils constricted. He knew very well that Maron was not referring to his mother when he mentioned Mrs. Hans, but his current stepmother, Bersha.
It just never occurred to him that the person who commanded Amos to tail him was actually Bersha's father.
Many thoughts raced through his mind continuously as he began to wonder if Bersha knew that he had been tailed, or if it was her decision right from the start.
He wondered if Bersha was the one who had instigated the death of his predecessor.
With the appearance of Strat, everything became even more confusing. He felt like he was getting closer to the truth, but things were becoming murkier and murkier.
When Galen saw Strat walking over, he did not join their conversation and instead turned around to talk to David. He happened to see David's expression at that moment, which made him sigh deep in his heart.
He was aware of David's situation, and he knew that Strat's status made things awkward for him. Hence, he gently tapped David on the shoulder.
"David, I'm a little tired. I heard you live alone in a residence with quite a few empty rooms. I'm going to go over to yours and rest for a bit. Take me there!" Galen told David. He had decided quite a while ago not to stay any longer. He had only attended the reception out of consideration for the pride of Pelan City.
"Uncle Galen, welcome!" David knew that Galen had misunderstood something. However, he could tell that Galen was just concerned for him. Hence, he smiled and nodded in agreement.
"I'll send you guys back then," Maron volunteered.
"Hans, David and I will go home first," Galen said, not turning down Maron's offer and instead waving his hand at Hans.
Before Hans could even answer, he walked out with David.
While Hans turned to look at Galen and David, there was an icy cold glow in Strat's eyes that he tried his best to conceal.
The guests at the New Year's Eve reception usually waited until 12 am to usher in the new year, only then leaving. However, not many people at the reception knew Galen's identity. Besides, David and Myron were just teenagers, so their departure did not attract much attention.
Once they left Strat Hotel, a cold gust of wind blew across and cleared David's mind. He knew that another enemy had surfaced, but he had no idea if Strat was the mastermind behind it all or if there was someone else. Thus, he did not intend to tell anyone about it.
In fact, if he did not have proof, barely anything would change even if he told Hans about it. That would only worsen Hans' relationship with Bersha and little Eddie would be the one to suffer in the end.
Therefore, he decided to investigate on his own, using his Electronic Warfare Retaliation abilities to roughly find out what was going on before deciding what to do next.
At that moment, a Glaston VI, which was the latest model, pulled up in front of them. Maron opened the door to allow Galen and David to get into the car before getting into the driver's seat himself. He then started the car by pushing the driver controls.
"Maron, how did you get permission to drive?" David couldn't help but ask. He knew that Maron was the same age as him and a senior in high school, yet Maron could maneuver the car on his own.
"Oh, I passed the Prep-Armorer test and I've long obtained F-Grade authority, so driving a hovercar isn't a problem!" Maron answered proudly.
Galen smiled but remained silent, watching the two young men interact with each other.
"Maron, has your strength reached 800 kilograms yet?" David asked in disbelief.
He was only halfway through his senior year of high school, but his strength had already reached 800 kilograms, which meant that Maron's strength had long reached the minimum standard for admission to Nan University too. With Maron's family background, he definitely would not face any issues in the other aspects for admission.
"My strength is already at 850 kilograms. I believe I can reach 900 kilograms by the time I graduate. With Uncle Galen's teaching, it'll be a piece of cake for me to get into Nan University!" Maron exclaimed proudly.
David looked at Maron with some envy. If David could be described as being a little affluent, then Maron was the real winner in life.
The Preparatory Armorer Assessment was not something that poor people could take part in at all, because the only purpose of the assessment was to allow minors who had no authority to obtain the minimum adult F-Grade authority early.
The cost of a single Preparatory Armorer Assessment was 100,000 credit points, which was simply equivalent to purchasing F-Grade authority with credit points.
Of course, another reason that the vast majority of people would choose not to sit for the assessment was the issue of strength, not only credit points. 800 kilograms of strength was the minimum prerequisite for participating in the assessment, which could only be achieved by a small number of people.
Take the Glaston VI car for an example. Just by looking at the decorations in it, one would be able to tell that it was a new car that had only recently been purchased. It was worlds apart from the secondhand Glaston III car that David owned.
David, who was in deep shock, barely spoke to Maron throughout the journey home. The Glaston VI was fast enough to allow them to arrive at David's residence in no time.
"David, do you think I could stay behind as well? That would make it easier for me to receive guidance from Uncle Galen as well!" asked the thick-skinned Maron, who addressed Galen as Uncle Galen, as David did, with more and more ease. He had now even raised an excessive request.
"David, let him stay!" Galen said without waiting for David to speak.
"Alright. Maron, you can use the guest room on the first floor, and Uncle Galen, you can use the side room on the second floor," said David, assigning them to their rooms after seeing that Galen had agreed too.
"Guest room on the first floor? So be it!" Maron muttered under his breath, clearly displeased.
He had a much clearer idea of Galen's identity than David did. Hence, he had to stay behind to receive guidance from Galen, no matter what he had to do.
"David, get some rest today, we'll start tomorrow morning!" Under the lead of the robot butler, Emma, Galen entered his room after speaking to David.
"Alright, Uncle Galen!" David responded.
As the host, he obviously could not ignore Maron. Since Emma had gone to help Galen clean up the room, he had to help Maron.
"David, I've found another similarity between us again!" Maron told David with a smile.
"A similarity?" David looked around but did not find any similarities between him and Maron, the son of a rich official.
He had a small vault of 4.2 million credit points and slightly less than 80,000 credit points in his identity bracelet, which seemed to be a large sum of money, but the 4.2 million credit points were considered dirty money. It would be alright for him to use it secretly in small amounts at a time, but if he were to spend large sums of money he hadn't earned, he would soon be noticed.
"Of course, we do. We both use Emma's voice for our robot butler!" Maron exclaimed, pointing upwards, as if he had found someone with a common interest.
"Maron, Emma has hundreds of millions of fans. Based on this, there are probably millions of people who share the same similarity," David said, feeling speechless.
"In two months, Emma will be visiting Planet Rocky. She will also be holding a concert in Nan City. When the time comes, let's watch it together," Maron suggested.
"I'm just a student. I'm not allowed to leave Pelan City," David reminded him. Although David had strong memories of Emma and really wanted to go to her concert, he was actually not allowed to do so.
"I'll think of something when the time comes!" Maron assured him, patting his chest.