Damien walked past the short hallway that led into the opening of the restaurant. It was bustling with customers chatting up a drone of noise. There were many seated wearing the uniform of StarPoint Academy with their tables filled. Some had eye-catching dates while others just enjoyed the time with their friends.
With closer inspection Damien noticed a slight variance in most of the student uniforms worn. Many had gold stripes on their collar of varying amounts. He noticed that many were progressively older in correlation to the amount of stripes they had.
‘It looks like it has to do something with what year you are in. I’ll have to ask them later for reassurance!’
Damien continued to look around with awe of the atmosphere. Chandeliers glistened brightly showering the surroundings with refracted lights. Every open table was set to perfection with an artistic beauty. His erratic movements caught the attention of most of the people inside. Along with his messy white hair that was sticking out in weird directions, he instantly stood out to the crowd.
‘Why did everyone stop eating and talking, to start looking at me? I must have something sticking out!”
Damien lightly panicked trying to figure out what was wrong with himself. He turned his head in every which way he could. He was making a bigger spectacle of himself before he was stopped by Cal.
“Relax, let’s go to our table. It just looks like your name has been spreading to the upper divisions of the academy. You’re famous now, Damien.”
Damien took a sigh of relief choosing to ignore the common sight before him. As they passed by filled tables, the gossiping intensified throughout the restaurant.
“That’s the one everyone’s talking about?”
“He’s skinnier than I thought he would be.”
“He’s nothing special, probably just an exaggeration.”
“He does have the protection of that half-dragon mutt, and that blonde bastard is nothing special as of yet.”
Once that last comment was made all three of them halted their steps. Even Damien who let others speak about him without care could not hide his frustration. His jaw was cracking from how hard he was clenching his teeth. They turned around to see the perpetrator of their anger.
It was a student with two gold stripes surrounded by an entourage of friends. He had a short and unusually skinny stature that contradicted his grandiose poise and confidence. His most noticeable feature was the giant buck teeth covering his bottom lip. He sat there with his legs crossed as he caressed his whiskers with his razor sharp clawed fingers.
“What are you guys looking at, huh? Did I call you or are you just admiring me?”
The rat-like student was amused by his own ramblings letting out a horrible shrieking laugh. His entourage joined him in laughter a second later causing the rest of the noise in the restaurant to be overshadowed. Eventually the group stopped laughing so they can continue on with their night. They chatted amongst themselves once more, forgetting the existence of their group.
Yuki could not keep watching them go on as if nothing happened. She walked up to the table and smacked it vigorously. Drinks and food spilled over causing a huge mess. Everyone except the rat-like student stood up in fumes ready to start a brawl.
“Who are you calling a bastard, you cat meal.”
The man in question urged his people to sit back down with no concern. He seemed quite pleased to have found himself in this position.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“How very disgraceful of you. Is this the behavior of an Azurith? I doubt it. It must be your human side impulsively coming out. With that dirty, ugly energy, it had to be. Humans are truly emotional creatures, isn't that right?”
He stared directly at Cal and Damien who were clearly angered from the situation. His high pitched voice harshly cut through them. The rest of the onlookers gossiped about how she was poorly representing her family.
“But to answer your question I called your ‘brother’ a bastard. Does that make you feel better?”
‘I can’t let him talk to them like that! In this short time, they’ve helped me fit in and feel like I’m alright. I have to step in now, she’s about to explode!’
Damien swiftly came to Yuki’s side and cut in front of her. He took the initiative before she would do or say something that would publicly shame her family name.
“Oh, now you’re hiding behind a mere human. Not surprising since you are a part of them, mutt.”
“She’s not hiding behind anyone. I only came to help because these are my friends.”
“And you are?”
“I’m Damien. What makes you so high and mighty to treat others like trash.”
“Oh yes, that name does ring a bell. Now that I look at you, it seems like you fit the description. You have been making some waves recently. I am Zurat Worldeater, so what do you want?”
“I want you to apologize to my friends.”
The entire restaurant was silent awaiting the continuation of their confrontation. The air was tense with anticipation. Slowly Zurat stood up from his seat with a menacing grin. He supported his weight on the table and leaned over to stare up at Damien from underneath his glasses. After a moment his snarky high pitched laughter rang throughout the restaurant. Every object inside started to ominously vibrate until his laughter ended. Damien felt his organs shake out of place causing him great discomfort. Even his mental function was in disarray that entire time. If he had wanted to, Zurat could have caused greater mass mayhem and hysteria.
‘What’s going on… what’s happening… where’s my grandpa? Wait… right! I was in the middle of talking with Zurat. He’s strong, definitely stronger than me.’
Damien’s obvious confusion came to a halt. His cognitive gears started rolling as Zurat continued his monologue.
“A mere human is telling me to apologize? Let me tell you how this world works, okay? Only the strong have the right to make the rules and demands! Quite frankly, I’m stronger than you three, so scram, before you make me lose my appetite.”
Damien was prepared to not back down and have the respect he thought they all deserved. His lack of insight on how society works as a whole was a flaw in his thought process. Yuki noticed he was not going to give in and in no doubt create a bigger problem than there already was. She pulled the back of his shirt with a slight tug and whispered in a voice he could only hear.
“Damien just let it go. You are no match for him, even I am not. If I wasn’t clouded by anger and realized who it was from the start, I would not have caused this situation. This is all my fault and l will take the insults without retaliation. What he says is right so just forget it, before you do something you will regret.”
He took a quick moment to think over what she said. He knew the easiest and most simple path forward was to let it go and take in the shame. Even though the facts were laid out perfectly in front of him, he could not move on with it. The slight pain in her voice was not something he could just forget. With the feel of her shivering hand on his shirt he quickly made his decision with conviction.
“You are right, Zurat. You are much stronger than I could imagine… but that does not mean that will always be the case. I’ll quickly reach your strength and surpass you! I challenge you to a duel at the end of the school year! Do you accept it or not?”
“Do I accept it or not? Where does a human get off on being this arrogant? There’s no chance you will ever catch up to me. Now, I won’t belittle myself for nothing. Name your conditions.”
“Simple if I win, you publicly apologize to my friends and admit humans are not inferior. If you win I’ll do as you say.”
“Now a human pet would be interesting… I look forward to it. I accept your challenge.”
Damien turned around to face Yuki without any further words. He grabbed her hand with affirmation and immediately let it go after he realized what he did. They walked back to their waiter and left the scene while heading towards their table. Zurat’s group got up at the same time and left the establishment with confident strides. Once all was said and done the gossip and rumors spread like wildfire. The whole restaurant was energized while many other students packed up and left to spread the word.
After a short walk up to the second level of the building they arrived at their balcony table. The waiter quickly sorted them out and left them to decide their order.
All three quietly went through the menu in an awkward state. Damien desperately distracted himself by thoroughly reading every menu item until his mind was filled with innumerous amounts of menu entrees. Eventually he was genuinely enthralled by the unknown food choices before him.
‘This is insane! I’ve never heard of any of these things before! They can all benefit you greatly just by eating it! But these prices…’
The menu was filled with exotic options that Veron never provided for Damien. There were various spirit teas using rare spirit plants as the main ingredient, that helped promote the cleansing of your meridians along with boosting recovery. Along with the teas there was the blood of ferocious spirit beasts that help with muscle growth and mana development. The rest was spirit beast produce, with similar effects.
‘If I had this kind of food from the start wouldn’t I have been much stronger?’
As Damien was lost in his world away from the real problems he created, Cal and Yuki looked at each other with a mutual understanding. Yuki raised her foot underneath the table and kicked his shin with excruciating force. Damien popped awake with an ear piercing cry. He rubbed his shin quickly trying to calm the pain. He was ready to bring forth his complaints until he saw the look on their faces. Cal was the first to offer an explanation to his hopeless friend.
“Damien, are you just going to forget what happened? I don’t think you know what you really got yourself into.”