Eclipse Hunter Vol 4 Chapter 7

Lesson VII  Love, Apart from ScoldingImportant: Currently, we have no Chinese translators working on Eclipse Hunter. If you are/know of someone who can help out, the JOIN US b.u.t.ton is there for a reason.

Translators: Raylight, Irid

Proofreaders: Gaiseki, Laridae, Zephynel

“Why is it that even this fellow is here?”

　　Not long after the bell for the end of cla.s.s had rung, a bunch of eye-catching people stood outside the school gates as they waited for the silver-haired young man to arrive.  

Eloise was currently looking at the additional large-sized person with her arms akimbo.

Elian gave a roll of his eyes, and said unhappily, “If Dar truly wanted to go to a Chinese opera, who do you think is the first person he would bring along?”

　Upon saying this, he saw Eloise glare at Ezart, unwilling to give in. Then, he turned to ask Ezart, “I think you probably don’t have any clothes to wear to a stage play, right?” 　Ezart pointed to the tattered uniform on his body, and casually replied, “This one will do!”

　Elian looked towards the sky and gave a long sigh.

　　“Then why is it that Eli is also here?” Eloise gave a glare to her usual companion. 　

“Uh…”

An awkward expression appeared on Elian’s face as he explained, “That’s because I also didn’t bring much cash on me today, s-so I invited him to come along.”

“Pftt! Hahahaha!” As Eloise laughed merrily, she shouted, “Elian is so evil!”

The both of you are about the same, Eli thought silently from the sidelines.

Not long after, they saw Daren walking towards them. It was extremely obvious, for almost the entire school population of students were sneaking glances at him. The windows upstairs were packed full of people, and the students that had originally been in a rush to leave the school suddenly leisurely hung around the school entrance, causing a ma.s.sive impenetrable jam. The s.p.a.ce under the trees in the courtyard became the best gathering spot for observing as well as whispering to each other...

　　“However, if there’s so many people, neither me, Eli, Ezart nor Dark Sun owns a car, so how are we going to the department store?”

Originally, Eloise was even thinking of having three people stick to each other. Elian owned a really large motorbike, and she and Dark Sun could squeeze in the back seat. She would definitely sit behind Dark Sun, and then tightly hug his waist… Hehe!

“Eloise, your laugher is so indecent,” Eli said frostily.

　Though Elian owned a vehicle, there was nothing he could do when faced with this many people. He said, “Let’s book a taxi!”

At this moment, Daren had reached the school entrance. Once he had stabilized himself, a sports car that was like a red flame stopped exactly at Daren’s toes, not letting him walk even a single step more.

Everyone was stunned until the driver walked down and courteously opened the door for Daren. Only then did they confirm that this car had truly came to fetch Daren, and everyone promptly ran to the side of the car.

“Is this car your brother’s?”

Elian carefully touched the body of the car. He simply liked it so much that he didn’t want to let go of it. This red paint, streamlined body shape, and resounding sounds of the engine, woah! What a beauty!

“It’s stolen,” Daren replied candidly.

Everyone had a strange expression on their faces. This car is a…stolen car?

However, a stolen car still comes accompanied with a driver? All of them had bizarre expressions as they stared at the professional driver who was wearing a suit with a tie. He had white gloves on his hands and held an expressionless face. They thought, It can’t be that even the driver was stolen along with it, right?  

However, Daren was not lying either. Initially, when he was going to destroy Yue Baylian’s secret laboratory, he had stolen this car from his brother’s collection. Afterwards, he had returned it to secretary Kyle. However, what Kyle had told him at that time was that he would help him keep the car and not return it to the Solaris Emperor. Whenever Daren needed to use it in the future, then he just had to come and take it from him.

Of course, the driver should have been sent by Kyle. When he stole the car, the car didn’t have something like a driver.

Elian looked at the sports car, and seemed reluctant to part with the car as he said, “Then I’m going to go ride my bike. The four of you can sit in the car. This way, it fits just right.”

The s.p.a.ce inside the sports car was not large. Not including the driver, the maximum amount of people that they could squeeze in was barely four. Moreover, Ezart alone would take up one and a half seats. Therefore, even if there were actually four people sitting in it, it would still be a tight fit.

No matter how much Elian wanted to ride in this beauty, it was something that would not be able to happen.

Daren Solaris suddenly asked, “Where is your motorbike?”

Elian pointed to the parking lot at one side. His motorbike was a heavy-duty one that had even gone through modifications. Though it definitely couldn’t compete at all with the car in front of his eyes, to a college student, it was still a treasure.

“I’ll ride your bike. You sit in the car.”

Even slow-witted Daren could see how much Elian liked the sports car. Since that was so, he might as well volunteer to ride the bike. Moreover, he was truly interested in Elian’s heavy-duty bike. Rather than sitting inside a  car, he might perhaps like riding a bike more. It should feel very much like he was flying in the air.

Elian froze for a moment, and then turned his head to glance at the sports car. He was still asking, “Do you have a motorbike license?”, but his hand was already digging out the key.

　“Nope.” Daren’s answer was very direct.

His movements delayed for one moment, and the hand that was holding the key froze in mid-air. Frightened, he asked, “Then do you know how to ride a bike?”

“Yes.”

　　“Then that’s fine.” He heaved a sigh of relief.

“I know in theory.” Daren thought about it for while, but he still decided to supplement more information.

In theory, there was no means of transport that he didn’t know in this world. Even if it was a s.p.a.ce shuttle, he would still know how to operate one in theory. That is because all theory of driving is preserved inside his chip.

In theory… Elian started debating whether he should abandon his bike wifey for the sake of accompanying this sports car beauty for this small stretch of road.

“Chill, don’t worry!”

Ezart s.n.a.t.c.hed the keys impatiently and threw them to Daren. Then, he dragged Elian who was s.h.i.+vering from head to toe and gave him a strong shove into the car. He casually added on, “If your bike were to be broken, then tell Dar to compensate you with this sports car!”

“If that is the case…”

Elian touched the leather seats inside the car as though he was touching the skin of a beautiful girl. He was touched to the point of crying. This was the beautiful car that he had never dared to wish for in his entire lifetime!

Eloise grimaced, disgusted at what Elian was doing, and promptly remarked, “I think he’s already hoping that Dar crashes his bike so he can get this car.”

“I am not!” Elian snapped.

Eloise impa.s.sively kicked the side of the pa.s.senger seat.

“Stop itttt!! Why are you treating her like this! Eloise, you’re so cruel!”

Elian whimpered, cautiously rubbing his sleeve on the part of the seat that Eloise kicked.

Eloise rolled her eyes at him. As she got inside the car, she deliberately slumped on the seat and twisted around with all her weight to upset Elian even more. Eli followed and joined her in the back, while Ezart naturally took the front seat.

When everyone was settled in, Daren walked by and ordered the driver, “Just go where they tell you to go. I’ll follow behind by bike.”

“Understood.”

　　＊＊＊

The sensation was very similar with flying; the only difference was that traveling by bike was much faster, so to Daren, it felt more fun. The wind whistling past him felt comfortable.  

Unconsciously, he broke into a faint smile. So, apart from flying, riding bikes can also be lots of fun!

Dar, you’ve gone way past the speed limit… We’re driving through a city, not a racetrack!  Everyone in the car thought of the same thing and broke into cold sweat. They were supposed to be driving ahead with Daren following behind. However, he kept accelerating non-stop, and now it was the sports car trying to keep up with the bike.

WOO-WEE-WOO-WEE!

Oh no! Now even the police have joined the chase… Furthermore, they didn’t send only one car after Dar – there were several of them! Everyone in the sports car helplessly watched the police cars alongside them.

Daren was oblivious to the commotion. He was absentmindedly thinking about how he was going to secretly ask Kyle for an awesome motorcycle when he got back.

Meanwhile, inside the car, the driver rapidly pressed a few b.u.t.tons and spoke, “Some police cars are chasing after the young master’s bike on XX road. Dispose of them immediately.”

Dispose of them? Could this possibly mean…? Everyone in the car went pale.

“You don’t intend on killing those cops, do you?” Ezart asked straightforwardly.

The driver only smiled and answered, “No. We’re just gonna put some pressure on the police so that they'll stop ruining the young master’s fun.”

Immediately after the driver finished explaining, they noticed that the police car near them suddenly slowed down. Its siren stopped wailing, and then it simply turned away and left.

Everyone was stupefied. Eli broke the silence and casually said, “Perhaps, to the Solaris family, there isn’t much of a difference between a busy street and a racetrack!”

Despite the considerable distance between the school and the department store, they managed to reach their destination a lot sooner than expected; naturally because of Daren driving way past the speed limit and them desperately trying to keep up. Once they’d parked their vehicles, Dar reluctantly returned the key to Elian, who had just gotten off the car.

Elian looked awfully disgruntled. He s.n.a.t.c.hed the key from Daren, then immediately broke into a scolding. “Dar, you shouldn’t drive like that in city streets!”

Daren froze.

“That was very dangerous. There are a lot of cars here in the city, and you never know what could suddenly happen. Even if you can dodge roadblocks and other vehicles, you might still scare other motorists and end up causing an even bigger accident! What made you think you can drive like that in here?”

Elian furiously growled, “Even if you don’t get yourself hurt, you should still think about other people’s welfare. What if they get injured? What would you do then? Human lives are not things that can be compensated with money!”

Daren lowered his head and accepted all of Elian’s fury. He couldn’t say anything back because he himself knew that he was in the wrong. With a small voice, he could only say, “Sorry…”

Elian’s anger did not subside. He had been in constant panic for the whole length of the journey. Nothing bad had happened this time, but it didn’t mean that accidents would not happen in the future.  

Eloise broke the tension and stepped in, “Okay, okay! Elian, Dar just didn’t understand, that’s all. Now that you’ve taught him, he won’t do things like this anymore in the future! Dar is a really good kid, he would never disobey you!”

Hearing that, Elian mellowed-down and looked at Dar with a bit of compa.s.sion. The latter had his head hung low – the goggles were in the way and it was hard to see his expression, but looking at how dejected he was, it was obvious that he understood that he was in the wrong. This made him feel even more sympathetic towards Daren. He started to rub Dar’s head, but couldn’t help but add one more line, “Don’t do this again.”

“Okay.” Daren nodded, his voice choked with sobs.

At this point, Ezart casually slapped Daren on the back and teased, “Heh! You got scolded! Who asked you to drive so fast in this kind of place anyway. If you wanna ride like that, you should do it in the mountains and drive downhill. Now that’s exciting! I’ll bring you to those kinds of bike races next time.”

The last few lines certainly sounded more like a whisper.

Daren lifted his head, his expression a mix of excitement and curiosity, “Can I? Isn’t that forbidden?”

Ezart raised an eyebrow and dismissively said, “Relax! It’s an abandoned mountain road, so you wouldn’t harm anyone else. The most you could do is get yourself hurt. So, how is it? Are you scared?”

Daren’s eyes shone and he quickly answered, “I’m not scared!”

Ezart shrugged his shoulders and laughed heartily as he walked away, while Daren quickly followed. The rest of them could only roll their eyes before following along.

It was Daren’s first time in the department store. From the moment they stepped into the building, he had been constantly running ahead of them and touching things here and there. Even when they pa.s.sed by a cosmetics store, he couldn’t help but play with several lipsticks and powders, making the sales lady give him a few rolls of her eyes.

Elian smiled wryly and whispered to the others, “Looks like he’s already forgotten that he’s still acting as Dark Sun.”

Eli explained, “Well, his mind is even more like a child’s than before: extremely pure and naive. He just wants to play with all the new things around him.”

Elian sighed and helplessly said, “If we knew about this earlier when he was pretending to be Dark Sun, we could have brought him to the department store. Wouldn’t it be all fine then?”

“The theme park might have been better,” Eli suggested.

“Okay! Next time we’ll go to the theme park,” Eloise squealed.

Hey! The problem is: Dar has already recovered, okay? Elian rolled his eyes.

“Tch!1 This concealed weapon doesn’t look half bad!” Ezart exclaimed, as he played with a star-shaped object. The metal surface was polished to perfection, and it looked dazzling.

Daren glanced at it excitedly, and remarked, “Just now I asked the lady about it. Big sister says that it’s a limited edition lip gloss palette!”

“What?” Ezart turned the object in his hands over and over again. This thing is lipstick? No matter how he looked, it appeared to be some sort of dart.

“Do you like it? How about I buy it for you?” Daren eagerly asked him.

Ezart’s face momentarily looked as if he had just stepped on a pile of dog p.o.o.p. Did he look like someone who needed lipstick?

“Then, you can lend it to me so I can play with it.” Daren’s eyes sparkled.

So, in short, you just need an excuse to buy it, don’t you? Ezart scowled at him and growled, “Why don’t you give it to Eloise?”

“Oh, oh!”

Daren immediately turned around and told the sales lady, “I want this.”

The lady at the counter immediately smiled and asked, “May I also interest you with a box of eyeshadow palette?”

She went to one of the shelves and took something out which looked like a Swiss army knife. The surface looked just as s.h.i.+ny as the lip gloss palette before, and it looked very beautiful.

Ezart clicked his tongue in wonder as he said, “The things you have in your shop sure look lethal.”

“Yes, our founder is a female martial artist.” The lady beamed.

“I want this too!”

Daren’s eyes shone even brighter. He urgently asked, “Are there any more?”

“Yes, there are. We have the dagger compact, the arrow lipstick, the pistol hair conditioner… May I ask which ones you want?”

The lady at the counter was smiling so much that her eyes had almost narrowed to slits. Perhaps it was because she rarely met customers who didn’t even bother with trying on the product before saying that they wanted to buy it!

“All of them!” Daren felt like buying the lot just by hearing their names.

Elian quickly stepped in to stop him, “Dar, you can’t just buy things on a whim!”

“I’m giving these to Eloise!” Daren answered confidently.

“Eloise doesn’t use make-up. Even if you buy it for her, there’s no point.”

Eloise shrugged. She completely held no interest in cosmetics, even if they were made to look like weapons.

Daren looked stunned for a moment, and then his shoulders drooped and his head hung low. Dejected, he whispered, “But I want it… I really can’t buy it?”

The little puppy wants a bone again. Ezart coldly looked on from one side. Right now the puppy is wearing goggles, so it didn’t have the pitiful watery eyes. It’s a sharp drop in effectiveness, but to that guy El, it should be enough.

Elian’s expression immediately softened, and he said, “This… Okay then, but you can only buy one!”

Daren choked and suppressed a sob.

“... Okay, three.”

Daren instantly lifted his head back up. He excitedly told the lady at the counter, “I want the dart, the dagger, and the pistol!”

“Okay, thank you for your purchase.” The lady smiled blissfully as she bowed to him.

Even the cosmetics section on the first floor of the department store could already make Dar fish out money from his pocket… Elian started to feel uneasy about the toy exhibition.

As soon as Daren received his purchases from the lady, sure enough, he turned around and shouted, “Toy exhibition!”

His interest had completely been piqued.

“Let’s go and eat first!” Elian smiled, “Everyone, let’s have a Western-style buffet and eat to our hearts’ content, okay?”

Elian planned to use food to spend time and keep Daren preoccupied. Besides, in a buffet, the amount of food he eats is up to him to decide. However, he did feel a little sorry for the boss of the restaurant...

Daren nodded and surprisingly didn’t object. It was near dinner time anyways and he was also hungry. Additionally, he hasn’t been able to have a meal with everyone for a long time.

“Okay!” Eloise shouted, “After dinner, let’s go to the apparel store to buy clothes!”

Daren followed up, “And then to the toy exhibition!”

The two of them exchanged glances, then they continued to shout in high spirits as they each pitted against the other, “Oh, oh, oh!”

Elian, feeling as if all the energy in his body had been depleted, said, “He really has, completely and thoroughly, forgotten that he is in the appearance of Dark Sun…”

　　＊＊＊

1 嘖, a clicking noise to show approval