Chapter 484: Returning Home—A Childhood Engagement?!

Seven full days had passed.

The exploration of the Icy Snow Secret Zone was officially complete, bringing the expedition to an end.

One hundred and five people had entered.

Ninety-nine came back.

Six members of the expedition had lost their lives inside.

It was still six too many, but by the standards of a newly discovered secret zone, the casualty rate had been remarkably low. First-entry expeditions could easily lose thirty to fifty percent of their personnel, and there were cases where entire teams simply never returned.

Everyone knew why the number had not been much higher this time.

Aaron.

Without him, the Alolan Sandslash alone could have wiped out most, if not all, of the expedition. Whatever else had happened during those seven days, no one would forget that.

...

Back outside the secret zone, Aaron removed his insulated suit and handed it back to Grant.

"I'm heading out from here. No need to take me back with the convoy—I can get home on my own."

Grant looked surprised. "You're not coming with us?"

"Nope."

"Come on. We owe you one hell of a celebration after this." Grant clapped him on the shoulder. "If you hadn't been there, half of us might not have made it back. At least come have a few drinks."

Ryan immediately backed him up. "He's right. We haven't even properly thanked you yet. Come back with us and let everyone celebrate together."

Several others nearby chimed in as well, clearly wanting Aaron to stay.

He laughed and shook his head. "You guys go celebrate. I haven't sent anything home in days, so my family is probably worried sick."

That was true, but it was also a convenient excuse.

Aaron had never been fond of big gatherings anyway. Give him a quiet house, no forced small talk, no endless rounds of polite compliments, and he was happy. As far as he was concerned, doing absolutely nothing in peace was one of life's great pleasures.

Grant studied him for a second, then sighed. "Fine. Get out of here."

Aaron grinned.

"Gladly."

...

A moment later, Flying Raijin brought him directly back to his bedroom.

He headed downstairs and found the house unusually quiet. Lily and Arcanine were nowhere to be seen, which probably meant the two of them were off causing trouble somewhere together.

His parents, meanwhile, were sitting in the living room talking.

Aaron slowed halfway down the stairs when he heard his mother speak.

"So what do you think of the Tompsons' daughter? Think she'd suit Aaron?"

His father snorted. "Suit him? Isn't that girl around a hundred and sixty-five pounds now? You trying to scare the poor kid?"

"What's wrong with that? A woman with some curves brings good fortune."

"That's more than 'some curves.' If Aaron walks around with her, people are going to think he married into money."

"Oh, please. This girl isn't good enough, that girl isn't good enough. Then who exactly is good enough for your precious son?"

There was a brief pause before his father spoke again.

"Well... technically, Aaron already has someone."

His mother scoffed.

"You seriously want to bring that up?"

Aaron stopped.

His father sounded increasingly awkward. "It was an engagement."

"An engagement you arranged fifteen years ago." Her tone sharpened. "You loaned that family fifty thousand when they were barely scraping by. Without that money, who knows what would've happened to them? Then they made it big and disappeared."

His father fell silent.

"Fifteen years," she continued. "Not one call. Not one visit. Nothing. I heard they built a company in Arcanis City and are worth over a hundred million now. After that, apparently we weren't worth remembering."

"But they contacted us yesterday," his father pointed out. "They said they want to repay the money. And they want Aaron to meet their daughter again. If the two of them still get along, they were talking about setting a date and making the old engagement official."

Aaron's mouth twitched.

What the hell did I just come home to?

Before the conversation could get any worse, he continued down the stairs.

"Mom, Dad. I'm back."

His mother turned, froze for half a second, then immediately lit up.

"Aaron!"

She hurried over and pulled him into a hug before he could escape.

"You're finally home! Let me look at you." She grabbed his shoulders and inspected him from head to toe. "Were you okay in there? Why do you look thinner?"

"I'm fine, Mom."

Then she frowned at him.

"And can you please come through the front door like a normal person next time?"

Aaron blinked.

"You disappear for a week, then suddenly walk downstairs like you've been sleeping in your room the whole time. There's absolutely no sense of occasion."

Aaron stared at her.

Fair point.

I should have Frog Boss leave a Flying Raijin mark by the front door.

Problem solved.

His father smiled from the sofa. "Welcome home."

There was unmistakable pride in the way Victor looked at him. Of everything he had accomplished in his life, raising a son like Aaron was easily what made him proudest.

Aaron sat down, grabbed an apple from the table, and took a bite.

"So..." He looked between them. "What exactly were you two talking about before I interrupted?"

Victor immediately looked toward his wife.

She gave him a flat stare.

"Oh, now you want me to explain it?"

Victor suddenly found the coffee table fascinating.

She sighed and sat back down.

"Fine. When you were little, your dad had a very close friend. The two of them were practically brothers."

Aaron listened while eating.

"Do you remember a chubby little girl who used to follow you everywhere?"

That stirred something faint in the back of his mind.

His mother continued. "You two were always together, and your fathers eventually started joking that you should get married when you grew up. Somewhere along the way, that joke turned into an actual childhood engagement."

Aaron stopped chewing.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. Later, her father borrowed a large amount of money from yours so he could go to Arcanis City and start a business. Your dad gave him practically everything we had saved."

Victor coughed quietly.

His wife ignored him.

"The business succeeded. Very successfully, apparently. They became rich—really rich. And after that?"

She spread her hands.

"Nothing. Fifteen years without so much as a phone call."

Her irritation was obvious even now. Fifty thousand had been a huge amount of money for their family back then. The fact that Victor had helped someone at their lowest point only for that person to disappear after becoming wealthy had never sat right with her.

"And now," she continued, "right after you became the country's top scorer, they suddenly remember us. They want to repay the old loan, bring their daughter over, and talk about that childhood engagement again."

Aaron slowly leaned back against the sofa. The timing sounded suspicious as hell, but before he could dwell on that, his mother's story began stirring a memory he had not thought about in years.

At first it was little more than a blur: a chubby little girl with round cheeks who used to follow him everywhere, always calling his name and refusing to leave his side. As he concentrated, the memory gradually became clearer until he could almost see the warm orange light of that distant sunset again.

The girl had stood in front of him with the complete seriousness only a child could manage.

"Aaron... when we grow up, can I marry you? I wanna be your wife."

His younger self had not hesitated for even a second. "Okay! Then I'll wait for you."

Her face had immediately brightened. "Then pinky promise. You can't change your mind!"

"I won't!"

The two children hooked their little fingers together beneath the setting sun, smiling as though they had just made the most important promise in the world. Neither of them had been old enough to understand what marriage really meant, but at the time, they had meant every word.

...