Feel at home

After serving the tea and snacks, Clara was prepared to stand aside and continue to serve the others. She wasn't like Tellia, who had gotten together with Serge and thus had gained a different status.

"Come sit down with us.", Serene's words stopped her in her tracks. She carefully looked at the faces of the others, trying to guess their views. Nobody seemed to object. In fact, they didn't even seem to think about it as if they didn't find it weird for a maid to sit with them.

She sat down carefully and was soon once again fully involved in a conversation with Serene. Sometime Tellia put in some words as well. She too seemed to relax slowly, when seeing that even Clara was accepted by the group.

In this relaxed atmosphere, the time passed speedily and soon they arrived at the transfers station. Without even having to wait, they easily entered the station together and were teleported back to the Realm of Mythelem.

Ivan took a deep breath, "Ah, it is still best to be back home.", he then announced. The air was truly different. Without the constant pressure from the Spirit Qi he now felt much more comfortable.

Serge silently nodded, while the others weren't quite able to understand his feelings. Clara and Tellia had never been to the realm before and Miss. Klein and Serene were quite used to it, so the impact was much lower on them. They just smiled at his elation.

"Ok. Now that our expedition is over, let's go back home everyone, and I'll see you at school next Monday.", Miss. Klein said, thus announcing the end of this adventure and the return to normalcy.

Ivan and Serge nodded in agreement, "See you then, master"

They made their way towards the subway to take it back home. Both Tellia and Clara followed them without asking any questions. It had been decided on the trip back, that Tellia would stay with Serge while Clara would come with Ivan. After all, Tellia was now Serge's girlfriend and most likely fiance, while Clara was Ivan's personal maid.

But what was surprising was, that Serene followed them as well.

Ivan turned around and looked at her as soon as he realized it. "How come you are following us as well?"

He somehow was speaking to her in a much more relaxed way than how he would speak to Miss. Klein. It wasn't just the difference in status, since Miss. Klein wasn't just his master but also his teacher. It was more because of the way they acted. Serene didn't seem to invite so much distance and was much more approachable.

In response to his question, Serene just shrugged, "I like Clara, so I'll stay with her."

"And you don't think about asking about my opinion?"

"Why should I? You will become my disciple any way, so you taking care of me would be your duty."

Ivan could only shake his head at her behavior. It was hard for him to understand her. But what option did he have? He could only accept her following them. At least this way he wouldn't have to take care of Clara that much.

"Well, since you want to follow us, then you can take care of Clara.", he told her.

"Sure. That was my plan anyway.", she responded.

While they were walking towards the subway, Clara and Tellia looked around curiously. The world they had found themselves in now, was very different from the one they were used to. Although they hadn't seen the real city yet, they were already able to see that it was much more convenient for mortals to live here than in their old realm.

On the subway, they then split up further. Since they had to take different trains back home.

When Ivan opened the door of his villa, he saw Jane playing next to the sofa. She was currently teasing her cat, reminding him of the fact that his lizard had vanished ever since back then.

But it was only a fleeting thought. He already had enough other things to care about.

When the door opened, Jane looked up to check who it was and when she saw who it was, she jumped up and exclaimed happily, "Moooom, daddy is back"

Barely finishing her exclamation, she then happily shot towards Ivan, who opened his arms to hug her.

Smiling he said, "I'm back."

Seeing his daughter and being hugged by her truly made him feel at home.

It didn't take long for the others who were currently at home to appear as well. Not only Celine but also Lara soon appeared in the living room. While Celine looked at him happily and greeted him excitedly, this wasn't the case for Lara. As soon she presented a slightly cold front to him, but it was possible to see a sliver of relief flash through her eyes when she saw him.

But when she saw Clara and Serene standing at the door, her eyes once again became cold and frosty.

"Welcome, back.", she first greeted him before demonstrative glancing at the two new women, "And these are?"

"They are Clara and Serene.", Ivan introduced them before explaining why they were here.

"Hey, I'm not just a freeloader, I'm also your future master.", Serene protested when he called her a freeloader.

"But you aren't and who knows if you ever will be, so you are currently just a freeloader.", Ivan refuted her.

Having understood the situation, Lara shook her head, "Why are you always collecting women? Just about every time you go out you come back with one more."

"I don't.", he refused her accusations. "Didn't I come back from my adventures into the wilderness without a woman?"

"Yeah, Instead you brought back that lizard Leopold.", she said.

Having been reminded of the lizard he had gotten to know just before the trip, he asked, "Right, where is he?"

Back then when he had decided to go on the trip, he had asked if he wanted to come with him, but Leopold had refused. He preferred to stay back and continue to train.

"That little guy is quite lazy.", Lara said. "He only eats and sleeps."

"But mama, he always plays with me. And the games are so much fun.", Jane refused her mother's story.

"Alright, he also plays with you.", Lara agreed. While patting her daughter's head.

"So he didn't create any problems?", Ivan asked. From his understanding of that guy, this seemed unlikely.

He had barely uttered these words, before the angry glare of Celine made him realize that it had been a stupid question.

"You even dare to ask? I'm sure you knew that that guy would create problems, didn't you?", she directly fired shot towards him.

"Do you have any ideas how many times I had to clean up behind him? Not only did he destroy just about every part of our garden but he somehow even managed to piss off all of our neighbors."

"Urgh.", he had to admit that this was worse than what he had expected. While fighting him he had realized that Leopold wasn't the calm sort and that he would create some problems but he hadn't expected it to be that bad.

Seeing his worried expression, Celine chuckled, "Don't worry about it. We already cleaned up the problems. Out neighbors have taken it with some humor as well, since he didn't mean any harm. Now he even plays with all their smaller children.

It seems that he really loves to play with children no matter what age."

Ivan heaved a sigh of relief when he heard that. He was surprised that that lizard could get along so well with children. But he was happy that it had found something to amuse itself with. He felt kind of bad, leaving him behind so soon after they had become comrades.

"Then currently he is?"

"I'm not sure, but usually he is out laying in the sun at this time of the day.", she told him. It was currently afternoon so it made sense for a lizard to relax in the sun at this time of day.

Ivan wasn't planning to greet that guy. He could do that later, for now, he thought it more important to have some time with his family.

He didn't even need to throw a glance at Celine for her to understand.

"Come, I'll show you around.", she told Clara and Serene.

"Alright.", they too understood that this was a subtle way of making space for Ivan and his family to reconnect.

They followed her out of the room, leaving Ivan, Lara, and Jane behind.

Ivan walked to the couch with Jane and they sat down together. That girl hadn't let go of him, ever since he had come back. It seemed like she feared that he would vanish if she did so.

Since she hadn't been in his company during her first few years of life, she now had a larger fear of losing contact with him, than from his mother.

"Come, sit down as well.", he prompted Lara.