Chapter 331 - Back at Home

Early the next day, Cecil and his group had exited the city and were already making their way over to the next city that they were going to scout out. From the information that Cecil got from his butler, Quinn, the city they were going to next was supposedly a beautiful port city.

"The next city seems like a nice place~" Lucia quipped up happily.

"Too bad we're going to have to destroy it..." Cecil replied.

"Ceh, you're no fun Cel..."

"...There's a huge lake close to our lands, right Matty?"

Hearing his name being mentioned, Matheus looked over at Cecil and yawned, "Uahhh, yeah, the lake is actually pretty big and there's a lot of fish and some aquatic monsters living in it. If the place wasn't so dangerous, father would have already tried building a small fishing town near it."

"Hear that, Lulu? Once we get back to the kingdom, I'll immediately head out and secure the land around the lake. After that we can build our own port city or town. One more splendid than the one we're about to destroy," Cecil said to his wife.

"...I-I didn't mean it like that, Cel..." Lucia replied weakly.

"Haha, look at this kid! I know you're trying to impress your wife, Cecil, but that's taking things a little too far! Are you seriously gonna gift Lucia a city?" Matheus chuckled amusingly.

"If I have to, maybe you should find a girl that you'd be willing to do the same for, big brother Matty~"

"Tsk, my time will come. It's not like I'm bad looking. I just never found the opportunity since I've always been busy!"

"Hehe~"

The brothers were bantering with each other again. Lucia was blushing happily and clinging onto Cecil. She was happy that Cecil would go through such lengths to please her. She now had some boasting material for later when she got together again with her sister, Serilla.

*****

Speaking of Serilla, she was back at the Silvaria Family's private estate, strolling around the garden with her mother-in-law.

"Seri, are you feeling alright? You haven't been feeling nauseous or anything lately, right?" Anastasia asked.

This morning, Serilla had spent quite a long time in the bathroom throwing up all of last night's dinner into the toilet.

"I'm fine, mother. It hasn't been that long since I was pregnant so I haven't been feeling all of those just yet."

"Ahaha, I guess so. It'll probably happen after you're a few months pregnant~"

"Uhm... mother, is this really okay?"

"Hm? What's wrong, Serilla dear?"

"Well, you could say that Lucia and I had gotten married to Cecil without his family's consent... I won't worry myself over what the elders have said to me, but is it alright with you, mother?"

"Oh dear, what are you talking about?" Anastasia shook her head at the worried Serilla. Anastasia placed her hand over Serilla's and then spoke up, not with an answer, but with a question of her own. "Let me ask you this, Seri. Is Cecil not alright with you? Did he marry you not of his own free will?"

"N-no..."

"He did so willingly, right?"

"Yes..."

"Since he's alright with it, then it's only naturally that I, as his mother, should be supportive of his decisions. I may be his mother, but I don't have the right to decide with whom he should spend the rest of his life with."

"..."

"Don't worry about anything, Seri. I've already told you this over and over again. Wait, could it be that you're starting to have regrets?! Did you fall out of love with Cecil?!"

"Wh-what?! N-No way, mother! I love him very much!"

"Ohhh... that's good. Anyway, don't ever feel that you're unworthy or that anyone in our family isn't okay with you being Cecil's wife and the next matriarch of the family! You have every right to be here! You accompanied him across two continents just so that you could stay with him. I'll beat up anyone who says you're unworthy! If we're talking about unworthy, Cecil himself is unworthy of you girls!" Anastasia said with a nod.

Serilla only chuckled lightly in response.

"Haah, my body has been feeling a little restless... I want to move around, train or do something, but..."

"But you have a little one in you that you have to be mindful of~"

"Yup!"

"Don't worry. It's only for a couple of months. I'm not sure how pregnancy is with beastkin, but I'm sure we experience similar things, right? Here, let mother tell you about her experiences!"

Serilla and Anastasia were having a nice conversation in the garden and the family's servants were watching happily on the side. Luca had just arrived home and went looking for his mother.

He hadn't gone to participate in the war because he was busy with the kingdom's internal affairs. Unlike his siblings, he wasn't too adept with combat. While looking around the house, he was informed that his mother and Serilla were in the garden.

As he made his way over, Luca noticed someone acting suspiciously near the garden. The person soon became aware that Luca was eyeing him and quickly walked away as if nothing was wrong.

Luca frowned a bit because the person was obviously spying on his mother and his brother's wife. He also recognized that person as being one of the branch families' young masters. Now that Cecil and the Patriarch, Kaiser, were gone, the branch families' actions had grown a bit brazen.

This part of the large garden was obviously a private area reserved only for the main family. Everyone knew this, so Luca quickly deduced that this man was spying on his family. This wasn't the first time something like this happened. He had received reports from the family's butler and maids that there were people from the branch families looking around the outside of Cecil's workshop just the other day.

No one, not even those from the main family, could enter Cecil's workshop since he had locked it with a special mana lock that only he and his wives could open. Serilla was the only person present who could open the workshop but she had never approached the place except during the times where she would tidy the place up.

"They were spying on mother and Serilla... do they want to know what's inside Cecil's workshop?" Luca thought up to here but couldn't understand the motive behind it.

Just what could they possibly want? Everything inside was practically useless to them since even the main family had no understanding of what Cecil was doing inside his workshop. Of course, the main family understood that he was building a teleportation gate and was coming up with unique gadgets that'll help better the lives of everyone in the kingdom, but the way it was produced was unique. Not something that could be done by anyone in the kingdom, yet.

"...tch, this is going to become a headache. I better send some men to monitor their activities..."

******

A few days later, Luca was inside his office within the city reading up the reports of the men he sent to monitor the branch families' activities.

"They've been in contact with the Goldenia's? What could those bastards want with Cecil?"

The reports he was reading stated that the Goldenia Family, a family who was pretty well known in their country from back on Earth, received word that the Silvaria's missing future patriarch had suddenly returned after all these years.

The Goldenia Family was the first to approach the branch families but their supposed reason was that they were requesting an audience with the Silvaria's main family. Their intention for the audience was that they wanted to form an alliance and meet with the Silvaria's future head.

The Goldenias were long-time enemies with the Silvarias so their reason for seeking out the branch families was so that the branch families could negotiate on their behalf because if the Goldenia family approached the Silvaria's main family, it'll only lead to problems that'll eventually lead to conflict.

As for why they wanted to form an alliance with their long-time nemesis, the Goldenia's reasoning was that this was a new world so they should put aside all old grudges and band together as human beings from Earth in this new but dangerous world.

Of course, Luca didn't believe this. There was just no way that those from the Goldenia family would actually have the bigger heart to let go of their past history with the Silvarias. Back on Earth, the two families were always competing against each other in various fields.

Their country's politics were mostly dominated by the Goldenia's while the business side was completely dominated by the Silvaria's. This of course led to many conflicts since they would always butt heads with each other.

The Silvaria's were always repressed by the Goldenia's whenever they tried to strengthen their political power but the Goldenia's in turn were completely shut out from the country's business sector. The Silvaria's had a firm grip on this sector and made sure that they completely repressed the Goldenia's.

The two families would even try to compete against each other in other sectors of the country, the entertainment sector, educative, real estate, sports, military, just about everything. They even competed in the country's underworld. The Goldenia's had an edge in this regard because they were closely connected with the government.

However, over all, the Silvaria's always had an edge against the Goldenia's due to how harmonious and close-knit the main family has always been. The Silvaria's branch families also understood their place and there was never any conflict in deciding who the next successor would be. They were unlike the Goldenia's whose members, even those from the branch families, were all vying for the family's throne.

"Tsk, do those bastards think that the branch families have any say in what the main family does? Even the council of elders has little say in what the main family does. Forming an alliance with us? Hah, unlikely. Those bastards are planning something...I better alert mother..."

"That won't be necessary, Luca," An old man said as he walked into Luca's office.

When Luca saw the uninvited guest, he narrowed his eyes at him.

"Elder Kuran...what do you want?"

"Hey, is that any way to be talking to an elder?" A young man spoke up after stepping out from behind the elder.

"... Eustace," Luca eyed the young man disdainfully. He put away the report he was reading and addressed the two uninvited guests.

"What do the both of you want?"