....
"We have arrived Suburu."
Opening my eyes, I saw the doors to the Roswaal mansion to my right. The carriage was parked and Wilhelm noticing my attention decided to get off the front of the carriage.
He then walked around the carriage before coming to carriage doors and opened them.
"Lady Emilia, we have arrived."
I had also got off my seat and went around only to see Rem being the first to come out with Emilia following behind. Rem noticing me sent her eyes towards Emilia before turning back to me and giving a calm nod.
Emilia looked to be in a much better mood than when we had left the Crusch household and held a smile on her face as she walked to the front of the mansion.
But before she got to the door, she turned around on the steps and raised an eyebrow towards us in confusion. "Are you guys coming or what?"
I quickly stepped beside Wilhelm and patted him on the shoulder. I then sent a calm smile towards Emilia. "I'm sorry, I have to help Wilhelm with leading Patrasche to the stables. But I'll be done in a flash I swear."
Emilia then gave a curt nod towards Wilhelm and I. "Ok, have fun you two." She looked over to her left at Rem who was silently standing beside her. "Let's go inside."
Watching the two turn and head inside, I turned around and started to work on getting Patrasche to the stables. As Patrasche and I have a good relationship, it honestly wasn't as hard as it would be for someone else.
But the only issue I had with the process was her constant attempts at getting affection. With her constantly throwing me off balance with her head, trying to stand up straight and lead her was a pain.
Now I could have very well used magic strengthening, but that would simply be wasteful. My magic capacity may have been upgraded, but I still need to value it.
With my capacity being larger, i have no idea how long it will take to refill. Someone like Roswaal needs a couple days to refill himself to full.
And with my gate's mana constantly growing in purity, density, and size, I have to use more time to make the gaseous mana in the atmosphere into 'droplets' of mana.
And after Finally managing to lead Patrasche into the stables, I put my hand on her head and left her one last goodbye rub. "I'll be back soon, don't worry."
Wilhelm who was beside me the whole time just silently followed me out of the stables and up to the front of the mansion. Once on the steps however, I stopped and looked over towards him.
"So, are you going to go back?"
Hearing me, Wilhelm stopped and replied in a calm and collected manner.
"No, I won't, I already said I would leave, so when or how I do it doesn't matter. It would only be delaying the inevitable."
He then grabbed the handle of the door to the mansion and opened it for me to go through.
"And besides, you already have what I need. Why would Ieave when I can finally get it?"
...
Making our way inside, I made my way through the familiar halls of the mansion before coming onto a certain room.
In truth, I had just used my mana to strengthen my nose. I am after all familiar with Rem's scent, so it works out just fine for whenever I need to find her.
Opening the door, I was met by a flash of light. Seeing it, my perception of time was unconsciously strengthened and I made it out to be a fist.
Reinforcing my body, I take advantage of my perception and turn my body to where it would miss before resuming my normal perception.
The fist then misses me before I quickly use my reinforced body to go around the attacker and bring my arms beneath their own and lock my hands together tightly behind their head.
Once I successfully locked them in place, I let only my upper body be reinforced to save mana and took a good look at my attacker.
Noticing her blond hair and maid outfit, I immediately identified her as Frederica and proceeded to look around for Rem and Emilia.
I found Emilia sitting down and staring at the two of us in surprise, but Rem who was sitting beside her was calmly drinking tea.
Frederica had probably made some tea while Wilhelm and I where busy with Patrasche. And sitting on another chair was two children I was familiar with, Arthur and Petra.
"Emilia, Rem, did you forget to tell her about me?"
Emilia just looked at me and then looked towards Frederica who was silently trying to force her way out of my hold.
She then looked down at her cup before sighing and taking a sip from it to calm herself.
"He's alright Frederica, he was the one I told you about. You know, the one who killed both Sloth and the White Whale."
Frederica who was struggling in my hold then suddenly stopped at Emilia's words before sighing in defeat.
"Please let me go."
Smiling, I let go of my hold on her before calmly stepping a couple steps back as she turned around with a guilty frown and took a low bow.
"I apologize for attacking you, I just smelt something 'bad' and attacked you out of reflex."
Seeing her lower her head, I reached out my hand towards her. "Don't apologize, you simply acted on your duty to both serve and protect this mansion. That's something I can't get mad at."
Raising her head, she scanned my face for a couple seconds with her gaze before letting out a smile of her own that showcased all of her sharp fangs and grasped my outstretched hand to pull herself up.
"The names Frederica, it's a pleasure to meet you Suburu. Emilia has just told me about the many wonderful things you have done."
Letting out a laugh, I proceeded to put my hand behind my head in embarrassment.
"Oh please, I haven't done anything worth praise. I just did what I considered good and that's all."
Frederica let out a smirk of amusement before letting go of my hand and pointing towards a seat in between Arthur and Petra. "Ok then 'mister I can't take a compliment', you can go ahead and sit down in between those two as I continue my conversation with lady Emilia."
She then turned towards Wilhelm who was standing silently in the doorway. "Why don't you come stand inside for now also?"
Ignoring the nickname she suddenly gave me, I walked over towards Arthur and Petra before calmly sitting between them.
Looking at the both of them, I noticed Petra was looking at me with shining eyes while Arthur was holding a complicated expression.
Noticing their eyes, I moved my gaze in between the both of them in confusion. "Do I have something on my face?"
Hearing my question, Petra and Arthur both moved their faces extremely close to mine before yelling out loud.
"You're so cool Suburu!"
"Tell me how you got so strong?!"
Feeling a headache appear from their noise, I patted Petra on the head with a smile before turning towards Arthur.
"I'll tell you how I did so later."
Petra then went silent under my constant assault of head pats and Arthur leaned back and closed his eyes as a look of acceptance formed across his face.
Wilhelm who was in the doorway just walked across the room and stood behind me in silence. Frederica noticing this sent a look of interest between Wilhelm and l before sitting down and filling herself a cup of tea.
Once done filling her cup, she took a sip from it before placing it on a saucer making an audible clink resound across the room. She then put her hand to her mouth and let out a slight cough before looking up at Emilia with a serious expression.
"Now to continue where I left off."
.....