Really come with you?

Not much later, she once again appeared back on the ship. This time she was carrying Tellia in her arms. Something that looked quite funny. She didn't have a large frame and it would be correct to call her lolita but now she was carrying a fully grown woman in her arms.

As soon as she sat down Tellia, she hurriedly ran towards Serge, "Can I really come with you?", she asked eagerly.

Before he could even respond, his master already answered the question, "Of course. Short time visits aren't much of a problem and for you, a long term stay isn't that hard either."

"Really? I heard that it was nearly impossible to come to our realm and stay there for a long time.", Serge asked with surprise. This was, what he had heard and also the reason why he had decided to split up with Tellia. He didn't want her to live a life of only waiting for him. Only being able to meet him whenever the System allowed it, or he came up to this realm. And he wasn't ready to forsake his family to stay with the woman he loved, something that she had been extremely understanding of.

"That's because you have to basically belong to someone from the lower realm to stay there long term. In your example: If Tellia marries you, the marriage contract has to be so much in your favor that it allows her to stay. I guess, that you have to include things, like that she is unable to divorce you and that she has to follow a certain set of orders from you.", Miss. Klein explained.

Hearing that, everyone nodded. Which cultivator would be able to give up their personal freedom for a chance to go to a lower realm? If it was a higher realm than there wouldn't be much problem finding some. The same was if there were benefits for their cultivation, something that was completely absent in this case.

"Besides that, the person also will lose all talent and cultivation.", the next sentence was a true death sentence for any cultivator wanting to proceed on the path of cultivation. Of course, for a mortal like Tellia, this was no problem at all. It wasn't like she would lose anything.

"So you can just come with us for now and if both of you are happy you can make it permanent.", Miss. Klein smiled at the young couple.

"But will your parents accept me? After all, I'm just a mortal.",Tellia asked Serge in a worried tone of voice.

This question earned a smile from everyone else on the ship beside Clara, confusing Tellia. In her mind, Serge was a cultivator and as such had a completely different status from her. So for him bringing back a mortal, wouldn't his parents disagree?

"Haha.", Ivan couldn't hold back and laughed out loud. "I don't think you have to worry about that. Instead, worry about them being too happy."

This earned a nod from Miss. Klein while Serene looked questioningly. She didn't have any contact with Serge's parents or Serge himself for that matter, so she didn't understand what he was talking about.

Serge on the other hand looked embarrassed. His parents and especially his mother had always worried about his lack of a girlfriend. Before he had still been able to handle her, but after she had gotten to know Ivan and the fact that he already had a child, she had become much more difficult to handle. At this point, she would gladly accept anyone as long as she could get a grandchild.

He lovingly stroked Tellia's hair and nodded, "Yes. You don't have to worry about that. I'm certain that my parents will be extremely happy."

Hearing him say those words, she relaxed and melted into his arms.

Serene looked at the sweet couple and sighed. How come she hadn't found a partner. Suddenly her eyes swerved towards Ivan and lit up. Instead of a partner, how about a child? Hmm, she would have to think about it carefully.

Not knowing what weird thoughts his potential master to be had, Ivan sat down relaxed on one of the chairs.

"Would you like a cup of tea?", he had barely sat down when Clara asked him this question. She had gotten to know him well enough to understand that he loved drinking tea while relaxing.

"Sure. If it isn't to much work.", he responded while proceeding to close his eyes. He still hadn't finished fully going through the things he had experienced during the competition.

Having gotten his response, Clara turned towards the others and asked them as well. With everyone saying yes, she then asked Serene about a place where she could cook.

Surprisingly Serene didn't just tell her the way to the kitchen integrated into the ship, but directly took her there.

During the walk, she began asking her some questions about Ivan. Although she hadn't known him long and was his servant, so she couldn't talk about everything, her responses still allowed her to get a better understanding of him.

While Clara was brewing the tea and preparing some snacks, from the things she found in the pantry, Serene helped her. This lead Clara to asking a question that had been in her mind ever since she had come into closer contact with Ivan.

"How come all of you are so different from other cultivators?", she blurted out, before hurriedly adding on, "I don't mean in a bad way, but all of you are so friendly to mortals like me and Tellia."

Serene didn't even have to think about the answer. "This is because of the realm we come from.", she started to explain, "There aren't any, or at least not many differences between cultivators and mortals there. In fact, neither of these words are used. Everyone is just a human or a citizen. This leads to a different view on things like cultivators and mortals.

With the strong differences between cultivators and mortals, here and in other realms, it has led to members of both sides, seeing the other as something different. Mortals see cultivators as something special, something that is above them. A view that isn't that problematic and can even lead to them being safer.

But from my perspective, the problematic thing is that cultivators have started to think of mortals as something lesser. Something that they can use and play around with, without consequence. And during the process, they often forget that in the end, they both are human or whatever race they belong to. Something that isn't helped by the existence of cultivator families. "

"So you don't see these differences?", Clara asked curiously.

"Of course, I do.", Serene answered, "It is hard not to see them if you are capable of easily outliving all of these mortals. Or slaying hundreds or thousands of them with just a thought. All of these enforces a feeling of difference. But for those who come from the lower realm, the views aren't as ingrained into our thinking. We have grown up without looking at these differences. And if we go back, then these differences once again are reduced. All of this helps us to stay anchored. To not get lost in the feeling of power.

Of course, there are also many people who have come from our realm but during the process of getting stronger have changed. But those aren't people who will come back to our realm. They can't because they won't be able to stand the feeling of losing their strength, of becoming something like a mortal again."

"Oh. So that's why none of you felt that there was a problem with bringing Tellia back.", Clara suddenly exclaimed.

"Yes. But from everyone else's reaction, I guess that this isn't the only reason."

"Oh, then what do you think could that reason be?"

The two of them started to excitedly speculate about the reason why everyone thought that Serge's parents would be extremely happy over Tellia. To them neither the difference between master and servant, nor the difference between cultivator and mortal, mattered. The only thing that mattered, was the fact that both of them were women who loved to gossip. It was as if they were a match made in heaven.

Luckily neither Ivan nor Miss. Klein saw this scene or they would have hurriedly tried to create some distance to that pair. They truly couldn't stand those gossipy girls.

Clara felt that the time required to prepare tea and snacks had been too short. She had just started to truly enjoy her conversation with Serene when both had been finished.

Seeing her disappointment, Serene grinned and said, "Don't worry, we will have more than enough opportunities to have fun together. Just wait, when we arrive I will take you out to have some fun."

She had completely taking Clara as her friend.