New place

The next day, we were escorted by the saintess to the front gate of her mansion.

"I hope you enjoy your journey to the kingdom of Valoria."

"thank you saintess for letting us stay here, we also enjoyed our time in this place." Saintess smiled at Ethan's words. Saintess waved her hand at us who were about to enter the minibus.

I saw the saintess figure behind the glass waving her hand, the saintess seemed to be saying something from outside the car but because the car had already left the saintess mansion, I couldn't hear her words.

The figure of the saintess became blurred from a distance, but I could confirm that she bid us farewell with a warm smile on her face.

***

On the way to the kingdom of Valoria, the children talked about how to use mana as I told them. Especially Akane, she seemed very serious about it.

"This method is difficult."

Right now, Akane was trying to make mana flow all over her body. Her face was drenched in sweat, she wiped her face and then sighed while looking at me who was sitting in the back seat of the car.

"I can't believe you managed to come up with your own method."

I stared at Akane for a while and then opened my mouth. "Why are you so obsessed with it?"

"It's just a hobby."

I tore my gaze away from her and looked at the car window, bringing the mana to my eyes so that I could observe the various things that this car passed by.

I saw many people wearing leather armor, I also saw various races other than humans, such as beastmen and elves among them.

What a unique creature! I wonder what their blood type is...

Moments later, my vision began to fade and a heavy drowsiness began to overtake me. I leaned back in the chair and began to relax my body, soon falling asleep in the middle of the journey. The last thing I saw was Anna laughing with Raden who got up from his seat.

...This is the best time for sleep.

***

"Oy, wake up."

Someone slapped my cheek a few times. I opened my eyes slightly to see that it was Anna standing next to my chair, looking at me with her right eyebrow raised and then smiling broadly.

Anna raised her hand and moved it quickly towards my face. I sensed her evil intent and stood up to catch her hand. Anna then made a scowling face.

"Tch, why do you have to get up at all?"

"What do you think you're doing?"

Anna pulled her hand and pointed to the window. "You should thank me, look. We're here."

I looked out the window and saw a magnificent mansion, like an almost unimaginable dream palace. Its magnificent architecture created an aura of elegance, as if time had stopped to praise its beauty.

When I looked again, this place did not have a thick wall surrounding it, but only an ordinary wall about 4 meters high.

While I was marveling at the beauty of this mansion, an old servant approached our car and said

"Please come in, the Duke has invited you."

We followed the old servant into the house, this place was much bigger than the Saintess' house.

The atmosphere in this place is very different from the Saintess' house, I feel very small in this place, the knights here have a strong aura, and there are many races other than humans here as well.

There are cat people who are servants, knights who have horns, and dog-eared people who are gate guards.

"Ethan, this place is truly amazing!"

Anna whispered to Ethan with an excited expression on her face, and to be honest, I thought so too. This place is amazing, no matter how you look at it, it's amazing, from the inside, the knights, even the servants have a strong aura.

The old servant stopped in front of the door, smiling at us as he said

"This is the Duke's study, you don't need to be too tense, as the Duke is a good person, even though his demeanor may seem challenging."

"Ahh... No, we're just nervous because it's our first time here, please forgive me for disturbing you, sir."

Ethan apologized while bowing his head, the old servant smiled warmly at Ethan.

"Hoho... Good young man, all right then."

The old servant knocked on the big door in front of him, he took a breath and said

"Sir, they are here."

A moment later, a voice answered the old servant's words.

"Come in."

A woman's voice came from behind the door. Wait a minute, why would a woman answer? Didn't the old servant say that Duke Leonhart was inside?

The old servant opened the door and let us in.

The children were getting nervous, you could see it from their tense and sweaty faces, seeing them like that made me a little nervous too.

We entered the room and saw Duke Leonhart with a book on the table facing us, a man with glasses writing at the table next to Duke Leonhart, and a woman with a red eye patch sitting on the sofa reading a book.

Wait a minute... She's wearing an eye patch and reading a book? what's going on?!

They're looking at us, damn it! I'm getting nervous now, this is the same feeling I had when I signed up as a dimension explorer.

The woman smiled at us, a few moments later she said.

"Welcome to the residence of Duke Leonhart, you arrived earlier than expected, how was your journey?"

"Thanks to the kindness of the Saintess, we were able to get here because she lent us her car."

Raden bowed while talking to the woman, I hadn't expected that Raden would be the one to answer her question.

"I'm glad to hear that, so what are you going to do now?"

"Um... W-what?"

We were all stunned by the woman's words, wasn't it Duke Leonhart who told us to come here?

"Wasn't it the Duke who told us to come here?" Akane asked, raising her hand.

"Yes, I know, that's why I asked, why are you here?"

There was a moment of silence at the woman's words, but soon Anna stepped forward and looked at her. Anna's face reflected confidence, and her unmoving posture gave a strong impression of her actions.

"To survive."

The woman was silent when she heard Anna's words, even Duke Leonhart, who was reading a book, suddenly stopped and looked at Anna in silence.

Then Ethan also spoke

"To become stronger."

Akane followed.

"To protect what is precious to me."

Followed by Raden.

"To choose our own path."

Followed by Aaron.

"To... make... History."

I was silent for a while, Ethan and the others looking at me.

"I..."

My mouth feels strange today, what exactly do I want? Back to Earth? Because of whom? I don't know why these strange thoughts came to me at this time, even though I was fine before.

Wait a minute... I seem to have forgotten something.

"To achieve dreams."

My mouth said something by itself, and I was a little confused by my behavior. What exactly is happening to me? Why am I acting so strangely? Do I have a mental illness or something?

The woman smiled at me, and then turned to Duke Leonhart.

"What do you think, did they pass?"

Duke Leonhart looked at us, I became tense because of his gaze, sweat began to pour from my body, and then Duke closed his eyes and said.

"That is enough, in the future, you will live here and from today I appoint you as my disciples.

My heart was beating fast, I unconsciously smiled and clenched my fists. I hadn't felt this feeling for a long time, how long had it been?

"Alright, now you can go, your training will start in three days, so you have to get used to being here."

The woman smiled as she spoke to us, so we bowed and left the room.

When we came out, we were greeted by an old servant who smiled at us and said.

"Please follow me, I'll show you to your room."

We followed the old servant with a smile, really...

This day, was a great day.

***

"You pick interesting people, Dad."

Duke Leonhart said nothing and just read a book.

"Don't be too hard on yourself." The woman smiled and then continued. "I know why you want them to be your students. You really are a stubborn man, Dad."

Duke Leonhart closed his eyes and put his book down on the table.

"It seems like I can't hide anything from you."

The woman then stood and walked over to the Duke, hugging him from behind as she rested her head on Duke Leonhart's shoulder.

"It's okay, I will support all of Dad's wishes."