Meeting the Vales

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"Ah! Y-you should be fine, go with the flow I guess? It should be mostly similar to what we read for novels anyway!" Bennett tried to help David calm down.

"I-I... got it." David sat back down and took a few deep breaths before he opened his eyes again.

"Wait. What are you getting nervous for... I'm not your wife." David deadpanned suddenly.

"I... you! Hmph! Your fickleness definitely feels like it!" Bennett pouted turning his head.

"Pffft... alright, alright, I'll stop teasing you." David smiled, he wasn't nervous anymore.

While they were laughing, the man that was driving the carriage suddenly said, "Young masters, we have arrived."

Bennett had his hands behind his head and walked out calmly, while David slightly stiffened up, but was able to keep it internal, making himself seem calm and serious. With the character and expression, he had on his face, the driver and the guards immediately had a good impression of him as he seems to be straightforward.

"Welcome back, young master!" The guards didn't question the person next to Bennett at all, especially since they could sense David's genuinely pure and non-aggressive aura.

"Hello everyone! Please remember my friend's face. His name is David... no comment on his last name." Bennett said to the guards.

"Understood, young master!" The guards answered respectfully. After all, even if he was the second son, he did contribute a lot to the family's wealth.

What Bennet had not told David was the fact that he was using what he remembered about his past life to help increase his family's power.

'... He has a lot more power than I thought he would...' David stared at Bennett before smiling.

'At least it means he's living a decent life.'

"Come on, David!" Bennett waved at David as he was running to the large residence.

"Coming!" David softly smiled and walked in in a reserved manner, stunning the servants that were working around the mansion.

Entering, he saw something that just matched its western style. The floor was made of some kind of special that resembled oak, from what he could see in immediate sight, there was a stone fireplace, leather chairs, and couches, fur carpets, moose heads, etc. There was also another room which he could see was the stairs to the second floor, most likely the bedrooms of the family members here.

Though... it wasn't too luxurious, it was still quite expensive to have a house of this quality.

'Wait. Where's Bennett?' David looked around, not daring to move around the mansion as he didn't want to get lost. It would be way too embarrassing.

David saw that Bennett was walking down the stairs with two people who most likely were his parents. The woman was to the right of the man, who had his hands on her waist.

The man seemed quite young, looking only around his late 20s, he had short azure-colored hair and eyes, his broad shoulders, slim waist, and his sharp facial features gave him a strong aura of a leader.

The woman was also young, only seeming to be in her mid-20s. She had long blue hair that was flowing down to her waist freely, her gentle blue eyes were quite enchanting as if she was a siren. Her figure wasn't overly curvy, in fact, it was quite conservative, but it didn't mean she wasn't beautiful. With her sweet smile, she seemed like a kind fairy, ready to help the people around her, rivaling even those of goddesses.

"David! Meet my parents!" Bennett yelled.

'Ah? The way he's... asking seems quite... unrefined for a noble?' David deadpanned at Bennett before smiling again.

Walking to the pair, he bowed respectfully, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Vale, Mrs. Vale. My name is David..."

Before he could say anything more, the man interrupted, "Hahahaha! I like you! Don't worry, although you are a commoner, you have better manners than most nobles already. Bennett has already told us about you even when he was younger."

'Eh?' David looked at Bennett, looking for an answer.

'I don't know... I guess they like you.' he shrugged, but David got the message.

"Please lift your head, although Bennett talks to you a lot, we still want to get to know you personally. Let us introduce ourselves as well. My name is Sarah, and this is my husband Ben Vales." the woman chimed in.

Ben held his hands out for a handshake, and David shook his hand.

Ben added some pressure to the shake and David grinned as well, putting pressure as well.

They were about to keep going until Sarah elbowed Ben, "Ugh, men..."

Sniffling, Ben covered his waist in pain, "Darling... why?"

"Don't try to hurt Bennett's friend first thing after introducing ourselves! It's rude!" She glared at Ben, making him sweat.

"Yes, yes, yes... it's my fault honey..." Ben tried coaxing her as much as possible.

While they were doing that, David was already beside Bennett.

"So that's why you can be so casual and nobody would think you're different... like father like son... sigh..." David smirked.

"Hey! I'm much more civil than my father, hmph!" Bennett lifted his chin.

"Oh really? Dear... don't you remember how much trouble you caused us since you were born?" Sarah threw Ben onto the couch then walked towards Bennett, making him sweat slightly.

"M-mother... I-"

"Don't listen to him, David, come, come! Let me show you to your room." She smiled brightly, as if she was looking at a younger, cuter, and more obedient son.

"Um... thank you, Mr. Vale." David stiffly replied.

"Oh, you! There's no need to be so stiff, just call me mom or mother!" Sarah... had a hand on one of her cheeks, at one would call... an ara ara pose?

"Eh? Is... is that really ok? I could just rent a room at an inn." David tried to refuse.

"Don't worry. Instead, we want you to accompany Bennett since he... doesn't exactly have... friends. Since you two get along together, let's set up your room to be next to his alright?" Sarah asked again, making it so David didn't want to deny her.

"Umm... T-thank you... mother..." David said the last part softly, but Sarah still heard it, and she felt like she was on the clouds already.

"Alright, mom! Let me take care of him." Bennett pulled David away from his mother, making her pout.

"Well... I suppose you two have fun then!" she waved as they went up the stairs.

Seeing that they left to look at David's new room, she turned to Ben.

"Dear... you sensed that, right?" Sarah asked.

"Mn... The moment Bennett came back, he... seems to have gotten stronger when he was near David. But, his aura is completely pure... yet not at the same time." Ben sat upright on the couch.

"Don't worry dear, we can trust him, after all, there seems to be plenty of opportunities where he could've taken him away, but he didn't. They're pretty close too, it might even be good for Bennett to have a real friend." Ben comforted Sarah.

"Your right. David seems like a really good boy too." Sarah fell into contemplation.

"... Oh? Is there something else I'm not aware of?" Ben asked.

"No... let's just see how it plays out, ok?" she asked.

"Mn." he nodded.

Reaching an agreement, Ben went back to his office to do his paperwork while Sarah went back to teach the new servants of the household how to do their work.

**(In David's New Room)**

'I see... I guess that's fair, seeing a stranger become so close to their son must be worrying.' David nodded.

"So... how does it look?" Bennett looked at him with expectant eyes.

"It looks great, seems like I was wrong about your parents... I shouldn't have doubted them." David smiled.

"Hmph... of course, my parents would accept you! But... could, could you return some of mother's love... please?" Bennett pleaded.

"Huh? What did I do?" David played dumb.

"You! Fine... I'm going to go fill in my diary about my first missions. If there's anything you need, use this bell, it'll call the servants here." Bennett casually threw a bell to him.

"Alright... I'll entertain myself." He waved him off.

Before Bennett left, he reminded, "See you at dinner."

"See you at dinner, little Ben..." David replied, sniggering as he whispered the last part.

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Chapter 29 End...