12. A New Home

Following the meeting with Livia, whole party was granted entry to capital city - Testroria, without any additional checks. With that, they could immediately head to the house where the group was supposed to live for the duration of their stay in the capital.

Catleia Darkia, who joined them to get to Testroria was not initially planned to go with them all the way to the manor, but due to the previous talk with Nine, and conclusion she came to with support from Junie, the catgirl was supposed to go with them and become the main housekeeper. Said decision was a practical approach to the situation they were in - Mattheia had to leave Copebell Understicks for the safety reasons, and - after the news Nine heard from Catleia, additional pair of capable hands seemed like a good idea, especially with what the catgirl showed so far in terms of abilities possessed.

Manor Carrera and Farah selected for their beloved son was located in north-eastern, red block of the city, Crimson Rose District - it was an area encompassing south-western part of the block just by the central block, therefore placed closely to the White Tower. The point was for Mattheia to have easy access to the most important facilities in the city, and also to be safe owing to a nearby garrison.

As they arrived, the place made a really good impression on the boy - the manor was well-maintained, maybe not the biggest one Mattheia had a chance to see, but still spacious, with a nice garden outside, and a number of shops, workshops, a guild and even a tavern in the neighborhood. Additionally, it was about two hundred meters from the gate leading to the White Tower.

What everyone coming to the place would notice first when approaching the residence was a huge gate made of forged steel, looking really heavy and sturdy.

Once the party reached said gate, no one had to go out to open the route as servants, who were already on the spot, did that for them.

The driver led the carriage to the main entrance, and left towards a small stable at the back after all the luggage was unloaded. At the same time, the party walked into the main hall, led by one of the servants, who was acting as a butler since Kabanos family got this place.

"Manor has a standard plan with basement and two floors" the man started explaining "Basement includes wine chamber, pantry, secondary kitchen and two training rooms, one for martial arts and swordsmanship, and the second for magical training. First floor is the day zone with main hall, small ballroom, parlor, dining room, kitchen, study, library, two bedrooms for servants, two bathrooms and office for receiving guests. Second floor is for the residents use and includes total of eleven bedrooms - main one was reserved for the master, located in the centre of the floor with bedrooms for lady Nine and lady Junie on the eastern and western side respectively. Main bedroom and ladies bedrooms have their own bathrooms, while the other bedrooms have additional four bathrooms."

"Thank you for the hard work, Xander" Mattheia spoke to the butler "If others don't mind, I would like to go straight to my room to refresh, and get ready for supper."

"Should I send a maid to prepare a bath, young master?" Xander asked immediately.

"No, I will be fine on my own." the boy assured him "I will be more at ease that way."

"As you wish, young master" the butler replied "but let me send someone to stay by the door in case you need anything."

Mattheia nodded and headed upstairs. Junie went straight to her room too, but Nine stayed as she had to discuss the matter of other residents - Kashia already had a room ready next to Junie's room, though they had to prepare something for Catleia as she was not originally planned.

"So, you are saying that I won't be in charge of housework anymore?" Xander looked disappointed, or maybe even offended "Did I do something wrong?"

"Nothing of the sort" Nine assured him "You can still proceed with your daily routine, but you need to keep one secret. Catleia is to be more of a bodyguard than the actual maid. Of course, she is qualified to do housework and this will be her official role in this household. However, I already had a chance to see her skills and I believe she is going to be perfect for caring about house security."

"If that is the case, I will arrange for her accommodation, and include her in plan for daily chores" the butler's mood changed immediately after he heard explanation from lady Nine "Catleia, please come with me" he went to the catgirl and took her with him, while Nine and Kashia went to their respective rooms.

Mattheia was already in his new quarters, which ended up being much to his liking. To be completely honest, he never had such level of comfort even back at home, so he wondered how his parents managed to pull off something like that. Obviously, he had no access to the family ledger as he was still too young, but he always thought that they were just middle-level landowners, and could not imagine his family having enough funds for house like this.

Building's state, the walls, floors, windows - everything was in a really good shape, and furniture seemed to be of a high grade. It was the case in his room at least since he had no chance to have a tour around house yet. Either way, manor was exceeding his expectations so far.

One hour later, having taken a proper bath and switched into a fresh set of clothes, he went downstairs. There were not that many residents in the manor to begin with, therefore he met absolutely no one on the way until reaching the parlor, where Nine and Junie were having some chitchat. He did not hear what was the topic, but both women stopped talking the very moment Mattheia entered the room.

"Did I interrupt you perhaps?" he asked the two.

"No, we were just talking about some stupid stories from back when we lived in the capital' Junie replied to him "Did you know that Nine was really popular with men, but all she was ever thinking about was studying magic?"

Nine snorted.

"It was Aukkleia, and not the current me" she corrected her friend "Besides, you should look only for quality relationships instead of selecting just any option. Back then, learning was much more important than anything to me."

"But you definitely could snatch pretty much anyone with your looks, and here you are still single" Junie was not giving up on the topic "C'mon, it's not like you are getting younger."

"First of all, as our student here pointed out this fact to me not so long ago, among dark faeries I would be considered a teenager, so I have much more time than you" Nine smiled at her "Secondly, my peak popularity was before all of these rumors about me being spread. Just tell the name Aukkleia out in the open in this city and most people will run away, scared shitless."

Listening to this exchange, Mattheia was feeling uneasy - after all, he still had a crush on his main teacher.

"Junie, please drop it, it's getting boring" he finally said that, even though the reason was different.

While he stopped them from continuing, the boy had no idea both teachers were doing this to make a trick on him - the truth was Nine and Junie were talking about the story Nine heard from Catleia, and the teachers decided to plan some precautions to keep him safe. Still, they could not tell the full story to Mattheia as per explanation they got from Catleia.

It was still something both teachers felt unsure about, since the news the catgirl brought seemed a bit stretched. On the other hand, this would explain unusual traits the boy had. Either way, they preferred to be safe than sorry. Besides, there was also this curiosity about the supreme beings Catleia spoke about.

"Don't worry, Mattheia, we are just fooling around while waiting for supper" Junie assured him.

The boy was now looking around.

"Where are Kashia and Catleia?" he asked.

"Kashia wanted to check the garden so she should be somewhere outside" Nine informed him "As for Catleia, she is helping with the food. Speaking of which, I didn't think you would ask about her.

"I may have a fear of cats, but I'm somehow starting to get used to her" he explaine "Don't get me wrong, though. It doesn't mean I already feel comfortable around her. So, how long until the supper is ready?"

"They said no longer than fifteen minutes."

"I'm going to check the garden too then."

And with that, he went outside.

"Catleia already errected barrier around the manor" Nine picked up the topic which was interrupted by Mattheia a moment before "We will also give every resident a mark for safe entry. Anyone unauthorized will cause a silent alarm heard only by us."

"Do you believe that catgirl that much?" Junie seemed unconvinced "Haven't you said before that she is suspicious?"

"Obviously, I've checked everything after she did. And, as much as I hate to admit, the strength of her barrier is much bigger than mine. Honestly, with every next thing that Catleia pulls, I'm believing her more."

"But, doesn't it mean that Mattheia is really in grave danger?"

Nine shrugged.

"This whole situation was suspicious from the moment village was attacked. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a part of some bigger scheme. The problem is, we don't know much for now, so the only thing we can do is to prepare some precautions and countermeasures."

When Nine and Junie continued coming up with ideas to strengthen the security around the young master, he was outside, walking through the garden in look for Kashia. However, locating the angel girl was not an easy task given that the garden was around fifty ares, full of variety of plants, of which many were greatly limiting the vicinity.

The boy was wandering for about ten minutes before he noticed strand of light hair and white wings - the Sky Person he was looking for was lazily dangling from a tree. The pose she was in seemed unnatural, but for some reason Kashia looked quite relaxed.

"Aren't you feeling dizzy?" Mattheia asked her, curious about her behavior.

"Don't worry about it" angel girl yawned and stretched "It's an usual thing for my race, it makes us relaxed."

"If you say so. How do you find this place?"

"The house doesn't seem that much different from the places we spent nights so far, but it sure feels better knowing I have my own room. Also, I really like the garden, I could easily live here as well."

"You would have to worry about the rainy days then."

Kashia laughed.

"Right, I completely forgot you cannot control weather here."

Mattheia looked at her, surprised.

"Wait, can you do that?"

Angel girl nodded.

"For most of the flying islands, yes, that's possible."

The boy wanted to ask more, but they were called for supper, so they dropped the conversation at this.

Everyone already gathered in the dining room - no one was sitting yet, waiting for Mattheia to arrive. Once the boys sat on his chair, others took their own spots. While servants were focused on their duties around the table and doing chores, Catleia was invited to eat the others - there were total of five people sitting, and five servants. In other words, total of ten people lived in the manor, including one hybrid master, one dark faerie, one sky person, one cat beast-kin, one elf and five humans. It meant the house still had room for more, but there were no plans to invite any new residents for now.

They ate the supper, readying for the first official day of their stay in Testroria.