Chapter 589: Biggest Understatement

"Lady Wilder, what a pleasant surprise," the Chief Steward of Disciples House greeted Farah at the entrance to the residence.

"En. Good to see you as well, Reginald," Farah nodded back, "Is anyone home?"

"I’m afraid not," the middle-aged dandy with a perfectly trimmed moustache shook his head lightly, "Young Master Lucas is currently at the forge, Lady Sasha is coordinating a settlers convoy heading to Falcon’s Bend, and most everyone else is attending lectures at the Rising Phoenix Guild or helping out at Young Lady Christina’s bakeries."

"I see. I thought that would be the case," Farah replied nonchalantly.

It was just past noon, so everyone from the residence being out was hardly a surprise.

Having addressed the Spirit Initiate’s questions, Reginald turned his attention to the 3 guests accompanying Farah and bowed politely, "Greetings. Might I presume that you are relatives of Lady Sasha and Young Lady Eris?"

"How did you know?" Braden asked with clear shock, only to be scolded by his grandmother for acting uncouth.

Edward, on the other hand, returned the bow and introduced himself as well as his wife and grandson.

"Hoho, since that’s the case, you are most welcome here," Reginald laughed charmingly, "As for Young Master Braden’s question, Lady Sasha anticipated that you may show up one day and thus provided a detailed description of Sir Edward and Lady Amalia to myself and the members of the staff, just in case."

"I see," Edward mused, also letting out a slight chuckle, "I guess that must mean she attempted to send word to us about their situation, but we never received it because we had already left our retreat."

"That was what Lady Sasha surmised," Reginald nodded, "As a matter of fact, I also have a letter for Young Master Braden from Baron Milo and Lady Tracy."

"Mom and Dad sent a letter here?" Braden gawked, but quickly realized that if his Aunt Sasha had tried to make contact with his grandparents, she must also have sent word to his family’s home in Logger’s Nook.

Ironically, by being unable to leave to search for her Little Brother Charles, Tracy Newton was actually the first out of everyone to find out that he and his family were alright.

Quickly understanding all this, Edward, Amalia, and Braden all smiled wryly.

It wasn’t that any of them thought all the effort they had put into searching for Sasha and Eris was in vain, as a brief letter telling them not to worry was in no way comparable to being able to see and speak with their family members in person, but it did make them feel the whole situation was a bit ironic, drawing a sigh from their collective lips.

"Additionally," Reginald wasn’t done, however, "I have been granted permission from Marquess Balfour to inform you that your son, Charles, is most likely alive and well."

"Most likely?" Amalia latched onto those words and asked, "Why does it sound like you don’t know what Charles’ condition is, or even where he is?"

"Precisely because we do not know for certain," Reginald said in a compassionate tone, "Please understand that I do not know the exact circumstances involved with your son’s disappearance, as the matter has been deemed a high-level secret by the Marquess herself. All I can tell you is that it is more likely than not that Charles Newton is alive."

Again, this was hardly a satisfying answer, but it was better than nothing, so while Edward and Amalia weren’t able to put down all their worries just yet, they were indeed comforted a bit.

As a highly-competent steward and household manager, Reginald was able to see that some of the tension had lifted from the shoulders of the old couple, so he figured now would be a good time to suggest they get settled in, "If nothing unexpected comes up, which admittedly does tend to happen quite a bit, Lady Sasha and Young Lady Eris should both be returning in about 5 hours. As for Young Master Lucas... his movements and schedule are somewhat less predictable."

That may be the biggest understatement I’ve ever heard, Farah rolled her eyes, though she kept such thoughts to herself.

"In the mean time," the Head Steward continued, "Perhaps you would like to have a shower and something light to eat while you wait. I am sure the journey here has been quite exhausting, after all."

"Shower? What’s that?" Edward asked curiously.

"Oh my, do forgive my rudeness," Reginald dipped his head and apologized with some slight embarrassment, "It appears I have gotten too accustomed to the new conveniences Young Master Lucas has introduced to the Manor as of late."

"A shower is... well, the best way I can describe it is like standing under a waterfall in order to wash yourself, an artificial one, of course," Farah stepped in to explain, then wrinkled her brow thinking that her explanation probably hadn’t cleared things up very much.

Shaking her head, Farah thought about it for a bit, then decisively gave up, instead suggesting, "It’ll be easier if I just show you."

Saying so, she turned to Reginald and ordered, "Have clean sets of clothes prepared and placed in the changing room."

Despite being invited to, Farah chose not to live in Disciples House, or even in the Balfour Manor, but she was probably one of the most frequent guests here so none of the servants found it strange to obey her commands.

Not that anyone would dare to ignore the request of an Initiate-Realm Cultivator in the first place.

Acknowledging the order, Reginald promptly turned on his heels and left to make the appropriate preparations.

At the same time, Farah motioned for Edward, Amalia, and Braden to follow her as she led them deeper into the residence.

As more and more people had moved into Disciples House, Lucas had petitioned to have a private bathhouse built on its grounds, a request that was seconded by many of the other residents.

Lucas was even able to justify it by saying it would be an experiment into the construction of single-family-home shower rooms and large-scale septic fields.

Whether she bought her First Disciple’s excuse or simply couldn’t be bothered arguing with him, Celestina had approved the renovation and the rest, as they say, was history.