Chapter 599: You Raised a Good Son

Arriving back at Disciples House, Lucas found a full-scale outdoor barbeque dinner party already in progress, making him wonder just what was going on.

Dinner parties, or just parties in general, weren’t uncommon as there always seemed to be some reason to break out the good food and drinks, but he didn’t remember there being one for tonight when he left here this morning.

Curious, Lucas quickened his steps, and upon entering the residence, he was immediately greeted by one of the servants who informed him of their latest guests.

Perking up when he heard this good news, Lucas smiled, thanked the young man, then proceeded immediately to the backyard where the smell of grilled steak, fish, and hamburgers was emanating from.

Perhaps due to the rushed timeline, only about 50 people were present at this impromptu party. Most of them already residents of Disciples House, so it made sense that they were here, but there were a few others who must have gotten word somehow and decided to show up.

Looking around, Lucas spotted his Aunt Sasha and Eris laughing and talking together with an older couple and young man he didn’t recognize.

Obviously, these three were Edward, Amalia, and Braden.

Sitting at the same table were Elliot and Teagan, Sasha’s parents, as well as Landon and Zara.

A certain 3-tailed fox was off to the side, as usual, pigging out on her meal, totally uninterested in the conversation going on around her.

Yuki had basically quadrupled in size over the past year since Lucas first found her in that crate, but she was still quite small so he really wondered where she fit all the food she stuffed into her face.

A significantly larger single-tailed fox was lounging nearby, licking a particularly large bowl of ice cream.

Lucas didn’t know if Bron was in attendance tonight because he wanted to be here, or because he felt he was supposed to in order to guard Yuki.

Whatever the case, none of these people or beasts being present was much of a shock to Lucas.

What was surprising was that Lucas’ Head Manager, Victoria Moore, and the head of his Urban Development Team, Dean Shaw, were also among this group.

As far as he could recall, while Laura had taken over the day-to-day oversight of Maple Town’s construction, both Victoria and Dean had recently been there to supervising the final touches for the first phase of development and weren’t supposed to return to Misty City for another 10 days.

Maybe they finished ahead schedule, Lucas thought, a smile creeping onto his face at the thought of one of his projects finally being completed on time.

Now in a much better mood after having lost his most recent verbal spat with that damned old blacksmith, Lucas quickly made his way over to the head table where he was greeted warmly and introduced to Eris’ cousin and paternal grandparents.

The rest of the evening was spent mostly in casual chit-chat, with the two sets of grandparents getting along very well as they bonded over their descendant’s accomplishments and achievements.

Farah was also being unusually talkative tonight, sharing stories about Sasha, Charles, Eris, and everyone else from Redwood Town from her own unique perspective.

Victoria and Dean commented a bit as well, but they seemed mostly interested in listened to these stories, probably eager to learn a bit more about their boss’ personal life.

Lucas also noticed this unexpected pair were actually quite close to one another, sitting together, laughing, and even flirting a bit here and there.

There was nothing wrong with this, as both Victoria and Dean were adults, but it did make him wonder when their relationship had evolved from simple colleagues to... well, to whatever they were now.

On the kids’ side, Eris, as usual, had seized the lead in the conversation, talking about whatever came to her mind when the adults weren’t asking her about something.

Braden looked a bit nervous, probably because he was sitting at the same table as a literal prince, but whenever the subject shifted to training, fighting, or adventuring, he visibly relaxed and even shared some amusing anecdotes from his own life with the group.

Landon and Zara maintained the dignity of nobility, but also came across as relaxed, because they really were.

With no one from their own kingdom looking over their shoulders or judging them, they strangely found it easier to let their guard down here despite it technically being enemy territory.

Landon even suggested they liven the party up by having a spar, only for Zara to whack his head and scold him for being reckless while he was still injured.

When the older girl sighed audibly and wondered aloud when her ’silly little brother’ would finally grow up and start acting responsibly so she didn’t have to worry about him anymore, Lucas and Eris barely managed to stop themselves from bursting into laughter, especially with how much Landon’s face was twitching.

With Lucas, Eris, and Christina’s ’help’, he had recently been trying to change how Zara looked at him, hoping to move from ’little brother’ to ’man’ in her eyes.

With how much Zara was still treating him like a naughty younger sibling, though, there were only two possibilities, either Landon wasn’t having much success... or the lady doth protest too much.

Whatever the truth was, one thing was certain, it was really funny to watch.

As for Lucas himself, he straddled the two conversations, sometimes sharing his thoughts on more serious matters with the adults, sometimes arguing over which sauce went better with the hamburgers with the kids.

For any other 11-year-old boy, this would have been an odd picture, but everyone familiar with Lucas had long gotten used to these quirks of his.

In fact, Lucas was able to transition so seamlessly between the two distinct groups at the head table that even Edward, Amalia, and Braden, who had only just met him, unconsciously began to think of what he was doing as ’normal’.

During one of the breaks in the evening, Sasha also quietly informed Lucas that she had already told Edward and Amalia about Charles’ general situation, which allowed the boy to breath a sigh of relief.

He would probably need to explain a bit more about the situation to Eris’ paternal grandparents and provide them with some details about how he planned to reunite their families, but that could wait until tomorrow.

Tonight, Lucas felt it would be best for these weary travellers to rest and relax a bit. Taking a single day off wasn’t going to kill any of them.

The only ones working tonight were the kitchen staff, but Lucas and Sasha always made sure they were well paid and taken care of, so none of them were complaining at all.

As dinner was winding down and dessert was about to be served, Celestina, Allina, Marcus, and Samuel all showed up, causing a little bit of a stir.

Sure, almost everyone present at this small evening party was a family member or close friend, but when a Spirit Adept and 3 powerful Spirit Initiates suddenly appeared, it inevitably led to some people straightening their backs or wringing their hand nervously.

Celestina, naturally, waved off any attempt to stand, bow, or salute them and instead plunked herself down at the head table and ordered several hamburgers.

Allina, Marcus, and Samuel acted similarly, though none of them was quite as carefree.

More meat and charcoal were added to the custom BBQ that Lucas had forged for Disciples House while Edward and Amalia nervously introduced themselves to the strongest woman in the Rockwell Kingdom.

Smiling back at the couple, who despite looking much older were technically her juniors by several generations, Celestina complimented genuinely, "I only worked together with Charles for a few days, but during that time, his spirit, courage, and sense of duty impressed me. He may not have been the best Lord I’ve ever seen, but he was a good man. You should be proud of him, and yourselves. You raised a good son."