(MC POV)
"Ufufufu~ To be travelling together with my beloved son, how I have waited for this day!" Mother squealed, acting more like a schoolgirl on her first field trip than my mother.
"Ehehe~ It's been a while since I last went back home too~" Elaria giggled, hugging my arm.
"Fufufu~ We can spoil you a lot there, little brother~ Be sure to look forward to it," Odriana whispered into my ear, hugging my other arm.
Yeah ok, I fell to the allure of hot springs so now we're all in carriages going towards our hometown.
I could have easily teleported all of us there but Mother insisted that the journey was part of the charm.
I don't really get it but apparently everyone else also agreed to her words so I just went with it.
I'm pretty sure my disciples only agreed so that they could have a little bit of 'fun' outdoors, especially Eris who I believe had developed a kink for it.
As though already expecting such an outcome, Mother already had carriages prepared to ferry all of us there. There was even a detachment of guards that would escort us, all of them no doubt Elaria's people since they were carrying guns instead of swords.
I had asked why we weren't using the jeeps and Mother simply said that they weren't comfortable enough for her to spend time with me in.
It ended up with us splitting up into four carriages, with Mother and my sisters accompanying me in one while my disciples occupied the other two. The last carriage would be for the servants with the supplies for the trip.
That was also a weird addition since we could have stored it in our storage ring but I learned not to comment on such things.
See? I can learn.
I did, however, overhear Elaria talking with Odriana about being ambushed by bandits and the feeling of princesses being rescued. Not sure what she's talking about though.
Shiori and Akari also accompanied me in the carriage, both of them sitting quietly in my lap and letting me fluff their tails and pat their heads.
At first I thought my disciples would protest the arrangement of me sharing a carriage with Mother and my sisters, but apparently Mother had given them something in return for letting us be alone. What that something was I have no idea, all I know is that it was some kind of book that my disciples were extremely happy to receive once they saw the contents.
They even squeezed themselves into one carriage just to read it together, leaving Brendan by himself in the last carriage.
Even now, I can hear the sounds of my girls going 'kyaa, kyaa' in their carriage from here. I had tried asking what Mother actually gave them but she just smiled with her finger on her lips and told me it's a secret.
The trip back home ended up taking three days instead of the normal two since Mother insisted we take it slow and enjoy the trip.
She may or may not have insisted I share a tent with her and my two sisters, stating something about family bonding.
No, we just slept, nothing else happened, so get your mind out of the gutter.
No, really.
Oh, and we were never ambushed by bandits at all.
On the third day of our trip, we finally reached the town that was supposed to be my old home.
The last I remembered, we had a simple gatehouse that marked the entrance to the town and that was pretty much it.
Now, there's a twenty foot high brick wall stretching all around the city's outskirts, looking intimidating even from afar.
Did I mention that my home used to be a medium sized town?
Well, now it's a city that might be comparable in size to the capital city of Jin.
I'm not saying that there's more people here though, just that the size of it was that big. Most of the space seemed to be occupied by what I assume to be factories, a few of them even had chimneys spewing out white smoke that's visible from even outside the city.
"What… What did you do to our home town?" I asked, still looking at the state of the city.
Elaria tilted her head at me, "I modernised it, Onii-sama. Or rather, I'm in the process of doing so. We need all that space to build our stuff."
Right, of course...
"And the people are fine with it?" I asked.
Odriana giggled, "Oh my cute little brother~ This has brought our people nothing but benefits, of course they would be fine with it!"
Hmmm… I guess the allure of modern conveniences is enough to quell their unease, not everyone has the benefits of being a Practitioner after all.
The guards didn't even bother checking us and simply saluted as we went through, my mother and sisters giving them a wave as we passed by.
The carriage continued through the city streets, giving me a clear view of how much the entire place has changed.
The normally one or two story high buildings have been replaced with buildings that stretch to at least five stories in height, all of them built with what appears to be layered bricks.
It seems like in that short time I wasn't here, Elaria had made this place advance by a few more decades.
I got reminded by the time my disciples were saying something about cleansing the world or something similar, could they already know that Elaria was already doing this and preparing to clean up the pollution? How diligent of them.
"Seems like you all have been really busy," I commented, still looking outside the carriage window.
"Ehehe~ Does Onii-sama like it? It's still nowhere near the level we want it to be though. But just give me another year or so!"
"Aren't you worried about pollution from those?" I asked, pointing at what I assume to be the factories' chimneys.
She grinned at me, "Oh! Did Onii-sama forget? We're not using coal or oil to burn anything! We're using Monster Crystals as fuel instead! There's no carbon emissions at all so Onii-sama can rest assured of it!"
Oh right, I actually forgot about that.
Odriana leaned against me, "That's also not a factory, little brother, that's our attempt at creating a weather control device. It's still in its prototype stages so having a Practitioner do it is still more effective. But we're getting there of course."
Of course, with this level of technology, people would be tempted to start playing god. Then again, we have people like Practitioners running around who are practically immortals so I shouldn't judge too much on that front.
But if they start trying to experiment on people, I think that's when I should step in.
Deciding to change the topic, I asked Mother, "So where are the hot springs?"
She smiled at me, "Oh, you'll love it there dear. We found a natural one in the mountains behind our house, so we built a resort around it. It really is a charming place even if I do say so myself. I'm sure my baby boy will love it~"
Well, after the events that have been happening the last few days, it would be good for us to take a break. Maybe I'll even make this a weekly thing, coming back home to relax for a bit, you know?
Speaking of homes…
"Here we are, Onii-sama! What do you think of our new home?"
I looked up at the massive mansion in front of me. This place would qualify as a palace with its massive sprawling estates and gardens with the main building just as large.
"A hundred and eleven rooms in total, enough space for the entire city to take refuge should the need arise," Odriana told me helpfully.
I personally don't understand why was there a need to build it so big… But I guess to them, size does matter?
Oh whatever, I'm just here for hot springs, anything else is inconsequential.