The group materialized on the exact same spot Merlin had used when he brought his pregnant mother back from the Lakium forest. Since he had already used it once before and was familiar with it, it was easier for him to picture the place in his mind and designate it as the arrival point.

While on the way out of the woods, Merlin was wracking his brains trying to find a way to enter the village without being stopped by the guards. He was starting to regret having used his magic of earth attribute to fill the tunnel which led from the well in his family’s back yard to the outside of the village.

His aim when filling the tunnel, was precisely to avoid having someone use it to stealthily intrude in their home. How could he have predicted that he would, one day, need to make use of it to return home? But that didn’t matter any longer because he had suddenly realized he had forgotten one fact, he could use his disguising magic to enter the village.

Merlin had focused so much on the problem that he had almost missed the solution. After he disguised himself, Merlin mounted his horse and led the siblings into the village. Camille and Bastet were very surprised when they learned the little village they were in was Merlin’s hometown, for they had assumed he was some kind of big shot, like a prince or a count’s son.

Discovering that Merlin was, in fact, a villager left them dumbfounded. Of course, Merlin had no intention whatsoever of telling them he was part of Shephiran’s nobility, Merlin Lefey was an adventurer, whereas Merlin Pendragon was an earl. They might find out on their own while staying in Laklostia, but he didn’t want to directly tell them so. 

Camille: “Merlin, where are we going? Is there an inn around here?”

Merlin: “What do you mean Camille?”

Camille: “Well, there is no way we are staying at your place is it?”

Merlin: “That’s actually what I was thinking of having you do.”

Camille: “But you barely know us!”

Merlin: “Don’t sweat the small stuff and follow me!”

Camille’s worries were perfectly justified. Although having someone they barely knew staying at their place was a common occurrence among nobles, it wasn’t so in the case of commoners. Among commoners, staying at the place of someone you barely knew without the explicit consent of the head of the house, was considered bad manners and an offense to him. 

Merlin understood what she meant, but in his case, there was no way that if he invited them over, his parents would take it in a bad way. When he arrived at the door of his house, Merlin was surprised to discover two guards in front of it, because there weren’t any when he left. He quickly recovered and approached one of the guards.

Guard: “Halt! Identify yourselves!”

Merlin: “Quickly, sent word to your lady Emelyn that the person she currently is mad at for being late and his two companions are at the door!”

The guards looked at each other without knowing what to do. No one had notified them that there would be guests coming, nevertheless, Merlin’s imposing manner and his choice of words, made it look like not only was she waiting for these guests, they were late and their lady Emelyn should be impatient to meet them.

The guard hurriedly run into the house and soon after he run back to the door accompanied by Emelyn and Leyla. The two women stared at the group and were startled at first, but they were intelligent women and they understood the situation as soon as they made eye contact with Merlin. 

They quickly invited the group inside and called the service to take care of the horses. Once they were in the living room, there was an uncomfortable moment of silence before Merlin made a suggestion which confused Camille and Will.

Merlin: “Ok, I think I should visit the young Merlin first. Let’s go to his room.”

Emelyn: “That’s a good idea. Will your two companions come too?”

Merlin thought about it and saw that he only had two choices at the moment, either they came to the room and discovered his secret or they stayed in the living room with the service, which could lead to a slip of the tongue and them burning his cover. He didn’t want to see any of those scenarios, but since they were already there, Merlin chose the lesser bad and chose to bring them to his room.

As soon as he opened the door and entered the room, two beastman girls tackled Merlin down and hugged his body without letting him go. The next second, another girl jumped on Merlin and hanged herself from his neck, almost leading Merlin to the point of suffocation between the three of them. Leyla and Emelyn smiled wryly and closed the door as fast as they could after Camille and Will entered the room.

*What exactly is going on? And who are these little girls? Why are they hugging Merlin like that when even I haven’t been able to?* wondered Camille looking enviously at Lupa, Bastet, and Adelle.

*Ok… this is weird… Is Merlin a lolicon? He didn’t look like he was into little girls, though… It seems that my sister is out of his striking zone…* thought Will.

Merlin wondered how they had recognized him in spite of his disguise, but he came up with the answer right away: his scent. His disguising magic had several levels, the most basic one only changing the color of the eyes, while the most advanced one changed everything in a person, from the color of the eyes to the voice, and from the body size to its scent.

As he hadn’t had any contact with anyone besides his family members ever since waking up from the coma, Merlin didn’t bother using an advanced version of the disguising spell, instead, he used one of the most basic ones, only changing the color of his eyes and hair, and slightly modifying his facial features. 

It was enough to fool other people, but the members of his family would recognize him after putting a little effort into it. In the case of Lupa and Bastet, they recognized his scent right away and run to him before even noticing the changes in his looks. 

Merlin was, after all, their mate, there was no way they wouldn’t recognize him, even if he had altered the way he looked. He suddenly noticed there was someone else in the room, someone who was looking at him.

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There was a fourth little girl in the room, she was shyly looking at Merlin while blushing, but she didn’t dare to come forward like the other three girls. That fourth little girl was Tessa, the little girl who was Merlin’s fiancée only to be safe from the schemes from her family, but Merlin was still oblivious of his “official” relationship with her.

Merlin saw that the girls were pale and shaking, they didn’t try to kiss him at all, and he realized that those three girls were probably the ones scared the most by his tardiness. 

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Merlin’s POV:

I’ll be damned! I forgot that they are just 6 years old, and treated them like adults. Of course, they would act like this after thinking they might have lost their favorite person! They probably thought of the worst possibilities and cried their eyes out in fear for me… Poor girls, I’ll need to think of something to make it up to them.

*Slap*

Ouch! That hurt, mother! I deserved it, though. I gave her the communication stone so that she wouldn’t worry about me, but in the end, I made her worry even more when I didn’t use it to speak with her. I had originally planned to use the communication stone to speak with her once a week, but I ended up completely forgetting about it…

Now that I think of it, mother wasn’t the only one who received a communication stone from me… Ugh, I better pay Mandy a visit before going back to the mission, I have to check on her and learn about any important change in Klausna Kingdom’s political situation. Ok, it is decided, I’ll definitely go visit her before teleporting back to that mountain.

Well, how should I deal with this?… Lupa, Bastet, and Adelle won’t stop crying, and I need to talk with mother and explain the situation to Camille and Will. 

***********************************************

As Merlin was thinking how to explain things to Camille and Will without exposing many of his secrets, he heard a young voice shouting his name trough the closed door.

???: “Milii. Milii op da!”

After the words, a soft knocking on the door could be heard. Merlin looked at Emelyn and she just smiled at him, but Leyla’s radiant smile hearing the voice showed him who was calling him.

???: “Milii. Milii op da! Op da Milii!”

Merlin understood that the young voice was actually asking him to open the door, but what surprised him was the identity of the person asking him. He had figured out who was calling him, but the surprising part was her age, not even two years old, and she could speak that much… It really surprised him.

The one calling him was, of course, his little sister Lilith, Leyla’s daughter. She opened the door and took her daughter in her arms. Then, she shut the door again and faced Merlin. 

Leyla: “This little one is probably the one who has missed you the most since you left.”

Merlin: “What has happened? She didn’t speak that much when I left.”

Leyla: “That’s why I say that Lilith is probably the one who has missed you the most since you left, she started asking for you and didn’t stop. Actually, we didn’t know how to trick her into stopping looking for you. We had to tell her that you had fallen asleep again and that she couldn’t enter the room and bother you.”

At that time, the little girl extended her little arms toward Merlin and asked to be picked up by him.

Lilith: “Milii, Lilid up!”

Merlin: “Ok, ok. I’ll pick you up! Come here!”

At that time, the three girls finally let go of Merlin allowing him to go and take Lilith from Leyla’s arms. It was a heartwarming scene seeing Merlin with Lilith in his arms, and it caused different reactions on the people present. 

Leyla, Emelyn, and Will saw a loving brother spoiling his little sister, whereas Lupa, Bastet, and Adelle felt an indescribable sensation in their hearts. Camille couldn’t help but blush when she saw Merlin like that, she had a short delusion in which she imagined herself married to Merlin, and the little girl Merlin was carrying being theirs. 

However, she quickly snapped out of her delusion and only smiled. After a while, Lilith fell asleep in Merlin’s arms and Leyla took her away to sleep on her bed for the night. 

Emelyn: “Merlin, isn’t it about time you introduce your two friends?”

Merlin: “Sorry, mother. These are Camille and Will, I saved them from the attack of a bandit group and ended up forming an adventurer group with them.”

Emelyn: “It’s nice meeting you, Camille, Will. Please take care of my son while you go out on a mission.”

Will: “Thank you, madam.”

Camille: “Thank you, although with his strength, if there is ever a situation, Merlin will probably solve it by himself before we had even the opportunity to intervene!”

Emelyn: “Oh, is that so?”

Merlin wished that Camille would have phrased his words differently. Camille had actually spoken the truth, but her way of saying it gave off the impression that Merlin was jumping into danger non-stop, and that made Emelyn frown. For what reason she had frowned, no one knew, but it wasn’t definitely a good thing.

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