Chapter 95 The Forgeworns And Faraulds
Taking a deep breath, Eli soon witnessed the change of scene upon the fading of the blinding array light.
From the rustic and cozy log cottage, the surroundings were now filled with neatly finished stone walls, amply lit with the wall mounted lamps.
"This is the Forgerworn clan\'s exclusive teleportation station. Only our main family and trusted friends are allowed to access and travel through this." Grandpa Andi explained the location they are in right now.
The station was located underground, secluded enough to prevent other people from accessing it. Eli found that this teleportation station was as secluded and guarded as the one in the Silver Dew Village, unlike the teleportation array in her cottage.
"Greetings Clan Grand Chief! Greetings Grandmaster Reuben, Greetings Milady!" The guards of the station saluted and respectfully greeted the group.
They were of dwarven race, three fourths of Eli\'s height. They were muscular dwarven men exuding an aura of an expert guard ready for any emergencies ahead.
"Uhn! Good job as always!" Grandpa Andi replied, making the guards at ease.
He soon led Eli and Grandpa Ben outside the station through a stone staircase. With Little Han on Grandpa Ben\'s arms, the trio calmly proceeded out of the underground station.
The staircase led them to a well lit carpeted hallway. As soon as Eli stepped on the dark red velvet carpet, she felt like she was walking on a fluffy cotton pathway.
The hallway was similar to the design of Grandpa Andi\'s villa in Silvertown. It was themed with silver and red, from the wall and ceiling paints, which were further accentuated by brass and golden chandelier embellishments.
At the dead end of the hallway, was a massive door also guarded by two mighty looking dwarves and a dwarven butler who was patiently waiting for them to arrive.
As soon as the butler saw Eli and the rest, he immediately bowed and greeted them.
"Welcome home Grand Chief! Welcome to Forgeworn Estate Mi Lady and Grand Master Reuben! Madame and the rest are already waiting inside."
Eli couldn\'t help but be nervous, she will soon meet the people whom she will call as family here in the capital. The first people who she can trust and rely on from today onwards.
Her heart kept pounding wildly as countless questions flooded her mind with doubts and hesitations.
"Will they like me and Little Han?
"Are they really willing to take me in as a member of the family?"
"Will they accept me and Little Han whole heartedly?"
"They wouldn\'t think that I would just leech off their family fortune, would they?"
As she asked these questions to herself, she didn\'t notice that her body was tensed up to the point that the two grandpas had already noticed her restlessness.
"Just relax and be yourself! We are right beside you!" Grandpa Andi cupped Eli\'s hand with kindness as he beamed with a smile of reassurance.
Grandpa Ben also gave an assuring nod, "All of the people inside are the people who would be your support from today on. In this capital, you won\'t be alone!"
"Thank you Grandpas!" Eli uttered between her breaths. Then she nodded, signifying that she is ready!
Grandpa Andi gestured towards the guards and butler, they respectfully opened the large wooden door.
The next thing Eli witnessed was a loud cheer coming from the people inside the massive hall.
"Welcome to the capital Eli and Little Han!!!"
It was a loud and lively cheer as they threw flower petals towards the coming trio.
"Wahh!" Eli was startled as she didn\'t expect that she would be welcomed in this way.
Upon reading some romance novels during her time in the modern earth, she expected that the kind of welcome she would receive was reserved and restrained. At most, she would be welcomed by the person who had the highest status in the house.
But she was instead welcomed this way, smiling faces of quite a number of people for obviously three generations.
The center of the crowd was two graceful women, one was a dwarf while the other a human. Although their hair was already ashen gray, and their faces were laced by the trace of time, kindness, gentleness, beauty and wisdom were all evident in their countenance.
"We have been waiting for you for so long! Those two men over there had been bragging about how they got to know a good young lass and have been monopolizing you for quite some time now.." The dwarf woman was the first one to follow up their greetings and amiably talked to Eli.
"Talk about monopolizing! I have long requested Ben to let me follow him to Silvertown but he didn\'t want to!!!" The other woman pouted and looked at Grandpa Reuben aggrievedly.
"But finally we can see you now! And Oh! Your little baby is here too!!!" She exclaimed in delight as they hugged Eli on both sides.
"Eherm!" Grandpa Andi cleared his throat and introduced the two women, "This is my beloved, Brygid-"
"Just call me grandma!" Grandma Brygid excitedly interjected while still hugging Eli\'s left hand.
"Greetings… Grandma Brygid." Eli shyly replied.
"Uhn! Good girl! Finally we have another girl in the house!" Hearing Eli calling her grandma, she beamed in delight.
"Eli, this is your other grandma, Myrna! She is Ben\'s lovely wife and also my dear friend!" She didn\'t let the two grandpas talk further and immediately introduced Grandma Myrna.
"Call me grandma too!" Grandma Myrna also playfully demanded.
Then the two brought Eli near the crowd and introduced their children and grandchildren.
Grandpa Andi and Grandma Brygid had twin sons Tyce and Tyrel and a total of three grandsons from them.
Tyce, the older twin, had a son who married Meredith, whom Eli was very familiar with. This also caused the Forgeworns to increase their excitement upon Meredith telling them how brilliant Eli was during their time together.
Tyrel on the other hand married a talented chief artisan, Margareth, and had two sons, both around Eli\'s age. The grandsons all look happy to finally see a younger sister. Meredith was equally excited because finally she will have a companion around her age in the house.
The women of the family were only in laws married to the Forgeworn. Unfortunately, all the offspring of this generation were all male. Thus, the wives of the Forgeworns were happy to finally see another woman in the house!
Before they tried to monopolize Eli, she was then introduced to the Faraulds.
Grandpa Ben and Grandma Myrna had a son and daughter, Eugine and Janine. Eugine was the famous general of the Seirende Empire, who has been Leon\'s teacher from childhood. He married another soldier from a Knightly Noble house and they had a son.
Janine was a famous figure as well, as she was married to the vice chairman of the Farauld Magic Institute, Bramwell, whom Eli had also worked with during the project. Similar to Meredith\'s instance, the Faraulds became more excited the moment they heard of Eli\'s works during his interactions with her.
General Eugine was also particularly interested in Eli because he was actually curious about her, the woman whom his ice cube student was currently pursuing. What\'s more, they already had an offspring!
Finally introducing the main members of the household, the women proceeded to monopolize Eli, while the men and the great grandchildren of the two families looked at Little Han with care and interest.
This interaction overwhelmed Eli. Although it seems like everything is too good to be true, she could see that the family genuinely received her with warm and pure hearts.
She didn\'t have time to look around the hall\'s surroundings as she was already drawn by the raging wave of attention from the two families.
Helpless, she looked towards the two grandpas who sat by the floor to ceiling glass window, sipping their tea while looking at their families happy from her and Little Han\'s arrival.
They looked at Eli with content and relief in their eyes, sending a message, "Welcome to our family, young Eli!"
After some time, the butler announced Randel and the bunch\'s arrival.
"Young master Randel is already here! With Young Master Olivier and Mi Lady\'s beast companions!"
The crowd then turned to greet the bunch. It turns out that Randel was also adopted as a god son in the Forgeworn Family, the time when Grandpa Andi was doing his merchant expedition years ago.
However, due to his childhood status as a slave, he still insisted to serve the Forgeworn company as Grandpa\'s butler even after undergoing direct tutelage from him.
Olivier on the other hand, was also a distinguished son of the second most influential noble house in the capital, the Astaze clan. Thus, he was also welcomed according to his status.
But the center of the attraction was, as always, the \'cursed polar bear\' who was actually a rare bear species called Panda - Baobao!
The great grandchildren of the Farauld and Forgeworn families squealed in delight as they ran and cuddled Baobao\'s giant fluffy body without a care.
Wisey was also not exempted of the attention, she was \'seized\' right after Baobao was swarmed with kids and was cuddled lovingly by them as well.
"A Panda!"
"An Owl!"
The kids happily played with the two.
Afraid that he would injure the kids and bring unnecessary trouble to his master, Baobao gently sat in a corner with his signature sitting position and let the kids safely climb and cuddle his furry body.
Unlike Baobao who was doing well in handling kids, Wisey had a traumatized expression from all the \'hostaging\' done to her.
Looking at his buddy struggling to interact with kids, Baobao playfully taunted Wisey,
"If you don\'t know how to interact with kids, surely Little Master Han will not love you when he grows up!"
Upon hearing Baobao talk, the kids paused for a while, then the gleam on their eyes intensied with amazement.
"Waaaaah Panda talked!" They all exclaimed.