Is it wrong to treat your citizens like family?

Chapter 13

〔Town〕

Shoji stood on top of the roofs, looking at the gate that lead to the place he temporarily called his home.

Shoji: "This is going to be so.." he trailed off, thinking of a word. 

Bella: "Awkward?" she finished, sitting beside Shoji. 

Shoji: "Yeah," he said, "I barely talked to him before, I barely talked to any of them at all, and now I coming back randomly after leaving for years." 

Bella: "Well, it was for good reason." she said, "You did a lot while you were away; You got way stronger, helped with the monster problem around the city, you even helped the people inside the city." 

Shoji: "That's not as impressive as you think." he said, "I may have helped out, but I also caused some of the problems.. I also made it worse." he said as he glanced around for a moment, remembering everything he saw and had done to help, "Fixing the problem at the root is going to be what fixes what I've caused, and fix everything else.. I just need to take the first step." he said before he jumped forward, charging for the gates. 

〔Manor〕

It was.. quiet. Not so quiet that it was eerie, but quite in a way that it was unnatural. There was no guards training, no maids gossiping, no gardeners in the garden. It was as if it was abandoned, but Shoji knew better than that. 

Shoji then took a sigh before he turned to the forestry of the estate, hopping into the trees and quickly making his way into his room. 

〔Bedroom〕

Shoji then vaulted into his room, landing on the ground with little to no sound before he looked around the vacant area. 

Shoji: "Well, looks like they fixed up the room." he said, glancing around and seeing the lack of chipped wood, chard marks, and fixed water damage, "Probably for the best." he muttered before he began taking off his clothes, which compared to what he had when he started his three year long training session, was a bunch of different rags mashed together. It was tattered leather armor he bough for movement, and some rags from Joshua's shop to keep it together. He could've just had Joshua make something for him, but the amount of times he ripped his clothes would've drove the man mad.

Once he was undressed, Shoji let out a groan before aiming his hand outward, a spell activating his his palm. 

Shoji: "Let's see if this works." he muttered a white square forming above his bed before a bunch of clothes fell out of it. 

Magic: 
-Storage Space: Put what ever you want inside this space, whether it be cursed and or blessed riches or an entire carriage of items. Items cannot be living. Disclaimer: Spell uses a large amount of mana for even one item. 

Shoji: "Thank the Goddess that worked," he groaned. 

Bella: "That was surprising." she said, "I figured the spell would've just blown up in your face." she said with a chuckle

Shoji: "I thought so too," he said, "Though it was my first time making a spell, I'd say I did a pretty good job." he said proudly. 

Bella: "Yeah, yeah," she said, "Hurry up and get dressed, your family is about to have breakfast, so if your going to make a grand entrance you'd better hurry." she said. 

Shoji: "I know, I know." he said before he grabbed a few pieces of clothing from the pile on his bed. 

〔Dinning Room〕

The dinning room was quiet, like it had always been since the day Willan had left. The family waited in silence, Elizabeth and Marron looking at each other with a knowing dread as (Dad) seemed to be out of it, like he had been for a long while.