When Lin Fan arrived in the capital city, he couldn't help taking a deep breath.
It had been a long time…well it hadn't been that long, but it felt like it had been a long time since he had been back.
However, seeing this city that he had slowly become attached to, he couldn't help feeling like he was home.
After all, there were Xin'er and Angela waiting back at the shop for him.
As for why he was back, it was because there was nothing left for him to do at the frontlines anymore.
Now that the misdeeds of the Tai and Bai Stellar Kingdom had been exposed, there was no longer a need for him to personally be on the frontlines. While it would go faster and yield less casualties if he was there leading their assault with his special powers, he chose not to remain.
The only reason he had helped in the first place was because of the special circumstances.
But in the end, he wasn't a part of the Mu Stellar Kingdom's army and had no reason to stay and fight.
General Li clearly protested this along with the help of General Fu.
Both of them had seen how powerful Lin Fan was and they knew how important he would be to them if he fought with them. They wanted to keep Lin Fan on the frontlines to ensure a smooth victory and to ensure as few casualties as possible.
However this protest fell onto deaf ears.
In the first place, Lin Fan wasn't in the Mu Stellar Kingdom army, he wasn't even a citizen of the Mu Stellar Kingdom to begin with, so there was no justification to forcing him to fight. Even if there was a special decree to conscript him, like General Li and General Fu wanted to do, they wouldn't be able to act on it.
In fact, if it had really happened, it would have most likely chased Lin Fan out of the Mu Stellar Kingdom.
He wasn't obligated to remain in the Mu Stellar Kingdom and he no longer was forced to remain here.
The Tai and Bai Stellar Kingdoms were already forced to the point where they wouldn't be able to stand up again. There was almost no worry at all that they would be able to do anything to him if they were to ever find him.
After all, they would be completely focused on defending their kingdoms from all the people surrounding them.
Let alone the fact that Lin Fan had picked up two powerful guards from the fight…
The Mu Stellar King was firmly on Lin Fan's side and he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize his relationship with him. It was both out of his own personal feelings and his considerations as the Stellar King.
On the personal side, he didn't want to drive Lin Fan away because of Xin'er.
On the professional side, he knew what benefits their Mu Stellar Kingdom would gain from having Lin Fan stay.
His evaluation of Lin Fan even increased when he read the report from Ying about everything that had happened during the battle. He knew that if he did have Lin Fan head off to battle like General Li and General Fu wanted, they would be able to gain a lot of benefits from the war.
However, he also knew Lin Fan's personality better than the two of them.
He was someone that enjoyed his freedom and unless he was the one that offered, it would be impossible to force him to do anything. They could suppress him with force, but if they did do that, they would offend him and create an enemy out of him.
That would be the worst thing for them since he knew that Lin Fan's backing wasn't simple if he could do things like this.
So the only way that he could handle Lin Fan was with a soft approach and never a hard approach.
When Lin Fan arrived at the shop, he found that everyone was waiting for him.
It was still a normal workday, so the shop was open for business like usual. However, when they saw him come in, there were two figures that rushed out to hug him.
These were naturally Xin'er and Angela.
After these two, the friends that he had made also came forward to greet him.
To his surprise, he found that the Mu Stellar King was here.
The Mu Stellar King should be the most busy person right now because of the war, but he took time off just to come and visit when he had heard that he was back.
In fact, he was the only one that actually knew that Lin Fan was back. The rest didn't know and were surprised to suddenly see him, but the Mu Stellar King had received a report from Ying that Lin Fan would be back.
To actually take the day off even when he was so busy just to receive him, it was clear how the Mu Stellar King treated his friends.
This was something that Lin Fan could respect and he felt that he had made the right choice back then.
This Mu Stellar King, he was definitely someone who would back him up in the future and he needed people like that on his side.
After slowly putting Xin'er down, he patted Angela on the head and came over to where everyone else was waiting.
Business was still the same in the store, so there weren't many people that were actually buying things even though the store was filled. Most people were here with ulterior motives since everyone knew how often the Mu Stellar King visited this store.
There had even been incidents, but any incident that happened within the store was always quickly dealt with by the defense system of the store.
Soon, the store gained a reputation and no one dared to cause any trouble here.
Once they had settled down, the Mu Stellar King invited them all to a restaurant that he had booked for this occasion.
Hearing this, he immediately won points from the foodies Xin'er and Angela. To Lin Fan's surprise, he found that Dongfang Tao Hua was just as excited as the two of them.
Despite her appearance, he found that she was a foodie just like her and the three of them had really bonded over this.
The other strange thing that he noticed was that Yuki wasn't as attached to Angela anymore. Instead of going along with Angela and Xin'er, she went along with the five sisters who she had gotten close to.
Looking at them, it was almost like looking at a mother with all her children…even though they didn't look like each other at all.
When they arrived at the restaurant, they found that this restaurant was the best restaurant in the entire city.
When the Mu Stellar King had booked it, he had booked the entire restaurant and not just a private room like one had thought. This was just a show of the power that he had as the Mu Stellar King.
It was just too bad that his wife and daughter didn't appreciate this.
When they saw that he had booked the entire restaurant, they immediately started mercilessly laying into him.
"Look at your dad, Xin'er. He's trying so hard to show off." Dongfang Tao Hua whispered in a not so quiet voice.
Xin'er looked at the people walking away from the restaurant before saying, "Did we cause trouble for all those people?"
The two of them going back and forth like this was like arrows being shot into the Mu Stellar King's heart again and again.
Lin Fan really couldn't bear to see this, so he patted the Mu Stellar King and said, "I appreciate you going to all this trouble for me."
With this faint ray of light shining down, the Mu Stellar King grabbed what he could. He held onto Lin Fan and said with a few tears in his eyes, "Brother Lin, you really are the one that understands me best."
Lin Fan revealed an awkward smile, but he patted him on the back as he comforted him.
Everyone had to admit that the title of the best restaurant in the capital was a well deserved one. The dishes that they served were all creative and delicious, but the most important thing was that they all went with one another.
Unlike other restaurants that only served dishes in general themes, this restaurant's menu was completely based on a single theme and all the dishes of the feast led up to the next.
This gave a perfect sense of harmony to the meal.
When they were finished, they all sat around in the private room relaxing.
As the best restaurant in the capital, it wasn't just their food that was the best. The service was at a level that matched this title of best restaurant.
There were countless entertainment options that were available for them to call on at any time and the kids didn't hesitate to call on them.
Seeing the kids playing, the adults weren't in a rush to leave, so they just sat around talking to each other.
The scene that it created could be considered a scene of harmony.
However, that scene didn't last long.
One of the Mu Stellar King's subordinates suddenly burst in through the door, causing him to knit his brows.
He had specifically instructed his people that he wasn't to be disturbed, but here they were disturbing them.
But when he received the message from that messenger, he couldn't help being shocked.
"An envoy from the Zi Stellar Kingdom is coming soon."