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The plane was fast. After just over an hour, when David woke up from his nap, he found that they had already arrived in Shaffer City.
After getting off the plane, they seamlessly boarded a pre-arranged private car under the guidance of Uncle Zayn.
Another half an hour later, David finally arrived at their ancestral home, located outside the Fourth Ring Road of Shaffer City.
Looking at the palace-like buildings before him, David almost dropped his jaw, even though he had been mentally prepared.
Even though he had adapted to his current identity over the past six months, the sudden appearance of such a large area of palace-like buildings—as a private residence—in a modern city, still deeply shocked David with a sense of temporal dislocation.
One must know that although this location was very close to the city's outskirts, it was still within the city!
David didn't know the exact area of this palace, but it looked many times larger than their family's manor in Imperial City.
In his memories, David had rarely returned to Shaffer City, only visiting a few times when he was young, so his impression wasn't deep, which explained his surprise.
It was then, in a conversation with Uncle Zayn, that David learned this was no mere ancestral home. It was just like the iconic attraction in the heart of Shaffer City—the reconstructed ancient Eastern Splendor Empire's Imperial Palace.
This palace-like building was indeed a real palace, an authentic one.
This palace was a private temporary residence built by one of David's ancestors when he served as the Emperor of the Eastern Splendor Empire.
All the standards and specifications of the entire complex were constructed according to the imperial temporary residence's regulations, and from here, extending into the wilderness, all the surrounding land belonged to this palace.
In other words, an entire corner of this city was their family's private territory. No wonder David felt it was so magnificent.
Because the area here was large enough, many of their family's Pokémon were even free-roaming outside. In just this short while, David had already seen two Altaria and one Flygon flying across the sky.
In the great war nearly a hundred years ago, which almost swept across the entire world, the Moore family's ancestral home, like the Eastern Splendor Empire's Imperial Palace, was also destroyed in the flames of war.
However, fortunately, this temporary residence was not in the main direction of the attack, so it was only somewhat damaged, but the overall structure remained intact.
Later, after the Alliance was established, the Moore family moved their base of operations in Shaffer to this location, and after several generations of renovations, it became what it was today.
However, although the overall form of an ancient palace was still preserved, both the interior and exterior had undergone modern renovations.
"Let's go, Young Master. The Master knows you're coming and has been waiting for you for a long time."
With that, Uncle Zayn led the way toward the car parked outside the palace.
Because of the immense size of the area, even at home, travel by car was still necessary.
David quickly followed. After getting into the car, David realized that the driver was an Indeedee.
Soon the car started moving.
Along the way, David looked at the intricately carved and painted buildings, countless pavilions and terraces—a veritable labyrinth—and couldn't help but secretly wonder how many people it must take to maintain this place.
After driving for a long time, David didn't see many people, but instead, more and more Indeedee appeared before his eyes.
"There aren't many people in this ancestral home. Besides us, who have followed the main family for hundreds of years, very few outsiders come in. The maintenance work of this palace is almost entirely entrusted to Pokémon."
"You don't know this yet! The largest Pokémon butler service company on the market is an industry of the Moore family."
"These numerous Indeedee, and quite a few Chansey, all come from there."
Uncle Zayn explained, as if seeing David's confusion.
David immediately understood. When he was in Imperial City, the first time he saw so many Indeedee at home, he wondered where they came from. Now the truth was finally revealed.
After driving a while longer, and after several turns, David finally saw his grandfather.
"Good grandson, you're finally here. Come, let Grandpa have a look. It's been so long—have you grown taller again?"
As soon as he arrived at his destination, David saw his grandfather. The familiar face was exactly as he remembered, only seemingly more imposing.
However, upon seeing David, there was no longer any imposing demeanor. He walked forward with a beaming smile.
One must know that before the world changed, David's grandfather had a military background.
David's grandfather's name was Gavin. When he was young, his family's situation had not been good. David's grandfather worked for nearly twenty years based on his own abilities and eventually transferred to local government as an officer.
Perhaps because of his time in the military, Grandpa's personality was very serious, and when he got angry, he was exceptionally frightening. Even David's parents were a little intimidated by him.
That was how it used to be, let alone now that the timeline had changed.
But as the saying goes, grandparents dote on their grandchildren. He was extremely strict with his own children, but when it came to David and his generation, Grandpa spoiled them to an unreasonable degree.
"Grandpa! I'm back... Eh, why are you alone! Where's Grandma?"
David came back to his senses, stepped forward to respond, then looked around but didn't see his grandmother, so he asked.
"Your grandma is still making your favorite dishes! Sit down for a while. You've been rushing all morning—are you hungry? Have some fruit first, and then we'll eat."
David's grandfather said, picking up the fruit plate from the table and handing it to David.
Although David wasn't very hungry, and he wasn't very tired after catching up on sleep on the plane, as the saying goes, there's a kind of hunger called "your family thinks you're hungry."
David didn't refuse his grandfather's kindness and casually picked up some fruit to eat.
He checked the time, and it was indeed almost twelve o'clock. It was already almost nine when he finished the Gym challenge in the morning, then rushing to the airport, taking a plane, and then a car—this whole process had taken three hours.
The grandfather and grandson chatted on the sofa, one after another. During this time, David also released his little fox and the others to show his grandfather.
How sharp was David's grandfather's eye? With just a brief look, he had already roughly assessed the capabilities of his grandson's Pokémon.
Looking at these Pokémon, he was quite surprised—not that they were poorly trained, but that his grandson's Pokémon were trained too well. Even with his discerning eye, he couldn't find any faults, and he couldn't help but nod secretly in approval.
The two sat and chatted for a while. After David's grandmother brought out lunch, the three of them had a rare meal together.
Because of school, David mostly stayed in Imperial City, only having time to visit Shaffer City during holidays. And his parents' work was busy.
His grandparents were now retired and had more time, so many times, David's grandparents would go to Imperial City to visit David's family.
After lunch, in Grandpa's study, David and his grandfather finally discussed serious matters.