Aster saw his mother purposedly teasing Camila and how could he not know what her intentions were, he couldn't help but inwardly chuckle.
"Mom, don't tease those two too much".
But Lilia cutely shook her index finger as she said.
"I'm just helping those inexperienced girls realize what love is, it's not my fault that their target is you, darling~".
Aster saw his mother's cunning smile and he knew it was futile to discuss with her, so he ultimately shrugged, though he still don't consider them love interests, he had to admit that during the last mission he grew more attached to Mylene and Camila.
They followed him battle after battle and had proven to be trust worthy, besides it would be a lie to say he didn't find them attractive, but they haven't made up their mind regarding how they felt towards Aster and he didn't want to force them.
Just like how he didn't instantly fell for Sarina, he decided to leave things naturally happen at its due time, they won't be going anywhere and he wasn't going to abandon them anyway.
"Let's go meet the others", said Aster as he saw the girls finishing getting dressed, all of them were wearing simple casual clothes like skirts and blouses as well as short dresses, but looked really pretty nonetheless.
"Mm~", the girls nodded and they left the bedroom to the living room, there were four girls waiting for them instead of three, very much to Aster's surprise.
Starting from the left, Agnes was the first to notice them arriving and always her light blue eyes seemed to sparkle when she saw Aster.
"Good morning, I hope you don't mind me joining so early in the morning", said Agnes while she fidgeted with her fingers a bit.
Aster observed the girl, who is normally the definition of a "knight", wearing metal armor and always carrying a sword on her waist acting so girly and he smiled.
Since the previous day when she came to greet him, he noticed she has made some slight changes to the way she dresses, skirts didn't seem to be up to her liking, so she kept using pants and a blouse, which honestly looked superb on her well-toned body, the difference is that she now show a bit more of skin mostly her pale shoulders and she has also started to tie up her blond hair with a ribbon, things one could consider minimal but that greatly impacted her image.
"Good morning, no problem feel free to drop by when you want to, during the day, you helped mom and the others when I was gone, it's the least I can do", said Aster, maybe because Agnes is related to one of his godmother, whom Lilia considers her real sisters, or because he could tell there was none even an ounce of malice in Agnes, one of the traits of the people from the Fey family who could look into others soul's, according to Lilia, but she has gained his trust.
"Mm, I will gladly take the offer~", she said.
Next to Agnes, there were the pair of mother and daughter from Eric's family, Felicia and Tiana, as soon as Alice and Aria saw Tiana, their eyes all seemed to lit up in rivalry, they have been sparring together since they met, and the past two months that intensified.
They have even started making little bets to spice things up, and had become friends after clashing weapons so many times, also out of the four girls, Tiana was the one which talked less with Aster, but she still nodded at him when her mother nudged at her.
"Good morning, thanks for having us…", she mumbled.
Aster nodded back, just like Eric described her, his older sister was kind of tomboyish, she pretty much was only interested in fighting, training but she deeply worried about her family.
He then continued with the mother, as always Felicia had that classy housewife aura around her, with her eyes closed and a smile on her face, her daughter had a mix of gray and black hair, but Tiana's hair was completely dark gray, her eyes were of a honey tone, her clothes were quite casual too a black turtle neck sweater and pants, modest but pretty.
"Don't take this little girl's grumpy attitude too seriously, she was happy that you invited her for today's activities~", said Felicia getting a pout from her daughter.
Aster softly laughed in response.
"No problem, next it would be good if Eric and Sofia join too".
Last but not least there was the surprise addition, well not quite since he invited her too, but he didn't expect Vivian to arrive so early.
She was as always the definition of "white", from her unusually pale skin to her hair, dress and even her eyes whose pupils were of a soft lavender tone that barely differentiated from her sclera.
"Good morning, Aster, uncle is busy so I came early", she said in a curious voice, this is the first time she spends time in a friend's house, so everything is new for her, of course Julian only left her since Aster was going to be present as he was still worried about the thing with his disowned son, but since he already guessed who Lilia is, he was sure there was no place safer for Vivian in the whole galaxy.
"Good morning, I'll ask Esmeralda to see how things are going later, for now let's have some breakfast".
The girls all nodded and they went to the dining room, Sarina, Kana, Felicia and even Agnes went to the kitchen to prepare the breakfast, Lilia normally tags along but she was feeling a bit lazy today, so she just stayed behind and sat on Aster's lap while they waited.
At the dining room, Mylene, Eris and Camila were already waiting for them and the tables were set, though those three had no skills in what cooking meant, they still wanted to help with something.
"Good morning", said Mylene and Eris almost at the same time, Aster could notice Eris seemed to laugh at her friend from time to time, while Mylene didn't look directly at him, it wasn't hard to guess that she probably told Eris what happened when they were at the secret space and Eris joked with her about it.
Taking advantage of the fact that Sarina and Kana weren't here, Aster turned to see Eris as he said.
"Eris, I need your help with something later, do you have some time to spare tomorrow?".
Eris immediately nodded.
"Yes, I was going to ask for your help too… both me and Mylene need more spirit energy, the spirit pagoda you set for us already used all its fuel".
Aster nodded and then turned to see Camilla.
"You too Camilla, I have more materials for you but I want to do a little experiment before".
"Mm, thanks to the battles and the pieces of the sword you gave me, I'm close to breakthrough".
'I was going to be your wingman darling, but it seems you have it perfectly controlled~', said Lilia through the mental connection, making Aster chuckle.
'So that's why you didn't go with the others.
Lilia cutely stuck her tongue at her son, of course the others saw them acting so couple-like and they all were reminded of the type of relationship they have, the only ones who didn't know it were Agnes who wasn't present and Vivian who thought nothing about it, she has seen how close is Aster to the girls that surround him, so she didn't pay too much attention to it.
Sarina and the others soon returned with some delicious looking plates and then everyone dug in, they also talked about some random stuff, it was quite an enjoyable time and soon they all had their share, of course Kana even gave Espi who was outside of the mansion resting some food too.
And now it was time to prepare for the "main event", and Lilia was the one who took the lead.
"Before we go to the river, there is a need for a change of image hehehe, follow me~".
Some of the girls had a bad premonition, but they were dragged by Lilia to one of the many bedrooms, Aster didn't follow them, he was instead dragged by Kana to outside since she wanted to show him the house they built for Espi.
The sand Wyrm approached them as soon as it saw Aster and Kana, it lowered it's head to allow them to ride on top of it.
Aster and Kana accepted the offer and Espi took them into the forest, not even five minutes later they reached a clear which had a small stream nearby, it wasn't hard to guess why Kana chose this place to be Espi's designated area.
It was quite spacious and it had a source of water as well as some fruit trees, Espi was omnivorous, and despite its imposing appearance it actually like fruit and herbs more than meat.
Of course back at the secret realm it had no option but to eat the small animals it hunted, but now that was in a much better place its tastes were clear.
"Look big brother is pretty isn't it?", mumbled Kana as she pointed at what Aster could only describe as a "shelter", it was an structure similar to a large warehouse but with only three walls and a roof, the front was wall less, as it was the entrance for Espi, who only had to wind up itself to sleep.
"Looks pretty good, we'll camp here in the week, you and Espi both need to train, I'll lend you Natasha's ring and Espi will be with you all the time when we are outside of the valley okay?".
Kana first pouted at the word "training", but she then nodded remembering how funny was to beat her big brother's enemies, like when she punched Ley on the face.
"Mm, I'll listen to big brother~".
"Hissss", Espi was also happy to be included in the plan and demonstrated it by hissing and nodding.
Aster's ears twitched a bit suddenly, his sharp earing sense caught some giggles and other interesting sounds coming from the room where all the girls entered, before everything returned to normal, then a few figures approached them from the direction of the mansion.
"Mom… what is this?", he said with a slightly frowning face, in front of him there was a line of beauties covering themselves with towels, a strange sight to say the less.
Lilia giggled and then left her own towel fall, to reveal her beautiful body which was only covered by a small black bikini and other accessories.
"I bought them all some nice attires for our little family picnic~", said Lilia as she did a little turn.
"What do you think darling, I found a nice store in the east city, I'll take you there later".
Aster bitterly smiled, Lilia's bikini is a bit too revealing, though it indeed matched up with her body, as if it was perfectly made for her.
"It suits you good".
Lilia happily smiled and then pointed at the others.
"Come on you all, what's the big fuss about it, it's not like Aster is going to bite you".
'Though he might "devour" you all later hehehe', she mentally added.
Of course, Aster knew what his mother was thinking, but he also knew she wouldn't go too far with the others and if they were willing to use what she bought for them, then it shouldn't be as extreme as what she was wearing.
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