Oblivious of the situation back at the second floor of the mission hall, Aster and the girls left to have their breakfast at a restaurant.
"Big brother can we go to the restaurant at sister Valentina's city, their desserts are the best, pleasee~", Kana gave Aster puppy eyes, since she won't be seeing him for some time, she wanted to enjoy this day with him.
Aster saw that none of the girls had anything against it, in fact Agnes added another reason to go to the East Sky city.
"Aster, do you mind if I invite Valentina to join us, since I'll be out for a while, I want to discuss some things before leaving?".
Aster nodded and he patted Kana's head, making her smile.
"Sure, I also prefer the East Sky city anyway".
"Hehe~", Kana hugged Aster and then they all disappeared from the Central Capital using Aster's authority.
A few seconds later, the scenery changed from the streets of the Central Capital, to the center of the East Sky city, since the capital is free for people of the four peaks to enter, Aster's authority only allowed him to directly appear in the area managed by the Battle Peak.
In contrast the East Sky city which is basically property of the Black Sword faction, is like his backyard, he can enter and leave as he pleases, and the best is that in this city, there are no nuisances, since only the disciples of the Black Sword faction are allowed to enter, a little paradise for him and the girls.
"Good morning, senior brother, are you going to attend the lesson of today, senior sister Nerissa is giving the lesson after all", some of the girls that were passing by, immediately approached Aster's group when they saw him appearing.
Everyone knew that Aster sometimes popped out of nowhere in the city, so all the girls came to the understanding of inviting him to accompany them to the amphitheater, so that everyone could get a chance to see and talk with him.
"That girl is the top disciple of the Black Sword faction, in what the heavenly ranks regards at least, she is also my cousin's disciple", said Agnes.
"Oh?", Aster's interest was picked, the girl mentioned was the one who held the seventh place in the rank, but at the same time is the only one that has fought head on against the first ranked disciple, since climbing in the ranks for the disciples of the Black Sword faction, is strictly regulated to ensure that they truly deserve their rank.
But ultimately, he didn't come for this, so he had to refuse the invitation, very much to the sadness of the girls who invited him.
"Sorry junior sisters, I came to have breakfast with my family, maybe next time", said Aster.
The girls sighed but they still smiled and after greeting the others, they left.
"Let's go", leaving that small episode aside, Aster guided the girls to the restaurant which was run by Valentina's friend, where she was already waiting for them in the room reserved for the city lord.
"Good morning, I hope you don't mind the interruption~", just like Agnes, Valentina put that smiling comfortable expression as soon as she saw Aster entering the room.
"No problem, I'm taking your right hand to a mission all of a sudden after all", said Aster as he took a seat.
"Don't worry about that, Agnes never does her job anyway, she instead trains and sweats all the day, while I'm drowning in paper work", jokingly said Valentina, making Agnes look away with a slightly blushed face.
'Come on, can't you say something more girly about me, cousin!', inwardly swore Agnes.
Aster laughed, despite these two being so look-alike, their personalities were completely different, the only thing they had in common is that both seemed to enjoy Aster's company a lot, probably because of his soul was appealing for them.
"Speaking of training, congratulations in your breakthrough, it seems we'll have the first Mortal Transcended male disciple in the soul path in the history of the sect", happily said Valentina, her eyes were sparkling as she noticed the noticeable improvement in Aster's soul cultivation.
Aster thanked her and then they ordered their food, besides eating and Agnes telling her a few things regarding some matters of the sect which Aster didn't have interest in, they enjoyed their meal, especially the little gluttons like Kana and Alice, that loved the desserts of the restaurant.
After they had their fill and some small talk, Valentina got up her seat, as the one in charge of a faction she was of course hell busy, so she had to take her leave, but not before saying.
"Next time, I'll introduce you to my little pride, she was giving a small talk for the little sisters of the faction, since she'll be going on a mission today", after saying that Valentina unwillingly left, while giving Agnes a envious gaze, since she got to be around Aster freely all the time.
'Sigh, the burdens of being responsible', thought Valentina as she left the restaurant flying away.
…
Besides taking breakfast, Aster also took the girls to the merchant district, it was mainly for sightseeing while he bought a few supplies which they used during the visit to the secret realm, like food, water and other daily necessities, for things like pills and elixirs, Mylene has prepared everything they need after all.
Once Aster had bought everything they needed, the girls were the ones to drag him around through some of the stores here and there, since he was leaving, they of course made him buy them some gifts.
Naturally, they had money to buy them themselves without any problem, since the treasury of the mansion was open for them to take whatever, they wanted or needed, but what they wanted was for Aster to gift things to them, regardless of price, in fact mostly they tried out clothes and other things like that for him to choose.
And as always when one is having fun the time flies, so before they noticed the sun was settling down so it was time to return.
Aster noticed the unwilling expressions on the faces of the girls that won't be coming, and he bitterly smiled.
'I wasn't going to tell them until I returned but… I don't want to imagine how sis and Kana are going to be after not seeing me for a whole month', thought Aster.
"Come on you all, let's return to the mansion, I have a small surprise that will improve your mood".
"Mm~", the girls nodded and with a wave of Aster's hand, they all disappeared from the East Sky city and returned to the mansion, where Eric and Sofia were already waiting for them.
Unlike before Eric looked well rested, also all his bandages were gone and he even shaves and cut his hair, apparently Sofia made him do it.
"Yo, brother, hope you don't mind us tagging alone, after eating dry rations or simple grilled meat for quite some time, I do miss Sarina's sister-in-law food, you are too lucky hahaha!".
Eric was as noisy and straightforward as always, he didn't notice the vein popping on Sofia's neck, she isn't fond of domestic chores, so during their mission they just ate some simple food, which is the normal, others don't have the leisure of bringing homemade meals to places where they will risk their lives, or more accurately they don't prioritize such a thing.
But for Aster, it's like getting a lunch prepared by his wife, to see him off in the morning when leaving to work, and Sarina also likes the idea so she gladly participates in this little dynamic they have.
Sarina, Camila, Kana and Felicia went to the kitchen to prepare the dinner, since Felicia knew how fierce was her son's appetite, she wanted to lend a hand.
Aster and the others changed into more comfortable clothes and then reunited at the table, since she will have Aster for herself, Aria graciously ceded the seat next to Aster to Alice, since Lilia was naturally occupying the other one.
Eric saw Aster being tightly hugged by Lilia and Alice and he laughed.
"I see you still have it tough, brother, by the way sis mentioned you are leaving for a mission?".
Aster nodded, originally, he wanted to ask Eric and Sofia to come with them if the mission started later, but since they had to leave tomorrow, he didn't take them into account, they just returned and resting is also part of cultivation, he already had his rest in the time he went on dates with the girls after all.
"Next time, if you are around maybe you can come too with us", said Aster, just to see Eric shaking his head in response.
"I still need more training to catch up to you brother, I'll join once I have become strong enough to not be deadweight, besides being on a mission with sis is a hellish punishment that not even the worst criminals deserve…", before he could finish speaking, Tiana who was sitting next to Eric, kick him hard enough to sent him out of the dining room, making the girls softly laugh.
Even Aster chuckled, their sister and brother relationship was pretty amusing, since they didn't go the same route as his with Alice, but instead they were "normal" siblings, who quarreled a but at the same time worried for the other.
Sarina and the others came from the kitchen and those who were waiting helped place the plates on the table, especially Eric since his mother prepared a whole pot of food just for him.
'Going to a restaurant when out is fine, but nothing beats eating a nice family meal', thought Aster, as he gave Kana a spoon of the soup he was eating, naturally the little girl sat on his lap, since he won't be here for some time, she wanted to be spoiled as much as she could.
That reminded Aster of the announcement he had to make, there weren't any outsiders in the room, though Helena and Dahlia were accompanying him to dinner, Aster considered trustable, and when it comes to women, he has full trust in his instincts.
"Ahem, it's not ready yet, but I'm preparing a way for us to be able to interact, regardless of where we are, for the time being only mom can access to it, but soon it should be finished", said Aster, he then gently caressed Alice's hair and patted Kana's head, since those two were the ones that showed the most unwillingness to be separated from him, before continuing.
"Mom is staying behind, you'll be able to know about me through her whenever you want to, so don't be sad okay, the faster I grow stronger the sooner we'll be able to be together forever".
"Mm~", Alice held onto Aster's arm, while Kana snuggled on his chest, Alice knew Aster didn't like to do things half-heartly, so if he was announcing something that was incomplete, was for their sake, since he didn't like to see them sad.
'Hmph, who told you to steal my heart, you better give me lots of love, since I'm pretty sure mom is surely enjoying her sweet time in the mind space', said Alice through the mental connection, so that all the star maidens could hear her.
Aster laughed and then they continued enjoying their meal, after that, Aster finished some preparations, like giving Mylene the ore of Star Obsidian so she could refine it in the month he'll be gone, and also creating another cycle in Vivian's body so she could cultivate practice, after that he went to his bedroom and cuddled with his girls to sleep, while Lilia entered the mind space to tease Rya and train.
At the other day, Aster woke up early in the morning, the girls were all prepared and ready to see him off, which was quite a sight to behold, there was another addition to the group that was seeing him off, which was none other than Julian.
"Kid, if you are going to kidnap Vivi, you could have at least told me she'll be staying here", said Julian as he sighed, he got worried about Vivian not returning after a few days passed, since she didn't tell him where she was staying, luckily yesterday he got wind of gossips about the Lord of the Twin Sword valley walking around with his "parade of beauties", among which a girl who resembled Vivian was mentioned, so he came here to see them.
Aster chuckled, she saw Vivian giggling at him, it was refreshing to see her acting like a normal girl, but she certainly made Julian stress in the last days, probably on purpose.
"Forget it, I didn't come here just for that, I prepared a gift and an apology for involving you in my family matters, I used my uncle's spaceship as the base and sold his properties to remodel it for you", said Julian, he waved his hand and a large white spaceship appeared floating on the sky of the valley.
"Uncle had a lot of funds hidden in his secret room, so what used to be a peak Stellar grade spaceship, is now a low Immortal grade one, you won't find a better one in middle ranked Stellar Systems… since I bought the formations to update it from the sect through the Supreme elder of the Rune Mastering peak".
Aster's eyes glowed, he saw a small resemblance with the formations used for Lilia's spaceship, naturally they weren't as good as Lilia's, but they certainly easily outclassed the formations used for spaceships in middle ranked Stellar Systems.
"I'll leave the name to you, miss Agnes should be able to easily drive it", after saying that and exchanging some words with Vivian, Julian left.
Aster thanked Julian and kept the spaceship in his spatial ring, they then left to the neutral city, since they could take a shortcut to the border station that had the direct space gate to the Fritz Stellar System, they had some ties with Galatia after all.
Once they were at the space port in the neutral city, and while Agnes was talking with the elders guarding the VIP gate reserved for the upper echelon of the sect, Aster said goodbye to the girls.
"I'll be back stronger, and also I'll bring you some souvenirs, so train hard I want to see your progress, especially you since you are next", said Aster as he looked at Sarina.
"Mm, I'll be stronger by the time husband returns~", sweetly said Sarina.
"Me too big brother!", exclaimed Kana, earning her a few head pats from Aster.
Then without further ado, he got in the spaceship, followed by the girls that were coming with him, and the spaceship then disappeared after entering through the space gate.
"There he goes, we have a lot of work to do missies, we'll prepare a warm welcome for Aster, so prepare yourselves~", Lilia's cunning smile, gave the girls a bad premonition, but that is a story for another day.
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