Vivian accepted her token back from Aster and after looking at the crest of the twin sword valley, she smiled and said goodbye to them as she and Julian disposed to leave, a silver flash landed in front of them.

Normally Aster would have thought it was an enemy, but he perfectly recognized the spirit energy firm of the newcomer, it was none other than Agnes, her long blind hair was combed in a ponytail, she was wearing a majorly white getup which consisted in pants and a blouse that adjusted to her athletic body shape.

Unlike what Aster’s remembers the Agnes of right now was wearing more feminine clothes, in the meaning that she wasn’t using a mix of clothes and metal armor like she used to, though her sword was hanging from her waist.

Agnes’s gray-blue eyes sparkled the very moment she saw Aster, so she approached to greet them, but when she glanced at Kana she couldn’t help but frown for a split of a second.

But then she saw Aster nodding at her and she didn’t say anything, instead she smiled before saying.

“Welcome back~”, though she said that for everyone, her eyes didn’t leave Aster even for a split of a second.

Julian chuckled from the sides, he did sent Agnes a message to her talisman saying that he needed some help regarding handling some prisoners, because for some reason the old law enforcer Salazar as well as William weren’t in the sect right now, and he didn’t have the contact of the supreme elders, so the next one in line were the core elders of the faction which will be taking the merit, in other words the core elders of the Black Sword faction.

Originally Agnes didn’t want to deal with paperwork as her cousin Valentina normally deals with it, but she is in a mission right now if not she’ll be here greeting them with her, then when Julian mentioned Aster would be involved, she immediately accepted to look into the case, she stood up even against supreme elders so it was virtually impossible to put her any locks, even if the treasury law enforcer which was selected while they were gone, had something against Aster.

‘I guess one must go with the current instead of fighting against it’, thought Julian, as he inwardly gave Aster thumbs up, even the normally indifferent Agnes acted way different when he was involved, but now that he knew he was a Drage and the direct descendant of Lilia, it all made sense, everyone knew the princesses from the Drage, Fey and Talis families were incredibly close to each other, despite the ups and downs that the ruler families often had.

Aster nodded at Agnes.

“Thanks for coming to see us Agnes…”, Aster was interrupted by Lilia who slightly nudged him as she giggled.

“Don’t forget to invite her to our little picnic in the valley tomorrow darling, she visited our store everyday to make sure “no one was trying to give us troubles”, and practically spend the day there after all~”, said Lilia making Agnes blush.

Aster chuckled, apparently Agnes had become closer with the girls, and also Lilia seemed to have accepted her as a friend, probably because she was related to one of his godmothers.

“We’ll have a small party to celebrate the success of our mission, tomorrow from morning to noon, there is a river at the heart of the twin sword valley, you are invited if you want to…”.

“Sure, I’ll be there to help first thing in the morning~”, she didn’t even let Aster finish his sentence before she nodded, she then grabbed Egil and Demonclaw by their necks as if they were trash bags, and disappeared alongside Julian and Vivian.

She stopped for a split of a second to steal a gaze at Aster and Lilia, with a reddened face, but didn’t say anything.

Still how could Aster not notice his mother’s cunning smile.

‘Don’t bully her too much mom, also she seemed to have noticed the changes in Kana’, he said to Lilia through the mental connection.

‘It wasn’t that darling, since we had some only girls days where we visited some stores in the East Sky city, and I just reminded her about a couple of things we bought for tomorrow, actually there is one for Mylene and Kana too~’.

‘I don’t think she has noticed Esmeralda though, but since you’ll be bringing her to your missions, I think it’s a good idea to tell her about it, I can guarantee you she won’t tell a single soul about it’, added Lilia.

Aster nodded, he only didn’t want to mention it in public but he didn’t doubt Agnes was trustable.

Iris also approached Aster and bowed her head towards him for a second, before saying.

“Thanks for helping those three, I learned a lot of this mission and if you ever have a spot or look to do a team mission please consider me, soon I will reach you in the sword path”, said the red head Iris with a determined expression on her face.

Now that she has seen Aster’s swordsmanship in action, she is sure he is unparalleled in the younger generation regarding sword intent, and just looking at him has helped her realize what she was lacking, indirectly he has taught her about the sword, and for her who has dedicated to the sword, it is something she can’t repay.

“Be aware of the top core disciples, I’m only the sixth ranked… the top five are all at least at the Mortal Transcending realm, and while in a one on one fight I don’t doubt you’ll win them easily, the top three have never been moved since they arrived at the sect”, added Iris, now that she has become stronger and learned a lot, she’ll be challenging the top five, and Aster was bound to clash with them, especially because with the points and fame he’ll get due to having caught a traitor and a high ranked elder from an evil sect, he will definitely reach the top hundred, and as a newcomer he’ll of course be perceived as an invader and resented by the veteran disciples.

“Thanks for the advice and sure if I take another team mission, I’ll take you into account”.

They exchanged contacts and a second later, people from the Red Sword faction probably her subordinates, arrived and helped Iris transport her maids as they left.

“Let’s go home, ladies”, said Aster.

“Mm”, the girls all got closer to Aster and then using his authority, they all disappeared from where they were standing.

…

A few moments later a portal opened inside the valley and more accurately inside of the mansion.

Where somehow all the girls were already waiting for their arrival, so the first thing Aster saw in the mansion, were the happy smiles of Alice, Aria, Sarina, Eris and surprisingly Tiana and Felicia too.

Before Aster could say anything, two figures moved practically at the same time, one going the other one coming.

The results were pretty different though, Kana cutely hugged her mother which she missed, it was understandable she experienced a lot in these few days, she even got to know that a whole family hates her and wants to kill her for their own selfish reasons, and she also fought seriously for the first time in her life, in the meaning that she actually wanted to beat Ley up.

Not exactly for her, but because he badmouthed her big brother, it was an interesting new feeling for the little girl, to get angry despite her extremely gentle and soft nature.

While the mother and daughter were having their little moment, at the other side of the living room, Aster was literally laying backwards a few meters away from where he was standing a moment ago.

Because both Alice and Aria tackled him, and where now hugging each one of his sides.

“You left for two months, I couldn’t even properly sleep you jerk”, mumbled Alice with a feigned angry voice.

“Mm, what if we age prematurely because of all this stress, you better love us as grannies too”, added Aria.

Aster smiled he noticed these two had lost some weight, so they were indeed worried about him, though they were sure he was alive thanks to their connection as Star Maidens, they only got to know more about him through Sarina, since she suddenly unlocked another ability of her power, meaning he was fine and was fighting.

“Sorry, it wasn’t supposed to be this long, the time flow was messed up without us realizing it… I’ll make it up to you two”, he said as he caressed their heads.

Others might find this situation embarrassing or strange, but out of the all the girls who are present right now, these two are the ones who have been in a romantic relationship with Aster, though you could argue Aster was in love with Lilia first, the first ones with which he made a move were none other than Alice and Aria.

And their relationship was different, Lilia though childish at times, acts more mature when required since she is also Aster’s mother, the relatively older one and the “main wife” too.

“Mm”, Aster helped them get up and after accommodating their clothes, he wiped the little rears they had at the corners of their eyes and then kissed their foreheads.

“Come with me, let’s go eat something and I will tell you about what happened in the secret realm”, said Aster as he pushed those two with him towards the dining room, not without giving Sarina an apologetic gaze, which she responded with a warm smile.

‘Don’t worry, I can wait a bit more, those two haven’t been eating or sleeping well, just don’t forget to spoil me too~’, said Sarina through the mental connection, Kana was enthusiast about telling her about her new friends, which included Esmeralda and Espi too.

Aster nodded, certainly Sarina was a bit more relaxed in that aspect, maybe because she has always been a mother, but not a wife until she met him, so she is still learning about it on the run.

‘Thanks, I’ll help you prepare something for these two’, said Aster.

Of course Aster also greeted Eris, he had a few things he wanted to discuss with her, as well as thank her for lending them her necklace, it was a real help at the end of the mission.

“It sure feels nice to be back, I met some people from up there”, said Aster as he passed next to Eris, making the latter’s eyes glow as she turned to see Mylene who nodded at her.

“Thanks for keeping them company, please join us too”.

Aster also greeted Tiana and Felicia, Tiana had a slightly strange expression on her face, she was surprised of the change Alice and Aria underwent when they were around Aster, because the rest of the time they were incredibly fierce, including in their spars and training.

Felicia on the other hand had her usual warm smiling expression, she even gave Aster a knowing gaze as he saw him bring those two to the dining room.

“Oh, it was a pleasure, Erick and Sofia were here too until yesterday where a mission came their way, a lunch sounds appealing so thanks for having us~”.

Everyone then walked to the dining room, Aster sat Alice and Aria in the seats next to him, Kana “graciously” conceded her usual seat, for them but Aster wanted to go help Sarina and the others.

“Give me a minute, I’ll bring some good food you two okay”, whispered Aster to them, before he left to the kitchen

Kana was happy to help her mother cook something for the family, Lilia and Felicia went to help too, Aster normally doesn’t participate because he isn’t talented at cooking… at all.

Unlike those protagonists from novels back at earth, who could tame legendary mythical creatures with their cooking skills, he could only make simple dishes which weren’t horrible, but nothing compared with Sarina’s cooking.

But this time he went to help with what he could, because he also wanted to personally greet Sarina.𝒪𝓥𝐿xt.𝗇𝓔t

‘There is a lot of spoiling to do today, not to mention a certain sword girl which is meditating again’, thought Aster, referring to Rya.