Sarina didn't take part in the options, because she already told Aster she wanted to train a bit to understand the power of her star, she was the most recent star maiden after all.
Besides that, she also wanted to improve in her cooking to become a spirit chef, as she genuinely wanted to take that role in the family, Kana on the other hand liked to help her mother and that's why she learned how to cook, but her passion was gardening.
Although she didn't object to Aster's decision, Felicia still looked a bit disappointed, Sarina was going to be busy and Camila was going with Aster, so she was left without a sparring partner.
"Next time let me go too, I's been years since I ventured thanks to a certain pair of troublesome children~", she said to Aster with a bright smile, making Tiana shake her head.
"Mom… we are still here".
"Don't be like that sis, remember that time we shaved uncle ritz moustache when he was sleeping hahaha!", Erick who was more relaxed in that aspect completely agreed with his mother.
Tiana sighed.
'If it wasn't for me and mom's constitution being the same, I would have thought I was adopted', she thought.
Now that everything was settled, Aster told the girls that will be coming with him to check if they had everything they needed, just to be sure.
After that since they still had a couple of hours, he and the girls went up to their bedroom to spend some time together, nothing too wild, they just cuddled together.
Lilia and Alice specially clung to him.
"Sleeping without you it's going to be tough… how about you leave Camilla behind and take me instead, so that I can take care of you during the mission~", whispered Alice at her brother's ears, she made sure to press her breasts against his back, to tempt him.
Aster chuckled, he turned his head and then kissed Alice.
"Don't be like that, the idea is that the family grows up stronger as a whole, she might not be my lover, but she still deserves her chance".
Aster smirked and then poked his sister's pretty nose.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Besides this is a mission not a pleasure trip, it will be good for Kana's training as well".
Alice pouted in response.
"Humph, mission my ass, the visit to Zartia was a "mission" and you ended up bringing another "sister" home with you".
Listening to Alice, Sarina bitterly smiled.
"If I remember correctly, that night at the mansion you were angry because you two got "interrupted" though".
After becoming a star maiden, Sarina who was still a bit distant with the other girls as they have been with Aster for years, while she indeed fell in love in a short period of time, suddenly grew closer, to the point that she started calling them "sisters", prior to that she mostly got along with Aira since she went through something similar at the beginning.
But now she understood that even in what love regards, Aster is different to others, not because he took his mother and sister as his, but because how he develops feelings for some girls and not for others.
And the same could be said for the girls, leaving aside Lilia and Alice, Aria and her felt so comfortable around him that they entered in romantic relationships with him in a short period of time, and yet it felt so natural… as if it was meant to be that way.
"Yeah, don't be so greedy dragon princess, next is my tu said Aria as she softly pressed her lips against Aster's.
Lilia giggled and once Aria's kiss was over, she stole her son's lips for her.
"This is a good chance darling, don't you like Camila's type, grown up but innocent, personally I think she is a good wife material so go for her hehehe~".
Aster didn't know whether he should laugh or cry.
'Am I that of a womanizer?', he wondered, just for Rya to put the last nail in his coffin.
'Well, considering you have taken two pairs of mothers and daughters in, with a possibility of a third one, I would say yes".
'But for someone with such a strong dragon lineage, it's amazing you don't seek carnal pleasure with each and all the girls you meet, that's what makes you different to them~', she added to herself.
…
The hours passed really fast, and soon it was time for Aster and the ones that will go to leave the castle for Julian to pick them up.
They got up the bed and went to the living room where the others were already waiting either to come with him, or to say goodbye.
Kana hugged her mother while Mylene only exchanged a gaze with Eris, as for Camila she surprisingly was closer with Sarina and Felicia than what Aster thought, but it was also understandable he didn't know it, as Camila normally doesn't open too much with him, the same applies to Mylene though, although she isn't as reserved, most of her free time she spends it with Eris or plays with Kana, so this travel was a good opportunity to get to know those two better.
Kana let go of her mother and then returned to Aster's side, this was going to be the first time she'll be separated from her mother for a long period of time, so she was a bit nervous, but feeling Aster's warm hand patting her head, she calmed down.
'I'll have big brother for myself~', she thought, just imagining her spending all the day with Aster, made her brightly smile.
'Don't worry I'll watch over her', said Aster to Sarina through the mental connection.
'Mm, don't spoil her too much though, or she'll become rebellious~', answered Sarina.
Lilia of course was the last one talk with her son.
"When you return, the store will be up and running, so let yourself loose and make sure your name reverberates through the stellar system darling~".
Aster laughed and then using his authority, Kana, Camila, Mylene, Agnes who stayed with them until know, and him disappeared from where they were standing.
It didn't take them too much to appear in the center capital and just as Julian said, a couple of seconds after they arrived, he appeared through a space gate in front of them.
Now the only one Aster needed to say goodbye to was Agnes, Aster couldn't help but find her unwilling expression which she was trying hard to hide, quite amusing.
"This time I will have senior Julian as the witness of the mission, but in the next ones I wouldn't mind if you want to tag along, it will be less of a hassle after all".
Agnes's eyes sparkled for a couple of seconds, she immediately nodded in response, before she realized she was being too childish.
"Ahem, sure I was the one to invite you to the black sword faction, so it is my duty to keep an eye on you… Aster".
Julian was speechless, unlike others he as an honorary ancestor knew some of the secrets of the Myriad Occupation sect, like the origin of the ancestors, and so he knew Agnes's background too, so it was a surprise to see someone with her status acting like a little girl.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm'Wait, the Fey have those girls in some of their generations that can see some aspects of the soul… well at this point I wouldn't be surprised if he was special in that sense too, since little Vivian couldn't see through him'.
Aster and the girls then entered the space gate and followed Julian, once again they were brought to the peak exclusive of the ancestors, the others that will be coming were already there waiting.
The old Egil picked up the guy from the Purple Louts faction and his companions, the woman who tried to poison Angela, and two peak Genesis Manifestation women who were inner elders of the Purple Lotus faction, they all had something in common, their skin tones were rather pale, and their faces were s bit grin probably because they experimented a lot with poison in order to create stronger ones every day.
As for the guard called Oscar, he brought the red-haired Iris and her companions, which were surprisingly three women that shared resemblances with each other, they had the identity tokens of inner elders too, but they were all wearing maid uniforms, besides that they also had red hair, but it had a less vivid tone compared to Iris, probably meaning they came from secondary branches of her family.
They both gazed at Aster to see who he brought with him, and their response were different, both Iris and Victor brought two peak Genesis Manifestation and a Star Tribulation as their companions.
While on the other hand, Aster brought an early-stage Genesis Manifestation, an early-stage Mortal Transcending and a little girl at the Star Formation realm.
'This guy is the leader, bullshit, it will serve you right when we leave you behind later in the race to get the Emerald Whirlwind', thought Victor before he stopped paying Aster any attention.
Iris instead was curious as to why Aster brought a Mortal Transcending with him, as she has seen Eris once before, so she couldn't help but think that the woman with the metallic glow in her copperish light brown hair, surely has a skill that makes up for the difference.
Although Vivian could move now, she remained inside the carriage for some reason, so the others didn't know about her yet.
Julian took out his token of identity and after injecting spirit energy into it, a formation engraved in the ground came to life, before a large spatial gate opened at the border of the planet.
Then with a wave of his hand a black spaceship decorated with many little white spots to make it look like a starry sky, appeared above them.
"Please follow me", after saying that Julian flew away towards the spaceship followed by the carriage and the others, the back gate of the spaceship opened and they all entered.
Once inside, Aster immediately noticed that the space was bigger inside of the spaceship than outside, which made him sure Julian had some connections with the high ranked stellar systems, because only there this type of spaceships could be found.
Still, it wasn't as strong as Lilia's, only reaching the peak of the Transcending realms in terms of speed, or at least that's what Aster calculated based on the spirit formations he managed to spy into.
"We'll be using my exclusive dimensional tunnel to reach the border station, then we'll use the emergency route reserved for the ruler of a stellar system to reach the wastelands, we should be there in 12 hours".
"In the meantime, feel free to use the public areas of my spaceship" Julian was about to handle a key to each one of the presents, but Victor interrupted him.
"That's not necessary I only need one large room", he said while he gave Aster a proudful gaze, while stealing a couple of glances at Mylene, her pink hair and the natural aura of a noble she had, made her stand out.
"We'll be fine with two, one for our young miss and one for ourselves", added one of the three maids that came with Iris.
"Three is fine for me", said Aster while ignoring the others, he took the keys and went straight to their assigned rooms, followed by the girls.