Chapter 642: The storm begins
"Mm?", a couple of hours after everyone said goodnight and went to their respective rooms, a pretty auburn-haired girl was suddenly woken up, who else could it be but Camilla who found herself a bit confused and in a daze.
She had never used her innate ability with such intensity, it was to the point that she depleted all the drops of silver liquid she had in her dantian to stimulate her lineage, which is why she ended up falling asleep.
'I wouldn't have ended so tired even if I used treasure resonation and treasure aura at the same time, I wonder why despite my lineage not reacting to that stone plate I still couldn't help but lean towards buying it than the royal jelly', thought the treasure girl.
The previous made her wonder what was Aster's final decision regarding the last round of the auction, that thought made her remember that if she made the wrong suggestion she'll be punished.
"I'll have to be on guard for the next days, maybe I should stay holed in my room…" Camila's mumbles stopped in cold when she finally paid attention to her surroundings to then realize that this wasn't her room.
With a slightly stiff expression on her pretty face the treasure girl turned around and nearly fainted when she saw the large bed a dozen of meters away from her, where a few figures wearing light clothes were calmly sleeping.
Camila's face exploded in redness as countless imaginary scenarios flooded her young maiden's mind, but then she saw the clock on the wall and also noticed the little girl who was cutely cuddled on top of Aster's body with a happy smiling expression and she calmed down.
She knew that whenever there were night activities on the schedule, Kana was sent to participate in Eris and Mylene's sleepovers for a few hours and it wasn't late enough for the sleepover to be over, meaning that nothing happened.
Little did she know that earlier Alice casually undressed herself completely since she wanted to tease the poor treasure girl, only to be scolded by Aster.
After letting out a sigh of relief, Camila looked at herself, not because she thought Aster would do something to her while she was out, but because she felt strangely comfortable, even more than at her own room.
She was sleeping on a couch while using the golden jacket which Aster gifted her as a blanket, but of course that wasn't everything, now that she paid more attention, she saw a bunch of now half gray swords surrounding the couch.
"Are those all, Aster's swords?", she mumbled, Camila then noticed the night table next to the couch which had only two things on top of it, a stone plate which she perfectly recognized and hand written note.
"I hope my lucky charm likes the little "altar" I made for her, also, enjoy your reward~", is what the note said.
Camila looked into her dantian and she smiled, unlike the copper drops of liquid which were the result of her refining low ranked and regular spirit treasures, the silver drops were more precious, they would normally only be obtained from Stellar ranked treasures and above and in a low quantity, the upside being that those didn't completely disappear when used to power her lineage's abilities and were regenerated with time.
So, under normal circumstances, she would need an astronomical amount of money to progress with her innate abilities, but luckily for her, anything that contained Aster's blood not only produced quite a few of silver liquid drops when refined by her, but also accelerated the recovery of the ones she already has condensed.
And now her reserves were back to full, after half absorbing all those swords, but that was secondary for her right now.
"He said "also", so these swords aren't my reward, but then what…", Camila then noticed a really important thing, there was an empty spot on the bed, Sarina was acting as Aster's body pillow, Alice and Aria were hugging Aster's left arm and body respectively while Lilia and Kana were resting on top of him, leaving his right side completely open.
She knew that Alice and Aria always competed for Aster's right arm, so this was done on purpose and that made her little maiden's heart felt a bit overwhelmed.
'I should leave', thought Camila as she got up the couch, but then before taking a single step, another thought came to her mind.
'But what if I wake them up by accident, it would be bad if Aster can't properly rest for tomorrow's events… yeah it's not because I want to cuddle with him'.
With an excuse and all the courage, she could muster, Camila took off everything but her clothes and then carefully sneaked into the bed until she was a few centimeters away from Aster's body, but then she froze on the spot as she saw a pair of red glowing eyes gazing at her.
It was Lilia who purposely took the side right side of Aster's chest, to directly face Camila if she decided to stay tonight.
Camila felt as if her everything was being seen through by those pretty red eyes, Lilia wasn't doing anything but the poor treasure girl still felt pressured by it.
Surprisingly she held her ground this time and with a resolute expression, actually hugged Aster's right arm, taking the initiative to cuddle with him, earning her a cunning smile from the dragon mother who didn't say anything and limited to close her eyes once again.
'Ughhh, that's not fair miss Lilia!', inwardly screamed Camila realizing that she had fell for Lilia's tricks, that being said she didn't let go of Aster and while enduring her embarrassment, fell asleep while enjoying Aster's warmth.
'Hehehe, you can't escape now~', amusingly thought Lilia before she snuggled against Aster's chest and returned to sleep.
Leaving aside the previous wholesome scenery, the night at the temporary city wasn't so calm, at one of the borders a black hooded figure welcomed crushed a black stone with his right hand and an opening appeared on the barrier that covered the city.
With a "swoosh" five black hooded people rushed in before the gap in the barrier automatically closed, the group of six flashed a few times and a couple of seconds later they were inside one of the many tents in the area destined for rogue cultivators.
One of the five hooded newcomers whistled before saying with a mocking voice.
"You merchant family people are surely loaded, to use a "disruption stone" just to open a momentary gap in the barrier of a mere temporary city".
"What do you know, this barrier was set up by that monstrous woman from the Fey, no price is too high in order to avoid her eyes, just focus on doing your damn job!", exclaimed the hooded figure who welcomed the newcomers as he removed the hood, it was none other than Omar Teles whose face was slightly swollen.
The black hooded figure in the center frowned upon the sight of Omar's face.
"What happened, didn't we agree to keep a low profile in order to not draw any unnecessary attention?".
"This is unrelated, some bastard made me lose money and I ended up having to pay from my own pocket, the old bastard in turn gave me a beating since my little business was revealed to the public", said Omar as he gritted his teeth to then add.
"There will be an extra bonus if you deal with them".
"Tsk, there are no brothels in this stupid city, prepare women for me and it's a deal", casually said the hooded figure who spoke earlier.
"I think you'll be satisfied with the option, there are a few Fey descendants in the city, if you fulfill your side of the deal, you can have them for all I care", said Omar, he covered his face with the hood and then left.
"Don't leave the tent until morning, mix with the rogue cultivators and be prepared to act", said the hooded figure at the center.
"Yes boss!", the other four immediately answered, their voices had a tinge of fear behind of them.
…
Unlike Aster who had a really nice night of sleep, William had to move all over the place and had near to no time to rest during the whole night as a lot of people from the nearby Stellar Systems started to arrive.
Naturally not all had the chance to enter the temporary city, which is why camps were stablished overnight, surrounding the temporary city, and so after a long night morning came.
At a certain room within a spaceship, a black-haired youth slowly opened his eyes, besides the softness to which he was used, there was a new sensation, it was of course Aster who had just woken up, as for the new softness which he was experiencing, it belonged to the cute treasure girl who was tightly hugging his right arm in her sleep.
A smile couldn't help but appear in Aster's face upon the sight of Camila's pretty sleeping face.
"You should have seen her earlier darling, she got quite bold~", Lilia's playful voice reached Aster's ears making him chuckle, the pair of dragon mother and daughter surely enjoyed teasing the new girls every time.
"Don't bully her too much, otherwise she will keep feigning to be asleep quite often", said Aster making Camila's breath to become a bit erratic, she has been awake since half an hour ago but she felt just so comfortable that she remained in her current position.
Lilia giggled at the newest addition to the family before taking the initiative to kiss Aster, showing the treasure girl one of the basic rules of the household, the morning kiss.
"I'll wait for you in the shower, darling~", only after having had her taste of Aster's lips, Lilia let go of Aster and then got up the bed, leaving to the bathroom, not without giving Aster a tempting gaze while she swayed her hips seductively.
Next was the pair of little girls who were resting on top of him, Aster gently petted both Kana and Espi's heads to then peck their foreheads.
"Good morning big brother~".
"Hisss~".
A bright happy voice accompanied by a cute hissing sound were the result as those two woke up, additionally Kana smiled at Camila before getting up the bed to then leave to the bathroom.
Now it came a tricky part, because that wild dragon sister of his was "rebelling" after having to cramp a bit at his left side alongside Aria to leave the right spot empty for Camila.
Nothing that couldn't be solved by Aster, even if his two arms were immobilized as of current though, he knew what Alice wanted and decided to give it to her, but with a little "extra".
"Pah!".
"Hyaaa~".
A clapping sound followed by cute startled sound echoed through the room, as Aster used his special telekinesis to slap Alice's butt, making her tail manifest out of that cute scale at the lower part of her back.
Aster dragged her from her previous position to be on top of him and without giving her time to be naught, sealed her lips with a kiss, the rough treatment made Alice giggle, her tail bent to form a heart shape while she continuously kissed her beloved brother.
Camilla who witnessed the previous was red as an apple over such a demonstration, but on the other hand a faint trace of jealousy invaded her little maiden's heart, she didn't know it, but Alice wanted to be handled by Aster's telekinesis because he used it with her yesterday, it was just Alice being Alice.
"Good morning, I wonder if our new sister will accompany us in the bath as well~", playfully said Alice as she licked her lips to then jump out of Aster's embrace, her tail returned to that black scale while she stretched her body, making sure to give Aster a little peek, to tease Camila.
Aster sighed, the poor treasure girl was about to have a heart attack after the previous scene, luckily the next girl was the rather tame and relaxing ice princess, who had sneakily moved all the way upwards until her face was at Aster's reach.
"Mm~", Aria simply let out a cute sound when Aster's lips touched hers, a soothing sensation spread across the room, helping Camila calm down.
"Humph, lewd dragon mother and daughter", mumbled Aria as she let go of Aster, making the latter bitterly smile, she and Sarina identified with Camila, since they were once in her position so they decided to help her get used to the daily life with a pair teasing dragon "sisters".
With his left arm free and taking advantage of Camila's currently relaxed self, courtesy of Aria, Aster carefully moved her until she was resting on top of him, to then gently peck her lips.
"Wuuuh~", Camila slowly opened her eyes, she directly faced Aster who was smiling at her.
"Did my little treasure have a nice sleep?", jokingly said Aster while caressing Camila's face, making the latter softly laugh, normally she would be dying out of embarrassment but Aria's little trick helped keep her cool, her face was still lightly blushed though, but that made her look cute.
"Mm, I had never had such a good night of sleep before…", she mumbled as she closed her eyes and snuggled against Aster's chest, basking in the safe and comfortable sensation that being so close to him brought her, it was a feeling that came from the bottom of her existence itself.
And she wasn't the only one, Aster felt his body resonate with Camila, it was a new sensation which came from his Wolfstein lineage instead of his Drage one which is usually stimulated by Lilia and Alice, it made him remember that Camila and himself are literally each other's half.
"B-But I won't bath with you all!", suddenly exclaimed the cute treasure girl as she returned to her usual self to then add in a low voice.
"Yet…", Aster chuckled, he patted her head a couple of times in response.
"No worries, you can take your time to get to know your sisters and our family's customs", he jokingly said making Camila pout knowing that they were going to tease her to the content of their hearts.
'Humph, lascivious dragons', she thought as she got off Aster's body to then leave to her own room to prepare herself for breakfast, while being all smiles.
"She is a good girl", said the last remaining girl on the bed, in other words, Sarina.
"Yes, but not as good as my Sarina, giving up her time for the sake of a new sister, such a nice wife deserves a reward", said Aster as he rolled his body to sink into Sarina's embrace.
The motherly blond woman giggled feeling Aster kissing her all the way from her neck to her lips.
"She has had it hard in the past, also I'll have your attention for myself later, right husband~", she cutely said, to which Aster cupped her pretty face with his hands to then say.
"Of course, this is my Sarina's time after all".
Listening to the laughs and giggles coming from the bedroom, Lilia and the others peeked out of the bathroom.
"Aren't you two going to join us?", said Lilia with a slight tinge of jealousy in her voice, making Aster and Sarina chuckle to then get up the bed to join them in the bathroom where the laughs and giggles continued, it was a normal morning in Aster's household.
After they finished washing and playing, Aster and the girls left to the dining room of the spaceship where practically everyone had already gathered at this point, besides Camila who was being bombarded with questions by Eris and Mylene, everyone else was having a nice time chatting with each other.
"Good morning, everyone", said Aster, earning a positive response from all of them, though he noticed a couple of strange gazes among them, one was understandable as it came from Lieze who had never interacted with him, so seeing him leaving yesterday with a group of girls to his room was probably shocking for her.
But the other unexpectedly belonged to Valentina, still Aster paid no mind and then sat down at the table, while Sarina, accompanied by Tamara and Felicia went to prepare the breakfast.
"Did anything happen?", asked Aster to Valentina, which made her return to the real world and realize she had stared at Aster a bit too hard; she cleared her throat to then say.
"Ahem, yes, a lot of people arrived at the city and its vicinity during night, William tried to keep track of everyone but not all are within the range of detection of the arrays at the city, so it's better to keep an eye open later, according to cousin there is a high chance that anything rune-related malfunctions when the spatial distortions start to activate and there are many bastards hidden in the shadows".
With long distance communications out of service, bandits, evil cultivators and crazy idiots in general were running rampant all over the not especially guarded territories in the four Heavenly Quadrants.
So it was natural to think that some opportunists were eyeing the spots where people from ruler and high tier families and forces, gathered, like this temporary city.
"Mm, let's stay together later, the spaceships from the sect should start to arrive in an hour or so", said Aster to which the others nodded.
The three mothers came from the kitchen with the breakfast for everyone and they had a though a bit rushed, nice meal together before Valentina as well as Mikaela and even Agnes had to excuse themselves, since they had to be on alert for the arrival of the other disciples.
"Well, we should get going as well", said Aster as he got up from the main seat.
"Sis had told me that missions with brother Aster are always fun, so I have high expectations… ouch!", Eric who was offering a toast to Aster was sent flying by Tiana, making Sofia sigh.
'Darling, a few rats sneaked into the city earlier and white a few more are gathered all over the place~', said Lilia directly to Aster through the mind connection.
Aster nodded, he expected it after listening to that Teles guy at the auction house, everyone wanted to take advantage of the storm that was coming to become the fisher, little did they know that there was a shark lurking in the water, ready to devour them without leaving even a bone behind, or more accurately a dragon.