"It's alright, there's not a single demon beast near this place, I had already checked," Alex said before placing the meat of a crocodile-like demon beast over the bonfire.
He then sprinkled some spices over it first and then started to roast it over the bonfire. Ciera could only go back to sit with her sister and wait for him to finish cooking. She too was a little famished.
"Sierra, what you did before was wrong! You shouldn't have done that."
"Sorry sis, but you know why I did that... I just couldn't stop myself when I heard his name... and I also don't regret, giving my first kiss to him because I had already decided to give it to him when he had killed Levan Frey and the rest of his family. " Sierra peeked at Alex and felt a little sweet in her heart. She was still feeling the aftereffect of whatever made her so aroused to lose control over herself.
Ciera didn't have the heart to berate her little sister she said that. She just hoped that Sierra would not fall in love with this man that is way above their reach.
Alex heard them loud and clear even if they talked while keeping their voice down.
After a short while later, when the aromatic fragrance of meat permeated the air, it attracted the attention of the two girls who kept their distance from him, understandably.
They came to sit on the opposite side of the bonfire after Alex gestured them to come and eat. The smell coming from the cooked meat was irresistible.
Reaching out to tear off a piece of meat and biting into it, their mouth was filled with tender,sweet-spicy, and fragrant aftertaste. The meat was succulent and crispy with excellent texture.
"Mmm~!!, it's really good. Lord Alex, you are a great cook. even the restaurant inside the Frey city couldn't make the meat taste this good. What did you add to it? It's so spicy and sweet at the same time!" Sierra couldn't stop herself from praising him.
Both the girls were easily conquered by one bite of the meat. Sierra had even forgotten what they went through this whole day, as she started nibbling on the juicy meat and blabbered on how great Alex's cooking was.
But just when Ciera took the third bite of it she noticed how rich it was in Qi.
"This meat is of which Demon Beast?" Ciera asked but she had already guessed in her head.
"Rank 1 Demon Beast. This lake was its home until I came across it. It was similar to a crocodile if that what you are asking." Alex said nonchalantly. Sierra was too busy savoring the meat in her mouth, so she didn't hear what they were talking about. So the only person to react to him as her older sister.
"What! This is too expensive then, we cannot eat it." Ciera exclaimed. The meat of the Rank 1 demon beast was too precious and ultra-rare for them on this island.
"Precious or not, it's my treat so feast on it without any hesitation," Alex said as he knew what she might be thinking.
Ciera hesitated at first but then she started eating it without saying another word. Since she already had a taste of it, stopping now would be an impossible task for her.
"So tell me about yourself. What do you do for a living other than hunting? Anyone else in your family?" Alex asked since there was still time for his puppets to reach their place.
Ciera looked towards her little sister who was going for another piece of meat before turning back to Alex and saying, "We run a small shop for crafting leather armor back in the village... we lost our parents many years ago when Sierra was still five years of age. Other than us two, there is no one else in our family."
"... What happened to them?"
"They had started doing business together but after one year when the time for paying the tax to Frey Lord came, they couldn't gather the required amount, whatever profit they had gained from the shop had all gone to pay for the money they had borrowed from the neighbors before starting the business."
Sierra stopped eating when she heard her sister talking about their parents, her head drooped low. She closed her eyes and looked like she was reminiscing about the past.
Ciera continued speaking with a mixture of anger and sadness, "At that time, the merchant city and the Frey city were at wars with each other. Therefore, Levan's father who was the Lord at that time needed a lot of money to keep his forces strong and fighting to face the enemies. He raised the tax amount and punished anyone who was not able to pay it in time.
Thus when the tax collectors knocked onto the doors of our parent's shop, they were not able to pay the required amount. Father tried to reason with them and asked for a little more time. But the officers didn't take it well and dragged our father out before executing him in the middle of the street. As for the shop, the officers auctioned it to a merchant on the same day to get the tax money and they even pocketed the rest that was left after deducting the tax."
"Mother left the Frey city with us and settled in a village near to the forest. For some years, she managed to keep us fed by working in an inn inside the village but we lost her too one day when she overworked herself to death..." Longing, sadness, and love were all mixed together.
The rest was pretty much guessable. Ciera being the older one, had to work hard for her little sister to get by in this unforgiving world. She and her sister had started going to the forest for hunting and foraging herbs on the outer circle.
Someday, Ciera met the man she thought could take care of her and her sister for the rest of the life but today even that illusion was destroyed.
Sierra was filled with hate and blamed the Frey family as they were the reason her parents were no more in this world with her. Her eyes were misted over.
Therefore, when Alex defeated them in the war and killed both the father and sons of the Frey family, he became a hero in the eyes of the twenty-year-old girl. Not to mention, he even saved them today.
Her regret at this time was not to see him action when he killed her enemies before in the battle and the mercenaries who abducted them today.
"Please don't mind my little sister's antics, she can be childish sometimes to express her feeling." Ciera said in an apologizing manner. Her own eyes were misting over because of talking about their past so she changed the subject at the end.
"Big sis! I'm not a child anymore. How many times do I've to say that to you? And he is clearly younger than me." Sierra said immediately.
"Yes, but he is the Lord of this island and doesn't behave like some twelve-year-old kid. You should learn from him."
Alex just sat there smiling as he watched the two sisters arguing with each other but then his senses picked up noises coming from afar and some slight vibration from the ground. When he scanned his surroundings with his spiritual sense, Alex abruptly stood up in haste.