Once the last spaceship from Riga fell from the sky, the captain of the royal guard took care of the clean-up, there were still some corrupted beasts here and there, which needed to be completely eradicated.
Now that there were no aerial threats, the whole fleet landed, after a battle besides taking care of the deceased, the next activity was of course getting the spoils of the war.
Aster wasn’t really interested but he also had to get rid of some lose ends, that being said, since Nolan more or less told him about what happened to Valentine and the others, the following wasn’t something he wanted Kana to see.
“Mom, Eris please come with me I want to confirm a few things, the others can go if you want… except Kana”.
Alice didn’t want to stay in the spaceship, but she saw her brother’s serious expression and decided to just laze around in the couch to wait for Aster to return, the same applied to Sarina this wasn’t her first war so of course she knew that Riga only left death and destruction behind.
“I will stay to play with Kana, my father will probably accompany you in my representation”.
Aria wasn’t too fond of bloody scenes so she also decided to stay, Mylene on the other hand doubted for a moment before she said what was in her mind.
“I want to go too, I need to see all traces of that “lineage” created by Riga, being eliminated… to avoid future problems”.
Aster nodded, that was also one of the things on his list, on his case he just wanted to get rid of it to leave Sarina’s native planet in a good state, but for Mylene it was something more personal, the imitation lineage created by Riga was based on the blood of her family after all.
Kana pouted.
“Big brother… I’m not that naive, even I know about the bad things that happened in Riga”, she said referring to Robert’s past situation.
Aster patted her head.
“I know, everyone needs to get used to see blood and death… because that is the kind of world we live in, but this time be a good girl and listen to me, okay?”.
Kana enjoyed being spoiled by Aster so she only nodded, she still remembers how he helped her overcome the emotional shock caused by her father being a scum, so she knew there was a good reason for Aster to ask her to stay.
The flagships landed first so before the soldiers also did the same, Aster contacted Sylas and Eric.
“I will go ahead, because there are some things that need to be taken care of, also I hope you don’t mind me taking a fair share of treasures and resources, I don’t have a personal interest unless they are in my list, so I won’t be too greedy”.
Sylas laughed
“Don’t worry about that, take whatever you want, you can consider it dowry for marrying the most beautiful flower of Luonto hahaha”.
“You were the one that contributed the most brother, we the Barbarian Heart sect aren’t shameless enough to fight over such a thing with you”.
Aster smiled, if anything both Eric and Sylas were worthy of being considered friends, what did surprise him was that the elders Ritz and Adrian didn’t complain at all, considering they were the only ones that have surpassed the star tribulation realm besides Lilia, Eris and Mylene.
But it was also logic, Ritz already knew Lilia was far stronger than the patriarch of his sect, and Adrian witnessed with his own eyes, the destruction resulting of her fighting with Augustus, so he felt nothing but respect towards someone with such strength.
He as an elder of his sect, has seen the patriarch using his powers as a sea of knowledge cultivator to destroy a planet of similar size, but it took him at least a day to do so, Lilia on the other hand only left Prasil for less than half an hour and she obliterated a quart of a planet in such a little amount of time.
Aster, Lilia, Eris and Sarina left the spaceship and went directly to the castle which was still protected by a barrier, which meant there was something the king wanted to preserve stored, on the way Aster looked at the ground which was a mess at some areas of the city.
“Mom, Eris, please check if there are any hidden spirit formations, just in case”.
Lilia smiled.
“I already did it darling, your attack also eliminated all the traps that they previously set, the only exception is the barrier of the castle which was completely independent from the rest of the city”.
Eris agreed, with Lilia’s observations.
“That golden light of yours is as terrifying as I thought, there were quite a few defensive formations engraved in the ground of the city… and they were completely erased by just being exposed to that light”.
Mylene remained silent, but mentally she felt relieved to have accepted her defeat, a kid who can destroy Makir’s barrier with just one attack, without having surpassed the star tribulation realm was by no means normal.
The barrier of the castle wasn’t so different as the one around the city, so it didn’t suppose a problem for Aster to break it, Aster frowned his eyebrows, the smell coming from the castle wasn’t exactly pleasant but I wasn’t unexpected also.
,m The girls also could distinguish it and although they remained indifferent, what was laying ahead of them wasn’t something one would want to see… basically it reeked of sex and death.
Completely different to the sweet fragrance Aster is used to enjoy when he shares his bed with the girls, the whole area of the castle had an intense foul smell, they entered and the scene that welcomed them was a lot of dried corpses of both genders laying around the different areas.
Aster used Rigel’s flames to get rid of every one of them, leaving that aside the castle was actually in good conditions, similar to Orson’s one there were luxury decorations everywhere which made a high contrast with its “residents”.
Mylene used her divine sense to look around and she was surprised to see that there were some signs of life coming from one specific room, they just kept advancing until they arrived at a big room where a throne was built right in the middle.
There were people who was still engaging in sexual intercourse as if they could not think of nothing else, but not everyone was alive, between the corpses he recognized the elder of the sand mountain sect he previously met and also his disciple.
Among the ones that were still alive it didn’t escape his eyes that Kayla was in a horrible state, she was using ragged clothes and her eyes were lifeless, it was easy to understand the kind of treatment she got since she was laying in the ground right in front of the throne.
Aster had thought Lilia, Eris or Mylene will show some kind of uncomfortable reaction, considering they were the young misses of their respective families, but that wasn’t the case, they remained indifferent even at the sight of a mentally broken Kayla.
“Well, I guess the more you advance the more things like this you will see, not like she deserves my pity after all the things she did, but it’s still a first for me”, he thought.
Aster snapped his fingers and blue flames engulfed the whole room putting an end to all the miserable existences of those who were kept hostages of the Riga family.
According to Mylene there weren’t any more living beings inside the castle, apparently even the place that was used as a dungeon was empty, probably because enemies were the first ones that became “nutrients” for the king and his subordinates.
That being said they weren’t here for that, their next stopping point was of course the treasury, Lilia knew her son was striving to get the materials to help Rya recover faster, so she paid special attention to the hands of Augustus before she killed him.
“That guy wasn’t wearing a spatial ring darling, so all his belongings should still be here”.
Using Rigel’s flames, Aster created a hole in the floor apparently right below their feet was the entrance to the treasury, maybe because Augustus was cocky enough to believe no enemy would ever get as far as to step into his throne room.
They descended to the lower floor, there was a large corridor with only two doors, one had golden decorations all over its surface, while the other one was completely black, this time Lilia did the honors, she punched a hole through the one-meter-thick golden door with her bare hands.
The treasury was like others Aster has seen before, there were precious metals, cultivation manuals, and other books which recorded other kinds of important information, mountains of spirit stones and other treasures accommodated in shelves here and there.
Aster felt like a kid in a candy shop, the saying goes like “more wealth never hurts”, and even if he wasn’t really interested in low ranked things, who wouldn’t want to have his ring filled with treasures, especially him which had the obligation to “provide” for his family.
“Ahem, ladies take a look you can take what you need, the rest is for our allies okay?”.
Eris nodded, her most urgent need was a weapon so she separated from the rest and went to the armory area, Lilia didn’t care about anything so she just clung to her son, and lastly Mylene didn’t move from her position, instead she said.
“I… want to ask if it would be possible to exchange whatever treasures might be here for another bottle of that elixir, the previous scene in the throne room make me remind the fate of those who are weak”.
Aster shook his head which made Mylene think she might be getting a little correction from the necklace but what she was expecting didn’t happened, instead Aster handed her bottle which contained a red-golden liquid.
“I told you that depending on your performance you will be either rewarded or punished, I saw you watching over the girls earlier and Eris also spoke on behalf you, and I always fulfill my promises,”.
Mylene saw from the corner of her eyes Eris which was trying different weapons, and she sighed before she bowed her head.
“Thanks, if that’s the case I need a new spatial ring and also a weapon is a must”, she said before going to the same area where Eris was.
Lilia nodded.
“She has some good qualities to become a servant for our family darling”.
Aster smiled he gave her a short kiss and went directly to the cultivation manual area.
“Considering how these Riga guys cultivated, there is a slight chance to find what I have been looking for”, he thought.