There were few things Lilia liked more than speak about the memories she has made with her son through the years, so while she was distracted with that, Aster stood up from the chair and approached Aria which was finishing seasoning a variety of meats from different spirit beasts and vegetables.
“Mm?”, Aria felt a firm but gentle touch on her belly, she turned her head around and saw Aster smiling as he caressed her stomach a couple of times.
“My Aria is such a good wife, that while the others play or laze around, she is here helping me to prepare a good meal for all the family”.
“Well, someone has to take care of you, my sister-in-law and mother-in-law aren’t too fond to cook after all ♥”, she said with a proud smile on her face.
Aster laughed, he gave her a short kiss and then separated from Aria to finish the last details, the grill was ready so now he only had to cook the meat, and the method he chose was to prepare skewers just like so many years ago when he killed something with his own hands for the first time in the forest near Ghaleria.
After putting several layers of meat and vegetables, he put the results on the grill and closed the lid to let the meat cook evenly, now that the boring part was done for the time being, they could have some fun.
Aster wrapped one of his arms around Aria’s waist and walked to where Lilia and Eris were laying down.
“Ladies, the food is going to take some time to cook, do you want to swim with me and the other girls?”.
Lilia saw her son being clingy with Aria and she immediately stood up from the chair, her breasts swayed due to the mini bikini she was using to instead of a bra and she hug Aster’s free arm.
“I’ll go darling”, she said out loud, but now that she was closer to Aster, she whispered at him as she licked her lips.
“After we eat, I want you to apply sunscreen all over my body, I have to keep my skin pretty for my darling ♥”.
Aster had a complex expression on his face, the first thing the other girls did was applying sunscreen, Sarina especially covered Kana from head to toe
On the other hand, the lounge chair where Lilia was laying down was directly placed under the shadow of a palm tree, so she planned this from the very beginning, not like he was not going to enjoy massaging her later.
Eris also stood up, she never had the time to relax like this back at her clan, other people tend to believe that being born in a powerful family is a privilege, but that is not always the case, as a proof of that this is the first time, she remembers ever having fun with others, apart from her grandmother.
The three of them entered the beach, the water level wasn’t too high near the shore, at most it nearly reached 1.3m covering Kana almost to height of her chest, but for the others it didn’t even reach their navels.
Speaking of Kana as soon as she saw Aster entering the water, she sawm over all the way towards him.
“Big brother, look at these seashells I found with sister Mylene, aren’t they pretty?”.
Aster looked at the little things in Kana’s hands, they weren’t that different compared to the ones you could find back on earth with the only exception that they were hand size, one of the things Aster has always wanted to see is a sea spirit beast… because according to Lilia some of them are massive thanks to the nourishment of the spirit energy.
He patted Kana’s head and with a little snap the shells disappeared into the mind space, none of them were using their spatial rings to prevent losing them in the sea, but Aster already started using the mind space instead of his ring because it was safer.
He calculated the distance from where they were standing to where Alice, Sarina and Mylene where and he smiled.
“Let’s do a little race, whoever reaches Alice first wins, what do you say Kana?”.
Kana nodded, she stuck her tongue at Aster and started swimming towards Alice, Lilia laughed.
“Hurry up or you are going to lose darling”.
Aster let go of them and he smiled, “Now I can use a little trick, without feeling guilty”.
The water surrounding him split up and Aster’s body started moving forwards as if he was surfing on the surface of the water, the only difference was that he was sitting cross legged.
It didn’t take him too much effort to catch up to Kana, of course he wasn’t going to take a little game so seriously, so instead of going ahead of her, Aster waved his hand and Kana felt the water below her carrying her body.
“Woahhh, big brother this feels just like how you carried me over your shoulder!!!”.
Lilia smiled looking at her son playing with Kana but she didn’t participate, on the other hand Aria did, just like Aster she also used a little trick, her attribute was ice after all, so she just walked by creating support points with ice.
Rya looked at Aster using the paragon body to entertain Kana and she laughed.
“I can’t imagine anyone else using the paragon body like this… but I guess thinking outside the box is not that bad, no one would have thought of using his own blood to forge a sword to make it resist annihilation”, she thought.
Surprisingly Mylene turned out to be good with kids, in the few moments she had spent with Kana they became friendly with each other, something Aster noticed because Kana called her “sister Mylene” earlier.
Eris was a bit less proactive, she just swam with Alice and Lilia, the games continued for nearly twenty minutes when Aster considered it was time to get out of the water, it was still early so after eating and relaxing they could continue.
“Ladies the food is ready, let’s get out”.
Kana pouted, “Big brother can’t we keep playing a bit more?”.
Aster shook his head at this rate the meat was going to overcook, so he used the paragon body to make Kana leave the water, the other girls laughed and followed them, with a little wisp of Rigel’s flames to put off the flames of the grill before he took out the skewers and placed them on the table.
Mylene offered herself to help him, she even poured the drinks in everyone’s cups, Alice and Kana immediately dug in, the meat was tender and juicy and the vegetables complemented the taste.
Aster smiled looking at his sister and Kana eating as if there was no tomorrow, “My grill skills might not be the best but these two don’t seem to mind anyway”, he thought.
Unlike before Kana was now aware she liked Aster, she noticed how he looked at her and Alice and she blushed, if there is something her mother has always told her is that she eats a lot, although her little body didn’t seem to take a toll due to that.
Sarina noticed her glutton daughter slowing down and she patted her head.
“Dear your big brother doesn’t care about things like that, of not Alice wouldn’t be a part of the family you know?”.
Alice snorted, she pointed at Sarina and replied, “You know I’m technically the first that joined the family, so you should show some respect to a senior”.
Once everyone was full, Mylene took care of washing the dishes, while the other girls sat on the lounge chairs to digest the food.
Alice noticed Mylene was acting quite different since she started playing with Kana, before she accepted being their servant due to convenience, but now she seemed to be tagging along with them out of her own will.
Aster was about to keep the grill on his spatial ring when he heard Mylene’s voice.
“You know back in my family once you learn how to read… you must learn how to scheme, unlike other families the heir isn’t decided by blood, but by how good you are to make others fell into your traps”.
Mylene looked at the sky and then sighed, “One by one the ones I thought were my friends and family started harming each other… until everyone hated everyone, so I learnt how to recognize those who smile on the surface but hide a knife at the same time”.
…
“That little girl is different than them, there is no malice in her heart something I have never seen before… just like how I used to be back then before all that nonsense started”.
Aster looked at Kana which was now hugging her mother and resting after eating like there was no tomorrow and he smiled.
“She is a part of my family after all”.
“You know I used to think that falling into the hands of someone related to dragons was probably one of the worst things that could happen… their reputation isn’t exactly good among women, but now I changed my mind”.
Aster cleared his throat remembering some of the stories Lilia has told him about the guys that chased after her back at the Drage family.
“Well in case you still have some doubts, I’m not like to the guys that treated my mother like a tool, anyway what made you change your opinion of me”.
Mylene smiled, “I contemplated about how bad can you be if that little girl calls you “big brother” every time”.
The calm atmosphere was interrupted by Alice’s voice.
“Now you realize why you lost… because my brother is the best in every aspect ♥”.