Chapter 839: The first day of the evaluation trial (part 17)

The brothers though not exactly happy, followed Sarina’s orders and looked through the cut pieces of the tanned man in order to retrieve his possessions, this included his damaged spear and shield as well as a rough pill, which unlike the ones seen on enemies so far which were basically just crushed and compressed herbs, was actually an alchemy product.

The making process was nowhere close to be as clean as Mylene’s one of course, and there were some impurities here and there, but it was an actual pill, that being said it was basically a high calorie bar in the shape of a pill, without any actual medicinal property, something that Kyle asked for, because his lineage ability made him burn nutrients like crazy.

His ability’s efficiency was trash, with the nutrients he used to maintain that hardened skin state for ten minutes, Alice could actively go all out in using her tail to fight for a whole half an hour, take into account that Alice is the one who eats the most out of all the "human" members of the camp, so her nutrient consumption is above the average in Aster’s group.

As to how Sarina knew the effect of that pill, don’t underestimate the nose and eyes of a talented chef like her, she could easily detect the nut fats that were packed into the pill even from the distance and through the iron scent of Kyle’s blood which was permeating the area currently.

’They don’t really have negative feelings at the fact that I made them search through the corpse of their former "teammate", it’s the blood and the mess what bothered them, looks like I have something worth a reward from Aster~’, thought the blond roc mother.

The brothers who felt Sarina’s glare on them, though her intention wasn’t to threaten them, felt their bodies shiver, it’s normal, they are in the presence of quite a fierce roc girl, whose lineage descends from one of the rare dragon-eating species out there.

"M-Ma’am, we have collected and cleaned everything", said the older brother as he stood in front of his younger brother, to which Sarina casually answered.

"Okay, let’s go then", though Sarina saw those two in a decent light given that despite their lives hanging from a thread, they weren’t trying to push the other in front of the sword, both literally and figuratively, in order to save their own hides, that doesn’t mean Sarina has good will towards them.

Sarina might be gentle and motherly, but she is a warrior and they were fighting against her, while sure they didn’t try to kill but to immobilize her instead, if they had succeeded, that would still mean that her fate wouldn’t be in her hands anymore, the most she would do was reciprocate by not killing them them since they surrendered, what would happen to them after that, depended on the situation.

And so, the blond roc mother happily returned to her husband’s side and proudly presented her loot to him.

"I saw that we didn’t have anyone from the side of that green-haired woman’s group and these two didn’t try to kill, so I captured them, but more importantly I have some interesting intel for you, but I want my reward in advance, darling~", said Sarina whose previously serious expression took a 180° turn, becoming rather playful, she even walked until she was behind of Aster and then hugged him.

’Hey, she is doing it on purpose!’, exclaimed the dragon mother from within the mind space, that was of course Sarina playing to imitate Lilia’s usual behavior, something she had found quite amusing to do given that the dragon mother is absent so she can’t do anything about it.

And Lilia wasn’t the only one to react to that, poor Nina’s achievement of having made an enemy willingly surrender and come on his own feet towards the area Aster was in charge of, was just shadowed by the blond roc mother who made the two brothers do the same, what’s more she was also the first to bring back someone from the green-haired female leader’s group.

’Uggh, and here I thought little Kana was already enough competition, isn’t miss Sarina already going out with Aster, why is she competing for attention too, that’s nor fair!’, cutely thought the youngest of the three sisters.

Seeing Sarina stick out her tongue playfully at him, and also looking at Nina who was clearly jealous, Aster couldn’t help but bitterly smile.

’Dragon eating roc girls sure are quite something, but I’m not such an easy "meal" you know’, he amusingly thought as he got out of Sarina’s hug to then place his hand on top of her head.

"Payment in advance right, no problem, let’s hear what you discovered", playfully said Aster as he patted Sarina’s head, which made the blond roc mother pout it was as if she was saying "I wasn’t going to ask for a head pat", but she was contented by Aster whispering to her.

’Everyone gets head pats as a reward on site, the "special rewards" can be discussed later’, he said which made the blond roc mother’s green eyes sparkle.

"Mm~", while smiling Sarina enjoyed her head pats and then proceeded to tell Aster what she had discovered through the brother’s attitude earlier.

"I see, so even in that small group of ten, there are "factions", having to watch your back from your teammates is such an annoying thing", said Aster while he gently stroked Sarina’s pretty blond hair.

Given how the pair of brothers clearly had trust in the short orange-haired girl, also known as Lauren and how they tried to protect each other, Sarina could tell that at the very least they are decent guys, and so it wouldn’t make sense for them to not show resistance to the idea of having to search through the corpse of a late teammate.

And yet, like previously stated what they didn’t like about retrieving Kyle’s stuff was the bloody mess, not the fact that he was a dead teammate, so there was a clear rift between the brothers and the tanned guy.

"We’ll ask those two about the details, but I can already guess how their members are distributed based on who is fighting who", concluded Aster, this whole time he has been petting Sarina which made the little girl complain.

"Mom, don’t hog big brother’s attention all to yourself, me, sister Mylene, sister Nina and sister Dahlia still haven’t been rewarded enough", said Kana as she hugged Sarina who chuckled at her daughter’s cute jealousy.

Those three on the other hand, felt their faces burn due to embarrassment, though on the inside they all thanked the little girl for speaking on their stead, they would be too ashamed to ask Sarina to share Aster’s attention with them, given that she is his lover, not to mention that some have only become a part of the group recently, like Nina for example who couldn’t help but think.

’And now I’m indebted to little Kana...!’, just for her to be taken by surprise due to Sarina’s next words and actions.

"Is that so, don’t worry, unlike a certain "someone" I don’t mind sharing my private time every now and then, so long as I’m still the focus of my darling, don’t be shy come here~", said the blond roc motherly Sarina, once again throwing a jab at Lilia who was complaining inside the mind space as of current, as she extended her hands to pat both Nina and Dahlia’s heads, making those two feel a warm current sooth their hearts.

The story of Iris and the three sisters was already somewhat known by Aster and the girls, all of them basically grew parentless since a young age, that doesn’t mean they didn’t have anyone that cared for them though, Layla acted as an older sister for those four, and Mina did the same for her two sisters and Iris as well, but it was a different kind of warm the one that Nina felt from Sarina, the one of a mother to be more accurate.

The same applied to Dahlia, though she seemed happy and free of worries not to mention that she lived with her aunt who clearly loved and cared for her, not even once has she spoke about her family before, so that adventure loving brown haired girl must also have her own circumstances, she had already been treated kindly by Sarina before, given that she spends so much time with Kana at Helena’s garden, so this wasn’t such a surprise to her and she seemed to enjoy this motherly treatment from Sarina.

"Miss Sarina is really kind, right", she said to her new friend, in other words to Nina who slightly nodded in response.

"Mm", limited to mumble the youngest of the sisters.

’It surely does well to one’s heart seeing such good girls enjoy a happy time’, thought Aster as he changed his attention to the next fight, not without looking at the pair of brothers who were clearly surprised over the previous development after being terrified by Sarina earlier, to then laugh to himself, they were also in shock over the difference in attitude.

"There is no way they come from a dual cultivation sect, right?", mumbled the younger brother to which the older one shook his head in response.

"Lauren is going to be so pissed when we tell her about this", he answered.

...

Leaving that aside and speaking of happy times, the next girl in question was having quite the fun with her fight.

"Would you look at that, enjoying the rewards without waiting for me, how sad it is to not be a priority to one’s little sister now that she has a crush on someone", jokingly said the sister in the middle Lina, as she used her light feet to dash to the side.

"Thud!", a solid sound became present as a thin steel chain landed on the spot where Lina was standing a second ago, the sister in the middle proceeded to lean to the right, perfectly avoiding a spear’s thrust to then sweep her own spear to the right as well.

"Clang!", that was the metallic clash produced by Lina’s spear colliding with a short-sword, which was being wielded by the middle-aged man from the green-haired female leader’s group.

"Hey Andre, why the hell are you not aiming at her neck or something!", exclaimed one of the two guys that had joined hands with the middle-aged man to fight against the sister in the middle, the one who used a chain which was created with leftover pieces of steel, similar to the sword used by that tall guy, given the different tones of the numerous chain links.

The middle-aged man jumped backwards to recover his stance and put some distance between himself and Lina before answering.

"Our leader specifically told us to only try to defeat them at most, to be honest if it wasn’t for that psycho on your side, we wouldn’t have started a direct conflict with them", he said.

"Sure, Xander was too impulsive, but didn’t you see what they just did to that tanned guy from your side, he is a bloody mess now, and you are still not going all out, at least attack her like you mean it so we can capture her or something!", exclaimed the guy who was wielding a spear.

You probably know this by now, but those two were desperate to capture Lina, because they are from the group of the blond guy and after seeing how Aster casually killed that guy who was captured by Kana, they didn’t know what the conditions to have their lives spared were, because no one besides that guy knew about the sap of the manchineel tree he was holding onto, so in their eyes, Aster simply killed him on a whim.

So, they wanted to have something to negotiate their lives if the black-haired youth decided to participate in the fight, at least they weren’t stupid, after seeing their teammates being killed, they changed from killing to capturing, it took too many deaths on their side for the previous to happen though.

"What, weren’t you the one that wanted to kill me the most, don’t tell me you lost your balls after seeing Aster’s sword in action once, let me tell you a little secret, I don’t know about the chain guy and the old man, but you are going to die regardless", said Lina to the spear guy.

She wasn’t just randomly deciding to kill someone, that guy with the spear from the very beginning tried to kill her, what’s more the spearmanship he used, is quite vicious, aiming to slash the face before going for the neck, or trying to pierce her breasts in specific in order to reach her heart.

You might think that those are simple coincidences or that it simply happened because the trajectory aligns, but that’s not the case, that’s a fighting style used to distract by seemingly aiming to delicate or intimate areas and kill with a single strike, in this case it’s clearly focused in dealing with female targets.

And yeah, in case you wonder, it is a method used by evil cultivators mostly, after all a righteous path cultivator couldn’t be seen in the open aiming to hit someone in the balls as a distraction, if he were to be fighting against a male target.

What’s more, it is designed in such a way that by saying it was a "misunderstanding" in most cases, the user could make it pass as not an evil cultivator method, but as a simple "mistake" in the heat of the battle.

’What the hell is up with this bitch, I have attacked her less than Andre and that other fool, so why is she targeting me, how did she see through my intentions!’, inwardly cursed the spear wielding guy.

He was truly unfortunate, as he met with the younger sister of a wicked mastermind who knows everything about playing dirty or pulling tricks behind the scenes, how could Lina who was been taught by Mina’s "whip of love" how to recognize pieces of trash that try to pass as normal people, not notice his tricks.

What’s more, with just that sentence she turned the table on him, because even the chain guy seemed to be considering surrendering.

"Andre might have a bigger chance to be spared, but you saw that guy kill our teammate on a whim, don’t let her trick you Peter!", shouted the spear guy at the one who used a chain, since he seemed to hesitate for a second there after listening to Lina not seeming to care whether he lived or died.

"Damn it", ultimately cursed the chain guy, his attacks weren’t aiming to kill specifically, but he is not really clean like the middle-aged man, so he didn’t want to put his life in someone else’s hands.

With a "swoosh", Peter lashed his chain at Lina’s leg, which made the sister in the middle softly snort.

"Humph!", she, whose pride is her high mobility and speed, has been hit, restricted and made to trip by her older sister’s whip during their spars so many times that she has developed "sensibility" towards flexible and hard to predict weapons, such as chains or whips.

Now add to that the fact that to make use of her innately high speed, Lina needed a fast mind as well, not as in adaptative and scheming aspects as that is Mina’s specialty, but as in she has some crazy good reflects.

"Clang!", the sister in the middle stabbed her spear downwards, and casually made the tip of her spear pass through the small orifice of one of the many links of the chain, which forced it to change its trajectory and land on the ground, where she simply stepped on it to keep it in place.

"What!", Peter couldn’t help but exclaim, his weapon was made with leftover steel which is why it was a full metal weapon, one of the few, but for that same reason, the links were small, the chain was large in terms of length but it wasn’t wide or thick at all, the fact that Lina could restrain his chain like that was absurd in his eyes.

’You don’t know how many times sis restrained my sword with hers, I have grown sick and tired of flexible weapons!’, inwardly shouted the sister in the middle as she rolled her spear to then smack Peter on the side of his head with the staff.

Since her forte is movement and her physical strength is the lowest among the three, Lina has suffered way more due to Mina’s flexible restrictive style than Nina.

"Clack!", a loud wood impact sound echoed through the battlefield as the chain guy suffered a concussion which made his eyes roll backwards, making him faint on the spot.

But no one was paying him any attention, Lina who swiftly slid her hands through the shaft of the spear changed to thrust the spearhead frontwards, just as the chain guy’s body was out of the way since he fell to the ground, the spear guy had appeared spear fist, he was planning to pass through his teammate’s body in order to land a killing blow on the sister in the middle, but Lina was faster and now his attack was met with a spear as well.

"Clang!", sparks and the sound of metals colliding were the result of the clash, now, Lina isn’t innately physically outstanding like Nina, but she is still a secondary path body cultivator so while her talent certainly lies in speed, she is not weak in terms of attack power in the slightest, so she could clash like this without any problem.

"Crack!", the spear guy couldn’t help but smile as he heard a shattering sound, he noticed the signs of wear on the red-haired girl’s spear so if he couldn’t kill her, at least he wanted to destroy her weapon, then it would be easier to convince the middle-aged man to capture her, or at leas that’s what he was thinking, until he realized that... it was his weapon the one from which said sounds originated.

"My spe...ghhhh!", and the bad news kept coming, because he was suddenly hit by a hard metallic object on the neck which is why he couldn’t properly finish his sentence.

’Peter’s chain!’, thought the spear guy as he saw the metal chain which had made a whole turn around his neck, tightening around it, what happened is simple, Lina used her right foot to throw the chain upwards and then she grabbed it with her free hand and lashed it at the enemy.

One shouldn’t underestimate how much Lina has learned about flexible weapons after suffering due to them for so many years, the sister in the middle might not be an expert, but she could pass as a flexible sword user any day.

"Clang!", but then just as Lina was about to pierce that guy’s neck with her spear, a small round shield got in the way of her attack at the last second.

"Sorry, but could you spare him, in exchange I will willingly surrender myself", said the middle-aged man, he used a balanced short-sword and mounted round shield fighting style, apparently.

"He is a piece of trash, if you want him to be spared, does that mean you are with this trash, old man?", said the sister in the middle as her gaze became sharp, originally Lina only wanted to kill the spear guy and aim to capture the other two, but she wouldn’t mind making adjustments to her plans if the middle-aged man was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

"Ahem, please don’t misunderstand missy, I’m fully aware that he is trash, it’s just that I... recognized that fighting style he just used and have questions to make him, myself, so I need him alive for now at least", said the middle-aged man as he gave a furious glare at the spear guy to then place his short-sword and shield on the ground and take a few steps away from them.

’That gaze... it’s similar to ours’, thought Lina as she evaluated the words, voice and expression that the middle-aged man had when he glared at the spear guy, he seemed to want rip that guy’s flesh and grind his bones into dust, it was a deep burning hatred, similar to what the three sisters felt whenever they saw the man whom they used to call father.

"Deal, but I need a guarantee, so you stab that guy on his legs, that way he won’t be able to run by himself and since you will attack him, then you will be his enemy for sure", said Lina, to which the middle-aged man didn’t hesitate in the slightest he grabbed the short sword and while covering the spear guy’s mouth with one of his hands, he stabbed both of his legs.

"Done", said the middle-aged man as he let the short-sword on the ground and then took the spear guy and the fainted chain guy with himself to then walk ahead of Lina, on Aster’s direction.

’Besides with three hostages my achievement will be bigger than the one of that little sister of mine, that will teach her to not leave her beloved sister out of the fun~’, amusingly thought the sister in the middle.