Chapter 120 - Collecting the riches

"Leave us here, or I will shout for help," Violet said sternly.

"We are already too far away from the camp. No one will hear you, I do not want to keep knocking you out, just stay put."

Violet stopped struggling and knew from Aile's confident tone that she would fail in trying anything. She was not scared, as she trusted Ellie's decision. Violet was questioning her in public, but she knew her well enough, Ellie was smart and careful. Over the years, Violet had seen her deal with many obstacles without a background. Therefore she was mostly sure that as a person who scrutinized everything Ellie would be safe.

The fact that Ellie was holding on to Aile without worry made her at ease. At the same time, she was wondering about Aile's identity. As far as she knows, Ellie only liked her mother and brother. Her brother was a cripple. So who was this person that she was comfortable hugging?

Aile had been moving slower as a result of carrying both of them and without a mount.

After a while, Ellie said, "Do you want to switch Violet? You can go on his back, and I will be at the front. My hands are tired of holding myself."

"No."

"I see.. you... so you like his hands on you."

"Shut up, Ellie."

Ellie found her new source of entertainment, teasing Violet. However, her words kept tempting the dark part of Aile's soul. Aile resisted it, and it was training for him. After half an hour of temptation, Aile lost control two times, which resulted in the angry-blushing face of Violet that he did not see.

Just when Aile got happy that Violet did not notice, and he improved in controlling the dark part of his soul.

Aile felt a stinging pain in his arm. When he looked down, he saw Violet biting his arm, then she made eye contact with him and snorted.

Aile overlooked her and was in fact not sure of how to respond, he was at fault here.

Soon they reached close to the red valley, and here, One, Two, Three and Four were waiting for Aile on their mount.

Aile arrived, seeing the two ladies attached to him, One and Two shared a mount, while Two and Three shared another.

Leaving two mounts empty for Ellie, Violet and Aile.

Aile then gave them a command, "Protect them and make sure they reach Port Kiar safely. Drop them to a safe location, if I do not catch up."

"I am not going anywhere. I only trust you," said Ellie.

Violet also nodded. She just did not like to travel alone with people she did not know.

"I will be back soon. Do not worry these people are my most trusted," Aile then looked at Ellie and said, "Plus I cannot afford to get you hurt." Aile remembered Diana and thought, 'Right, I cannot allow her to get injured. How can I meet Diana if she is hurt.'

Ellie looked back at Aile shyly. Aile took her silence as acceptance then pointed at Violet, "And you, do not pull off anything, they will drop you at Port Kiar. It is very dangerous here, so do not do anything that would force them to split up. Then not only will you be in danger, but everyone else will be too. I want all of you to reach Port Kiar safely."

Violet involuntarily nodded.

Aile then went to One and took a black robe from him, covering his blue one. Soon, he disappeared as he headed to where he planned to meet Hazel.

One and Two lead the group, while three and the injured four were behind them. Treating the girls the same as their cargo and caravan missions.

Aile kept ongoing and saw a large group waiting at the other way passing through the red valley.

Soon Hazel recognize the black-robed Aile, and she shouted, "All of you keep going ahead. If you see the people of Moon Merchant Hall do not cause a problem. We need to be out of here as soon as possible. I will scout around us. I do not want unnecessary fighting or mistakes. Dismissed."

Then the group of her adventurer's union moved forwards steadily.

"What is your plan?"

"Did you bring your storage treasure?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Take this and find the same marking around here. There are some herbs I collected, get as many as you can and meet me in 10 minutes to the south-west direction from here."

Aile gave her the marking required to find herbs around the forest that Aile collected and hid.

Hazel nodded, and in a few minutes, she was finished with finding the hidden herbs. She found most of his marks and returned to Aile. Some of the markings that were closer to the camps and mountain were not taken, there was no reason to risk their safety for some herbs. But, Aile was still annoyed that they would go to waste.

Then Hazel arrived and saw Aile very slowly walking towards a tree. She came close to him only to feel weak, and her soul was getting pulled. Hazel backed away and had a very concerned expression. She knew that Aile was taking a risk to get the herb for her and Sara, as she immediately figured out the strong soul force that the flower was giving off.

Aile went as close as his soul could take and then went to the body's original soul and said, "Hey, pass me the shield now."

Then a white coloured shield covered his soul, and the pulling force vanished. "I can only share this with you for 1-minute, hurry."

Aile thought, 'He is sharing, so it could be shared no wonder he easily agreed to my request.'

Aile realized the pressure decreased considerably and reached the Soul-Nether flower. With a swift motion, he picked 4 out of its 8 petals.

As soon as the 4 petals were picked, Aile noticed the vitality of the surrounding slowly decrease. His hand was getting numb from touching the cold petals, he was also losing strength, and his body felt disconnected.

He walked back, and he was getting weaker from touching the petal, it was the same feeling when he took over the body. He checked and noticed a root-like structure, trying to invade his body and soul connection. It would take a long time before it could be harmful to him, so he was not worried, but surprised at how easily it managed to infiltrate his body. It was also trying to pull vitality out of Aile. He realized that it needed sustenance.

Aile reached Hazel and said, "Give me access to control your treasure."

Hazel nodded and touched the corner of his lips that was bleeding and with his blood touched her treasure. Now Aile felt like he was connected to a giant box that always followed him. He imagined the leaves to be transferred to a corner of it, and the leaves were gone.

Aile senses suddenly picked a small buzzing sound. He panicked and said to Hazel, "We need to go, carry me and leave as fast as possible."

Aile hugged on to her back, as he was drained, and they ran away. Aile had noticed the Milli-Spiders' movement. This was because of the weathering of the flower of life and death, as it was affected by Soul-Nether flower's loss of petals. Therefore, Aile wanted to be as far away from this place as possible, before the spiders go frenzied. On the way, Aile checked her storage box and saw many of the herbs he had collected.

She had found 19 of his collections spots and 54 different herbs. Aile was happy and smiling if he sold these high-level herbs he can probably get a minimum of 500 gold coins.

He also noticed the other things in her treasure box. At the side, he found something that made him chuckle.

Then after travelling for ten minutes, Aile did not hear any movement in their 5 km. The Milli-Spiders did not seem to have made a move. But he was sure that after the life and deaths flower's vitality decreases a bit more, they will go berserk. The remaining people will not only have to run away from the powerful beast at the mountain but also from the Milli-Spiders.

Realizing that they were at a safe distance, Aile's hand began to roam around Hazel's body.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking interest, you have not come to 'heal your soul' recently." After Hazel found herself and Sara's soul problem, she had not come as often for 'healing her soul'. Of course, her sessions had very little to do with soul healing.

"Stop touching me, you are not allowed. You broke your promise. You said you will never force me to do something I do not want, but you brought up my oath today."

Aile held her tightly and kissed her neck, "Your safety is my priority, I do not want to lose you. Can you forgive me this time?"

Hazel had a complicated expression, she was annoyed that Aile broke his promise. She was even more annoyed that he risked his life twice because of her in the last few hours. She remembered Aile who was injured, drag himself to her to make sure she does not face the possibly dangerous situation of the mountain.

Can she blame him, if all he wanted was for her to be safe?