Chapter 241 – Taking care of her team

Chapter 241 – Taking care of her team

With Wanshu tied up, Aiko went outside to gather firewood.

This place was really well hidden so even if they set up a fire, they would not be discovered as the meadow would drown all that light.

You would have to be very close to the meadow to see that, but at that point, Aiko would have already be alerted and take her team to run away.

"It's also surprising that we weren't chased all that much..." Aiko tilted her head.

They were hard to catch since they were running through the forest which was hard to navigate. Though for some reason, the Cultivators didn't fire their fireworks at them during that time. It was as if they were more interested in something else...

"I hope Umbra is alright..." Aiko sighed. She knew the general location of Umbra and that she was coming closer, but it already has been a few days, which meant that the bastard might have woken up.

It would then depend on the ability of the Umbra Fox and how well she can tie the rope around him or restrain him from doing anything foolish.

"I did still want to question the fatty, but since he probably distracted the Cultivators... I would let that slide." Aiko felt magnanimous for once and didn't hold almost any grudge against him, but even that small amount would vanish if Umbra was safe and sound.

Aiko gathered those pesky dead branches. She didn't like gathering, since she could not carry all that much with her. Unlike the Blood Fox and Umbra, who just needed to carry the firewood twice, Aiko who was much sma- Ahem! petite— needed to repeat it like 8 to 10 more times just to match their pace! It's injustice!

"Is this enough?" Aiko placed the firewood for the 9th time. She was clearly upset, as her eyebrows kept twitching.

"This is enough." The Blood Fox replied weakly, her complexion looked somewhat alright, but it was less rosy.

"Just rest." Aiko sighed, ready to start the fire.

"You won't burn yourself, right?" The Blood Fox narrowed her eyes gently.

Aiko pouted. "You have too much energy considering you can still tease me!"

The Blood Fox pursed her lips happily before closing her eyes.

Aiko was not as quick at starting the fire and struggled quite a bit, but she eventually got it going. She did not prepare any meals, as the Blood Fox was soundly asleep. Aiko would prepare it once she woke up or Umbra arrived...

...

The next day, Umbra arrived with the conscious yet glaring Mirage Fox.

Aiko didn't like his expression so she beat him up until he lost consciousness.

This ruckus woke up the Blood Fox and she stared outside.

"You should've slept a bit more, but since you are awake, let's eat and sleep a bit more." Aiko gestured.

The Blood Fox didn't complain or say anything, she just exchanged glances with Umbra.

Aiko went by the still-burning fire. She kept the fire going throughout the night and day to keep everyone warm.

While it was not chilly, it was better to be in a warm place to recover faster, or at least that's what Aiko believed.

Her duo went towards the Mirage Fox and slapped some kind of strange Talismans on him.

Aiko was a bit curious about them so she asked them. "What are those Talismans?"

The Blood Fox smiled gently. "One restrains any kind of communication that is through the Soul or Mind. The demerit is that it's easily torn away, so you can't really use it during fights. Another one restrains his body, so he can't recover as quickly and would have a harder time breaking the rope. The second one's demerit is that it's easily torn by Divine Sense." She explained. This was a great gift from Mei that they had never previously used as it was not needed, but since they now had a target that they needed to 'vent' on. It was the perfect opportunity to test its effects.

Unbeknownst to Aiko, Umbra was smiling happily. She was happy that Wanshu was able to stroke the protectiveness of Aiko. It would make it much easier to convince everyone that she is part of the team once the ordeal is over.

Wanshu returned with piles and piles of dead branches, some were wet on the outside, but all of them were dry on the inside.

Aiko pulled out a fabric from her Storage Ring.

Wanshu wanted to take it from Aiko and start sewing, but was startled.

"Why are you munching on it?!" Wanshu could not understand what Aiko was doing.

Her team was resting on the sidelines as they wondered how well would Wanshu get along with Aiko. That and the fact that they couldn't help but to sit down and look towards Aiko.

With so many eyes on her, she paused. "What? Do you have any problems?"

"It's strange that you would munch on the fabric that you are giving to someone..." Umbra said gently so as not to agitate her Mistress.

"Yeah? Then tell me where did we get this fabric?" Aiko questioned both Umbra and the Shadow Passion and at the same time, she was rubbing the cloth on her wrist.

The Blood Fox pursed her lips. She understood what Aiko was doing, but there were better ways to do it...

Wanshu did not know so she kept quiet, meanwhile, Umbra thought she knew and answered.

"From those normal assassins?" Umbra didn't know for certain, so instead of answering, she made it a question.

"Correct." Aiko nodded as she kept rubbing. "Then tell me what assassins specialise in."

"Stealth." Umbra said.

Aiko nodded. "And?"

"Assassinations?" Umbra was taken slightly aback that there was more.

Aiko's eyes twitched. "And?"

"Ummmm..." Umbra turned towards the Blood Fox, but she was back to resting. She then turned towards Wanshu, but she had a teasing expression on her face, which meant she could not get any help from there either.

"Poison!" Aiko rolled her eyes seeing the struggling Umbra.

"Oh..." Umbra nodded absent-mindedly. "OH!" She suddenly realised what Aiko meant. "You are testing it for poison!"

Aiko nodded and passed the fabric to the Shadow Passion. "You can't hand over something that's poisoned, unless you are handing it over to your enemy." Aiko shrugged. She made a clear distinction that the Mirage Fox was an enemy, but that the Shadow Passion was not.

Umbra blushed and laid down to rest. Meanwhile, the shock on Wanshu's face was apparent.

She had never heard about a leader who would test poison on themselves. She did notice Aiko's strange green arm, but she did not comment on it.

The reason was simple. Foxes believed in beauty, that green hand was not beautiful, so Aiko might be prickly about it and she didn't want to risk angering her...

The Shadow passion took off the 'breast protection' and felt a piercing gaze on her.

She turned to see the small Fox looking at her.

"Exhibitionist..." Aiko murmured and her team burst out in laughter.

Wanshu blushed deep red. She was not an exhibitionist! They were all females, so it was alright to do this!