"Kaelia knows her craft," Silas agreed as he speared a roasted root and fed it to her as well with the gesture lacking any awkwardness or hesitation.

"Mm~ I agree..."

He ate a piece himself, then offered her another cut of the boar.

They shared the meal in the quiet with the only sounds in the Keep being the crackling of the hearth, the drumming of the rain, and the clinking of the iron fork against the ceramic plate.

The simple act of sharing food stripped away the remaining layers of their hierarchy.

The Sovereign and the Goddess vanished, leaving only a tired man and the woman who watched his back.

Eluned chewed the last piece of meat he offered her.

She didn’t stand up or move away as she shifted her weight, resting her hand lightly on his bare shoulder.

Her skin was cool.

Eluned looked down at him with the flickering firelight casting deep shadows across her face.

"I heard the girls talking today..." Eluned said, her voice dropping to a soft murmur.

Silas paused, resting the iron fork on the edge of the plate. He looked up at her, waiting.

"They talk about your strength," Eluned continued, her thumb tracing a light circle over the curve of his collarbone. "They talk about the empire you are building and their worth in it..."

"I mean they are soldiers," Silas replied evenly. "They need to know their commander can lead them through hell and bring them back... Besides I like it."

"I know," Eluned said, her emerald eyes softening into pools of liquid green light. "But it made me think about my own place here."

She lowered her gaze with her fingers slipping from his shoulder to rest against the warm of his chest.

She could feel the steady thud of his heart beneath his skin.

"When you pulled me from the ether," Eluned whispered. "You didn’t just summon a Hero. You pulled me out of the dark..."

Silas didn’t speak as he listened instead.

"I was trapped," she admitted with a soft, incredibly fragile tremor entering her voice as her mind briefly flashed back to the suffocating, parasitic roots of Yggdrasil. "I was a fallen Spirit, betrayed by my own blood, locked in an abyss where nobody wanted to hear the truth... I had hung there for centuries, drained and forgotten... I begged for death every single waking moment..."

She looked back up with her emerald eyes locking onto his.

The vulnerability in her gaze was completely stripped of the divine composure she usually maintained in front of the girls.

"And then I saw the tab," Eluned sai. "It asked me if I wanted to be a Hero. It told me I would lose my levels, my priority skills, my status... and I laughed. Power meant nothing to me. All I wanted was to see the person who was crazy enough to save me..."

She leaned closer with her breath washing over his face.

"I tackled you to the ground," Eluned confessed with a soft tearful smile touching her lips as she remembered their first chaotic meeting in the courtyard. "I begged you not to abandon me, and you didn’t. You didn’t push me away. You didn’t ask me for a grand display of power and you just held me."

She reached out, her fingers resting gently over his heart, feeling the beat of his Gold Core.

"I told you then that I would be anything you wanted," Eluned whispered. "I cherish you, Silas. If the chains of the world shattered tonight, if the portal opened and offered me a path back to my throne... I would not take it. I never want to leave your side. I am yours, my Lord. Forever."

Silas stopped breathing.

He stared at the woman standing beside his chair.

It was love... Eluned loved him...

A profound warmth bloomed in the center of his chest.

’Cute...’

Silas smiled.

It wasn’t the grim smirk of a warlord, nor was it the dry amused chuckle of a commander dealing with unruly troops.

It was a soft unguarded smile that reached his blue eyes.

He reached up with his large hand cupping the side of her face. His thumb brushed over her high cheekbone, tucking a stray strand of silver-green hair behind her ear.

"This world is a nightmare," Silas murmured. "It is rotting, violent, and trying to kill us every time we step outside these walls but you... you make it bearable as well as the other girls but you help out the most. You are my anchor in the dark, Eluned..."

Eluned’s breath hitched with her emerald eyes widening.

She didn’t pull away from his touch. Instead, she leaned into his palm as her eyes fluttered shut and she absorbed the warmth of his skin.

She slowly shifted her weight, scooting closer until her hip was pressed flush against his side.

The soft fabric of her tunic brushed against the bare skin of his chest.

She opened her eyes, looking down at his lips. A nervous mortal flutter of anxiety crossed her divine features.

"I..." Eluned stammered, her voice barely a breath.

She nervously chewed on her bottom lip with her cheeks flushing pink. "I have existed for eras, my Lord. I know the shape of the continents and the names of the ancient stars but I... I am not familiar with these mortal things. The mechanics of the heart."

Silas didn’t rush her.

He kept his hand on her cheek with his thumb continuing its slow soothing caress.

"You don’t need to know the mechanics," he whispered back. "Just follow the instinct."

Eluned swallowed hard. She leaned down, closing the final few inches between them and then she pressed her lips directly to his.

It wasn’t a desperate crushing collision of teeth and bruising passion...

It was hesitant and it was exploring.

Her lips were incredibly soft, warm, and tasting of the spiced food they had.

Silas let his eyes slide shut.

He shifted his hand from her cheek to the back of her neck with his fingers tangling in the thick silk of her hair.

SMACK!

He didn’t pull her into a suffocating embrace, but he angled his head, deepening the contact, returning the pressure with a slow rhythm.

For a long moment, the Sovereign and the Goddess simply existed and kissed... when they finally parted, the rush of oxygen felt cold against their damp lips.

Eluned opened her eyes.

The reality of what she had just done hit her like a tidal wave as her divine composure completely failed.

’I just kissed my Lord...’

The pink dusting her cheeks instantly went critical, exploding into a burning, furious shade of scarlet that consumed her entire face and neck.

She let out a panicked breathless squeak.

"I-I’m sorry..."

Losing her nerve entirely, she shrank downward, burying her burning face directly against the solid expanse of his chest.

She wrapped her arms around his torso, hiding herself from the world with her heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird.

Silas looked down at the top of her silver-green head. He felt the heat radiating from her flushed cheeks against his skin.

He couldn’t hold it back.

Silas threw his head back and let out a genuine laugh.

He wrapped his muscled arms around her shoulders, pulling her tight against him, holding her secure in her embarrassment.

"You know," Silas whispered with his lips resting against the crown of her head. "That was my first kiss, too."

Eluned let out a muffled groan against his body with her hands bunching the fabric of his trousers.

The admission didn’t soothe her embarrassment... it made her blush burn even hotter. She pressed her face deeper into his chest, refusing to look up.

Silas chuckled again.

He didn’t force her to move. He reached over with his free hand, picking up the iron fork.

He quickly finished the remaining pieces of the roasted boar meat and the wild roots, refusing to waste a single calorie of Kaelia’s hard work.

When the plate was clean, he gently loosened his grip on Eluned.

"Come on," Silas murmured.

He stood up from the heavy wooden chair, bringing her with him.

He walked over to a small ceramic washbasin resting on a side table, dipping his hands into the cool water to rinse the grease from his fingers.

He dried his hands on a linen cloth, then turned upstairs.

Silas and Eluned went upstairs... there were several rooms and with a single shove, utilizing a fraction of his Gold Core strength, he pushed the door of the room that they usually stayed in aside.

The wood groaned against the stone, clearing a wide path to the back of the room.

Silas walked over to the bed and pulled the heavy blankets back.

He turned and looked at Eluned. She was still standing near the chair with her face flushed, nervously wringing her hands in the fabric of her tunic.

Silas didn’t say a word as he just held out his hand.

"Come on Elu... you want me to sleep alone?" He asked.

Eluned let out a long shaky breath.

She crossed the room with her bare feet silent on the rug, and placed her small pale hand into his bigger one.

Silas pulled her into the bed.

He climbed in beside her, pulling the covers up over their shoulders, chasing away the chill of the stone room.

He lay on his back, leaving his arm extended.

Eluned didn’t hesitate this time. She curled into his side, resting her head on his shoulder with her hand draping across his chest.

"Haah~"

She let out a long contented sigh with the tension finally leaving her frame.

Silas rested his chin against the top of her head. He stared up at the dark vaulted ceiling of the Keep, listening to the heavy drumming of the monsoon rain against the slate roof.

The Umbral Basin was still out there.

The necrotic rot, the starving beasts, and the endless dark were waiting for them beyond the walls. Tomorrow, they would have to wake up, draw their steel, and march back into the mud to expand Blessed Land but tonight, the heavy iron gates were locked.

The Vanguard was resting in warm beds.

The Chef was safe... and the Goddess of Nature was sleeping in his arms. Silas closed his eyes with his breathing slowing to match hers.

The territory was safe.

...

The bruised necrotic-purple sky of the Umbral Basin slowly began to lighten, casting a pale, ash-gray illumination over the heavily fortified perimeter of the Blessed Land.

It was the dawn of Day Seven...

The final day of the brutal Novice Trial had officially arrived but looking at the sprawling, imposing military compound resting in the center of the dead earth, no one would ever mistake it for a struggling survivor’s camp.

Over the past few days, the territory had undergone a massive metamorphosis, shedding its fragile beginnings to become a true fortress of war.

Through relentless, coordinated hunting rotations and the daily influx of the summoning portal, the Blessed Land was completely unrecognizable from the muddy patch of dirt Silas had inherited.

The towering black plates of the Tier 3 Steel-Weave Palisade formed a flawless, unyielding square against the biting ash-laced wind.

High upon the elevated metal scaffolding, squads of sharp-eyed Bow-Splitters and Mages ran synchronized patrol routes, their longbows resting easily across their shoulders.

Down in the massive stone courtyard, the rhythmic crash of iron striking wood echoed into the morning air, driving away the unnatural silence of the basin.

Silas no longer commanded a desperate handful of shivering recruits... He now controlled a disciplined armed army of exactly seventy women... well seventy-two including Eluned and Aeliana.

Seventy lethal, superhuman Vassals.

Fifty of them were heavy-infantry Shieldmaidens.

Right now, in the pale morning light, their overlapping iron shields formed an impenetrable phalanx in the center of the training yard.

Brida’s harsh barking commands drifted up to the highest tower, met by the unified stomp of fifty iron-plated boots hitting the stone tiles.

The other twenty comprised the ranged division, the scouting units, and the specialized logistical staff running the backline.

The smell of slow-braised spiced monster meat continuously wafted from the massive stone chimneys of the Tier 2 Culinary Haven, mixing with the morning fog.

Kaelia was already awake, providing the army with a permanent overflowing reservoir of stamina and raw power.

Sitting at the dead center of this thriving, matriarchal war camp was the newly evolved crown jewel of the empire.

Silas sat in a plush, high-backed leather chair, his heavy iron-plated boots resting comfortably beneath a massive, perfectly polished obsidian desk.

’Okay... It’s the last day.’