Aeliana froze.

The question hit the room like a blast.

The heavy warlord of his infantry division... The terrifying Shieldmaiden who crushed mutated boars with her iron shield, who carried fifty pounds of gear through the mud, and who roared battle commands in the pouring rain.

She was hiding physical dimensions that defied the laws of standard combat mobility!

Aeliana’s refined elven composure catastrophically shattered.

A brilliant crimson blush instantly exploded across her pale cheeks with the heat spread aggressively down her neck and entirely consumed the tips of her long, pointed ears.

She clamped her hands tightly against the sides of her own robes, violently averting her gaze to stare intensely at the far stone wall.

"M-my Lord!" Aeliana shrieked softly with her voice pitching up in frantic panic. "You just promised me you were merely scanning the logistical data! You were not supposed to loudly and verbally isolate the specific cup sizes of your commanding officers!"

"I wasn’t looking for it!" Silas defended himself, gesturing wildly to the open ledger on his desk. "It’s literally written right here in thick black ink! I am just trying to comprehend the physics involved! How does she even strap an iron breastplate over a forty-two without completely crushing her ribs?!"

Aeliana squeezed her green eyes shut with her entire body going rigid with embarrassment.

’Why is my Lord doing like this...?’

Her composed mind completely abandoned her, leaving her to desperately defend the pride of her own gender.

"We bind heavily for combat, Lord Graves!" Aeliana stuttered fiercely with her words tumbling over themselves in a frantic defensive rush.

She subconsciously puffed her own chest out with her hands gripping the fabric of her robes even tighter.

"It is a practical, necessary military adjustment! And for the record... I-I am quite big too, my Lord! The robes just naturally hide my true proportions!You’ve seen them you kno—"

The moment the words left her mouth, Aeliana realized exactly what she had just confidently screamed at her Sovereign.

She had just aggressively defended her own breast size to her male commander in a secluded office.

"Please forget I said that!"

Aeliana let out a terrified squeak.

She covered her burning face with both of her hands, completely ready to sink through the polished stone floor and voluntarily exile herself back into the Umbral Basin out of shame.

Her long pointed ears were practically glowing red against her silver hair and the quiet crackle of the hearth fire suddenly sounded as loud as a roaring forge in the suffocating silence that followed her outburst.

Silas leaned back in his chair, completely dumbfounded by the chaotic escalation of the conversation.

’Why do these women always overcomplicate these things...’

He stared at the Royal Elf with his mouth slightly parted.

Silas had not expected a screaming confession regarding the hidden dimensions beneath his Arcanist’s combat robes even though he knew that they were big....

He rubbed the stubble on his jaw and then he opened his mouth but before Silas could offer a face-saving response to the mortified Elf, the heavy oak doors of the tactical office were opened.

The culprit didn’t open them normally, they were kicked inward.

The thick oak slammed against the dark-stone masonry.

CRACK!

The heavy iron hinges groaned and warped under the massive kinetic force, sending a shower of stone dust raining down onto the plush carpet.

"Haah~ Destroying property... Not again Elu..."

Eluned burst into the room.

The SSS-Rank Goddess did not care about the enforced military protocol of the Warlord’s Garrison.

She did not care that Aeliana was currently standing in the center of the room having a mental breakdown.

The Novice Trial concluded today as Silas had explained.

Eluned knew exactly what that meant.

The world’s foundational laws dictated that Silas would be taken from the Sovereign Realm and sent back to his native dimension before the sun set.

The countdown in her mind had reached its final hours, and the dread had finally boiled over into panic... even though Silas had already told her that it would be alright.

"My Lord!" Eluned cried out in overwhelming distress.

She didn’t walk up to the desk like a normal person either.

The Goddess practically leaped across the room. She bypassed the polished obsidian barrier entirely, throwing her body forward with terrifying superhuman agility.

Her bare feet barely touched the rug before she launched herself through the air with the scent of crushed pine needles and fresh rain following in her wake.

Silas barely had time to brace himself before Eluned crashed directly into him.

She hit his chest with desperate momentum, her legs straddling his lap as she wrapped her pale arms tightly around his neck.

She buried her face deeply into the crook of his shoulder with her silver-green hair cascading over his black combat robes like a silken waterfall.

The heavy leather chair groaned under their combined weight, the wooden legs scraping harshly against the stone floor, but Silas smoothly adjusted his center of gravity.

He planted his boots firm, catching her flawless momentum without tipping backward.

"Eluned," Silas grunted softly with the breath slightly knocked out of him by the impact.

He instinctively wrapped his massive arms around her slender waist, securing her against him.

He could feel the rapid, frantic hammering of her heart pressing against his chest. "What is wrong? Are you hurt?"

"You are leaving..." Eluned whispered into his neck with her voice trembling.

She tightened her grip on his neck, her nails digging into the heavy fabric of his robes.

Her possessive nature was aggressively fighting against the suffocating fear of abandonment.

"The trial ends today and the realm is preparing to rip you away from us. I can feel the tether pulling..."

’I haven’t even looked at the Descend Button yet!’

He had already told the girls about him leaving two days ago and well it was not a good thing that followed after... They had nearly destroyed the Dining area!

Aeliana, who had finally lowered her trembling hands from her face, watched the Goddess desperately cling to their Lord.

The Royal Elf’s mortification instantly faded, replaced by a somber understanding that settled deep in her chest.

Every single girl in the Vanguard felt the exact same looming dread.

They hadn’t spoken about it during the morning drills, keeping their fears buried beneath the rhythm of clashing swords and marching boots, but the terror was there.

They had been summoned into a nightmare... They had been dragged from the ether, dropped into a rotting dead basin filled with monsters that wanted to tear the flesh from their bones...

And Silas was the only unyielding pillar of warmth and survival they possessed.

He was the one who pulled the sword from the stone.

He was the one who built the walls, who forged the mythril, who stood in the freezing mud and told them they were going to live.

The thought of standing behind the massive steel walls without him, even for a moment, was deeply terrifying.

"I am not abandoning you, Eluned... I already told you." Silas murmured with a sigh as he ran a hand through his hair. "Neither am I leaving the rest of you, why don’t you all trust me?"

He reached up, gently running his calloused hand through her silver-green hair.

His thick fingers massaged the back of her head with deliberate affection, untangling the knots of her panic.

"It is just an extraction," Silas explained calmly with his thumb tracing a slow circle against her spine. "I have to return to Earth. I have to secure our resource payouts from the Lord Association and gather the specific supplies we need to evolve this territory even further. You know this. We need bulk iron, we need seeds and we need medicine that the basin cannot provide."

He leaned his head against hers, forcing her to listen to the unbothered rhythm of his own breathing.

"But my soul is permanently anchored to this Citadel," Silas promised. "I will return to you. That is a vow... The world cannot keep me from my territory, and it cannot keep me from my Vanguard."

Eluned sniffled softly. She pulled her face away from his neck just enough to look directly into his piercing blue eyes.

Her emerald eyes were shimmering with tears with her delicate flawless features twisted into a deep, vulnerable pout that made her look less like an ancient deity and more like a woman terrified of losing her husband.

"You swear it?" Eluned demanded softly with her gaze searching his rugged face for any hint of deception. "You swear you will not find a mortal woman in your home dimension and forget about the Goddess who waits for you in the dark? They say Earth is a world of endless light and luxury. Why would you ever want to come back to the mud?"

Silas smiled.

"Well I command an army of superhuman warriors and a Goddess as beautiful as you..." Silas whispered, leaning in so his lips barely brushed against her pointed ear.

His breath was warm against her skin. "There is nothing on Earth that could ever compare to what I have built here with you all."

The intense burning jealousy that had been coiling in Eluned’s chest evaporated, replaced by a rushing wave of warmth that started in her core and flooded her veins.

Her pale cheeks flushed a brilliant crimson as her emerald eyes completely melted with immense devotion.

She leaned her forehead against his, letting out a long, shuddering breath as the tension bled out of her shoulders.

"Okay Okay... I believe you."

"While I am gone," Silas continued though he did not loosen his protective grip on her waist, "you are the highest-ranking entity in the Blessed Land. I am officially leaving you in command of the territory, Eluned. You will guard these walls. You will keep the girls safe and you will hold the line until I step back through that portal."

Eluned’s spine straightened instantly.

The SSS-Rank divine authority surged back into her posture, pushing away the lingering traces of her panic.

He wasn’t just leaving her behind; he was entrusting her with the lives of his entire empire. In short, he was giving her the keys to his kingdom...

"I will not let a single shadow breach the gates, my Love," Eluned vowed fiercely with her hands moving to grip the lapels of his dark robes.

Before Silas could offer her a final word of praise, the tender peace of the office was shattered once more.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The deafening sound of the Watchtower’s massive iron alarm bells erupted across the territory.

The ringing echoed off the high-vaulted stone ceilings of the Citadel, drowning out the ambient noise of the Warlord’s Garrison and shaking the glass in the iron-reinforced window frames.

Silas’s head snapped toward the windows with his jaw clenching.

A split second later, Fenna’s voice, magically amplified by the Watchtower’s communication runes to carry over the entire massive compound, roared through the crisp morning air.

"Vanguard! To arms! Massive horde detected! North treeline!" Fenna screamed.

She didn’t sound that panicked but it was most certainly a very serious issue as the Bow-Splitter captain didn’t stutter even once. "It’s a Monster Tide for some reason! We have a Boss incoming! I repeat, Tier 3 Boss incoming!"

’I see she’s using the terms I taught her, huh?’ Silas thought.

The tender warmth in Silas’s blue eyes was instantly snuffed out.

The relaxed, comforting Sovereign who had just been massaging his Goddess’s hair completely vanished...

’I heard exceptional Lords get tides before they have to leave, this is good.’ He thought.

Silas forcefully gripped Eluned’s waist, effortlessly lifting the Goddess off his lap and setting her firmly on her feet.

He stood up.

His heavy boots slammed against the polished stone floor as the roaring golden heat of his Mythic Core flared to life, flooding his spiritual pathways with volatile energy.

The ambient temperature in the office spiked with the shadows retreating from the radiance of his power.

"Aeliana," Silas sighed. "Drop the ledger and grab your weapon."