The blonde shield-sister looked at Brida like she had just grown a second head.

"An axe?" the woman scoffed, waving her calloused hand dismissively. "Who the hell would ever give a woman a heavy battleaxe as a romantic gift? Are you trying to court a warlord or a lumberjack?"

"But I really want one!" Brida had complained, deflating slightly against the sticky wooden table.

"You need to act a lot more like a proper woman, Brida," another heavily scarred friend suggested.

She leaned across the table with a perverted degenerate grin plastered across her face.

"Forget the damn weapons! When a man buys you premium silks or a gold necklace, you push the man forcefully over a table and you allow him to take you right there!"

The table erupted into boisterous crass cheers.

"That’s exactly what your mother did with your father after he bought her a new steel breastplate!" the woman cackled loudly.

"Aye!" another woman chimed in, entirely abandoning her filter. "You wrap your thighs around his waist and you make him beg for air! You assert total physical dominance in the bedchambers!"

"You ride him until his legs give out! Show him what a shieldmaiden can do!"

The loud perverted advice was instantly interrupted.

Her mother looked up from meticulously sewing a torn leather armor strap as her face was flushed bright red.

"You are all irredeemable perverts!" her mother scolded her friends, kicking the blonde shield-sister under the table.

Her mother turned her warm stern eyes directly toward a young Brida.

The heavy noise of the mead hall seemed to fade into the background.

"Listen to me, Brida," her mother instructed gently, offering a small genuine smile. "If you ever receive something you truly wanted from the man you love... you don’t need to push him over a table, anything really..."

Her mother reached out and tapped Brida’s nose.

"You just have to look him in the eyes and say thank you."

The heavy nostalgic memory faded to black.

"Brida?"

Silas’s deep voice snapped her violently back to reality.

She was standing in the torch-lit Garrison.

Brida was surrounded by the other armed women and Silas was standing on the raised stone dais, looking down at her with a hint of genuine confusion.

He had just handed her a highly destructive, probably multi-million-credit mythic weapon, and his heavy infantry commander had completely zoned out like a malfunctioning NPC...

Brida blinked.

Her vision instantly blurred.

The heavy iron torches mounted on the walls smeared into glowing streaks of orange light.

Thick hot tears welled up in her eyes.

The tears violently spilled over her battle-scarred cheeks, dripping down onto the dark canvas of her new uniform.

She began openly crying.

"S-so-sorry..."

She clutched the massive dark handle of the void cleaver tightly against her chest, holding the lethal weapon like it was a fragile newborn baby.

A collective wave of nervous gasps instantly rippled through the Soldier ranks behind her.

’Is she actually crying?’ Fenna thought with her eyes in panic from the third row.

’Does she hate the gift?’ another scout archer panicked internally. ’She better stop crying right now! If she complains about a mythic weapon, the Lord might never buy us anything ever again!’

Brida didn’t complain.

She aggressively wiped the hot tears from her face with the back of her calloused hand as her broad shoulders shook.

"Thank you, my Lord," Brida sobbed out loudly, entirely abandoning her stoic unbreakable military persona. "Thank you so much."

She looked down at the massive pulsating axe.

The purple gravity runes cast a ethereal glow over her face.

"When I was just a little girl," Brida explained with her voice cracking heavily. "I used to watch my father swing a massive iron logging axe in the courtyard. I always desperately wanted one of my own... I wanted to be strong like him."

She sniffled, tightening her grip on the mythril handle.

"Nobody ever gave me one as they told me to pick up a shield instead."

She looked directly up at her Sovereign.

Her eyes were completely filled with burning devotion.

"So thank you."

Silas didn’t stand awkwardly on the dais.

He didn’t just offer a stiff nod and move on to the next soldier.

He stepped directly down from the stone platform, closing the distance between them.

Silas completely ignored the heavy dangerous battleaxe clutched to her chest as he raised his bare hand and placed his palm gently against her tear-streaked face.

Brida instantly stopped talking.

She completely froze.

Her breath caught in her throat ss she looked directly into his golden-ringed eyes, paralyzed by the sudden intimate physical contact.

His rough calloused thumb gently wiped a heavy tear from her cheek.

"It’s okay, Brida," Silas told her with his deep voice carrying a soft warmth in them.

He offered her a small reassuring smile.

"Besides, you should wipe your tears," Silas told her smoothly. "They don’t exactly look too good on you."

He let his hand linger on her cheek for a fraction of a second longer than necessary.

"As long as you are my Brida," Silas promised her. "You will always get exactly what you want."

The sheer, overwhelming emotional weight of the statement completely short-circuited her brain.

Her face flushed a blinding, radioactive shade of dark crimson.

Her heart hammered violently against her ribs, threatening to crack her sternum.

The massive heavy void cleaver in her hands suddenly felt completely weightless compared to the suffocating gravity of his direct affection.

Silas was just being normal.

’I just need my primary heavy infantry tank happy and motivated...’ Silas thought internally, completely unaware of the romantic nuke he had just dropped. ’If she’s loyal, she’ll hold the front line and farm endless EXP for me without breaking morale. This is basic leadership 101.’

Brida, however, misinterpreted the gesture entirely.

’What would actually happen if I just forcefully pushed him down and took him right here on the stone floor?’ Brida thought, shifting from wholesome gratitude to degeneracy in an instant.

The shield-sisters from her past were right.

She needed to assert total dominance.

She needed to claim her man!

Before she could even finish formulating the explicit tactical assault plan in her head, a sudden blinding flash of green light erupted from the dais.

A thick condensed vine of pure nature magic violently wrapped around Brida’s waist.

YANK!

The divine vine forcefully pulled Brida three feet backward, ripping her away from Silas’s gentle touch.

"She was way too close!" Eluned declared loudly from the dais.

The Goddess of Nature was standing directly behind Silas.

Her glowing green eyes were narrowed into jealous territorial slits.

She still clutched her empty moonshine bottle, swaying slightly on her bare feet.

Brida immediately scowled, aggressively brushing the dissipating green vine off her new clothes.

"Oh!" Brida complained loudly, glaring at the Goddess. "So now you suddenly know how to use your combat powers flawlessly when you’re drunk?!"

Silas let out a genuine chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck.

Behind him, the kneeling Soldiers broke into scattered amused laughter.

The emotional tension in the hall evaporated, replaced by the familiar banter of the barracks.

Silas stepped back onto the raised dais.

"Next," Silas called out, raising his voice to command the room. "Tamsin... Come forward."

Tamsin blinked in genuine surprise.

The lethal dual-wielding Wilderness Huntress instantly stood up from the front row.

She didn’t march forward like a rigid, disciplined soldier as she walked toward the dais with the fluid arrogant grace of an apex predator tracking prey.

As she walked, the kneeling Soldiers behind her erupted into loud enthusiastic cheering.

"Let’s go, Tamsin!"

"Show him how it’s done!"

They slammed their gauntlets against the floorboards, actively hyping the woman up.

Brida completely scowled from her position near the dais.

’Why the absolute hell weren’t people cheering for me when I was walking up?’ Brida complained in her head, crossing her massive arms over her chest.

"It’s strictly because you are incredibly scary, Captain," Gunnhild quipped quietly from the front row.

Brida aggressively gritted her teeth, glaring directly at the spearwoman.

"What?!" Brida snapped defensively, her deep voice booming across the hall. "I can be calm and approachable too!"

Exactly zero people agreed with her.

A highly awkward chorus of muffled, uncomfortable coughs rippled through the seventy kneeling women.

Brida blushed, humiliated by her own army, and aggressively looked away.

"Tch...."

Tamsin reached the base of the stone dais.

She dropped smoothly to one knee, offering a disciplined salute.

"Reporting to receive my designated reward, my Lord," Tamsin stated smoothly with her dark eyes completely focused on his face.

Silas smiled, actively appreciating her professionalism.

"Hold your hands out," Silas instructed.

His right hand glowed violently as he reached directly into the digital void of his Lord Inventory.

He pulled the item completely out into physical reality.

Silas handed her The Eclipse-Thread Vambraces.

They were Tier 3 gear.

They were forged from an impossibly lightweight dark mythril mesh that seamlessly molded over the forearms.

Deep glowing crimson runes were etched directly into the knuckle plating, actively bleeding a small dark crimson mist into the ambient air.

Tamsin eagerly took the gauntlets.

Her eyes widened as she felt the terrifying kinetic density of the third tier gear.

"These are specifically designed to entirely absorb all incoming shock," Silas explained the tactical specs. "The internal micro-friction runes will permanently prevent any chain-burn on your forearms during your high-speed rotational attacks."

Tamsin stared at the dark metal.

She looked up at Silas as a very small uncharacteristic blush touched her pale cheeks.

"I am extremely grateful for this specific gift, my Lord," Tamsin thanked him. "I am just disappointed that I cannot currently offer you an adequate gift in return."

"Don’t worry about it," Silas dismissed the concern completely. "Your presence on the battlefield is entirely enough."

’Your massive AoE critical hit damage is the real gift here...’ Silas thought. ’Just keep turning the local wildlife into minced meat and we’re even babe.’

Tamsin’s blush deepened considerably.

She immediately slid the dark mythril gauntlets onto her forearms.

The Tier 3 auto-fitting runes activated flawlessly, tightening the mesh securely against her skin.

"They fit perfectly," Tamsin praised, flexing her fingers. "Like a glove."

She didn’t wait for permission as she immediately reached down to her hips.

SHINY!

With a sharp metallic sound, she drew her heavy chained daggers out from their leather sheaths.

Tasmin didn’t just stand there as she actively tested the gear.

WHOOSH!

Tamsin began moving.

She launched into a blinding complex martial arts dance directly in front of the dais.

Tasmin spun the heavy chains through the empty air with terrifying velocity.

WHOOSH!

The dark metal of the vambraces effortlessly absorbed the violent friction of the iron chains whipping against her wrists.

It was an incredibly beautiful display of lethal acrobatics.

"The physical balance is flawless!" Tamsin praised loudly, continuing her rapid rotation.

Silas watched her spin, thoroughly impressed by her raw agility.

"I also unlocked a new feature during the evolution process..." Silas noted casually.

Tamsin paused mid-spin, catching the heavy daggers smoothly by their hilts.

She blinked, looking up at him. "A new feature?"

"Put your mana into the metal," Silas instructed pragmatically.

Tamsin didn’t hesitate.

She gripped the hilts and surged her raw mana directly into the dark gauntlets.

FWOOSH!

The heavy iron blades of her daggers instantly, violently caught on fire.

A thick crimson magical flame completely engulfed the metal weapons.

The fire radiated an intense heat that made the surrounding air physically shimmer and warp.

Tamsin paused completely.

She stared at her violently burning weapons in shock.

"The Tier 3 vambraces will actively force any physical weapon you hold to catch fire." Silas explained calmly, unbothered by the destructive upgrade.

Tamsin’s dark eyes instantly glittered with joy.

She didn’t say a word as she aggressively spun the burning chains again.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

She executed a flawless high-speed rotational strike, spinning the flaming blades around her body in a deadly crimson halo.

Tasmin ended the violent movement with a massive extended horizontal slash directly toward Brida’s face.

The burning heavy iron dagger stopped exactly one microscopic inch away from Brida’s nose.

The intense crimson flames aggressively singed the heavy infantry commander’s bangs.

Brida didn’t flinch.

She simply offered the assassin a massive competitive grin.

"That’s not a bad trick at all."