[The Hero’s fate is now irrevocably bound to the Host. Betrayal probability: 0%]

Silas read the blue text, then looked down at the trembling naked elf kneeling on the cold stone.

The intensity in her green eyes was staggering.

It wasn’t the competitive lust of the Shieldmaidens plotting in the hot spring, nor was it the possessive territorial claim of the Goddess.

It was pure worship.

’I really didn’t do much for her to be acting like this...’

He stepped forward.

He didn’t offer a hand to help her up from the floor and he didn’t wrap his own towel around her shivering shoulders to preserve her modesty.

’I have to speak pretty seriously right now, do I?’ Silas thought and cleared his throat.

"You didn’t fail me in the cavern, Aeliana," Silas said. "You adapted to the nightmare and you survived. Today, you froze a lake of pressurized mud in a fraction of a second and saved the girls from being swallowed alive. Your magic is a terrifying weapon, and your mind is a blade."

Aeliana let out a soft sob with her rigid shoulders dropped as his validation hit her core, shattering the last remnants of her anxiety.

"Thank you, my Lord..." she whispered, bowing her head.

Silas looked at her for a long moment, the corner of his mouth twitching upward into a dry smirk.

"You are an exceptional Mage," Silas added. "But it is freezing out here so pick up your towel, Aeliana."

He turned on his heel and continued down the dark-stone corridor, walking down the winding stairs that led up to his personal quarters in the Keep.

Aeliana stayed on her knees, watching the broad span of his back retreat into the shadows.

A massive burning blush consumed her face, radiating down her neck and across her exposed chest as she shivered, goosebumps rising on her arms.

She reached down with her trembling fingers grabbing the damp linen from the floor. Aeliana pulled it to her chest, her green eyes glowing with a euphoric light.

"Yes, Master," she whispered to the empty hall.

...

The relentless drumming of the monsoon rain against the thick slate roof of the Stone Keep as well as the barracks was the only sound left in the world.

It was a heavy noise which was a constant reminder of the hostile necrotic wasteland that stretched out for miles beyond their fortified walls but inside the Keep, the air was warm.

Silas stood in the center of his personal quarters, staring down at his hands.

The adrenaline of the multi-front war had finally evaporated from his bloodstream as the intoxicating feeling of pushing his Mythic Gold Core to its limits... of leaping through the air and plunging a superheated mythril blade through the spine of a Tier 3 Boss was gone.

In its place was a dull ache that settled deep into the marrow of his bones as his muscles felt like lead.

’I really need to sleep man...’ Silas thought, it would soon be Day 7 and then he would have to go back to Earth... but Silas didn’t want to go back that much

He was clean.

The waters of the bathhouse had purged the grit, the mud, and the foul-smelling black blood of the Umbral Basin from his skin and right now, Silas wore no armor.

His broad chest was bare to the warm air of the room. The only thing he wore was a fresh pair of dark charcoal-gray trousers that Eluned newly made.

They were light, incredibly breathable, and softer than spun silk, resting comfortably against his hips and allowing his aching legs a full range of motion.

A soft knock at the heavy oak door of the Keep broke the quietness of the room.

Silas turned, his bare feet silent against the thick woven rug covering the stone floor.

He crossed the room and wrapped his hand around the iron latch, pulling the heavy door inward.

Kaelia stood in the shadowed corridor.

The Chef was still wearing her linen apron, though she had managed to wash the worst of the soot and grease from her face and hands.

She held a heavy iron tray balanced carefully on her hips as steam billowed upward from the covered wooden bowls and the thick ceramic plates resting on the metal surface.

Kaelia opened her mouth to announce her delivery, but the words died in her throat.

Her brown eyes darted upward, locking onto his bare chest.

She had seen him in armor but she had never seen him stripped down half naked like this.

’H-he...’

The dense muscles spanning his chest and shoulders were smooth like the skin of the Goddess. He really looked like a noble from her wildest fantasies.

She could also remember the girls talking about... that.

A deep crimson flush erupted across Kaelia’s cheeks, racing all the way down to her collarbones.

She swallowed hard with her gaze snapping down to the steaming bowls on the tray as if they held the secrets of the universe.

"M-my Lord," Kaelia stammered, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the edges of the heavy tray.

She took a shaky breath, forcing herself into a professional position.

"I brought your evening food. The girls... they dragged back several massive haunches of the mutated Iron-Boars and other monsters that we killed, along with the softer meat from the crawler abdomens so I had fresh ingredients to work with."

Silas looked down at the tray, breathing in the rich savory aroma bleeding through the steam.

It smelled of seared fat, crushed wild rosemary, and a deep, complex marrow-broth that made his empty stomach clench in anticipation.

"You cooked this after the feast in the morning?" Silas asked with a small smile on his face. "I’m glad you like cooking so much."

"The girls need high-tier protein to rebuild their torn muscle fibers," Kaelia rushed to explain with her eyes still fixed stubbornly on the iron tray. "And you... you exerted more energy than anyone. The core of the beast is good for the territory, but the meat is good for the body... I made sure to render the boar fat down to neutralize the toughness... It should melt on the tongue."

Silas didn’t issue a curt dismissal.

He reached out with his large hands wrapping around the edges of the tray as his fingers brushed against hers.

"Mmm!"

Kaelia jumped slightly at the contact with the heat radiating from his skin matching the warmth of the hot bowls.

He took the heavy burden from her, holding the small feast effortlessly in one hand.

"You are the reason this army can keep marching, Kaelia," Silas said.

He offered her a warm genuine smile, stripped of his commanding persona. "A blade is useless if the arm swinging it is starving. Thank you for keeping us fed and you’ve earned your rest tonight."

Kaelia’s breath hitched. She offered a hurried flustered bow with her face still burning.

"Goodnight, Lord Silas," she whispered, taking a step back into the corridor.

"Goodnight, Chef."

Silas pushed the heavy oak door shut with his foot, the iron latch clicking into place and sealing the Keep off from the rest of the Warlord’s Garrison.

He turned back toward the center of his quarters with the scent of the spiced meat drawing him forward.

Near the massive stone hearth, sitting cross-legged on a thick fur rug, was Eluned.

The Goddess of Nature had traded her ruined mud-stained silk dress for a simple, loose-fitting tunic she had made herself.

The fabric hung off her slender shoulders, catching the flickering orange light of the fire.

She wasn’t resting. Instead her pale, delicate hands were moving in a rapid blur.

A soft green light bled from her fingertips, illuminating her focused emerald eyes.

Silas paused near the center of the room, holding the heavy tray, simply watching her work.

Piled beside Eluned on the rug was a massive bundle of the tough necrotic "black grass" that grew like a plague across the Umbral Basin and in their territory too.

It was pretty poisonous but under the Goddess’s touch, it was transforming.

Eluned pulled a handful of the thorny black weeds into her lap.

As her glowing fingers passed over the dead vegetation, the magic purged the rot.

The sickly corrosive aura bleeding from the grass hissed and dissolved into harmless gray smoke, drawn up into the chimney of the hearth.

The rigid jagged blades of grass softened.

The dark, sickly black coloration bled away, shifting into a deep, rich charcoal gray. Eluned’s fingers danced, weaving the purified, magically softened fibers together with impossible speed.

She wasn’t using a loom or a spindle; she was coaxing the very cellular structure of the plants to bind together, creating a thick durable yet impossibly soft fabric right there on the floor.

Silas looked down at the charcoal-gray trousers he was currently wearing.

He rubbed the fabric between his thumb and forefinger. It felt like premium silk, yet it carried the tensile strength of cured leather.

Like he said earlier, she had made them for him.

While he was bathing, she had scavenged the poisonous weeds of the nightmare basin and woven them into clothing fit for a king, simply because he had nothing clean left to wear.

It was a profound demonstration of her utility.

She wasn’t just a living siege weapon capable of so much more... She was a goddess.

She manipulated life, growth, and creation so she could take the most hostile barren wasteland in existence and force it to yield comfort.

Silas walked over to his heavy wooden desk and set the iron tray down with a dull metallic clank.

The sound broke Eluned’s concentration. The green light faded from her fingertips, and she lowered the half-finished bolt of fabric into her lap.

She looked up with her emerald eyes catching the firelight.

Silas slumped into the high-backed wooden chair behind the desk.

He dropped into the seat, letting his head fall back against the wood with a long, heavy exhale.

"You should be sleeping," Silas murmured, rubbing a calloused hand over his face. "Channeling those ballista strikes takes a toll on your mana reserves."

"I am fine, my Lord," Eluned replied softly.

She set the fabric aside and stood up, smoothing the front of her borrowed tunic. "I prefer to keep my hands busy. The basin provides very little in the way of natural beauty, but the base carbon structures of the flora are... adaptable."

She walked over to the desk, looking down at the steaming bowls of food.

Silas reached out, pulling the heavy ceramic plate of sliced iron-boar closer. Kaelia had worked a miracle.

The meat was seared to a perfect, dark crust on the outside, but the inside was tender and bleeding juices into the bed of roasted wild roots.

He picked up a small iron fork, speared a thick cut of the spiced meat, and brought it to his mouth.

The flavor exploded across his tongue.

The rich salty fat of the boar, cut with the sharp, piney taste of the crushed rosemary sent a jolt of energy straight into his exhausted system.

He chewed slowly, letting the high-tier protein settle into his stomach.

He swallowed, letting out a low hum of appreciation as he looked at Eluned.

She was standing near the corner of the desk, her hands folded neatly in front of her, watching him eat.

Silas didn’t ask if she was hungry and he didn’t offer her a plate.

He reached out, grasping her gently by the wrist, and pulled her around the edge of the heavy desk.

"Mm?"

Eluned let out a soft gasp as he guided her closer but she didn’t resist.

She allowed him to pull her right up against the arm of his wooden chair with her hip brushing against his bare shoulder.

Silas speared another thick, steaming cut of the roasted boar meat on the end of his iron fork.

He didn’t bring it to his own mouth this time as he turned his wrist, holding the spiced meat up toward her face.

Eluned blinked, her emerald eyes darting from the fork to his calm steady blue eyes.

She was a Goddess.

No one had ever sat in a wooden chair and offered her a piece of meat from their own plate but then again... this was her Lord, he was unlike anyone else.

She hesitated for a fraction of a heartbeat then, she leaned down.

Her lips parted, and she took the cut of meat directly from the tines of the fork.

Silas watched the way her pale throat worked as she chewed.

The rich juices stained her lower lip which was a stark contrast to her flawless alabaster skin.

She closed her eyes, letting out a soft, very un-divine hum of appreciation as the flavors hit her palate.

"It is... very good," Eluned whispered, opening her eyes.