Starting With an SSS-Rank Goddess Summon!

”Haah...”

Silas dried off quickly, feeling infinitely lighter without the heavy layer of swamp mud and monster blood clinging to his skin.

He walked into his adjoining bedroom and pulled on a fresh set of clothes... a clean dark gray canvas shirt, sturdy black trousers, and soft leather boots.

’Courtesy of Eluned... I don’t even have to worry about clothes anymore.’ Silas thought

He took a deep breath, steeling his nerves, and walked out of the master suite.

He descended the wide spiraling stone staircase of the Keep, heading toward the main floor.

The ambient smell of the fortress had drastically changed.

The entire ground floor smelled like a five-star Michelin restaurant operating at maximum capacity. The rich mouth-watering aroma of roasted garlic, seared fat, sharp spices and fresh herbs was overwhelmingly potent.

Silas reached the bottom of the stairs and turned toward the grand dining hall.

The dining hall was a massive vaulted room lit by a roaring fire in the massive stone hearth.

A long polished oak table dominated the center of the room.

The trap was already set.

Standing on the left side of the long oak table was Morwenna.

The pirate queen had washed the soot from her face, her wild dark hair falling in heavy waves over her broad shoulders.

She stood with her arms crossed, looking fiercely proud with her stormy gray eyes locked onto the door.

Standing on the right side of the table was Eluned.

The Goddess of Nature had changed out of her soaked mining clothes and was wearing an elegant flowing green silk dress that highlighted her flawless curves.

Her silver hair was perfectly braided, and her chin was tilted up in a posture of divine superiority.

Sitting dead center on the table, resting on heavy ironwood placemats, were two massive domed silver serving platters.

Hiding slightly behind the stone archway that led to the kitchen was Kaelia.

The territory’s master chef caught Silas’s eye as he walked in, offering him a tiny nervous wave and a look of pure sympathy.

She had survived the crossfire of the cooking war, but now her Lord had to step into the blast zone.

”Ah, the judge has arrived,” Morwenna rasped loudly, gesturing to the heavy wooden chair positioned squarely between the two platters. ”Take a seat, Captain... The table is set...”

Silas didn’t say a word. He walked slowly across the room, feeling like a man marching toward the gallows, and sat down in the heavy oak chair.

Eluned immediately stepped forward, placing her delicate hand on the handle of the right silver dome.

”You survived the mud of the wild today, My Lord,” Eluned spoke, her voice smooth and dripping with elegant confidence. ”Your body requires true refined sustenance to repair the cellular damage of combat...”

’It’s not like I even fought today though....’

”You don’t need crude slop but divine perfection that can only be cooked by a Divine being.”

She lifted the silver dome with a flourish.

A cloud of fragrant mouth-watering steam rolled across the table. Sitting on the pristine white ceramic plate was a flawless thick cut of seared Umbral Wolf tenderloin.

The meat was cooked to a perfect precise medium-rare.

It was resting on a bed of bright, vibrant wild greens, drizzled with a rich, dark sauce that smelled sharply of crushed berries and fresh thyme.

’The hell did they get thyme from...?’

Silas’s mouth instantly watered. The presentation was genuinely terrifying in its perfection.

”Behold,” Eluned bragged proudly. ”This is Herb-crusted tenderloin, seared with controlled magic and glazed in a wild-berry reduction. It melts on the tongue and restores mana instantly...”

”A cute appetizer, weed,” Morwenna sneered loudly from the other side of the table. ”But the Captain doesn’t eat like a rabbit. He swings a sword that weighs forty pounds so he needs aggressive fuel that sticks to his ribs and builds muscle.”

Morwenna slammed her hand onto the left silver dome and ripped it off the table.

A thick savory cloud of heavy steam punched Silas right in the face.

Resting in a massive deep iron bowl was a dark bubbling meat stew.

It was packed with gargantuan, fist-sized chunks of braised boar meat, thick cuts of roasted root vegetables, and swimming in a dark rich gravy that smelled intensely of black peppercorns and roasted garlic with a bit of alcohol?

’The hell... did she cook?’

”This is an Astral Sea warlord’s stew,” Morwenna declared with her feral grin widening as Silas stared at the massive bowl. ”It was slow-braised for six hours. The fat is completely rendered into the dark ale gravy... It’s spicy, it’s heavy, and it will keep you full for three days. Eat up, Captain.”

Silas looked left.

He looked right.

Both dishes looked like masterpieces. He hadn’t eaten anything substantial since breakfast, and his Gold Core was aggressively demanding calories.

He picked up a heavy silver fork and a sharp steak knife.

He started with Eluned’s plate.

He sliced a piece of the herb-crusted tenderloin and the knife glided through the meat like it was cutting warm butter. He placed the cut into his mouth.

Silas closed his eyes.

”Mm~”

A soft involuntary groan of pure culinary bliss escaped his throat.

The meat was impossibly tender.

The berry reduction was sweet and perfectly balanced the rich savory flavor of the seared crust. It was, without a single doubt, the most elegant and delicious piece of food he had ever eaten in his entire life...

With the sole exception of Kaelia’s cooking of course.

Eluned beamed, her chest puffing out proudly as she shot a victorious devastatingly smug sneer across the table at the pirate.

Silas swallowed, taking a sip of water to cleanse his palate. He turned to Morwenna’s heavy iron bowl.

He scooped up a massive chunk of the braised boar meat, completely dripping in the dark, peppery ale gravy, and shoved it into his mouth.

Silas’s eyes widened.

”Mm~!”

Another deep groan tore through his chest.

The stew was violent. It was aggressively seasoned, the sharp heat of the peppercorns exploding across his tongue while the slow-braised fat of the boar instantly melted, coating his mouth in a rich insanely satisfying flavor profile.

It felt like eating pure power in a way.

Morwenna threw her head back and laughed, slamming her hand on the table.

”Look at his face! The man recognizes real food when he tastes it! You lose, houseplant!”

”He made the exact same sound for my dish, you uncultured brute!” Eluned shrieked indignantly, slamming both her hands onto the oak wood.

Silas chewed rapidly, swallowing the heavy stew.

He looked down at the empty table space between the two plates, his gamer mind desperately frantically searching the dialogue tree for a diplomatic exit.

”Honestly,” Silas started, choosing his words with surgical care. ”They are both incredible. The tenderloin is brilliant, and the stew is exactly what I needed... I like them both equally!”

”No!”

Both women shouted the exact same word at the exact same time.

The trap slammed shut.

Morwenna stepped forward, pulling a heavy steel hunting knife from her belt and violently stabbing the blade directly into the thick oak wood of the dining table.

THWACK!

The loud sound made Kaelia flinch in the background.

”We are not doing this again, Captain...” Morwenna rasped, her stormy gray eyes narrowing into dangerous slits. ”You pulled that diplomatic coward’s trick in the forge last week when you claimed both our swords. You don’t get to sit on the fence twice in one month so pick a plate.”

Eluned didn’t back down either.

The Goddess leaned directly over the table, her glowing green eyes flashing with terrifying divine authority.

”The trench-rat is right, My Lord,” Eluned demanded, her voice cold and unyielding. ”There are no ties and no participation trophies. You will sit in that chair, you will swallow your food, then you will declare a singular definitive winner right now.”

Silas froze.

He stared at the heavy steel knife vibrating in the table wood.

He stared at the two SSS-rank entities looming over him, entirely ready to burn the Keep to the foundation if they lost this culinary war.

His analysis reached a chilling undeniable conclusion: there was no correct answer.

If he picked the stew, Eluned would probably crash out. If he picked the tenderloin, Morwenna would throw him through a brick wall.

Silas slowly set his silver fork down on the table. He picked up his cloth napkin and calmly, meticulously wiped the gravy from the corners of his mouth.

He looked up at Morwenna and he looked at Eluned.

”You’re right,” Silas said, his voice deadly serious, completely devoid of any joking tone. ”I can’t sit on the fence forever. A Lord has to make the hard calls and if I were to pick a winner between these two dishes... then the winner would unquestionably be...”

He paused, letting the dramatic tension in the room spike to an agonizing crescendo.

Morwenna leaned in closer, holding her breath. Eluned gripped the edge of the table with her eyes wide.

BOOM!

Silas didn’t finish the sentence.

Without a single microsecond of warning, Silas violently channeled an explosive surge of pure golden sovereign mana directly down his spine and into his leg muscles.

He kicked his heavy wooden chair backward with terrifying physical force. The chair flipped over, smashing into the stone floor.

Silas launched himself out of the seating arrangement like a cannonball.

He didn’t run toward the stairs. He spun on his heel instead with his boots finding immediate traction on the slate tiles, and broke into a dead maximum-velocity sprint directly toward the heavy ironwood front doors of the Keep.

For one full second, Morwenna and Eluned were completely paralyzed by the sheer, cowardly audacity of the maneuver.

”Wai—” Morwenna blinked, her brain misfiring as she watched the most powerful warrior in the territory physically run away from a plate of food.

Silas hit the heavy double doors at a full sprint, throwing his entire body weight against the wood.

The ironwood doors blew wide open with a massive crash, letting the cool air rush into the dining hall as Silas vanished into the darkening outside.

The paralysis broke.

”GET BACK HERE, YOU COWARD!” Morwenna roared at the top of her lungs, ripping her hunting knife out of the table wood.

She vaulted cleanly over the long oak table, shattering a plate, and sprinted furiously after him.

”SILAS GRAVES!” Eluned shrieked with her divine composure entirely abandoned as she gathered the skirts of her green silk dress and sprinted frantically toward the open door. ”DO NOT YOU DARE RUN FROM MY TENDERLOIN! I WILL TIE YOU TO A TREE!”

Kaelia peaked her head out from behind the kitchen archway.

The shy chef watched the two screaming women charge out into the late afternoon to hunt down their Lord.

Kaelia let out a soft amused giggle, walking over to the table to quietly gather the empty plates.

Outside in the courtyard, the hunt was on.

Silas was not on the ground.

He knew better.

The moment you stayed on the ground with a furious Nature Goddess and a hyper-competitive Astral Dread Queen, you lost the advantage...

He was currently crouched on the high, sloped slate roof of Thora’s Warlord Foundry.

The massive chimneys of the forge were belching thick, dark smoke and radiating intense waves of heat into the freezing air, perfectly masking his heat signature.

He kept his breathing shallow with his back pressed flat against the warm stone tiles. From this elevated vantage point, he could see the entire courtyard of the Blessed Land.

Down below, Eluned was tearing the perimeter apart.

Glowing green vines were ripping up the stone pathways, overturning empty supply crates, and violently shaking the Ironwood pillars of the barracks awning.

”I know you are out here!” Eluned’s voice echoed through the compound, echoing with a terrifying blend of divine authority and possessiveness as well. ”My dish was perfectly seared! You didn’t even finish chewing!”

Silas let out a slow silent exhale, shaking his head.

’This is getting out of hand,’ Silas thought, rubbing the bridge of his nose. ’I survive monster attacks but I have to hide on a damn roof because my summons want to force-feed me competing cuts of meat.’

He needed an out.

The territory was stable. The mine was producing passive income which he needed to go sell on Earth anyway.

The girls were outfitted and resting.

’Now I just have to find a good spot and leave to head back to Earth...’ Silas calculated mentally. ’I’ll slip out, hit the staging point, and let them cool off for a few hours. By the time I get back, they’ll have forgotten about the cooking contest and moved on to something else.’

It was a flawless plan.

Right up until a pair of freezing, pale hands violently clamped down onto his shoulders.

Silas stiffened, his Gold Core instantly flaring to life, ready to detonate energy outward but before he could even twitch, a suffocating weight pressed directly onto his back.

Two arms wrapped securely around his chest, locking his arms to his sides in a vice-like grip that felt like a crushing ocean trench.

He hadn’t heard a single footstep.

”Going somewhere, Captain?” an amused voice whispered directly into his right ear.