Starting With an SSS-Rank Goddess Summon!

Kadi stood in the center of the slaughter with her chest heaving and her hands glowing with the dying embers of amber earth mana.

She wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead with the back of her forearm, turned toward the entrance, and snapped a crisp trembling salute toward Silas.

”Cavern secured, Lord Silas!” Kadi called out, her voice proud and ringing with triumph. ”Zero hostile signatures remaining!”

Standing at the threshold, Silas smiled warmly.

”Flawless execution, Kadi,” Silas said, stepping inside. ”That quicksand trap was pure genius. Outstanding work.”

A brilliant smile broke across Kadi’s tanned face with her shoulders finally dropping their defensive tension as she beamed under his praise.

”Grab the legs, girls,” Morwenna ordered, walking past with a smirk. ”Let’s toss this garbage down the cliff before it stinks up the bedroom.”

Morwenna and Tasmin grabbed the severed husks of the crawlers, hauling them to the threshold and heaving them over the basalt ledge.

CRASH-THUD-RUMBLE!

The massive carapaces tumbled down the scree slope, vanishing into the rocky gullies below.

Right on cue, a bone-chilling unnatural hiss rose from the bottom of the canyon.

The thick milky-white necrotic fog had finally crested the high shelf.

Like a living wall of blinding white smoke, the mist surged across the rocks, swirling hungrily toward the cavern opening and desperate to pour into the enclosed space.

”Elu! Seal the door!” Silas commanded.

”With pleasure, my love,” Eluned replied, stepping gracefully to the cavern mouth.

She drove the base of her living wooden staff into the stone threshold.

KRA-BOOOOOOOOM!

From the solid granite of the cavern entrance, dozens of massive roots erupted outward.

The emerald wood coiled together, expanding and intertwining in a dense, multi-layered weave that completely bricked up the twelve-foot opening in less than two seconds.

Thick moss and hardened bark filled every microscopic seam, locking the barrier into an airtight living wooden wall.

SZZZZZZZZT!

On the other side of the wood, the necrotic fog slammed against the barrier.

A muffled wet sound like thousands of microscopic leeches scraping their teeth against hard bark hissed against the exterior, but not a single wisp of the foul white vapor could penetrate Eluned’s sacred wood.

Inside, the cavern was completely sealed. It was safe, dry, and insulated from the freezing horrors of the basin.

The cavern was dark, but that darkness lasted only a fraction of a second.

Aurelia stepped forward, drawing her silver rapier two inches from its sheath.

She closed her eyes, her lips moving silently as she focused the power humming within her soul.

FWOOSH!

A sphere of pure silver-white flame... roughly the size of a melon ignited above her palm.

With a gentle flick of her wrist, she lofted the orb toward the ceiling, anchoring it in mid-air near the center of the chamber.

The Argent Flame burned without smoke and without consuming fuel as it bathed the entire granite cavern in a soft holy luminescence that was warm and comforting.

”Ah...” The Princess let out a soft trembling sigh of bliss as she pulled her heavy traveling hood down. ”It’s so warm...”

”Let’s get comfortable,” Silas said, unbuckling the heavy silver clasp of his midnight cloak.

He pulled the heavy silver-threaded garment over his shoulders, laying it flat across a clean raised stone shelf near the rear wall.

Reaching into his spatial inventory, Silas withdrew a dozen thick insulated woolen sleeping mats and woven fur blankets, spreading them out across the flat floor to create a wide communal resting area around the floating holy flame.

The eight Blessed Wolves were already settling down with their golden bodies curling into the corners of the cavern with deep contented grunts.

Silas walked over to Valkyrie and Titan as well as the rest of them, looking down at the magnificent beasts

”They hauled us through miles of sub-zero drifts and fought through two ambush lines,” Silas noted, his voice carrying genuine affection for the mounts. ”Not only do we have to keep them full, but they must be properly hydrated. Frozen snow damages their digestive lining if they eat too much of it.”

VUUUM!

Silas tapped his storage again.

Eight massive heavy iron platters materialized in the air, landing softly on the cavern floor before the resting wolves.

Each platter was piled high with massive three-pound slabs of raw beast meat, marrow-rich femur bones, and dried liver chunks.

The wolves’ ears instantly perked up, their dark eyes widening with ecstatic gratitude.

Silas raised his right hand, channeling a gentle current of pure water mana from his core.

SPLASH-SHHHH!

Clear pristine water cascaded from his fingertips, filling eight secondary stone basins to the brim with fresh lukewarm moisture.

”Eat up, guys,” Silas smiled, reaching down to scratch Titan behind his scarred ears.

The Alpha wolf let out a muffled rumbling whine of pure adoration, leaning its head hard against Silas’s chest as his wet nose snuffled against his tunic.

Valkyrie nudged in from the other side, her long pink tongue giving Silas’s cheek an affectionate sandpaper-rough swipe that nearly knocked him off balance.

”Hey, easy, easy!” Silas chuckled warmly, shrugging off the beasts as they began tearing into the meat with savage crunching of bone. ”Eat your dinner, you big mutts.”

Silas turned back toward the center of the camp.

The seven women had already shed their heavy cloaks and weapons, sitting together across the woven wool mats in the warm silver light of Aurelia’s flame.

Silas walked over, sitting cross-legged near the center of the circle.

With a brief flick of his sovereign storage, he retrieved the three massive lacquer containers Kaelia had prepared that morning, popping the airtight seals with a satisfying hiss.

POOF!

The rich mouth-watering aroma of roasted mountain venison, melted marrow butter, garlic tubers, and steaming spiced bone broth flooded the cavern.

A collective involuntary chorus of soft gasps and stomach rumbles rippled through the circle.

”Oh, blessed ancestors...” Kadi groaned, leaning forward with her hands on her knees with her eyes locked onto the succulent meat. ”That smells like heaven.”

Before Silas could even reach for a serving spoon, a slender fragrant weight settled heavily against his left side.

Eluned slid her arms around his bicep, pressing her soft, emerald-robed body against him, resting her chin comfortably atop his shoulder.

Her long green hair spilled across his chest like liquid silk, her emerald eyes looking up at him with half-lidded shameless adoration.

”Silas...” Eluned purred softly, her sweet voice tickling his ear. ”My hands are so terribly cold from weaving that massive root wall... I don’t think I can hold a fork. Feed me? Please, hubby?”

Silas looked at her, he was aware that a Goddess didn’t feel temperature, but the sweet pleading look in her jade eyes made it impossible to refuse.

’Just don’t get hard...’

”You’re completely shameless, you know that?” Silas murmured with a soft smirk.

He picked up a polished wooden fork, speared a thick succulent piece of pepper-crusted venison glistening with savory tallow, and brought it to her lips.

Eluned parted her soft rosy lips, letting out a delicate trembling sigh of pure satisfaction as she took the meat into her mouth, chewing slowly with her eyes closed, humming a melodic tune of pure bliss.

”Mmmph... divine...” Eluned sighed, nuzzling her cheek deeper into his neck.

Sitting across from them, Morwenna’s jaw worked silently.

The Pirate Queen had been quietly reaching for a wooden bowl, but watching Eluned receive the Lord’s personal attention made something fiercely possessive snap in her chest.

She set her bowl down with a sharp clack.

Her cheeks flushed with an embarrassed pink, her gray eyes narrowing as she looked sideways at Silas.

”Hey... Captain,” Morwenna muttered, clearing her throat aggressively as she crossed her legs on the mat. ”If the weed gets hand-fed just for growing a few sticks... my sword arm is practically paralyzed from carving those brutes in the grove. Fair is fair on a flagship.”

Silas raised an eyebrow, amused by the normally ruthless pirate’s sudden stubborn shyness.

”Is that so, Morwenna?” Silas teased.

”Aye,” Morwenna grumbled, looking away toward the cave wall, though her lips parted slightly in clear anticipation. ”Protocol demands the quartermaster be sustained... That’s how I did it on my ship.”

Silas chuckled, spearing a golden-brown roasted tuber soaked in bone broth and leaning across the mat.

He brought the food to her lips.

Morwenna took the bite, her eyes fluttering shut as the savory buttery heat exploded across her tongue.

”Mm~”

A tiny muffled moan escaped her throat before she could catch herself, her cheeks instantly igniting into a deep furious crimson as she chewed frantically, hiding her face behind her black fringe.

”Tch... not bad...” Morwenna whispered, though the goofy smitten smile on her lips betrayed her completely.

Tasmin shifted quietly on her knees.

The dark-haired woman leaned forward, her amber eyes wide and surprisingly earnest as she looked straight at Silas.

”Lord Silas,” Tasmin requested, her voice unusually soft. ”I require sustenance from command as well.”

Silas smiled, slicing a tender strip of loin and feeding her directly.

Tasmin ate it with graceful precision, her eyes softening with a rare peaceful warmth that completely erased the cold look on her face.

Aeliana and the Princess exchanged a wide-eyed flustered glance.

The high-elf secretary adjusted her spectacles, her fingers trembling as she gathered her courage.

”L-Lord Silas... if it wouldn’t be... an administrative imposition...”

”Open up, Aeli,” Silas offered warmly, holding out a steaming piece of venison. ”Right, Nice spectacles too.”

Aeliana leaned forward, taking the bite with a delicate nibble, her long pointed ears twitching with an ecstatic blushing flutter that made her look ten years younger.

’Not only did my Lord feed me but my Lord said he liked the spectacles too...’ Aeli thought, at this point, he had to put a baby in her.

Beside her, the Princess could no longer contain herself.

Gathering every ounce of her royal courage, she leaned her frame toward him, her azure eyes shimmering with breathless excitement.

”Lord Silas... me too, please!”

Silas chuckled, feeding the royal a delicate morsel of honey-glazed root bread.

The Princess clapped her hands together, letting out a joyful muffled squeak of pure happiness as she chewed, feeling included in the inner circle.

Then came Kadi.

The Sand Mage crawled forward on the mat, her dark eyes completely uninhibited, trembling with lingering exhaustion from her solo clash with the crawlers.

”My Lord... please,” Kadi breathed huskily.

Silas brought a thick cut of savory venison to her mouth.

The moment the meat touched her tongue, Kadi let out an audible breathless moan.

”Ahhn...”

She closed her eyes, her entire body shuddering with an intensely sweet physical relief as she swallowed. ”It’s... it’s so good, Lord Silas... another bite... please...”

Silas fed her a second piece, and another breathless, trembling whimper escaped her lips, her cheeks burning with an intoxicating blissful heat that made Morwenna cough into her fist in sudden embarrassment.

Watching this entire spectacle from the edge of the mat was Thor.

The towering God of Thunder sat cross-legged, a wooden flagon of stout resting between her knees.

Her wild blonde locks hung loose around her shoulders, and her storm-blue eyes were wide with genuine childlike bafflement as she watched Silas hand-feed seven different women.

’What is going on here?’ Thor wondered, scratching her chin with a thick calloused finger. ’They are all groaning and squirming like they were struck by a high-tier blessing... Is there... a different kind of magic when someone feeds you? Does food taste sweeter from the hand of a Lord?’

The curiosity became too much to bear.

Thor leaned her massive sculpted frame forward, casting a colossal shadow over the central mat.

She poked Silas in the shoulder with a finger thick as an iron rail.

”Silas,” Thor rumbled, her voice surprisingly earnest. ”Feed me a bite.”

The entire circle fell dead silent.

Silas paused, looking up at the towering immortal warrior. ”You want me to feed you, Thor?”

”Aye!” Thor nodded vigorously, her wild hair bouncing. ”I must conduct an empirical evaluation... These women are whimpering as if you’re feeding them ambrosia plucked from the cosmic tree so give me a piece of that boar tenderloin! Let me see what magic lies in your fingers!”

Silas let out an amused breath, picking up a substantial four-ounce cut of prime roasted meat with the carving fork.

He raised it toward the towering deity.

”Alright. Open up.”

Thor leaned down, opening her mouth wide, and clamped her teeth over the meat, swallowing it in a single massive chomp.

CHOMP! GULP!

Thor froze.

She closed her eyes, smacking her lips thoughtfully, searching her divine soul for the ethereal spark.

She opened her eyes, blinking.

”Well?” Silas asked with a smirk. ”Did you feel the cosmic magic?”

”No,” Thor answered bluntly, scratching her nose. ”It tastes like salted boar... Excellent boar, mind you, but there is zero divine enchantment.”

She paused, looking down at Silas’s calm handsome face, the way his golden ringed blue eyes held hers without an ounce of fear or hesitation, the easy warmth radiating off his hands.

A strange unfamiliar warmth suddenly tugged at the corner of Thor’s chest.

She looked down at her heavy flagon of dwarven ale, then slid it across the mat, nudging it against his knee.

”However...” Thor grunted, a rare smirk breaking across her rugged beautiful face as she tilted her head back, ”it isn’t a bad feeling to have someone wait on me for once. Hold the flagon, Silas... Feed me the ale.”

Silas chuckled, picking up the heavy wooden vessel and tilting the rim against her lips.

Thor drank deeply, swallowing the cold, frothing stout with loud gulps as Silas held the weight steady.

GLUG! GLUG! GLUG!

She let out a massive satisfied sigh, wiping a stray drop of foam from her lip with the back of her wrist, looking down at him with a deep quiet contentment in her storm-blue eyes.

’Aye...’ Thor thought, settling her massive shoulders back against the stone wall. ’It truly isn’t bad to be fed... I wouldn’t mind if that person was Silas every day...’