Chapter 281: Kadi [I]
The second Silas’s golden-ringed eyes landed on the SSS-Rank Dread Queen, his dark eyebrows pulled together in immediate genuine concern.
Morwenna looked terrible.
Her pale face was so utterly devoid of color that she barely looked alive.
It looked as though every single drop of blood had been forcefully boiled out of her veins, leaving her looking sick drained and deeply traumatized by some unseen cosmic horror.
Silas immediately stood up from the window sill, walking across the office toward her.
"Morwenna?" Silas called out, his voice filled with immediate worry.
The moment Silas reached her, Morwenna’s knees seemed to buckle slightly.
She let out a weak exhausted breath and completely slumped forward with her heavy leather-clad body leaning against his broad shoulder.
Silas caught her securely, wrapping his arm around her waist to support her weight.
Given that both of them had been drugged by Eluned’s slumber-herbs last night, Silas’s first instinct was to assume that Morwenna was suffering from some lingering delayed magical backlash from the divine sedative.
He wouldn’t put it past Eluned to do something like that.
"What’s wrong, Morwenna?" Silas asked softly, looking down at her messy hair. "Are you feeling sick? Is your core lagging?"
Morwenna rested her cheek against his chest, her stormy gray eyes staring blankly at the floorboards.
She opened her mouth, wanting to immediately spill everything that had just happened down in the bathhouse.
She wanted to yell at him about how insufferably arrogant Eluned was being.
She wanted to tell him how the Nature Goddess had stood in the bathtub, smugly showing off her red spank marks, boasting about how Silas had manhandled her, and listing off every single sexual position they had engaged in throughout the night... Missionary, Doggystyle, Cowgirl, Reverse Cowgirl, Mating Press, and Standing Carry.
’I don’t even know what most of those mean.’
Morwenna had wanted to scream at him for letting that weed get a head start...
...But as she leaned against his warm, broad chest, feeling the steady beat of his Gold Core heart, Morwenna forcefully calmed her churning pirate pride down.
’Wait a minute...’ Morwenna thought, her sharp mind working through her embarrassment. ’What if that weed was completely lying to me just to mess with my head? What if she made all of those vulgar details up just to make me feel insecure?’
Morwenna lifted her head slightly from his chest, her stormy gray eyes looking up into his sharp, golden-ringed eyes with a rare, hesitant vulnerability.
"Captain..." Morwenna asked quietly, her raspy voice unusually small, "...did you... did you and that weed really do all of those things last night while I was sleeping?"
Silas froze.
His golden eyes blinked once in total surprise.
A sudden slight flush touched Silas’s cheek, and he let out a shy, mildly embarrassed chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck as he answered truthfully.
"Ah... well... yeah. We... we kind of did."
Hearing his honest admission, Morwenna’s face paled even further, reaching a level of ghost-white that defied modern medicine.
It wasn’t a lie.
The weed hadn’t made it up... Silas had genuinely spent the entire night claiming the Nature Goddess, manhandling her, spanking her, and leaving permanent marks all over her body while Morwenna had been lying unconscious on a guest room mattress.
’It should’ve been me...!’
Deep inside Morwenna’s soul, an intense burning wave of envy and raw physical desire flared to life.
She wanted to have sex with him too.
She wanted to feel his broad hands gripping her waist, she wanted to feel his heat, and she wanted him to claim her just as thoroughly... but her fierce pirate pride completely prevented her from blurting those words out loud to his face.
’Does this mean...’ Morwenna pondered in silent horror, ’...does this mean I actually have to go to that weed for romantic guidance?’
The mere thought of asking Eluned for advice on how to seduce her Captain made Morwenna want to dive headfirst off the Watchtower into a volcano.
Morwenna cleared her throat loudly, forcing her pale cheeks to flush with a sudden stubborn heat.
"O-Ok..." Morwenna stammered out awkwardly.
She pushed herself off his broad chest, stepping back two paces and straightening her spine, standing at rigid military attention in the center of his office.
"Captain," Morwenna requested firmly, her raspy voice returning to its sharp, commanding tone, "I request permission to take the Abyss Corsairs outside the territory walls today."
Silas raised an eyebrow, looking at her sudden shift in demeanor. "Outside the walls? For what?"
"You need UP, don’t you?" Morwenna pointed out directly.
Silas nodded his head. "Yeah. I actually need a lot of it for the new living quarters and unit upgrades."
Morwenna offered him a sharp and thoroughly vicious smirk, her stormy gray eyes flashing with ocean authority.
"Then I will go get it for you," Morwenna declared smoothly. "My Corsairs and I will raid the upper monster ridges in the Basin. We’ll slaughter every elite beast we find and bring you a mountain of points."
Before Silas could respond, the immortal Dread Queen hesitated for a fraction of a second.
She cutely puckered her plump, soft lips forward, looking at him with an expectant demanding glare.
"Give me a good luck charm before I go, Captain," Morwenna demanded softly.
Silas looked at her pouty expectant face, letting out a long fond sigh through his nose.
Much like Eluned, Morwenna was extraordinarily cute whenever she dropped her fierce combat persona and showed her soft side.
"Alright," Silas smiled warmly.
Silas stepped forward, closing the distance between them. He leaned his head down, offering her a simple, sweet peck on her lips.
...However, the moment their lips touched, neither of them pulled back.
The simple peck instantly evolved into a deep passionate kiss.
Silas wrapped his broad arm around her waist, pulling her leather-clad body flush against his chest as their lips parted, their tongues tangling together in a warm hungry rhythm.
SMACK... SMACK!
As they made out in the middle of the office, Silas’s broad right hand slowly glided downward, slipping over her dark trousers and resting firmly against her right butt cheek.
Silas didn’t hold back. He tightened his fingers, groping her firm, curvaceous rear, sinking his broad palm straight into her soft flesh with a heavy, deliberate squeeze.
"Mmm~!" Morwenna let out a soft, breathless moan directly into his mouth with her toes curling inside her boots.
During their sword training spars in the vault, Morwenna had made a habit of aggressively grabbing and squeezing his rear whenever she caught him off-guard.
Now, Silas was taking full advantage of the moment to touch her wonderful firm rear as much as he damn well pleased.
SQUEEZE... SQUEEZE!
Morwenna’s hips twitched against his waist with her hands clutching his shoulders as she melted into his grip and her heart hammering against her ribs.
After a long, passionate minute, they slowly separated their lips.
A thin glistening strand of saliva connected their mouths before breaking in the morning air.
Silas leaned down, planting a gentle kiss onto the top of her head, and offered her a warm confident smile.
"Good luck out there, Morwenna," Silas wished her softly. "Stay safe."
Morwenna stood there in the office, her face glowing a bright and thoroughly flustered crimson.
She bowed her head deeply toward him, her stormy eyes sparkling with pure affection.
"Thank you, Captain," Morwenna whispered softly.
She turned on her heel, sprinting out of his office door to head downstairs at record speed.
"Oh, Morwenna, wait," Silas called out down the hallway as she reached the stairs. "If you see Kadi on your way out, tell her to come up to my office. She’s my new secondary secretary, and I should help her get settled into the Keep."
"Understood, Captain!" Morwenna’s voice echoed back from the staircase.
Silas stood near his desk, watching her departure with a calm, thoughtful smirk.
’Helping Kadi transition into her new administrative role will make things much smoother around here,’ Silas reflected in his mind.
As for allowing Morwenna and her Abyss Corsair team to venture outside the territory walls... Silas felt zero tactical concern regarding Lord Sky’s surveillance.
Morwenna was an SSS-Rank Pirate whose raw power transcended the standard mechanics of the Sovereign Realm.
It didn’t matter how much footage Sky gathered on her, nor did it matter what kind of counter-measures he prepared in his mobile fortress.
It was fundamentally impossible for a Classic Lord like Sky to defeat an SSS-Rank ocean legend in direct combat.
And as for any high-tier mages or artillery Sky might deploy... Silas could easily afford that minor intel leak if it meant Morwenna was bringing back thousands of raw UP for the Territory.
A few minutes later, near the Barracks...
CREAK!
The grand, iron-reinforced main gates of the Blessed Land slowly swung open.
Morwenna stepped through the threshold, leading her specialized squad of thirteen girls... the Abyss Corsairs out into the misty, overgrown expanse of the Umbral Basin.
The women were clad in lightened leather armor, carrying their staffs and marching behind their Dread Queen with enthusiastic discipline.
Up on the second floor of the barracks, standing near an open glass window, was Kadi.
The young woman rested her hands on the wooden sill, watching the Abyss Corsairs march out into the wilderness with a long envious sigh.
"Well, damn..." Kadi muttered out loud to herself, pouting slightly. "...I couldn’t join them today."
Kadi had been desperately hoping to go out on field raids today.
She wanted to practice her elemental spell channeling, and under Morwenna’s expert guidance was by far the best way to improve.
Even though Morwenna was a primary water specialist, the Dread Queen possessed such a vast ancient reservoir of martial and magical knowledge regarding all elemental branches that Kadi wouldn’t have minded in the slightest becoming her personal, full-time student.
...But Kadi had a far more important assignment today.
Kadi turned away from the window, walking over to her cot.
Resting on her bed was a large tightly packed canvas travel bag.
Kadi reached down, checking the leather straps and buckles, ensuring that all of her personal belongings, extra tunics, notebooks, and private items were securely sealed inside.
She lifted the heavy canvas bag, slinging the strap securely over her shoulder.
Starting today, Kadi was officially vacating her cot in the barracks and moving her residence directly into the Lord’s Keep to serve as Silas’s secondary administrative secretary.
Kadi stood in the center of the quiet room with her heart suddenly pounding against her ribs as a deep, burning blush spread across her cheeks.
She wouldn’t lie to herself or deny the truth. She wasn’t just excited about the administrative promotion.
’I have a massive crush on my Lord after all...’ Kadi admitted to herself in her internal thoughts, her face burning hot.
Ever since Silas had brought her into the Blessed Land, and provided her with food, shelter, and purpose, Kadi’s heart had belonged entirely to him.
The thought of living under the exact same roof as him, working beside his desk every single day, made her stomach do nervous ecstatic somersaults.
Kadi hoisted her bag higher on her shoulder, turned on her heel, and walked out of the residential wing.
She headed downstairs, entering the sprawling Mess Hall.
The main exit doors leading to the central courtyard were situated directly past the dining area.
Inside the Mess Hall, dozens of girls were sitting at the long oak tables, eating their morning breakfast rations.
Seeing Kadi walk through the hall carrying her packed travel bag, several of her fellow recruits stood up, waving their mugs in the air with loud boisterous grins.
"Hey! Look at Kadi!" one of the archers teased loudly. "Moving into the big Keep today!"
"Good luck, girl!" another recruit cheered with a laugh. "If you get a chance to fuck the Lord tonight, make sure you spread your legs wide!"
A chorus of wild, playful laughter erupted across the Mess Hall.
Kadi froze, her entire face exploding into a red flush.
But instead of shrinking back in embarrassment, Kadi raised her hand, waving cheekily at her companions with a confident mischievous smirk.
"That’s the plan!" Kadi called back cheerfully. "And don’t worry, once I’m his secretary, I’ll make sure to recommend all of you for good promotion positions too!"
"YEAH!"
"THAT’S OUR GIRL!"
The girls cheered wildly, raising their wooden mugs and drinking a hearty morning toast directly in her name.
Kadi giggled softly, passing by the cheering tables, and pushed open the heavy double doors of the Mess Hall, stepping out into the crisp morning air of the central courtyard.
She walked across the stone pathway leading toward the Keep with her boots making light tapping sounds against the cobblestones.