Chapter 675: Second Hero Summoning
Silas stared at the two of them with a bead of cold sweat forming on his brow.
’Seriously...?’ Silas thought, his deadpan expression barely holding together under the twin beams of murderous jealousy boring into his skull. ’Are these death glares really necessary right now? I haven’t even said anything yet!’
"It’s a guy," Silas said quickly, pointing a thumb over his shoulder toward Aeliana. "His name is Valerius... He’s the golden-haired scion of Sterling Enterprises. You can ask Aeliana, she knows him, We’re meeting up in the city so he can show us the trade districts."
Aeliana stepped forward, smoothing the folds of her pale green robes with a calm, reassuring nod.
"It is the truth... Valerius is the male heir of House Sterling. He is my Lord’s best friend and a man too."
𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚
Morwenna’s shoulders lowered by half an inch, though her scowl remained firmly in place.
Eluned let out a soft relieved breath with the frost retreating from the grass.
Standing a few paces back, however, Ther’Abella crossed her arms, her blue eyes burning with fierce skepticism.
’Valerius...?’ the First Hero thought, sneering internally. ’A convenient male name fabricated on the spot! I don’t believe this ’Valerius’ exists for a single second! He’s undoubtedly using this fictitious merchant as cover to rendezvous with yet another illicit concubine in the realm! First Lady Eluned, then the pirate, then our sweet Lady Aki... the man is an insatiable multi-timing degenerate! I must tag along! I must bear witness to his depravity and expose his infidelity before Lady Eluned’s heart is shattered entirely!’
Before Ther’Abella could step forward to demand an escort role, Eluned and Morwenna spoke simultaneously.
"I am coming with you!" Eluned declared, stepping forward.
"The hell you are, I’m going with him!" Morwenna barked, stepping into her path.
Aki stood between them, her gaze drifting toward the Keep’s pink parapets as her heart began to ache with longing.
’I want to go too...’ Aki thought, her fingers knotting into the hem of her tunic. ’I really, really want to go to Central City with Silas...’
She bit her lower lip, shaking her head firmly to banish the temptation.
’No,’ she scolded herself sternly. ’I can’t... I just awakened my territory. The monsters are still prowling the borders, and the vanguard needs their Lord present to establish the boundary towers. Leaving right now, during my early settlement phase, would be an awful example for the troops. I have to stay and fulfill my duty as a Lord... even if it hurts.’
"There is no way we are both squeezing through with him!" Morwenna argued, glaring at Eluned. "I don’t want to be caught dead with you! One of us stays, one of us goes!"
"And naturally, that one should be his wife!" Eluned fired back, her chin lifting with divine arrogance. "A man requires an elegant consort of high birth to represent his house in foreign courts, not an unwashed pirate who smells like salt-pork..."
’Is it just me or does she start talking like a noble when Morwenna is involved...?’
"Who are you calling an unwashed pirate, you overgrown houseplant?!"
"Enough!" Silas groaned, rubbing his temples in exasperation. "I’m not listening to you two bicker for forty minutes... Settle it with rock-paper-scissors, best two out of three and the winner comes along, the loser stays behind and helps Aki with the boundary towers. Clear?"
Aeliana raised a single finger.
"For the record, Lord Sy, I am coming along regardless so the winner merely decides who travels with the two of us."
"Nobody asked the elf," Morwenna said.
"I believe the elf is the only one here who has actually met Valerius," Aeliana replied pleasantly.
Morwenna opened her mouth, found nothing to say to that, and closed it again then both women snapped their heads toward him as their eyes narrowed with deadly focus.
"Fine," Morwenna hissed, cracking her knuckles.
"Acceptable," Eluned smiled coldly, raising her delicate right hand.
They stepped onto the flagstones by the summoning altar, facing each other like gladiators entering an arena.
"Rock, paper, scissors... SHOOT!"
Eluned threw scissors and Morwenna threw rock.
"HAH!" Morwenna roared, thrusting her fist into the air with triumphant fury. "Point one to the high seas, you leafy tyrant!"
Eluned’s eyes narrowed into slits of concentration.
"...A fluke."
"Round two!" Silas called out, leaning against the altar’s balustrade. "Shoot!"
Morwenna threw paper and Eluned threw scissors.
"Aha~!" Eluned cheered, clapping her hands together with angelic delight. "Tied! The heavens favor balance, pirate!"
Morwenna’s jaw set into iron.
Her breath came in short focused huffs with her stormy gray eyes tracking every micro-twitch in Eluned’s slender fingers.
"Last round... Don’t blink, flower."
"Round three," Silas announced, watching the tension mount. "Shoot!"
Eluned threw rock and Morwenna threw... she threw... paper.
Silence descended upon the altar as Morwenna’s flat palm hovered in the air, spread wide over Eluned’s clenched fist.
"YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!"
Morwenna erupted into a wild cheer, pumping both fists into the sky with her laughter echoing across the entire valley.
"VICTORY! TAKE THAT, YOU SPOILED GODDESS! PACK YOUR BAGS, CAPTAIN, THE PIRATE QUEEN IS HITTING THE CITY!"
She grabbed Silas’s arm, practically vibrating with excitement as her earlier frustration was completely washed away by the thrill of victory.
’His arm is right here,’ she thought, and discovered that she had hooked it against her chest without noticing.
The warmth of it went straight through her leather vest. ’Don’t look down and say something normal.’
"So... Captain," she said, trying for casual and missing by a mile. "Central City... You and me..."
"You, me, and Aeliana," Silas said.
"Of course." Morwenna muttered.
Silas chuckled warmly, shaking his head.
"Alright, alright. You won fair and square so you can come along."
Eluned stood frozen by the balustrade.
Her lower lip trembled, her emerald eyes welling with deep jealousy as she watched Morwenna cling to his arm but she crossed her arms, looking away with a dramatic aggrieved huff.
"Hmph... very well," Eluned murmured, her voice dripping with sorrowful pride. "I suppose it is acceptable. A generous wife must occasionally allow the lesser retainers a moment of indulgence..."
Suddenly, before Silas could even register the movement, Eluned stepped forward, grabbed both sides of his face with her delicate hands, and pulled him downward!
SMUSH!
Silas’s entire face was completely buried directly into the soft overwhelming expanse of Eluned’s generous silk-clad cleavage!
"Mmph—?!" Silas choked, his muffled voice swallowed by the sea of warmth and sweet floral perfume.
Eluned wrapped her slender arms around the back of his head, squeezing him tightly against her bust, rubbing her chest against his cheeks and nose with deliberate shameless enthusiasm.
’Soft,’ Silas thought dazedly. ’Warm... She smells like rain in a flower field— Oxygen, I need oxygen.’
His hands fluttered uselessly in the air for a moment, unsure where it was safe to put them.
"Breathe through your nose, my heart," Eluned murmured sweetly over the top of his head. "I am told there is plenty of room."
’This... this shameless bitch.’
Morwenna just needed ten percent of her shamelessness, if she had ten percent, she would have been knocked up by now.
"There~!" Eluned declared proudly, looking straight over his dark hair at Morwenna with a triumphant wicked smirk. "I am rubbing my divine scent all over his face! Every single pore of his skin is now marked with the essence of his lawful wife! If you do anything with his face in Central City, Morwenna... that means you are kissing me! Which means you are gay!"
PFFFFFT!
Morwenna violently choked on her own spit, coughing so hard she had to bend over and slap her knee.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, YOU CRAZY WOMAN?!"
Standing near the perimeter, Ther’Abella and the vanguard escort guards stared at the display with wide perverted fascination.
Several of the younger guards covered their mouths, giggling behind their gauntlets with their cheeks flushed a deep scandalized red.
Ther’Abella, on the other hand, looked like her entire worldview had shattered into a million irreparable shards.
’When...’ the First Hero thought, her jaw hanging slack as she watched the pristine holy former Goddess of the World Tree aggressively smother her husband’s face in her cleavage without a single shred of shame, ’when did our innocent pristine goddess who didn’t even understand mortal emotions become this shamelessly horny?!’
Eluned finally released Silas with a satisfied hum, stepping back and smoothing her robes as if she hadn’t just committed a public act of domestic warfare.
Silas stumbled backward half a step, gasping for fresh air with his dark hair becoming a tangled mess and his cheeks burning a bright mortified pink as he wiped his face with his sleeve.
He gave Eluned an exasperated helpless look, but she merely offered him a radiant innocent smile.
Aki had gone very quiet beside the altar as she looked at Eluned, looked down at herself, and let out one very small sigh.
Aki stepped up to the edge of the quartz altar with her small hands holding a thin glowing scroll.
"Since you’re heading out to the market now, Silas," Aki said, offering him the scroll with an earnest tone. "I wrote down the exact specifications of the building supplies and forge materials I need. Keep track of the ledger, and once my territory is ready, I’ll pay you back everything!"
Silas took the scroll, slipping it into his coat pocket without even glancing at the numbers.
He looked down at her with a soft affectionate smile, reaching out to gently tap the tip of her small nose.
"You don’t need to refund me anything, Aki," Silas said, his voice dropping into a gentle sincere murmur. "The fact that you’re happy and building something you love is more than enough for me."
Aki froze as his words hung in the quiet air.
Flutter!
A sudden gentle mountain breeze swept across the quartz altar. It stirred the hem of her tunic, lifting the long, dark locks of her hair and sending Silas’s messy dark bangs dancing across his forehead.
The soft lavender twilight of the realm filtered down through the silver pillars, illuminating the warm steady tenderness in his blue eyes ringed with gold.
His thumb was still resting against the tip of her nose and she could smell the apple on his breath as well his own scent while her pulse was loud enough to hear in her own ears.
Her fingers went completely slack.
Slip!
The golden-embossed Hero Summoning Ticket she had been holding unconsciously in her left hand slipped from her numb fingers, tumbling through the air and landing with a soft chime against the white quartz flagstones.
Aki didn’t look down at the ticket.
She stared straight into his face, the handsome calm features that Eluned had just released, framed by the gentle wind and the starlight as a feeling so intensely sweet and overwhelming bloomed behind her ribs that it stole every drop of air from her lungs.
Her heart hammered against her chest like a trapped bird.
’I... I...’
The thought echoed in the silent sacred expanse of her soul, sounding so loud and clear it frightened her.
’I want to marry you...’
For three long suspended heartbeats, the entire universe seemed to shrink down to just the two of them standing beneath the starlit sky then, Silas blinked, glancing down at the polished stone.
"Hm?" Silas asked, tilting his head with a curious smile. "What did you drop?"
The spell shattered instantly.
Aki’s eyes bulged in pure panicked realization as a violent shade of crimson exploded across her cheeks, rushing straight to the tips of her ears and down her neck!
"A-Ah!" she squeaked, hastily bending over at the waist to scramble for the golden ticket, nearly tripping over her own boots in her desperate haste to hide her face from him.
She snatched the gleaming parchment from the stone, clutching it tightly against her chest like a shield with her breath coming in short flustered gasps as she kept her gaze glued firmly to his belt buckle.
"I-I wanted to summon my second Hero!" Aki stammered, her voice a bit higher than usual with a mortified adorable blush painting every inch of her skin. "A-And... I wanted you to be here when I did it..."
Silas looked down at her flushed trembling frame with a fond helpless chuckle rumbling in his chest.
’Cute,’ Silas thought, his smile softening as he stepped forward to wait for the summon.
Aki scrambled up from the quartz flagstones, clutching the golden-embossed parchment tightly against her ribs like a lifesaver.
"O-ok... I’ll do so now."
Her ears were still burning a furious shade of crimson, but she forced her feet forward, practically speed-walking across the terrace to put distance between herself and Silas’s teasing smile.
She reached the center of the quartz summoning altar, taking a long shuddering breath of mountain air to still her racing pulse.
With trembling fingers, she set the ticket flat against the central crystalline node.
Ding!
A translucent system prompt materialized directly before her eyes in a soft chime of light.
[Would you like to use (1) Hero Summoning Ticket to summon a Hero?]
[Y / N]
Aki didn’t hesitate as she lifted her hand and firmly tapped [Y].
VUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!
The silver pillars flanking the circle thrummed like massive tuning forks with their mana vibrating straight through the marrow of everyone standing in the courtyard.
Then...
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A pillar of pure golden radiance tore straight out of the array as the beam shot upward into the lavender twilight of Vineworld, piercing the high cloud cover easily... It was an exact mirror-image of the pillar that had heralded Ther’Abella’s arrival only days before.
Aki’s bright blue eyes widened as the radiant wind whipped her dark bangs wild.
’Another strong one...?!’ Aki thought, her breath catching in her throat as the raw mana pressure washed over her skin.
The glare of the pillar swept across the courtyard, and Eluned, who had been standing perfectly steady a heartbeat ago, swayed into Silas’s side with a soft gasp.
"Oh, my heart, how frightening," she said, in a voice that could not have been more composed. "Hold me."
"You’re not scared of a light," Silas said.
"Terribly scared," Eluned said, and wound both arms around his.
On his other side, Aeliana drifted close and slid her hand into the crook of his elbow without a word.
"I am steadying you, Lord Sy," she murmured. "The ground is uneven."
The ground was a flat slab of white quartz and Silas looked down at it, then at the two women hanging off his arms, deciding not to ask.
Beside Silas, Morwenna’s casual slouch straightened by a fraction of an inch.
The pirate queen squinted through the blinding gold glare with her stormy gray eyes flickering cyan and sharpening with an instinctive focus as a strange eerily familiar ripple in the current brushed against her senses.
"Huh..." Morwenna grunted, a puzzled frown tugging at her scarred brow. "...what the hell is that?"
...
Far across the Sovereign Realm, the sky was pitch black.
The sea beneath it was darker still like an endless expanse of ink-colored brine rolling in slow heavy swells that rose and fell like the breathing of a dormant leviathan.
There was no moon and no stars either, it was only the hollow groan of ancient timber cutting through the cold mist as a lone ship drifted across the quiet waves.
"Achoo!"