Chapter 230: A Disguise [I / Bonus - ]
Silas stepped inside, closing the heavy wooden door behind him to block out the swirling winter wind.
The air inside the room was thick and warm, smelling heavily of fermented star-apples, sweet floral nectar, and a sharp bite that made his nose sting.
"Care to explain what happened here?" Silas asked, gesturing toward the bodies scattered across the furniture and floorboards. "It looks like a battle took place."
Thora hopped down from the main oak table with a heavy thud of her iron-soled boots, though she stumbled slightly before catching her balance against the edge of a bench.
She grabbed a small glass vessel sitting atop a brass tray and held it up proudly into the ambient light.
Inside the glass was a thick, luminescent liquid that swirled with dark crimson and gold threads.
"We’ve just finished producing a brand-new, ultra-concentrated variant of alcohol!" Thora declared proudly with her chest puffing out. "It’s a completely original blend! We gathered the golden star-apples and divine floral nectar harvested from Eluned’s personal trees, combined them with the raw energy of the Sovereign Realm’s atmosphere, and refined it all through three cycles of heat distillation!"
She raised the small glass vial higher, tapping her finger against the crystal rim.
"And for the final catalyst, we introduced a drop of purified, high-tier monster blood extracted from the core beasts in the eastern forest!"
Silas blinked, his eyebrows drawing together as he stared at the glowing crimson fluid in her hands.
"Isn’t that just poisoning yourselves?" Silas asked drily. "You’re literally drinking monster blood and raw divine nectar."
"Nonsense!" Thora barked with a dismissive wave of her calloused hand. "The monster blood was completely purified through my forge filters! All the toxic impurities were burnt away by Talira’s fire before we added it to the batch! It doesn’t poison the body... it just delivers a massive instantaneous rush of elemental energy directly to the bloodstream! It’s completely safe!"
Silas looked past the dwarf forge-mistress, eyeing the four women strewn across the room in various states of unconsciousness.
Right beside the copper distillation stills, Morwenna was sprawled out face-first on the wooden floor with her gray eyes entirely glossed over while her arms dangled limp at her sides.
At the central table, Eluned lay face-down against the oak planks, her long silver-green hair spread out like a fan over scattered parchment sheets.
Over by the pantry sacks, Kaelia was curled up on her side, fast asleep with a peaceful, foolish smile on her face, completely oblivious to her surroundings.
And in the far corner of the room sat Talira still sat there playing with her wings.
Silas let out a slow, long sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
The fact that a primordial dragon from what Aeli had told him about her strength and an SSS-Rank nature deity were both completely incapacitated proved that Thora’s concoction worked, but managing the aftermath was going to be a headache.
"Right," Silas muttered, looking over the room once more. "If only Aeli was her—"
ZIP!
A sudden sharp ripple of spatial energy tore through the air right beside his left arm.
In a flash of pale silver light, Aeliana materialized out of thin air, standing perfectly composed beside him with her hands folded neatly over her robes.
"You called me, My Lord?" Aeli asked softly, her silver eyes looking up at him with instant, crisp readiness.
Silas flinched slightly, taking a half-step back in surprise. "Whoa. I wasn’t expecting you to appear that fast."
Aeli’s long elven ears twitched, a delicate pink blush creeping up her cheeks as she lowered her head slightly.
"Ah..." Aeli stammered softly, her eyes flickering with sudden nervousness. "Did... did you not want me here, My Lord? I can return to the library if I am intruding..."
"No, no, that’s not it at all," Silas interrupted smoothly, holding up a hand to reassure her. "I actually really need your help right now. Look at this mess. I need you to carry these four back to where they belong so they don’t freeze on the floor."
He pointed toward the table where the nature deity and the pirate queen were slumped over.
"Take both Eluned and Morwenna up to my private quarters in the Keep and put them on the bed," Silas instructed. "As for Talira and Kaelia, take them over to the Barracks quarters so they can sleep it off."
"Understood, My Lord," Aeli replied without a moment’s hesitation.
The elven arcanist walked briskly across the room, stepping past the discarded cups and copper tubing.
She reached the table and effortlessly scooped Eluned into her left arm, then reached down and pulled Morwenna up over her right shoulder.
With a brief surge of silver spatial mana coiling around her boots, Aeli vanished from the room in a silent blur.
Thora crossed her arms over her chest, letting out a loud disappointed pestering sound.
"Tch! The fun was just getting started! You’re no fun, Captain!"
Silas ignored her complaint and walked straight up to the dwarf forge-mistress. He stopped directly in front of her, looking down into her wide brown eyes with a serious expression.
"Get on," Silas said calmly. "I have a favor to ask of you."
Thora paused, her eyes widening in genuine surprise.
She stared up at him, her mouth opening slightly.
Her Lord was usually a man of few words when it came to physical actions... he usually just grabbed her collar or hauled her up by her belt whenever he needed her on his shoulders.
He had never used his actual mouth to explicitly ask her to climb onto him like that before.
’Or has he...? I don’t actually remember however... Is this situation that serious?’ Thora thought, her heart giving a strange fluttery beat inside her chest.
Without arguing or throwing out her usual cheeky remarks, Thora set the vial of purified monster blood carefully down on the table.
She reached up with both hands, gripping Silas’s broad shoulders, and pulled herself up with ease, swinging her legs around to settle comfortably atop his neck and shoulders.
Silas turned around and began walking toward the exit.
Just as his hand touched the iron latch of the door, another silver flash erupted in the corner of the room.
Aeli reappeared beside the fallen forms of Talira and Kaelia. She gathered the sleeping dragon and the unconscious chef into her arms, preparing to teleport away once more.
Silas glanced over his shoulder, catching Aeli’s eye.
"Thank you, Aeli," Silas told her warmly.
Aeli’s face lit up with a breathtaking, radiant smile.
"It is my pleasure, Lord Silas," she whispered, and with another soft shimmer of silver light, she vanished from the Culinary Haven completely.
Silas pushed open the timber door and stepped out into the crisp, cold air, pulling the door shut behind them.
The winter storm was sweeping through the Keep’s courtyard in full force now.
Gentle powdery white snowflakes drifted down from the pitch-black night sky, coating the stone walkways, roof tiles, and wooden fences in a pristine, untouched layer of white.
The cold wind bit against Silas’s face, instantly clearing away the lingering fumes of fermented alcohol and magic herbs from his senses.
Thora rested her hands on top of Silas’s head, leaning forward slightly as she looked up at the sky.
"By the Ancestors..." Thora murmured, her voice dropping into a rare quiet awe. "It really is beautiful out here tonight, isn’t it? Back in the underground mountain holds where I grew up, we had stone caverns and lava flows, but we never had sky-fall like this. I’ve barely seen real snow in my entire life before coming to your territory."
Silas walked at a steady pace with his heavy boots crunching through the fresh layer of snow covering the cobblestones.
"Yeah," Silas agreed softly, gazing out across the quiet glowing courtyard. "It’s beautiful."
Thora let out a playful chuckle from above his head, her mood shifting back to her usual boisterous self.
She patted his forehead twice with her thick palm.
"Well, My Lord, I know I’m beautiful," Thora boasted smugly, tilting her chin up. "But why did you call me out here like this? What’s this favor you need?"
Silas adjusted his footing, keeping his balance as he carried her across the open square.
"I need your help," Silas said plainly. "I need a disguise."
Thora blinked, leaning over his forehead to stare down at his face in total confusion.
"A disguise?" Thora asked, her nose scrunching up. "Why the hell would you need a disguise? You’re handsome, you’re built like an ox, and you’ve got a big dick! Why would you hide a face like yours?"
Silas cleared his throat loudly, a sudden uncomfortable cough escaping his chest as his cheeks warmed slightly in the freezing wind.
"Let’s stay on topic," Silas muttered, shaking his head. "You know that our Territory is becoming quite famous back in my original world. The World Council and the local Government are paying close attention to everything happening and they’re increasing how much they’re offering. Well... I want to make a public appearance to our Government soon, but I don’t want to do it in my regular body or reveal my true identity to them yet."
Silas wanted to get top tier resources for the sake of his territory...
Thora’s eyes lit up with sudden, intense interest. She slapped her hand against her knee.
"Ah! You want to have a secret identity!" Thora exclaimed, nodding her head vigorously. "I think that’s bloody brilliant, My Lord! It’s way better that way! Keep those government bastards guessing!"
She leaned down further, wrapping both of her thick, muscular arms around Silas’s head, pulling his face tightly against her chest in a fierce, affectionate hug.
"Usually, you’re always running back and forth between Earth and here," Thora spoke softly against his spiky dark hair with her voice genuinely tender. "You barely have any time to just sit down and spend time with us without worrying about some external crisis... I’d be honored to make sure you don’t get found out by those high-and-mighty bureaucrats."
Silas felt a rare swell of warm appreciation in his chest. He cleared his throat again, speaking through her tight grip.
"Thanks, Thora. This is actually one of the very first times that you’re being genuinely respectfu—"
"Haahn~!" Thora suddenly let out a sharp breathless moan right into his ear with her body trembling slightly atop his shoulders. "Yes... let me squeeze you just like that~! Mmm, your spiky hair is touching my panties through my trousers, My Lord... ahh, it’s making me so hot!"
Silas froze instantly.
He closed his eyes, a vein throbbing prominently on his temple. He immediately regretted every single warm, appreciative thought that had just passed through his mind a fraction of a second prior.
"We’re here..." Silas said deadpan, striding forward and arriving at the massive double iron doors of the territory’s main forge.
Thora giggled wildly, hopping down from his shoulders and landing lightly on her feet.
She pushed open the heavy reinforced doors, allowing a wave of intense roaring heat to instantly blast out into the freezing night air.
"Welcome to the Foundry, My Lord!" Thora announced with a cheeky grin, gesturing inside.
Silas stepped through the threshold, feeling the sudden wall of heat melt the snow on his coat instantly.
The interior of the Foundry was a magnificent sight... furnaces roared with intense elemental fire, racks of high-tier weapons lined the stone walls, and the deep scent of heated iron and melted ore hung thick in the air.
Thora closed the heavy iron doors behind him, shutting out the storm, and immediately scurried deeper into the workshop.
She ran over to the main anvil in the center of the forge room, where a large glowing ingot of silver metal was sitting inside a containment brazier.
"Look at this!" Thora called out excitedly, pointing her tongs at the metal. "I’ve had this block of Sil-Grave metal sitting in draconic flames summoned from Talira for three full days straight to discover its melting point! And even after all that heat... it hasn’t lost a single fraction of its structural density! It’s incredible! I haven’t even found its melting limit yet!"