Starting With an SSS-Rank Goddess Summon!

"No," Elm mumbled stubbornly into the hoodie fabric. "I am staying right here."

Silas watched the interaction with a small smirk.

’She acts like a koala.’

Silas could not even blame her, Elm was quite cute though...

Before Silas could formally start the diplomatic negotiations, the door to the kitchen violently kicked open.

BAM!

Morwenna aggressively stomped into the dining room.

The woman was carrying a massive heavy silver serving tray balanced on one hand.

She was still wearing her dark pirate regalia underneath, but tied tightly around her waist was a ridiculously frilly bright white kitchen apron.

Her stormy gray eyes were glaring daggers at the floor.

’How did Elu get her to even do this first of all?’

CLATTER!

Morwenna practically dropped the massive silver tray onto the center of the mahogany table.

"Food is served," Morwenna grumbled loudly.

She aggressively crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to make eye contact with Silas.

’Don’t ask any questions... I’m doing this for you, you should be grateful to me.’

The tray was completely loaded with steaming plates.

There were massive cuts of roasted boar, thick bowls of rich brown gravy, heavily buttered root vegetables, and perfectly toasted loaves of bread.

The entire dining room instantly filled with a mouth-watering, incredibly savory aroma.

Evelyn blinked in genuine surprise, leaning forward to inspect the feast.

"Wait," Evelyn muttered, looking up at the scowling pirate captain. "You cooked this?"

"I heated it up and prepared the spices," Morwenna shot back defensively. "I did the actual roasting before the war started... I just finished the glazing. Don’t look at me like that, girl."

Silas raised a skeptical eyebrow.

He reached out and picked up a wooden fork.

He speared a thick steaming piece of the roasted boar, dipping it generously into the dark gravy before taking a bite.

Silas began to chew.

His golden-ringed eyes instantly widened.

The meat practically melted on his tongue as the rich, salty flavor of the gravy perfectly complemented the savory fat of the boar, while a subtle spicy kick lingered in the back of his throat.

It was genuinely incredible... as usual.

Silas swallowed the food and looked up at the woman.

"Morwenna," Silas said seriously. "This is actually good."

Morwenna froze.

A bright crimson blush instantly exploded across her dark cheeks.

Her stormy gray eyes widened in shock.

"I-It is?" Morwenna stammered, her tough pirate persona entirely shattering in a single second.

"Yeah," Silas confirmed, taking another massive bite of the meat. "The spice blend is perfect. I didn’t know you could actually cook."

Morwenna gripped the edges of her frilly white apron, her entire body physically trembling with joy.

’He praised me!’

She completely forgot about the humiliating tea lessons with Eluned and she forgot about the apron too.

Her stormy gray eyes practically turned into sparkling stars.

"I can cook!" Morwenna declared proudly, puffing out her chest. "I cooked all the time on the high seas! I can make you whatever you want, My Lord! Just say the word!"

Eluned sat next to Silas, hiding an amused thoroughly smug smile behind her crystal goblet of water.

’Hook, line, and sinker.’

Evelyn slowly reached out and pulled a plate toward herself as she took a bite of the buttered root vegetables.

Her dark eyes widened as well.

"Holy shit," Evelyn mumbled, aggressively scooping more onto her fork. "This is better than some of the restaurants in Central City."

Elm slowly pulled her face away from Evelyn’s hoodie.

The white-haired Hero tentatively reached out, picking up a warm roll of bread.

She took a tiny bite.

The soft, buttery texture completely overwhelmed her senses.

She had been living off synthesized tasteless nutrient fluid pumped directly through a feeding tube for quite a long time so tears literally welled up in Elm’s silver eyes.

"It’s so good," Elm whispered, taking another desperate bite of the bread.

Eluned smoothly set her crystal goblet down on the mahogany table and then she turned her stunning emerald eyes toward the white-haired Hero.

"It is wonderful to finally meet you, Elm," Eluned spoke, her melodic voice completely filling the quiet dining room.

Elm flinched slightly, suddenly aware of the supreme SSS-Rank aura radiating naturally from the green-haired woman sitting across from her.

"I am Eluned," the Nature Goddess introduced herself with a warm, welcoming smile. "I am Lord Silas’s First Hero and the very first summon of the Blessed Land."

Elm’s silver eyes widened in quiet realization.

She looked at the ingrained unbreakable bond radiating between Silas and Eluned.

’I can feel the connection between their souls...’

Elm slowly sat up straighter in her chair.

"I... I am Evelyn’s First Hero," Elm replied softly, her voice carrying a deep quiet pride. "The very first summon of The Unmovable Wall."

Eluned nodded gracefully.

"I know," Eluned agreed. "Our Lord told me what you did on the battlefield today. You willingly sacrificed your own core to protect your territory and you burned your own soul to give your Lord a chance at victory."

Elm lowered her gaze to the wooden table with her hands clutching the piece of bread.

"I failed," Elm whispered.

"You did not fail," Eluned corrected her firmly. "You proved your loyalty. A territory is not measured entirely by its physical walls or its artillery cannons. It is measured by the devotion of its people. You are a true Hero, Elm."

Elm looked up, her silver eyes shimmering with fresh tears. She looked at Evelyn, who offered her a tired reassuring smile.

Elm slowly nodded, taking a deep comforting breath of the warm air.

"Thank you, Lady Eluned," Elm said respectfully.

Silas finished his plate of roasted boar, pushing it slightly toward the center of the table.

He leaned back in his heavy wooden chair.

He rested his elbows casually on the armrests with his golden-ringed eyes locking directly onto the dark-haired girl sitting across from him.

The pleasantries and the introductions were officially over.

It was time for business.

"So, Evelyn," Silas started. "Let’s talk numbers."

Evelyn groaned loudly, dropping her fork onto her plate.

"I knew this was coming," Evelyn muttered, rubbing her tired temples.

"We had an explicit verbal contract," Silas reminded her coldly. "We agreed on a strict 60-40 revenue split in my favor."

’I didn’t forget the money.’

How could he? Money ruled the world.

"The contract covered the initial broadcast day when we streamed with Lohan Sterling and Etilga Bloom," Silas recounted smoothly. "It covered all the subsequent mini-streams you ran leading up to the war to build hype."

Silas leaned forward, resting his chin on his steepled fingers.

"And most importantly, it covers the massive Lord War broadcast that just concluded," Silas finished. "The one where I successfully cured your dying First Hero and completely spared your people from execution... most at least."

Evelyn glared at him.

"You don’t have to guilt-trip me," Evelyn grumbled irritably. "I honor my contracts."

Evelyn reached into the deep pocket of her oversized hoodie and then she pulled out a sleek advanced digital datapad.

She tapped the glass screen, pulling up the restricted backend analytics of her primary Sovereign Network account.

"The metrics from today are absolutely completely insane," Evelyn explained with her mind rapidly processing the raw data.

She flipped the datapad around, sliding it across the mahogany table toward Silas.

"The Lord War broadcast peaked at exactly 1.5 billion concurrent live viewers," Evelyn revealed bluntly.

Silas kept his face completely neutral.

Internally, his brain practically detonated with greed and surprise.

’One point five BILLION?!’

That was a completely incomprehensible amount of human traffic.

"Even when Hiro’s purple domain completely blacked out the visual feed, the viewer count didn’t drop," Evelyn continued, sighing heavily to hide her own excitement. "If anything, the suspense actually drove the engagement metrics higher. People were actively flooding the super-chats and the Valoria betting pools trying to guess who was winning inside the dome."

Evelyn leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Between the raw ad revenue, the premium subscriptions, the direct super-chats, and the percentage cuts we took from the Association betting rings..." Evelyn calculated rapidly.

She stared directly into Silas’s golden eyes.

"I currently owe you exactly seventy-five million Spirit Credits." Evelyn declared flatly.

Morwenna, who was currently pouring a glass of water for Eluned, completely froze.

SPLASH!

She accidentally spilled water entirely over the mahogany table.

"Seventy-five MILLION?!" Morwenna shrieked, her brain completely short-circuiting at the number.

She didn’t know about Spirit credits but she did know that...

You could buy an entire fleet of Mythril-plated galleons with that kind of capital.

Silas didn’t even blink.

He simply nodded slowly with his expression entirely stoic.

"Transfer the funds to me when we get back to Earth, I’ll have a bit of a talk with my bank and stuff." Silas sighed.

"I will," Evelyn agreed smoothly. "Though I should say the Valoria City banking guild takes exactly twelve hours to clear a transaction of that massive magnitude, but it will be in your account."

Evelyn rubbed her face, looking thoroughly exhausted by the scale of the finances.

Silas picked up his glass of water, taking a slow, measured sip and he set the glass back down.

"Now," Silas shifted the topic completely. "There is a pressing logistical issue that we need to address immediately."

Evelyn raised an eyebrow. "What issue?"

"My disguise," Silas stated bluntly.

Evelyn blinked in confusion.

"The Lord Vespera persona was incredibly effective for combat," Silas explained, gesturing to his own face. "But I never actually prepared an official registered identity for her within the World Council databases."

’I literally just put on some armor and started swinging...’

"Right now, there are millions of people across the network desperately trying to figure out who Vespera actually is," Silas continued. "If the Valoria City auditors decide to run a deep-dive background check on my territory, they are going to immediately realize that Vespera does not legally exist."

Silas leaned forward, his golden eyes locking onto Evelyn’s dark ones.

"Which brings me back to my earlier question," Silas said. "How exactly do you handle the legal paperwork and the digital footprint for your Lord Sky persona?"

Evelyn groaned loudly.

She reached into her hoodie pocket and she pulled out her slim silver cigarette case as well as her plasma lighter.

CLICK! FWOOSH!

She lit the cigarette, taking a stressed drag of the nicotine.

Elm immediately scowled, aggressively waving her hand in front of her face to clear the gray smoke away from her nose.

"Evelyn," Elm complained weakly. "That smells terrible."

"Deal with it, Elm," Evelyn shot back irritably, exhaling a thick plume of smoke toward the ceiling. "I just lost my territory, I’m down seventy-five million credits, and now I have to play corporate consultant..."

Evelyn tapped her finger against the mahogany table.

"You can’t just fake a Lord identity in the Sovereign Realm with a simple disguise artifact," Evelyn explained, entirely dropping her casual tone and slipping into her brilliant strategic persona. "The World Council uses highly advanced biometric tracking and mana-signature registration."

"So how did you do it?" Silas pressed.

"I didn’t," Evelyn admitted bluntly. "I paid someone else to do it."

She took another heavy drag of the cigarette.

"There is an incredibly skilled illegal information broker operating deep in the undercity of Valoria," Evelyn revealed quietly. "His name is Jax, or so you could say. He specializes in digital forgery, deep-network hacking, and manufacturing bulletproof corporate identities."

Evelyn flicked a bit of ash onto her empty plate.

"Jax owes me a massive favor from my early realm-diving days," Evelyn continued. "He completely hardwired the audio filters into my streaming drones to modulate my voice. He also completely fabricated the birth records, the guild registration, and the tax history for Lord Sky."

Silas nodded slowly, fully absorbing the critical intelligence.

"If the Valoria auditors look up Lord Sky," Evelyn said proudly, "they will find a perfectly clean, thirty-year-old male commander with a flawless credit score."

"I need that exact same service for Vespera," Silas stated immediately.

Evelyn smirked around her cigarette.

"Oh, really?" Evelyn asked, leaning forward with a smug expression. "And why exactly should I give you the direct contact information for my most valuable underground asset?"