Tasmin sat completely still on the heavy dark linen bedsheets of the master bedroom.

The terrifying pressure of her Sovereign’s killing intent had completely vanished from the air.

The suffocating weight that had just been paralyzing her lungs was gone, instantly replaced by the quiet comfortable warmth of the pristine stone room.

Tasmin looked at him.

Her heart, which had stopped beating just a few hours ago in the freezing mud of the Umbral Basin, practically did a violent Olympic-level backflip inside her chest.

’M-my Lord...’ Tasmin thought. ’Wh-why...’

She knew she was not that important... She could spin daggers so what...? Brida could do a lot more but her Lord still...

A massive wave of happiness completely washed over her. It erased the lingering phantom pains of her shattered spine.

She vigorously wiped the remaining hot tears from her dark beautiful eyes.

"I am so sorry again, my Lord," Tasmin apologized. "I swear on my dual blades, I will never break your operational protocol again."

Silas sighed, leaning back in the wooden chair and crossing his arms.

"Just focus on giving me the intel, Tasmin," Silas instructed. "Tell me exactly what we are dealing with. What was in that cavern?"

Tasmin didn’t hesitate.

Her brain instantly booted up, recalling every single microscopic detail of the cave.

"It was a massive mine, my Lord," Tasmin reported sharply. "The walls weren’t natural rock... They were artificially carved. There were ancient, rotting wooden support beams and rusted iron mine-cart tracks leading deep into the earth but the most important operational detail was the walls themselves."

’Mine? Does that mean someone tried to start a mining operation in this place?’

Silas raised an eyebrow. "The walls?"

"They were completely littered with raw unmined veins of high-tier materials," Tasmin explained with her dark eyes widening slightly as she recalled the sight. "I saw massive glowing deposits of blue alloy, brown alloy, and condensed mana crystals. It was a literal goldmine and the mana density in the air was so thick it felt like breathing water."

Silas didn’t speak.

He just stared at the far wall.

’A completely untouched high-tier resource node located directly inside my territory area?’ Silas thought. ’If I can completely secure that mine and set up a proper extraction perimeter... I’ll be able to feed Thora well... I won’t have to rely on the Valoria City corporate markets for raw forging materials ever again and I can sell them too.’

"But it was a designated kill zone," Tasmin continued with her voice dropping a bit as she remembered the ambush. "The entrance was rigged with a mechanical pressure plate... The exact second my rookie triggered it, a horde of three dozen Tier 1 and Tier 2 Corrupted Orcs rushed us from the lower tunnels."

She paused, swallowing hard.

"I completely slaughtered the grunts, my Lord," Tasmin reported with a flicker of fierce assassin pride. "I utilized the focused technique the new instructor taught us. But then... A monster arrived."

Silas’s jaw tightened. "The Tier 3?"

"Yes," Tasmin nodded grimly. "It was at least twelve feet tall. Black, obsidian-colored hide. It had raw mythril plates bolted directly into its spine, and it was wielding a solid iron mine-cart rail like a club. It was fast and its passive durability was too high for my daggers to pierce the main muscle groups."

She looked down at her hands, clenching the white cotton fabric of her tunic.

"I managed to blind its left eye with a strike before it swatted me into the tree," Tasmin finished. "But it is still in there and guarding the lower levels."

Silas nodded slowly.

He stood up from the hard wooden chair with hisframe towering over the bed.

"Understood," Silas stated smoothly. "Get some rest, Tasmin. I’ll handle the extraction."

Tasmin violently scrambled forward on the mattress.

"My Lord!" Tasmin blurted out, her dark eyes flashing with desperate intent. "I want to come with you!"

Silas stopped.

He looked down at the assassin sitting on his bed.

"Tasmin," Silas said with his voice completely flat. "Your spine was literally pulverized into sawdust exactly three hours ago... Eluned had to physically reconstruct your entire skeletal system from scratch..."

"I am at one hundred percent Vitality!" Tasmin argued fiercely, swinging her legs completely out of the bed to prove her mobility.

She stood up, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet. "Look! No pain... No lag in my motor functions... I am the only one who knows the exact internal layout of the cavern entrance! You need a guide!"

She stepped closer to him, her voice dropping into a desperate, pleading whisper.

"Please, my Lord," Tasmin begged, her pride completely abandoned. "That monster humiliated me... It nearly butchered my squad... I need to be there when you put it in the ground. I need to join you in killing it."

Silas stared at her. He saw the burning spite in her eyes.

It was the exact same look Morwenna had.

It was the look of a predator that had been wounded and desperately needed to reclaim its spot on the food chain.

He let out a long exhausted sigh.

"Fine," Silas relented, rubbing the back of his neck. "You can guide the girls to the entrance but you are going to be under serious, strict supervision. If you so much as sneeze incorrectly, I am actively throwing you over my shoulder and carrying you back to this bed."

Tasmin didn’t argue the conditions.

She snapped to attention, completely ignoring the fact that she was only wearing a thin white sleep tunic, and delivered a flawless military salute.

"Yes, my Lord!" Tasmin beamed, a massive smile stretching across her beautiful face.

"Go get your gear prepared," Silas instructed. "Tell Kaelia to pack high-calorie field rations."

Tasmin didn’t waste a single microsecond.

She violently spun around on her heel and literally sprinted out of the master bedroom.

She moved with blinding agility, rushing out the door and sprinting down the stone hallway to get to the girls.

She was in such a rush that she entirely forgot to close the heavy oak door behind her.

Silas stood alone in the middle of the master bedroom.

He aggressively rubbed his temples, feeling a massive migraine actively forming right behind his eyes.

"Sigh..." Silas muttered to himself, staring at the open doorway. "At least close the damn door."

He slowly turned away, walking over to the heavy wooden desk near the window to review his territorial map that Tasmin made.

’A mine, huh?’ Silas thought, resting his heavy hands on the edge of the desk. ’Corrupted Orcs hoarding mythril and other alloys... That means there’s something there. If I kill everything in there, the cavern becomes a safe extraction zone.’

"You did a good job with her, Captain."

The voice didn’t come from the open doorway, instead it came directly from the ceiling.

Silas didn’t flinch.He just calmly looked straight up.

Clinging completely upside down to the heavy, dark ironwood support beams of the master bedroom ceiling was Morwenna.

The SSS-Rank Dread Queen was casually hanging there like a terrifying spider.

She had shed Silas’s oversized gear for some reason and was now wearing the dry, perfectly fitted canvas shorts and the heavy leather smithing bra Thora had given her.

Her bare pale feet were somehow gripping the smooth wood of the ceiling utilizing pure mana control.

"How exactly long have you been up there?" Silas asked deadpan.

"Long enough," Morwenna replied with a wicked grin showing off her slightly pointed canines. "Pirate stealth, Captain... You never know when the Righteous Pantheon is going to try and drop a smite on your head while you sleep. I prefer the high ground..."

She didn’t carefully climb down.

Morwenna simply released her mana grip on the wood and let herself fall.

She dropped twelve feet directly toward the solid stone floor.

At the exact last microsecond, she engaged her Tidal-Blade Arts, smoothly rolling her momentum entirely into a flawless silent crouch.

She stood up directly beside him, not making a single sound.

"So," Morwenna purred, her stormy gray eyes practically glowing in the dim light of the bedroom. "A high-tier monster mangled one of our crew... Would you like to go get some immediate violent revenge, Captain?"

Silas looked down at her.

"Of course," Silas stated. "We are going to slaughter the monsters there and check out the viability of the mines while we’re at it."

Morwenna smiled.

It was the terrifying grin of a Void-Sea Scourge who had just been given official stamped permission to commit absolute atrocities.

Her stormy eyes began to physically glow, swirling like a dark violent hurricane.

"As your newly appointed right hand," Morwenna declared smoothly, reaching out and gently brushing her knuckles against his bicep. "I would be honored to join you in exacting this revenge... I haven’t caved in a skull in five hundred years so I’m feeling incredibly rusty."

"Good," Silas nodded, approving of her bloodlust. "Go down to the Garrison and gather the raid team. I want you, Eluned, Tasmin, Brida, and the five best girls you spotted during your sparring session. We need heavy hitters for a breach."

"Consider it done, Captain," Morwenna saluted lazily, already turning toward the open doorway.

As the Dread Queen stepped out into the stone hallway, she nearly collided directly with another woman entering the room.

It was Aeliana.

The Arcanist stepped carefully into the master bedroom, clutching her heavy wooden clipboard tightly against her pristine enchanted spider-silk robes.

She took one look at the half-naked pirate exiting the room and aggressively narrowed her glowing green eyes.

"Try not to track mud into the Keep corridors..." Aeliana sniped politely.

"Try not to trip over your own long ears, Elf," Morwenna shot back flawlessly, offering a sarcastic wink before disappearing down the stairs.

Aeliana aggressively huffed, turning her attention entirely back to her Sovereign.

"My Lord," Aeliana greeted him, executing a flawless graceful bow. "I compiled the damage reports from the sparring session... Two broken wooden training swords though they are restored now, one deeply cratered mud field, and Brida requires an extra ration of protein to recover from her concussion."

"Put the clipboard down, Aeliana," Silas instructed.

Aeliana blinked, freezing in place. "My Lord?"

"I am leaving the walls..." Silas explained pragmatically, walking over to his armory trunk. "We just located a resource mine in the Umbral Basin so I am taking an elite squad to clear the hostile targets and secure the perimeter."

Aeliana’s posture immediately stiffened.

"I shall prepare my staff immediately," Aeliana stated, moving to set her clipboard on the desk. "My spatial detection net will be highly optimal for a subterranean—"

"No," Silas stopped her.

Aeliana froze again, her pointed ears drooping slightly in genuine confusion. "You... you do not require my spells on this raid?"

"I require you here," Silas corrected her smoothly, turning to face her.

He walked over to the Royal Elf.

He spoke to her like a true, trusted partner.

"Eluned and Morwenna are massive walking nukes," Silas analyzed the situation. "I can trust Eluned a lot but I need her out there just to be sure... You are the next person in this entire territory who possesses the actual functional intellect to manage the base."

He reached out and gently placed his hand on her delicate, silk-covered shoulder.

"While I am gone," Silas assigned the absolute authority. "You are officially in charge of the Blessed Land. You manage the perimeter wards... You manage the remaining girls...You hold the fort."

Aeliana’s breath completely caught in her throat.

A hot blush conquered her pale cheeks. Her glowing eyes widened in shock.

’My Lord is leaving me in complete command of his territory?! He trusts me more than the Goddess!.. He trusts me more than the new Pirate!... I really am the Queen!’

She was incredibly shy at first. She looked down at her polished boots, entirely flustered by the overwhelming weight of the responsibility but then, her fierce high-elven pride completely took over.

She took a step back and executed a deep, profound, incredibly respectful bow.

"I accept the absolute authority, my Lord," Aeliana vowed, her voice trembling slightly with pure devotion. "Not a single microscopic hostile entity will breach these walls while you are away. I swear it on the stars..."

"I know," Silas smiled warmly. "Tell the raid group to meet me at the front gate in ten minutes."

Silas left the master bedroom and walked briskly through the stone corridors of the Keep.

He exited the main building and stepped out into the freezing monsoon rain of the courtyard.

He didn’t head directly for the front gates as he had one extremely vital pit-stop to make first.

He walked straight toward the Warlord Foundry.

He aggressively pushed the reinforced iron door open, stepping back into the blistering, roaring thermal heat of the forge.

"Thora," Silas called out over the ringing of the anvil.

The Dwarven blacksmith was entirely in her element.

She was currently utilizing her completely steel tailoring tools to actively stitch thick oxidized plates of void-kraken mythril into Morwenna’s repaired leather jacket.

She looked up from the anvil, pushing her heavy welding goggles up onto her forehead.

A perverted shameless grin immediately stretched across her soot-stained face.

"Well look who it is!" Thora laughed loudly, wiping her hands on her leather apron. "Back for round two, Boss? If you’re looking for another free strip show, I can drop my hammer right now and show you why Dwarven women have the absolute best stamina in the realm!"