Chapter 871: Aki Returns To Earth [Bonus - ]

Chapter 871: Aki Returns To Earth [Bonus Chapter]

"I hope to see you later, Lady Aki! Don’t worry, I’ll wake up Ther’Abella as she seems to have fallen asleep at the portal waiting for Lord Silas." Elowynn said and Aki sighed in exasperation.

"Thank you, you two should hold down the territory... I’ll be back after handling important business back on Earth."

TAP! WHUMM!

The world folded in on itself.

The smell of damp soil, crushed leaves and old stone dissolved in a flash of blinding white light, and a heartbeat later, her bare feet landed on the plush hand-woven carpet of her own bedroom in the upper tier of Rhyx City.

...She was back.

Aki was really back from the Sovereign Realm.

The early morning sun rose over the skyline of Rhyx City, throwing long pale beams of amber light through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the penthouse suite.

Floating in front of Aki’s eyes, hanging against the soft shadows of the bedroom, was a single translucent prompt.

[Ascend]

Aki took a slow deep breath.

Her long flowing blue hair tumbled over her shoulders in wild tangled waves, and her chest rose and fell under her travel-worn linen tunic with her heart pounding in triumph against her ribs.

...She’d done it.

She’d fought through every monster they’d thrown at her, held her territory together when everything tried to tear it apart and stood her ground until the trial itself had no choice but to admit she’d earned it.

’It was quite easy... well thanks to Silas.’

A bright ecstatic grin spread across Aki’s lips and she threw both fists into the air.

"I did i—"

The cheer died in her throat.

A shockwave of pure scorching heat burst out of the very center of her body.

CRACK!

The sound tore through her skeleton like an oak beam splitting in half.

Aki gasped and her knees turned to water.

She folded in on herself and crashed down onto the thick wool rug with a strangled breathless sob, her eyes snapping wide as fire poured through her veins.

...Because this had been her first Descent, the bill had finally come due.

The post-descent metamorphosis.

It was the exact same ordeal every Lord goes through alone after their own Novice Trial.

The whole time she’d been in the Sovereign Realm, her Core had been soaking up energy like a sponge, far more than her body could process while she was there... All of it had stayed waiting inside her, circling and building like water behind a dam.

Now, the moment she crossed back into this world, the dam broke and everything she’d absorbed over all that week caught up with her body at once.

The heat roared through her chest like molten iron, turning her veins into rivers of liquid fire.

SNAP! CRACKLE!

Her ribs, her collarbones and the delicate bones in her feet cracked all at the same moment under the crushing pressure from inside.

The old bone splintered, dissolved and sealed itself back together over and over in the space of seconds, hardening into something far denser and far stronger than before.

"Ah... ahh...!" Aki whimpered, her nails digging into the carpet until she felt the wool fibers tear as her body arched in blinding pain.

Her muscles and tendons ripped loose and screamed, then knitted themselves back together at terrifying speed, rebuilding along fresh paths of energy that glowed faint blue beneath her pale skin.

Every pore on her body burned as it pushed out the impurities she’d carried her whole life in a hot steaming mist.

It went on for two solid minutes of breathless agony.

How far the change went depended on the strength of a Lord’s Core, and Aki’s Core was a strong one... It was purple after all so the trial’s reward burned through every part of her without mercy, pushing her body to the very limit of what it could become.

Her heart hammered like a war drum, pumping fire straight into her skull, until finally...

WHUMP!

The fire inside her dropped into a calm hum as the suffocating heat broke.

Aki collapsed flat against the carpet with her chest heaving in ragged gasps and her limbs still shaking with aftershocks.

The pain vanished completely and left behind an astonishing electric lightness, as if she could step off the balcony and walk across the clouds.

She was stronger... so much stronger.

Every breath pulled twice as much air into her lungs, her senses were razor sharp, and the strength humming under her skin felt like it could snap a steel bar between two fingers.

And the change had done more than that... it had refined her already beautiful features into something close to perfect.

Her jawline was more delicate, her skin glowed with a smooth pearly radiance that seemed to catch the morning light, and her blue hair fell in thick shining rivers with a natural shimmer to it.

She was also drenched from head to toe in cold sticky sweat with her linen tunic plastered to her ribs and smelling faintly of burnt metal and ozone.

"Haah... Haah... Haah..."

Aki badly needed a shower.

She rested her cheek against the carpet for three quiet heartbeats and let her racing pulse slow down, and a soft fond smile curled the corners of her lips.

’Silas...’

His voice came to her first then the easy curve of his mouth when he was about to tease her, and the way he always looked at her like she was something precious that belonged to him and only him.

’I wonder if he went through this exact same thing,’ she thought, pressing a trembling hand to her chest where her heart was still beating too fast. ’Lying on the floor all by himself like this... with nobody to tell...’

The thought made her chest ache.

’Next time, I’ll be there for him,’ Aki decided, curling her fingers against the carpet. ’Whatever happens next... I’m not going to be the one who gets carried around all the time anymore.’

Then she remembered exactly how much she liked being carried around by him, and her ears went pink all on their own.

’...Well. Maybe sometimes.’

She’d survived the monsters, built her territory and come out the other side, Aki had proven she was more than a pretty flower kept in a glass tower... She was a real Lord, someone who could stand beside him.

’So now I’m going to progress through the second part of this whole thing...’

A soft chime sounded from the bedroom doors.

BEEP!

The heavy double doors slid smoothly into the wall, and four young women in matching black-and-silver maid dresses walked in carrying fresh towels with a tray of lotion bottles and a covered silver serving platter.

At their head was Mira, Aki’s most trusted personal maid, tall and composed, her sharp experienced eyes sweeping the room out of habit.

The moment the four of them rounded the corner and saw their young mistress sprawled on the carpet in a sweat-soaked tunic, they stopped dead in perfect unison then Mira’s eyes caught the faint blue glow still fading under Aki’s skin and the new flawless edge to her features, and her hands flew to her apron as her whole face lit up.

"Lady Aki!" Mira gasped, dropping into a deep curtsy. "You’re back! You’ve completed the Novice Trial!"

The other three dropped into curtsies behind her with their faces glowing with excitement.

"Congratulations, my Lady!"

"Welcome home, First Princess!"

"We prayed for you every single morning, my Lady!"

Mira stepped forward, set the silver platter on a low table and lifted the dome with a celebratory flourish.

Sitting on a glass stand was a freshly baked three-tier vanilla sponge cake covered in whipped cream and cascading blue sugar flowers, with a message piped across the top in delicate gold icing.

[Welcome Home, Lord Aki!]

Aki pushed herself up onto her palms and let out a breathy amused giggle as she looked at it.

"You had a cake ready and waiting?" she teased, shaking her head so her blue hair tumbled over her shoulders. "What if I’d taken another three days...?"

"Then the kitchen would have baked a fresh one every twelve hours until you walked through that door, my Lady," Mira replied with complete solemn devotion, stepping over with a thick warm cotton robe.

She draped it over Aki’s shivering shoulders and gently helped her to her feet.

As she smoothed the collar, though, her composed expression tightened slightly and a shadow of formal duty passed behind her eyes.

"Forgive me for bringing up business so soon after you’ve returned, my Lady," Mira murmured, lowering her voice. "A priority message came through forty minutes ago... You’ve been summoned to the island."

Aki’s fingers paused on the lapel of her robe.

"The island..." she repeated softly.

"Yes, Lady Aki," Mira nodded. "The King has called for you to appear before the World Council right away... They’re all gathering to hear your report on the trial."

Aki took a slow measured breath, and her chin tilted up into that cool steady royal poise that ran in her blood.

’I expected it...’

Her father was the King of the World.

He wasn’t going to let his First Princess clear her Novice Trial and then wander off wherever she pleased.

He’d want to know everything... the grade of her Core, the state of her territory, every detail of what she’d done in there.

If she was being honest, she didn’t want to set foot on that cold stone island at all.

’Is it bad I want to spend time with Silas? Elu and the others had him all to themselves so let me get my turn~’

Her real plan had been to pack one small bag, skip the capital entirely and head straight for Amazonia.

She wanted to see Da Silva... She wanted to walk under the jungle canopy and spar and talk and laugh until the sun went down but she wasn’t naive.

The World Council came first, nobody ignored a direct summons from the King and besides...

A tiny wicked smirk curled the corner of Aki’s lips.

She couldn’t wait to see the look on her father’s face.

The King had always treated her like a useless porcelain ornament, something to ignore and eventually hand off to cement some alliance.

He had no idea what she’d become.

"Very well," Aki announced, turning gracefully toward the bathroom. "...Let’s not keep the King waiting."

The four maids sprang into motion.

Within five minutes, the huge sunken marble tub was filled with steaming water infused with cedar leaves, chamomile oil and sea salt, and the warm vapor rose in soft clouds toward the high ceiling, carrying away the last burnt-metal smell of the metamorphosis.

Aki sank into the deep fragrant water with a long trembling sigh of pure relief.

Mira and two of the younger maids knelt along the rim of the tub and carefully worked the tangles out of her blue hair with wide silver combs, while the fourth smoothed lavender soap over her aching shoulders.

As Mira rinsed a stream of warm water through her hair, Aki leaned her head back against the padded rest and a proud playful smile spread across her lips.

"You know, Mira," she said brightly over the splashing water, "the trial wasn’t all just fighting monsters..."

"Oh, my Lady?" Mira asked politely, parting a strand of hair with her comb. "Did you find ancient ruins?"

"Better," Aki beamed, her eyes sparkling with pure childlike pride. "I learned how to cook... a bit."

Mira’s hands froze.

The two younger maids stopped mid-comb with their combs hovering an inch above the water, and all four of them stared down at the First Princess in absolute stunned disbelief.

"You... what, my Lady?" Mira whispered, her voice cracking.

"I learned how to cook!" Aki repeated happily, waving her small wet hands. "Real food! Stews, roasted vegetables, clear broth, grilled meat... I can balance salt and herbs and keep a pot simmering without burning a single thing! I made a spiced lamb monster ragout that was completely delicious!"

Mira stared at her radiant smiling face, and her heart nearly stopped.

The First Princess of the World... the girl whose hands were meant to sign treaties and hold banners... standing over a greasy pan chopping onions like a kitchen maid.

’Who taught her this?!’ Mira’s mind shrieked in protective horror. ’Who put a knife in the hands of the King’s eldest daughter?! If His Majesty finds out she came home smelling of fried onions, someone is going to lose their head!’

But looking down at the sweet innocent pride glowing on Aki’s face, all Mira could manage was a soft long-suffering sigh as she went back to combing.

"I’m... I’m sure your ragout was a masterpiece, my Lady," Mira murmured tactfully. "Though I humbly beg you not to mention your new kitchen talents in front of the Council today..."

"Why not?" Aki pouted. "It’s a very useful skill..."

"For a Lord, my Lady?"

"For a wife..." Aki said, without thinking as the bathroom went dead silent.

Four combs stopped moving at the same time.

Aki’s eyes flew wide, and a blush crept up from the water line all the way to the tips of her ears.

"F-for... for anyone’s wife! In general! It’s a general skill! For general wives!" she squeaked, and sank down beneath the lavender suds until only her eyes and the top of her blue head were showing above the water.

Mira looked at the other three maids and the other three maids looked at Mira.

...Nobody said a word, but every one of them was thinking about the same one-armed Lord.

’It seems our Princess has fallen for a woman, she’s gay so we won’t be able to hold her children.’ Mira thought with a shake of her head.

There was also that Silas guy but how was he supposed to compete with the Lord Of Blessed Land...?

Under the bubbles, Aki squeezed her eyes shut and pictured a warm kitchen somewhere, a pot simmering on the stove and a familiar lazy voice behind her asking what smelled so good.

’He’s going to be the first one to eat it,’ she thought, her heart fluttering hard against her ribs. ’Before Father... before anyone... Silas is going to be the very first.’