Chapter 1178 – Not One Calm Day

“I was serious about that invitation to visit my planet,” the Chosen of the Malefic Viper said with a smile as he stood right outside the house with his partner for dinner, Diana, by his side.

“We’ll certainly take you up on the offer once it’s possible for us to go there,” Solana answered with a bow. Not going would be foolishly passing up a great opportunity. She already knew that she and Keerla would have to report everything that had happened during this dinner to their higher-ups, and chances were that this open invitation would cause both of them to be placed into several courses on diplomacy.

“Thank you for the invitation. It was a lovely evening, and the food was absolutely wonderful, especially the soup,” Diana said, nodding her head.

“I’m glad you could come,” Solana also bowed to the wood elf archer, knowing that the woman definitely also had a status far surpassing that of Keerla and herself.

As for the mention of the mushroom soup… Solana had to admit that while she had done her best, she wasn’t very used to working with toxins during cooking, meaning the end result hadn’t been as good as she’d hoped.

Fortunately, the Chosen had enjoyed it enough to finish the entire pot. Diana didn’t eat as much but also dug in, though Solana expected it was mostly to eat alongside the Chosen. Despite her status being a lot higher than theirs, she still only had a Divine Blessing, and no one could fault her for wanting to get closer to someone like Lord Thayne.

Luckily for her, Lord Thayne did seem to have taken a liking to the wood elf.

“Hey, you could pay me back by putting in a good word with Artemis,” Keerla smiled shamelessly at Diana.

Solana threw her wife a quick glare that the high elf didn’t even register as Diana answered with grace.

“I don’t doubt she’s pleased with how great hosts you are, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d begin to pay a little extra attention to you going forward. Especially not if you’ll be visiting the ninety-third universe,” the peak C-grade wood elf said.

Keerla remained shameless as she placed a hand on Diana’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, if I make it big, I won’t forget about those who helped me get there and will definitely return the favor.”

“Looking forward to it,” Diana chuckled. All Solana could do was be happy that Diana wasn’t easily offended. Keerla was quite curt when she felt close to someone, and she’d definitely taken a liking to Diana based on how her etiquette had gone out the window.

“Hey, if it’s worth anything, I’ll also put in a good word with Yggdrasil,” the Chosen of the Malefic Viper said casually as he looked at Solana.

The statement was absolutely ludicrous, and if it had come from anyone else, Solana would have laughed at the notion that a C-grade could talk to her Patron, the Mother Tree, much less have the Primordial actually listen. However, seeing as it was the Chosen of the Malefic One who walked around with a bow created from divine wood donated by the Mother Tree… he likely wasn’t joking.

“I’m unworthy of such praise,” Solana said, feeling genuinely awkward even thinking about someone as insignificant as her being mentioned to the leader of the Pantheon of Life.

“If you feel that way, then work towards becoming a person who would be worthy,” the Chosen said, keeping the same casual tone despite his words.

“I’ll do my utmost,” Solana bowed again, unsure what to say. The Chosen seemed happy with her response as he smiled.

“In case I hadn’t said it… Thank you for hosting us. It was indeed a lovely evening, and I hope we meet again. Perhaps in my home next time. I’m not the best chef, but hey, I know how to order catering,” Lord Thayne said in a tone that made Solana unsure if he was joking or not.

“He’s not joking, in case you’re wondering,” Diana dispelled Solana’s internal thoughts, something she’d done several times prior already throughout the evening. Truly, she had a great understanding of the Chosen.

“It would be an honor to visit your abode,” Solana bowed.

“Yeah, definitely not going to say no to that,” Keerla agreed in less polite words, but at least she also bowed respectfully.

“Just one rule,” Lord Thayne said with a smile. “No bowing all the time on my planet, alright?”

“We’ll try to keep that in mind,” Solana said, hurriedly straightening her back.

“I’ll be seeing you later, then,” the Chosen of the Malefic Viper nodded as he turned to leave.

“You two have a great night, and I’m sure we’ll meet again,” Diana also gave them a nod as she threw Keerla a look, likely because they both shared a Patron.

Solana was about to bow again, but stopped herself as she joined Keerla in waving at the two as they left. Right around when it got sufficiently awkward to stay there waving, she and Keerla went back into their house. Closing the door, Solana threw her wife a look.

“We survived.”

“More than survived… that went great!” Keerla said with a huge smile. “At least I don’t think we’ll get purged for having offended the Chosen of the Malefic Viper. We even got an invitation to visit his planet, something you said the higher-ups are hoping this declaration of friendship would make easier, and here we are with an open invitation.”

“It certainly went a lot better than expected,” Solana said with a slow nod, genuinely surprised things had gone that well.

“We definitely got lucky he brought along Diana,” Keerla sighed. “She rocked. Without her, things would have been super awkward, especially in the beginning.”

“She was indeed skilled in conversation and reading social cues,” Solana wholeheartedly agreed. “And you still don’t remember having heard of her before? C-grades with Divine Blessings are relatively rare, and if she managed to get this close to the Chosen of the Malefic Viper, I’m surprised there hasn’t been more talk about her.”

“Nope, never even heard of anyone with that name having a Divine Blessing of the Mistress,” Keerla shook her head. “But that isn’t super surprising. A lot of those with Divine Blessings are in specialized hunting squads or lone hunters that aren’t very public.”

“I guess,” Solana sighed. As a follower of the Mother Tree, Solana definitely had a way better understanding of the influential mortals who held high-level Blessings of her Patron, but even she wouldn’t dare claim she knew about all C-grades with Divine Blessings of her Patron.

“Hey… do you think those two are together?” Keerla asked after thinking for a moment.

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“I think there’s something going on for sure,” Solana speculated. “The most likely scenario is that Artemis and the Mother Tree both pushed for Diana to get closer to the Chosen of the Malefic Viper during his stay here, and he decided to take her up on the offer to enjoy some female companionship.”

“So you think they’re just banging?” Keerla asked curtly. “I feel like they had pretty good chemistry, and Lord Thayne didn’t treat her as just a temporary plaything… then again, he was all-around way nicer than I thought the Chosen of the Malefic Viper could possibly be.”

Solana threw Keerla a glare for the potentially blasphemous statement, making Keerla shrug.

“What? You were thinking the exact same thing.”

“Some thoughts are best kept as just that: thoughts,” Solana said, shaking her head. “As for the true nature of their relationship? Who are we even to speculate? All I will say is that if she does manage to become one of his recognized partners, the Pantheon of Life would be more than pleased.”

“But for now, you think they’re just banging,” Keerla reiterated.

“I never said that,” Solana crossed her arms.

“But you were thinking it,” Keerla smiled cheekily. “And for the record, I’m gonna make a wild prediction… I think they’re already totally an item, and things are just kept under wraps for now. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if this entire Declaration of Friendship was partly made on the grounds that the two are together.”

Solana just stared at Keerla for a few seconds. “Sometimes, your wild theories do really drift into the territory of conspiracy theories.”