The kitchen was still heavy with the scent of the iridescent Omurice and the thick, lingering steam from Liam’s [Boiler] state.

Elizabeth, now leaning against the counter and still buzzing from the mana-rich meal, watched with a mix of lingering arousal and sharp irritation as Liam went to work on the intruder.

He didn’t treat the assassin like a person; he treated her like a puzzle that needed solving. Using a length of the serpent’s skin rope from his inventory, he bound her wrists and ankles with the efficiency of a butcher tying a roast. He hoisted her limp form onto a sturdy wooden chair, kicking the legs out to ensure she was balanced.

"Let’s see who the Ruby Eyed Guild sends to do their dirty work," Liam rumbled.

He reached out and yanked back the dark leather hood. A waterfall of vibrant, sapphire-blue hair spilled out, contrasting sharply against the pale, sweat-slicked skin of the girl beneath. But it wasn’t just her hair that caught the eye. Protruding from her temples were two obsidian-black horns, barely the size of rose thorns, and as Liam shifted her, a long, slender tail tipped with a spade-like blade twitched against the floorboards.

"A dragon," Elizabeth noted, her eyes narrowing. "Rare and expensive, the Ruby Eyed Guild must be paying her a fortune."

Liam grabbed a bowl of cold water and splashed it directly into the girl’s face.

She gasped, her eyes snapping open, slitted, blue pupils that burned with immediate hatred. As her vision cleared and she took in Liam’s shirtless, scarred frame and Elizabeth’s dishevelled state, her lip curled in disgust.

Spit.

The glob of saliva hit Liam’s boots. "You sick... depraved freak," the girl hissed, her voice a jagged edge. "I heard the stories. The ’Silver Glacier’ that preys on his party members. I see the pink catkin is already well-broken. Are you going to keep me in the rafters as a trophy too?"

Elizabeth’s tail puffed to twice its size. "Broken? I’m the leader of the party, and he’s... he’s just an idiot, not a predator!"

Liam didn’t answer. Instead, he stepped closer. As he moved into her personal space, the [Dragon-Slayer’s Aura] he’d gained from the Serpent Omurice flared. It wasn’t a physical heat, but a spiritual weight, the pressure of a predator that stood at the very top of the scaled beast food chain.

The assassin, whose name tag flickered as

[Midnight - Level 40 Shadow-Stalker]

Visibly recoiled. Her breath hitched, and her tiny horns trembled. To her, Liam didn’t look like a man anymore; he looked like the shadow of a Great Wyrm.

"W-what are you?" she stammered, her bravado crumbling under the weight of the aura. "That pressure... that’s not wolf."

"I’m the man whose kitchen you broke into," Liam said, his voice a low, dangerous vibration. "And I don’t like wasting ingredients."

Elizabeth, unable to take the girl’s insults any longer, stepped forward and delivered a sharp crack of a slap across Midnight’s cheek. "Watch your mouth. You’re lucky he’s not hungry, or he’d have turned you into crafting materials by now."

Liam watched the exchange, his eyes tracing the red mark on the dragon-girl’s face and the fiery defiance in Elizabeth’s eyes. A strange, primal spark flickered in his gut. That’s actually... kind of hot, he thought, before immediately burying the sentiment under layers of tactical discipline.

[Goddess Hestia’s Note]: "OH! THE HAREM FLAG IS WAVING! A dragon-girl and a cat-girl fighting over my Chef? Liam, keep her! Make her do the laundry! Or better yet, make them share a plate!"

"What are you going to do to me, you freak?" Midnight snarled, though her voice lacked its earlier bite. "Torture? Slavery?"

"Worse," Liam said, he turned back to the stove. "I’m going to feed you."

He ignored her confused stuttering and pulled a heavy iron pot from the back of the stove. It was a slow-cooked beef stew he’d started before the stream chunks of marbled brisket, thick-cut root vegetables, and a rich, dark gravy infused with red wine and herbs. He sliced a thick hunk of crusty bread, the steam rising from the soft interior.

He filled a bowl and sat on a stool in front of the bound girl.

"Open," he commanded.

"I’d rather starve," she spat.

Liam didn’t argue. He took a large spoonful himself, leaning back and savouring the melt-in-your-mouth tenderness of the beef. "Good more for me, and the beef was aged for fourteen days. The carrots were grown in mana-enriched soil."

Midnight’s stomach betrayed her with a loud, hollow growl. She hadn’t eaten a real meal in days. The Ruby Eyed Guild kept their subordinates on a strict diet of dry rations and stamina potions to keep them "lean."

Liam offered the spoon again. This time, she didn’t spit. She lunged, snapping her teeth around the wood and swallowing the stew in one go. Her eyes went wide. The warmth hit her stomach, radiating through her cold, dragon-kin blood. It wasn’t torture, it was a revelation.

"See?" Liam murmured. "It’s okay," he hushed her.

Once she had been fed, though, she continued to glare through every bite. Liam stood up. He didn’t unbind her; instead, he picked her up and tossed her onto the small couch in the corner of the room, using a secondary rope to tether her to the heavy wooden frame.

"You’re staying here tonight," Liam said. "Tomorrow is the raid on the catacombs, and you’re Level 40, and you know the Ruby Eyed Guild’s movements, you’re coming with us."

[SYSTEM TOOLTIP: THE ALPHA’S QUARTERS]

[Condition]: Party Size Expanded (Forced).

[Status]: Midnight (Dragon-kin) is currently 40% Loyalty (Food-based) and 60% Confused (Aura-based).

[Liam’s Internal Logic]:

The beef stew was a little heavy on the salt, but it served its purpose.

Elizabeth looks good in red. I should find more spicy ingredients.

Stamina is definitely the most misunderstood stat. I’ll explain the math to them tomorrow.

[Goddess Hestia’s Note]: "HE POKED HER! And he laughed! The ’Husky Laugh’ clip is already the #1 most-watched video in the Divine Realm! Liam, you’re a natural! Just one more girl and we can unlock the ’Shared Bed’ achievement!"