Two days had passed since Satoru sent his summons to search for signs of the giants.
They had not been wasted days.
For Karina, at least, they had not felt that way.
She had imagined many times what it would be like to travel far from Muno for an important reason. In her fantasies, everything was cleaner, more heroic, and perhaps a little less strange, but reality did not seem as bad as she had expected either. Walking along forgotten paths, crossing moss-covered hills, discovering hidden streams between enormous roots, and seeing how the forest changed shape each time they left a familiar area behind stirred an excitement in her that was difficult to hide. It was not like when she had gotten lost, alone and hungry.
Now, although the goal remained the same, she had provisions and a comfortable tower waiting for her at the end of each day.
That made an enormous difference.
After spending hours walking among trees, hot food tasted better. Clean clothes seemed more valuable. Even lying down in a bed felt more satisfying when her body was tired by choice rather than necessity.
Karina would not have said it out loud, but she liked those days.
Satoru, for his part, kept moving with his usual calm. Sometimes he changed direction suddenly because one of his summons had found tracks too large to belong to an ordinary beast. Other times he stopped before traces almost erased by rain, examined the ground, and dismissed the possibility without giving it much importance.
Most of those signs led nowhere. Some belonged to large monsters. Others were too old to be useful. On more than one occasion, what looked like the passage of a giant turned out to be nothing more than roots lifting the earth over the years.
Even so, the search allowed Karina to see places she never would have imagined existed within her own barony.
On the second day, they found ruins covered in vines at the foot of a low hill. They were not large, barely the remains of stone walls sunken between roots, broken columns, and an arch half buried beneath dry leaves. At first glance, they could have passed for an old watch post, but the marks carved into the stone made Raka fall silent for several seconds.
Karina approached carefully.
"Do you know what this is?"
"Not with certainty," Raka replied, "but according to my knowledge, Muno was once part of an ancient kingdom that existed before the Shiga Kingdom. Perhaps these ruins belong to that era."
Karina looked more closely at the worn symbols. Some seemed like letters, others like simple decorative marks. There were also incomplete figures, almost erased by time: sturdy silhouettes, spears, beasts with exaggerated tusks, and something resembling a banner.
"So this is older than Muno…"
"Much older," Raka answered.
Satoru, who had remained silent until then, approached one of the walls and let his gaze pass over the deepest traces.
"It is orc writing."
Karina turned to him immediately.
"Orc?"
Raka also seemed surprised.
"You can read it?"
"Partially. It is too damaged."
Satoru observed the remaining fragments. The words were broken, but there were still enough patterns to distinguish names, references, territory, and a central authority. He could not reconstruct the entire text, but he could understand enough to make a reasonable deduction.
"It probably belonged to the ancient orc empire. If the chronology matches, it may have been related to the ruler later remembered as the Golden Boar Demon King."
Karina widened her eyes.
"The Demon King…? Here?"
And not just any Demon King. The Golden Boar Demon King had been King Yamato's rival and was considered one of the Three Great Demon Kings, the most dangerous in all of history. Before Yamato, it was said that the boar king had already killed several heroes.
Her surprise was visible on her face. She looked at the ruins again as if they had suddenly changed before her.
"Now that you mention it… the walls around Muno City also come from the era of King Yamato, don't they? I learned that in history class…"
She stopped, as if suddenly remembering something more immediate.
"Wait. Since when can you read orc?"
Satoru did not answer immediately.
In truth, he had not expected to know it either.
The understanding had appeared naturally in his mind, as if it had always been there, but when he tried to trace its origin, he found a void similar to other absorbed knowledge. It was not something he remembered learning through study. The most likely explanation was [Dark Wisdom]. At some point, from some source, that language had entered his knowledge.
And among all recent sources, the most likely one was the woman with the sword.
Her knowledge had been broad. Much broader than any mere combatant would have needed. Natural magic, history, techniques, ancient languages. Even now, after her death, she continued to provide useful pieces.
"I acquired it from a previous source," he said at last.
Karina looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"That explains nothing."
"It explains what is necessary."
Raka let out a low sound, almost amused.
"Even so, it is remarkable knowledge. There are not many people left who can recognize orc writing, much less interpret it in that state."
Satoru removed his hand from the wall.
"Recognizing it does not mean fully understanding it."
"Even that is more than most could do," Raka replied.
Karina looked at the ruins again. The possibility that those stones had belonged to an empire older than the Shiga Kingdom, perhaps related to a Demon King, left her with a strange feeling. Muno had always seemed to her like a poor land, deteriorated and somewhat embarrassing compared to more prosperous territories. But beneath the forests, among forgotten paths and hills covered in roots, there were remnants of a much greater history than the one she knew.
For the first time in a long while, her own land seemed less small.
***
On the third day, shortly after noon, one of the summons found something.
Satoru stopped in the middle of a narrow path.
Karina, who had been watching small flowers growing between the roots, lifted her head.
"What happened?"
Satoru raised his gaze slightly toward the north.
One of his summons contacted him.
Satoru stopped and shared the vision of the [Bone Vulture]. At first he saw only the hillside from above, an irregular stretch of rock, trees, and shadow. Then he distinguished a humanoid figure moving among the trees, but its size was far too large to belong to any human.
There was no doubt.
It was a giant.
It was moving quickly, too restless for someone who was merely patrolling. It carried something large in one hand, and when it threw it to the ground at the foot of a rocky wall, Satoru distinguished scales, dried blood, and a huge jaw.
A hydra head.
"We found one," Satoru said.
Karina widened her eyes.
"A giant?"
"Yes."
Her expression changed instantly, and she looked north as if she could see through every tree.
"Is it close?"
Satoru extended a hand toward her.
Karina understood his intention and approached without protest. The simple fact that she was about to see one of the giants she had set out to find from the beginning made everything else fade into the background.
The world blinked.
An instant later, the path disappeared, and both of them appeared on a stone elevation at a prudent distance from the figure the summon had located.
The giant was there.
He resembled a human only in general shape. His size made him seem as tall as a castle gate, with broad shoulders, thick arms, and a presence that made everything around him look small. Heavy armor covered his torso, formed from metal plates and hardened leather, while his bare arms displayed dark tattoos that descended to his wrists. He carried an axe hanging from his waist, and a braided beard fell over his chest.
In front of him, the severed head of a hydra lay on the ground, thrown down roughly.
"Useless…"
The giant looked at it with such clear frustration that Karina stopped focusing on his size.
Satoru did not wait long.
Magic lifted him from the ground, and he descended from the elevation with Karina at his side. The giant had not looked at them yet. All his attention was fixed on the hydra head.
Then he took the axe from his waist.
"Grrraah!"
The roar came out deep, restrained at first, but then broke as the blade fell.
CRAAACK!
The hydra head split open against the rock. Scales, dark blood, and crushed flesh scattered around as the impact opened a crack beneath the blow. The giant breathed heavily, fingers tight around the handle, and for a second he seemed ready to keep striking the remains until nothing recognizable was left.
Satoru descended a little lower.
"It seems you are in trouble."
The giant turned immediately.
"Humans…"
His gaze lowered toward Karina and then returned to Satoru. He did not seem surprised to see them, only irritated at having to do so at that exact moment.
"I am not in the mood to deal with you. Leave."
Satoru did not respond to the warning. His attention remained on the destroyed head.
Why did he do it?
The giant had called it useless before splitting it with the axe. It had not been a meaningless outburst. There was frustration, yes, but also a conclusion made beforehand: to him, that head no longer served any purpose. That meant he had expected to obtain something from it, and upon checking it, had discovered that something had been lost.
Fangs?
No. If he had been interested in the fangs, he would not have destroyed the entire skull with an axe blow. Besides, they had still been present and intact before its destruction.
Scales?
Not that either. For that, he would have removed the skin from the corpse's body, not the head.
Bone, flesh?
None of that fit. A hydra was a dangerous creature and its parts had value, but the giant's behavior was not that of someone annoyed over losing common materials. It was the behavior of someone who had lost something urgent.
A trophy?
Perhaps he had lost a competition and was taking it out on the head.
But Satoru did not feel that was correct.
Then he reached another answer.
The venom glands.
Thanks to his knowledge of alchemy, Satoru knew that within a hydra's head, those glands were one of the most valuable components. With proper treatment, they could be used to create powerful poisons, but also remedies against the beast's own toxin.
Remembering the state of the head before its destruction, the cut at the neck had been close to where the glands were. That would render them useless.
Furthermore, giants were not a race known for using poison, so…
Satoru lifted his gaze toward him.
"Was someone poisoned recently?"
The giant's face hardened.
"That is none of your business."
"The glands were destroyed," Satoru continued. "That is why the head became useless."
The air grew heavy.
The giant's pressure fell over the place like gravity. Karina felt her body tense instantly. It was not only size or strength; it was the anger of an enormous, ancient warrior, with combat one step away from overflowing.
Even so, she stepped forward.
"Wait, please. We did not come to cause trouble."
The giant lowered his gaze toward her.
Karina kept her back straight. She was not worried about Satoru. On the contrary, she feared that if this became a fight, their first contact with the giants would end before it even began.
"I am Karina Muno," she said. "We came because we wish to establish a friendly relationship with your people. We are not enemies."
The giant remained silent.
Then he repeated, almost through his teeth:
"Muno."
Karina did not recognize the danger in his tone.
"Yes. My father is Baron Leon Muno. We are currently trying to rebuild the region, and we thought perhaps—"
"If that was your intention," the giant interrupted, "you should have thought better before presenting yourself before me with that surname."
Karina went still.
"What…?"
The giant looked at her as if the name had dragged up a history buried long ago.
"I thought I would never hear that surname again after they were exterminated in the past. Though I had heard rumors that someone had raised it again."
Karina parted her lips.
Extermination.
That was not a word she could connect to her father or her family. However, it could be tied to the Muno surname of old.
She wanted to explain that they were not the same family, that her father's house had no relation to the one that had ruled Muno back when it was still a marquisate. But she had no room to do so.
The giant took a step toward them.
"Normally, I would have only driven you away from these lands."
His voice dropped even lower.
"But today…"
The pressure increased.
Karina could not move.
Then the wind exploded.
BOOM!
An invisible blast struck the giant head-on and hurled him against the rock wall. The impact shook the hillside, raised dust, and sent stones rolling downhill. Karina took a second to react, and when she did, Satoru was already floating before the giant's fallen body, still above him.
"Did that help you calm down?"
The giant lifted his gaze, breathing heavily. The blow had not knocked him out, but it had broken the momentum that was about to drag him forward.
Satoru continued with the same calm:
"I apologize if I was rude. I was not trying to mock you."
The giant did not answer.
"I do not know the resentment that exists between your people and the Muno surname. Nor will I argue it right now. We came here out of interest. If you do not accept our presence, we will leave."
The giant clenched his teeth.
"But if someone has been affected by hydra venom," Satoru added, "I can help. I possess magic capable of removing it."
The silence changed.
The fury did not disappear, but it lost direction. The giant looked at the remains of the head, then at Karina, and finally at Satoru.
"What do you want?"
"An opportunity to establish contact with your group."
"And how do I know I can trust you?"
"You cannot. Nor do I have an immediate way to prove it."
Karina looked at the giant, still shaken by how quickly everything had escalated. Raka spoke quietly beside her.
"Giants are honorable warriors, Lady Karina. They do not give their trust easily, but they recognize strength. Lord Satoru just demonstrated that he can make his words carry weight, though perhaps he could have been a little less forceful."
Karina, still tense in the shoulders, looked at Raka from the corner of her eye.
"A little?"
"I am trying not to be rude."
The giant heard that. His expression did not soften, but something in his gaze changed. Perhaps Raka's intervention gave him time to be distracted. Perhaps he only needed a few more seconds to breathe without being ruled by guilt.
Finally, he stood.
He took the axe and returned it to his waist.
"If you lie, I will make you regret it."
"I gain nothing by lying."
The giant held his gaze for several more seconds.
Then he turned toward the forest.
"Follow me. And you, Muno, do not try anything."
Karina did not answer immediately. She was still trying to organize what she had just heard about her surname, but she nodded firmly.
Satoru descended a little and returned to her side.
"Let's go."
Karina followed him.
The tension had not yet disappeared, but beneath it grew an expectation difficult to contain. After so many days searching for signs among trees, ruins, and forgotten roads, they were finally about to enter the place she had set out to find from the very beginning.
The giant advanced several steps before addressing them.
"Introducing myself would take too long," he said without fully turning around. "You may call me by my nickname: Amihige."
Karina looked up.
"Amihige…"
"Follow me."
Satoru activated [Fly] on himself and extended the effect to Karina. She floated beside him, her gaze fixed on the path. Amihige advanced among the trees, and both of them followed at low altitude.
There was no door or visible sign.
Amihige crossed a point between the trees and vanished beyond something the eye could not see.
Satoru took Karina's hand before crossing.
The sensation was similar to stepping into cold water for an instant. With the next step, both of them were on the other side.
Amihige was waiting for them there.
"As expected, the barrier did not work on you," he said, looking at Satoru for several seconds.
Then he stepped aside and pointed to the territory stretching before them.
"Welcome to Yamaki, the land of the forest giants."
The first thing Karina saw was the tree.
It rose at the center of Yamaki like a living tower, so tall and wide that it seemed to hold the entire forest upon its branches. Several dwellings opened within its bark without appearing forcibly added, and its roots ran across the ground like elevated roads, forming bridges, platforms, and terraces. There were enormous steps carved between wood and stone, lower paths beside channels of clear water, houses integrated into ancient roots, and a natural spring protected among moss-covered stones.
Karina was left speechless.
Her eyes shone as she followed the path of the roots up to the highest branches, then lowered toward the dwellings opened in the trunk and the paths that disappeared into the vegetation. It was not an isolated lair or a simple hidden village. It was a living place, ancient, immense in a way that did not depend only on the size of its inhabitants.
"It's incredible…" she murmured.
At that moment, her gaze met Amihige's.
Karina shrank slightly, almost like a scolded child.
The giant looked at her for a few more moments before letting out a sigh and looking away.
As they advanced, they began to see more signs of life. Enormous tools leaned beside cut trunks, deep wheel marks, and stairways designed for steps no human could take comfortably. Farther ahead, among the roots, Karina managed to make out figures moving in the distance: some enormous, others smaller, though even the latter made Satoru seem like a child by comparison.
Then a young voice came from above.
"Amihige."
Karina lifted her head.
A dryad descended from the branches. She looked like a girl around Tama and Pochi's age, though her eyes had an ancient calm mixed with childish energy. Her green hair fell to her feet, partially covering her as she floated lazily above a root. She did not seem worried. Rather, she had the expression of someone who had been sent to run an errand and wanted to finish it quickly.
Amihige stopped.
"Dryad."
"The leader asked me to check who had entered," she said, looking first at Karina and then at Satoru. "Seeing that they came with you… do you know them?"
Amihige neither affirmed nor denied.
"He is a distinguished mage. He says he can treat hydra venom."
The dryad blinked, now with a bit more interest.
"Really?"
Her gaze returned to Satoru.
For a moment, she only watched him with curiosity. Then her brow furrowed slightly.
"Mmm?"
Her eyes opened a little wider.
"You…"
Her voice faded.
The dryad looked at him in silence for several seconds, as if she had just recognized something she had not expected to find there.
"I see."
Amihige noticed the change.
"Is something wrong?"
The dryad did not answer directly. She only tilted her head slightly, without taking her eyes off Satoru.
"If it is him, then yes. He can cure hydra venom."
Amihige observed her carefully.
"Is that so?"
She nodded with the same lazy expression as before.
"Yes. So hurry."
The giant understood that there was something she was not telling him, but he did not press. Dryads could look and act like children, but they were still ancient beings, and he knew he could trust her. Besides, if she was giving him that vote of confidence, there was no point in wasting time.
Amihige continued forward, his steps more certain than before.
Karina bowed slightly as she passed by the dryad.
"Thank you."
The dryad waved a hand as if it did not matter much.
Satoru looked at her for an instant and also inclined his head slightly before continuing.
The dryad remained above the root, watching them move away. Only when they were far off did her expression change.
Images returned to her mind in fragments: fire, broken trees, torn earth, a sword shining in the middle of chaos, and a woman advancing toward a battle from which she did not return.
The dryad slowly opened her mouth.
"So that is how it ended… Mito."
********
Author's Note:
First of all, thank you as always for reading and continuing to follow the story.
I also want to apologize for the delay these past few days. Originally, this chapter and what is now Chapter 41 were meant to be a single chapter, but it ended up becoming longer than expected, so I had to split it and adjust a few things.
That's all for now. Thank you again for your patience and support, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.