Chapter 114: Observations in the Land of Giants
Ren had seen quite a bit of the world in the past year. He considered himself well-traveled and experienced. He had witnessed the hundreds-of-meters-high walls of a place called Sobelia and had danced with demons on Galuna Island.
However, as he stood on the precipice of a massive, rocky cliff, the walls of the Kingdom of Sobelia were dwarfed by comparison, reduced to a child's toy block in his memory.
Ren, in his Ulquiorra Take Over form, descended from the sky, his black, bat-like wings beating against the air. He landed softly on the cliff overlooking the entrance to the fabled kingdom, his wings folding as he dispelled his transformation. From this distance, he could see them.
The walls of Elbaf didn't just protect a city; they were the city. Ren estimated these city walls to be at least 300 meters tall—a sheer, unbroken cliff of massive, perfectly cut stones that seemed to be built for gods, not men.
Besides the towering, impossible walls, what also shocked Ren were the guards at the gate. They must have been twenty to thirty meters tall. They weren't just big; they were titans, standing there like living mountains, clad in horned helmets and carrying weapons that looked like they could sink entire battleships.
Just as Ren was lost in thought, marveling at the sheer, impossible scale of this S-Class mission... he was suddenly grabbed by a large hand.
"What?!"
The sudden surprise, the sheer speed of the massive hand that had shot out from the woods below his cliff, left Ren no time to react. He was snatched into the air. Just as he was about to instinctively use Take Over Magic, to transform into his 'Tyrant' form and break the grip, he heard a high-pitched, booming, childish voice.
"Mommy! Look what I found?! A little dwarf!"
Ren, dangling in the air, looked up... and up... and saw a giant child, nearly ten meters tall, with snot running from his nose. Why he was a child was obvious from his innocent, gap-toothed face, the river of snot, and his missing several teeth. He was holding Ren up to his face, his eyes wide with curiosity, like a human child who had just found a rare beetle.
"Buli, what are you doing?! Let go of him quickly!"
A woman, so tall she blotted out the sun, walked over. She was over twenty meters tall. Seeing Ren being held by her mischievous child, she quickly, but gently, spoke.
"I'm so sorry, little one, are you okay?" the female giant knelt down, her voice a kind, deep rumble. "This rascal Buli doesn't know his own strength. I'm really sorry."
"Buli, apologize quickly!!"
"Sorry!" the giant boy, Buli, pouted, dropping Ren unceremoniously onto the grass.
Ren landed on his feet, patting his clothes down, his mind still trying to process the scale of everything. "It's fine. No harm done."
"That's good! Hello, my name is Ayla, and this is my child, Buli," the giantess said, her smile warm. "You're a human, aren't you? It's quite rare for a human to come to the Elbaf Kingdom."
"Hmm, why? Do humans rarely come here?" Ren asked, craning his neck to look up at her.
"Yes! On one hand, most humans are... afraid of giants," Ayla said, a little sadly. "And on the other hand, there's the great canyon of the Transverse Mountain Range; very few people can pass through there."
"Hmm, that's true."
Ren had also seen it when he, as Ulquiorra, flew over from above. Besides the treacherous, impassable terrain, the great canyon was also home to countless magical beasts. Normal passage was truly impossible.
"Do you have a purpose for coming to the Elbaf Kingdom, little one?" Ayla asked.
"I am a Mage from Fairy Tail," Ren said, his voice clear. "And I've come here on a mission."
"A Mage?!" Buli, the little guy, who had been poking a tree, suddenly gasped. "Is that the kind of Mage who can conjure fire and lightning and such?" His eyes immediately lit up.
"Hmm... something like that!" Ren said with a small smile.
"Wow----! So amazing----! Can you show me? Please, please, please!"
"Buli, don't be so rude," Ayla scolded.
"Then I'll give you candy, can you show me?" the giant boy said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a swirled, basketball-sized lollipop.
Ren couldn't help but twitch his mouth when he saw it. He was sure he'd get diabetes if he just licked that candy.
"No need," Ren said, chuckling. "You just want to see magic, right? I'll show you."
Ren looked at this big kid and thought of himself. If someone had performed real magic for him when he was little, he would have been incredibly happy.
"Full Take Over · Ace!"
The air around Ren shimmered. His clothes dissolved, replaced by Ace's iconic black shorts, hat, and beads. The massive Whitebeard tattoo blazed on his back.
"Oh oh oh! He transformed!!"
Ayla and Buli were both amazed by Ren's transformation. Although Ayla was older, she had only seen a few humans in her life and had never seen what magic looked like. The magic Buli knew about was only from the stories she had told him.
"Watch this," Ren said. He drew back his right arm.
"Fire Fist!!"
Ren's right hand transformed into a giant, swirling arm of pure, white-hot fire. It was a massive attack... but here, in the land of giants, his "giant" fiery arm looked... almost normal-sized. He punched a large rock not far away, one that was the size of a small house.
Boom----!!
The huge rock was instantly shattered, its fragments turning to molten slag.
"Wow ah ah----!!"
"So amazing----!!"
Ayla and Buli cheered, their voices echoing through the clearing.
The commotion here—the explosion, the fire, the cheering—naturally attracted the attention of the guards at the gate.
"What's going on?!"
A 30-meter-tall guard, his axe resting on his shoulder, came over, his footsteps shaking the ground.
"Nothing, guard!" Ayla said quickly. "This human Mage just performed some magic for us."
"Hmm? A human Mage?" the guard said, his voice a deep bass rumble. He leaned down, his massive, helmeted head getting closer to Ren. "This is truly a rare guest. Human Mage, welcome to the Kingdom of Elbaf. Do you have something you need?"
"Hello," Ren said, not remotely intimidated as he dispelled his Take Over. "I am a Mage from Fairy Tail. And I have come on a mission from the Giant King."
"The King's mission...?" the guard's tone changed instantly. "Could it be... that one?! Esteemed Mage, please, come in!"
The guard seemed to have thought of something, his expression, which had been curious, suddenly changed to one of desperation and respect. He immediately moved to the massive gate and allowed Ren to pass directly.
Soon, Ren passed through a passage—a tunnel that was about 800 meters long—and entered the city proper.
After exiting the passage, a vast, open space appeared. It was... a world magnified dozens of times, laid out before his eyes.
On the streets, people came and went. They were all incredibly tall giants. Some were 20 meters, some 30. Ren, at his normal human height, felt like an ant in front of them. The buildings were carved from mountains. The trees lining the streets were the size of skyscrapers.
Ayla said to Ren, "Do you want to go to the palace? I'll take you there. Otherwise, you don't know how long it will take, and it wouldn't be good if you got lost."
"Then I thank you," Ren nodded at her words.
To be honest, he did have a way to get there. He could just fly, as Ulquiorra. But that would be a bit too ostentatious. If he walked normally... he wasn't worried about the distance. He was worried about accidentally being stepped on and killed by a giant who mistook him for an ant.
As his magic power had increased, Ren's physical condition had also greatly improved, making him much stronger than other Mages. However, in front of giants, his physical condition was nothing. If he were stepped on, he would be, at least, severely injured, if not dead.
Ayla gently scooped Ren up and placed him on her shoulder. "Don't mention it. After all, you showed me what magic is. That fulfills a childhood wish of mine."
Sitting on Ayla's shoulder, Ren's only feeling was of immense size. Incredibly large, unbelievably large. Not only were the giants big, but the buildings and things in the Kingdom of Giants were also massive.
He saw an "apple" in a market stall that was bigger than he was. He felt that if he ate that one apple, he wouldn't want to eat apples for a month.
"What? You haven't seen magic either?" Ren asked, making conversation as they walked.
"Yes! This place is quite remote, after all, and humans rarely appear," Ayla explained. "Even if a Mage did come, you can't just grab them and make them perform magic for you, haha."
Ren chuckled. "Heh heh, that's true. So, what are you doing in the royal capital? Are you here to shop?"
Ayla's expression suddenly darkened, her cheerful demeanor vanishing. She shook her head. "No... we... we came to the royal capital to seek refuge."
"Refuge?" Ren's S-Class Quest instincts kicked in. "Is there something that even makes you giants feel dangerous?"
To be honest, don't look at Ayla and Buli as just a woman and a child; even if they didn't understand combat at all, their powerful, giant-sized physiques would be enough to resist almost any enemy.
"Hmm, no, it's not a monster," Ayla said, her voice dropping to a worried whisper. "It's... it's because recently, a... a guy... specializing in kidnapping children has appeared in the Kingdom of Giants. Dozens of children have already gone missing."
Ren's blood ran cold. Dozens of giant children?
"To prevent the situation from worsening," Ayla continued, "His Majesty the King ordered all the children in the country to come to the royal capital for refuge, where the army can protect them."
"I see..."
Hearing Ayla's words, Ren finally, and roughly, understood. This was the S-Class Quest. The Giant King probably wanted him to help rescue those children.
'But... what kind of person... what kind of monster,' Ren thought, his eyes narrowing, '...is capable of kidnapping dozens of giants?'
After that, Ayla and Buli chatted with Ren all the way, their spirits lifting as they asked him questions. They were very curious about what the outside world was like, and Ren, with his memories of Earth and his experiences in Fiore, answered each of their questions.
About half an hour later—a short walk for a giant—Ren arrived in front of the Giant Kingdom's royal palace. It was a building so large, it seemed to be carved from the very peak of the island's central mountain.
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