Chapter 59
#59. Why They Lie Awake at Night
Gulp. Gulp. Gulp. Chomp, chomp. Crunch.
"Y-you crazy bastard—aaaaaaah!!"
Galad clutched his head and screamed.
The enormous venom ants poured into Hans's mouth.
Hans calmly chomped and swallowed the ants that spewed deadly venom and resisted with their pincers.
[H-huhhhhh……!!]
Even Karg, the giant war chief who had proposed the test, went pale and began backing away.
Those venom ants possessed poison so potent that even a giant would swell up and suffer for several days if bitten just once.
And yet.
He was chewing through one after another without even stopping?!
"Pwah—!"
At last, Hans set the bowl down on the ground and casually wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
After licking a stray ant leg from the corner of his mouth, he patted his stomach and muttered with satisfaction,
"Whew. That's a lot. There's no way I can eat them all."
He was perfectly fine. No, if anything, he looked healthier, perhaps because he was full.
"The spicy flavor is incredible. They pop so nicely when you chew them—perfect with drinks."
Winterwald had only recently begun enjoying proper meals; it had originally been a poor domain.
The stomach of Hans the woodsman, hardened by poisonous herbs and monster meat, had long since surpassed the limits of the human realm.
Thud!
Karg, who was exceptionally tall even among the giants, dropped to his knees.
The ground shook violently, and Galad ended up on his knees as well.
[B-Big Brotherrrrrr……!!]
Karg bowed his enormous head before Hans's feet.
[I was foolish! I failed to recognize a true warrior even when he stood right before me! Please accept me as your little brotherrrrr!!]
"Ha-ha-ha! Well, would you look at that? I've gained another little brother. Fine. From now on, call me Big Brother Hans!"
Hans casually patted the crown of a giant who stood ten times taller than him.
Galad looked up at the scene with an expression that suggested his soul had left his body.
The nickname Big Brother no longer sounded so lighthearted to him.
"……Is that really normal? What on earth are the Winterwald people's stomachs made of……?"
A short distance away from them.
The giant girl Rina was sitting beneath the shade of a large tree, taking a brief rest.
Lumiela was sitting on her shoulder.
[Wooooow……! That's so fascinating!]
Rina's enormous eyes sparkled like stars. She was captivated by the new Winterwald invention Lumiela had taken from her magic bag.
"Hehe, isn't it cute? It's a popular product from the hot-spring village—a little dragon doll!"
Lumiela took out a stuffed baby dragon wearing an adorable uniform and held it up for her to see.
[Kyaaaaaah! It's so cuuuute!!]
Rina clutched her heart and stomped her feet.
The enormous vibrations made Lumiela's glasses bounce.
"Oh, and this! It's a lollipop that was recently released in Winterwald's new city. It's fruit-flavored and delicious! It's small, but why don't you try one?"
Lumiela placed a lollipop that was enormous by human standards on Rina's palm.
Rina swallowed it in a single bite and vigorously shook her head.
[Mmm! It's sweet! It tastes better than meat!!]
"Hehe, if you want more, come visit my workshop later. I'll develop a gigantic lollipop just for you, Miss Rina."
[Really!? I will! I definitely will!]
Rina had become completely fascinated by Winterwald's new inventions and kept nodding enthusiastically.
The taste of capitalism was slowly—but surely—spreading among the giants of the floating island.
***
The sun slowly began to rise.
Wooden carts stood in a line around the vegetable field.
The carts were loaded with meat soup that the giants and humans had brewed together throughout the night.
[Little friends…… Thank you, truly, truly. If Gorga really returns to his old self…… I will never forget this kindness for the rest of my life.]
Chief Grang bowed repeatedly as tears streamed down his face.
"Don't be so anxious. Just wait and see. I guarantee the results."
Kylan saw the chief off with a relaxed smile.
The giants set off with a clatter, pulling the carts to deliver the tribute to Gorga.
As she watched the tail end of the departing convoy, Eleanor slipped her arm around Kylan's.
"Your Highness, will the giants' demonic energy really be purified with only the food we made?"
"Of course. Your mana has been infused into it so generously."
Kylan patted his wife's shoulder and smiled tenderly.
The reason more than five thousand orc warriors lived peacefully among humans without causing a single incident was not solely Kylan's might.
The sun's mana played an even greater role.
The orcs worked while basking in the light of the artificial sun and eating food infused with solar mana as a snack.
As time passed, their demonic energy inevitably drained away, allowing their kind nature to take root.
'Well now. It's almost a shame I can't watch them eat it myself.'
Kylan was certain.
His wife's cooking would win over even the evil giants' stomachs in a single meal.
***
North of the floating island, a forest where ash-gray fog stretched endlessly.
Between crude barracks made by piling stones haphazardly, ash-gray
skinned giants swarmed, radiating a savage aura.
Ging, Gorga's right-hand man and known as his most brutal henchman.
He sat on a rock and looked down at the tribute Chief Grang had delivered.
[Let's see……]
When he lifted the lid of the pot, steam billowed upward.
[Oh. They offered something fairly useful this month……]
The food delivered by the southern village this time was of far better quality than usual.
Raw meat dripping with blood and chunks of meat burned black like charcoal were not bad either, but the food they had delivered this time was different somehow.
The warm broth was filled with thick chunks of meat and vegetables.
At the sharp scent of garlic and the rich aroma of meat soup brushing past his nose, Ging swallowed without realizing it.
[Hmph. That weak old fool is struggling to stay alive. Well, let's see how it tastes.]
Ging scooped up a generous spoonful of broth with a wooden spoon and shoved it into his mouth.
Gulp.
[……?]
Ging's bloodshot red eyes shook wide open.
[……W-what was that just now?]
The meat melted away despite barely being chewed.
The richly flavored broth slid down his throat and warmed his frozen stomach.
[My body…… It's warm…….]
The food in Ging's stomach began transmitting a comforting warmth throughout his entire body.
The fog clouding his mind lifted, and the destructive instinct that had craved blood began to subside.
[Delicious……! That old Grang sent something excellent this time!]
Ging tossed aside his spoon and began guzzling the broth straight from the pot.
The other ash-gray giants who had been sharing the tribute around him were no different.
[Woooooah!! Give me more! I want more too!!]
[N-no meat in mouth. All melted.]
[It's warm……! It feels like my chest has opened up!!]
The evil ash-gray giants forgot all about their dignity, even picking up and eating every scrap of meat that had fallen on the ground as they cheered.
A warm atmosphere spread across the previously savage northern wasteland.
Some time later.
Just as the food delivered by the southern village was nearly gone.
[Hey, clear away those bones over there. What if someone steps on them?]
One giant ordered a companion to clean them up while sprawled on the ground.
The situation was on the verge of exploding.
The giant he would normally have fought bloody battles against with a spiked club scratched his head and answered,
[Uh…… yeah. Got it. Sorry. I'll clear them now.]
[……Huh? Yeah. Right.]
The two giants met one another's eyes for a moment, then awkwardly turned their heads away.
It was a conversation that would have been unimaginable in the past.
But that was not the only change.
Black energy slowly began bleeding out of their dull ash-gray skin, and their original color started to return.
Their bloodshot eyes also grew clear.
Ging, their chief henchman, was in an even worse state.
As the group's number two, he had eaten the most meat soup.
[Haaah……]
Ging looked down at his enormous palm and let out a deep sigh.
'Why do I feel…… like this?'
After eating the meat soup, the fog in his mind lifted, and the atrocities he had committed against his fellow giants flashed through his thoughts.
The cruel past in which he had beaten his brothers for no reason, trampled the southern village, and even stolen food from the giant children.
'I always knew I had done bad things…… So why is this happening all of a sudden now……?'
Overcome by guilt, Ging felt as though he wanted to claw open his own chest.
For several days, he had been suffering from insomnia as the faces of the giants he had beaten appeared before him every night.
Looking around, he saw that the other subordinates were in a similar state.
[Our comrades… There are fewer of them.]
[The ones who went scouting in the southern village yesterday…… They still haven't come back.]
[Did we ever go scouting in the first place?]
[They betrayed… us. I saw them… helping with the fieldwork and getting fed….]
[I…… want to go too.]
Even when orders to raid were issued, the subordinates had begun hesitating and watching one another's reactions, and some had even abandoned the group and fled to the southern village.
As the group's second-in-command, Ging ought to report this insubordination and lax discipline to their leader, Gorga, immediately.
But.
'……If I report it, Lord Gorga will go smash the southern village, won't he? Grang is old now, too……'
Ging could not bring himself to take a step.
When he realized that he was delaying the report because he was worried that the simple-hearted giants in the southern village might get hurt, gooseflesh rose all over his body.
'I'm… worried about those bastards? Me, the cold-blooded Ging?!'
The power of the meat soup infused with solar mana was truly terrifying.
It was purifying not only the demonic energy, but even Ging's rotten personality.
[Ging.]
At that moment, a savage voice came from behind him.
Ging spun around in surprise.
Gorga was leaning against the entrance of the barracks, glaring at him.
In Gorga's hand was the bowl of meat soup Chief Grang had delivered several days earlier. Without saying a word, he slowly drank the remaining broth.
Gulp. Gulp.
The sound of broth passing down his throat shattered the silence of the barracks.
[……L-Lord Gorga.]
Ging swallowed hard.
Gorga's eyes were still stained a blood-red color, and his skin remained a deep ash gray.
Gorga tossed the empty bowl to the ground.
Then he silently glared at Ging with bloodshot eyes.
[…….]
Cold sweat trickled down Ging's spine.