"Good morning, Hikari!"
Ria rode up to Hikari.
Her horse panicked as it approached the giantess.
Ria stroked its mane to calm it.
Riding her horse, she was at the level of the tip of Hikari's skirt.
"You're going to the estate. Would you accompany me for a ride?"
"My lady."
"Don't worry, it's safe now thanks to you. The cultists had been expelled from our territory."
Hikari kept quiet, her expression unchanged.
Ria rode back towards her knight escort.
"Come along now."
The giantess's footsteps followed her.
Ria rode beside Hikari.
She held her reins tight.
Her shoulders tensed.
The tip of Hikari's skirt caught the corner of her eye.
Thud. Thud.
Her gentle steps.
Her heel touches the ground first, muffling the sound.
Tiny steps for the giantess.
Her thighs fluttering at a small angle.
Up close, Ria could sense every minute movement the giantess makes.
The warmth from her skin.
The socks on the tops of her feet.
"Umm.. ! Good work."
Ria blurted out, trying to break the ice.
She gripped her reins. Her voice was muffled.
Hikari heard her.
Ria could feel the giantess's gaze turn towards her
Her hands clasped the rope.
Her chest was still tight.
"My lady."
Ria flinched.
She had not heard her voice in a few days.
Mid-pitched. It felt like she stood amid a choir.
She buried her head.
"I-"
Thud.
Hikari abruptly stopped.
Ria pulled the rein.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Her steed neighed in protest.
"What is it, Hikari?"
Digging sounds.
A family of hogs unburied themselves and scurried into the woods.
Thud.
Hikari continues walking.
Ria catches up, staying close to her leg.
"Oh right, I mean to say, good work on taking down that cultist camp. And uh…"
Ria was tongue-tied.
She felt the air stuck in her throat as she tried to speak.
"It's nothing."
Ria looked up.
Hikari was looking straight.
Just as her ruby-red eyes turned towards her, Ria ducked back down, averting her gaze.
"You're amazing, Hikari. Taking down a cultist camp like that. We retrieved many cannons from the camp. You took down that camp while charging through cannon fire? That's so brave of you. How did you do it?"
Ria takes a deep breath.
Her chest felt lighter as she released the bottled-up words.
"Hm?"
"Oh, it's fine if you can't tell me. That must have been a traumatic experience for you. Explosions everywhere. An entire firing line trained on you."
"The dark."
"Ah, I see. You sneak up to the fortress under the cover of darkness. The cultists used dim lanterns to make it harder for scouts to locate their camp. You really used that against them, didn't you?"
"So a sneaky assassin taking out the cultist fortress from the inside. You sneaked up to their walls and quietly scaled the wall. Once inside, you sliting their throat in their sleep."
Ria looked up to see Hikari scratching her cheek.
"But wait, you're so big. How did you manage to sneak up on them? Surely the patrols would have spotted you."
"I crush."
"Ohhh... you…"
Ria gasped for air.
"Ahem!"
She cleared her throat.
"I see. So you used your weight as a weapon too. Ingenious. You hide in the dark outside of their cannon range. When the cultist patrol moves past, you jump out of your hiding spot and crush them with your weight before they can make a sound. Very sneaky of you."
"I guess."
"Now, with the patrols silenced. The cultist camp has lost its eyes and ears on the outside. The light was dim. The night was dark; it was the ripe moment for the hero to approach."
Her voice grew excited as she pieced the story together.
"The hero approaches the cultist camp under the cover of darkness. The sentries atop the walls went about their usual patrols. Unbeknownst to them, the hero who would be their end was already upon them. It was not an armored knight charging through the gate. But one that held to the shadow."
Hikari glanced at her.
"Oh, but the sound. How wouldn't the sentries hear your booming footsteps?"
A strong gust of wind blew past them.
Strands of Hikari's silver hair brushed against Ria's face.
Leaves rustled as the trees waved in the wind.
"Ah, so that's how. So! The hero approached the cultist walls under the cover of darkness. The ambient sounds covered her footsteps. The sentries atop the walls could neither see nor hear her approach. As the patrolling sentry turned his back, the hero flipped over the wall with a thrust of her long legs."
"Past the wall, the hero snuck into the camp. Her black wyvern skin blended into the darkness. The pale lantern light. She sneaks up to a tent. Stab, her dagger the size of a sword, slit an entire row of sleeping cultists."
"She passes cages filled with captured villagers. Quietly, she takes out the defenders. Her goal is the leader of the camp, the final antagonist of the story."
"It was a flesh golem. The hero must take on the flesh golem to save the day. She stayed in the dark and snuck up on the resting golem. Quietly, she drew her claymore. With a sudden swing, she cleaved the flesh golem in half. And with that, she conquered the cultist camp and freed the villagers."
"Hm."
"No, that's quite an anticlimactic end to the story; perhaps there needs to be a bit more of a struggle. The golem rises from its slumber as the hero confronts it. The mindless beast lets out a deafening battle cry. It jumps into the air and slams its fist down onto the hero. The hero swings her claymore and meets it head-on. The shockwave from their clash crumbles the stone walls around them. But the hero was the one who remained standing at the end."
"Ok."
"A satisfying end to the story. I think a reward is in order. When we reach the estate, I have a surprise for you."
Tents in the forests.
Refugee camps that appeared overnight.
Villagers flocked to RazenHeir territory for safety.
Some of them looked fine; they had escaped their homes when word of the war reached them.
They were fortunate not to be caught by the cultists on the way to RazenHeir territory.
Some of them were badly bruised and skinny.
Clearly, they were the ones who were caught and brutally beaten and starved in captivity.
The sound of a cauldron boiling.
The RazenHeir estate offers them shelter and a bit of soup.
As Hikari marched past, the refugees emerged from their camps.
They began whispering of the giantess knight.
They approached the giantess, gathering around the road.
The Razenheir knights closed in around Ria.
"Move on. Nothing to see here. Please make way for her ladyship to pass."
The knights tried to herd the refugees away.
Their powder bombs were at the ready should a riot break out.
Instead, the refugees began throwing flowers at Hikari's feet.
They got down on their knees.
An old woman knelt at Hikari's feet.
Ria watched.
The woman cleaned the tip of the giant shoe with her sleeves.
Then, she lowered her head and kissed the tip.
A surge of blood flowed to Ria's head.