"Good morning, Hikari!"
Ria rode up to Hikari.
Her horse panicked as it approached the giantess.
Ria stroked its mane to calm it.
Riding on her horse, her head was at the level of the tip of Hikari's skirt.
She was inches away from Hikari's massive legs.
She pulled her horse back so she could see Hikari's eyes.
"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. Even if there are stragglers, I wouldn't worry even a tiny bit with you around."
Hikari kept quiet, her expression unchanged.
Ria rode back towards her knight escort.
"Come along now."
The sound of the giantess's footsteps follows her.
Ria rode beside Hikari.
The normal-sized knights escorting her broke up into two pairs.
One front and one back, sandwiching their lady between them.
Ria's heart pounded against her chest.
She held her reins tight.
Her shoulders tensed.
She could see the tip of Hikari's skirt through the corner of her eye.
Her muscular thighs around the top of her kneecap between her skirt and knee socks.
The contours of her muscles. Her flawless pinkish skin.
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.
The back of her flat shoe lands inches away from the tip of the other one as she steps.
Up close, Ria could sense every minute movement the giantess makes.
The warmth from her skin.
The socks on the top 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 was standing in the middle of a choir.
She buried her head.
Catching her breath, she tried to find the words again.
"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 on the side of the road and scurried into the woods.
Thud.
Hikari continues walking.
Ria catches up to her, 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.
Her chest tightened.
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?"
"Yes."
"So a sneaky assassin taking out the cultist fortress from the inside. You sneaked up to their walls, waited for the sentries to pass, and scaled the wall. Then, you snuck deeper into the heart of the camp and slit their throats while they were sleeping before fighting the rest."
"Sure."
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 due to the necessity of hiding their camp. The night was dark; it was the ripe moment for the hero to approach."
Ria looked up at Hikari.
Her voice grew excited as she pieced the story together.
Hikari's face was the same as always.
"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 that would be their end was already upon them. It was not an armoured 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."
"Hm."
"At your size, surely that wall wasn't an obstacle for you at all."
"No."
"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."
"Hm."
"She passes cages filled with captured villagers. They kept quiet, for they did not yet know that their savior had arrived. Quietly, she takes out the defenders. She does not attempt to free the villagers yet, for her goal is to capture the entire camp. To do so, she must take out the cultist leader. The final antagonist of the story."
"Yes."
"It was a flesh golem, wasn't it? There were multiple sightings of it. Reports of the cultists using it as a seige weapon to break through the fortifications of small towns."
"Yes."
"Ah, the hero must take on the flesh golem. She stayed in the dark and snuck up onto 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."
"That's a bit of 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."
"Hm."
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 to each other 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.
Some of them 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.