Chapter 736: The Bet
It didn"t take long until Eisen and his entourage reached the castle of the Grandour. It was basically just a building carved out of a small mountain. The old man was quite impressed with the craftsmans.h.i.+p, actually. And to his surprise, there were parts of the structure carved out specifically for regular-sized people to traverse as well. At least that"s that what it seemed like.
Overall, Eisen had been able to see a couple of different regular-sized people around here too, walking along the paths that were made for them. There were some like that just in town, and every once in a while, one of the huts that were scattered around the area seemed more like some sort of "apartment complex", with numerous different regular-sized people living in it.
For people that size, even just this building was probably large enough to encompa.s.s a whole large city, considering that it had multiple floors as well. They seemed to get along with the Giants pretty well though. It was probably some form of symbiotic relations.h.i.+p, that"s the rough idea that Eisen got with the few memories that he did manage to recover about this place anyway.
The Giants gave food to the regular-sized people, who in turn helped out in many different ways, basically keeping this whole town running. They were like the force that kept everything working. Most Giants were far too laid-back for that kind of thing, after all. Something that showed itself once Eisen and the others were finally brought to the throne-room.
This being the home of the Grandour, the head of the Fire Giant clan, it was obvious that this place was going to be rather hot. There were fountains set up all around the room, just that instead of water, it was lava running down it. Some of the others that were with Eisen right now were already having trouble keeping themselves cool.
Of course, Eisen made sure to quickly give all of them some magic items that would make up for the heat to cool them down.
And then, Askr quickly set the board that they were all on down in front of the Grandour. Without another moment"s hesitation, Eisen stood up from his seat and walked forward, with each step growing in size. And of course, he also activated his "True Demonic Transformation" so that he could actually see eye-to-eye with the Grandour.
The moment that their eyes actually did lock, Eisen noticed the red notification moving right in front of his face. The notification started to flicker, and the task that was given to him through it, to speak to the Grandour, disappeared. He was most likely on the path of fulfilling whatever he had to do.
"So, you are the King of that country... Asgard, was it?" The Grandour asked with a broad smirk on his face, and Eisen quickly nodded his head in response, "Indeed I am. But not only that. I"m not sure if you were made aware of this information, but my full name is-"
"Eisen de Grandour. I know. I was told. It is clear that you have giant lineage, otherwise you wouldn"t be able to stand in front of me like this. But saying that yer a member of the Grandour family? Hah, I"d know if that was the case."
Eisen smiled back at the man in front of him. He could feel a familiarity with this place, a nostalgia similar to when he happened to recover memories.
"Haha, brats like you really don"t know how to treat others with respect, huh?" Eisen laughed loudly. The Giant Guards that were in this room became a bit unnerved due to the way that Eisen was speaking to the Grandour, the only King that they acknowledged, but the old man quickly snapped his finger and got rid of that issue.
All the Guards froze in place, unable to move another muscle, as Eisen approached the Grandour.
"You see, the name "Eisen" should mean something to you, shouldn"t it? I"m the son of the first Grandour that lived a hundred thousand years ago. The only reason why you can sit on this throne is because I gave up on the t.i.tle back then. I was never interested in it, really." The old man laughed, and quickly turned around again, strolling around in his fine black and gold suit.
The Grandour stared back at Eisen and nodded his head, "I was told that you believe yourself to be that man, yes. The "First that peaked", Eisen. A giant amongst men, even ignoring his race. I have heard the rumors of the "Artificial" people popping up on your continent. That they were created through the experience of the five that peaked. But how can I truly believe that? Those people there wish to go with war to us, they are not people that can be trusted."
Eisen smiled lightly as he turned his head around, "Then how about this... You surely already prepared everything for the "friendly relations duel", didn"t you? Let"s place a bet. If I can give you irrefutable proof that I am indeed "that" Eisen, you"ll have a private, one-on-one conversation with me."
"And if you can"t give me that proof?"
"I guess we"ll just silently leave and say that this visit was for nothing more but to build relations between our countries." The old man replied with a smile on his face. The Grandour thought about it for just a moment, and then nodded his head in response, "Sounds like I have nothing to lose here, really."
"Exactly." Eisen smirked, and proceeded to interlock his fingers behind his back, "So now, for when have the matches been prepared?"
"We received your letter of the rough time that you will be arriving, so the preparations have been made for tomorrow." A man at the side of the room explained. He was most likely the Grandour"s aide, so Eisen just calmly smiled at him, "Perfect. Then would there be a place for us to rest until then?"
"Of course. We prepared quarters just for you. We were unaware you had another giant with you, but we will be pre-"
"That"s not needed. Askr is not a Giant. He"s a Golem that I made. Just a single room is totally fine for me and my aides." The old man swiftly explained. The Grandour turned toward Askr, who was standing there so still that it seemed like his time had suddenly stopped.
"A Golem..? Well ain"t that amazin"." The chief smirked, and Eisen slowly turned around. He shrunk back down to enter the small "platform", that Askr quickly proceeded to pick up. Just like that, they were then led to Eisen"s sleeping quarters by the Guards. It was a decently-sized room, but not just that. It basically had a mansion built right into the wall that regular-sized people could live in during the duration of the stay.
The platform was placed down right in front of the entrance, and as such, Eisen was able to choose how he was going to live.
Either, he could sleep in that huge bed in the center of the room and relax in a way that is for once capable to withstand Eisen"s preferred size, or he could stay with the others here in the building.
"I hope you don"t mind if I stay in my giant form, you all. Just try nmot to tell Girland about this, alright?" Eisen smiled at his Knights and tamed monsters, who all slowly came out of the Dungeon, before the old man looked at them with a calm expression.
"Don"t worry, Askr will stand in front of the bed and sense anyone that may come by. Kirisho"s mist is also strong enough to cover the whole ground in this room, so she can spot anyone that may want to approach as well. And of course, you guys are capable of taking on a couple of giants without any issue, isn"t that right? And I"m not particularly helpless myself." The old man pointed out quickly, "If push comes to shove, I"ll just have to "log out". They won"t be able to kill me then anyway. Nothing can."
Kiron looked at Eisen with a concerned frown, "That"s not the point. If you"re in this building, even if the giants were planning anything, they wouldn"t dare do so after removing their greatest benefit, would they? It would scare them off in the first place. We don"t want anything to happen, even if you don"t die. That would just accelerate the war that those on the central continent are trying to start, Grandfather."
Eisen looked at the half-dragon, and thought about it for a moment, "Then... Give me just half an hour, I think I can fix our issues. Sal, I might need some of your threads."
The spider-boy looked up at the giant old man while standing on his palm, "Ah... Sure, I"ll get to making some right away then!" It seemed like he was rather tired, and had been sleeping for a huge portion of the trip until now, but Sal was still trying to help out when he got the chance.
And just like that, Eisen proceeded to walk up to the door. He pulled out Bai and watched the Ego-Mult.i.tool turn huge enough for him to use right now. He turned Bai into a carving needle, and pushed it into the rock wall in front of him while pus.h.i.+ng mana out of the tip of the needle.
The old man proceeded to create different enchantments on the surface of the walls of this room. They would end up giving off a bit of a faint glow, but that wasn"t an issue. It would make the others feel more at home, having something star-like above their heads instead of feeling like they were stuck in an enormous cave – which was basically what was going on right now anyway.
The old man made sure to connect different parts of the enchantments using Sal"s threads, to make something of a "tripwire" for even more safety, in case some giant was able to get through the barrier created by the enchantments itself.
Eisen"s focus had been placed on this for nearly an hour, which was when he finally finished doing this to all the possible entrances, protecting himself as much as possible. Some of the Golem Knights were positioned in places where they could act immediately as well, the Dragon knights would end up stationed around Eisen"s bed, and Askr was right in front of the bed as well as the central defense-force, standing there to scare off any possible intruder in the first place.
However, as Eisen turned his attention toward the bed again, he noticed something curious. A huge ma.s.s of mist covering the bed, and just the bed. As if it was being encapsulated. And somehow, the old man already had a rough idea what was going to happen once he stepped inside there.