A Tale of One Deviant (Book One)

Chapter 177: The Giantkin That Couldn't

The children seemed content flashing their adoring grandparents with their new clothes, so I returned back to the de Libellule estate in Koraco to finish up my business there before heading on to my next task. It seemed I'd been seeing a lot more of my grandparents than usual and they were becoming awfully stay-with-us as "opportunities" to hold on appeared, so my siblings were a worthy, and glad sacrifice in my place to keep them off my back for a while. And, in turn, they'd distract my siblings - specifically, Hera - from her initial taboo questions for me, long enough until I could concoct a proper answer for her curiosity.

     "I'm back!" I clapped my hands together, appearing in front of a group of people in the pocket dimension space I'd made and looking around the...place...? "Uh...what?"

     My nose turned up to the air, sniffing around. Yes, sure, I'd made it so that they'd heal up right quick if they were hurt, so naturally there wouldn't have been much time for blood to spill...

     "But isn't this too little?"

     Like, splish splash, some bits and dash, but besides that...nothing.

     "Too little what?" Thérèse breathed in strongly, turning away from where her training partner was knocked back on the grass of the endlessly-long prairie I'd conjured for their use. Her hair was somewhat astray from her bun, but nothing serious, while pressing down her uniform like nothing had transpired there. Blood on her was minimal, restricted only to what was on her knives - those that remained, anyway, since the majority of the set I'd given her had magically decided to get scattered and buried in the dirt around us - and what was on the body of her enemy.

     "Blood. Where's the blood? Where are the organs?" I spun around in place, feeling my geta dangle off my toes from beneath my kimono while the golden grass lightly fondled the wind beneath me. Blondie reached out a hand to Brownie a bit in the distance, who laid down in the brush he'd crushed with all of his long strides and Thérèse with her magic as they used the arena's width as much as they could. "There's hardly anything here. Didn't I tell you to put the fear of death in him?"

     I breathed the surroundings in and only found sweat, odor, mana trail...

     Pushing out my breath of those rankling smells, I was almost disappointed that that was all I found. The temptation to pull up the single rock Blondie had sat on while tending to his bow and check if they hid all of the gore beneath it was real.

     The maid let her shoulders slump as she stopped in place, having been coming towards me. The ends of her gray and white uniform - my favorite on her, as brown really wasn't doing her justice by not even being the correct shade to compliment her features - caught in the golden strands that hadn't yet been swept down in the swaths of wind magic and swings of a great sword from the amazing spar that had taken place.

     "Firea..."

     "And?" My one arm lifted around as I looked left and right, before turning to look back at her. "Where is it?"

     "There are no organs. Was that really what you were expecting of us?"

     She couldn't see my lips curling, but my eyes scrunching with a fast, comical nod, should've communicated it just right. The kimono sleeve of my green and white ensemble, since I still matched the children, flapped back down to my side.

     Brownie finally sat up over the brush, looking over towards me. He used his sword as a stick in the soft ground, trying to prop himself up. Blondie stood aside, just picking up the sliced pieces of the giantkin's...remaining training armor, taking it back over to where we were. Sure, there were some slits in his shirt showing where his flesh healed, and where some blood had managed to seep out before then, but the total amount wouldn't have even filled a small cup of mouthwash.