Chapter 226: Half-Giants

Chapter 226: Half-Giants

The settlement, a city of some sorts, maybe a town, was indeed extremely close. I was lucky that no guard or sentry came to check after the gunshots.

There are tall wooden walls made of trunks. Not small trunks. Oak trunks, twice or three times my waist. Maybe even more. And if that hadnt been a good hint of what was expecting me on the other side, there was a small queue of people around the gate. Twenty or so people, and all of them way over two meters tall. The shortest must have been somewhere around two meters and a half. The tallest was almost an entire torso bigger.

Mon Dieu.

I had to force the French out of my head. When I tried speaking French, English came out. If I wanted to say something in French, it was hard. I knew English, but not this well. Even my thoughts were Englishand it was like I had always spoken this language.

But the current problem at hand was that two half-giants were checking on the people, asking questions that I couldnt make out from this distance. They were slowly combing through the line and both guards had some weird stone in their hand.

Magic.

It was a simple deduction. If there are health potions, magic is a given. What fantasy world Im in? Are Dragons casually strolling around or are they just remoted tyrants? My knowledge of fantasy stories is not small. I hadnt played many games when I was growing up, but my sister had. And Im not an idiot thats the most important thing.

Health potions, half-giants, glowing stones?

If I didnt accept the situation swiftly, the situation would swiftly overwhelm me.

Adapt.

It was a tall order from how I survived among thieves and murderers. And more, how I never did time while clawing my way to the top. I still regretted that I wouldnt be able to see the kind of panic and the new wave of money that was going to hit my fellow Parisiennes. Not even the military was going to stop my operation back on Earth. It was a hydra, meant to work even if I went in hiding, or died or went to another world, I guess.

I glanced at the woods behind me and turned to be fully hidden around the tree.

Think.

What could be a problem at the gate?

Blood. Shaky backstory. The glowing stones?

Skills?

If I have gained a [Gunman] class, these people have classes as well? Lets assume so. And if the guards have [Guards] class, they have skills to reveal criminals.

Can I climb the wallsno. Too tall.

Look for a smaller village?

They could potentially be even harder to get through. People in small settlements are naturally suspicious of strangers especially the strangers covered in blood.

I could wear the spare clothes the hunter had, but

No, I can use my own blood as an excuse. I can use it as a credible backstory. I was attacked. Lets use that. The best lies are mixed with a lot of the truth.

No changing, then.

A Human? a booming voice asks.

Hello, I say with a contrived face, excuse me, I have no idea where I am. I got lost after I was attacked.

Attacked? the huge half-giant, towering over me, almost double my height, asks.

I was wounded pretty badly and I thought I had died. A health potion saved me.

Lissius, the half-giant gestures toward his partner. We have a situation here, stop the queue.

Lady Cassandre, would you mind telling me what a gun is?

My calves and thighs are tensing up, ready to run. This is bad. They know guns? Nothe class. He can see my class.

Just a metal weapon, I say, conscious that this man could be using a truth stone.

How dangerous of a weapon? Is it something from the Yin State?

Quite dangerous, and no.

Quite dangerousinteresting. You approach a half-giant city far from any Human settlement, have no idea where you are, have a strange class, covered in blood, and you make my danger evaluation skill scream as if you were a level 35 [Swordmaster]. Now, now. Isnt that interesting?



Im sure well see each other around, Cordius says after having personally taken care of my documents. He also brought me to a cheap and safe inn where I can stay on my own.

After a few more questions, he simply stared at me for a few minutes. We both examined each other, staring straight into the others eyes. No one made a move or blinked; it reminded me of the game my sister asked me to play. She always said I had scary eyes, but that playing such a game with me would make her feel more of an adultolder. And whatever made her feel better, that was all that mattered to me.

I ignore the gazes that are shot around me in the inn. Im used to them in other forms, and their still just drying eyeballs, nothing more. These ones are just bigger.

I tell the [Innkeeper] that Cordius recommended this place to me, to see if that is going to score some points for me. Yes, [Innkeeper], another thing that exists. Not just the weird concept of an innkeeper, but the [Innkeeper] part.

Focus.

I shouldnt let stupid thoughts distract me in such a dire situation. I have no general idea where I am, no reference apart from a few hints scattered here and there.

Im not dead.

Im in a new world.

Simpler minds would be distracted by such a grand realization, by such a cruel fate. Separated from my enemiesthey have been saved by my leave. Shall my heritage live long and disseminate panic throughout Paris for as long as corrupted minds will govern.

But I am not stupid.

I take a look at my room upstairs, filled with furnitures of the right sizethe [Innkeeper] has a couple of rooms for non-half-giants.

Im not stupid.

My first order of business is not resting. I slept enough before the [Hunter] could find me. And I have more important matters to attend to. Currently, my knowledge about this world is non-existent. I need more information, and I probably need money as well. The pittance I found in the [Hunter]s pouch can last me weeks, maybe a little more than a month. How do I know? I looked at the hanging board with the prices marked onto it with yellow chalk. If I could cook for myself, I could maybe go two months. But I am not my father, and I do not intend to waste my time among breads and cakes.

I go out on the street, drowned in a cacophony of sounds belonging to the mid-day traffic. The haggling of [Merchants] at every corner looks more desperate than resourceful, and the few wares I see on the stalls around, however enlarged they are, look mediocre. Theres an overall decadence in this city, a lack of energy. I dont know magic, but this place doesnt smell like, doesnt taste like it.

Poverty.

Poverty is a plague that affects the entire world; in some places, like Paris, its just a symptom that there are many rich people. In others, like here, where you cant find any contrast, its the herald of a dying city.

If I could have chosen my own class, [Merchant of Death] would have made for a good title. Thats what people who deal with guns are, even though most dont have the honesty to admit as much to themselves and the others. I never cared for it. Death has always been the only God I flirted with, the only glimmer of divinity in the gray world that raised me.

I take a deep breath.

Im being overly dramatic while looking at a city that could simply be a bit poor. But my guts rarely lie to me; and here, I look at isolated people who have very little despite the large means afforded by their size.

Theres a story here, a great story. A tragic one. Something that reeks of rot and resentment, a grudge. And where anger breeds, theres opportunity, theres desperate people ready to do anything to survive, to escape the mediocrity that haunts them.

I taste the misery on my tongue while licking my teeth, like a snake looking for blood.

This city might need Cassandre El Maddouri as much as I need them.