The Sealed Gigant
Afterward.
From antiquity.
Long before the ancient empire was even founded.
Back in the unfathomable past, before humanity had claimed dominion over the continent—a monster straight out of myth, or so it was said.
I listened to Aslan's curt explanation and tilted my head up to gaze at the statue.
...If that's a statue, then there must be an original somewhere, right?
For something like that to actually exist...
"A monster like that..."
"Hah, you worship anything, don't you."
The search party members and knights around us marveled at Aslan's words.
"More than that, it's exquisitely crafted. Astonishingly so."
Edgar, captain of the 3rd Knight Order, was already up close to the statue, inspecting it as if he'd known about it all along.
"Even though it was made in ancient times, it's in pristine condition."
He said this while carefully examining the intricately detailed foot.
...Even to my eyes, the quality was eerily high.
Who the hell made something like this?
And deep inside a cave like this, no less.
"We'll need a specialized investigation team for a proper analysis."
"Yes, sir. We'll summon one as soon as we return."
"From now on, keep this cave under strict surveillance. Make sure those demon worshippers never crawl back in."
"Yes, sir!"
And so.
The kingdom decided to place the statue under strict management.
After that, the investigation team naturally began disbanding.
Our objectives were met; it was time to return to our posts.
"Heading down first?"
"Yeah, back to the mansion to rest."
"Alright. Come visit sometime."
"Will do."
I descended the mountain ahead of the search party comrades who planned to spend one more night in the tents.
Those tents up on the high plateau would probably stay put, though.
The investigation was over, but they clearly intended to keep managing that statue indefinitely.
They'd likely bolster the search party's numbers or station soldiers to prevent any resurgence from the demon worshippers.
Anyway.
I made a swift descent from the now-familiar mountain and returned to the mansion.
"Whitey, good job!"
Keng! Keng!
There in the courtyard was Sienna, training Whitey well into the late evening.
...She is training it, right? Sure looks like she's just playing to me.
"Oh, you made it back the same day?"
"Yeah..."
"Y-you must be exhausted from everything."
"A bit."
Sienna, tending the garden, spotted me and flustered.
No wonder—I'd climbed the mountain that morning and been through a hell of a lot since.
Twice into the cave, and during the forest fight, I'd taken hits from Alden and rolled across the ground. I must look a mess.
Still, making it back the same day was something.
After a quick rinse in the servants' bath, I headed back to the doghouse.
"Whitey! Let him rest!"
I lay down and heard Sienna scolding the eager Whitey as I closed my eyes to shake off the day's fatigue.
After completely eradicating the demon worshippers in the Kaine Mountain Range.
I returned to my daily routine.
The past few weeks had been brutal, fighting nonstop in the mountains.
Now, I planned to relax without a care.
The blockade on the Kaine Mountains probably wouldn't lift anytime soon, so I'd stick around the mansion until then.
Once it did, and time passed, the mercenaries who'd left for other regions would trickle back.
I wondered how Jeban was faring.
With that new recruit around, and knowing how well he looks after himself, he'd probably return unscathed.
"What are you thinking so deeply about?"
"Oh, it's been a while. Instructor."
Lost in thought as I sat there, Eric entered the reception room.
With the investigation wrapped up, his lessons had resumed.
And conveniently, I had something to ask him.
"Instructor, do you know about Gigants?"
I asked with high hopes, figuring the ever-knowledgeable Eric would have answers.
That statue I'd seen lingered in my mind.
"Looks like you want a mythology lesson today."
"Yeah, I've gotten interested lately."
"Very well, I'll explain."
And true to form, Eric didn't disappoint—he wheeled in the blackboard.
"Gigants... well, they're known to have been active even before the First Great War Against the Heavenly Demons, the earliest event recorded in history books."
"I see."
The First Great War Against the Heavenly Demons.
I already knew about it from Eric's previous lessons.
The very first page of human history books.
Reconstructed from records dating back to the ancient empire era.
It chronicled the war between demons bursting from the gates of hell and angels descending from the heavens.
A cataclysmic conflict that could have reshaped mountains and overturned seas.
In the end, the angels prevailed, shoving the demons back into hell—and that's why humanity still stands on this land today.
"This is more hypothesis than fact, but there's a paper suggesting the Gigants sided with the demons back then."
"Gigants on the demons' side?"
"Yes. And as punishment for that allegiance, they vanished into the annals of history alongside the demons' defeat."
Hm.
A classic case of backing the wrong horse and going extinct.
Of course, being a hypothesis, it wasn't certain.
Even the people of the current continent barely grasped the glories of the ancient empire era.
A tale treated as ancient history even then? Bound to be pure speculation.
"That said, Gigants did exist. They surface from time to time. There's even a record of one appearing on the continent once and wiping out an entire city."
"Weren't they extinct? Where do they even come from?"
Didn't the angels crush them completely?
No descendants left, yet full-grown Gigants popping up occasionally? What gives?
"Haha, that sparked some debate too, but the theory is they're sealed away underground in various places."
"Pardon?"
"It's just scholars' conjecture based on myths. The last sighting was three hundred years ago, with only a brief note that a hero slew it. We probably won't see one in our lifetime."
"Do you know what form their seals take, by any chance?"
"Mm, too many theories on that."
"What about turning their bodies to stone?"
"That's a solid hypothesis. Petrification could let them endure the flow of time."
"...Hold on a second."
Eric's casual words had me on my feet.
That statue from before—it still haunted my thoughts.
Exquisitely detailed, in near-perfect condition, dozens of meters tall.
Why had the demon worshippers built an altar nearby and offered sacrifices?
"Yes?"
"Sorry, just a moment. Please wait."
An unsettling hypothesis kept circling my mind, so I excused myself from the reception room mid-lesson and headed to Rowell's office.
Knock knock.
—Come in.
As always, Rowell was inside reviewing documents.
"What brings you here? Isn't it lesson time?"
"I just heard something odd from Eric about the statue."
Rowell calmly set his papers aside at my words.
Of course—he knew all about the investigation already.
All intel from my time with the search party had been shared with Lorentz's side from the start.
"...That's precisely why things are in an uproar right now."
"Is it really a Gigant?"
"Nothing certain, but we can't rule it out."
...So the kingdom had suspicions too.
Makes sense—even a brilliant elite like Eric was still young.
The kingdom undoubtedly had scholars with far deeper knowledge.
"Our initial probe confirms it's a statue with some magical measures. But the method's so archaic, it's indecipherable."
"If it's a real sealed Gigant and it breaks free by mistake—could the kingdom handle it?"
A monster dozens of meters tall.
As the ogre incident showed, size was a brutal tyrant.
And its location deep in the mountains meant no half-baked army or siege weapons could even reach it—casualties would skyrocket.
"If it's genuine, not a chance for our kingdom."
"Then..."
"That's why we've already requested aid from the Empire."
"Ah, the Empire."
Right—the Empire might manage.
The undisputed strongest nation on the continent.
A superpower at the forefront of technology and civilization, far beyond the Adel Kingdom.
"That's reassuring."
"Well, whether they'll cooperate smoothly is another matter."
But.
Rowell seemed skeptical on that point.
"Why not?"
"Relations between the Adel Kingdom and the Empire aren't great. We drew heavy criticism during the last war."
"Ah, the war."
Come to think of it.
The Adel Kingdom was a militaristic state, launching a near-sneak invasion of the Lugar Kingdom after a nominal declaration of war.
No way the Empire would look kindly on that.
Eric had mentioned they were busy with a massive barbarian purge at the time, too.
From their perspective, we'd probably exploited the moment to swiftly annihilate Lugar.
And honestly, that wasn't far off.
"Still, we've been sending massive tribute ever since, so they'll likely send someone out of magnanimity."
"Good to hear."
As long as they came, it was fine.
More than anything, a clear verdict on whether it was a Gigant would let the Adel Kingdom plan accordingly.
"There are ways to handle it, so no need to worry overly."
"Feels that way. Maybe I should've just stuck with the lesson."
Anyway.
For freaking out over Eric's words and rushing here, it turned out the kingdom was already on it—relief.
"On that note, the young miss will arrive soon."
"Yeah, about time."
Last visit was that weekend a couple weeks back, right?
Busy with magic academy, she couldn't make every weekend.
"And before that, you'll receive your rewards. Keep it in mind."
"Oh yeah."
I had rewards coming.
No word since the investigation ended, but it was about time.
"Anything to look forward to?"
"Expect the best."
I'd rank in the top five for contributions this time, no doubt.
Wonder what recompense they'd bestow. My anticipation built.