Giant Subjugation Quest #1

After I'd conjured the fire with magic, I spent a long time just watching it. A flame made of mana was so unlike water—utterly fascinating.

My finger could touch it without getting burned.

That didn't mean the flame was an illusion, though. The moment I cautiously pressed it against my sleeve, the fabric began to singe.

'Why doesn't it burn me? Weird.'

That was a clear difference from water magic.

When I produced water with mana, I got wet just like anyone else if it splashed on me. Fire magic probably had some inherent way of protecting its caster. I'd only just learned the spell, so that was the best guess I could make.

Fwoosh-!

I kept flickering a flame at my fingertip late into the night.

If it caught anything in the room, that'd be a problem, but I wasn't too worried. If something ignited, I could just douse it with water magic.

Having water magic made handling fire a lot less nerve-wracking.

When I woke the next morning, the first thing I did was try to call up a flame. But ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a knock on the door stopped me mid-hand seal.

"Right on cue."

I knew who it was the moment I heard it. Well, not just from the sound—I'd been expecting her around this time.

The instant I opened the door, there she was in the hallway: the red-haired swordswoman.

"Luke! Good morning!"

Rebecca waved at me with a sheepish little grin.

I, however, could not smile back. Dangling from her back was an enormous Tower Shield.

I stared at the rectangular slab of a shield and my face went blank.

'What the hell, is she a fucking ninja turtle?'

It was a Tower Shield, and pretty damn big for Rebecca's frame. Its lumpy, bumpy surface made her look like she was lugging a turtle shell around.

I couldn't tear my eyes off it.

Rebecca noticed.

"Admiring my big, beautiful shield?"

"It's so eye-catching it's giving me anxiety."

"Fufufufufu—!"

She flung the door open and strode into my room. Right in the center of the floor, she struck a pose with the shield. Curved blade in one hand, shield in the other—I tensed up just watching her.

That five-silver shield was absurdly conspicuous.

"Well? Incredible, right? I was dying to show it off yesterday. A five-silver Tower Shield from the general store! With this, I can laugh off volleys of arrows—!"

"Impressive."

I gave the shield an honest compliment. Then Rebecca's gaze swept over me, and I immediately braced myself.

"Hmmmm."

What's with that look?
What's she scrutinizing?

"Luke..."

"Yeah? What?"

Rebecca looked at me with a smug little smirk.

"You haven't changed a bit, have you?"

"...H-Haaugh!"

That one sentence made my skin crawl.

Her question could only mean one thing. After giving me a thorough once-over, Rebecca was already wearing a triumphant grin. This was unmistakably the prelude to a public roasting.

The exact nightmarish scene I'd envisioned at the general store was playing out in real life.

Had I been having a prophetic dream in that shop?

Rebecca was jumping down my throat exactly the way I'd imagined, and it made me want to believe I had.

"Don't tell me you blew your entire share of the reward on partying. I'd be seriously disappointed. Fufufufufufu."

It was a damn blessing I'd learned fire magic beforehand. If I'd had to listen to that while defenseless, the shame would've made me want to bite my own ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tongue.

But now I had fire. The magical flame that would shut this vicious newbie bitch up.

"Partying? What are you trying to say?"

"Nothing about you has changed. I bought a Tower Shield, and my one and only party member just went out and blew everything on fun? No matter how I look at it, that calls for several days of nonstop nagging—."

I snorted.

"What are you talking about? There's no way I just blew it on fun. I upgraded my combat ability properly. Just wait."

I formed a hand seal and conjured a flame. The moment Rebecca laid eyes on the fire dancing at my fingertip, her expression flickered with shock.

"Fire magic! You learned fire magic?!"

"If this isn't magic, what the hell does it look like to you?"

"Don't tell me you're doing some primitive trick again—hiding a pre-lit stick in your palm and just showing it to me..."

She stopped mid-sentence, apparently realizing on her own that wasn't the case. Even Rebecca couldn't suspect me of being crazy enough to hide live fire in my bare hand.

Posturing wasn't worth burning to death.

"I'm a mage. Learning new magic is a better investment than buying gear. So I bought spellbooks—two of them, for two silver."

"I—I got a five-silver shield, you know!"

"What does price matter? What matters is which is more useful. You can't seriously think a shield is better than fire magic."

"This shield can stop a rain of arrows!"

"Fire magic can start a fire anywhere. Any idiot can pick up a shield, but fire magic is rare. It means I can make a campfire or a torch anytime, anywhere. Do you have any idea how precious fire is?"

"Grrrrrrrrgh!"

Even Rebecca couldn't argue that magic wasn't rarer than a shield.

I was fully prepared to drag her soul through the mud. I pressed my advantage without hesitation. How dare she try to punk me the second we met up?

You cocky little newbie bitch!

"One fire spell and that shitty shield goes up in smoke, isn't that right? One flick of my wrist and five silver goes flying into the sky."

"Before that, I'll smash your skull in with my shield."

"Ha."

But as expected, Rebecca was no pushover.

Shield versus fire magic—which was more useful? She refused to back down from her argument even once. Eventually, growing frustrated that our verbal sparring was going nowhere, she made to bolt from the room.

"Shiiiiit!"

I barely managed to grab Rebecca as she dashed for the door. What, was she so pissed she planned on going back to her inn? Didn't we come here to do this quest together?

"Hey! Where the hell do you think you're going?!"

"The general store! Wait here while I go buy some greaves! Once I've got protective gear too, you won't have a leg to stand on! No matter how I think about it, I'm the one who spent more money—!"

"If you buy those, are you gonna have any money left for food? You planning on starving to death?"

"Kh."

That seemed to hit home. The mention of starving made her stop struggling instantly. As reckless as she could be, even Rebecca valued her meal budget. There's nothing more miserable for an adventurer than going hungry because you're flat broke.

Rebecca let out a small sigh. She was a Bronze Tier who didn't even have the coin to back up her pride.

"Luke. How about we call this a draw?"

"Huh?"

"Call it a draw. Please."

I was dumbfounded. Did this Bronze Tier woman have no shame? She started the fight, and now she wanted a draw?

It was a little irritating, but I didn't have the energy to keep arguing. If this went on, I'd be exhausted before the quest even started.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and said, "Fine. We'll call it a draw."

"Thanks."

I let go of Rebecca. After a short breather, the two of us set off for the Adventurer's Guild. We at least needed a moment to dry off the sweat. I never expected a verbal brawl to make me actually perspire.

*

On the walk to the Adventurer's Guild, my eyes kept drifting toward Rebecca. I couldn't stop staring at the Tower Shield slung across her back. It was a fairly huge shield—maybe the material was light? Rebecca kept pressing forward without any obvious strain.

"That shield... it's not too heavy?"

"Nah, it's manageable. The store owner said it's made of a special material. Something about being reinforced with monster shell."

"Monster shell?"

"From a monster called a Turtle Bear. The shell came from that thing."

"Oh-ho."

I examined the Tower Shield with renewed appreciation. Turtle Bears were those bizarre bears that carried shells on their backs. The shell boasted steel-like toughness but was light enough to make an ideal shield. She really had gotten a good piece of gear for the huge sum of five silver.

"Well? Feeling a little jealous yet?"

"I wonder."

Honestly, I could admit it was quality gear. But it didn't make me actually envious. If I had to lug around a big slab of a shield like that all the time, I'd much rather just wear a buckler. Adventurers move around too much—bulky equipment makes everything harder. Rebecca didn't seem to mind, though. Maybe it was because she was still a newbie.

"Hey, can't you just say you're jealous? C'mon, I'm asking nicely."

"Ohhh, I'm so fucking jealous. Jealous jealous jealous jealous. Miss Rebecca, I'm so jealous I could die."

"Ha!"

At my deadpan delivery, Rebecca looked utterly flabbergasted. She kept stubbornly boasting about her shield after that, but I cleanly ignored her. Watching her clench her fists and tremble every time she got brushed off was pretty entertaining.

She wasn't actually going to hit me for this, was she? She did say earlier she'd crack my head open with her shield.

Fortunately, Rebecca didn't swing the shield around on the way to the Adventurer's Guild. I could finally relax once we reached the guild building. Rebecca was finally directing her attention to something besides her shield.

The area in front of the guild's main entrance was packed with people for some reason. There were always adventurers or requesters hanging around the guild, but today the crowd was several times bigger than usual. It was so jammed you could barely find room to set your foot down.

"Why are there so many people? Is there some kind of event at the guild today?"

"Probably not. I haven't heard about any special event this month."

As a two-year adventurer, I had a rough grasp of what went on at the guild in Yoen-su month to month. I knew about any event big enough to summon a crowd of adventurers. But I'd never seen a gathering like this at this time of year.

"Let's eavesdrop for a second and see what they're all worked up about."

I tuned my ears to the voices in the crowd. Figuring out why everyone had gathered wasn't hard. Adventurers and ordinary citizens alike were all saying the same thing.

"They say giants showed up at a village near here."

"Three of them, apparently. Wiped out all the livestock and food, cleaned the place out."

"Goddamn giant bastards."

Giants!

My eyes flew open the moment I heard that. I instantly understood why people had swarmed the guild so early in the morning. If you'd spent two years adventuring around Yoen-su, you couldn't help but know what giants were, even if you wished you didn't.

"Giants? What exactly are you talking about?"

Rebecca was glancing around with a puzzled expression. That adorable newbie face that knew absolutely nothing. I supposed it made sense—someone from another region wouldn't know much about giants. They were a unique kind of monster that appeared frequently in this area.

"Giants are a demi-human race that looks like a human scaled way the hell up. They look almost exactly like us, just enormous."

"How enormous?"

"Roughly twice my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠height or more."

"Whoa."

Rebecca stared at me with a surprised look. I mean, even as a big-framed incubus, I was 1.8 meters tall. Twice that would be around four meters. A demi-human race with the height of a one-story building.

But right now, explaining the giant's size wasn't the important part. The problem was that those bastards used their gigantic bodies to terrorize the people of the continent.

"Giants are a race that survives by looting. They attack villages and make off with whatever they can carry—goods, food, everything. Most villages around Yoen-su have been hit by giants at least once. To the locals around here, giants are basically sworn enemies."

"Huh. So they're pretty vicious bastards."

Rebecca looked at the crowd with a slightly more understanding expression. People were reacting intensely every time the word "giant" was mentioned.

"Those sickening giant bastards."

"They're absolute scumbags, I swear. My parents' farm got completely cleaned out by those bastards."

It was no surprise the Adventurer's Guild was swamped. Whenever giants were sighted, the guild immediately formed a subjugation squad. Dealing with giants required a lot of manpower. They weren't enemies a small adventurer party could handle.

I explained to Rebecca that a subjugation squad was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠normally assembled whenever giants appeared. After hearing that, she was wearing an odd look of anticipation.

"A giant subjugation squad? So that means the guild's handing out quests to adventurers."

"Right."

"Let's join in! Let's go make some serious money!"

Rebecca looked desperate to participate. Having emptied her wallet for that shield, she needed a quest that would pay. Of course, I wanted to earn money too, but I didn't get my hopes up.

"Even if the two of us put in a request, we'd probably get rejected outright. The adventurers who apply for the subjugation squad are all ridiculously well-geared. The level of equipment they're packing is no joke. That shield you're carrying would look perfectly ordinary among them."

"O-ordinary?! It's a five-silver shield!"

"That's about the average gear level in the subjugation squad. Look, just don't expect too much, all right?"

I led the shell-shocked Rebecca into the Adventurer's Guild. I figured I'd at least ask Wendy if there were any openings on the squad. Of course, the giant subjugation squad usually filled up within days because there were so many applicants. That meant there was a high chance there'd be no room for Rebecca and me.

"Miss Wendy!"

When I reached the reception desk, I spoke to Wendy. She was seated at the counter, her hands flying busily over documents. Organizing the giant subjugation squad had obviously quadrupled her workload.

"What is it, Luke? I'm swamped right now, so please keep it brief if it's not urgent. Thanks to those goddamn giant bastards, I'm definitely working overtime tonight. Fuck."

"Miss Wendy, are there any spots left on the subjugation squad? You're currently recruiting for the giant subjugation squad, right?"

"No. It filled up last night."

Wendy confirmed the squad was packed with adventurers. I hadn't expected anything, so I wasn't disappointed. I was just about to ask her about other quests when—

"Actually, a vacancy might be opening up, Luke!"

"Huh?"

Wendy looked straight at me. A sudden spark of energy entered her voice. She even set down her pen and fixed her gaze on me.

"Because a mage is applying for the subjugation squad, you see. Even if there are no slots, we'll have to make one for you."

"B-but weren't there other people who applied earlier?"

"First come, first served doesn't exist in the adventuring world—!"

"Oh."