"Meat? I used to like meat quite a bit myself."
Isaac, still eating dinner inside the abandoned mine, listened as the giant commented while watching the group eat their packed meals.
"I used to eat several cows and pigs at a time."
"Lohengrin eats that much too!"
Sharen, who was eating beside Isaac, suddenly shouted out. It seemed like some strange sense of competition had flared up.
'Lohengrin does eat a lot, but still…'
Even so, eating entire cows and pigs alone would be impossible. Sharen probably didn't realize just how much that was. In small villages, just one animal would be enough to throw a feast.
Perhaps finding Sharen's response cute, the giant smiled and added a condition:
"I ate them alive, you know."
"Psh, Lohengrin could do that too if he tried. I'll make him do it later."
"…."
What is Lohengrin inside Sharen's head, anyway?
Certainly not anything remotely close to human.
"You mean you ate the same cows and pigs as us?"
Isaac asked, and the giant gave a gentle smile.
"Oh yes, of course. Back then, if you reached out to the earth, you'd catch animals. If you scooped water from the sea, half of it would be fish. It was truly an age of abundance."
The giant's voice held a deep nostalgia, as if that era still lingered in his memory.
An age of abundance.
It didn't match the desolate world of the Abyss Isaac had seen.
The giant would occasionally speak of the old Abyss like this. Maybe it was because he was glad to have someone to talk to after so many years alone.
Each time, Isaac felt a sense of dissonance. Yet it made him think more deeply about what exactly the Silver Clock had ruined.
"But how do you eat now?"
Isaac suddenly wondered. If the giant had once eaten beasts, wouldn't he still feel hunger?
"I've become a being that no longer needs to."
But the giant replied bitterly.
"It was the price I paid to become the guardian of the Sorcery. I gave up my body to protect the magic. This too, is a form of sorcery. I'm alive, yet not alive."
"…."
"I can't feel anything. I cannot sleep. My existence has been twisted. I've become a mere stone statue whose only purpose is to guard."
And yet, even as the giant said not to pity him—because it was his choice—Isaac couldn't help but feel bitter.
After the meal, Isaac picked up his swords again. His usual sword was still strapped to his waist, while he now wielded two heavy one-handed swords.
They had once been hard to lift, but now he swung them easily with both hands—proof of how much he had grown.
"Starting again?"
"Yes, I am."
"Do you think swinging your sword meaninglessly will accomplish anything?"
At the giant's question, even Sharen nodded. To her, Isaac's sword training looked pointless.
But Isaac gave a small smile.
"Everything requires preparation, doesn't it? I need to be ready to channel strength into each swing."
The giant's eyes widened at that. He opened his mouth several times, then finally said,
"I was going to give you advice, but it seems you already know."
Satisfied, the giant closed his mouth again. If Isaac could figure things out and move forward on his own, anything he said might only get in the way.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The sound of Isaac's sword training resumed.
Watching him in silence, Sharen stood up and patted her backside clean.
"I'm going to bed, Isaac."
"You've been sleeping early lately."
She used to make excuses to stay up late.
"They say you have to sleep early to grow."
Sharen stretched, rising on her toes as if pretending to get taller. Isaac chuckled and nodded, telling her to get some rest.
"Sis, let's go."
Though she had been quiet all this time, Liana had been beside them too. But she didn't move.
She just stared fixedly at Isaac, as if declaring she would stay here.
"Sis."
Sharen gently poked her, but Liana deliberately ignored her and kept her eyes on Isaac.
Poke.
"Sis, get up."
Poke.
Poke.
Poke poke.
Poke poke poke.
"Come on, sis. I need to grow! You didn't grow, after all."
Finally, Liana turned her gaze toward Sharen.
She said something—but thankfully, thanks to a silence spell, Sharen couldn't hear it.
"Come on, sis!"
"..."
Eventually, Liana let herself be dragged away by Sharen's whining.
She had been trying to say something to Isaac, but at this point, most of what came out of Liana's mouth were confessions of affection for him.
It was a quiet night.
Inside the abandoned mine, only Isaac and the giant remained.
Amid the ringing clatter of steel, the giant asked in a bored tone,
"How are the birds around here?"
"Birds?"
"Yes. I used to love birds. They would flap their wings and land on my shoulder, even building nests there."
"Huh, I guess that's possible given your size."
"It brought me joy to be a nest for them. It was comforting to have something come to me and find peace."
The giant's true nature was vastly different from what Isaac had initially expected.
He loved peace, desired coexistence, and didn't seek conflict.
That such a being had sacrificed his entire body to protect sorcery—it was a heartbreaking reality.
Then came the sound of footsteps echoing through the abandoned mine.
When he turned his head, he saw Marlin Leviath walking toward them, her faint colors visible even in the dark.
"I'm on night snack duty today."
"Ah."
Recently, several people had been helping Isaac with his ongoing training.
They even took turns bringing him night snacks, and he didn't refuse.
After all, since he hardly slept and spent all his time swinging a sword, at least he should eat properly.
"I'll eat it in a bit. Thank you."
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Since he had only just finished his meal, he planned to eat the snack later.
"As you said, oppa."
Marlin knelt neatly at the spot where Liana had sat earlier.
Isaac was about to tell her she could leave now that she had brought the snack, but she just remained seated.
"I've seen you a few times, miss, but I don't know your name. What is it?"
"My name is Marlin Leviath."
Since she was now also keeping the giant company, Isaac didn't ask her to leave.
"A beautiful name. Your hair, flowing like a river, is truly pleasant to look at."
"Thank you."
"The waters lit by sunlight… even that is fading from my memory now."
One of the things the giant longed for most was sunlight.
Isaac could somewhat relate.
Back in the Abyss Realm, where only a single star hung in the sky, he'd come to truly appreciate the value of the sun.
'I can't bring him light…'
He could provide water, fire, or food.
But not sunlight.
Even if he created it artificially, it would only be magical light.
What the giant desired was the life-filled warmth of true sunlight.
"Maybe we could bring—"
Marlin's words were cut off.
The inside of the abandoned mine suddenly lit up.
More precisely, the area where the giant's face emerged began to radiate brilliant silver light.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
Then came the giant's roar.
As he screamed in agony, the mine began to shake, and stalactites and dust fell from the ceiling.
BOOM! CRASH! BOOM!
It didn't seem impossible that the mine could collapse from his voice alone.
"Wh-what is happening!?"
"…!"
Isaac and Marlin urgently called out to the giant, but he seemed incapable of responding.
"GRAAHHHHH! UUUUUUUUUURGH!"
Something was clearly happening on the other side of the dimension, and the brilliant silver light was causing the giant unbearable pain.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Suddenly, the rift where the giant's face had appeared widened.
He tore it open with both hands—showing just how much strength he had been suppressing until now.
And then—
BOOM! BOOM!
Both of his arms emerged outside.
But this wasn't an act of invasion or betrayal.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
It was escape.
The giant was trying to flee from whatever was tormenting him.
BOOM! BOOM!
The mine shook more violently.
As his massive body began to push outward and strike the surrounding walls, the cave rapidly collapsed.
It all happened too quickly.
Isaac tried to escape with Marlin, but unfortunately, the entrance was the first part to cave in.
"AAAAAAAH!"
"Calm down! Please, calm down!"
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Despite Isaac's desperate shouts, they were drowned out by the giant's screams.
As he dragged his upper body out of the rift in agony—
CRAAACK!
Something snapped, as if the rift could no longer tolerate any more.
And it closed.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The sound came from the giant.
As the mine collapsed around him, only his upper body remained.
Tears streamed down his face as he screamed in anguish.
The dust that had risen began to settle.
The chaos subsided.
Amid the dust that pierced their lungs, a blue light shimmered.
It was Marlin's aura, glowing like a candle in the darkness.
"Are… you okay?"
At her question, Isaac slowly nodded.
"What about you?"
"I-I'm okay too."
Surprisingly, both of them were safe and without major injuries.
Even before they could question how they had survived the complete collapse of the mine—the answer became clear.
Marlin's blue aura revealed a massive figure.
The upper body of the giant, left behind in misery, had wrapped around the two of them, protecting them.
"…I'm sorry."
His fading voice trembled with remorse—so faint, it seemed like it could disappear at any moment.
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[TL Note]
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