"Hikari! Where are you?"
Ria's voice.
Not long after, Hikari emerged from the ground.
She pushed out a mass of rubble.
Combing the small pieces out of her hair with her fingers. "I'm here."
Thud.
The sound of her boot.
"Oh there you are. The engineers said you wandered into the rubble. We couldn't find you so we thought you had fallen into a pothole."
"Sorry."
"Never mind. We're heading back to the estate. There's a few more trips we need to make to haul all the supplies that we need."
"Yes, my lady."
…
They reached the estate.
Clank. The chains hit the ground.
"Phew. That was a tough day."
Ria dismounted.
She sees the scribe waving to her.
"You should get some rest now. Tomorrow we will start getting you ready for the mist. "
"My lady."
Hikari stretches.
"Yes?"
"I'll be making bean paste now."
Ria blinks blankly at her.
"Oh that. I'll have to join you later. You're so hardworking Hikari. Grounding beans after you have worked the entire morning. Maybe I can try grounding some."
Ria walks towards the scribe.
She turns around and waves to Hikari.
"I'll see you later then."
"Yes, my lady."
…
White shirt. Black shoulder pauldrons.
Ruby in the middle.
A neat outfit.
A quick bath.
Her hair combed nearly.
Ria walks along the halls of the RazenHeir mansion.
The head maid waits at the door.
"His lordship is waiting."
Ria nods.
The door opens.
She walks into the dining hall.
Modest decor.
Rarely used.
But well kept even in the absence of the people it was built for.
The Lord RazenHeir sits at the head of the table.
Plain white shirt. His coat hangs by the window.
"Ah! Ria, welcome. It's been a while since I managed to have lunch with my daughter."
Ria pinches the tips of her skirt.
"Good to see you father."
"Come! Sit down. We have some cold broiled steak. It's all thanks to you for smoothing over trade relations with Herdial"
Ria sits down.
A silver plate.
A thin slice of meat.
She picks up her knife, the meat was cut through effortlessly.
She sliced off a third of it and stuffed it into her mouth.
"Oho. My daughter's appetite had grown. It's not obvious to the untrained eye, but I can see the growth in your physical strength."
Ria puts down her fork.
She felt like she acted out of turn.
But her father just smiled.
"Apologies."
"Haha. don't be. I see that you have been sitting in those soul draining meetings as much as I have. It's just the two of us now, perhaps we can relax a little."
Ria couldn't help but react to his positive energy.
She lifted the rest of the steak and munched into it.
She was famished.
She couldn't care less about the subtle flavour of the sauce.
Nor the fine temperature control that cooked the meat to perfect tenderness.
Horse riding and attending soul draining meetings indeed takes its toll.
"Serve up the other, our other guest is held up today. Get the bread too."
The maid bows, acknowledging his request.
Ria's face shows a hint of embarrassment but she did not object.
"I see that the raid is coming along. Aside from that bit of hiccup involving the Purevain house pulling their knights due to losses in the swamps, we have carved our way into the city of Carla."
"Yes, indeed."
"That reminds me, It's the second time you are going out to the front but the first time that you have encountered a ghoul."
Ria swallows abruptly.
"Yes, it was quite the eye opener."
"Haha! A word of advice. Do actually keep your eyes open. The scout master gave me the most detailed report of the encounter."
Ria's face went a little red.
"Did your lordship invite me to lunch just to tease me?"
"I wouldn't deny that. But we have much more to discuss don't we?"
"Do move on to those less trivial topics then. I'm quite curious as to what transpired at Moradale since I left early."
"A lot. Some more worrying than others. But nothing that changes our course."
"Which is?"
"After the Carla shaft is sealed, we are going to reclaim the farmlands of the Carla territory and right quick. A Moradale accord commission will govern the territory. The houses will pool the resources to rebuild the farmlands with shared ownership."
"Are we not able to restore trade with Herdial?"
"It has little to do with trade. Herdial cannot sustain itself without aid in the coming year."
"We are sending our new army abroad again?"
"No. Herdial still has plenty of people. They just need the material. And loads of it."
"Do they have anything to trade?"
"They still do. But I doubt the market for luxury potions and textiles will hold well. That's why we are in a rush to build the farms. For the first time in their history, Herdial is no longer a surplus supplier of food."
Ria was silent.
She stares at the remaining piece of bread on her plate.
After a pause, she eats it.
"Don't worry too much. Just do what you need to. Speaking of which, how has Hikari been?"
Ria looks up.
"She's doing quite well. She had another growth sprout after returning from the wyvern peaks. We had to scramble to get everything to the right size again. Did you happen to see the load she can pull now?"
"Haha! I see that in more than one report. If I'm on horseback more often, it's difficult not to notice such a giant beauty pulling a full convoy of wagons."
Ria laughs along.
"Did you miss being on horseback?"
"Not at all. My legs are starting to hurt. I bet my steed is looking forward to retirement as much as I am."
"You are already looking to retire? What about me?"
"Oh, you'll do fine. You are already doing more than fine. As for my retirement, yes, I would say that the homages are already discussing succession."
"It's either going to be Alicia or Galer. I harbor no ambition to take over the reins. Neither does any of my cousins appear to have the talent nor the support for it."
The Lord RazenHeir paused.
"A discussion for another time. For now, preparations for Hikari to delve into the Carla depths."
"The special armour that provides shielding against the mist had been prepared. Re-purposed from our knights. It'll likely cover her only at the shallower depths."
"Good. We just need her to haul supplies to the forward post in the depths."
"You're not pushing for her to take the leading role in the raid? Given her current stats, the monsters at that depth are a walkover for her."
"For what purpose, there's more publicity for her than you realize. More than what we're comfortable at the moment. Her stats measurement maxing out the academy's instruments is not something that goes unnoticed."
Ria laughs.
"I see."
"By the way, how are Hikari's social skills?"
His daughter blinks at him blankly.
Scene of the events at the Moradale ball returns to her.
"Social skills? None that I'm aware of. Why are you bringing this up?"
"A number of prominent guilds are very interested to speak with her."
"Well, I guess I can speak for her while she's present. We'll have to do the meeting outdoors anyway."
"That could work. But I'd be mindful of the fact that they are quite explicit about speaking 'with' her."
Ria's eyes opened wide.
She looked at her plate.
There was a piece of steak and bread left.
She stuffed both into her mouth.
…
Ria stood on the hill where the RazenHeir mansion was.
Troops and supplies were still moving up and down the road to the north.
Goods wagons moving from east to west.
She was supposed to be in her room.
There's still paper work waiting for her.
Not a lot.
She had left the worst of it back in Moradale.
But something unsettling was eating away at her.
"Oh. Hikari is making bean paste now, so I should go check on her."
She calls for the stable hand.
Shortly after, he brings her steed to the front door.
The white mane she rides to functional duties.
Her war horse needed rest.
"My lady, where are you going?"
The head maid asked.
"The bean paste mill. I'll go check on Hikari. Tomorrow, we'll set off for Carla again."
"Yes, my lady."
A RazenHeir knight mounts his horse and follows her.
She rides out.
She had to navigate the traffic of marching troops and wagons.
But the beanpaste mill wasn't far on the map.
Curious.
She could see no signs of a wind mill.
Usually a mill that grinds things is at least three stories tall.
Which makes it conspicuous amongst flat farmlands.
She sees a crowd gathering.
"Whats going on."
She dismounts and approaches them.
Her height doesn't allow her to get a view of what's inside.
"Excuse me."
The men ignores her.
She doesn't have the physique to squeeze through.
She searched along the perimeter.
An opening.
She ducked under the fencing.
"Hikari, there you are."
She sees the giantess sitting down.
As she approaches, she notices a pair of farm maids scrubbing her bare feet with brushes they wield with both arms.
"My lady."
"Glad to see you having a good rest. You said you were making bean paste so I came to watch."
"I am."
Ria turns her head.
There was a giant circular tub just in front of the platform where she was resting her feet.
It was filled with freshly harvested beans.
"Oh right. Umm.. That looks like a huge tub. I don't see any grinding equipment. How are you grounding those beans?"
The pair of barn maids splashed a bucket of water onto her feet.
They gave it one last round of scrubbing.
Hikari stands up.
She lifts one foot over the tub.
Ria's eyes open wide.
Crunch. Squish. Squish.
Hikari places both feet into the tub.
Exclamations from the crowd.
Noses bled.
Pants bulged.
The barn maids shrugged in indifference.
Crunch. Squish. Crunch. Squish.
The mass of beans was quickly turned to mush under the weight of the giantess.
Ria's face turned red.
"Umm.. Hikari… we'll be eating those… should you really be…?"
Crunch. Squish. Crunch. Squish.
Hikari reorients herself to face her.
More exclamations from the crowd as she turns her back.
"It's normal."
"Umm.. right… I know of places with this practice… but you spent the entire morning towing wagons in your boots!"
Ria was getting flustered.
"Yes."
"What do you mean, yes? Your- "
Ria choked on her own saliva.
She coughed.
She was getting redder and redder.
"My lady."
"Umm… never mind. Is this how you made the previous batch?"
"Yes."
Her lady swallows her saliva.
Crunch. Squish. Crunch. Squish.
Hikari lifts her leg up to her knee.
Her lady places both hands on her mouth.
Thud.
Hikari sits back down,
Her feet facing the tub of smushed beans.
The barn maids approached with chisels at the end of a pole.
Hikari lifts her soles.
There were patches of bean paste stuck to it.
"My lady."
Ria flinches.
"Ye- Yes?"
"Help me."
Ria swallows.
She stares at the giantess soles.
The patches of bean paste that would end up as her next meal.
"My lady."
Ria stared blankly.
The barn maid hands her the chisel.
Ria grabs it.
Her hands trembled.
She poked the giantess's sole with the chisel.
The pole gives her enough distance to avoid her mana.
Badum. Badum. Her heart pounded.
Small piles of bean paste gather on the ground.
"Between the toes."
Ria flinched.
Her eyes lifted.
She sees Hikari's ruby red eyes over the toe line.
She pokes her chisel at the big toe.