"Wow! Why does this remind me of some story I used to hear when I was a kid? What's the name again? Timmy and the Beanstalk?" Iron Maiden muttered aloud with furrowed brows, glancing at the group beside her.
"It's Jack and the Beanstalk," Night Ninja corrected.
Iron Maiden gently slapped her thigh. "That's it. Jack and the Beanstalk."
Hearing their conversation, Emperor Gravnik and the others couldn't help but be stunned.
"You also have giants like this in your world?" Emperor Gravnik asked, his voice trembling.
Wolf wanted to respond, but he was quickly interrupted.
"No. That's just a story. However, we're currently unsure if there are any giants in our world," Elias responded, drawing the room's attention to him. Before the Emperor could reply, Elias continued, "I have a question. How did the Beanstalk come into existence? Could it be that it came into existence by itself, or…?"
Emperor Gravnik tensed. The Empress and the other officials in the room also felt their bodies grow tense at his question.
"If there's anything else you're hiding from us, we hope you reveal it and not wait for us to discover it ourselves," Elias added with a frown.
"If you've got anything to say, then spit it out. What's the use of hiding information when your death is already certain?" Iron Maiden said.
"Forgive them for their rudeness, Your Majesty. But they are both right. You summoned us here, so we have the right to learn every piece of useful information. Any information, no matter how small it is, could be useful in dealing with the Red Sea Giants?" Wolf said.
Iron Maiden and the others nodded in agreement.
"This is a difficult piece of information for us to share," Emperor Gravnik said. "But I can't hide anything from you if we want to build some trust with each other.'
"Years ago, an old man moved from town to city promoting miraculous seeds which could enable anyone to conquer the world. To plant the seed, one would need to find the most fertile soil and nourish it with the cleanest water. However, no one could buy them because they were too expensive, and the requirements weren't something that any ordinary person could afford, because nobles or powerful magical creatures usually guarded such bodies of water."
"However, even the nobles paid no attention to such stories, treating them as a fairy tale. No one could blame them, as there were a lot of fairy tales, from swords said to slay gods to lost tombs containing immense treasure, all of which had been proven false. However, a General came across the old man and, upon hearing his words and seeing his seeds, slew him with his sword and took the seeds."
"However, the General didn't take the stories about the seeds seriously, nor bother verifying them. He kept them aside and went out to war. However, he lost the seeds in the war. Bathed in the most infertile land and soaked with a river of blood, the seed sprouted into a bean sprout. By the time others took note of it, it had grown as tall as a tree."
"It was then that the General found the scattered seeds and bags that he had taken from the old man. Out of curiosity, he allowed it to continue growing. But within a few hours, it had grown into a beanstalk piercing through the skies, stretching thousands of kilometres wide. Because of this, the General finally believed the old man's words and led an expedition up the beanstalk with his army, wanting to see what would enable him to conquer the world."
"However, when they reached the top of the Beanstalk, they found themselves in another world. It was filled with giant ferocious animals from land to the skies. The animals living there were huge. However, it wasn't brimming with life as ours. Corpses and decay littered everywhere they walked."
"Some say that the world was the previous world that was destroyed and hidden away, giving way for the birth of our world. Others say that the Beanstalk was a portal to another world, and one could not access that world without first exiting this one. Though either side brought debates, the last side was much more widely accepted by others."
"The General captured those animals and brought them back. From wild lions that could decimate entire armies of the strongest warriors to birds of prey capable of assaulting nations from above. He used them to overthrow the king and install himself as the new ruler, then invaded other nations, conquering and expanding his territories without pause."
"After several years of conquest, other nations uncovered his secret and came together to climb the Beanstalk, and that was when disaster struck. With so many races appearing in a foreign realm to raid it, their presence naturally drew the attention of other beings in that realm. By the time they realised something was wrong, it was already too late."
"They had been discovered by the rulers of that realm, the Red Sea Giants. They captured them and found their way to the beanstalk, and with it, they descended into our realm." Emperor Gravnik's expression grew more weary as he continued the story.
"Damn! This is truly it… But with a much more terrifying twist," Iron Maiden muttered loudly as a shiver crawled up her skin.
Night Ninja and the others agreed with her, feeling the same way about the story.
"So all of this was caused by a General who took the seeds from the old man and killed him? Where is he? He needs to be brought to justice and held accountable for what he caused…" However, before he could finish, Silver Knight interjected, "He's dead, isn't he?"
Wolf's expression turned surprised.
"Yes. He's already dead. That's because the general.. the King, who committed such an atrocity and brought such doom onto this world, is none other than my father." Emperor Gravnik replied with a wry expression.