Chapter 58: Spring Festival

Guided by the "God of Honor" Braddell, along the way the giants they encountered either knelt or prostrated themselves. None dared to look Braddell in the eye, even though He had reined in His mythical creature form.

Following closely at His side, so diminutive as to be insignificant, Hermione took the initiative to observe these humble-looking giants, and with each observation, she could continuously feel a tingling sensation from the brand upon her back.

That stemmed from the spiritual brand of "giants eating humans" that she carried.

At this moment, Braddell spoke up, "Human demigod, you are very special."

"Oh?" Hermione asked, her expression unfluctuating. "Why?"

The vertical pupil condensed in the center of Braddell's forehead gleamed with a bright light. "You are the only human who has been mentioned by my father, my mother, and my brother."

Hermione smiled. "That is truly an honor."

"And that is not all." Braddell seemed rather lonely in his daily life; his desire to confide was intense, and he chattered on, "Father said that you will nurture the future of humanity. This will be the greatest glory of your brief life."

A brief life? Glory?

Hermione felt as nauseated as if she had swallowed a fly, yet she was deeply puzzled as to what kind of human future the "Giant King" was plotting.

Hermione praised with a slightly exaggerated tone, "The future of humanity? Could it be that we humans also have a time of rising? It's really hard to imagine what kind of scene that would be."

Braddell laughed heartily. "Father didn't say specifically, but He did mention that humans possess great potential... Though I truly cannot see any potential in you weak humans."

"Of course, human demigod, you are very different from those other vermin. Perhaps you will become a new attendant god of our giant race." Although the tone feigned civility, the vocabulary thoroughly exposed Braddell's arrogance; in His personality, there was utterly no concept of respecting the person He was conversing with.

"Me? An attendant god?" Hermione's tone rose.

"Mother and brother both say so, too." Braddell laughed in a gruff voice. "They intend to collect fresh corpses of crawling bugs from the battlefield... those despicable dragons! But those crawling bugs shrink back like turtle shells."

Omybella was actually collecting dragon characteristics for herself...

Yet this was certainly no act of kindness.

At this moment, they arrived at a giant plaza where a festival was being prepared.

In the center of the plaza stood twelve stone pillars reaching a height of a hundred meters, carved with exquisite murals and reliefs, though they were not yet completed.

A female giant was carving a mural.

Braddell introduced, "Hrevsy is the most outstanding master in our clan, responsible for creating the vast majority of the murals and reliefs for this spring festival."

The female giant concentrated on her creation and did not respond to Braddell. Yet, uncharacteristically, Braddell showed no anger, merely leading Hermione to admire these unfinished works.

These murals and reliefs all chanted the history of the giants, from the birth of the giant race down to its present glory.

The "Giant King" Himself occupied ninety percent of the space, interspersed with depictions of giant attendant gods such as Omybella, Badhaeil, and Braddell.

Hermione saw that the earliest section depicted a mural of the "Giant King" being born amidst the twilight.

In the mural, amidst that twilight, were two blurred figures representing the progenitors.

On the faces of those two blurred figures, one could faintly make out a single vertical pupil, as well as statures taller than the giant trees in the background.

Hermione examined these murals and reliefs, feeling rather strange inside.

Was this depicting the progenitors of the giant race?

Meanwhile, Braddell pointed at the murals and chattered endlessly about His glorious path to becoming the "God of Honor."

Having listened patiently for a long time without waiting for Braddell to catch his breath, Hermione helplessly interrupted, "I heard... that the progenitor of the giants is buried within the 'Decaying Forest'?"

"There are many such rumors..." Braddell's gaze swept over the mural on the first stone pillar and said, "Anyway, from my birth until now, I have never seen a giant older than my father."

"You have never entered the 'Decaying Forest'?"

"Of course not. That is the forbidden ground of us giants."

The "Giant King" had concealed quite thoroughly the fact that humans were actually the progenitors of the giants, Hermione thought to herself.

After viewing the celebratory reliefs, Hermione steered the topic toward the origin of the giant race's spring festival.

Braddell explained, "It is to commemorate my father establishing the 'Four Seasons'."

Hermione had heard such claims back when she was among the human race. This was still Earth, and it was certainly possible that the "Giant King" had rediscovered and established the "Four Seasons" during the primordial era.

Many customs of the old civilization were passed down from the giant race and the elf race; for instance, the elves were fond of using chopsticks.

Hermione surmised that extraordinary overlords like the giants and elves, which had evolved from humans, should have retained a very small portion of the cultural heritage of the old civilization.

However, in that chaotic, protracted, and irrational era, what they were truly able to pass down probably amounted to nothing more than these leftover scraps.

The old civilization was ultimately completely buried by the passage of time...

Having taken a stroll, Hermione casually brought back some cheese, honey, and other food prepared for the festival.

When Hermione returned to her residence, she saw Selena holding a prayer pose...

"Where have you been?" Selena asked, still bearing an anxious expression on her face. She hadn't even put away the divine statue, and upon seeing Hermione, she hurriedly stood up to ask.

"Invited... out for a stroll." Piling the food she had brought back in front of Selena, and watching the trace of imperceptible craving well up in the young girl's eyes, Hermione smiled and asked, "Haven't you eaten yet?"

Selena wore a slightly aggrieved expression.

Opening her eyes, she had discovered that the First Councilor she was supposed to follow had vanished.

Wanting to go out and search, she had been blocked by giant guards, and even when she tried to strike up a conversation with the giants to ask, all she received was extremely arrogant indifference.

She could only anxiously clutch the divine statue of the "Lady of Night" and prepare to pray... and then she saw Hermione returning with an armful of food.

How could she still care about eating alone?

"Eat some of this first. Is there anything else you'd like to eat? I'll make it for you." Hermione rubbed the young girl's hair. "Next time I go out, I'll give you a heads-up beforehand."

In front of the oversized, giant-scaled dining table, Selena ate her food in a somewhat unrefined, large mouthfuls manner, yet she would meticulously chew and swallow. Hailing from a tribe, aside from Osecus, very few people paid attention to dining etiquette.

A tribe where supplies were not abundant had not yet developed such things, though Hermione had thoughts of slightly refining them later on.

"So, the 'God of Honor' invited you to tour the Giant King's Court?" Selena asked with curiosity while finishing up clearing the wide table top.

Hermione shook her head with a smile. "I only toured a small portion, mainly looking at the setup for the spring festival."

Hearing this, Selena felt a yearning. Although she held vigilance in her heart, a young girl of her age could hardly help fantasizing about what kind of celebration an overlord like the giant race would hold in the King's Court.

Seeing Selena looking like this, Hermione thought for a moment and said, "Then... shall I tell you about what I saw?"

At first, Selena showed a reserved resistance, but as Hermione began describing it of her own accord, she widened her eyes and listened with extreme earnestness...