Siblings

Cloud Giants are a type of high-ranking giant. Legend holds that they are the direct descendants of the Titans; in ancient times, before the arrival of the elves, they assisted the Titans in ruling the continent. They consider themselves superior to all other giants, with the sole exception of Storm Giants—the only ones they acknowledge as their equals. Cloud Giants are highly creative and possess an appreciation for beautiful objects. They also command superb magical arts, which is why they construct their cities atop the clouds above high mountain peaks; Cloudtop City is one such place.

They have a great fondness for metals like silver, believing it to be the purest color in the world. They mine for it everywhere, seeking to obtain silver ingots of the highest purity.

Aside from mining, they rarely leave Cloudtop City. The city is filled with marvelous, gigantic orchards, so they essentially never have to worry about food. It is said that the great Arcanist—the demigod Ioulaum—was inspired to develop his Floating City only after witnessing the city of the Cloud Giants.

Cloud Giants also possess many innate spell-like abilities: Levitate three times a day (capable of carrying one ton of weight in addition to themselves), Invisibility three times a day (allowing them to vanish within clouds), Cloud Fog once a day (summoning a bank of mist), and unlimited use of Cloud Walk (allowing them to fly and move freely by utilizing clouds).

Milor had exhausted his spell-like abilities after encountering a White Dragon. He had originally snuck out to search for a Snow Velvet Flower because the Cloudtop City festival was approaching. Every year, the city holds this celebration, and whoever presents the most beautiful flower receives the envy and respect of all. He had run off to find a beautiful Snow Velvet Flower, but his luck was poor; he encountered a White Dragon. Dragons and giants have had a bad history since time immemorial, and that is doubly true for White Dragons, a breed notorious for being evil and savage. A fight broke out naturally. Milor, who had not yet reached adulthood, could never have defeated that White Dragon, but he was lucky enough to escape using Invisibility, though he was left injured and unconscious.

Solam could not understand the customs of the Cloud Giants. A group of super-muscular men with an average height of over eight meters... actually liked flowers? Was this not a joke? It was far too effeminate.

As the saying goes, "The mountain looks close, but the horse dies on the road." They walked until dark without reaching the foot of the mountain where Cloudtop City sat. Finally, with no other choice, they decided to rest for the night and prepare to fly directly there the next day using Milor's spell-like abilities.

They lit a campfire to handle dinner. Solam took dried meat and Milk Wine out of his Bag of Holding to offer Milor. The kid was starving and polished off most of Solam's half-month supply of rations in one go, drinking more than half of the Milk Wine as well.

"Whew, hic! This is the first time I've ever eaten such delicious dried meat. And that Milk Wine—I've never had that either. It's sour and sweet; it's delicious." After eating and drinking his fill, Milor lay by the fire, cradling his round, bulging belly, looking completely stuffed.

"..." Solam looked at this massive glutton and said helplessly, "As long as you're happy." Their supplies were already low, and now this guy had eaten most of them, making the situation even more dire. It seemed he would have to find a way to replenish his stock once they entered Cloudtop City.

Solam chatted with Milor for a while longer and learned about his family situation. His father was the captain of the guard in Cloudtop City, his mother was a scholar, and he had an older sister who was an excellent warrior and also served in the guard.

But before they could say much more, the kid fell asleep. Now there was no one to talk to. Seeing this, Solam prepared to sleep as well, but he found it completely impossible. Damn it, the snoring was too loud! Can you imagine a super-muscular man, seven meters tall and weighing over half a ton, snoring right next to you? It was like having thunder go off in your ears; sleep was out of the question.

Solam could feel the ground vibrating whenever the guy snored. How was he supposed to sleep? Solam considered himself a person with thick nerves who wouldn't normally care about someone else's snoring, but he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Frostfang's hearing was even more sensitive, and he couldn't stand the torture, so Solam had to tuck him into the Amulet of Shelter and keep watch himself.

Just as Solam was curled up by the fire, enduring the earth-shattering snoring, he suddenly noticed several silver, shimmering giant figures flying in from the distance. He didn't know if they were friends or foes.

Solam immediately wanted to wake Milor up, but whether it was because he had drunk too much or he was just naturally thick-skinned, no matter how he called out, there was no reaction. Finally, Solam grew anxious and began kicking and hitting the guy, but unfortunately, he still didn't react, remaining dead to the world and snoring like thunder.

The figures in the distance seemed to have noticed the firelight and were flying toward them at high speed. It was too late for Solam to extinguish the fire now.

The figures were fast, and soon Solam saw their full appearance. They were actually Cloud Giants, just like Milor. Seeing this, Solam gave up on any other actions, raised his hands, and stepped away from Milor.

Soon, several Cloud Giants wearing silver armor flew up to them. The leader was a female giant who looked somewhat like Milor. I have to say, she was the most beautiful woman Solam had seen in all his years in this world. A cascade of long, silver hair spilled out from her helmet, fluttering in the night breeze, appearing ethereal and lively, as if the legendary Moon Goddess—Selune—had descended to the mortal realm. Her silver eyes, paired with a face that was both beautiful and spirited, were enough to make anyone's heart sway.

Solam was momentarily stunned, but he quickly regained his senses. It wasn't that Solam was a saint; it was simply that a sword must match its scabbard. A beauty over eight meters tall—looking at his own small frame, he decided it was better to just look and leave other thoughts aside.

The female giant glanced at Solam. Seeing him standing there with his hands raised obediently, she didn't pay him much more attention and turned her gaze toward Milor. Seeing the kid sleeping soundly, the female giant's anger flared, and she delivered a fierce kick to the kid's backside. To her surprise, the kid didn't even notice; he just scratched his butt, changed his posture, and kept on sleeping.

The atmosphere at the scene became extremely awkward; the air seemed to freeze. No one spoke.

Solam silently lowered his head, and the other giants shifted their gazes elsewhere, pretending they hadn't seen anything.

Solam didn't see the expression on the female giant's face—he was afraid that if he did, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from laughing out loud—but he heard a sharp shout: "You jerk!" Solam looked up and saw the female giant draw the single-handed sword at her waist with a shing. Solam was startled. Although he didn't understand what was happening, there was no time to think; he immediately grabbed his warhammer and battle-axe, preparing to rush up and stop her.

However, the other giants had clearly been keeping an eye on Solam, the uninvited guest. They immediately pointed their weapons at him, including two massive crossbows, forcing Solam to stop in his tracks.

The female giant glanced at Solam, then turned and slashed her sword toward Milor. Seeing this, Solam couldn't care less about the consequences; he threw Thor's Hammer with all his might toward the longsword in the female giant's hand, then immediately performed a side roll.

Thor's Hammer did not succeed. A giant warrior standing behind the female giant used a silver shield to block the flying hammer. With a loud "BOOM!" the hammer was knocked away, and the giant was sent sprawling onto his backside.

Solam didn't have it easy either. Just as he finished his side roll, he heard two whistling sounds, followed by two "thuds"—two all-metal arrows had slammed into the ground exactly where he had been standing.

Solam had no time to worry about that. He recalled Thor's Hammer with one hand and held his battle-axe horizontally with the other, preparing to rush over to save Milor again, but just then, he heard Milor let out a miserable shriek.

"Ah!!! Who hit my butt?!"

Solam immediately stopped. The voice didn't sound like someone being put to death. Then, he saw the female giant raising her longsword and striking Milor fiercely.

"I'll teach you to sleep!" "Ah!!!" "I'll teach you to be unruly!" "Ah!! Help! The tigress is killing me!"

"Tigress, huh?" The veins on the female giant's forehead were bulging. "Die, you jerk!!!"

"Ah!!! Help!!! Stop hitting me!" Milor dodged frantically.

"You dare dodge?! Today, I'm going to make sure you learn your lesson!!" It turned out the female giant had been using the flat of the blade to strike Milor; she had no intention of actually harming him. Still, this female giant was quite fierce—she didn't seem worried about accidentally injuring Milor.

"I'm sorry!!! Big sister!!! I was wrong, stop hitting me, my butt is going to rot!! I'm sorry!! I won't dare do it again!!"

Big sister??? Hearing this, Solam realized he had misunderstood the situation. He quickly dropped his weapons to the ground and raised his hands, continuing to play the part of the innocent bystander.

"You really won't dare again?" After a few more hits, Milor's sister must have felt a pang of pity, as she stopped and asked.

"I really won't," Milor shouted loudly, then muttered under his breath, "Even if I find the Snow Velvet Flower, I can't marry you off. You're so fierce, who would dare marry you?"

"What did you say?! I think you're looking for death!!!" She raised her longsword again, and this time, it wasn't the flat of the blade.

Seeing his sister was getting serious, Milor scrambled behind a giant warrior with a brass-colored beard and hid. "Uncle Kermit, help me!"

The giant warrior named Kermit quickly blocked the enraged female giant. "Don't actually draw steel. Let's talk this out. Loris, Milor is still young, let him off this time. He's still just a child."

Milor's sister, Loris, tried several times to rush over and hack her unruly brother to pieces, but she was blocked each time. The other giants also came over to persuade Loris. It took a great effort to finally get the longsword out of the female giant's hand. They were children, after all; discipline was one thing, but how could she use weapons? It was too dangerous.

It took a long time to calm Loris down. Milor, on the other hand, was a complete brat; not only was he unrepentant, but he was also winking at Solam.

Solam thought to himself that it probably wasn't a bad thing for this guy to get a beating from his sister. A brat like this deserved a good thrashing—the more, the better.

Finally, when Loris had calmed down and saw him acting up again, she couldn't help herself and grabbed the brat by the ear.

"Hmph! That's enough for today. I'll deal with you properly when we get back!" She said, preparing to activate her levitation spell.

"Ow! Ow! It hurts! Don't pull my ear!"