The Rigid Old Guard

On Long Beach's city wall.

"Is that really what happened?" Gogert looked strangely at the old friend before him. If he had not trusted his old friend's character, he would have taken it for a vicious joke. Someone had actually invited a whole group of giants to a feast—no one would believe it if word got out.

But Gogert trusted the old paladin before him. They had fought side by side in their youth. Though they had not seen each other for a long time, he still trusted the old paladin's character.

"I know it sounds... strange." The old paladin Keldorn paused, pondering before finding a suitable word. "But that's just Solam's temperament. He does whatever comes to mind, incredibly willful. But if you're saying he had any malicious intent, that is absolutely not the case."

Keldorn had previously tried to persuade Solam to dismiss the giants in advance. Giants were extremely unwelcome in human society. The appearance of any giant could cause widespread panic, let alone more than two hundred of them.

But Solam would not listen. If he found something interesting, he did it. Besides, he had never cared for the paladins' old-fashioned, dogmatic ways, so naturally he would not heed the old paladin.

"Heh heh heh." Hearing that, Gogert could only shake his head with a bitter smile. As a follower of the Lord of Radiance, he did not actually like people with Solam's sort of personality. They were all too self-centered. But dislike was one thing; he had no way to control other people's personalities, so all he could do was shake his head and smile bitterly.

Because of one man's willful nonsense, all of Themis had been thrown into a state of alarm, and Long Beach had raised its alert level to the highest level.