The Human Giant



"Why are you staring at me like that?" 

"Just trying to see through your disguise, don't mind me." 

Shaking his head in disapproval at Jewel's joke, Yoze turned to Leah and saw that he was also looking at him with suspicion. Yoze couldn't help but feel a bit offended that they placed so much suspicion on him without a second thought.

Don't they know that all rumors have a grain of truth to them? It was way more likely that it was New Swampscott City dealing with these thugs than him a scholar and martial art enthusiast to risk his life.

"Even though I did do it I will never tell them the truth even if they ask, " Yoze jokingly thought to himself before reminding Jewel that they needed to get in line to enter the city to resupply before leaving for a few day's journeys to New Swampscott.

Unfortunately, their journey was delayed because Yoze forgot that he had left before he had gotten his checkup meaning he couldn't enter the city. They waited for a few more hours before several soldiers came out to examine his body.

After getting searched he was allowed in and they were able to continue on their journey. As they traveled the main road Jewel saw the rumored encampment surrounded by soldiers and staved off travelers from entering the campsite.

They even captured a few of the surviving Radiant Gang members and were interrogating them. However, whenever they were walking past the Radiant Gang members they all lowered their heads to avoid looking at them. 

Even though the soldiers noticed these actions they couldn't point out what was making them do so as there were a large number of travelers passing through at the same time due to being held up by the road blockage. The soldiers also couldn't understand why each of these gang members described the battle differently as if they were witnessing different battles.

Some described that the perpetrator was a tall gentleman and had a refined aura and each step he took reaped tens of lives. Others described the perpetrator as a brutal demon in human skin that tore apart his victims with bare hands.

However, they all shared similar physical traits of the perpetrator's appearance when he first arrived so they were able to have an impression of what he looked like. He was a tall gentleman who had short hair, was muscular, and wore the clothes of a scholar.

Unfortunately, for the town, the perpetrator had long left by the time they decided to find him and he was on his way to the city.

Jewel sneaked a glance at Yoze who was walking beside the carriage and reading a book that she had never seen him read before. Even though Yoze didn't say anything, Jewel felt that the attack had something to do with him feeling that this couldn't be a coincidence.

Just as their journey was about to get delayed a miracle happened and the gang blocking the road was gone in a single night. She couldn't help but thank her wit for not interfering with the demon that took over Yoze's body.

Two days later they entered an area that had a lot of swamps and the general aura was a bit chilling and ominous. But even though this was a scary region they knew that New Swampscott City was just a few miles away and felt their shoulders relax as this three-month-long journey was finally about to come to an end.

Soon they were able to see New Swampscott City's most well-known tourist attraction. It was an extremely tall building that was leaning toward its side. The building was so tall that it was visible before anyone could see the city's massive defensive walls to keep out armies.

"The Leaning Library, it is said that the city spends a butt load of silver every single day to keep it from falling over and crushing tens of thousands of people," Jewel explained the massive building to Yoze.

"Quite similar to the Leaning tower of Pisa on earth just on steroids." Yoze couldn't help but make a connection between these two leaning structures in his head.

"Now if you want to look for someone living in the city you have to hire an investigator that is approved by the city. That is the only way the City will allow their records to be searched and these investigators tend to be quite expensive. Are you sure you have enough money to do it?"

Yoze opened his porch and saw that after this trip he only had the equivalent of three hundred silver or three years of a regular person's yearly salary and wondered if this was enough.

"Well, I hope so if not I'll just take my services as a scholar to New Swampscott's city hall and work as an advisor,"  Yoze said casually.

There was a reason why being a scholar was a popular profession. Not only was it a comfy job that offered a ton of money but any major town or city was willing to hire any scholar that showed up their way. Meaning that if Yoze was truly strapped for cash he could simply become an advisor again.

The only unfortunate thing was that it was going to be difficult for Yoze to find such an easy job like being the Martial Court Advisor that offered him money and plenty of free time since they didn't care for his advice.

In any case, Yoze was prepared to spend as much as he needed to find his father's children.

Once they reached New Swampscott City's gates and entered the long line into the city, Drew stepped out of the carriage and felt amazed. Even though he had been to another large city he couldn't help but feel stunned by how enormous cities were every time.

It took about an entire afternoon before they reached the gate and saw the guards letting people through. When they saw Yoze's strong body they patted him to make sure he wasn't affiliated with any of the gangs that the city classified as evil organizations before letting them in.