Melody led Rui to the Cambel ranch first before taking her to the business area where the slaughtering occurred.

“WOW! It’s so open!” Rui ran about the open field as Melody watched lovingly.

“Sis-con.” Violet snickered.

“What was that, Sammy?” Melody asked, not changing her expression.

“Nothing!” Violet quickly said while tensing nervously.

Annabelle giggled and further warned her mischievous friend.

“Melody! These are cows!” Rui waved at them with both arms excitedly.

After moving over to her sister, Melody knelt. “Can you tell how they feel?”

“Oh, um…” Rui closed her eyes and extended her reach through nature. “Mmm… Most are content… But the one over there is not feeling well, and… that one over there is hurting from its hoof.”

Melody patted Rui’s head. “Well done!”

Violet called out to some of the ranchers to look after the two cows Rui pointed out.

“Oh! Can I form my first contract with a familiar!?” Rui begged.

Melody struggled to keep her smile up. “Um, Rui, I think you can do better than a cow….”

“Aww…” She pouted.

Annabelle patted the girl’s arm. “Why not a Wooly Bison?”

“But Melody already has Aroo,” Rui said.

“True, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have an Aroo of your own.” The priestess stated.

“Hmm… True…” Rui accepted Annabelle’s argument.

While Rui wasn’t looking, Melody made sure to give her friend a thumbs-up.

“So, do you only have cows?” Rui asked Violet.

“Nope! We also have sheep, goats, chickens, pigs, and-.”

“Boar!” Rui exclaimed.

“What?” The three asked in surprise.

“I want a boar!”

“Oh… Well, I’ll see what I can do…” Melody was starting to look worn down.

Melody still remembered the Stampede Boar that had attacked her when she was young. It bothered her a little that her sister wanted her first familiar to be what tried to eat her.

Violet moved the tour along, making sure to show all the various animals that they had raised. She tried offering a horse as Rui’s first familiar, but the young girl turned it down, stating that it would be too small for her once she grew up.

Eventually, they finished exploring the ranch and moved on to the business area.

“AH! She is SO adorable!” Violet’s grandmother was excitedly hugging a surprised Rui.

“That she is.” Her husband, Markus, chuckled.

“Meldy! Elp!” Rui called for her sister.

Melody tensed and shivered while hearing her name called in such a way.

“Meldy.” The voice of her father echoed through her mind.

“Melody?” Annabelle looked up at her in concern.

“Oh!” She quickly collected herself. “I’m fine!”

Though she deflected, Rui had felt her sister’s fear. “Melody?” She spoke through nature.

“I’m… okay, Rui. I promise.” She replied.

Violet looked between the two sisters, annoyed. “Stop talking through nature!”

Melody giggled. “It’s a sister thing.”

The raven-haired girl grumbled, thinking she might have missed something entertaining.

“Agnes, let the poor girl go.” Markus chuckled. “You’re suffocating her!”

“Oh, dear!” Agnes released the grateful Rui.

“Right! You want to see the blood falcons and rats, right? You will be overjoyed to know that the falcons hatched some of their young.” Markus reported it to Rui.

“REALLY!?” Rui had stars in her eyes.

Markus and Agnes led the excited Rui off to see the helpers of business.

“Has business been well?” Melody asked with an amused smile.

Lady Cambel giggled. “It has. My brother out east has been bugging me to reveal my secrets, but I am letting him squirm for a bit.”

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Violet laughed. “Uncle hates when Mother keeps such things to herself. I wouldn’t be surprised if he-.”

“VICTORIA!” A man charged toward Lady Cambel.

The man had a husky build but moved quite well without tiring as he skidded to a stop before Lady Cambel.

“Oh, how good to see, Ivan.” Lady Cambel trembled, trying her best to keep from laughing aloud.

“Melody, allow me to introduce my Uncle. Marquis Ivan Cambel.”

“Yes, good to see you, Vio-….” Ivan slowly trailed his eyes up to look Melody in the face. “Gi-Gi-Gi-Gi-Gi-Gi-!”

“Yes, Melody is a giant,” Violet stated while snickering.

Lady Cambel burst out laughing.

Melody put on her best, Gaia. “Greetings, Marquis Cambel. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Ivan swallowed hard while not taking his eyes off Melody.

“Uh, Mel, is your charm slipping?” Violet asked while staring at her Uncle in concern.

“Hmm?” Melody checked herself. “No. It should be fine.”

Lady Cambel found a moment to struggle over to her brother through her fits of laughter. “Iv… PuHAHAHA! She’s… Heheheh… Melody!”

“Huh?” He turned to look at his sister in confusion. “Wait….” His expression changed to contemplation. “No!” Ivan looked between Melody and Lady Cambel a few times. “I thought…! You said…!” He eventually stopped and sighed heavily, his shoulders slumping.

Ivan looked at his sister with an exasperated look. “You haven’t changed a single bit since we were children.”

Lady Cambel grinned victoriously. “I am our father’s little girl.”

“More like a tyrant.” Ivan huffed. He turned to Melody and bowed his head. “Princess Melody, it is truly a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Victoria has mentioned you in her letters….” He grumbled while giving his sister an annoyed side glance.

“I am guessing she left out some details?” Melody giggled.

He nodded. “She never mentioned that you were a giant. All she mentioned was that you were a ‘princess of the Forest Spirit nation in the Gaian Forest. Also that you were tantamount in saving both her business and Hallfen.” Ivan bowed deeply. “For that, I truly thank you.”

Melody gave a bright smile. “It was my pleasure to help the mother of one of my closest friends.”

Ivan looked at Violet. “You befriended a giant?”

Violet shrugged. “What can I say? We kind of clicked.”

“If it wasn’t for Annabelle, it would have taken longer.” Melody teased.

“Oh, come on!”

Annabelle giggled and thanked Melody with a big smile.

“Oh, hello, Annabelle. I apologize for not greeting you.” Ivan chuckled.

“No problem! I was just happily enjoying the moment.”

“Now.” Ivan turned to his sister. “Can you please, for once, help me out here?”

Lady Cambel giggled. “Fine. You did come all this way. Mother and Father will be happy to see you.” She motioned for him to follow her into the administrative building.

“Melody!” Rui squealed through nature.

“Ow… What is it, Rui?” Melody asked.

“Oh, sorry.” Rui quickly apologized. “Anyway! You have to come to see the chicks! They are so cuuuute!”

Melody laughed and informed her two friends to meet up with Rui.

After enjoying some time with the Blood Falcon chicks and playing a few games with the rats, Melody and a tired Rui returned to the Grove for the evening.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After separating from her friends, Violet headed home to find her mother and Uncle in a heated argument, her grandparents finding amusement in how Ivan was getting played with.

“Can you not, Victoria!?” Uncle Ivan cried.

Mother looked off to the side. Violet knew that expression well. She was now feeling guilty about taking things too far. It was a bad habit that Violet picked up from her.

“Hey, Uncle!” Violet plopped down into the seat next to him.

“Ah, hello, Violet. Victoria, can you just help me out here?” He begged.

“Fine.” Mother pretended to huff in frustration. “To summarize, it was all thanks to Melody.”

“The princess?” Uncle asked.

Mother nodded. “The details I wrote in my letter were not exaggerations. She befriended the rats, brought over Blood Falcons, exposed our competitor’s plot, and fixed all but one issue we were having.”

“What was the one?” Uncle asked.

Violet snickered. “She couldn’t fit in the building or help with the paperwork the size of a post-it note.”

“What’s a post-it note?” Mother and Uncle asked.

Crap… Another thing she is going to have to explain. Since she started helping to bring advanced technology to the world, she had gotten sloppy keeping things under wraps.

Violet was thankful it was an easy idea to explain. She thought it would be annoying to explain the adhesive, but her Uncle knew of something that would work.

“That is an interesting idea. Well done, Violet.” Uncle commented.

“Yes, my daughter is just full of interesting ideas.” Mother smiled knowingly.

“Ah! Speaking of ideas! Why have you not told me about the ‘car!?’” Ivan exclaimed.

Mother sighed. “It is a work in progress. We were able to get one running, but the magic stones are a bit of a pain to acquire.”

Uncle scoffed. “If you told me earlier, I could have gotten you many!”

Violet sighed at their rivalry. Uncle was always trying to outdo Mother but always failed. Mother was too clever. This was why she was respected in High Society and earned a noble title. Much of Uncle’s business had the groundwork built by Violet’s mother, not to say he didn’t contribute significantly to it either.

“Well, I am telling you now. So, cough ’em up.” Mother teased.

“It will be a month before my next shipment.” He huffed.

“Ah, how I have missed seeing this.” Grandfather chuckled.

“You would.” Grandmother giggled. “I wish they would get along more amicably.”

“I believe this is an excellent relationship.” Mother commented.

“You would, you vixen!” Uncle yelled.

The door to the living room opened, and Father entered. “I’m home….”

“Father?” Violet noticed how exhausted he looked.

“Ah, Ivan, good to see you.” Father sat down at the table and requested a drink.

“Yes, good to see you, Arthur. It wasn’t my sister that tired you out, was it?” Uncle asked.

“I am quite good to him.” Mother stated with a grin. It kind of grossed Violet out since she knew what the grin meant.

Father chuckled. “No, no. Victoria is not the reason.” He gratefully accepted the drink from the servant. After taking a deep swig, he sighed in relief. “Ahhhh! That is much better.”

“So, what’s wrong?” Violet asked.

“Ah, right.” He took another swig, placing the glass down. “I just had a major influx of adventurers from neighboring cities.”

“Really? Why is that?” Grandfather asked, joining Father for a drink.

“Work dried up in several locations.”

Many of them stared at him in surprise.

“Yeah, you heard me right. Most low-ranking jobs are available, but anything above iron can’t get any work.”

“What the heck is that about?” Violet was surprised to hear such news. Breeding would be at an all-time high with the end of spring and nearing summer. There should be plenty of work still.

“From what the new arrivals have told me, they would go out on a job and either find nothing or a rotting corpse,” Father explained.

“What could it be?” Mother asked.

Father shrugged. “Honestly, the higher-ups think some kind of apex predator is stalking about.”

Violet snorted. “What? Like Melody?”

Father laughed. “Nothing comes close to her!”

“Is she that strong?” Uncle asked.

Violet nodded. “Yup. She has a versatile array of skills and abilities. Two evolutions ago, she wiped out a giant clan single-handedly.”

“Wow… I might need to hire her for jobs at some point….” Uncle contemplated.

Violet was happy to see her Uncle so accepting of Melody. It meant that the world was coming to accept her friend. Mother, Father, Annabelle’s grandfather, the duke, and Melody’s princely brother had all been working to spread the word of the friendly giant.

“Speaking of jobs, Violet, when do you think Melody might be available?” Father asked.

Violet shrugged. “Why do you ask?”

Father smirked. “What better to face an apex predator than an even better one?”

Violet laughed while promising to broach the subject with her friend next time.