The Kingdom of Titus

The Capital: Niffelheim

Within Niffelheim was a bar where the city folk could drink till their heart's content. It was especially popular for the soldiers within the capital who needed a drink after a brawl or long shift from work. Or both. In that bar you can hear all the commotion, singing, drinking, gambling and brawling that went on within the bar. For giants there, no other place was better to take a load off. But giants weren't the only race of people inhabiting the bar. Inside the bar were two dragon-kin drinking from beer mugs twice their size.

"Woo! Man that hits the spot! Right Jewel!?" Ryoka said in draconian tongue. Both she and Julia had flushed faces from all the drinking. Despite the sizes of the cups, with their enhanced strength lifting them up was no issue. Julia finished hers and hiccuped.

"Indeed. Though try not to overdo it Ryoka. We're still on a mission and you've already had 20 beers already. Hiccup!" Julia said. Which was funny coming from Julia as she had thirty beers.

Julia wanted both of them to just gather information and wait for the next wielder of Ragnarok to arrive at the capital, but Ryoka was insistent on taking her out for the night to have fun since he won't arrive for a while. Julia was serious about her mission but she could never say no to Ryoka's pleading. Due to her blindness she may not be able to see Ryoka's expressions but she can imagine Ryoka making a cute face to get her to agree so she gave in.

"Oh don't worry so much! It's because of your foresight that we know where he'll end up." Ryoka said.

"Yes but it was supposed to be past the Capital not at the capital. We only stayed to gather information, not fool around." Julia said.

"We got plenty of (hiccup) time (hiccup) before we meet the new wielder of Ragnar-." Julia closed off ryoka's mouth before she could finish. She gave ryoka a look that said really? "Oops sorry hehehe!" Ryoka giggled.

Julia sighed. "Honestly." Julia sat back in her seat.

"Relax! I doubt these big lumps can understand us anyways!" Ryoka said as she stood up on her chair and placed her other foot on the table raising one of her smaller mugs high in the air. "Besides, it's not like it matters. Because let it be giants, humans, androids, or whatever. In the end, we Dragon-Kin are the strongest race in the world, am I right!?" Ryoka declared as she then drank from the cup.

Julia drank from her cup and then smiled at Ryoka. She believes Ryoka should ease up on the smack talk because it just leads to a fight. Still, she can't help but admire her prideful nature, carefree attitude, and her beautiful smile. She can be a handful but Ryoka would always find a way to brighten Julia's mood with her fiery spirit. It's one of the things Julia loves the most about her.

"Hey Jewel! Come dance with me!" Ryoka asked, tugging on Julia's arm.

"Maybe some other time. You know I'm not a good dancer." Julia said, looking down embarrassed.

"Oh you'll be fine! Now come on! Come on!" Ryoka pleaded.

"Hey now! What do we have here?" Ryoka and Julia turned around and were met with a bearded giant towering over them. He appeared to be drunk. "A couple of baby dragons stumbled into our bar and called themselves the strongest race in the? Now isn't that adorable? Gahahaha!" The giant laughed. He was speaking his native language, jotun.

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Ryoka and Julia could speak jotun so they understood what he was saying. Ryoka grinned. "Oh? You think we're adorable? Now is that anyway for you to speak to your superiors?" Ryoka said in jotun.

"That's enough. Let it go Ryoka. The man is drunk, he's not worth your time." Julia said dismissing him. The giant however didn't take rock kindly to Ryoka's words.

"Hey hold on now! Little girl, did you just say you're my superior?" The giant man was itching close to Ryoka.

Ryoka finished drinking from her cup, threw it on the floor and then turned to face him still smirking. "So what if I did? I just spoke the truth. What are you gonna do about it, peasant?" Ryoka remarked.

The giant and Ryoka just growled at each other. Julia just watched the whole thing in annoyance and then pinched her nose. "Can't we just have a normal date without someone losing their teeth by the end?" Julia thought to herself.

"Tch! Listen here, squirt! You dragon-kin can act all high and mighty now, but when our great King Ogun lays waste to the Machina Empire, your country is next!" The giant man shouted.

"Huh? The hell are you talking about ya big oaf?" Ryoka asked.

"I'm talking about the war King Ogun is gonna declare on the Empire obviously!" He shouted.

"Idiot! Don't tell the outsiders this!" Said the friend of the drunk giant.

"Shut up! What does it even matter? They were gonna find out eventually anyway." He spat.

"Start a war? Now? From what I gather Titus isn't in a position to declare war on the empire right now. With Ifrit fighting the Empire the giants would get caught up in the middle and get wiped out by both sides. Not to mention, there's the republic". Julia thought to herself.

"Hold on. Are you saying Titus is planning to start a war with the Empire right now?" Wouldn't that be unwise considering your allies at the Republic just agreed to a ceasefire?" Julia asked.

"Ha! Who cares what those cowards from the republic think!? If anything they're-." The friend of the giant covered his mouth with his hand.

"You're saying too much! Take a load off!" The man was then dragging his friend away from their table and out of the bar.

"Ryoka." Julia switched from speaking jotun to draconian again. "It seems I now know why my foresight told me to meet the wielder of Ragnarok outside of the capital. After we spend the night sobering up, we leave first thing in the morning to go and find him." Julia said.

"Aw man! I really like this town too. But okay I'll listen. Just one more drink!" Ryoka said in draconian as she was about to order another cup but Julia stopped her.

"Actually there's one more thing we need to do. Those men over there know at least enough of what's going on between the relationship of Titus and Midgard. I can't believe I'm saying this but we need to get them to talk." Julia said.

"How? They won't talk unless we.....ooohhh." The lightbulb lit up in Ryoka's head. She knew exactly what she meant and it made her grin all the while. "Can I have them all for myself then!?"

"Only this once. I don't feel like fighting right now." Julia said.

"See this is why I love you jewel! You just get me ya know!?" Ryoka said, hugging Julia tight. Julia rolled her clouded eyes but smiled and put Ryoka's head. Ryoka kissed her on the cheek, got off her and immediately ran out of the bar to find those men. They weren't far just a couple blocks away from the bar. She whistled at them.

"Yo! Big oaf! Where do you think you're running off to ya coward!?" Ryoka shouted in jotun, catching their attention.

The drunken giant who argued with Ryoka turned around with veins popping out of his head. "Huh!?"

"You heard me. You didn't bow to us before you left. What kind of lower life form shows disrespect to their superiors and doesn't immediately bow their heads to make amends? If you do it now I'll let you walk off with a black eye or two? But if not, then you're never gonna walk again. So? What's it gonna be? Peasant?" Ryoka said with a sick grin.

The drunken giant was enraged. "GAAAH!" The other giants tried to calm him down but he broke free. "Alright you arrogant little shit! You're gonna wish you just let me walk away because now I'm gonna pound you and that bitch of yours into the dirt ya hear!?" The giant roared. Ryoka’s face dropped. The other giants facepalmed. He really shouldn't have said that.

"Huh? I'm sorry, could you repeat that? My what exactly?" Ryoka said with a frown.

"You heard me! You and your little bitc-." He never got to finish that sentence as in the blink of an eye Ryoka punched him so hard in the jaw it sent him flying back 10 blocks and into a wall.

"Sorry I still didn't catch that. My what?" Ryoka asked as she was on top of him and lifted his head. Unfortunately, he was out cold. "Oh. Whoops. He's out like that? Tch. So lame. After all that talk too". Ryoka said bitterly.

"Hey! What did you do!?" That came from one of the drunken man's friends.

"You're gonna pay for that!" Said another giant. There were about 6 of them in total, all angry at ryoka.

"Oh yeah! Now we're talking!" Ryoka said excitedly.

"Ryoka!" Julia called out. She was behind the giants. "We need these men alive so don't be so hard on them okay?" Julia said.

"Yeah yeah I gotcha! Okay you lot enough chit chat! It's time I reminded you lot, who you're superiors are! Now let's have some fun!" Ryoka said as she suddenly grew flames on her fists. She then dashed at the giants ready for a fight.

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