For a moment, Severin didn’t know how to react.

That revelation sounded ridiculous to him. Almost absurd.

‘Isn’t he just a big guy?’

Nevertheless, he couldn’t help himself and carefully looked at the man, who wore an amused smile on his face, from top to bottom.

He still didn’t see it.

Sure, since he had first laid his eyes on him, Severin never really got used to Samuel’s enormous size. It was intimidating.

The man wasn’t just well above two meters tall, but his overall physique was rather terrifying; muscle packed, covered by countless gruesome scars, and dressed in that savage-looking pelt of his.

Still. People that tall also existed on Earth. It was rare, sure, but hardly otherworldly.

‘I guess if it’s a whole people and not just a handful of individuals suffering from some obscure disease…’ Despite these thoughts, his doubt was still apparent. Or rather, he didn’t want to believe it. It was simply too underwhelming for his linking. Too ordinary.

“I’m a half-giant.” Samuel revealed.

The ‘giant’ part didn’t come as too much as a surprise. The other part, however, made things easier for Severin to accept.

‘Half, huh?’ He slowly nodded in response. ‘Makes you wonder how big the real deal is.’

No matter how tempted he was, Severin didn’t think it would be appropriate to actually ask this question.

The next moment, an even more inappropriate question came to mind.

‘Was it the mother, or the father?’ Severin opened his mouth, and, without making a noise, immediately shut it again. He tried to picture it.

“Seems like you’re at a loss for words,” Samuel noted laughingly.

Being torn from his thoughts, Severin felt caught. ‘Thank whatever powers brought me here, that he is a [Berserker] and not a [Mind Reader].’

“Hehe.” Severin could only force an awkward laugh.

Even Markus couldn’t hide his amusement at this point. “That’s not going to be a problem, right?”

“Not a problem! Not a problem at all!” Severin’s voice suddenly returned.

“I’m not the only one either, you know? Non-human, that is.” The half-giant didn’t give Severin any time to react and continued on. “There are a handful of elves in Markus’s squad.”

“Five,” the latter confirmed.

“And while I can’t speak for Andreas’s guild, I suspect that at least their [Duelist] is a half-elf as well. His friend, the healer, might be one as well.”

…

Severin sat alone in his store.

When Markus and Samuel left the store, the former had assured he would take care of the matter regarding the new employee as quickly as possible. Despite that, Severin didn’t have the impression that the young officer had any plans to leave the mountaintop anytime soon; not for any extended period of time, anyway.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

‘Maybe he just sends one of his subordinates. Or maybe there are artifacts for long-distance communication.’ Severin came up with two plausible explanations but didn’t really care either way. As long as Markus fulfilled his promise, Severin would be happy. It didn’t matter how he did it.

Even if Markus decided to go back on his word, which Severin doubted, it wouldn’t matter all that much. It wouldn’t serve to deepen the relationship between them, and it would be annoying, but that’s it. This was just supposed to be some kind of favor; Severin wouldn’t lose anything in the process.

Besides. Right now, Severin wasn’t really in the mood to think about these things.

His thoughts still circled around the existence of giants and elves.

Meeting a real giant became something he was now looking forward to very much. Though preferably from a safe distance; like one would watch a lion or any other ferocious beast. Not that he suspected giants to necessarily be any more ferocious than Samuel himself. He didn’t fear to be devoured like Saturn’s son, but there really was no need to tempt fate. Not with his puny health pool. Not when he expected the other party to be at least double his own size. Literally.

‘One careless step and I would be mush. No thanks! Though I wonder if such a person would even fit through the door.’

All in all, learning of the existence of giants and Samuel having giant blood in his veins was comparatively easy for Severin to accept. It came as a surprise and maybe was a bit disappointing, but that was it. His relationship with the [Berserker] wouldn’t change because of this.

The same couldn’t be said in regard to elves.

He had already met elves, without him noticing? What a letdown. How was something like that even possible?

‘Weren’t elves supposed to be…? I mean, there is more to them than just pointy ears, right? Right?’ Severin started pondering again.

There were other aspects that were commonly attributed to elves.

For example, their beauty.

‘Hardly a telltale sign.’

Or their affinity for magic, in case of high-elves, and their superior agility, in case of wood or forest elves.

‘Again. Every single one out there is an adventurer. Would be more astounded if any one of them wasn’t able to cast spells or climb trees or whatever. Hell. From what I could see, none of the casters were in bad shape. Like, at all.’

Then there was their supposedly long life expectancy.

‘Not something that would jump into the eye, either. And I can’t really ask for their age, can I? Same with the ears. Would hardly even qualify them as a whole different race, in my opinion.’

The more Severin thought about the matter, the more depressed he became. But he refused to give up. He was grasping at straws and continued weighing every single cliché he had read about elves.

‘None of them stood out to be especially arrogant, either. Maybe…’

He halted, and in his mind, went through Samuel’s words again. Until he remembered the mentioning of a certain someone.

“Xander!?”

No. He refused that notion. Xander was an arrogant prick, alright. But that was just a coincidence, nothing more. He certainly wasn’t representative. But then again, who was?

Severin was devastated.

Despite having transmigrated into a fantasy world, the thought of potentially meeting any other races had somehow never really occurred to him.

That was until a few hours ago, when his hope and expectations were raised. Or rather, he allowed them to get raised. The resulting disappointment was all the greater.

‘So, turns out they are nothing special. Just like everyone else. Unless I’m missing something.’