Stars 3

He noticed Izen's gaze softened after he said that, as tears began to rush out of her eyes. He let her cry it out; she was still a kid after all. As he sighed, not being of much help, she cried for a bit before she quieted down. Meanwhile, Tumos' gaze also softened looking at Jack, as if a lot of burden had been lifted off the shoulders of that man. What was that burden, who knows. 

Meanwhile, Pyotr and Duke were staring at Carus and all the other giants around them with greedy smiles on their faces. It could almost be considered lustful, and the way they looked at them made even Carus a bit uncomfortable, but they didn't say anything to the guests of the Lord of the Forest. Duke simply smiled because he finally found opponents he could consider strong and fight against. He wanted to fight and grow as strong as possible, but Pyotr's smile was for a whole different reason.

'I wonder how their bodies work? Is it similar to ours? Do they just have the same organs but bigger? How do they breathe so much to sustain such bodies? What is their lung capacity? Do they experience time differently than us?' The mad scientist was going crazy over the hundreds of questions arising in his mind. Meanwhile, Ikami only sighed, looking at everyone else, feeling somewhat disappointed for some reason. 

As Jack was finally done helping Izen calm down, she smiled a bit. And at that moment, the jack who wouldn't give two shits for the death of his closest friend would have chosen to burn the world down if anyone hurt this kid. Honestly, even he wondered why he felt like that. He wasn't someone with a lot of compassion, so why did he even feel attached to this child? It doesn't make sense. Maybe his paranoia was taking over as he stood up and looked at the rest of them to distract himself. 

'They have been here for a while, but no one bothered to greet me properly... This won't do.' He thought as he sighed, walked up to the front, and spoke.

"All of you except Izen on your knees right now." As he spoke, everyone felt a pressure on their body they had not experienced before. As if they had to move, as if there was no choice. It was not an order; it was a command that they must obey, and so they did, as even the giants and Carus got on their knees. 

"Look, I don't know how you lived life till now, but from now on, there are three things I need you to remember. First, you are below me," he said with a stern look, looking at all of them in the eyes while he said that. "The one who holds all the power here is me, and the one who decides whether you live or die is me. If you think you'd rather die than be a slave, then know this. As you are right now, you are powerless. You cannot even die without my permission, so I hope you understand that."

Jack heard many angry grunts from the people on their knees bowing their heads to him, but frankly, he did not care enough. Oh, you feel bad for being a slave? Should have won. He couldn't care less.

"Second, your value and the value of your life only depend on one thing. How much does your existence profit me? If you fail to show your value, I won't think twice before getting rid of you. So if you really want to be someone in this kingdom, you will have to work hard for it. Your value is decided by what you bring me, so do your best."

He said it with a smile, as if encouraging them while he spoke. Izen, who was still free, looked at everyone with a bit of worry in her eyes. A child's heart truly is the purest. 

"Third and last. Have pride in me. You work for me from now on, so no one except me should be able to push you around. I don't care if it costs you your life, but if someone belittles me or you take care of it, You represent me and my nation, and I need you to have pride in that and protect that pride." 

He said as he sighed before finally letting them all get back up again. "You may refer to me as Lord or Lord Jack. For now, enjoy the party. Tomorrow, I will reveal my plan for the future of our kingdom. But for now, enjoy the party and eat and drink as much as you like," he told everyone, as even though some of them felt humiliated, there was little they could even do about it, so they just accepted their fates and went to their respective seats made by the giant carpenters for small people. That night, everybody enjoyed drinks and snacks while still feeling frustrated. Duke and Pyotr got wasted enough to let all their frustration out in the form of swears, but others don't. Ikami was smart enough to know what she had to do; Izen was too young, and Tumo wasn't the type to hold grudges. All in all, everyone ended up celebrating that night at least.

Meanwhile, Jack sat in his tower, looking down at everyone, knowing the storm he was going to cause tomorrow. "Well, it's about time."