Chapter 6: The giant in the woods

Beta read by n1ch, Shigiya, Solitary heart and 8kagi.

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-Ishgar-

-Heartfilia estate-

(A month later)

The Heartfilia, a powerful family with humble beginnings.

Heartfilia Konzern, one of the wealthiest and most recognizable companies in the Kingdom of Fiore, was run by its founder and legal owner Jude Heartfilia. After starting his career as a member of the merchant guild Love & Lucky in Acalypha, Mr. Heartfilia founded the company, and dedicated most of his time to it for the Konzern to expand and grow–now it stood among the wealthiest family in Ishgar.

But he didn't embark on this journey all alone, by his side was his living wife Layla Heartfilia–who contributed enormously to their family business.

They were happy with their success and decided to start a family.

They had a single daughter, a child named Lucy Heartphilia–the name inspired Love and Lucky. To the outside world, they looked like the perfect family, having everything they could ever wish for, not being short of anything.

But each family had its fair share of problems.

Jude Heartfilia, was a man drowning in his successful business, began spending more and more time on his work while he paid little to no attention to his family–much to the displeasure of his wife.

"Honestly dear, you should put these affairs on hold and come and spend time with your daughter." Said Layla. "At this rate, you'll be permanently living in your office.

Layla was a beautiful young woman. She had soft brown eyes along with long blonde hair, which she usually wore in a bun along with a lacy baby pink band with ruffles on its edges which rested on her hair with her flicks and strands of hair framing her face.

She had a voluptuous figure, also sharing similar features with the young Lucy. She inherited very little from her father, looks-wise.

Yet despite her beauty, one could clearly see signs of weakness and tiredness in her eyes. She looked unnaturally pale with her straining voice barely audible.

She was sick and seeing her declining health hurt Jude's heart.

" Sigh Layla, you should worry more about your health. The doctor did say that you shouldn't strain yourself physically. And I have to continue my work. You know how difficult the Junnelle Corporation can be, they've been eyeing our estate for a while now." He caressed his wife's delicate hands.

Even while touching her, he always tried his best to be careful.

Her illness had taken so much from her.

What was once a proud and powerful Celestial Spirit user, could barely take a walk outside. He tried everything, from the most expensive of medicine to the most worldly acclaimed healing mages–none could ever find the cause of her illness.

Layla grasps his hand to her own, making him feel less stressed and find comfort in her presence. "I know, I've dealt with them before, remember? I just want you to spend more time with Lucy… do you know just how much she's scared of you? The girl doesn't know her father very well, so she created this scary image of you. I can't change it unless you do it yourself." Layla insisted.

Jude sighed.

He loved his daughter, he really did… but his work was just as important. Without money, he couldn't give her the luxurious life he always dreamed of giving to his children. He wished to never have Lucy live through poverty as he did.

So until the Heartfilia Konzern was stable, he'll have to put a hold on his responsibility as a father.

"I promise you that I'll try, Layla. I won't sacrifice my time in the office but I'll create more opportunities to spend more time with both you and Lucy. It's just that I don't want to lose everything we've built so far, I don't want to end up penniless like in the past." He felt the warm touch of his wife on his cheeks.

"It won't come to that, as long as you remain consistent with your work and keep your head up high then everything will be fine. Just be sure to spend more time with your daughter, that's all I ask." She replied with a smile so bright that it warmed his heart. "Now, I have to look after our little girl–she's been very fussy lately about some rumor she heard from the servants."

"Oh, what might that be?" Jude asked amusedly.

"About some giant living in the woods."

{Break}

"Lucy-sama!"

Close to the Heartfilia estate was a large expanse of lush forest and mountains. Built, far from any noisy town, it was the perfect peaceful paradise for anyone.

"Come one! Keep up, Gretel!"

Recently, there had been some interesting rumors running around in the nearby towns, which reached the ears of the servants.

"Please don't run, Lucy-sama! You might get hurt!"

A couple of sightings of a giant roaming the mountains–hunting for Vulcans.

Some would just assume that it was probably a mage from a nearby guild out to complete some quests, but after further debates, that was proven wrong.

The giant hunted down Vulcans and according to some, would proceed to eat them! Of course, many just thought of it as a story, a myth made by the locals. Many search parties had been sent inside the forest with no such giant insight.

Yet many still found the remains of Vulcan skeletons all over the place.

"The giant probably lives in the caves, I'm going to find it and bear with my celestial spirits–then I'll be just as strong as mom!" Lucy said while holding a silver key her mother gifted on her last birthday. "And I also asked my mother if I could borrow Aquarius for a bit."

"But you're still very young, and I don't remember you ever summoning a golden key–according to Layla-sama you need a large magical reserve. You've never summoned one of those golden spirits even once, while I'm not an expert on this matter like Layla-sama–I can say for certain that you're not ready yet."

"Don't worry about it, I can summon silver spirits many times–so golden keys shouldn't be a problem," Lucy argued.

The poor maid, Gretel, who tried keeping up with the energetic child was nearing her end in terms of stamina. She should have listened to the others and not fallen for the young mistress's pouty face. The head maid warned her so many times to not fall to the young lady's words… but she did in the end!

'Layla-sama will kill me!'

They had already gone far enough from the main house, and if they traveled any further into the forest… then they might even get attacked by monsters!

The forest had recently become notorious from the increasing number of Vulcan sightings. The guilds had been given the quests to get rid of them, though successful they still hadn't gotten rid of every one of those beasts yet. Even if there were no Vulcans, many different types of other creatures lived inside the forest. Like those savage boars, the fire pigeon and even nests of venomous horned snakes!

Finally, the energetic girl stopped much to the relief of Gretel. 'Thank god!' The maid tiredly ran towards the young miss and reached her side. "Please Lucy-sama, you know how worried your mother gets with your disappearance. She is already in a weakened state, we don't want to worsen do we?"

"..."

She felt a bit bad when bringing up Layla-sama's condition. Every servant in the Heartfilia Konzern loved her and respected the woman greatly. She treated everyone with kindness and respect, despite the vast gap in their status.

"..."

"Lucy-sama?"

Something was wrong.

Gretel noticed how the young stiffened up in fear when she put a hand on her shoulder.

With shaking hands, the young girl slowly pointed at the very front of the road, where several trees blocked out the rays of the sun–creating a dark shadow.

And among the darkness was a pair of shining white bestial eyes.

"O-oh no…" Gretel felt her heart drop.

From the shadows emerged a large figure, it was a large, anthropomorphic monster that resembled a primate. Possessing distinctive facial features, elongated chins, prolonged ears, and pointed heads that resemble a single horn on top of their head. It even had gargantuan arms and sequentially large hands that attach to their muscular torsos.

"Hehehe, pretty ladies!" It said in a nasty voice. "Me take you all home Wohohohoho!!!!" It began hitting its chest in excitement.

"It's not a Vulcan, it's a Gorian!" Lucy recognized the creature from her school books. She didn't remember much aside from that it was a very common and very dangerous monster found in all dense forests. "I'm not scared! I have my keys and mom's as well, I'll defeat you and become a powerful Celestial Wizard!"

The young lady was being unreasonable! Gretel didn't know much about these beasts, but there was absolutely no way Lucy-sama would be able to defeat it!

"Lucy-sama you mustn't! We must flee!" She tried to drag her away only to have the young girl stubbornly keep her ground. "Lucy-sama!?"

"No, I got this!" Lucy took out a silver key from her pouch attached to her dress, The key had the form of a lyre. She got it for her birthday from her mom.

"Open, [Gate of Lyra]!"

A white flash illuminated the scene, temporarily blinding the Vulcan. "Ahhh! Eyes hurt!" It used its gigantic hands to cover its face.

From the light appeared a young girl. She had waist-length hair and a pink bonnet on top of her head. She wore a long dress with heart prints by her waist and had leather shoes as well. With small white wings and a large harp on her back, she looked like a cupid.

This made the Gorian even more excited. "Hohoho, more pretty girls!"

"Celestial spirit Lyra, here to soothe your spirit with my music!" The spirit announced cheerfully, "Ah! Lu-chan it's you, you've grown a lot since I last saw you. Muuuu, you hardly even summon me anymore~!"

"Sorry Lyra, but you and mom told me that I can only call you three times a month," Lucy said with a pout.

"I can't help it, my schedule is packed with other mages, so what song do you want me to-!"

She saw the lewdly smiling Gorian.

"..."

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"Lu-chan…" Lyra's smile stilled, her eyes no longer looking joyful.

"Yes?"

The Celestial Spirit took a deep breath, "Why did you summon me again?" She whispered.

"To fight the monster!" Lucy said.

"Huhuhuhu, mine, mine!" The Vulcan was getting increasingly more aggressive, its grin stretching around its face. "Me smash!" It began jumping around.

"I'm not a combat spirit!" Lyra screamed in fright, she picked up Lucy and ran in the opposite direction–followed by an equally scared Gretel. "I'm an entertainment spirit that makes calming music to soothe your soul, not a brutish spirit! Don't ever summon me for battle, Lu-chan!" She scolded her.

"Waaaaaaaah" Outraged, the Gorian soon started his pursuit of the girls. It had a crazed look in its eyes and gazed at the girl's back. "Pretty ladies, mine! No escape!"

The monster immediately began giving chase, it swung around using the branches in the forest to catch up to the group–the distance between them slowly decreasing.

Lucy took out another key from her pouch, a golden key. "Wait, I have another key!" She showed Lyra and Gretel the key belonging to Aquarius.

"You need water to summon her! How could you not know this!?" Lyra couldn't help but shout to her friend, this was a deadly situation they found themselves in. Though she will survive and return to the Celestial Spirit World, she couldn't say the same for her summoner and the maid.

"Oooouuuuu, pretty girls, mine!" The Gorian had caught up to them!

Pa!

"Kya!" It hit Lyra who used her body as a shield to save both Lucy and Gretel. Her body flew through the air before colliding against the trunk of a tree. Since Lyra wasn't a combat spirit coupled with Lucy's still developing magical reserves, her time in the human world soon expired. She soon turned into motes of silver light and disappeared completely.

"Lyra!" Lucy was terrified, she wanted to prove to her mom that she was strong enough to become a mage. She saw the Gorian approach the unconscious Gretel and pull her up, it had a lewd grin as it eyed her servant's assets.

"Hehehe, me like!"

"Leave her alone!" She mustered enough courage to run up to the beast and hit it continuously with her tiny hands. "Let her go!" She was crying, this entire outing was a mistake. She should have listened to her mom and stayed safe at home.

"Annoying." The Gorian flicked Lucy away, though it didn't put much strength behind its move, it was enough to hurt the girl.

"Nnrghh… " Lucy picked herself up from the ground, her dress was ripped and dirtied, her arm was bleeding from falling and her eyes were red from crying. She watched in despair as the Gorian now turned its attention to her.

"Hehehe… "

'No…' Her fists were clenched, because of her mistake–Gretel will get hurt and so will she. She scanned the surrounding forest to try and find someone, a mage, a traveler, anyone! But in the middle of the forest, there was no one.

Briskly, she began crawling away from the Gorian before being grabbed by the leg.

"No! Let me go!" She tried to kick the monster's hands, again and again. But it did little to the beast. The look on Lucy's face was enough to excite the Gorian even more.

"Open [Gate of Aquarius]" Out of desperation she tried to call forth another Celestial Spirit–even while she was not near a body of water.

"Open [Gate of Aquarius!!]" She tried...

"Open [Gate of Aquarius!!!!]" Again…

"Please! Open [Gate of Aquarius!!!!]" …and again.

"Hehehe, me like fiesty girl!" It stretched its other hand towards her, ready to take her away to its lair as well.

Lucy closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable to happen. 'Please save me, mom!"

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Grab

"Eh?" The beast's hand never reached her.

Lucy opened her eyes to find the sight of the Gorian's wrists held by another bigger-looking person. A man holding on to the corpse of another dead Gorian on his shoulders, wearing nothing but pants showing off his muscular upper body with an X-shaped scar on his chest.

Lucy saw his black eyes looking at her, no expression visible on his face aside from a slight amount of concern and curiosity.

"You okay?"

"Ah-aa..." She was not prepared with an answer and could only open her mouth, uttering some barely audible sound. She was still reeling from how she was about to be taken by the Gorian.

"Hnn" He only muttered a single sound before turning his attention back to the now pissed-off beast.

"Puny man stop me? You steal my pretty ladies!?" It cried out in anger and launched an attack.

The other dead Gorian over the man's shoulders dropped callously against the ground, the loud thump and slight shaking echoing all around the forest.

"You will be food as well."

"Huh?" The Gorian got confused before it felt a sharp excruciating pain from his shoulders. Looking over he saw his arm the man was holding being viciously ripped off. Before it could scream from the pain, its entire skull was grabbed by a bigger pair of hands than his own.

"Aaaaarrrgh!!" The beast screamed in pain trying to pry off the hands-on its skull, but couldn't even budge a single finger.

Crack

Crush

With a single motion, the Gorian's head was crushed effortlessly into little pieces. Some of the blood and brain matter ended up falling on the now stunned Lucy.

Her young mind couldn't process what had just happened and did the only thing it could do.

She fainted.

"Hnn?"

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Next 2 chapters are already available on my p@treon /NimtheWriter