Chapter 883: A Giant’s Home

Ragnora’s home was not what he had expected.

It was simple. Modest, even. A single-story dwelling with clean lines and practical furnishings, far removed from the grand estates and opulent mansions one might expect a legendary commander to inhabit.

The fireplace had been lit, casting warm golden light across the room, and Aether crystals glowed softly from their sconces on the walls.

But what truly caught Cassius’s attention was the scale of everything.

The chairs were enormous. The dining table came up to his chest. The sofa in the living room could have accommodated half a dozen people his size. Even the doorframes were tall enough that he could have jumped without touching the top.

Everything was built to accommodate someone of Ragnora’s stature.

He wandered through the space with undisguised fascination, running his fingers along the oversized furniture, peering at the enlarged kitchen implements, marveling at how a house could be so completely tailored to a single person’s needs.

"It’s like a giant’s house." He murmured to himself.

"Because a giant lives in it."

Ragnora emerged from the kitchen, carrying two cups of tea. One was normal-sized; the other was large enough to serve as a small bowl. She gestured toward the dining table.

"Please, sit. We should talk."

Cassius obliged, settling into a chair that made him feel like a child at an adult’s table. Ragnora sat across from him, her massive frame somehow fitting perfectly into the oversized furniture.

They sat in silence for a moment, sipping their tea.

The warmth of the fire crackled in the background, filling the space with a sense of quiet intimacy.

"Your home is wonderful." Cassius said eventually, still looking around. "I’ve never been in a house where everything was so...accommodating."

"I don’t have much choice in the matter." Ragnora smiled helplessly. "I need to commission specially reinforced furniture from dwarven craftsmen..Not just chairs and tables, either—my clothes, my handkerchiefs, even the pens I write with."

"Everything has to be made for someone of my size." She let out a soft, weary sigh. "It’s a tedious way to live, at times."

Then her gaze dropped to her own massive hands, and her voice softened.

"But at the same time...I don’t mind it. Because these same hands, this same body—it’s what lets me protect everyone out there. What’s a little inconvenience, compared to that?"

’So cool.’ Cassius thought, his admiration for her deepening further. ’She’s just so impossibly cool.’

Ragnora straightened, visibly shifting back to the matter at hand.

"Anyway. As I was saying earlier—" She took a breath. "I was in my quarters when I suddenly felt an overwhelming killing intent. It came out of nowhere, with an intensity I’ve never experienced before."

Cassius’s expression grew serious, though something flickered in his eyes, something that might have been recognition.

"It was also extremely faint." Ragnora continued. "So faint that only someone with senses honed to my level could detect it at all. The second time it appeared, I managed to track it to the forest." She glanced away, her cheeks darkening slightly. "And then...well."

"Ah." Cassius said. "You found us."

"I did." Ragnora’s voice was heavy with regret. "And unfortunately, I let myself become distracted, and now I’ve completely lost the trail. Whatever produced that killing intent could be roaming free right now, and it’s my fault for not staying focused."

She truly seemed devastated by her own failure.

This was a woman who completed her missions with perfect precision, who never allowed distractions to compromise her objectives.

And yet, what she had witnessed in that forest had been so utterly shocking that even her legendary discipline had crumbled.

But just then, Cassius shifted in his chair, his expression turning awkward before muttering,

"Ah, Commander...about that..."

She looked up.

He sighed, then offered her a guilty smile. "I don’t think you need to worry about that killing intent anymore."

Ragnora blinked. "What do you mean?"

"The killing intent you felt..." Cassius scratched the back of his head. "It probably came from my wife."

The silence that followed was deafening.

"...What?" Ragnora finally managed.

"Isabelle has a rather unique condition." Cassius explained, leaning back in his chair.

"Her mana is somewhat chaotic by nature. In moments of extreme emotion, passion, excitement, intense feeling of any kind, her mana reacts and amplifies those emotions."

"What you felt wasn’t actual killing intent. It was just Isabelle’s...enthusiasm, magnified by her mana."

He was lying through his teeth, of course.

The killing intent had been his own, a natural byproduct of the overwhelming pleasure Isabelle had been giving him.

He had lost control in that moment, and his own emotions had leaked out.

It was an amateurish mistake, one he would need to be more careful about in the future.

But she didn’t need to know that.

"It’s the same reason her magical signature is so difficult to detect." Cassius continued smoothly. "Her mana is inherently unstable, which is also why she’s able to conceal her power so effectively. It’s all connected."

Ragnora’s brow furrowed as she processed this information. "So the threat I was tracking..."

"Was just my wife enjoying herself." Cassius confirmed with a shrug. "No danger. No enemy. Just Isabelle being...a bit too enthusiastic."

Ragnora considered this. It made a strange kind of sense.

She’d encountered mages with odd mana affinities before, beings whose emotions manifested externally.

For a woman as powerful and emotional as Isabelle, such an effect wasn’t remotely impossible.

Realising this, relief washed over her like cool water.

"Thank the gods. I truly thought we had a genuine catastrophe on our hands. I was preparing to shut down all operations tomorrow and deploy every available soldier to search for the threat."

"No need for any of that." Cassius said with a reassuring smile. "Though I appreciate how seriously you take the safety of your people."

"This night has been full of misunderstandings, hasn’t it?" Ragnora said, shaking her head.

"It truly has." Cassius agreed with a soft laugh.

The tension between them eased, replaced by a tentative warmth.

But even with the threat resolved, the elephant in the room remained—the memory of what Ragnora had witnessed still hung between them like a shadow.

Ragnora opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. She seemed to be searching for the right words, her usual composure still fragile.

Unable to handle the silence anymore, she was about to offer a refill when Cassius leaned forward.

"I have a gift for you."

"A gift?" She was taken aback. "For what reason?"

"For being such a wonderful host." Cassius said warmly. "For the party. For your hospitality. For everything you’ve done for us since we arrived."

Ragnora shook her head quickly. "The party was organized by the townsfolk, not by me. I was simply doing my duty as your host—"

"And you’ve done it exceptionally well." Cassius interrupted. "So please, accept this small token of gratitude. From both me and Isabelle."

Ragnora hesitated, but the determined look in Cassius’s eyes told her that refusal wasn’t an option.

"I guess...I can accept a gift."

Cassius’s hand dipped into his spatial ring, and when it emerged, it held a flat, rectangular object wrapped in paper and tied with a neat ribbon. He slid it across the table toward her.

"It’s not anything amazing." He said modestly. "It’s actually one of the items from my shop that didn’t sell very well. So really, I’m just giving you something nobody else wanted."

Ragnora’s brow furrowed. "That’s not true at all. Every single item you displayed tonight was fascinating in its own right."

She looked at him with genuine sincerity. "I would have been honored to receive any one of them."

She then looked down at the gift, then up at him. "May I open it now?"

"That’s the point." He said, leaning forward with his chin resting on his hand, eager to watch her reaction.

Ragnora’s fingers trembled slightly as she untied the ribbon. She didn’t know why she was nervous, it was just a gift, after all.

But something about Cassius’s expectant expression made her heart beat faster.

She tore away the paper.

And froze.

It was the books!

The same stack of books she had been eyeing at his merchant table. The ones she thought someone else had already taken.

While she was staring at the books in shock, Cassius’s voice came from side.

"I noticed you looking at them earlier and I thought that I should pick it up for you.."

Ragnora’s first instinct was pure, unadulterated joy.

She wanted to grab the books, run to her bedroom, lock the door, and devour them one by one, kicking her feet like an excited child!

But then she remembered where she was. And who was watching.

She carefully composed her expression, schooling her features into polite gratitude.

"I...appreciate the gesture, Sir Cassius. But I’m afraid you’ve mistaken my interest. I wasn’t looking at these books at all—I was examining the daggers next to them."

Cassius’s eyebrow rose. "Oh really?"

"Really." Ragnora insisted, her voice steady despite the heat rising in her cheeks. "I thought the daggers looked interesting. Unfortunately, my hands are too large to wield such delicate weapons. That’s why I seemed disappointed."

"Ah, I see." Cassius leaned back, swirling his tea lazily. "So you have no interest in these books whatsoever?"

"None at all." Ragnora lied. "Though I certainly appreciate the thought behind the gift."

Cassius studied her for a long moment, his blue eyes seeming to pierce right through her carefully constructed facade.

Then, without a word, he reached out and scooped up the books, before standing up and walking straight toward the crackling fireplace.