The giant’s features were so handsome that Zenjirou could easily see where the representative’s thought of beautification had come from. A human-sized version would have drawn gazes from men and women alike—Zenjirou was sure of it. The giant’s face was not his only impressive feature; the muscle tone visible on his body made him look more like a god from some pantheon than a mere giant.
What Zenjirou was more curious about, however, was the ornamentation on the giant’s clothing. Perhaps he had been of a particularly high rank. Shining metal rested around the figure’s waist, wrists, and neck. It was likely gold. There was no issue with that, but the sheer amount of it boggled his mind. Manufacturing such things was possible, though the jewels set within the metal were another matter. Even on a giant, the gems looked large. One could upend every treasury in Capua and never find a gem of such size.
The clothes were odd too. How were they made? Cotton, linen, and silk could all be gathered from nature and woven, but doing so with the natural sources Zenjirou knew of would require an absurd amount of work. Given that giants were ten times the size of humans, this meant thread from cotton or silkworms would only be a tenth of its relative thickness. Even if it were possible, it would take entire fields of cotton to create a single set of giant’s clothing.
The leather for the belts and shoes was much less of a concern in a world where huge drakes existed. All of this quickly blended with the knowledge that the world they lived in was a different world than his own.
“Rather than the Jötunn being giants, is it possible humans are dwarves?” he muttered to himself.
Yngvi’s sharp ears picked up the question. “What do you mean?”
“Um...”
Realizing that he might be hesitating to speak his mind in the current situation, the representative’s lips curled upward slightly as he bid Zenjirou to continue. “I would like to know as well. Continue, Zenjirou.”
“Well, I was just thinking that the Jötunn might not be giants. They live in another world, right? So perhaps everything in that world is larger, in which case they wouldn’t be considered ‘giant’ from their perspective. If anything, humans who moved there would be considered dwarves.”
He explained his thoughts about the clothing and gems. Food would have been the same. If grains were the same size as those in this world, creating bread large enough to satisfy them would have taken absurd amounts. Considering that the people of that world had managed to prosper enough to create a society with refined clothing, it made a lot more sense that everything was on the same scale. In other words, in a world composed of giants, the giants wouldn’t be “giant”—rather, the humans would be dwarves.
Both of his companions seemed extremely interested in this chain of logic.
“I see. I should have known you’d come up with something like that,” Yngvi remarked.
“That is an intriguing suggestion. I disagree with some points, but it’s logical. Very interesting. I would like to investigate it properly at some point.”
Somewhat surprisingly, it was the representative who was most interested. He leaned in closer, his huge muscles seeming to be carved from stone. Part of what he said bothered Zenjirou, though.
“You disagree, but it still seems logical? What do you mean?”
The other man answered, “Our teachings say that their culture was founded on a strong base of magic. One of their spells allowed them to combine several natural stones into one, so creating multiple gems for jewelry like this would be fairly feasible.”
“Ah, I see. Magic.” Zenjirou felt his face heat in embarrassment. He had been so certain and yet completely forgotten the prerequisite of magic, so his shame was hardly a surprise. “Then all of that was pointless. Please forget about it.”
“Not so fast. I said that it was logical despite my objections. I have only just noticed it myself, but those gems are an oddity. Even if the Jötunn had the magic to take scraps and create larger ones, there are too many for it to make sense.”
He had not just inherited the one image. There were shorter giants, but even they had at least one gem-studded accessory. Of course, those were smaller stones, and the clothing was of an inferior make as well.
“Maybe the ore veins in that world are just that much richer than ours?” Zenjirou suggested.
Representative Rök immediately rejected the idea. “Then the gems would not be seen as valuable. They were considered valuable to the Jötunn in the same way gems are to the people of this world. Although the giants were several times larger than us, the gems of their world were still relatively rare compared to ours. Hence me seeing the logic in your suggestion.”
If the environment in the two worlds was the same, the relative rarity of the gems would increase according to their size. If conditions were different and more gems were available, they would likely be considered less valuable.
With neither of those being the case and precious stones being approximately as valuable in Utgarða, the representative could see the credibility of Zenjirou’s theory that the “giants” were simply the “humans” of that world.
“Of course, part of that is probably wishful thinking,” the representative said with a rueful smile.
“Wishful thinking?”
“Indeed. Our goal behind establishing a route to Utgarða is the importation of magicite.”
“Magicite?” Zenjirou parroted, the word unfamiliar to him.
“Yes, magicite. You could call it the cornerstone of Utgard. After all, the only things that can bring the full effect of magic writing out are magicite and pure mana.”
Both Zenjirou and Yngvi leaned forward at that. “Are we really permitted to hear that?” Zenjirou asked.
Their surprise was understandable, as the representative had just revealed information about magic writing that neither of them—even the nominal ally in Yngvi’s case—had known. Although Zenjirou was extremely interested, not confirming that the topic was safe ahead of time would leave him too concerned to truly listen.
Representative Rök offered another shrug before answering. “It is not something that should be spread around. Therefore, I ask that you keep it as private as possible. To be specific, only speak of it to those of higher standing in your countries.”