Chapter 20: Getting the full story.

The giant's house was not difficult to spot. It was as big as a castle, and as wide as a cavern. At least two or three times as wide as the pond cavern back home.

Chavu and Marcellus had snuck out after Bas had been placed in a temporary grave, the goblins expecting that a giant's bone to be laid to rest with the goblin.

Many bones were littering the place. Some looked like they did belong to a giant. With the help of Marcellus, Chavu took one that looked like a finger bone. It was as big as Chavu's tail. That did not bode well for their chances against the giant if he turned violent.

Marcellus went and knocked on the house's massive door three times. They heard heavy footsteps, and the door swung open. The giant looked half asleep and smelled of beer. Clearly not caring that his actions had resulted in the death of someone.

"What do you want, vampire?" The giant's voice boomed. Then, his large, dark, eyes zeroed in on Chavu. He tilted his head. He had never seen such a creature before.

Chavu slithered closer and offered his hand.

"My name is Chavu. I am the dungeon core to which these lands belong to," Chavu introduced himself, and the giant poked his hand with a finger.

"Yes, but what are you?" The giant thought that Chavu looked like a doll. All soft features and that glittering brown tail with yellow spots. The giant poked the tail next, and marveled at how smooth the scales were.

"Hey, where are you touching me?" Chavu bristled. He did not enjoy having his ass fondled by giants, thank you very much.

"Eh? Sorry, I suppose," the giant took his finger off Chavu, and stepped to the side. "I noticed when the dungeon grounds set, but didn't sign the contract the snappy system send. I can fight you both off, if you have come to subjugate me."

"We came in here for the truth," Marcellus spoke, a bit annoyed at the liberties the giant had taken with his dungeon core. "Did you or did you not kill a goblin that heard voices in his head?"

"Oh, the crazy goblin, you mean. I threw him to the ground. Sure, he might have broken something, but I wouldn't say it got him killed," the giant sat down before the fireplace and stared into the flames. His two guests sat by him.

"Well, he is dead. We need your help getting the killer to admit that they had done it," Chavu told him. If this didn't work, then they would need to wait for Goglina to come forward on her own accord. Which could take them years.

"Not interested," the giant said, and he took a bowl with big cookies, as big as a human's head, and handed them to Chavu. "Tell me more about what you are."

"I am a dungeon core, as I have told you," Chavu picked a cookie. He bit down awkwardly; the edges of the treat barely fitting into his mouth.

"How come you have a snake's tail? And, once you shed your skin, can you give it to me? I want to make myself a coin pouch out of it," the giant pleaded. The gears in Chavu's brain began to turn.

"I am a Naga, my scales have mana in them," he began and the giant snorted.

"Everyone has mana in their skin, why should you be special?"

 Chavu bristled at that.

"Well, Naga have nature mana in our scales. If you put my shed skin in a patch of flowers, or vegetables, then they will grow like there is no tomorrow," Chavu told the giant. The giant poked the Naga's tail again, this time over where his left hip would have been, had he had legs.

"Quit touching me!" Chavu snapped. He batted the finger away from his body, and the giant sighed.

"It would have been nice if there was a lady giant around here," the giant lamented. "My name is Robert, by the way."

"Mine is Marcellus, you already know Chavu's name," Marcellus joined the conversation. He nudged Chavu.

"A giant cost five hundred mana to summon," the vampire told him. Robert was watching them intently now. "Five hundred for his help is nothing. You already have the food for the gnomes covered. The goblins can hunt for themselves."

"Too true. Robert, if I summon you a nice giant lady, will you help me bring a traitor to justice?" Chavu asked. Robert rubbed the back of his head.

"A goblin killed a goblin? Why avenge the death? Goblins are vermin," Robert couldn't understand the big deal. The goblin which he had crippled had tried to fool him, somehow. If only he could remember what it had tried to tell him...

"They are my mobs, and I take care of my mobs," Chavu told him. "I give them all the social securities the mob union suggests as the middle ground."

"Not the minimum?" Robert asked. That sounded like a neat gig. "Can I sign with you?"

"No, you dislike goblins. I can't alienate them," Chavu said.

"I am worth more than a goblin tribe, let alone a single goblin," Robert bristled. Never, in his centuries of life, had anyone insulted him like that!

"Robert, I also have gnomes in my employee. They will fear you," Chavu warned. Robert nodded at that.

"Gnomes I have nothing against. Hardworking little buggers. I can barely see them, so small they are. For the sake of the gnomes, I will help expose the evil goblin. But I have no idea who killed that waste of space," Robert pointed his finger towards Chavu, and the Naga shook it.

Then, Chavu pulled out a screen and scrolled around until he found the schemas for the giants. He touched the female sign, and they heard something pop loudly into existence outside.

"Now, I have no idea if she will like you," Chavu admitted. He could create a giantess, but not order her to love Robert. He was no slave trader! "You will just have to show her your best side and hope for the best."

"Oh, I will," Robert slacked his hair back, and then took out a necklace from a jewelry box that was on the mantelpiece above the hearth. "Ladies dig detectives. If she asks you how you refer to me, you tell her: Detective Robert Oak!"

The two nodded, as the doors were being knocked on. Curious how two giants would go about getting together.