The following morning, the queen called for them to meet her outside at a training ground.

“Master Phaestus, you look tired, did you not sleep well?”

He laughed lightly, “To put it simply, I messed up and paid for my mistake.”

Micah had made him give her a full body massage while listening to her lecture him for a couple of hours before they shifted to the Haven and slept there.

“So what is it that you needed your majesty? Also, why are we meeting out here?”

The queen stood, leaned over a large crate on a wagon and pulled up a massive crossbow, a ballista.

“Wait, what!? It has already been completed?!” Phaestus let his persona slip a bit, surprised.

“Hah, hah, hah. Do not underestimate the craftsmen of Dunlap. Using the Nackle and Ren woods helped to balance the weight of it so that is easily wieldable.”

Grabbing the lever mechanism, “Hmph!” with a mechanical CLANK and her great strength, the hammer was locked into place.

“D-dearest are you sure you should be the one to test this?” The king pleaded.

Her answer came in the form of her placing the thick ballista bolt in place. It had a large cross shaped steel point. She took aim as a wagon that was two-hundred yards out. She squeezed the trigger launching the ballista bolt. The sheer force caused her fancy dress to dance. Before the bolt even hit, she reloaded the ballistae and took aim again.

Just before she launched the next shot, the first hit, obliterating the back half of the wagon. CLANK! She fired again, destroying the rest of the one. There were three more wagons at the end, which she rapidly reloaded and fired more.

“Hahahahaha! This is so much fun!” One after another, she destroyed the wagons.

Phaestus got a bit worried that he might have just turned a queen into a battle maniac, but a nearby attendant informed him that the queen had been really stressed out lately and needed some kind of physical outlet to blow off some of it.

“Ahh! That was so refreshing! It is so hard to let loose as a queen, sometimes makes me wish I stayed in the mountains!” The king paled at her comment, but she told him she was joking.

“Anyway, friend Phaestus, they finished this one late last night. They should have two to three more complete by this afternoon. You can take those ones to the Ooolba. I am keeping this one for myself.” She said with a bright smile that made the king and others in the area swoon at her beauty. Phaestus smiled at her bright, childish nature that she normally kept hidden.

By late afternoon, as the queen had said, they had three more ballistae complete with nearly a hundred bolts.

“Can you truly transport this much?” The head craftsmen asked.

“No issue.” Phaestus held out his hand and everything disappeared, causing the craftsmen to freak out until Dite told them he put them into his storage.

At the castle gates, Phaestus summoned his Chariot and climbed in along with Dite and a guide. The King, Queen, Prince Alfa, Prince Alan, and Princess Delenia gathered to see them off.

The Queen was the one who spoke, “Thank you Master Phaestus, this is a debt we will not forget. Take this.”

She handed him a stone medallion like the one he got from Elder Loonta.

“With this, you are recognized a friend of mountain giants. If you are ever in need of our help, do not hesitate to ask us.” Phaestus was touched by the gesture as she kneeled down and bowed her head before him.

He jumped out of his Chariot and bowed before her equally. “Thank you your majesty. I will do my utmost to honor this gift and trust you give to me.”

They stood and the Queen gave him a bright, childish smile, which he returned one the same. The King and others were in a panic to seeing their queen bow before someone, but they understood the importance of such a thing, and complaining would only anger the Queen.

Phaestus climbed into his Chariot and slowly drove off toward the exit of the city at the direction of the guide.

Before long, Phaestus’ silver Chariot was roaring down the road toward the Forest Giant Village of Uulwer. They approached a massive wooden wall where a couple of forest giants stood. The main gate opened up as if welcoming them.

Phaestus stopped at the gate, “Um, I am Hephaestus-.”

“We know who you are, friend of giants, Elder Ooolba requested you be sent to her right away.” The giant smiled widely.

“We heard of you from Buulgi and Elder Loonta. We also heard the Queen of Dunlap gave you a marker as well. You are most welcome here.” The other giant said.

Phaestus drove into the large village. There were multiple giants, from toddlers and children to full sized adults. They were all kinds of different sizes, the biggest he saw was a female giant who was fifteen feet tall.

“Oh, right here is good for me Master Hephaestus.” The guide said.

“Hmm? Then where should we meet you when we return?”

“No need sir, caravans frequently travel between the two locations, so I will be fine. I will catch the next caravan back.”

Phaestus stopped and let the guide off before continuing off to where the giants were leading him. He came to a stop before a massive building. An eight foot tall, young female giant led Phaestus and Dite inside the building where a twenty-foot tall, elderly, female giant sat, with a large smile on her face.

“Greetings friend of giants.” Her voice carried great power, vibrating the very air. “I am Ooolba, the oldest of the forest giants and elder. I thank you for assistance and promise to help us against such dangerous monsters.”

“It is an honor Elder Ooolba, thank you for your warm welcome. Even though I am sure you have been told my name by Buulgi or Elder Loonta, allow to me to properly introduce myself, my name is Eric, but the persona you see before you is Hephaestus. I use this to help me keep hidden from the Church of Light.”

“Yes, I have heard that you are fighting to bring that evil place down. You have our support.”

“Now then, to the main event.” Phaestus pulled out the three ballistae and the one-hundred bolts for them.

“Here are some of the weapons for taking down large monsters.”

“Ho, ho. So these are them.” Elder Ooolba picked up one of them, in her hands, it looked small, while in the Queen’s hands, it seemed a little bit big.

“Maybe we should commission Dunlap to make one your size maybe?” Phaestus asked, which caused Elder Ooolba to let out a building rattling laugh.

“Hahahahah! True, I should ask that little Queen to have one made just for me! Ahahahahahah!”

Elder Ooolba called out a few twelve-foot tall giants who picked up the ballistae while others gathered the bolts up.

“Let’s see how these babies work.” Elder Ooolba stood up at her impressive twenty-foot height and they all headed outside.

The giants set up multiple targets at 200, 400, 600, and one at 1000 yards away. Phaestus could barely see the one 1000 yards away.

“Now then, I want all warriors and hunters to try firing it. Friend Phaestus, please instruct us.” Elder Ooolba said.

Phaestus gave out the basics of how to lock the hammer back, how to load a bolt, and how to aim using sights. Phaestus had to shout for them to hear him, but they all understood. His voice was a bit hoarse by the end, but he finished.

“Good effort. Now, let’s have some fun!” Elder Ooolba raised up the ballista she was holding and fired off a shot, hitting a target at 400 yards.

The giants cheered as each target was hit or encouraged the ones who missed. They tested the shots at all the distances but none hit the one at 1000 yards.

“Gahahahahah, it is a hundred years too earlier for you youngins’ to hit that.” Elder Ooolba took aim, and fired while wielding the ballista one handed.

The giants became excited as the bolt flew in a perfect arc toward the target. But the bolt hit just short of it, but it was far closer than any of the others. Phaestus was impressed, from what he knew the normal effective range was around 500 yards, but Elder Ooolba was able to almost hit a target almost double the distance.

“Gah! So close. Hmm, I really will need to commission that bigger ballista if want to hit that accurately. Gahahahaha!”

“I am glad you like it Elder Ooolba. Also, I wanted to talk to you about the-.”

“Road right? We started prepping for that a week ago. We were waiting for these to really get started! Now we can get this show on the road! Get it! Cause we are making a road! Gahahahaha!” Elder Ooolba laughed heartily at her lame joke, but it brought a smile to everyone around.