Just then, a giant bloodline warrior carrying a giant battleaxe on his back, clad in bone armor, and radiating a powerful presence, stepped out from the troop.
It was James. At this moment, he rode atop a tall Raptor, looking exceptionally formidable.
"Praise the Titan God! By order of the Giant King, Stoneheart Horde council members James and Brom have come to protect and teach His Highness Prince Kronos."
Actually, James was an honest giant, quite taciturn; he wasn't skilled with words at all.
But James was very stubborn; he resolutely executed Orion's commands.
The words just spoken were taught to him by Brom.
As the two leaders of this Raptor cavalry unit, Brom and James—one intelligent, one stubborn—formed a complementary pair.
Moreover, the two had grown up together since childhood, hunted together, and had already developed a tacit understanding.
"Praise the Titan God! By order of the Giant King, Stoneheart Horde council members James and Brom have come to protect and teach His Highness Prince Kronos."
Seeing no response, James once again repeated his purpose for coming.
They bore no malice. If they had ill intentions, their small Raptor troop would never have reached Rose Manor so smoothly.
Princess Ava at Rose Manor understood this principle as well.
"Wait a moment, the Knight Captain has already gone to request instructions from the Princess!"
Rose Manor backyard. Ava, of course, heard James's shouts.
Furthermore, Kronos, slumbering in her arms, slowly opened his eyes due to these two loud calls.
Gazing into Kronos's bright eyes, Ava sighed inwardly: "There's no escaping it!"
In truth, Ava was already extremely fortunate that Orion had allowed Kronos to remain by her side.
The Stoneheart Horde dispatching a protection detail—Prince Theodore had relayed the news to Ava as soon as James and his troop entered the Human Kingdom.
However, Ava had been avoiding it all along, harboring侥幸 (jiǎoxìng -僥倖 lucky/wishful) thoughts.
"Kronos, do you want to go see them?"
Ava picked up Kronos. In just over a month, Kronos's weight had already doubled.
The growth rate of a giant cub simply couldn't be viewed through the lens of a human infant.
"Yiyaya... yiyaya..."
Answering Ava were Kronos's milky, babbling sounds.
"Accept them. This is a good thing for Kronos!"
King Harold's voice echoed beside Ava's ear. His Majesty the King hadn't come over, but he was monitoring the situation here through a secret technique.
Ava didn't respond to Harold. She had already picked up Kronos and was walking towards the outside of Rose Manor.
A moment later, the gate of Rose Manor opened, and Ava walked out holding Kronos.
Witnessing this scene, the giant shaman Brom couldn't sit still. He urged his Raptor forward, coming alongside James.
Both sides remained silent, neither speaking.
Brom took out a small knife, made a cut on his own arm, and also made a cut on James's arm.
Instantly, blood flowed freely, but neither Brom nor James paid it any mind.
Brom extended a finger, dipped it in his and James's blood, and began drawing a mysterious pattern in the empty air before him.
That was the bloodline identification method passed down within the Giant Tribe, a technique of giant shamans, a type of blood magic secret art.
As the pattern formed, the blood from Brom's and James's arms was drawn towards it, attracted by the mysterious magic array.
WAAAGH!
A blood-red giant phantom appeared, roaring towards the sky, possessing no destructive power.
However, everyone present felt the blood within their bodies flow rapidly, as if wanting to burst forth.
In Ava's arms, a bead of blood rose from Kronos's forehead and merged into the giant phantom, causing the phantom to shatter.
In the blink of an eye, the giant phantom reformed, more solid than before. Its outline and aura surprisingly carried a hint of Orion's shadow.
Seeing this, the result was already clear.
Brom and James exchanged a glance, both leaped down from their Raptors, came before Ava, and knelt in salute towards Kronos in her arms.
"Praise the Titan God! Elder James of the Stoneheart Horde pays respect to Your Highness the Prince!"
"Praise the Titan God! Elder Brom of the Stoneheart Horde pays respect to Your Highness the Prince!"
As Brom and James knelt in unison, the troop of a hundred Raptor cavalry behind them had also dismounted, calling out together as they performed the kneeling salute.
This was their first meeting with Kronos, hence it was very serious, very traditional, very formal.
"Yiyaya!"
Responding to Brom and James were Kronos's indistinct, babbling infant sounds.
A moment later, Brom and James rose, stood to the side, awaiting Ava's arrangements.
"Until His Highness the Prince can speak, we will all follow your arrangements, Princess Ava."
Brom bowed towards Ava, smilingly handing over the command authority of their Raptor cavalry troop.
Ava didn't speak. She remained silent for a long time—perhaps fifteen minutes, perhaps half an hour.
Just as Kronos in her arms squinted, about to fall asleep, she lifted her head, glanced over the hundred-man troop, nodded, and turned back towards Rose Manor.
Ava departed, but the task of receiving and arranging lodging for this group of giant bloodline warriors fell to Knight Garrett.
"Gentlemen, this way please. Your mounts are too large; separate shelters need to be constructed."
"..."
Royal Palace.
Inside the King's study, Prince Theodore stood behind King Harold. Both looked towards the distance, towards the direction of Rose Manor.
Although they weren't present, it seemed as if everything happening at Rose Manor unfolded before their eyes.
"The arrival of that Raptor knight troop means the Stoneheart Horde acknowledges Kronos's bloodline, accepts his identity as prince."
This current situation was what everyone had hoped to see.
A giant prince of the Stoneheart Horde being fostered in the Human Kingdom—regardless of how relations between the two races developed henceforth, there was now a buffer zone.
And that buffer zone was Kronos.
"It's just pitiful for my aunt. If only she also..."
Before Prince Theodore could finish his sentence, King Harold turned to look at him and stated calmly.
"Ava is the Kingdom's noble High Princess, the Kingdom's most beautiful flower, and also your aunt."
"She needs no one's pity, much less the Stoneheart Horde's acknowledgment."
"Theodore, protecting family, protecting the Kingdom, is our duty!"
"Only nobles are blinded by profit. Royalty is not."
Prince Theodore lowered his head. Whenever facing his father, His Majesty the King of the Human Kingdom, he couldn't muster any bravado.
Especially under King Harold's gaze, Theodore lacked even the courage to retort.
"By the way, those nobles who were enfeoffed in the lizardfolk territory... their mouths aren't very clean. You'd best give them a cleanup."
King Harold reached out and lightly patted Prince Theodore's shoulder, then walked past him and departed.
"Theodore, you are still young, lack experience!"
King Harold left, but his words still echoed in Prince Theodore's ears.
Experience, the experience of being a king—Theodore indeed still lacked some.
"Cleanup... nobles..."
"Could those nobles who slandered the royal family be among them?"
Theodore realized something. His eyes narrowed slightly, killing intent gathering within them.