Love of a Giant

Chapter Ten

Brandon wiped the sweat from his brow. He had woken up early, much earlier than he usually did. Unable to will himself back to sleep, he decided to head outside to chop some trees for firewood. Most would have found it odd for a prince to be doing this kind of work, but it gave him insight into how hard a commoner worked. Not to mention he enjoyed being able to do some sort of physical activity outside the fighting arena.

He threw down the axe again as he thought about the arena. While he knew how to use a sword and dagger, giants generally didn't use weapons. Not to mention he didn't need to if he ever had to fight humans. Giants already overpowered them with their size and strength. If he wanted to, he could easily crush a man's skull in his hand or rip a human in half.

He had to keep himself in shape to do so though. So, once a week, he went to the local fighting arena to train. Blending in with the commoners, no one suspected he was actually their Crown Prince. But he had only started going when Bennett suggested it. His father used to go when he had been younger, insisting that it was good to learn about their people and how to defend yourself if you were ever caught without a weapon.

While that was true, it was a violent setting. Fights were always hand-to-hand combat, one person or team against another. The arena walls were stained with blood, and it was always loud and rowdy there. It was filled with patrons, fighters and spectators alike, where they would fight, get drunk, and get out their aggression.

Mainly, men fought each other. Occasionally though, some giantesses would make their way into the ring and put up a great fight. And everything was regulated, of course. Every legal fighting arena within Etimid had doctors on sight, and death was still punishable. It wasn't like how underground arenas ran, where people were forced to fight against their will.

Humans wouldn't understand it, his advisors had warned him. Though they couldn't order him around, they did forbid him from speaking about it to Theresa. While normally he wouldn't care what they said, they were right in this case. If she knew the truth, he feared she would think he was a monster for even going to such places.

"Good morning, Your Highness~!"

The voice snapped him out of his anxious thoughts. Looking over his shoulder, he couldn't hold back a grimace as his friend Noah happily skipped toward him. He set the axe down, crossing his arms over his chest as this friend approached him.

He had met Noah when they had fought against each other in the arena years ago. At the time, Noah was a terribly scrawny and feeble looking kid. Despite that, he had been strong and fought well against him. He was insightful too; he had figured out right away that he was the Crown Prince after their match.

Yet, Noah didn't try to do anything with that information. He didn't try to suck up to him or blackmail him or even extort him. He just chatted with him every time they would meet, joking around and treating him like a normal person, despite their status difference.

Brandon first just thought him to be some weird kid. But Noah grew on him. While he was a bit obnoxious and childish, he was genuinely a good person. Life had dealt him a shitty hand, so he should have been a hardened person who only cared about himself, as he had seen with many people before him.

Both Noah's parents died when he was just a young boy. To make it worse, he had landed himself in one of those poorly run orphanages. The minute he entered adolescence, he ran away to live on the streets. Eventually, he made his way to the fighting arena in order to make himself stronger and earn some money. That and arenas provided free food and overnight shelter for fighters.

But when Noah and him, he never asked Brandon for anything. Not food, not clothes, not money, not anything, which confused Brandon. When he asked why he bothered to get close to him, Noah just stared at him like he was crazy.