"What with the long face? First time you're in the mountains? Trolls are only as strong as Rank 3, how come you can't handle a group?"
The woman was gorgeous. Long blonde hair, tanned brown skin, beautifully smooth like chocolate. White tattoos depicting runes all over her muscular body, barely wearing any clothes but some leather wrapped around her chest and around her hips.
Her only weapon? A big club she made out of the hardest stone she could find. She simply swung that down and took those behemoths in mere seconds, daring to look back at the trembling blue skinned giant behind her.
"Hey, can't you talk?"
Rakasha wasn't being timid there or anything… he simply was stunned. Her beauty and her charisma, the way she slain those foes, it captivated him. Since that moment that… through his entire life dedicated to his profession, he fell in love.
"I'm going to leave you here if you don't stand up…"
The Mountain giantess walked away as Rakasha rapidly began following her.
"W-Wait! Sorry, my name's Rakasha! Thank you for saving me!"
She ignored him as she walked away, Rakasha ended following all around the mountain until they arrived at a large tribe of mountain giants inside these mountains, living inside an enormous maze of caves.
"Hey, you've got the stamina to walk all this way here, I guess you're not half bad! Come now, I've got some food."
She was strangely nice to him, and the two got to know each other in between eating and drinking. Azalaia was a wandering hunter that brought food to her tribe. And often saved the ass of bold passersby that came looking for ores here.
"Heh~ So you're a Blacksmith? Those guys are rare! Hey how about you stay here? We really are in need for weapons, without weapons we can barely fend off the trolls and other creatures. How about it? I'll make your stay be worthwhile!"
"S-Sure…"
Rakasha was too enchanted to leave.
Without realizing it, he ended spending days, weeks, months, and even years in that small tribe. At first the mountain giants didn't liked him that much, but slowly got used to him.
The more things he made with his talents and the more he eased their lives, the more he gained their respect. Ultimately, a war against the trolls broke out two years later, where all his weapons, armor, and even magic items came into play in this decisive battle.
Although some perished in the battle, the amount of casualties was the minimum. The victory was of the mountain giants, and it was all thanks to Rakasha's help. Through all this time he spent with Azalaia and the other Mountain Giants, he grew as a person.
He was always obsessed with his research, with blacksmith and rare materials, forgetting the most important things in life such as relationships, family, and socializing and making friends. The Mountain Giants helped him open up his heart the same way they opened theirs to him.
"Alright! Nobody has claimed you yet so you're mine!"
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"You're my husband now, hehe~!"
"Huh?!"
Captivated by his talents and his good heart, Azalaia boldly took him as her husband, and they had a night to remember after such an arduous battle, where both expressed their fervent love for one another.
"I love you…"
"I love you too."
Rakasha began to forget about his dreams of traveling the world or even becoming the best blacksmith out there. He suddenly found something even more important than such ambitions, his wife and this tribe, his love and his family were everything for him, and made him more fulfilled than anything ever, even doing smithing with the best ingredients possible.
And as if things couldn't get any better for him, several months after marrying Azalaia, she blessed him with a beautiful little girl. She had blue skin like him, and the blonde hair of her mother… He named her Saphira and Azalaia gave the girl her second name, Ruby.
"She's beautiful…"
"She is, isn't she?"
"Bwaah! Waah…"
In the Mountain Giant tribe, it was common for them to name their kids after jewels and ores. Saphira Ruby was her name, which meant she was as beautiful as the white jewels and as fierce as the red jewels.
"Papa!"
A little blue skinned girl ran towards him every morning, with a wide smile and shiny eyes of blue and red color, the same color as her name's jewels.
"Saphira, want to see papa work at his furnace again?"
"I do! I do! Papa make me a weapon! I want… to be big Warrior like mama!"
"Hahaah, already wanting to be like me you little ruffian?"
"She's just like you though, hahaha…"
"Yeah, my daughter will surpass me one day."
Time continued passing by days after days of peace and tranquility. Of good moments, of relaxing days, sometimes filled with a bit of the difficulties of parenting, but never ending in something bad.
The little Saphira continued growing up from a little baby to a toddler. She was always filled with energy to fight and work more. She even inherited Rakasha's abilities and was slowly becoming an amazingly promising blacksmith for the future, while also inheriting her mother's warrior physique.
The entire tribe saw in her a promising future chief of the tribe, and everyone looked forward for the future ahead of them, and the many days of prosperity awaiting for them.
…
However, the mountain was a dangerous place. After the defeat of the trolls, the Mountain Giants thought their victory was assured now, for years they ended relaxing, only beating some local monsters… but darkness lurked in the most unexpected of places.
A strange power surged within the depths of the mountain, slowly reaching the last remnants of the trolls, and helping them grow more and more, until they became stronger and plentiful than ever before… The children that survived that war had now all grown up, and they were up to avenge their parents.
