The white goose's eyes widened with terror as the Flower Fairy materialized before it, her tiny frame radiating unimaginable fury.
"No! No... it's not like that!" the goose stammered, trembling as it backpedaled frantically. "Please, just listen! I can explain!"
But the Flower Fairy was in no mood for excuses. "You weren't captured! You went with him willingly... you stole my harp! You betrayed us!"
"No! That's not true! No..."
Before the goose could finish its plea, a searing beam of magic struck it square on!
Predictably, the white goose expired with a pathetic "quack."
And in its final, fear-stricken moment, it "laid a golden egg."
"..."
Tom stared at the golden goose egg, speechless.
He hadn't anticipated that the thing the giant white goose had "pooped out" in mortal terror would be the final quest item he needed.
With a slight grimace, he nonchalantly deposited the golden egg into his system space.
[Ding! Current quest progress: 5/5]
[Ding! Detected that the host has collected all quest items. Quest: Dark Fairy Tale is complete. Do you want to return now?]
"Wow! Tom, you're amazing!" The system's excited voice echoed in his mind. "I can finally give you what I've been preparing! Hehe, you're going to love it!"
"Not so fast. Let's head back first."
"Going back already?"
"Just a moment. Since the harp isn't a quest item, I'll grab the rest of the magic."
After a quick chat with the system, I think the time is right for a speedrun.
...
Meanwhile, back in the giant's castle hall...
A hulking giant, easily over thirty meters tall and rippling with muscle, amused himself by taunting the creature trapped in the "small cage" before him.
It was Jack!
Jack was practically paralyzed with fear. He'd woken that morning to find an immense green vine, thicker than any tree, stretching into the clouds from his doorstep.
Initially, he was terrified, but curiosity quickly won out, and he began to climb.
At the top, Jack found a small island floating amongst the clouds!
Everything was new and wondrous, utterly captivating… until he stepped into the forest and felt the ground tremble.
Looking up, he saw the unbelievably massive, muscle-bound giant looming over him.
Jack, very nearly wetting himself, collapsed to the ground.
And that was how he ended up here.
"Don't just stand there! Play it!"
The giant shoved the Flower Fairy's stolen harp into the cage. "If you can't play it, I'll eat you!"
Before he'd finished speaking, a stench beyond imagining wafted from the giant's mouth, assaulting Jack's senses.
Jack, already teetering on the edge of unconsciousness, rolled his eyes back and passed out.
This greatly alarmed the giant.
He adored music, and the magic harp could produce beautiful melodies even in the hands of someone with little to no magical ability.
But the harp was barely twenty centimeters tall, as it had been sized for the Flower Fairy.
The giant certainly couldn't play it himself. The only other creature in the castle, the big white goose, didn't even have hands!
Now, here was a small creature with hands, and he had fainted on him.
What was he supposed to do?
"Hey! Stop pretending! Wake up! Or else..."
The giant anxiously, and not so gently, shook the "small cage," attempting to rouse Jack.
"Perhaps you could try kissing him? Someone once woke someone important to them that way," a voice said in his head, startling him. He roared, "Who's there! Show yourself! Stop playing tricks!"
Unfortunately, no one appeared.
The voice continued, "Don't you want him to wake up and play for you? Or do you have another way?"
The giant fell silent. "..."
He didn't know where the voice came from, but he didn't care; his immense power made him unafraid of mere trickery.
And he had to admit, he didn't know any other way to wake him, and he wanted to hear the music.
Thinking this, the giant opened the "small cage," snatched Jack, and held him up to his face, his mouth, bigger than a car, pursing.
The closer Jack got, the more intense the unimaginable stench became.
Jack, already unconscious, rolled his eyes again, seemingly dying.
As expected, the giant ultimately kissed him, but unfortunately, he wasn't Prince Charming, and Jack wasn't Snow White.
"Bastard! You dared to lie to me!"
Realizing he had been tricked, the giant flew into a rage, shoved Jack back into the cage, and roared at his surroundings.
"So what if I lied to you?"
The giant gritted his teeth. "Come out and say that to my face! I'll crush you!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the castle suddenly trembled violently!
Rumble...
Two stone giants rose from the ground, shattering the massive castle roof, standing tall, and bowing down to the bewildered giant.
Compared to the stone giants' colossal bodies, hundreds of meters tall, the giant, barely over thirty meters, looked like an infant.
"..."
The giant, struggling to lift his head, was drenched in cold sweat, then forced a smile and feebly joked, "Look at you, taking it seriously again."
He genuinely hadn't expected something bigger than himself.
"Ugh, people these days, always..."
Bang!
"Wait! I haven't finished yet!"
Bang! Bang!
"Stop hitting me! I surrender! I was wrong, okay?"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"I have a goose that lays golden eggs! Take it! Please stop hitting me! Waaaaaah…"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!…
The stone giants were silent, only continuing to pummel him!
In less than three minutes, the giant was beaten into unconsciousness!
Finally, Tom, who had appeared suddenly, flicked a small red spark onto the giant's body, incinerating him.
"..."
He glanced at the "small cage" not far away, casually summoned the golden harp to his hand.
He examined it; the harp wasn't especially powerful, it was more like a magic box like Harry and the others', aside from containing most of the Flower Fairy's magic.
However, that wasn't enough to sway Tom. "Here, I meant what I said."
Seeing the Flower Fairy fly over, Tom tossed the harp to her.
"Eh, eh, eh..."
The Flower Fairy hurriedly caught the harp, which was almost as big as her, then pouted in dissatisfaction. "That's so mean... Fine, fine, I'll teach you the rest of the magic!"
---