Vin hadn’t really been sure what to expect when he thought about what the petians’ living quarters would look like within the citadel. A few hundred tiny people all sharing one regular sized house? A series of small tunnels scattered throughout part of the city that they traveled through like hamsters? A handful of elaborate bird houses strung up around the city to allow the petians to avoid being stepped on?

  In actuality, Tiny Town ended up being a fairly large building that reminded him of an old-school warehouse. There wasn’t anything fancy or pretty about it, it was functionally one large rectangle situated close to the center of the citadel with both a regular-sized door leading into it, as well as a few tiny, petian-sized ones.

  There wasn’t any sort of guard or anything, so Vin let himself into the large building, before coming to a dead stop as he stared around at the interior of the warehouse in shock. He could sense his teammates coming in behind him and doing the exact same once they got a view of what was inside.

  The interior of the warehouse had been transformed into its own little world. Dirt and grass had been brought in and sculpted to form a peaceful meadow, and trees were scattered here and there, illuminated by one giant, softly white-glowing gemstone that looked like it was supposed to be acting as the moon. There were quite a number of small cottages that looked like legitimate doll houses scattered all throughout the fake meadow, complete with tiny mushroom farms dotting the land.

  “Does anyone else feel like they’ve suddenly been turned into a giant?” Alka asked, finally pulling back her hood as she stared at the nearby house that only stretched up to her knees. It even had a little chimney with smoke billowing out the top, and she curiously swept her fingers through the smoke as it slowly drifted up along her body. “This is too weird.”

  “I don’t know why I imagined Scule’s family lived in a normal-sized house…” Shia muttered, peering at the rows of growing mushrooms with great interest. “How are we supposed to visit them if we can’t even go inside?”

  “They’ll have to come outside,” Lumel said, taking in the entirety of Tiny Town with excitement. “This is amazing! An entire simulated land just to house the petians is such a clever idea!”

  “Hey, you lot!” A voice rang out, directing their attention down toward the house pumping out smoke that Alka was still lazily drifting a hand through. A petian with long, greasy hair and a scowl on his face was staring up at them, a pitchfork that was about the size of an actual fork gripped tightly between his fists. “What are you doing in Tiny Town? Unless you’ve got a reason, I’d suggest you move along!”

  Vin was worried Alka would laugh or react poorly to the tiny man threatening them with an eating utensil, but he blinked as she immediately stepped back and nodded respectfully toward the irate farmer. “Sorry for causing you to worry. We’re here to see a friend. Could you direct us toward wherever Scule lives?”

  “Figures you’re friends with him,” the man said, turning to spit off to the side. “Red house down by the river. Can’t miss it.”

  “Thank you,” she said, giving him one last nod as he grunted and retreated back into his house. Turning toward the rest of them, she lowered her voice. “We should do our best not to cause the petians any undue stress. We did essentially barge into their own private village without asking.”

  “I mean, we were invited by one of their own,” Shia snorted as she began heading toward a small, artificial river off in the distance. “But sure, not like we were planning to pick a fight anyway.”

  While the four of them headed over to the river in search of Scule’s family home, Vin carefully watched their surroundings. It was late enough that few of the petians were actually out and about, but he caught more than a handful of fearful or annoyed faces peering out at them from within darkened windows, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was only the remarkable size difference that was preventing an angry mob from forming and demanding they leave their simulated village immediately.

  “I would have expected them to integrate themselves more cleanly into the citadel as a whole,” Lumel whispered, doing what she could to keep her face hidden within her hood. The downside to having so many petians around was that they were at the perfect angle to peer up under her hood and get a good look at her face if they were so inclined. “This is more like they refused to merge in with the citadel entirely, deciding instead to try and reclaim what was lost to the monsters.”

  “I imagine it has to be hard adjusting to life among regular-sized people,” Vin shrugged, thinking back to all the times he’d seen Scule scampering up tables or eating tiny fractions of massive meals. Scule was nimble enough to travel the world of the giants with relative ease, especially when he had Reginald to rely on, but Vin was beginning to realize Scule may have been the exception to the rule rather than the norm. “I mean, just think about it. If he didn’t have his dimensional storage cape, how would he even lug anything around?”

  It didn’t take them long to find the dull, older house near a bend in the river. And if the red paint and flowing water weren’t enough to solidify this one as Scule’s, the Rogue himself lounging out by the water with his feet dangling in the cold current was a dead giveaway.

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  “Look at that, you guys actually made it,” he said, leaning back and waving up at them. “Like the neighborhood?”

  “It’s so quaint and peaceful,” Shia said, smirking as she peered down at him. “What happened to you?”

  “Ask my parents, they certainly have an idea or two,” Scule said, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, everyone’s finishing up dinner at the moment. I can only take so much berating at any one time, so I tend to eat fast and then head out here whenever I come home. Makes it easier on everyone involved.”

  “Where’s Reginald?” Shia asked, looking around for their missing teammate. “Off on a mission?”

  “If that mission is being pampered by the family, then yes,” Scule snorted. “I told you, my parents prefer Reginald over me by a long shot. He’s probably being hand-fed cheese from the dinner table even as we speak. While Copi and Nute understand he’s intelligent, my parents seem to struggle with that for whatever reason. They treat him like the family pet, and Reginald is more than happy to oblige, as it means he gets lots of food and scritches while we’re home.”

  “That sounds like Reginald all right,” Vin laughed, carefully taking a seat so as to not damage any of the well-maintained landscape. “Seriously, we’re not intruding, are we? I know this is a bit late to ask now that we’re already here and after Shia all but forced you to let us come, but it suddenly all feels so real. Like this is a peaceful slice of your past that we’re intruding on.”

  “Trust me, it’s only peaceful because I’m out here,” Scule said, giving him a pained smile. “My parents will probably dial it back a bit with guests around, even if you are giant-folk, so you won’t see the full picture. But I imagine you’ll still get the idea soon enough.”

  With that, they all settled in and began chatting about plans for how they were going to spend their time in Terra while waiting around for the fifth wave of Earthers to appear. If the wait was anything like the last time, they’d probably have a week or more of time they’d have to pass without leaving the town. It was while Shia was discussing her idea to convert a portion of the public park into a wildlife sanctuary that the door to Scule’s house flung open and Reginald came bounding out with two young, screaming petians clinging to his saddle for dear life.

  “Slower, Reginald, slower!” they cried, laughing as Reginald purposefully zigged and zagged across the grass, moving erratically in an attempt to gently buck them off, but not really trying all that hard. Vin had seen how fast the rat was capable of moving when he was attempting to dodge Shia’s Entangling Thorns spell or running around an attacking monster, and it was obvious that he was just playing around at the moment.

  Finally making it to the river, Reginald did a rather impressive back flip of all things, dislodging the laughing petians and causing them to land in a heap on top of one another.

  “No fair, we told you, flips are cheating!” the boy said, brushing his hair out of his eyes before looking up and finding himself face to face with four giant-folk. The boy looked like a younger version of Scule, one with shaggy blond hair that desperately needed a haircut and mildly sharper features. Blinking, he gasped as he leaned down and shook the still-laughing girl lying splayed out on the ground beside him. “Nute, they’re here! They came!”

  Wiping tears from her eyes, Scule’s sister followed who could only be Copi’s pointing finger and visibly recoiled as she realized she was the center of everyone’s attention. Scrambling to her feet, she cleared her throat and smoothed down her dress as she gave them a shy but excited smile. “Hi! Welcome to Tiny Town!”

  “I see you two still haven’t managed to last ten seconds on Reginald,” Scule smirked, earning two annoyed glares from his siblings as he turned to look up at the team. “I told them I’d let them come adventuring with me once they could hold onto the saddle for ten seconds. Been a few years now and still no such luck, sadly.”

  “That’s because he cheats with the flips!” Nute whined, stomping her foot as she pouted. “And stop trying to embarrass us in front of your friends!”

  “Yeah, we’re way cooler than you are,” Copi teased, running over and attempting to shove Scule into the river. With the ease of a twice-prestiged Rogue, Scule merely rolled his eyes before kicking backwards into a handstand and launching himself into the air with nothing but his hands. Copi’s eyes widened as he realized Scule was suddenly above him, and the Rogue grinned as he landed on the younger petian’s shoulders. With a gentle kick, it was Copi that was sent flying into the river with a splash as Scule nimbly landed on his two feet, sticking his hands in his pockets.

  “You definitely look a lot cooler now!” Scule teased, laughing as Copi sputtered and glared at him. “How’s that water? It felt pretty cold!”

  “Wow, is it just me, or is Scule actually kinda cool when dealing with his siblings?” Shia whispered, looking shocked the words had even come out of her mouth.

  “I know what you mean,” Vin chuckled as Copi swore he’d get his revenge and waded out of the river. Scule never tried to hide how agile and nimble he was or anything, but he never really did any tricks either. It was clear he was actively showing off for his younger siblings, and Vin couldn’t help but smile at the burning excitement in Copi’s eyes as the fifteen-year-old no doubt imagined himself doing those same tricks in only a few months’ time once he finally had his own class and access to the System.

  The relaxing, silly atmosphere could only last so long, however, as two new faces stepped out of the house moments later. Scule’s father did in fact largely look like an older version of Scule, albeit one with an unshaved face, a bit of a pot-belly, and missing his right arm at the shoulder. His mother was a stout woman with a no-nonsense look on her face and eyes that darted around as if hunting for any sort of fun to shut down on a moment’s notice. Before either of them could say anything, Scule took the initiative as he waved.

  “Mom. Dad. These are the friends I’ve told you guys so much about.”

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