Episode 13
It was a night filled with deep darkness.
The falling snow piled upon the old man’s raincoat until it weighed him down heavily.
Relying on the faint light of his torch, the old man walked with failing vision and could barely manage to find a solitary hut.
Knock, knock—!
“…Come in.”
When he knocked cautiously, the door opened.
Inside the hut, elders of similar age sat gathered, all sweating cold sweat and continuously groaning.
They were the elders of the Ragna Tribe.
“What is the reason for suddenly gathering everyone?”
“…I heard that Aum Linia has come to this city.”
“Aum Linia? Then isn’t he the young great chieftain of the Linia Tribe? Why would he…?”
“Roden, that old man said he saw him. He may have met with the Throne of Sin.”
“…Aum, you’re saying that man met the Throne of Sin? What problem does that pose?”
“…It is only a rumor, but there is talk that Aum Linia helped with Kudan’s rebellion.”
“Aum Linia helped Kudan!?”
“It is only a rumor.”
“Even if it is a rumor, if it is true, aren’t we in danger!? We cannot rule out the possibility that Kudan told Aum everything and obtained soldiers!”
“Wait a moment. I heard the market streets were controlled. After that, Aum Linia and his younger brother Pere Linia left the city in terrible shape.”
Aum had become a wreck, and his younger brother had his right hand cut off.
This was akin to displaying hostility toward the Linia Tribe.
“…Th-then does that mean there is a possibility Aum knows everything and told them about us!?”
The elders who had tried to kill Kankun.
But Kankun, who they had thought would become the tribe’s calamity, was now receiving Loki’s favor and had even received Loki’s help.
They were the ones who had tried to harm such a woman.
If this fact were revealed to the Throne of Sin or the other tribes?
“W-we only tried to follow the shaman’s prophecy!”
“That’s right. We are not guilty at all! Rather, we should have received compensation from the Throne of Sin!”
Even as they spoke thus, the elders felt anxious.
If the truth were known, the people of the Ragna Tribe would not leave them alone either.
“Roden, where is that old man? Didn’t he find Aum first? I want to hear the situation properly!”
“…He left.”
“……!”
“They say he fled trembling in fear.”
“Where to?”
“The Linia Tribe.”
“Why there…?”
“He is probably begging Kudan to save him. If Kankun learns the truth… Kankun would forgive Kudan, and perhaps he could be forgiven too, or else….”
He was scheming some plan using Kudan.
“To have such simple thoughts! This is why the continentals consider the Norse stupider than orcs! Shouldn’t one think before acting!”
But it couldn’t be helped. Didn’t all judgment grow clouded before the instinct to survive?
The elders sized each other up.
“What should we do?”
“What else? We have to flee quickly like Roden, that old man!”
“Where to?”
“…On these frozen lands, there is nowhere to hide from the Throne of Sin. Let us go to the southern continent!”
“Won’t pursuers come?”
“We need bait to throw off pursuers!”
Just as the elders were speaking.
Knock, knock—.
A knocking sound was heard.
The elders looked at each other.
“…Is there still someone left to come?”
“No, we are the only survivors.”
“Could it be Roden who fled has returned?”
The elders nodded and opened the door.
“Roden, have you returned aga… in?”
But the elder who opened the door could not finish his words.
What was visible beyond the door was pitch-black armor.
Despite the considerable height of the door, his face could not be seen properly due to his great stature.
But the pitch-black armor, and though snow had piled upon it, the brown fur cape visible between it was familiar from somewhere.
That ‘being’ bowed his head and entered the hut entrance.
The elder who opened the door stepped back, and the elders watching that sight stared at the figure who had entered the hut, frozen stiff.
“Th-Throne of Sin!”
Loki.
He had come.
A goat helm. White breath flowed from between its gaping maw.
Red pupils rolled, sweeping over everyone in the hut.
That gaze was little different from one looking at insignificant insects.
“The elders of the Ragna Tribe.”
“…….”
“So it was you lot. The ones who tried to kill Kankun.”
“……!”
The elders’ complexions paled.
And those with sense hurriedly moved.
They prostrated on the floor, pressing their foreheads to the ground.
“Fo-forgive us!”
“Throne of Sin! We merely followed the prophecy!”
“Speak in detail.”
The elders honestly confessed what they had tried to do.
Loki nodded as he listened to the story.
It matched what the outsider who had visited not long ago, Aum Linia, had said.
Loki looked at them, then tilted his head to the side.
“I don’t care what you lot do. Whether you kill Kankun or not, at that time I did not know her.”
“…….”
“And even if I know her now, it is merely a small connection. I have no intention of interfering in the tribe’s internal affairs. As long as you do not dirty my palace, I will not interfere no matter what you do.”
The elders exchanged glances while prostrated, rolling only their eyeballs.
Seeing his gentle tone and atmosphere, it seemed he would forgive them.
Th-thank goodness! As expected, following the shaman’s prophecy was not a sin!
“However, it is quite unpleasant that you tried to place a corpse before the throne where I slept.”
“……!”
“Would you like it if a blood-drenched corpse were placed before you while you slept peacefully?”
The elders cried out in terror.
“Please forgive us!”
“We beg you to forgive our sins!”
“We merely followed the shaman’s prophecy!”
It was a lie. The shaman had merely delivered the prophecy, not commanded them.
It was merely an excuse spat out to hide their own guilt.
Loki looked down at them and spoke.
“I forgive you.”
“……!”
“Because such a thing did not actually happen.”
“Th-thank you!”
“However.”
Loki stepped back and cleared the way.
And between the entrance of the hut, a young girl stood.
A girl holding a holy sword to her chest.
She had a shocked expression after hearing the elders’ story.
“K-Kankun!”
Kankun Ragna.
And behind her, the people of the Ragna Tribe stood tall, glaring at the elders.
“I do not know if she will forgive you.”
“……!”
Loki walked over and patted Kankun’s shoulder.
“I clearly said it. As long as you do not dirty my palace in this city, I will not interfere.”
“…Yes.”
“Handle it yourself.”
Loki exited the hut, and Kankun glared at the elders with a cold expression.
“K-Kankun!”
“W-we! Actually, for the sake of the tribe—!”
“As chieftain of the Ragna Tribe, I command.”
Kankun glared at the elders.
“Banish these people from this city. After they leave the city, cut off all their arms.”
“W-wait—!”
“Kankun, forgive—!”
At Kankun’s words, the Ragna tribespeople surrounded the elders.
***
It was when Loki was walking the night streets.
“Please forgive me,”
At the voice flowing from the alley, he turned his gaze.
The shaman walked out and bowed his head.
“It seems my prophecy was wrong.”
“…I forgave even the old men who took action. There is no need to punish you who merely spoke.”
Above all, the clan called Shaman had attended to Loki who had slept for 300 years.
They had cleaned Valhalla Palace spotlessly, polished Loki’s armor, and offered fresh food as tribute every morning.
They had also protected the palace by judging all who would defile Valhalla Palace.
It was an act born not of selfishness, but of reverence and awe for a god.
To Loki who had slept for 300 years, it was something to be grateful for.
“Thank you for showing mercy. This shaman shall offer his flesh and soul, everything, to the Throne of Sin.”
The shaman bowed his head.
“After the elders are dealt with, call Kankun. I must speak with her.”
“What story do you wish to hear?”
The shaman would first hear the story he wanted, then convey it to Kankun.
And Kankun would prepare an answer to that question before coming to meet him.
“About Kudan Ragna.”
“…I understand.”
Loki made up his mind to properly learn about the traitor Kudan.
***
Valhalla Palace in the deep night was beautiful.
Braziers and torches burned in various places of the holy palace, shedding faint light, and the patterns and runes carved into the palace walls sparkled and shone.
A strange yet wondrous atmosphere.
Kankun walked hugging the holy sword to her chest as if adventuring, looking around the holy palace.
‘Truly amazing.’
The shining patterns and pictures drawn on the walls.
‘When I asked the Shaman-nim, the person drawn in this mural is—.’
Kankun looked at the picture of a wolf and snake erupting from the black armor worn by the figure.
Beneath it, countless undead armies and giants crawled out from the ground and advanced—.
‘The Throne of Sin, Loki-nim.’
She turned her head to look beside it.
There were those who lit up light to block Loki and the undead army, the advance of the giants.
Precisely—.
‘The other Thrones.’
They were the figures of the Thrones who created and ruled the world.
‘The Shaman-nim said it.’
The king of gods and the king of Thrones.
The ‘Throne of Creation,’ ruling the world, created the ‘Throne of Sin’ to judge the Thrones who had fallen into corruption and arrogance.
That Throne of Sin was depicted advancing with an army to judge the other Thrones.
The Throne of Sin was said to govern not only human sins, but also to judge the gods and Thrones who ruled this world.
‘But Loki-nim said it was completely different?’
‘That’s nonsense. That mural is Ragnarok. A war that will bring about the end of the world.’
Whose words were correct? Surely it would be Loki-nim?
Kankun looked up at the unique letters above the mural.
[Twilight of the Gods]
“……?”
Bonk!
She, who had been walking blankly staring at the mural, bumped into something.
It was a skeleton guarding Valhalla.
“……!”
Startled, Kankun grabbed her smarting nose and bowed her head.
“I-I’m sorry! And thank you for your hard work!”
Seeing such a Kankun, the skeleton waved its hand.
A gesture as if to say it was alright.
Just as Kankun made a surprised expression.
“Were you here?”
The skeleton was startled and straightened its waist, pressing the spear and shield it held close to its body.
It was a posture brimming with fighting spirit.
Kankun looked at the skeleton as if amazed, then turned her gaze toward the one who had spoken.
“Loki-nim. Did you… call for me?”
“Yes.”
It was Loki.
“The elders?”
When Loki tilted his head, she shrank as if intimidated.
“…I banished them outside the city. And cut off their arms.”
“You didn’t kill them.”
“Because you said not to dirty this Valhalla….”
Loki had meant the palace, but to Kankun, she took it to mean the place where Loki resided and what he had accomplished.
‘And not killing them doesn’t mean they won’t die.’
These frozen lands were no easy place.
With their arms cut off and banished, monsters smelling blood would target them.
Even if they evaded monsters’ pursuit, if the severed arms were exposed to cold for a long time, they would eventually rot from frostbite.
In the end, they would die suffering.
“I… I heard you called me because of Kudan Ragna.”
“Yes.”
Loki nodded.
“You want to meet and talk with him, right?”
“That is correct.”
“Then I will go and bring him. And I’ll talk with him well so that any misunderstandings with Loki-nim can be cleared up. So—!”
“Loki-nim!”
Hans came running frantically down the corridor of Valhalla Palace.
“It’s war!”
When Loki turned his head to look at Hans, Hans cried out with a pale face.
“The Linia Tribe is advancing with an army! The commander-in-chief is Aum Linia. And the vanguard is…”
Hans swallowed dryly.
“A man called Kudan Ragna!”
***
Kudan Ragna was atop a corpse.
A monster with white skin standing 5 meters tall.
The king of the forest, an Ogre. What was more, a Snow Ogre, said to be the strongest with frozen hide.
He was wiping clean the axe blade he had swung for hunting a short while ago, atop the corpse of such an ogre.
And he looked ahead.
“Is that true?”
Before Kudan was an old man prostrated with his head bowed.
“It… it’s true. Kudan!”
One of the Ragna Tribe elders.
A man named Roden.
He was also the one who had discovered Aum first and fled from Valhalla.
“Kankun, she is currently captured by the Throne of Sin, suffering immense humiliation!”