Episode 25
The training grounds of Valhalla Palace.
“Kuaaaack!”
A Nodeu warrior thrust his sword into his comrade’s chest.
*Crunch—!*
A jet-black current flowed from the blade, tearing the Nodeu warrior’s body to shreds.
“Keuaaack—!”
The Nodeu warrior with a pierced chest groaned.
“Surrender!”
“Like hell—!”
The Nodeu warrior with the sword lodged in him headbutted his comrade, throwing him off.
He staggered, but soon regained his balance. Along with a roar, a red aura erupted from his body.
He moved, swinging his axe.
*Clang—!*
“Hmm~”
In the very center of such chaotic combat, there was a woman humming a tune.
Kankun Ragna.
She had been humming along when her eyes went wide.
*Shhk—!*
The Nodeu warrior with his arm severed fell, and soon another Nodeu warrior who had claimed victory raised his sword and roared.
“For Valhalla—! I, Rajan, son of Noreuan, have defeated Diana!”
“Oooooh—!”
Cheers burst from the surroundings.
Blood trickled from the chest of the defeated Nodeu warrior, his vision gradually growing hazy.
At the brink of death, Kankun approached him and sprinkled a potion on him.
“Keuaaack—! Damn it! I thought I was dead!”
The warrior who had returned from the verge of death gasped for breath, clutching his chest.
His wound had vanished like a lie.
“Haha! You can’t die in Valhalla!”
Kankun couldn’t help but admire the sight every time.
*‘The blessing called Skillbook is truly amazing!’*
Loki had selected only the elite among the Nodeu warriors and commanded them to learn something called a ‘Skillbook.’
And they were able to use a [Divine Artifact] with merely a look at the book.
*‘So it was true that only those chosen by the Star Monarch can use a Divine Artifact!’*
Perhaps thanks to the potions as well?
The Nodeu warriors could train every day in real battles, striking each other to the brink of death.
The number of Divine Artifact users increased dramatically, and they accumulated real combat experience at the same time.
Already strong, the Nodeu warriors could become even stronger.
Just then, a young man was seen walking down the palace corridor.
“Ah! Lord Aum!”
“Hm? Ah, Lady Kankun.”
Aum lowered his head to Kankun in a gesture of respect.
At that sight, Kankun awkwardly returned the bow.
To Aum, Kankun was a shaman chosen by Loki, so he treated her with due respect and courtesy.
To Kankun, receiving such treatment from someone who had been a great chieftain was still awkward and burdensome.
“Where are you going?”
“To Lord Loki.”
“Ah! Then I shall go too.”
She had been just about to offer her morning prayers.
***
The refugees flowing into the Frozen Lands numbered an average of fifty per day.
They were all fugitives or wandering drifters with nowhere to go.
Before entering the Frozen Lands, roughly half the refugees perished—hunted by monsters or fellow humans, or starved to death.
Taking pity on them, Loki decided to accept them.
As this continued for several years, it had become routine before anyone knew it.
This morning, too, began like any other, with the acceptance of refugees.
There were some thirty refugees gathered in the great hall, and gazes watching them.
Loki seated upon the throne.
And below him stood the shaman, Aum, Pereu and Kudan, and Kankun.
Kankun looked up at Loki and tilted her head.
“Huh?”
Most gazes turned to Kankun at the strange sound, but Aum ignored her and continued speaking.
“They are refugees who have come up from the southern continent of Britain. My Lord, what shall we do?”
“…….”
Hans had been virtually in charge of refugees, but for some reason, he had been missing since last night.
No accidents could happen in Valhalla Palace, and since Loki hadn’t looked for him, the vassals simply assumed he had been given some mission and let it be.
Aum blinked and looked at Loki.
Today, he felt something strange.
How to put it? A sense of disparity? Awkwardness? In any case, it was unnatural.
“Lord Loki?”
“Ah… um… handle it… yourselves.”
Loki waved his hand, creaking like a broken doll.
“…Understood.”
Aum blinked and gave Pereu a look; Pereu nodded and left with the refugees.
Once the refugees withdrew, they moved on to reviewing the reports sent from various regions.
A mountain of reports was placed before Loki.
“These are the reports from each region. Please read them and pass judgment….”
Loki nodded and reached out his hand.
That gesture, too, was strangely unnatural.
“…Are you unwell?”
When Aum approached and asked, Loki flinched and shook his head.
“No! T-that can’t be?!”
“…Your voice seems off as well. You must indeed be unwell.”
“Y-yes! I had a slight cold! I’m not feeling very well today….”
A cold?
Aum smiled brightly.
*‘Another excuse to shirk work, no doubt.’*
Just as he thought that.
Kankun tilted her head and opened her mouth.
“Um….”
Everyone’s gaze turned to Kankun.
“Lord Hans, what are you doing?”
At Kankun’s words, everyone’s gaze turned back to Loki.
“…What do you mean…?”
“No, it’s just that you’re wearing armor modeled after Lord Loki….”
At Kankun’s words, Loki let out a hollow cough.
“I haven’t the faintest idea what you mean.”
Just as ‘Loki’ hurriedly reached for the reports.
Aum quickly approached and seized his hand.
“……!”
‘Loki’ froze.
He looked at Aum cautiously.
Though his face was smiling, the veins on his forehead were bulging and twitching.
“Right now… sitting on the throne where the Star Monarch should be, what do you think you’re doing? Lord Hans.”
“…What are you talking about? Aum. Hans? How could I be Hans…?”
“Stop acting. It’s not convincing.”
When Aum erased his smile and twisted his expression into a scowl, ‘Loki’ shuddered.
“…I-I’m sorry. Lord Aum.”
Not Loki, but Hans—wearing the fake armor commissioned from the dwarf Reuran—hung his head.
“Where is our master, Lord Loki, right now? I would very much like to know…?”
Hans forced the impossibly heavy armor to move and barely produced a note from within his bosom.
Aum took it and read aloud.
“I have found the whereabouts of my comrade. I, too, shall personally set out… so all of you must find her quickly as well… and… please take good care of… Asgard?”
Those who heard it thought the exact same thing simultaneously.
*‘He ran away—?!’*
Aum gritted his teeth and pressed hard against his temples.
Trauma from the Frozen Lands of the past seemed to resurge in his eyes, overflowing with killing intent.
“Not just once… but twice, making things difficult for me in the same manner! What a truly magnificent Star Monarch!”
Loki—in Norse mythology—was a god who loved to play tricks.
* * *
“…Achoo!”
Loki, walking across the frozen lake that served as a bridge between the northern Frozen Lands and the southern continent of Britain, rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“A cold… me? Ha, as if! Anyway… how much farther must I go?”
Loki frowned at the vast expanse stretching out before him. It was so desolate.
He had heard that if he walked this frozen path, he would barely see land after two days; this road was long and harsh.
“Shall I summon Sleipnir?”
The famous horse ridden by Odin, king of the gods in Norse mythology.
A monstrous steed with eight legs, its speed and power were on the level of a mid-boss monster.
It was also one of the summon option skills of the spear Gungnir that Loki possessed.
*‘No, I might draw unnecessary attention that way.’*
He had put Hans in his place, but he would soon be found out, and Aum would send pursuers.
The ruler of a nation had abandoned his post; Aum wouldn’t stay idle.
Especially during a time like this, when there were many important matters that required Loki’s decisions above all else.
*‘Though in truth, they are things I don’t even need to handle.’*
Aum Rinia and Hans alone could have handled them normally.
*‘If I go back, he’ll surely nag me for hours.’*
“The continent of Britain… what sort of place is it?”
A strange curiosity had been stimulating him.
Though his goal was to find a former junior named Yun Sirin, he also felt a strange thrill at traveling through an unknown world.
If the ‘Angel of Death’ he sought was indeed Yun Sirin… that would mean she had been traveling the continent for about three hundred years longer than Loki.
*‘What kind of world did you see, Sirin?’*
“…Halt there!”
Then, along with someone’s shout, the sound of hoofbeats was heard.
Loki stopped walking and turned around.
In the distance, soldiers were approaching.
They were warriors of the Nodeu tribe.
No, they were now elite soldiers belonging to the nation called Asgard.
They skillfully handled their horses and surrounded Loki.
“Who goes there! Who stands at the crossroads into the Frozen Lands… huh?”
The soldier at the front sized up Loki’s appearance.
Currently, Loki was wearing a crow mask and a leather traveler’s robe decorated with fur.
To a Nodeu, wearing a beast mask would mark him as a ‘hunter,’ but the moment they realized the mask was a ‘crow,’ they stiffened.
They couldn’t help it, for there was only one person in the Frozen Lands who wore a crow mask.
“H-Healer?!”
“It’s Lord Hun?!”
The soldiers started, quickly dismounting. They knelt and lowered their heads.
It was only natural, for the second-in-command of Asgard stood before them.
“Ah, are you the soldiers in charge of the watch here?”
Loki vaguely recalled that he had stationed soldiers at the frozen lake to protect the many refugees who came seeking the Frozen Lands with hope in their hearts.
“Y-yes. Please forgive our rudeness just now…!”
“No, excellent. It’s better than neglecting your watch. However, if you act this way, those crossing here will be frightened. Treat them gently.”
“Ah, understood.”
“Then I must be going….”
Loki waved his hand and picked up his pace.
He was worried the soldiers approaching might have been sent by Aum.
Then, one of the kneeling soldiers shouted in confusion,
“L-Lord Hun!”
Loki halted awkwardly.
“W-where are you going? That way leads out of Asgard.”
“Hm? Ah, well… I have some business, so I intend to go to the continent.”
“To the… continent?”
Loki nodded.
He would be found out soon anyway.
Loki thought it would be fine as long as he didn’t mention his exact destination.
“For what business there…?”
Rather than answering the soldier’s question, Loki asked one instead.
“Have any of you been to the continent?”
At that, the soldiers looked at each other with bewildered expressions, then looked at Loki.
“We all have, but…”
“All of you?”
“Yes. After Asgard was founded, most Nodeu who were on the continent returned here….”
The Nodeu had tribes, but no nation.
So when rumors spread that a nation had been founded in their homeland, they couldn’t help but return.
Partly out of curiosity about the country they belonged to.
“Really? Then let me ask one thing.”
“……?”
“To be honest, I plan to go to the continent without any preparations. Are there any precautions I should take?”
“…If it is Lord Hun, we believe you can resolve most friction on your own. You are stronger than anyone in the Frozen Lands. However….”
“However?”
“To avoid trouble, you must avoid the nobles.”
“Nobles?”
The soldiers all nodded.
“Yes, they are the sort who think highly of themselves and tend to look down on all lower classes besides themselves. There are higher and lower ranks among them… but in any case, once you get involved with them, it becomes troublesome. We don’t know your purpose, but… there is nothing good about getting entangled with them.”
“I see. That helps.”
Loki was about to walk away.
“Ah, and one more thing!”
When he turned his head to look at the soldier, the soldiers’ faces twisted in distress.
“The Order… never, ever touch those who belong to the Holy Order.”