Episode 34/Chapter 3: Vanaheim (3)

TL: Tsubak

ED: Julsmul

"What happened? Where are we?"

Adenmaha checked her surroundings and then spoke with a slightly frightened voice. It was because she'd been called suddenly but also because she felt that the isolated space itself was twisted.

"Master?"

Adenmaha approached Tae Ho and raised her head to meet his gaze. Tae Ho looked down at Adenmaha, but it was only for a moment. He then turned his head sharply.

Cuchulainn clicked his tongue at that and said,

'Hey, she is asking you. You should answer her and slowly check on her from head to heel. If you can share what you see, it's all the better.'

Those were advices that weren't worthy to be heard; however there was someone that moved regardless of Cuchulainn's advice. It was Adenmaha.

"Master? Why do you keep avoiding my eyes?"

Adenmaha blinked her eyes and tilted her head before moving again. This time she moved sideways to put herself in Tae Ho's range of view instead of approaching him.

"Adenmaha, wait. Wait."

Tae Ho looked at the other side once again and then Adenmaha frowned and even opened her eyes suspiciously.

"How suspicious."

There was a bit of playfulness in her voice. It was because Tae Ho acting this way was quite new and funny.

"Why aren't you able to see me properly? And why are your eyes shining?"

Adenmaha moved her body to try to match Tae Ho's eyes, but Tae Ho turned his head desperately and said quickly,

"No, well-"

"So?"

Tae Ho couldn't speak anymore. It was because Adenmaha extended her two hands and grabbed him.

Of course, Adenmaha couldn't be compared to Tae Ho in strength, but the current Tae Ho was in a really panicked state. He couldn't push away Adenmaha, let alone move himself.

"Why do you keep dodging me, I wonder."

Adenmaha suppressed Tae Ho like a snake that had prey before it. She didn't know the reason, but now that it turned out like this, she decided to release all the hard feelings she had accumulated up to this point.

Tae Ho stepped back and then fell on the ground with Adenmaha on top of him.

'You can just close your eyes, but you don't.'

While Cuchulainn was clicking his tongue and criticizing him, Adenmaha grabbed Tae Ho's head in an almost perfect mount position and didn't let Tae Ho turn away.

"Yes? Master?"

Tae Ho thought of closing his eyes, but he discovered himself opening them just slightly.

In the end, Tae Ho wanted to curse at himself and release the saga, but that wasn't easy either. It couldn't be controlled properly, perhaps because the saga had been strengthened suddenly.

"Master?"

Adenmaha put her face closer to Tae Ho's and he realized that there were no other options. He looked at Adenmaha fixedly and yelled,

"I can see it!"

"What?"

Adenmaha tilted her head and asked provokingly, but Tae Ho couldn't say the words. Because of that, he grabbed Adenmaha's wrist and activated another saga.

[Strengthened Saga]

[The One that Controls Dragons]

Tae Ho synchronized his senses with Adenmaha, and he showed all the things he had seen to her.

And about 1 or 2 seconds later-

"Hwik?!"

Adenmaha let out a mortified scream and hurriedly stood from her position.

-

"Shameless! Pervert! Enemy of humankind!"

'I have certainly said that I wouldn't watch. You were the one that forced me.'

Tae Ho rebuked inwardly. It was because he would only provoke her even more if he said it out loud.

"Ah, anyways! This is a trace of the Great War, and your saga has been strengthened, right?"

Adenmaha changed the subject first, and Tae Ho didn't miss the opportunity and followed her up.

"Right. This is a trace of the Great War. It doesn't seem like it's hidden in a crack of the world, but it was forcefully separated with magic. The reason my saga was strengthened is because of the blessing of the God of Music and Poetry, Bragi."

He said all of those things quickly without breathing out once. Adenmaha, who barely managed to understand all of that, tilted her head at the name she'd heard for the first time.

"Bragi-nim?"

"Idun-nim's husband."

"Ah, Idun-nim's hus.....Idun-nim is a widow?!"

Adenmaha let out a shocked voice. It seemed like she had met her once opposed to what Tae Ho had thought.

'Well, she must have met her once to become a Valkyrie.'

Tae Ho, who became convinced by that idea alone, picked the most important point and continued.

"No, the previous Idun-nim."

But it seemed like that was too summed up. Adenmaha blinked with a face that mirrored her confusion and then asked for an explanation with a slow voice.

"Explain it in a bit more detail."

"Right. That would be good."

Tae Ho nodded and took out Gae Bolg to provide an easier explanation. He made Adenmaha grab a part of it and started his explanation.

"Uh, so summarizing it up, Idun's legion was annihilated in this place, right? Annihilated to the point where the previous Idun-nim and her husband Bragi-nim also died."

Adenmaha picked the most important points after listening to all of Tae Ho's story. Tae Ho nodded once again.

"Right, and... I don't know exactly, but it seems like the current Idun-nim is the daughter of the previous Idun and Bragi and inherited the position of administrator to the golden apple tree and seat of the Goddess of Life and Youth."

The previous Idun and Bragi had said that they would entrust their daughter to him.

So based on the situation, the daughter they were talking about should be the Idun Tae Ho knew.

"Hmm. It's a bit unexpected, but it's not that there were no precedents of this. There were also some Gods among the Tuatha De Danann that took over the ranks and names of others."

Adenmaha nodded while having her arms crossed and then looked at Tae Ho's right shoulder and left wrist before continuing.

"Anyways, Idun-nim has told you to retrieve the legacy of the legion, and the legacy you received were the runes of the previous Idun-nim and Bragi-nim?"

"Right. The rune of Bragi-nim...I think that my saga became strengthened thanks to his blessing."

"You said that he was the God of Music and Poetry, so it does make sense. So that means that he was the God of bards and troubadours, right?"

Because spreading tales and stories was their job.

The one that sings legends.

The one that spreads the story of a warrior.

It was obvious for Bragi to have the power to strengthen a saga.

'Now that I see, didn't all the sagas get strengthened in a lump? Or they get strengthened by time?'

Cuchulainn worded his first normal question in a long while, and because of that, Tae Ho answered almost immediately unlike before.

"I think that it's closer to the latter. I will have to investigate a bit more.....but I feel like I'm not able to use it perfectly because my capability in it is lacking?"

"Um, shouldn't the divine power of Bragi-nim still be unfamiliar for you, Master?"

He did feel a bit unfamiliar with the divine power of the previous Idun, but it was still familiar overall.

However, Bragi's divine power was completely unfamiliar to Tae Ho, so he could only be clumsy in using it.

'The God of Music and Poetry....how unfortunate. If someone had taken over his rank like the current Idun, it would be helpful in several ways.'

Tae Ho thought of the same thing. For the current Idun to have taken over the name, divine power, and rank of the previous Idun meant that she had inherited a divine mandate. It was possible to succeed a rank or or authority on such a level.

But it was meaningless to worry about such a thing right now.

Because of that, Adenmaha said something else.

"Anyways...how did the sagas that got strengthened change? Like the 'Warrior that had a Valkyrie Meet Him' and..... 'The Eyes of the Dragon see Through all Things'."

Adenmaha's face flushed completely upon recalling what had happened a few minutes ago. Tae Ho ignored her face and said,

"Firstly, the limit of the number of Valkyries increased for the 'Warrior that had a Valkyrie Meet Him'. It was nine before, but I can now register eighteen."

'The number nine is treated as a holy number in Asgard, but it doubled in an instant. Now you won't need to worry about who to put in the list.'

"For now."

"For now, he says. Just how many more Valkyries do you want to obtain?"

The last one was Adenmaha. She looked at Tae Ho and mumbled, and Tae Ho spread his chest shamelessly and said,

"Won't it be better to strengthen my saga even more and create an army of Valkyries? If I penetrate through the enemy ranks alone and then summon a lot of Valkyries....it's really a one man army, right?"

'So you want to roll on a field of flowers. There were also male Valkyries, so how about putting them in your army?'

Cuchulainn's unproductive opinion passed through one of Tae Ho's ears and flowed out the other. Adenmaha shook her head as if it was absurd and said,

"That, and a summoning function was added?"

"Yes. I think that I'm able to summon the real deal, but I feel like there's a distance limit."

The reason Adenmaha had been summoned was because she was the closest to him among the Valkyries that were registered on his list.

Heda and Ingrid were in Valhalla, and Gandur, Reginleif, Rasgrid, and the rest were in the much further away realm of Midgard.

"Hm. So if we organize it, the number of members increased and a function to call the real one got added, right?"

"Right, and for the eyes of the dragon....."

Tae Ho paused and then turned his eyes away. Adenmaha blushed and also turned her eyes away so they didn't exchange glances.

"The effect range widened, and the ability to grasp a weak point was also strengthened. The vision.....also got strengthened."

"R-right. What about Bragi's rune? You said that it also had a function."

'That's right. That's also important. Now that it came out, let's test a few things.'

Cuchulainn received Adenmaha's words. Tae Ho started to explain as he also agreed to it.

"Firstly, the functions I saw with the eyes of the dragon are as follows."

His words became more trustable. Even if he said the same things, the positive reception to his words from others was increased.

Secondly, his words had become more convincing.

Thirdly, he could influence the mood of the adversary through his words.

Fourthly, Tae Ho was able to sing really well.

And lastly, the functions of the tongue, such as his sense of taste, had grown more intense and precise.

Actually, it wasn't that he could seen the explanations in that much detail with the 'Eyes of the Dragon'. It was because the explanation that came with Bragi's rune also came with a lot of metaphoric explanations.

The five functions that were lined up were the explanations Tae Ho came up with after analyzing and guessing it.

But it wasn't impossible to guess what the overall ability was. Adenmaha put on a thoughtful face and then smiled brightly.

"This will be really useful. You are saying that your speech will strengthen, right?"

'That's right. You were already a swindler, but you now hold the aptitude of a swindler king.'

Cuchulainn thought of the warriors that were smiling brightly in Idun's residence and then had a silent time of meditation.

But Tae Ho shook his head.

"Cuchulainn, I have never lied. I just exaggerated it a bit. Isn't that right, Adenmaha?"

"I will just say that's the case."

Adenmaha evaded Tae Ho's eyes as if she couldn't agree to his words.

'Fine. Whatever the case, it will effective in gathering more warriors to Idun's legion. Now, sing.'

"He-here? Without any chorus?"

'Now you are acting like a pro. Just sing.'

"Dugun dugun."

The last one that put the effect was Adenmaha. It seemed like she was really looking forward to it, for her eyes were shining.

"Le-let's pass this one for now. Let's investigate the other things. Um, like the one that gives more trust to the adversary and makes them feel better?"

Cuchulainn continued speaking as if he didn't really want to hear Tae Ho singing that much.

'Precisely speaking, it's more like controlling. Should I call it as oratorical talent? Let's test it on Adenmaha.'

"Me?"

'Right, you. Say something to her. Let's see how she reacts.'

Tae Ho looked at Adenmaha at Cuchulainn's urge and her eyes were shining expectantly.

What should he say?

Tae Ho thought for a moment but decided to say anything. In the first place, they were testing the effects of the rune, so there was no need to say anything cool.

"Hm hm. Adenmaha."

"Yes."

Adenmaha answered gently and looked at Tae Ho. Tae Ho felt the pressure and opened his mouth.

"Yo! You are really beautiful! You are just like a flower!"

His voice was split because of the nervousness, and the words he chose were also cheesy. Surely enough, Cuchulainn started to scream.

'Kuaaaaaaaaaaagh! Painful. Too painful! Hey, how can you say something like that among all the things you could have said?!'

Cuchulainn kept criticizing him but suddenly shut his mouth unconsciously. It was because the reaction of Adenmaha wasn't normal.

"Re-really? Ehehe."

Adenmaha, who'd became red like a tomato, looked down as if she was embarrassed and kept laughing sillily. It seemed like she was trying not to laugh too much like a fool, but thanks to that, one could see that she was dying of happiness.

"It....does have an effect."

Tae Ho spoke in a bewildered state. It was because he also thought that his words were a mess. For the effects to be this good....

'No, she doesn't count. It's null. Think about it. There's no way she can be used as a test.'

Because she was really blinded by affection.

Cuchulainn felt stuffed alone and then held back Tae Ho that wanted to say a few more words.

'Hey, let's go out. You can finish the test later. Was he called Heimstream? The chief of the Vanir should be waiting for you'

It was a reasonable thing. It wasn't easy to imagine Heimstream waiting until Tae Ho got out, but whatever the case, Tae Ho had to go out for their meeting to come to an end.

If one also thought about Hildegarde and her group waiting outside, they had to hurry.

'Perhaps, there's a commotion because of Adenmaha.'

She had, after all, disappeared without warning.

It wasn't the time to be testing things just like Cuchulainn had said. Because of that, Tae Ho nodded and stood up.

"Tch."

Adenmaha pouted as if it was regretful, but there wasn't anything that could be done.

Cuchulainn laughed.

'You can test it as much as you want in the residence so don't feel regretful. Let's hurry, anyways.'

"Wait a moment. We should take all the things we have to."

Tae Ho interrupted Cuchulainn this time. Cuchulainn and Adenmaha asked at the same time.

'What?'

"What?"

Things they should take. Wasn't this the end as they had received Idun's and Bragi's rune?

Tae Ho clicked his tongue and opened his arms widely. He pointed at the white gold colored weapons that were close to him and said.

"The legacy of the legion."

The weapons his seniors had left. They would be given to his juniors.

Tae Ho activated the ''Warrior that had a Valkyrie Meet Him' and mobilized all the Valkyries, excluding Freya, to retrieve the scattered weapons.

-

"It took longer than I expected."

< Episode 34 - Vanaheim (3) > End

TL note: Thanks for reading~