Episode 34/Chapter 4: Vanaheim (4)

TL: Tsubak

ED: Julsmul

"It took longer than I thought."

Tae Ho flinched at the voice that he heard when he got out of the space door.

Fortunately enough, Heimstream wasn't just dumbfoundedly looking at the space door.

He was inspecting some books and documents while sitting in a big table next to it. If one just looked at him, it looked like he was investigating something.

"I'm sorry. Displaying etiquette towards my seniors took longer than I expected."

Tae Ho hurriedly apologized. Those were common words, but the only thing in common was the contents. Heimstream placed his eyes off the documents the moment he heard Tae Ho's words and then looked at him. His face then drew a smile.

"It seems like you put your hands on Bragi's rune."

Because the strength behind his words were different. Tae Ho's words now had the power to move a person's heart.

"It's a rune that will bring danger if held by a weak person. The power of words is that strong."

'In that case, it seems like disaster will soon befall the Nine Realms.'

It was when Cuchulainn clicked his tongue and criticized that Adenmaha, who'd left the space door a bit later than Tae Ho, glanced at Tae Ho and Heimstream and then hit her chest twice.

"Idun's Valkyrie, Adenmaha, greets the chief of the Vanir."

The movements of Adenmaha and eyes were graceful and beautiful; however, Heimstream didn't look interested in the external appearances, but in another thing.

"For a Goddess of the Tuatha De Danann to have become a Valkyrie of Asgard. How marvelous."

It seemed like his words were close to mumbling to himself, so Adenmaha pretended not to have heard it.

It seemed like Heimstream also liked that, and he laughed in a low tone. He then sat in his chair and said,

"The space door shook for a moment, but it seems like you called your Valkyrie. Hm. What an interesting saga."

Heimstream was looking at the air and not at Tae Ho. The place Tae Ho had been in was a place that was being maintained by Heimstream's magic. Because of that, Heimstream could know what had happened in the trace of the Great War.

"Is it a saga that recreates fake Valkyries that have a deep connection with you and can call for a real one when they are close? Although it will only work when you register them, it seems like it will be quite useful. On top of that, it's a saga that can be greatly abused like Bragi's rune, so it's a saga that not just anyone should learn."

'Ahh, I understand. So you are the disaster of the Valkyries.'

Cuchulainn received Heimstream's words. Meanwhile, Heimstream used some magic while waving his hand a few times and then frowned.

"The name of the saga...'The Warrior that had a Valkyrie Meet Him?"

It was a voice layered with astonishment. Tae Ho flinched once again and Adenmaha did the same.

"Just what do you have to do for a saga like this to get created?"

He didn't speak alone this time. Heimstream was looking at Tae Ho right now.

'Yeah. It is marvelous indeed.'

A saga wasn't made out of nothing. There had to be an origin and a transmission for a saga to be created.

So that meant that for the saga 'The Warrior that had a Valkyrie Meet Him' to be made, a similar story had to have happened.

Tae Ho received Heimstream's curious and perplexed eyes and replied calmly,

"It's thanks to the representative Valkyrie of my legion. She took care of me a lot after I first entered Valhalla."

Whatever Tae Ho was feeling right now, his words that came out through his tongue that had Bragi's rune engraved were good to hear and trustworthy.

But his adversary was the chief of the Vanir. Heimstream smacked his lips a few times as if reviewing what Tae Ho had just said and then nodded.

"If it's Idun's representative Valkyrie, it should be Heda."

"Do you know her?"

Tae Ho was the one to get surprised this time. Heimstream didn't miss the joy in Tae Ho's voice and smiled.

"A bit. There are merely ten representative Valkyries in Valhalla, and in addition, she's the youngest representative Valkyrie. There are a lot of reasons to remember her."

The Valkyrie that had protected Idun's legion alone for a long time.

The last survivor of Idun's legion.

Heimstream remembered the day Idun's legion suffered devastating losses.

He couldn't forget Heda who had faced the gruesome, devastated lands alone.

Originally, Idun's legion was a legion that shouldn't have existed. It was because Odin had decided to disband Idun's legion, as it wasn't able to work as a legion anymore.

But Idun's legion wasn't disbanded. That was the result of Heda supplicating Odin, believing she would protect it.

'And in the end, it resurrected.'

For the day that the commander of Idun's legion came to this place to retrieve Idun's and Bragi's legacy had actually come true.

Heda, who'd been but a small girl, would have matured as a beautiful woman. Heimstream imagined that for a moment and looked at Tae Ho once again. He said what he just remembered.

"Idun's commander. What do you think a saga is?"

"It's a magic of Asgard that recreates the story of a warrior and the several thoughts, beliefs, and strength other people have in it."

Tae Ho answered reflexively. It was because he had heard that several times from Heda and Ragnar. However, Heimstream put on a vague smile instead of saying that he was right.

"Right. It is normally told like that. If you ask the warriors of Valhalla, two or three will answer like that. And the remaining seven or eight would say that they didn't know."

Tae Ho nodded unconsciously, and it was the same for Adenmaha.

Because those were the warriors of Valhalla.

Heimstream spoke with a light joke and continued by saying,

"The power of magic...it's both wrong and right. The magic Asgard currently uses, and the magic our race has developed, both have a long history behind them. The order and system are also clear, and the theory is also right. But it's a bit different for the saga."

The magic of the Vanir was certainly mystical, but it had a clear theory behind it. It was an exact science like math where adding one plus one would give someone a two.

"The one that made the sagas isn't Odin nor Freya nor even me. The sagas weren't made by the Gods of Asgard.....it's a shared strength that the entire Asgard possesses."

It was different to magic. In the first place, the origin of it was a different strength.

"Idun's commander, why do you think the warriors of Asgard and the Nine Realms all use a different strength? Is it to have a peculiarity of themselves?"

Asgard had the sagas, and there was the geass and the sentence of the Milesians in Erin.

"Just like you said...It's because of the shared strength each world has."

"That's right. Because of that, it's impossible to use the power of another world in general. Why can't the warriors of Valhalla use the sentence of the Milesians or the geass? They would be able to grow much stronger if they did. And it's the same for the 'task' of Olympus and the 'energy' in the Temple."

There was no warrior of Valhalla that used the 'task' that was the power of Olympus.

And martial arts that utilized 'energy' also didn't exist.

"The reason is simple. It's not that they don't use it willingly but because they physically can't. Right, Cuchulainn?"

As soon as Heimstream finished speaking, Cuchulainn materialized next to Tae Ho. Just like the cave of Scathach was her magical territory, this place was Heimstream's magical region.

"It's been a while."

"It has, Prince of Light. I'm a bit disappointed, as you didn't greet me since the beginning."

"I am doing it now."

Cuchulainn smiled bitterly and expressed etiquette. Heimstream nodded and then kept talking to Tae Ho.

"A warrior being able to use the power of another world is a really special one. It's not that it's completely unheard of, but it also doesn't happen frequently. But you are really special even among them, as you are using the power of Asgard and Erin at the same time."

Cuchulainn had fought with the warriors of Asgard in the Great War, but he couldn't use the sagas.

It was the same for Ragnar. He was bright on the power of Erin to the point he had warned Tae Ho about the danger of the geass, but in the end, he couldn't use the sentence of the Milesians or the power of Erin.

But of course, it wasn't that it was completely impossible. Not being able to use it in general meant that there were special exceptions. Even with the geass, one needed to pay a great price for it, as its magical property was really strong, but it was possible to use it.

And there were more special cases that could use the power of a foreign world even without paying that price.

"I don't know if you have already heard this from Heda, but there are warriors that came to Valhalla from another world. They were all able to use the sagas, and that is because the world allowed them to do so."

The saga was an innate strength the world had. It was a power that was granted only to the ones that lived in that world. Because of that, the world was able to allow the usage of that strength.

"Cuchulainn, why did you choose the commander of Idun as the successor of Erin?"

"Because he is indeed the successor of Erin."

"Is it not because only Tae Ho could become the successor among the warriors of Valhalla?"

"Is it that different?"

"What a warrior-like reply."

Heimstream laughed like a magician.

"Idun's commander. You are special. Even if we bring warriors of another world forcefully, they won't be able to become like you. There's a high probability they won't merely be able to use the power of different worlds at the same time but also won't even be able to use the sagas. That's because they haven't been chosen by the world, since we'd have brought them forcefully."

Tae Ho remembered what he and Hildegarde had talked about when he met her again in the night banquet.

Odin and Freya weren't the ones that chose who they brought from the mortal world. Perhaps, the will of the world may have really chosen Tae Ho just like Heimstream had said.

"What I'm trying to say is that you are special. You are someone that has been chosen by the world."

"Is that not the result of nonsense and gibberish?"

As Cuchulainn butted in, Heimstream laughed once again.

"I got busted. Right, if we return to the beginning of the story....the sagas are a shared power of the world. That's why they don't have a fixed rule as the Gods or humans think. Only a similar rule exists."

The reason Heimstream had stated this wasn't to say that Tae Ho was special.

"You may have already heard this from your teacher, Ragnar, but there's no need to limit your sagas yourself. The power of your sagas, your story, will always be able to reach further."

What would happen if you tried to recreate the 'Warrior that had a Valkyrie Meet Him' with magic? You would need a really, really huge-scaled magic for it.

But it wasn't like that for the saga. Perhaps, it may be able to develop even more.

"This is all I wanted to say including the gibberish nonsense. But Idun's commander. Don't you need more pockets? There would have been so many weapons to put it all inside of Unnir."

"I'm fine. I retrieved all of them."

Heimstream blinked as Tae Ho smiled and answered him and then he understood his words.

"The power of a saga is really incredible."

He laughed pleasingly and stood up.

"Send my greetings to Freya and the current Idun."

"I will."

Tae Ho fixed his posture. It seemed like Heimstream had grown to like Tae Ho, and he hit his chest twice with a good mood.

"For Asgard and the Nine Realms."

"For Asgard and the Nine Realms."

Tae Ho left Heimstream's room after he finished greeting him.

-

"Hua. I thought like I would die out of breath."

As soon as the big door, which resembled a gate, slammed shut, Adenmaha let out a sigh of relief. She didn't end there and then slightly pulled on Tae Ho's arm.

"It seems like all the great magicians are weird and cranky."

'Hey. Are you talking about Master right now?'

Cuchulainn spoke with sharp eyes, but unfortunately, Adenmaha wasn't grabbing Gae Bolg right now.

Because of that, she hummed a bit more and talked ill about Scathach a bit more. It was because one could even curse the king when he wasn't present.

"Uh.....Master?"

"Ah, sorry. I had something to think about."

Adenmaha let out a sigh of relief because she had thought that it bothered Tae Ho that she had spoken ill about Scathach. On the other hand, Tae Ho fell into his thoughts once again.

It was because a worry he had from a long time had surged up, although he didn't say it out loud.

Tae Ho's comrades.

More specifically, the professional gamers that he played Dark Age with instead of the warriors of Valhalla.

They hadn't said that it was a shared power of the world like Heimstream, but he had already heard from Heda and Ragnar that they probably won't be able to use the sagas even if they brought people from another world.

But he still couldn't erase his uneasiness.

Because Heda's and Ragnar's words were merely a guess.

What Tae Ho was worried about wasn't that another pro-gamer would appear in Valhalla to take away his specialness. What Tae Ho worried about was rather the pro-gamers themselves.

It would be a big problem to bring them, who were living good lives, to test something.

To enter Valhalla, one had to first die.

In addition, what would happen to their lives if they couldn't use the sagas when they were brought to Valhalla? Would they get taken back to the underworld of Tae Ho's world, or would they get thrown to Niflheim, the otherworld of Asgard?

'That wouldn't happen.'

It didn't seem like Odin or Freya didn't know something that Heimstream did. In addition, even if he didn't know Odin, he had met Freya several times. It didn't seem like she would casually do something that cruel.

Tae Ho calmed himself and thought of another thing. It was because he'd formed a new doubt after listening to Heimstream's story.

Asgard's saga, Erin's geass, and the sentence of the Milesians, Olympus's task, the energy of the Temple.

Then, what was the power of the world Tae Ho grew up in?

'It wouldn't be something like science, right?'

There was magic that could be compared to science in Asgard and also in Erin and Olympus.

'Let's think about it slowly.'

It wasn't a problem that would get solved by thinking about it. Tae Ho grew resoluted and then stroked Adenmaha's head that was looking at him with worried eyes.

"Anyways, let's go, our good and pretty Adenmaha."

"Uh, it's a humph."

Adenmaha snorted like always, but she failed this time. Tae Ho felt like he had heard a melting voice and then spoke to Cuchulainn excitedly.

"Isn't the effect really great? I should also use it on Heda."

'What should I say? What's the reasoning for using it on an adversary if you can't check the effect of the rune? You aren't confident?'

Tae Ho took Adenmaha and got out of the palace while hearing Cuchulainn's rebuke. The first one that greeted them was certainly Hildegarde.

"Did you come?"

"Yes. I'm sorry to have made you wait for too long."

"How can that be? Let's ride the carriage. I will lead you to your lodging."

She replied skillfully and then glanced at Adenmaha and said something to the Valkyrie that was near her. It seemed like they had started to search the surroundings as Adenmaha had suddenly disappeared.

Tae Ho took Adenmaha, who was still trying to snort, and then got on the carriage. But it was then that Tae Ho turned his eyes unconsciously. It was because a strong urge that couldn't be explained made him do that.

The direction which pulled at Tae Ho's attention-

The front lines of Asgard lay in that place.

< Episode 34 - Vanaheim (4) > End

TL note: Thanks for reading~