Chapter 90

I whistled contemplatively as Rose finished elaborating on her genius revenge plan.

Across from me, our newest resident Voyalkyrie, seemed far more nervous than she was initially, probably because the plan relies almost entirely upon her unique skill set to even function.

Norse-style magic fencing, huh? This is the first time I've ever heard of it. Or of our Voyalkyrie, here.

I certainly don't recall Rose ever mentioning this girl before in the light novels, which means either this is an entirely original and new thing, or it's a possible spin-off or extra material addition that I never got the chance to read before getting whisked away here.

I've gotten a similar feeling before, so this situation isn't entirely new, but regardless…

Bah! What does it matter now? Extra or entirely original, it's still new in totality to me.

Which means I have to bully this suspiciously smaller Rose-looking Valkyrie. It's the will of me, of course.

Yes, I'm still plenty bitter about her interrupting our moment, even if I can reluctantly admit it was better her than the Valkyrie 'Mean Girl' Squad.

Murder doesn't usually indicate a good time during a date, after all.

Well, now, hold on a minute, this is a different culture, so it could be-

A soft knock or tap to the side of my head sends me blinking back into the present, where Rose is sending me a pointed stare, the hand she just used to knock me upside the head lowering, with the Voyalkyrie somehow looking even more nervous.

"Whatever you're thinking," Rose started before I could even open my mouth, "the answer is no. Most definitely, no."

Damn, got read like an open book. Was I showing anything on my face there, though? Or is Rose developing senses relating to shenanigans now from being around me and Kuroka too much?

Either way, I give Rose an exaggerated pout as I cross my arms and slump a bit.

Rose rolls her eyes, giving me a small, amused smile before she turns to the Voyalkyrie. "As I was saying, Schwertleite? Do you have any questions, comments, or concerns?"

The junior Valkyrie twitched at that, letting out a low breath that didn't seem to relieve her anxiety, "Yes. Several, but unfortunately I don't think we have time to go threw them all…"

Rose gives her an understanding nod. "Then the most important first?"

"I…" the poor girl winces, "I'm not sure I have enough control to pull off what you're asking." She states, completely unsure.

Rose raised an eyebrow. "How many swords can you control at once?"

Huh, swords, plural? At once?

At that, the Voyalkyrie snaps her fingers, causing four Norse magic circles of a similar color to Rose's to appear at her back. From those four circles came swords, all Gate of Babylon style, but instead of shooting out of the circles like rockets, the Viking swords popped out and then proceeded to float behind her, staying in place even as the magic circles disappeared.

Oh. Magic fencing, duh!

After a moment, she adds with a sigh, "Just four right now. If I try to add a fifth, my mind starts getting all jumbled…" she grumbles, seemingly ashamed.

That doesn't last long, however, as Rose suddenly grabs her shoulders, her smile wide, "That's plenty!"

"E-Eh!?" Her junior cries in shock, "But controlling the duplicates! Sure, there are only three, b-but it's still people, not just swords!"

Rose nodded, "True. But! I'll be helping! Together, the two of us can make it work!"

"Ah, well?" Slowly, the girl gives her back an uneasy smile, "O-Okay!"

It feels kind of dickish to bring it up like this, but I still feel the need to offer, just in case.

"You know," I begin, "with some clones and some more transformation, I could do pretty much everything myself." I offer.

Rose turns back towards me, "For the most part, yes." Then she holds up a finger, "Until we get to Valhalla, where Brynhildr would feel out your divinity, even the tiny amounts you and your clones leak whilst using your powers. She's around gods too much not to be sensitive to divinity."

So that's why the only thing I get to do is here, huh?

Now, granted, it's still a really fun thing, but still!

"Fair enough." I clicked my tongue, resigned, before adding, "Though, are you sure you don't want my part, though? Don't you have anything to say to them personally?"

Now at that, Rose frowned, "I…do. And while it would make them mad, it wouldn't make them the right kind of mad we'd need for this to work. So," she nodded to herself, and gave me a resolute stare, "I'm leaving it all up to you!"

I couldn't help the chuckle that left my lips as I reached over and patted her head on head, my silver-haired girl letting out a low whine as I did.

Unfortunately, she bats away my hand with a huff and a pout quickly after, continuing just as quickly, "Alright…let's get this started, then! Schwertleite!"

The Voyalkyrie perks up, "Yes! Ma'am!"

"We're going to head out, watch for them, find a good place to make the swap, and so forth." She then sends me another glance. "Nori."

"Right, right," I wave her off, "I'm on in."

Man, when was the last time I used this? Or have I ever even?

My hands moved far quicker than either could likely see, but I knew exactly what hand seals they were making.

Only three.

Dog. Boar. Ram.

Transformation.

The little curtain area we stood in was abruptly filled with a smoky white cloud, with me as its source.

And when it cleared?

Both girls, despite my telling them it was possible mere minutes ago, couldn't have looked more shocked as they stared my way.

As for myself? Well.

For one, I looked down and couldn't see my feet anymore.

Why? Because there was a ravine of succulent soft titty flesh now blocking my view.

I whistled, "Damn, Rose." But it was distinctly not my voice that was coming out, "How do you see with these things in the way?"

I reached my hands up, but unfortunately, they were completely stopped by Rose darting over and grabbing them.

"Please. Don't." She practically begged, her face a pure, scarlet red.

Begged in the same voice, albeit with a different tone due to emotion, as mine.

Looking forward at her now, I find my eyes meeting hers perfectly as well.

And looking back down? I find myself wearing the same thing she's wearing, too.

Transformation Jutsu is successful.

"Alright~! Fine!" I reply, the first word all cutesy and girly, then all snobbish on the second, with Rose's normally suppressed accent coming out there, for some reason.

I was just playing around, saying stuff in tones I'd never heard Rose in before, just to see what it sounded like.

Also, the way Rose squirmed with embarrassment made me want to do it more, but unfortunately…

I let out a good-natured chuckle and pat Rose on the head, "Alright, alright…go on, you two, I'll be right here. Call me when they're almost here, and we can get this show on the road."

"O-Okay." The Voyalkyrie agreed, still in a state of absolute shock at what she had just witnessed.

Rose eyed me for a second, but that only made her blush more and turn away, her body squirming as she did.

Alright, see, with reactions like that, I've got to do at least one more tease.

So, I lean forward, idly noting the heft of my chest, and peck her on the cheek.

"E-EH!?" Rose promptly full-on shrieks in shock and grabs the Voyalkyrie, "Okaybereadywe'llcallyoubye!"

With that, she makes a mad dash out and away, dragging her poor junior along with her.

I giggle a happy little girlish giggle, although unlike Rose's, my version in her voice is far more mischievous, more cackling.

I sit back down, pick up Rose's sunhat, and set it on my head. It fits nicely and snugly, as it should.

Now then, what shall I do while I wait?

Slowly, my gaze falls upon my transformed chest.

Only to sigh in discontent and shake my head, setting my gaze up and forward once again.

I did it as a joke earlier, so there's no point in groping them now that I'm all alone.

I've never felt Rose's before, see, so they wouldn't feel like hers. Right now, I'm using Kuroka's as a placeholder for that part of her body.

Shame that.

Anyhow, I suppose I'll spend however long I have left to wait rehearsing my lines, so to speak?

I'd say Rose is too nice because she's letting me be the one to smack-talk them.

But then again. She let me be the one to smack-talk them.

Hah~...I almost feel bad for those three.

Almost.

~ A New Sun ~

"Are we theerreee yet, Ort?" Helm nagged, for the umpteenth time since they left.

Grimgerde had to hold in another sigh, instead staring straight ahead, pretending to be unbothered when she wanted to strangle Helm with her overdone hairdo.

"F-For the last time!" Ort, their panicky little friend, for once seemed very close to snapping, "No! No, we are, NO- Oh." She cut herself off before stopping, causing the whole group to stop, before she looked up from the phone she's been staring at the entire way here. "Never mind, it's over there." She pointed, and the two followed with their gazes.

It was Helm that, as usual, reacted first, with a whistle, "Man, not a half bad place at all, huh, Grim?"

Grim simply nodded.

It was nice and out of the way, but not so far out to be an inconvenience to reach, while at the same time seeming nice and modest from the outside at least.

Helm snickered, "Still can't get over the name." She mused aloud.

Ort blushed at the remark, scrambling to put her phone away, the dolt nearly dropping it as she tries to send it away with a small circle.

Grim couldn't help but chuckle. The name of the place is hilarious, after all.

Having finally put her phone away, Ort started randomly adjusting her uniform, likely from nerves. "O-Okay!" She started with a gulp, "Now that we're here, uh…how should we do this?"

Helm turned, looking at the clutz with a raised eyebrow, "We bust down the door and grab her, don't we?"

Grim immediately facepalmed.

Thankfully, Ort had the sense to look appalled. "What!?" She cried, "No! We can't do that! T-The fineesss~!"

Helm's eyes widened almost comically, and she immediately turned a sickly pale. "R-Right, right…okay." She let out a shuddering sigh before asking her, "Grim? Whatcha thinking?"

"Simple." She answers without need for deliberation, "We walk in. Hildr is on the clock today, no? She'll appear at the door, we ask her where she set them at, and then go from there."

None of them have ever even been inside Hildr's workplace before- why would they? So, they have no idea what to expect going in.

Grim nods to herself, continuing, "We'll need Hildr for this, whether we just mess around with them or do something…more. Either way."

Ort nodded, "S-Sounds like a plan!"

Helm groaned, "Ugh. Plans. This doesn't need to be that complicated!"

"W-Walking inside isn't that complicated, though?" Ort uttered, legitimately befuddled.

But she, as usual, was promptly ignored. Helm doesn't do proper logic after all, she's just itching to cause trouble.

"Do you have anything that would let us get in without being forced to take three more jobs to pay off egregious amounts of debt?" Grim countered without even looking Helm's way.

"...No." She replied with a low grumble.

Grim huffed haughtily. "That's what I thought."

"U-Uh…girls?" Ort mumbled in disbelief, her eyes slowly going wide.

But she was ignored again, as Helm whirled on Grim and glared at her.

"Scuse' me bitch, did you say something?" Helm gritted out.

Grim barely looked at her, looked down at her, specifically. Of the three, hilariously, Helm was the shortest.

"Sorry." Grim began, unamused, "I couldn't hear you down there." She tilted down slightly, her ear facing the girl, "Say again?"

"You LITTLE-"

"G-Girls!" Ort interjected, grabbing them both by their shoulders as she shouted.

Helm immediately turned with an aggravated grunt, practically shoving Ort away as she did so. "What!?" She hissed.

"Oh, I apologize."

Each of them froze, absolutely stock still.

That voice…

That wasn't any of theirs. That was the voice of a girl she hadn't heard in some time now.

"If you'd like, I can come back later once you've all sorted out…whatever this is." She continued, completely nonplussed.

Hearing her voice a second time was enough to shock Grim enough to look forward once again, just to make sure. She had to see, had to be sure.

Much like Ort, she found her own eyes widening much the same, as standing merely a dozen or so steps away was her.

The mead hall framed their former squad mate's strikingly beautiful form, her silver hair flowing freely down her back, her body clad in a well-fitting sundress, and her head capped with a wide and long-brimmed sun hat.

It's her, it's definitely her. It looks like her, and a cursory glance with her magical senses allows her to feel that familiar pang of her magic, though constrained tightly, it radiated before them still.

Yet, at the same time…

Rossweisse stood there, her arms behind her back, her body tilted to the side slightly as she looked at them and smiled.

It felt off. So off. Yet Grim couldn't say exactly how it was off.

Of course, the other two didn't pick up on that, or if they did, they certainly didn't show it.

Helm stepped forward immediately, "Nah, nah… it's fine, see, we we're actually trying to figure out how to approach you, but since you came right out to us anyway…" she smirked, widely, "It's settled. Do stay, little Rose."

Rossweisse shrugged, her smile never leaving her face. "Okay." She answered with barely a beat.

Helm blinked, not expecting that response, "U-Uh. Good! Yeah!"

The Rossweisse Helm knew, that they all knew, would have had a far more animated response to seeing them again. Too mocking her new nickname like that. A frown, a professional smile, asking what they want, telling them to leave, literally anything.

Not just…this.

"S-So…" Ort began to speak up, "Where's-"

Only to be cut off entirely, much to the clutz's utter shock.

"Now then." Rossweisse continued abruptly, "Who are you three again?"

Helm staggered back as if struck. "Y-You're kidding, right!?"

"Y-Yeah!" Ort gaped at their former squad member.

Grim gritted her teeth, unable to say anything at this point.

"Oh, right, right, my apologies." She bowed her head slightly, something they were far more familiar with.

"I'm sorry. It's just I don't have time to remember a bunch of losers."

Whatever familiarity that action brought was dashed by her next line in an instant.

"...Excuse me?" Grim finally spoke, muttering in growing outrage.

Helm was glaring daggers at this point, and even Ort had an ugly little frown across her face.

"I do believe you heard me." Rossweisse raised her head back up, her smile still had not left. "You're losers, correct? Am I to assume you've grown deaf as well since I left?" Her gaze snaps toward Grim specifically. "Or is your head too busy being in the roots to hear? I'll tell you right now…" Her smile grows far wider, almost eerily so, "You won't find a boyfriend up there, you kissless virgin troll."

Grim saw red.

"H-Hold it!" Ort suddenly grabbed her, wrapping her arms around her waist, Grim didn't even know she was moving, didn't know she had summoned her spear, and was in the process of firing up a lightning spell that would scour this bitch off the street.

Fortunately, Ort was only one girl, and there were two of them.

"THE FUCK DID YOU JUST CALL MY FRIEND!?" Helm screeched like a Celtic banshee, she didn't draw a weapon or prepare a spell; she just blasted straight for their former squadmate like a bull.

"Hmm…speaking of kissless virgins." Rossweisse mused as Helm charged, looking right at her with a lopsided smile.

"YOU! BITCH!"

She lunged, swinging.

She missed. Rossweisse abruptly appeared right at Helm's back.

Both Grim and Ort's eyes went wide. Teleportation Magic!? It had to be, they didn't see her move! Yet, at the same time, they didn't see a magic circle either!

"Wah? W-Woaaahhh!" Helm nearly fell forward straight onto her nose as her fist passed through the air, and she was forced to come to a screeching halt, hopping several times on one foot, trying to maintain her balance and stay upright.

Rossweisse turned and gave her what amounted to a pat on the back.

The girl fell over like a stack of cards, straight into the dirt.

"Agh! FUCK! My uniform!" Helm whined, enraged.

Rossweisse didn't look impressed, merely raising an eyebrow down at her.

"Pigs stay in the mud and dirt where they belong." She suddenly spoke as though fact, causing Helm to freeze in place, as though struck and encased in ice.

"Y-You…YOU…" Helm began heaving, frothing with a rage neither Grim nor Ort even thought possible.

"Wow." Rossweisse gave her a side eye, "You sure squeal a lot, don't you? No wonder no guy wants to be around you."

"Y-YOU…I-I…" Tears began pricking at the corners of Helm's eyes, her body beginning to violently shudder, as though she couldn't decide between murder or crying.

Ort took a step toward Rossweisse, positively enraged at this point and glaring at their former squadmate, yet still trying to hold back Grim all the same.

"That's enough!" She cried out, furious, "What's the matter with you!?"

Rossweisse turned to Ort, slowly, smile ever unmoving, "Ah… what's the matter with me? The real question you should be asking, pigtails-"

"P-Pigtails!?" Ort cried out, exasperated at Rossweisse, seemingly actually forgetting her name.

Regardless, Rossweisse continued unabated, "-isn't what's wrong with me. It's what's wrong with you." She pointed at Ort specifically, but Grim could tell she was talking to them all.

"After all, I just went on a date." What felt like ice water was dumped on them all at once. They had forgotten, in the heat of the moment, that there was a guy. "Yes, an actual date, and guess who isn't kissless anymore~...!"

She gave them all a cheeky little grin before her gaze focused on Ort.

"I know I was pretty shy when it came to this stuff, but geez," Rose mused wisely, "I can at least see clearly why you can't get a date, pigtails. You couldn't ask a toaster to toast your bread for you, much less ask an actual guy out."

Ort stared. Blankly.

Then, she let Grim go.

"Get her." She spoke plainly.

And for once, Grim couldn't agree more with Ort.

Grim leaped, her spear raised, and pointed straight for Rossweisse's chest. Screw magic, she'll make her bleed the old-fashioned way.

Helm also answered the call, a magic circle spiraling before her fist as she rose to knock her in the back of the head.

There's an insignificantly small part of her that realizes that causing lasting damage wouldn't be a good idea for their careers.

At the same time, though, Grim can't be bothered to care right at this moment.

…Especially when both her spear and Helm's magically enhanced fist pass through the air.

Again.

Ort stands there, eyes wide, unblinking, as Rossweisse leans against her back.

"Hmm," she hums aloud, "not to mention, beyond all else? You three…are pathetically weak." She leans back, her mouth right to Ort's ear, yet all of them could hear her pretty clearly, "I surpassed you all years ago, don't look so surprised. Your attacks don't mean anything; you three don't mean anything."

Ort whirls around, magic circles spinning into existence across her arm as she attempts to swipe at her.

Yet, she couldn't even clear the turn before Rossweisse was gone again, this time further down the road.

Rossweisse merely waved to them, completely unbothered.

All three Valkyries turned her way and charged at her head-on.

Every attack they threw was dodged.

Every spell they slung missed.

Yet each time, Rossweisse slung a verbal barb that struck deep into each of their cores.

And all the while, they never realized that, bit by bit, they were led back to the place they had just come from.

An enormous hall made of pure, glorious gold.

Valhalla.