Chapter 30 - Confrontation

She said her words softly enough that only Hati and anyone listening in with soul sense could hear them, which wasn't hard as most people were focussing on the fight. 

But, as Sif had done with their house, Mia also made sure to maintain an isolation barrier around her house. This privilege was reserved for only the most powerful or influential individuals, of course.

So the only people who heard her words were Hati, Erik and Mia. And the last two really didn't care about Garth's brain malfunctions. Mia even applauded Luna for her efforts. Hati heard her words and couldn't help but chuckle as he thought, 'Well, she hasn't changed. Although, she really doesn't seem to remember me.' 

At that thought, he felt a pain in his heart while wondering if he would be the only one to remember their time on Earth. Something that seemed like a cruel fate to him.

There was also a possibility that she simply didn't want anything to do with him in this second life now that her half of the pride shard seemed to have returned to her. After all, Hati still had some doubts about whether she actually loved him or if it was all the feelings forced upon her by the pride shard.

But the Luna he remembered wasn't stupid enough to just ignore their past despite the suspicious circumstances behind their reincarnation. In fact, she probably would have wanted revenge by dominating him instead, something that would have been easier if she first pretended to love him.

Regardless, he still had one more test to perform to make sure she actually didn't remember him and wasn't just acting to hide their past from Mia and Erik. For this test, he needed physical contact.

So he extended his hand in a cupping motion with the intention of kissing her hand while saying, "My name is Hati Fenrir. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Luna. I'm sure my maid will be gentle with your toy."

As they talked, the sounds of fighting behind Hati were still going on, with neither Garth nor Astrid willing to give in in an inch. Truly, their respective zealotry towards Luna and Hati was praiseworthy.

Luna grinned and looked amused as she said, "You seem interesting, Hati Fenrir." Her expression then became much harsher before she continued, "But why would you think an unawakened mortal would have the right to touch me without kneeling?"

At these words, Hati looked surprised and thought, 'She's unwilling to touch me? I thought for sure she wou- ugh.'

Suddenly, he groaned as he felt a tsunami of intrusive thoughts worm their way into his brain, all of them about somehow submitting and kneeling before Luna. The urge to obey those thoughts existed for a millisecond before his pride and his own willpower combined to squash that urge.

He frowned and looked at Luna's face, which had an arrogant smirk plastered on it. 'She can project her ability without physical touch now? 

I guess becoming an Einherjar positively affected her pride shard, just like it did for my mother's sloth shard. It's also more potent than in the past, but it seems I can still resist it without much trouble.'

The ability Luna gained from her pride shard was to transmit a stream of powerful, intrusive thoughts that would overwhelm the target and urge them to obey those thoughts. 

Usually, the target wouldn't even realise they weren't their own thoughts, causing their regular thinking to be slowly affected as well after prolonged exposure. Of course, the long-term benefits were largely negated if the target knew how Luna's ability worked, as they would be aware those intrusive thoughts weren't their own.

But even if they knew, the immediate urge to obey those thoughts would remain. Luckily, Hati could resist both her ability's long and short-term effects. Partly because of his own willpower but primarily because of his pride shard.

Regardless, this confirmed for him that she had no memories of their time on Earth. After all, even if original Luna had wanted to see if her ability could affect him now, she would have also used it to send a message no one else could hear.

But since she didn't, and he also couldn't think of a reason why she would continue to pretend she had no memories of Earth, he could only conclude that she really didn't have those memories.

He felt a sting at that realisation but decided to think about it later as he looked at Luna's face grow increasingly serious as she realised her ability did not affect Hati. As they kept staring into each other's eyes, Hati with a calm sadness and Luna with both seriousness and frustration, they were snapped out of it by a shout from behind Hati.

"A worthless maid dares attack young master Garth?! Prepare for death, maid!"

Although it may have seemed longer, the fight between Astrid and Garth and the confrontation between Luna and Hati lasted less than a minute, which was more than enough time for their escorts to start closing in. 

When Hati ran off earlier, his family decided to let him be as they didn't see any harm in it. They could get answers about how he knew Luna later. Of course, Mia was less agreeable, but with Erik there, she had no choice but to stay put. They could still closely monitor the situation with their soul sense.

Only when Astrid and Garth started fighting did they rush in to contain the situation. Unfortunately, Garth's protector, Ignmar, was much closer and reached the battle site first, despite only being a third-revolution Einherjar.

His first instinct was naturally to protect his young master and punish the uppity maid. He pulled Garth away from the battle and immediately launched a devastating attack on Astrid. The nails on his right hand grew into claws while lightning danced on them as his now-clawed hand neared Astrid's face.

Astrid had no defence against this. She hadn't even passed the first revolution yet, so she was helpless to defend herself against a third-revolution Einherjar. She closed her eyes and prepared for the inevitable, saddened that her journey with Hati had barely even begun.

Hati yelled, "ASTRID!" while immediately regretting his previous impulsive actions. He had the foresight to ensure Astrid was the defending party, but he hadn't counted on the escort going in for the kill straight away. To be honest, Luna had always been better at planning than him.

As Hati lamented his weakness and shot a quiet prayer for Astrid's survival to Gods he didn't believe in, Ingmar's claws were already centimetres away from Astrid's face before he was suddenly crushed into the ground.

Immediately after, Erik, Leif and Mia appeared from the crowd while Sif came down from the air. When she saw Astrid was in immediate danger, she used her soul element of wind to fly a short distance and blast Ingmar into the ground, probably saving Astrid's life.

Leif was livid as he adopted the stern personality of a patriarch. His prank-loving, slightly silly personality was only for his family, after all. "Ingmar Fenrir, you insignificant welp! Do you think you have the authority to punish anyone when both the patriarch and an elder are here?! Know. Your. Place!"

Ingmar was heavily wounded from Sif's fourth-revolution blast, but he managed to gather himself and got up in a kneeling position as he begged for forgiveness, 

"P- Patriarch, I apologise. I lost my cool when I saw a mere maid fighting against my ward. Since- Since she is just a maid, I didn't think it was a big deal to immediately carry out the obvious punishment."

Still livid, Leif schooled the man, "And who told you this was the obvious punishment, you worthless cur?! First of all, this maid came here with ME, which means if anyone is going to punish her, it will be me or her immediate master, my nephew. Not some insignificant little third-revolution trash!"

This wasn't even about Astrid anymore. He liked the little girl just fine but usually wouldn't lash out this hard over her well-being. The problem is that he felt his authority was being challenged, which was unacceptable as a patriarch.

"Second of all, Elder Erik and Lady Mia were both monitoring the situation, and it was Garth who threw the first punch. As an officially appointed protector, Astrid had every right to defend her master from harm, even from a fellow member of the Fenrir clan."

This information shocked Ingmar and several people around them, causing Ingmar to question this, "P- Protector?! An enslaved person cannot be a protector!"

Protectors were people with slightly more authority than others in the clan and were generally appointed to protect important clan members who might have trouble defending themselves.

Putting his heel on Ingmar's head, Leif pushed his face into the ground, "And that is why I am the patriarch, and you are a nobody. Nothing in the rules prevents a patriarch from assigning an enslaved person as the protector of one of his family members. The only qualification is whether or not the patriarch trusts that person."

Leif looked at Astrid, who was currently being hugged by Hati, and said, "Astrid, take out the thing in that ring I gave Hati this morning." Astrid looked confused but quietly obeyed as a medallion with a silver wolf's head appeared in her hand.

Leif took his foot off Ingmar's head and said, "As you can see, she possesses the proper authorisation. This matter is hereby finished. Ingmar, you will present yourself to the Vekters[1] tomorrow morning for punishment."

Thoroughly humiliated, Ingmar hobbled off to lick his wounds. At the same time, Garth had long since stopped caring about any of this and was currently talking with, aka worshipping, Luna, who had also stopped caring about the situation.

Meanwhile, Hati was comforting Astrid as he gained a whole new appreciation for his uncle. Turns out, Leif had prepared the protector position beforehand as a cautionary measure. 

But instead of determining whether Astrid is trustworthy, he let Hati decide by offering him the ring and telling him to give it to Astrid if he trusts her. 

However, he didn't say anything because he would have preferred no one knew he had appointed a slave as a protector. It wasn't against the rules, but the elders might decide to change that if this became known. Of course, it was a moot point now.

Leif made Hati think of himself back on Earth, and he was longing for the power to act so dominantly again.

[1] Vekters were like the Scandinavian police back in the Middle Ages. I've simply turned them in to the Fenrir clan's disciplinary department.