Heda closed and opened her eyes once.
It didn't change. There wasn't only one or two big warriors in front of her, there were five of them.
Tae Ho didn't know, but actually Valhalla didn't take in warriors every day. At least once in a few days or at most once in a day.
As a warrior's soul entered the souls resting room at the entrance of Valhalla, it fell asleep until it's turn so that it wouldn't notice the passage of time.
Whatever the case, the important thing was that they gathered the warriors and received them at once.
It was different for popular legions like Odin's or Thor's legion and it depended on the situation in Midgard, but there were times that they received hundreds of warriors at once.
Because of that, five warriors wasn't that big of a number. You could say that it was rather low.
But everything depended on who you were talking about.
Five was a big number for Idun's legion as it reached a record of 500%!
In addition, the time they gathered warriors this time was short. As Heda looked at her surroundings she noticed that the number of warriors that entered the other legions only amounted to ten.
Five people
Ohh five people!
It was different to when Tae Ho entered. She could be calm with Tae Ho as it was the first time someone entered Idun's legion since the Great War and was a really unexpected thing.
But this time, she was somewhat looking for it and the results were more than she had thought of, so her mouth dropped open unconsciously.
If she had a tail, she would be waving it really quickly. Heda forced down her urge to jump everywhere and said calmly.
"Wait a moment I will check your names."
Heda opened the pocket that was hanging on her waist and then spread the list as if it was something she usually did.
'There are, there are!'
The names of five warriors were really listed on it.
"Um, right. Yeah. But I will still check your names just in case. Answer me if I call out your name."
Heda called out the name of each of them and every time, the warriors answered with a loud voice.
But it was when Heda finished naming the five of them.
"The most beautiful Valkyrie."
"The prettiest Valkyrie in Valhalla."
"The Valkyrie that is prettier than even a Goddess!"
The warriors called out to Heda with their own methods.
Heda cleared her throat at the embarrassing but nice to hear nicknames and then asked after flushing.
"Um....what? Do you have anything you want to ask? Ah, I'm Heda. Called me that way."
For her to be the prettiest Valkyrie in Valhalla. Was Tae Ho the one that spread the rumors? And just what was the Valkyrie that is prettier than even a Goddess? Tae Ho wouldn't have been able to meet that many Goddesses. Or was he talking about Freya, the Goddess of beauty and magic?
'Tae Ho, you too.'
He is so childish.
It was when Heda was twisting her body and thinking about Tae Ho.
One of the warriors that looked at each other raised his hand and asked.
"Valkyrie Heda. Where's the ship of our legion?"
"Huh?"
As Heda asked back unconsciously, another warrior asked while his eyes shone.
"Idun's warrior said that we had a really big and cool ship."
"Right, right. It was a luxurious ship that was adorned in gold."
"It was a cool ship that could carry hundreds of people. It could even fly on the sky."
It seemed like they were talking about the flying pirate ship.
But that wasn't the important thing. The important thing was that the warriors were looking at her with eyes filled with expectation. In addition, one of them looked at the wooden boat that was behind her and Heda felt like she could listen to his thoughts.
That wooden boat shouldn't be it, right?
Ey, no way.
Idun's legion wasn't a place that kids played war at.
"Uh.....so..."
Heda felt cold sweat dripping from her back. Tae Ho could come up boldly as nothing, but the situation was different this time. There were too many things the warriors had heard before entering the legion compared to Tae Ho that didn't know anything.
'Tae Ho!'
Just know he was the subject of affection but now he was the subject of resentment. How could he lie like that and how would he take care of it?
"Will you wait for a moment?"
She had to first put off the urgent fire. Even if she came up confidently as Tae Ho- no, as boldly as him, the wooden boat in front of her was too small to carry all five warriors. She couldn't make repeated trips while leaving the warriors standing on the dock so she had to come up with something.
Heda hurriedly drew a rune in the air and threw a white feather to the air. And then, the white feather transformed into a beautiful owl and started to fly towards the residence of Idun.
"Just a moment, a moment."
The simple warriors didn't doubt that Heda's reaction was suspicious but rather let out sighs of exclamation while checking their surroundings. As she heard the stories in between, it seemed like their expectation towards the residence was great.
'What do I do?'
That tens of Valkyries prepared delicious and luxurious meals everyday. Just what kind of residence was he talking about?!
Heda pressed her mouth shut to hide her anxiousness and then looked at the direction the owl flew at. A reaction returned when the ships of the other legions started to leave one by one.
"Heda, what's wrong?"
Adenmaha, that appeared as a sea serpent, transformed back into the shape of a Goddess and landed on the dock. The warriors clapped, enjoying the flashy transformation.
Heda said.
"They are new warriors that entered the legion. I forgot about the number of warriors and brought a small ship. That's why I would appreciate it if you could help."
Compared to Heda's leisurely words, she sent an earnest gaze and Adenmaha that was fast to catch on things just nodded slowly instead of breaking the atmosphere by saying things like 'only a small boat? Our legion only has that boat.'
"Well.....it's unavoidable."
'Thank you! I really appreciate it!'
Heda moved here mouth and sent a gaze filled with thankfulness and Adenmaha snorted like always and then jumped back into the water and transformed into a sea serpent.
"Two will get on the boat with me and the remaining three will ride on Adenmaha."
"Ohh!"
"Ohhhhh!"
The greatly moved warriors discussed about who would ride on Adenmaha, but the one that had the final decision was none other than her. Adenmaha picked three warriors that seemed to be the lightest and the ones that weren't picked put on depressed faces and got on the wooden boat.
"Hmhm. Does someone want to smoke?"
Heda departed from the dock and then asked after taking out the cigarette. Compared to Tae Ho, all of them wanted to smoke it but there was only one cigarette.
Heda told them to smoke it in turns and then gave it to the warrior closest to her. Heda could hide that she had coughed out the smoke because the warriors were fighting on who would smoke it first.
Heda fixed her posture to sit more comfortably and then looked at the warriors smoking the cigarette with a satisfied expression but then worry filled their faces.
"What's wrong? Are you hurt? Or is it cold?"
As Adenmaha asked the warrior that was riding on her, the handsome warrior that had a long beard shook his head.
"That's not it. I'm just moved. One of the reasons is because I entered Valhalla but the main reason is because I also became a warrior that rides on Valkyries, right?"
So he was trembling because he was happy.
The warriors that were sitting behind the bearded warrior cheered.
"Ohh! Warriors that rides on Valkyries!"
"Me too!"
"Do you want to get beaten? Do you still want to spout nonsense? I will turn over."
The last one was Adenmaha and the warrior that received the gaze of a sea serpent directly could only shut their mouths and shrink down.
it was poor to see the dispirited warriors but Heda ended up laughing unconsciously. The warriors that were riding on the boat asked that Heda.
"I heard that Idun's legion possesses the best food in Valhalla and that it's not from this world. Is that true?"
"As it's food from Valhalla, it's already not from this world right?"
"No, I also heard that it's the most delicious in Valhalla."
"Right, right. I also heard that."
The warriors talked among themselves and brought out topics to speak about.
"I also heard that there are beauties that are comparable to Valkyries."
"Is that the only thing? Ragnar Lodbrok. I also heard that the king of the vikings is residing in Idun's residence."
"Ohh Ragnar! Ragnar Lodbrok!"
"There are also strong and cool Shinsoos."
The warriors put on shining expressions again. The warrior that was closest to Heda asked her with shining eyes.
"I'm really expecting going towards the residence."
"Yeah."
Heda clenched her fists unconsciously and drew a smile.
&
"Heda told me that you will pay for it."
The day after the warriors arrived at the residence.
Adenmaha got summoned by Tae Ho and clicked her tongue.
"You should have held yourself in the exaggeration, how could you make up things?"
Adenmaha got summoned to a small cabin inside the flying pirate ship. It was carrying all hundred warriors of Valhalla but it had still surpassed the limit even though the ship had increased to its maximum size.
Because of that Adenmaha's shoulder was touching with Tae Ho's. Tae Ho shook his hands and said:
"Ey, when did I make up things? There's you and Heda in the residence. And also captain Siri and Scathach-nim."
The part that Idun's residence was a place that beauties stayed at in Valhalla wasn't made up. Although he did exaggerate the numbers a bit.
"Hmhm."
Adenmaha snorted like a always as if she was happy that she got named. Tae Ho snickered and continued speaking.
"In addition, master Ragnar really is there."
If it were the strong and cool Shinsoos he had Adenmaha, McLaren, Rolo and his wives.
"What about the food?"
"If it's the food Heda made, then it's the most delicious in the whole world. You also eat it everyday so why don't you know? Ah, I want to eat food made by Heda."
"Ah, yes. How infalible."
Adenmaha said with lukewarm eyes and Tae Ho relaxed his body a bit.
"So new warriors really entered our legion."
It was the result of some months of publicizing.
He thought that it wasn't completely proper to be happy as you had to die first to enter Valhalla, but whatever the case it was true that he was happy.
"They said they were warriors that died against the battle with the fomoires. They all fought valiantly because they believed that they could go to Valhalla."
"Mm."
Listening to it, it seemed like they were the warriors that had died in the recent battle against the fomoires.
'So this was what master Ragnar spoke about?'
The warriors of Midgard knew that Valhalla existed. Because of that they thought that it was more important how they died rather than when and they didn't fear death in the battlefield.
But it all had its limits.
If all men wished for a brave death in the battlefield, the world could only become a mess.
The warriors were more specialized in destroying rather than creating. Just who would work the field and make buildings if everyone wanted to become warriors?
If young men threw their lives like nothing, then the heritage of the families would only get cut off.
A world with endless wars was just like hell.
And Odin didn't wish for a world like that.
Because Midgard wasn't a human farm to replenish warriors of Valhalla.
It was a precious world were countless lives grew up.
Ingrid had said that it wasn't good for the warriors of Valhalla to stay in the mortal world for a long time.
It was obvious. The more the humans of Midgard saw the activities of the warriors of Valhalla, they would value the life after death to be more important than their current lives.
Rasgrid hadn't made the warriors stay in the shrine for nothing. Having sent back most of the warriors to Valhalla right after the battle with the fomoires ended was for same reason.
'When the cleanup of the fomoires and the searching of Garmr's soul fragments ends, Valhalla will distance itself with Midgard. We will stop deploying warriors for at least tens of years....or perhaps for dozens of years. The best thing is for the existence of the warriors of Valhalla to stay as legends inside of myths. We are too close to them right now.'
Tae Ho remembered Ragnar's words and nodded. Even Tae Ho, that didn't belong to Midgard, found the current situation to not be normal.
"Ah, and I have something to discuss with you."
Adenmaha, that was looking at Tae Ho thinking by himself, flicked her shoulder and then said.
"The number of warriors will keep increasing from now on so...Heda asked me if I wasn't thinking of becoming a Valkyrie."
"You can become one?"
Because Adenmaha was a Goddess of the Tuatha De Danann.
However she just shrugged as if it was nothing.
"Well, it's not that I can't. And if you look at it with another point of view, it's rather similar."
Valkyries had a low stature but they were still Goddesses. Looking at it from Adenmaha's point of view, that was just a normal Goddess of the Tuatha De Danann, her rank didn't increase or get lower, it was just moving to a side.
"What do you think, master? Would you like it if I became a Valkyrie?"
"I will always welcome it."
Actually in Tae Ho's situation, nothing would change in his life if she became a Valkyrie of Idun but he would gain quite a bit from it if he looked at her battle prowess.
He could strengthen her with the 'warrior that rides on Valkyries' and also register her with the 'warrior that had a Valkyrie meet him'.
"Hmm. I will think about it then."
"Right, I will be waiting for the day I receive a blessing from you."
"Hmph."
Adenmaha's mood became good at Tae Ho's words and then stood up from her place.
"I will be going now."
"Right, tell Heda how I'm doing."
Adenmaha frowned because he kept calling out Heda until the end and then disappeared while snorting.
Tae Ho got left alone in the cabin and started to think.
'Wait a moment. We will reach the mountain ranges of Katon in two days, and new warriors entered today.....'
At least tonight, or tomorrow at night.
Tae Ho fell asleep early and then could face the one he had expected.
"My warrior Tae Ho! There are a lot of things I want to talk to you about!"
The Goddess of youth Idun.
She was more youthful than usual today.
< Episode 30 – The knights of the round table (2) > End