TL: Tsubak
ED: Julsmul
The Gods for the humans of Midgard were the Aesir.
It was because the King of Gods, Odin, alongside Thor, Heimdall, and all the other Gods that had power in Asgard, belonged to the Aesir.
But it wasn't like that from the start.
Long ago, the Aesir didn't only have the giants as their enemies. Another race of Gods that were called the Vanir confronted the Aesir with the right to rule the divine world.
The war between the Aesir and the Vanir didn't come to a conclusion easily. One of the reasons was because they both had the giants as a common enemy, meaning they couldn't unleash all of their strength, but also because the Vanir weren't easy adversaries for the Aesir.
The Gods of the Aesir, including Odin, were all proficient in battle. It wouldn't be excessive to say that the Aesir were a race specialized in battle.
But compared to them, the Vanir weren't proficient in battle. The number of warriors and their skills couldn't be compared to the Aesir.
But the Vanir had the power of strong magic.
If the Aesir were warriors, then the Vanir were magicians. They lacked strong warriors but had strong magicians.
But of course, it wasn't that the Aesir were ignorant on magic as even the King of Gods, Odin, was a strong magician. Especially, his prowess in magic was so outstanding that there were few Gods among the Vanir that had comparable skills to him.
However, the number of Gods that were proficient in magic was different. The Aesir from back then and the current race had many different points.
The Aesir of that time didn't have strong magical tools like right now. They didn't have Thor, and also didn't have the strongest weapon of Asgard, Mjolnir.
Excluding Odin and a few others, they didn't have resistance towards magic.
The war prolonged.
And at the beginning of the war, the Vanir rather suppressed the Aesir.
But as more time passed, the Aesir grew accustomed to magic. The decisive point was that the Giant of Fire, Loki, who was proficient in magic, became the aide of Odin.
Loki received the good will of Odin even though he was a Giant and became a God of Asgard.
He harassed the Vanir with cowardly and cunning tricks that the simple warriors of the Aesir wouldn't imagine at all.
In addition, the battle prowess of the Aesir increased greatly just by having one more being proficient in magic. The Vanir couldn't overcome the Aesir with their sorcery and magic anymore.
The race of the Aesir had won; however, they couldn't annihilate them or absorb them completely as they still had the common enemy remaining.
Because of that, Odin chose to reconcile with the Vanir and inserted them in Asgard after a long time.
The Vanir that accepted their defeat followed the will of Odin and chose three outstanding Gods among their ranks and sent them to the Aesir as hostages.
And one of them was the Goddess of Magic and Beauty, Freya.
Freya was actually a prisoner of war, but thanks to her outstanding beauty and her character that had a lot of charm, she received a lot of love from the Gods of the Aesir.
In addition, as she was also a great magician that was comparable to Odin, she could become a magic teacher for the Aesir and transmit them to Asgard.
'Simply put, she was a war prisoner but was so outstanding that she rose to the highest ranks of Asgard.'
Cuchulainn stated his opinion bluntly after listening to the long explanation of Hildegarde that was full of praise towards Freya.
'Because Hildegarde is a Valkyrie of Freya.'
Tae Ho just answered inwardly, as Hildegarde was right in front of him.
It was a really obvious thing to say, but the Valkyries showed a really good attitude towards the Gods of their legions.
Ingrid thanked Njord at every meal time, and when Gandur got drunk, she praised Ullr without stop.
'Now that I see, Heda doesn't speak about Idun-nim that much.'
He rather felt that Idun spoke about Heda more.
"-is like this. Did you understand?"
Hildegarde put her face closer to Tae Ho and asked, and he nodded reflexively.
'She said that the current Vanaheim has the role of a magic research center of Asgard.'
Cuchulainn explained quickly as he realized that he hadn't been able to listen to her because he was thinking about other things. Tae Ho thanked Cuchulainn inwardly and nodded once again.
"So that's the case."
"That's right."
Hildegarde smiled brightly with a satisfied expression and pointed at the front.
"Welcome to Vanaheim, the mystical land that magic breathes."
It almost seemed like she had set a timer, for the moment she finished her words, the dense fog cleared up and a big, lush island appeared.
Vanaheim, the land of the Vanir.
'It makes me think of Ulster.'
Cuchulainn said briefly, and Adenmaha, who was sitting behind Tae Ho, looked at Vanaheim with interested eyes.
-
"I'm the defense commander of the port of Vanaheim, Harod. I welcome you, Commander of Idun."
There were dozens of lines where one could leave their ship at in the port of Vanaheim.
However, there were only two places that could station a big ship. In the first place, as Vanaheim had no need to go to battle using ships, they had limited the numbers for defense.
Tae Ho thought of the explanation he had heard from Hildegarde before getting off the ship and posing confidently on the dock. He expressed etiquette.
"Idun's commander greets Harod-nim. Thank you for welcoming us."
The ones living in Vanaheim were the Gods of Vanir, and if one interprets this in a different way, it meant that Harod was also a God.
Still, on that note, then Adenmaha was also a Goddess as she was a Tuatha De Danann and Gandur, who had nasty alcoholic habits, and Ingrid, a well mannered Valkyrie, were also Gods. But there was the difference in status among Gods.
The defense commander of the port of Vanaheim wasn't a low rank by any means. If one just thought of the abilities and simply thought of the role, they could compare him to Heimdall of Asgard, so it was proper to speak politely for Tae Ho.
It seemed like Harod liked Tae Ho's attitude, and he put on a bright smile. That smile suited well with his shining golden armor and white helmet.
'The affiliation feels clearly different from the Aesir.'
The only Aesir Tae Ho knew was Thor, but whatever the case, compared to the strong and manly Thor, Harod in front of him was tall and had broad shoulders but emanated a more feminine-like aura.
That was only when you compared him with Thor, as it was good to call his strength and manliness as being outside the standards.
When Harod fluttered his violet cape and turned around to take the lead, warriors that were wearing golden armor and had magical spears spread to the sides and lined up as if covering the group.
It was a small, flashy escort squad of sorts.
It seemed like Hildegarde really liked Vanaheim's polite welcome, and she smiled brightly while walking next to Tae Ho to lead the warriors of Freya's legion.
"It would have been good if Merlin was also here."
Adenmaha, who followed Tae Ho's back, mumbled in a low voice. It was because she could smell the scent of the strong magic covering the entire Vanaheim.
It seemed like there was also magic even in the most insignificant pebbles.
Harod, who'd been taking the lead, stopped and entered a big road. Several big carriages were seen as if they were prepared beforehand. The animals at the reins weren't cats, but just by looking at their shapes, it was quite similar to what they had seen in the palace of Freya.
The warriors of Valhalla created some distance and then lined up in front of the carriage.
But it was at that moment-
"Oh my."
Adenmaha let out a small exclamation. Tae Ho turned around and saw a unicorn approaching Adenmaha.
The port of Vanaheim gave a weak artificial feeling compared to the ports of humans cities. It was like it was mixed with nature just like the fairy village they saw in Svartalfheim.
The unicorn that had white fur and had no spots was beautiful to whomever saw it. In addition, it's body was amazingly smooth, and it gave an innocent feeling because of its blue and big eyes.
'I heard that it was a creature of Olympus. It's also the first time for me seeing one. They are bad creatures that only let pure, beautiful women ride on their backs.'
Tae Ho listened to Cuchulainn's words and nodded. It was because he had heard several things about them but it was the first time seeing one directly.
It seemed like the unicorn really liked Adenmaha that it approached her while lowering its head and acted affectionately.
The female warriors of Freya's legion that were preparing the carriage smiled at that scene.
Harod frowned because of the delay thanks to the unicorn, but he didn't chase it away. He rather looked at Tae Ho's group as if he was making a guess.
On the other hand, the unicorn placed his head on Adenmahas chest and then slightly bit on her clothes and pulled her to its side.
"Huh? You want me to ride on you?"
It seemed like she had guessed right that the unicorn nodded.
Adenmaha pondered for a moment and then glanced at Tae Ho.
"Right, I should ride on something at times as I always carried people."
But of course, she couldn't become an obstacle to Tae Ho that had to go to Vanaheim with the carriage, so she would only ride on it for a moment or follow the carriage with the unicorn.
Adenmaha hurriedly rose on its back as the unicorn lowered its posture. As she was wearing the clothes of a Valkyrie instead of her usual long skirt, it didn't become an obstacle for her.
But it was at that moment-
As soon as Adenmaha rode on it the eyes of the unicorn changed. Its eyes turned crafty instead of being innocent and then tried to escape somewhere.
The movement of the unicorn was really fast. It was an agility that the warriors of Freya's legion and the warriors of Vanaheim couldn't react to.
But the unicorn which wanted to run suddenly couldn't do so.
It couldn't move after taking two steps as if it had been flash frozen.
Harod opened his eyes sharply and let out a small exclamation. It wasn't magic grabbing it.
The unicorn was standing still and trembling. It couldn't move because of the nasty and overwhelming killing intent currently bombarding it.
"Adenmaha, are you okay?"
Tae Ho approached the blinking Adenmaha that was on top of the unicorn and asked. And only then did she understand what had happened just now.
'So you did learn properly.'
It was one of the Scathach's style techniques he learned in the twentieth floor. It was a technique that restrained a low-level adversary by emanating a strong killing intent, but as it was mixed with the technique of Kalsted, that had the blood of a dragon, he had the skills of a kind of dragon peer.
The reason Cuchulainn was satisfied wasn't only because he had managed to restrain his opponent with killing intent nor because of the completion of the technique.
The only thing Tae Ho's killing intent was restraining was the unicorn. It wasn't leaked even by a little towards the others. Thinking about the property of the killing intent that was easy to disperse to the surroundings, it was a really precise control. The reason Harod grew amazed was also because of that.
Adenmaha jumped down from the unicorn while Cuchulainn was feeling proud. She realized the situation as she looked the eyes of the unicorn that had changed completely, but she rather scolded Tae Ho.
"Why are you reacting so sensitively with a prank made by this guy?"
However, her eyes were smiling. No, her entire face was smiling.
'Her mouth will rip off at this rate.'
Cuchulainn clicked his tongue. On the other hand, Harod, who'd been standing still while the unicorn approached Adenmaha, got closer to Tae Ho and said,
"They are rumored to have bad habits. Forgive me, as it became a test for you. Forgive my rudeness."
He could have stopped the unicorn before, but he had just left it be. In the end, he had just observed how Tae Ho would react.
"It's nothing."
Honestly speaking, it wasn't the he wasn't angry at all, but it wasn't the time to argue about these things. As it were, Adenmaha had acted on her own.
Harod smiled once again at Tae Ho's open-minded reaction.
"I sincerely welcome you to Vanaheim."
-
The carriage still rode and reached the big and white palace while Adenmaha was mumbling because she got hit by Tae Ho. It was said that this place was only opened when guests arrived to Vanaheim.
"Nice to meet you. I'm the chief of the Vanir, Heimstream."
"Idun's commander greets Heimstream-nim."
As soon as they entered the palace, their eyes landed on an old man whose hair and long beard were white standing in the middle of the hall.
The man that was standing below the shining light smiled towards Tae Ho and spoke, and Tae Ho hit his chest and expressed etiquette.
Only Tae Ho was allowed from his group to enter the palace, and because of that, Heimstream told Tae Ho what was going to occur without any secondary greetings.
"I did know that someone special would come, but I didn't think that Freya would send a warrior of Idun's legion instead of someone from her legion."
The slim and tall Heimstream was a man that gave the feeling of being a scholar at first glance. In addition, Tae Ho couldn't feel his strength or divinity even though he was right in front of him unlike Thor or Freya.
However, that wasn't because Heimstream was weak. That rather proved how great of a God he was. There were very few Gods in Asgard that could completely hide their divinity in front of a commander of Valhalla.
It seemed like it was really unexpected for him that a warrior of Idun was the one to come instead of a warrior of Freya, and he looked at Tae Ho with conspicuous eyes before handing him a chest the size of a person's head that he had prepared beforehand.
"All the things you have to send to Freya are here. The chest is protected by a strong magic, but I still hope you can be careful."
"I will take it into account."
Tae Ho stored the chest inside of Unnir. Actually, putting it inside of his inventory was more secure, but he could just do it outside. There was no need to activate his saga in front of a chief of the Vanir.
It was a trip that had taken a few days, but it wasn't excessive to say that the matter ended here.
But Tae Ho didn't stand up immediately, and Heimstream put on a smile.
"It seems like you have something to tell me."
It seemed like he already knew what he was going to say and because of that Tae Ho said directly.
"Idun-nim said that I should bring back the legacy of the legion."
"Right. I think that, after looking at you, it is finally time."
He put on a soft smile once again and then rolled his finger in the air. On cue, violet space door materialized beside him.
"This is the passageway leading to the place which contains the legacy of Idun's legion."
Heimstream said as much and then gestured lightly towards the space door. It seemed like he was telling him to go and bring it as there was nothing more to talk about.
It didn't seem like he was testing Tae Ho at this point. Realizing this, Tae Ho stood up and promptly strode into the space door Heimstream had made.
< Episode 34 - Vanaheim (1) > End
TL note: Thanks for reading~