TL: Tsubak
ED: Julsmul
"Um... but who are you?"
Adenmaha asked carefully when Odin was about to speak.
She knew that it was rude, but she had still asked because she thought that she wouldn't have the chance to ask when he started to speak for real.
And right now, Odin had the appearance of a wanderer while wearing a long hat and a cape. The Gods of Asgard would immediately recognize him as being Odin, but that wasn't the case for Adenmaha, who was from Erin.
In addition, Odin had hidden his strong divine power that emanated out naturally.
The ones that were surprised at Adenmaha's question were Tae Ho and Cuchulainn. Tae Ho hurriedly stood in front of Adenmaha and begged for forgiveness.
"I'm sorry, I was taken aback with the reencounter...this is Idun's Valkyrie, Adenmaha. Adenmaha, this is Odin-nim."
The King of Gods, Odin.
Adenmaha's eyes dimmed and at the same time she cursed at herself. She would have been able to know who was the one in front of her just by rolling her head a bit.
It was because the only one that had disappeared along with Tae Ho inside the mouth of the World Wolf was Odin.
"Idun's Valkyrie, Adenmaha, greets the King of Gods."
Adenmaha expressed etiquette calmly even though she'd gotten surprised. She placed her fist on her chest like a Valkyrie and bowed, and her movements were trim and beautiful.
Nidhogg looked at that Adenmaha and imitated her movements from a corner. It was because she thought that she should also know how to do that as she was a Valkyrie as well.
While everyone was nervous excluding Nidhogg, Odin put on a warm smile and nodded.
"I'm Odin, nice to meet you. Don't mind it too much as everyone would have been busy in this situation. I also tried to continue talking too quickly."
He was speaking to Tae Ho and also Adenmaha. It was because originally, Tae Ho should have been the one that should have introduced them.
"Thank you."
Tae Ho and Adenmaha expressed etiquette at the same time. Odin smiled warmly once again when she saw Nidhogg imitating Adenmaha once again from the back.
"Then, let's return to the topic."
Odin fixed his expression and changed places for them to have a conversation. He stepped back a bit and then sat down in a place that seemed comfortable. Tae Ho sat first at Odin's hand gesture, and Adenmaha sat beside him. Nidhogg tried to sit opposite of Adenmaha– so to say, at the right of Tae Ho, but that wasn't possible. It was because Adenmaha made her seat next to her.
Cuchulainn opened his eyes widely and snickered at Adenmaha embracing Nidhogg and then sat down next to Tae Ho where Nidhogg was originally planning to sit at.
Odin finally started to speak.
"The Magician King has damaged the core of the World Tree and created a disturbance in Asgard. If it helps, please think of it as a huge-scaled earthquake."
A miniaturized mold of Asgard and Midgard appeared while Odin explained. Asgard's mold got swept by the big earthquake and the terrain itself changed.
"This catastrophe didn't only affect Asgard but also Midgard. Natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, and hailstorms are occurring everywhere."
A change occurred in the mold of Midgard. The change was smaller than Asgard's but it was only a rough comparison. It was really a great natural disaster.
The people gathered in this place felt complicated thoughts when thinking about how many people died by being swept up in the natural disasters.
"Originally, I was planning to drive away the giants from Midgard to some extent and then recall the strongest warriors to Valhalla through the doors that were made previously, but the plan changed."
Odin had lost the fight against the Magician King, and due to natural disasters created by the Magician King, Valhalla had to be sealed up.
"I don't know if Freya sealed up Valhalla first or if she completed the Great Barrier first...but the warriors are still isolated in Midgard, and that's the same for the giants and evil spirits. It seems like Freya thought of a situation where the isolated warriors had defeated the remaining giants and evil spirits, but they wouldn't be able to send additional reinforcements if they sealed up Valhalla. Therefore, she must have thought that this was the best method to protect the humans of Midgard."
Odin thought that it was the right decision.
If Freya hadn't completed the Great Barrier, then Midgard would be facing the same fate as Erin in this moment.
A world that gets destroyed because of the indiscriminate attacks of the giants and evil spirits.
Cuchulainn's expression wasn't particularly good after hearing Odin's story. It was clear he was thinking of what'd happened in Erin.
Odin continued explaining.
"There were also some superior-ranked warriors among the dispatched warriors, so it seems like the warriors are gathering with them as the center. They didn't gather at one place as they were scattered all over the world, but if you see the big picture, there are currently five groups in service."
Five red dots appeared in the mold of Midgard.
Odin asked Adenmaha,
"Adenmaha, I remember that you were in the place of the last battle. Can you tell me what happened?"
"Idun's Valkyrie, Adenmaha, will start speaking."
Odin revealed a bemused expression as Adenmaha expressed etiquette in a really polite manner.
"There's no need to be so formal. You can just think that you are speaking to your master."
Adenmaha seemed to hesitate at Odin's permission, but she then nodded. She grabbed Tae Ho's hand and started speaking.
"After Odin-nim and master disappeared.....a lot of things happened at the same time."
Adenmaha closed her eyes for a moment and thought of that time. It was already a thing of the past, but her hands still trembled and her heart beat at the thought.
"After I transformed into a sea serpent, I took Merlin and fled uncontrollably. As for Ragnar-nim and the superior-ranked warriors.....I honestly don't know. The World Wolf ran wild, and the Magician King used several strong magics in consecution....so it felt like the entire world was shaking."
She couldn't remember well after Tae Ho had gotten eaten. She just remembered that she had cried and screamed.
If it wasn't for Merlin, she would have lost her life while attacking the World Wolf.
"I turned back to look at the island after I barely managed to land on the coast, but the sky, the island, and everything else was silent as if all of that fuss had been a lie. But after that, the howl of the World Wolf rang loudly, and just like you've said, natural disasters started to occur."
"How was his howl?"
"Anger.....It was filled with an extreme anger. It gave the feeling that it couldn't control its rage."
Adenmaha's breathing became rough by its own accord. Tae Ho grabbed her hand tightly, and it seemed like it took effect that Adenmaha conjured a smile even though it was hard on her. Nidhogg embraced Adenmaha tighter unconsciously. It was because she felt that she had to.
While Adenmaha stroked Nidhogg's hair unavoidably, Odin and Tae Ho thought of the same thing.
Perhaps, Ragnar and Loki were still alive.
Maybe the World Wolf ended up howling in rage because it couldn't get them.
Actually, it was more probable for that person to be Loki, but Tae Ho still thought that Ragnar had lived if Loki had as well. He wanted to think that way.
"After we fled to the closest village with Merlin, the busy days came once again, but we were able to rescue the people of the village thanks to Merlin's magic."
Adenmaha closed her eyes and thought of what happened that day. Emotions started to surge up by their own.
"I also thought about.....dying. It seemed like the world would be destroyed once again, and even master passed away..."
Adenmaha had already experienced the destruction of Erin. She didn't want to see the destruction of another world once again.
On top of that, the fact that Tae Ho had died had left her stupefied, so she didn't even think about wanting to live anymore.
"Adenmaha."
Tae Ho pulled her hand and spoke softly, and Adenmaha smiled brightly while her eyes got teary.
"It was only for a moment. People that are alive have to keep on living."
That wasn't the truth as she had even injured herself. If Merlin hadn't stopped her, something irreversible could have really occurred.
Nidhogg embraced Adenmaha once again, and Adenmaha snorted because she was heavy but hugged her back as she didn't dislike it. She calmed down herself for a moment and continued speaking.
"The natural disasters didn't keep on for long. It stopped after about two days, and when the Great Barrier was reformed, it got rather peaceful."
The Magician King would have left Midgard alongside the World Wolf after destroying the core of the World Tree. It wasn't that he didn't know that Freya was setting up the Great Barrier and actually he didn't have any more business left in Midgard.
"Merlin and I then decided to look for Bracky and Siri at the time, and fortunately enough, we were able to find their traces because both of them are famous."
Adenmaha smiled merrily as if she wanted to lighten up the mood.
Certainly enough, just by looking at popularity, Bracky could beat most of the superior-ranked warriors easily. In addition, Siri had also become quite famous because of the continued expeditions in Midgard.
'Did you regroup with them?'
Adenmaha shook her head at Cuchulainn's question.
"Not yet. We were on our way to look for them, and based on the rumors, it seems like there are several Valkyries near them."
"Rasgrid."
Tae Ho said reflexively, and Adenmaha nodded.
In the first place, regrouping with Rasgrid's group was Bracky's and Siri's first task.
Tae Ho started to think about the ones that would be together with Bracky and Siri. Names and faces of the ones he missed started to pop up.
Rasgrid and Reginleif.
Ingrid and Gandur.
Harabal and his comrades of Valhalla.
And among them, he wanted to especially see Bracky and Siri. It had been 2 years for him as he hadn't been able to see them since he'd entered the Tower of Shadows.
"Now that I see, Merlin would be worried about me.....Will he think that I'm still taking a shower....?"
Adenmaha mumbled in a low voice.
Cuchulainn put on a satisfied smile when he thought of the nude Adenmaha that had appeared at Tae Ho's call, but then he asked her,
'We are currently near the lake of Elidi. Where have you been?'
"Kataron."
"Kataron?"
The one that reacted was Tae Ho. Adenmaha nodded and started to explain.
"Merlin wanted to go there, and if you are worried about King Ivar, he's fine. Merlin also told him about Princess Helga."
She had passed away before Tae Ho went to rescue Odin. As Valhalla was sealed and the Great Barrier was recreated after that, she would have probably reached Idun's residence safely.
"I heard your story well. Then, I will start speaking again."
Everyone concentrated on Odin. He opened his mouth as Nidhogg gulped dry saliva with a nervous face.
"There are still quite a lot of giants and evil spirits left in Midgard. Just like I told you before, the groups that have the superior-ranked warriors as its center are fighting against them."
The five dots were still shining over the mold of Midgard.
"Our first objective is to gather the warriors together. And of course, we should also take care of the giants and evil spirits that assented in Midgard. But there's one thing that is more important than that."
The reason they had come to Midgard was to acquire a force mighty enough to take back Asgard.
The army of the dead that was prepared in Niflheim was numerous, but it was only that. Their individual battle power couldn't be compared to the warriors of Valhalla at all.
Still, there were exceptions like Galeon.
He was a skilled warrior that ranked at the top even among the intermediate-ranked warriors.
But he was the strongest warrior of Niflheim. And although this sounded too harsh, it also meant that the strongest warrior of Niflheim only amounted to an intermediate rank.
They needed strong warriors that could face the giants on their own.
As the intermediate and superior-ranked warriors that had gotten dispatched to Midgard were all elites, they would surely become a great force to reckon if they managed to gather them.
This was Odin's first plan.
But another thought had befallen his mind.
The trigger of it was the battle in Niflheim.
"There's a high probability that the Magician King doesn't know that we are alive. It's not easy to open up a path to Niflheim now that Midgard's been sealed, and the force the Striking King was leading was quite big. It will be easy to think of it as a huge scaled expedition team that'd gotten dispatched at a far away place."
In addition, Tae Ho had destroyed the door to jump through space. The remaining forces couldn't even return to Jotunheim.
"The situation in Midgard will also not enter their ears as it is currently sealed."
This meant that there was a high chance for the giants not to notice even if they gathered up their forces in Midgard blatantly.
"But this doesn't mean that we have unlimited time. If the Striking King remains absent for too long, the Magician King will start to question whether or not something had happened in Niflheim. Even if it will be hard to dispatch another huge scaled force, he would still be able to dispatch a small number."
The Striking King and the Magician King didn't have a good relationship. The Magician King would probably think that Hrumbak was being lazy with his report the first few days.
"I think that we have to finish taking preparations before that happens. The time I estimated is about a week."
It was better than having no time at all, but it was still short.
Odin started to speak a bit faster.
"I don't think he will realize that the black dragon is Nidhogg. He also knows how big the body of Nidhogg is and also knows that it can't pass through the roots."
In addition, it was widely known that Nidhogg was an evil and wicked dragon.
He would think that there would be no way for it to side with Asgard.
"Because of that, Nidhogg may be able to become our trump card, albeit an imperfect one. If their spies infiltrate our forces too deeply, information may travel of a black dragon having allied with Asgard, although they probably wouldn't realize that it's Nidhogg. By then, the Magician King will probably take some countermeasures."
They were in a situation where they couldn't use Nidhogg's real body, so they would also come up with countermeasures however they could.
The trump card had some flaws just like they had said previously.
Odin stopped talking for a moment. He closed his only eye and thought of what happened the last fifteen days.
"In the battle at the island of the World Tree.....I feel at the face of the unexpected card that is the World Wolf. We also need a variable like that. A variable that can become a strong force for us, one that the Magician King didn't and couldn't expect."
Nidhogg alone wasn't enough.
They needed one more.
They could become certain of it at the battle in Niflheim.
"The King of Birds, Hraesvelg."
The enemy of the black dragon, Nidhogg.
The white eagle that lived in the highest branch of the World Tree.
"We need it's strength."
< Episode 40 – Idun's Valkyrie (2) > End