I found myself utterly still. Almost like, if I moved too suddenly, I would accidentally do something to disturb the unusual scene unfolding in front of me.
Had I ever seen Rin act like this with someone before?
The Valkyrie was, objectively, extremely beautiful. She had long, silver hair. She was tall and with generous proportions, and also, she had a certain gentleness to her.
For some reason, she elicited almost a subconscious desire to pat her head and tell her she was doing a good job.
Maybe it was just the result of the perceived hardships I imagined came with working with Odin on a full-time basis? I certainly had sympathy for that alone.
Regardless.
"You're a Valkyrie?" Rin asked, even after hearing her introduction, but I guess small talk had to start somewhere.
"Yes, I've passed all of my exams and graduated Valkyrie School." The woman nodded. And I was surprised they had a streamlined process like a school. "I've been serving Lord Odin for a few years now."
"That's pretty impressive. I'm a Magus myself." Rin puffed up, and she snuck a hand up, pushing her hair behind her ear.
The Valkyrie flushed ever so slightly. "Oh, is that like a human Magician!?" Her eyes lit up in excitement.
"That's right." Rin smiled. "I inherited my family crest and everything." She proudly said even though that's something that the Valkyrie probably had no context for, but I wasn't going to interrupt.
"A crest?" The Valkyrie tilted her head and her eyes widened. "I didn't know humans had crests too!" She exclaimed excitedly. "What magic do you specialize in!?"
"My family has specialized in Jewelcraft for centuries." She put her hands on her hips with a little smirk.
"Jewelcraft?" The Valkyrie said in confusion. "What's that?"
"It's a form of Magecraft that let's someone imbue spells into the geometric structure of jewels, and they don't require the user's Magical Energy to activate." She gave a very brief description which was about what everyone knew on the subject back home that didn't practice Jewelcraft.
"That sounds wasteful, why not just use a Magic Circle?"
I looked at Odin and he noticed my gaze and he looked back at me with a strange look as well. I think he was also kind of taken back by what was happening before his eyes. Because it certainly didn't come off as a simple exchange.
Secondly, I looked towards Medea who had a growing grin on her face, and she also noticed me looking her way. Her smile grew into something a bit more mischievous.
I quickly and subtly shook my head.
She frowned and nodded.
I again shook my head impassively.
She let out a silent sigh and rolled her eyes, relenting.
It was obvious she planned on doing something to mess with Rin, and I wanted to nip that in the bud.
Rin was having a moment and I didn't want it to be ruined.
"Because Jewels hold Spells far better than a Magic Circle can." Rin answered. "And using a Magic Circle still requires the caster to tap into their own reserves. With enough time and preparation, as long as I never run out of jewels, I can theoretically cast spells forever."
The Valkyrie looked utterly star struck for some reason. "Because jewels come from the planet!!" She blurted out. "They're untouched and uncontaminated by any kind of outside influence normally. They're basically a natural Magic Circle!"
"T-that's exactly right." Rin stumbled for a second as the Valkyrie hit the nail on the head.
Well, back home we consider them as a simplified Magic Crest, but the concept was close enough.
"That's amazing! Who thought of such a fantastical idea? I need to find some jewels now and compare them to my own Spell Circles and figure out if I can't modify mine to match the natural constitution! Maybe if –"
"Stop being a nerd." Odin smacked the Valkyrie on the head with his hand.
"L-lord Odin!?" The Valkyrie whined, rubbing the spot where she was hit.
"Go do something else, the grown-ups need to have a chat." He huffed her way.
"Wah!?"
Odin glanced my way, and I could take the hint.
"Hey Rin, why don't you take her to see the Library, I'm sure you should find some things there she might find interesting to keep you guys preoccupied." I offered.
It seemed like at that moment, Rin's awareness of where she was, and who was around here came falling back into place.
She looked at me once with a strange look, and an adorably embarrassing pink hue on her cheeks. "Right, why don't I show you the library here, while they deal with their own crap?"
"I would like that." The Valkyrie smiled rather beautifully.
"Y-yeah." Rin swallowed noticeably, and she quickly led the other woman down the hall, disappearing from sight.
"Well, that was interesting." Yasaka commented.
"That was nice of you." Artoria was swiftly at my side, putting a quick kiss on my cheek.
"Ooooh, you're so wonderful~ Why don't I give the big hero a kiss too~" Odin made little kissy faces at me.
"Can you act your age?" I rolled my eyes.
"Never!"
"We're leaving, boyo." Medea stood up along with her fiancé as Kunou climbed out of her lap. "If you're not going to let me tease that brat, then I don't care to stay."
Well, I couldn't blame her for her abrupt departure. She really was uncomfortable around Gods. She was a little bit better around Izzy and even Meridia because I think she trusted me, but with Odin suddenly popping in she was definitely feeling antsy. Especially with how Odin was fawning over her Fiancé.
Odin, to his benefit, didn't say anything to her. Nor did he go out of his way to antagonize her like he seemed to enjoy doing to most people in his proximity.
After she left, Odin took a seat on the couch as we all settled in.
"Thanks for not poking her." I said.
"Bah, I'm not stupid." Odin Harrumphed. "I could see her fidgeting as soon as I entered the room. Who is she? She's like this one." He jerked his thumb towards Artoria.
"Medea of Colchis."
Odin stroked his beard for a moment as if trying to recall. "Ah." Was all he said in response, and it was enough for him to understand.
One did not become a God of Knowledge without being able to put two and two together.
"Momma, I want my candy." Kunou grabbed at Yasaka's sleeve.
"What candy do you want? You only get a little bit."
"I want the candy beans."
Yasaka took out a rather large bag of candy beans. Rather, it was a random assortment of flavors that claimed to have every flavor in the world.
Every flavor.
Even the bad ones.
We couldn't leave that place without stopping and letting Kunou pick out some treats in Diagon alley. We only stayed for a few minutes, with the promise of coming back in a few days to do her real shopping for school.
She cheerfully took one out and handed them all around. "This one is for you, Mama." She handed her a brown one.
Yasaka forced herself to keep her smile. "Thank you, sweetie."
"Daddy." She handed me a green one. "And Aunty Artoria." She handed her an orange one.
"Make sure to give one to your guest too." I poked one of her tails.
"Here you go, Grandpa." She casually said, handing the Great God Odin a piece of candy.
"What a magnificent offering, I am thrilled to accept it." He played along. He threw it into his mouth and began to chew and, almost in slow motion, his chewing ground to a halt and he just had a blank look on his face.
"Something wrong, Odin?" I asked and Kunou looked at him too.
"….nothing." He forced a smile even worse than Yasaka. "It's delicious, thank you." The God slowly swallowed what was in his mouth.
Was I going to tell him the specifics about the candy?
Nope.
I tossed my own into my mouth and began chewing it.
Ick.
Seaweed.
It could have been worse, I suppose. Strangely, it had a smidge of a salty flavor to accompany it.
"So, what do you need, Odin?" I finally asked.
Kunou settled down next to Yasaka and seemingly didn't care about the conversation, she was happily munching on her candy.
"I need you to help me go hunting." He replied.
"You mentioned that before, you want me to go with you through Yggdrasil?" I can't say the idea didn't appeal to me. I would love to explore the branches of Yggdrasil properly.
"Mmm." He grunted. "It's about time I do some pest control."
"Got any leads?"
"One or two."
"You don't sound too confident."
"Do you think they put up a sign?" He snorted. "We're dealing with Loki's tricks, we will be lucky if these leads don't turn out to be false and meant to mislead us by him."
True.
And I had a score to settle with the Trickster God.
"It's going to have to wait for a few days." I leaned back, putting an arm around Artoria. "I have a few things I need to settle." Basically, I planned on visiting Nuwa, then I needed to finish Kunou's school shopping. "Unless, there's a pressing time concern?"
Odin leaned forward, interlocking his fingers. He was silent for a moment. "Immediately, no." He answered. "But it needs to happen soon. If It's only a few days or a week, it's fine. But any longer and I don't know what things will be like."
"Have things escalated over there?"
"What had been probing attacks by Jotunheim and Muspelheim have taken the first step beyond. My son finally ordered a state of war barely a day after the meeting."
"A wise move then, to use the initial excitement and morale to lessen any voiced opposition in regards to cooperation." Artoria chimed in, clearly keeping up with the happenings going around.
Odin smiled happily. "My son has a good head on his shoulders." He said with clear pride.
"I'll make it a priority after I'm done. I just need to go visit Nuwa then take Kunou to shop for her school supplies in another place, then I'm free."
"Nuwa?" Odin ran a hand through his beard. "Hmm, that makes sense. She's probably going to give you a nice gift as thanks and to build a rapport."
"That's what Izzy told me." I nodded.
"Don't take the Cougar with you if you go."
"Pardon?" I ignored his nickname for her.
"If you bring her, it will escalate things outside of visiting the Goddess. You're a hot commodity right now, it's unlikely that the Jade Emperor isn't aware of who you are and your sudden presence will alert him. If you bring a God from another Faction, it will give him an excuse to force an audience. If that's what you want, do whatever. But you're going to get caught up in all that Divine Court crap for a while."
Honestly, I hadn't considered that.
Truthfully, I would rather not get involved with the Celestial Bureaucracy at this point if it meant being tangled up with Divine Red Tape.
That's unfortunate because I wanted to take Izzy with me.
"Fine, thanks for the heads up." I responded.
"Yeah, yeah." He waved it off. "I'm going to walk around Kyoto for a bit, tell my Valkyrie when she comes out to find me."
What went unsaid was that he was sticking around nearby so his Valkyrie would have time to spend with Rin, for whatever happens.
"Ah, one more thing." He stood up, stretching his back. "I'll give you the teleport coordinates to one of their cities that gets a lot of foreign traffic. It should be a good place to hitch a ride from there to Nuwa's place without too big of a commotion."
Once more, Odin definitely comes through.
Now I just need to figure out who's coming with me.
[***]
"Are you both ready?"
"Yes." Artoria nodded.
"I have nothing else to concern myself with." Scáthach replied.
Basically, mostly everyone else was busy, and Artoria and Scáthach were more than happy to accompany me.
"Where's Jeanne?" I also intended to ask her, but she's been noticeably absent.
"Mordred took her to play somewhere." Artoria answered.
…that's cute.
Oh well, if she's enjoying herself, I won't bother her.
"No Rin?" I asked.
"She's…busy." Artoria said carefully.
"Uh huh." I couldn't help but grin. "Busy with any one in particular?"
Artoria pursed her lips. "Please don't tease her if you see her. And no, Rossweisse has not reappeared after the time Rin and her spent together."
"Don't worry, I'll wait until something is firmer before I give her a hard time." I wasn't going to potentially compromise any relationship of hers just for a laugh. "If there's anything." I clarified. "I'm not going to overtly stick my nose into it and all that, and I don't want to presume. But I haven't seen Rin act like that before."
Artoria couldn't help but smile. "Yes, it is nice to see Rin take an interest in someone else in such a way. She was noticeably a bit more cheerful afterwards."
"Just tell me when she's ready for double dates."
Artoria ever so slightly flushed. "I believe Rin does not yet recognize any extra feelings herself, so you will wait for some time."
If anything developed was unspoken again.
It just means we needed to help out in the background when we can.
Operation Valkyrie seduction was a go.
I'll ask Odin to drop by randomly and bring the Valkyrie with him.
"I suppose it'll just be us three then." I smiled.
I would never be upset about going out with two women I dearly loved.
"Do you have any knowledge about the culture we are going to experience?" Artoria asked. "I admit that the knowledge I possess does not seem applicable here."
"I have read many books when I was younger." I said proudly.
"Student, for some reason, I have the urge to pinch you." Scáthach narrowed her eyes.
"….They were fiction." I coughed. "But I'm sure there's not much difference."
I may or may not have read many novels about certain fantastical elements of Chinese mythology.
I felt prepared enough.
"Anyways, let's head over." I clapped my hands and mentally filled in the Calculations that Odin gave me. A portal opened up and we quickly stepped through, an entire new world greeting us.
There was sort of a hub, a space for people to come and go without any fanfare, which was why we didn't need any significant notice or anything like that.
Around us, plenty of other people – many of which weren't human – were teleporting in and out of the area.
But we were more taken with the entire change of scenery.
The hub itself was a floating pagoda.
Seeing out the many windows, and there were oceans of clouds, along with literal oceans blanketing the horizon.
There were also mountains floating in the sky, and I was assuming we were on one such mountain at the moment.
Further above, there were floating islands with waterfalls that spilled over the edge, yet didn't fall on top of our heads. There were bridges that connected them, and wonderful buildings that decorated each one.
It gave off a very ethereal vibe.
And it was undeniably a beautiful scene.
And every so often, we could see people flying above. Some one some strange beasts, others on some sort of vehicles without any discernible method of proper movement, and rarely, someone flew on a sword.
I would admit, my inner teen was smiling big right now.
"What should we do first?" I looked at my companions who were also silently marveling at the surroundings. "Go straight to our destination, or maybe get some proper clothing, maybe some food and explore for a little bit before going over?"
Artoria, she immediately twitched a little at the thought of food, while Scáthach was seemingly interested in exploring.
I may or may not have intentionally touched on things that would interest them specifically.
"Excuse me, My Lord and Ladies, may I have a moment of your time." A youngish man stopped us, clasping his hands and bowing rather submissively. "I dare not presume, but If you are new to the city, I have lived here my entire life. For a small fee, I can take you anywhere you desire."
Huh, was it that obvious we were new here?
I guess we did gawk a bit as we first arrived. And taking a quick look around, he wasn't the only one that looked like they were waiting for newcomers to propose their business to.
Everyone needed to make a living.
I glanced at Artoria and Scáthach and they didn't seem put off by the idea.
"We don't have any local currency." I replied.
"Any currency of value can be exchanged." He put on a polite smile.
I held a handful of gold out. And his eyes flashed as he very quickly made it disappear into his sleeve. "You are wise, my Lord. I dare not say that I am the best guide, but you would find it difficult to find one better than I. This one's name is Ren Song, please call me Guide Ren, I will lead you anywhere you desire and help you to the best of my ability during your stay."
"My girls and I want to explore for a bit. Specifically, we want somewhere nice to eat, to buy some local clothing, and anything else of interest. Lastly, we heard that there's some sort of transportation that's used to fly to other places? I'm not quite sure about the conventions used here."
The young man clasped his hands again. "If you wish to move from one city to another, the Teleportation Pagoda can be used." He gestured around us. "If you wish to go somewhere…else, then you will need to move from normal means, my Lord. Certain Sects and Clans don't allow Teleportation onto their territory, so regular means must be used."
That makes sense I suppose.
"Just out of curiosity, what if I wanted to go to the Heavenly Court?"
The young man froze briefly before recovering. "My Lord, you must be joking, very few are allowed to venture into the Heavenly Courts. If anyone dares to trespass, they will be executed on the spot. No manager will allow their mounts to fly anywhere near such a forbidden Zone."
"Amusing, let's go anyways." Scáthach suddenly spoke up.
"We are not here to cause trouble." Artoria rejected.
And I think Scáthach pouted a little. "Then I will make do with mundane. Child, tell me, are there any interesting things in this city?"
"Yes, Fairy, I know every interesting point in this city. If it's for entertainment, I know the best places for those who wish to fight. If you want to test your luck, we house many Casinos. If you desire the Arts, we have performances that even the Court Officials will descend for." He answered rather fluidly.
Scáthach nodded.
Well, we can't waste too long, but we can hit the best places before leaving.
"Do you know about Nuwa's Palace?" I asked.
Again he looked taken back.
"Everyone knows about Goddess Nuwa's Palace, my Lord." He replied quickly. "However, if you are thinking about visiting, you will be disappointed. It is not listed such as a forbidden Zone like the Heavenly Courts, but it is off limits to outsiders and no one dares to trespass."
"It's fine, we're invited." I waved it off.
"….my Lord, may I ask your name?"
"Wilhelm Henry Schweinorg." I introduced myself. "But…." I may or may not have felt giddy saying this. "Call me Young Master."
[***]
Non-Canon Omake: Learning a new spell.
"Why are you all standing around?" I was apparently the last to enter the room, because all my girls were just standing around looking at a box on the table.
"You have a box from your grandfather." Izzy was kind enough to say.
"….and?"
She shrugged.
"We had nothing else to do." Jinn helpfully added.
Well, boredom can strike everyone.
"Why not just open it?" I asked.
"It would be rude to open a package addressed to you." Artoria stated.
That's sweet, but honestly, what's mine is also all of yours too.
But, I guess sometimes it's more uncomfortable for other people even if I wouldn't care, so I didn't make a big deal out of it.
Without any fanfare, I ripped open the box.
"To my dear grandson, have fun." I read the note that came along. Then I pulled out an odd-looking piece of parchment. As soon as I took it into my hands, it disintegrated and foreign knowledge entered my brain.
"Student, what happened?" Scáthach spoke the cumulative concern for everyone else.
"Uh….Just had a new spell download into my brain." I did my best to describe the sensation.
"Come." Meridia held out her arms, more like she quickly grabbed hold of me and I felt her warm presence. "You are well, there are no problems. Other than what you already had."
"Funny." I deadpanned.
Though, seeing her smile was always pleasant.
"What spell did you learn?" Jinn eagerly asked. "Show me!"
"Uh…" I looked around and had the idea to pull a gold coin out of my ring and I tossed it to Artoria. "Hold that please."
"Very well, do you need me to do anything else?"
"No, just stand there. The spell is called 'steal' and it's exactly as you would expect." I held my hand up. "You focus on an object someone else possesses, and you simply steal it away from a distance."
"I can see many uses for such a spell. Perhaps –"
"Steal." I didn't wait for her to finish.
And she went deathly silent, as did everyone else.
The Gold Coin was still in her hand, but the spell was apparently still a success. Because, a pair of white panties with a cute little blue bow fell into my hand.
"….I do not believe the spell worked correctly." Artoria said softly, a cute red hue creeping up on her cheeks.
"Yeah." I agreed.
"….may I have my panties returned, please?"
"…..no."
"W-will!" She squeaked, tumbling over the edge of what was bearable before she finally reacted.
"Well….that is certainly an interesting spell." Yasaka grinned.
"I think it was just an accident. Let's try again."
"No – "
"Steal."
Oddly enough, another pair of panties landed into my hands. Black and frilly, I held them up for everyone to see.
A very red Izzy quickly swiped them from my grasp. She spoke no words, but her face said everything she needed to.
For some reason, I felt myself growing a rather large smile.
"Student." Scáthach's eyes narrowed.
Was she could to give me a beating?
Yes.
Was I still going to do it?
Also yes.
I held my hands up. "Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal. Steal."
I had no idea why the spell was working this way, but I didn't care. Clothes went flying and life was beautiful.
[***]
So begins Wilhelm's very short Xianxia adventure. Don't worry, it'll only be like three chapters he's in Xianxia land.
If you want to read 9 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
I also have a Boosty if you can't use the above with the same name.