打扑克的男女

ED: Ren

The throne of the king of Gods, Odin, was empty.

Freya looked at the throne, flashily adorned with gold decorations, and then sat on the floor next to the throne instead of the seat.

She was the second most important person in Valhalla.

When Odin lost Balder, who was the original successor, in the Great War, he had selected Freya to be the new heir. Because of that, the empty throne of Odin now belonged to Freya.

But she didn’t have any thoughts of sitting on it. It was because she would really admit that Odin was dead if she sat on it.

“What are you doing like a fool when he’s really dead?”

Freya cursed out in a low voice and laughed like a fool.

“Bastard.”

If he had set up that kind of great plan he should have at least told her. For him to have planned things with Loki and have tricked her and the whole world...

And if he had prepared to that extent, he should have succeeded. He should have come out victorious, as the God of War.

“Bastard.”

She cursed out once again but her anger wasn’t soothed at all. Why did he step up directly? Why did someone that was supposed to be the King go to the front lines? What of the others if he died?

Freya cried; cried in a heartbroken way. It wasn’t because she was scared of what might happen after the seal broke. It was because she wanted to see her king, who was sitting in a corner like always while wearing an absentminded expression.

“Bastard.”

Freya cursed for the last time and then wiped off her tears. Her face had become a mess because her makeup had been erased by her tears but she was still beautiful.

“There’s only four days left.”

Freya raised her voice a bit. She wasn’t talking to herself but to the one that had entered the room.

“Are you talking about the day until the seal breaks?” Ragnar asked in a low voice after entering the room and closing the door.

Freya nodded a few times and then lightly touched her face with her hands, which had magic power behind them. Her messy makeup was cleaned up.

Freya let out a long sigh. She, who was the Goddess of beauty, was beautiful even without any decorations. It rather gave another kind of charm, because of her neat and tidy look.

“The speed in which the seal is breaking is getting faster by the hour. It’s between four and five days but you can say that it will break in only four days.”

Freya stood up from her place and looked at the throne of the king once again. In the end, she steeled herself and approached it. She then closed her eyes tightly and sat on the throne.

Ragnar just looked steadily at Freya. She put on a smile. It was the bright and cheerful smile of a kid that made her crying from before seem like a lie.

“What could be happening outside?”

The seal of Valhalla blocked the inside from the outside perfectly. Because of that Freya couldn’t know what was happening outside at all; like how many Valkyries succeeded in reaching the Temple and Olympus and how many got out of Asgard.

“But I’m still glad that you are here. Ragnar Lodbrok, great King of the Vikings.”

Ragnar was the one who told her of Odin’s death and the situation he was in.

If he hadn’t been there, Freya would have waited for Odin to return instead of sealing up Valhalla. But he had said that Odin died and Freya didn’t deny it. No, she did so inwardly a thousand times and rejected it to the point that she merely admitted it, but she still thought quickly and made a quick judgement. Instead of being swept by the giants and the great fire, she sealed up Valhalla to buy a bit more time and made the inspiring deed of reserving the forces of Valhalla.

‘Can it really be called an inspiring deed?’

Freya mumbled to herself and then extended her hand to the air. She lightly clenched the air and pulled and then a beautiful necklace, which was difficult to describe, appeared in her hands.

Brisingamen.

It was the name of the most beautiful and luxurious necklace of Asgard, which suited the most beautiful Goddess, Freya.

Freya wore the necklace on her long white neck. It was an object she treasured so much that she put it in the treasury, aside from when something important arose, but her heart still beat like the first time every time, even though she had obtained it a hundred years ago.

“How is it? Pretty, right?” Freya asked with the pure expression of a kid.

Freya wearing the Brisingamen was so pretty that she looked like she was covered in bright white light.

“You really are beautiful and that that isn’t just an empty compliment.”

Ragnar gave up on expressing himself poetically and spoke in a simple way. But Freya nodded, as she liked the sincerity held in his simple words.

“That’s obvious. Do you know how hard I worked to get this?”

She laughed like a kid once again and then dropped her shoulders exhaustedly.

“I won’t simply die. I’m the prettiest Goddess of Beauty of Asgard, the Goddess of Magic... I’m planning to crush the heads of the giants and also their souls,” Freya said as she leaned back on the throne.

What remained instead of the purity and beauty of a kid was a Goddess of Magic faced with death.

“We may win,” Ragnar said.

There was nothing like passion burning from his wolf-like eyes but there also wasn’t the coldness of someone that had given up.

Freya nodded.

“Right, we don’t know the situation outside so a prince riding on a white horse may appear to rescue us. Although what I’m expecting is the prince riding on lightning.”

The one she was actually expecting the most was Thor and his army.

Wouldn’t he defeat the frost giant king Harmarti and come to rescue Valhalla?

Wouldn’t they be able to drive back the giants with only the strength of Asgard?

Freya’s clever mind didn’t accept that expectation. The probabilities for that were too low. Waiting for reinforcements from the Temple and Olympus was more realistic.

‘Although even that won’t be easy.’

The Temple and Olympus were also at war with the ones hoping for the destruction of the world. They wouldn’t be able to help them that easily.

Ragnar also knew what Freya did but he still hadn’t given up. The walls of Valhalla were high and there were still many warriors.

‘I’m really glad.’

She was really glad that Ragnar was there. If he wasn’t, she would have already collapsed inwardly.

Freya snickered and fixed her expression. She assumed the same curling position as Odin and spoke to Ragnar.

“For the last of the last... you know right? I’m sorry to have put you in this.”

“I’m satisfied only with being able to take down one more giant.”

Freya was planning on self destruction. She would drag the most giants possible near her and explode the entirety of Valhalla.

The giants wouldn’t be safe if it was a strength that could split Asgard in two.

‘But of course, the same goes for us.’

The last method.

Ragnar remained calm and Freya understood why he was the greatest king among the many Viking kings.

The warrior that she wanted but couldn’t lay her hands on.

She didn’t go telling this to others because she was embarrassed of it, but Idun’s warrior wasn’t the first. The first one had been that great Viking king, Ragnar Lodbrok.

“And that kid?”

Ragnar wore a calm smile for the first time since he entered the room. He thought of the Goddess that was wearing the same eyes as Freya and answered.

“She’s also preparing for the last.”

&

The residence of Idun’s legion was silent.

It was different to the other legions that were preparing for the last battle.

“Originally, this should be the normal deal.”

Heda looked at the drill ground where the warriors were training and spoke in a low voice.

Idun’s legion was originally quiet. It was a silence that had maintained itself for a hundred years since the Great War.

It had become noisy after that but it didn’t last long. Only two months lasted since the lowest ranked warriors entered the legion and raised their voices at night and in the afternoon.

However, regardless of that, she felt like a hole had been made in a part of her chest. No, it was certainly a big hole.

Heda walked for a bit. The rock serpent, McLaren, was lying down quietly, as if it had become a rock. The wives of Rolo and his children who were near recognized Heda but they simply lowered their heads calmly because of the heavy atmosphere pressing down on Valhalla.

Heda put on a faint smile to calm down Rolo’s children and continued to walk. Scathach was standing in front of the lake and looking into the distance.

‘I thought that looking at the destruction of the world once was enough.’

She didn’t say that out loud but Heda could still hear it. Scathach greeted Heda with her hands while holding a spear with her hand. Heda answered silently and Scathach looked away once again.

What had happened to Rolo?

She had heard from Adenmaha and Merlin that he had remained in Midgard, but was he still safe?

What about Sigrun and Gudrun?

...And the new lowest-ranked warriors that had entered.

She mentioned each one of them and kept repeating their names. It was because she wanted to delay mentioning the last person the most she could.

Heda stopped walking. She was soon in front of the wooden docks. Idun’s residence had got bigger, to the point that it was unrecognizable, but this place remained the same.

The old wooden dock and the shrine made with rocks.

She hadn’t seen that he had died.

So she couldn’t be certain that he was dead.

That’s why she believed. She didn’t give up. She forced herself to think like that.

Heda started to walk once again. She entered the silent temple and stood in the middle.

Her surroundings changed. It became a plain, and a big golden apple tree, which seemed like it would touch the ceiling, appeared in front of her eyes.

Heda walked a bit more and then saw a tombstone. The names of Bragi and the previous Idun were written on it and the names of the ones that had died while protecting her were also listed on it.

Heda extended her hand and touched the tombstone. She leaned back on it and extended her hands. An eye covering that hid her eyes was formed from light and appeared in Heda’s hands.

Idun’s and Bragi’s daughter, Heda.

The last Valkyrie of Idun’s legion.

The last survivor.

“Idun,” Heda said and then put on the eye covering. She then woke up the second existence, that had been silent, as if she was asleep.

“Heda.”

Idun spoke.

Asgard had needed a new Idun when the previous one died but the candidate, Heda, was lacking in several aspects to become a God of high stature.

In addition, she was in an unstable state mentally because she had seen the warriors of Idun’s legion, whom she viewed as older brothers and sisters killed right in front of her eyes. She was at a situation that she could never succeed the throne of a God.

But Asgard still needed a new Idun. Heda didn’t just remain as Heda alone after the half-forced ceremony.

The second identity was the Goddess of Youth and Life.

The new Idun had received the strength and task from the previous Idun.

Heda and Idun recognized each other. Idun embraced and cared for Heda’s heart, which was dying because of the injuries she suffered. She had helped her so that she became able to stand up again.

Heda treated Idun as her older and younger sister and that was the same likewise.

There were few people that knew of their secret. Ragnar knew of Idun’s existence but thought that the original body and conscience was still Heda’s. And the same went for Odin.

But it was different for Freya. She treated Heda and Idun as different people and so tried to always differentiate the two of them. It wasn’t because she disliked one of them. It was because she treated them both as Goddesses of Asgard.

When the last battle came after the seal of Valhalla broke, Idun was planning to step forward and fight and Heda agreed with her thoughts.

Idun embraced her own shoulders. Then she leaned back on the tombstone and said, “Um, Heda. I have something I want to tell you.”

“What is it, Idun?”

“I also like Tae Ho.”

She spoke shyly, like a kid. Heda let out a sigh and nodded.

“I knew it.”

“I’m sorry.”

He only knew about Heda and the fool that was Heda’s warrior that only looked for her but she still ended up giving her heart to him. She tried not to do it but ended up falling for him anyways.

“I realized it when you gave him the best blessing. Did you know that I yelled inwardly at that time?”

Idun pouted as Heda spoke playfully. In the end her face started to flush and she let out a snort.

“I don’t want to hear that from someone that did all sorts of things while knowing that I was watching.”

“All, all sorts of things?”

“And it had to be in front of the shrine.”

Idun drove her back as Heda started to speak incoherently. It would have been quite a strange scene to look at them from a distance as they were two people in one body but fortunately Idun and Heda were the only ones in that place.

“So that was the case. Idun looked at us while hiding in the darkness. So that was the case.”

“Heda did it too. You did it on purpose even though you knew that I was watching.”

Heda and Idun attacked each other and then started to giggle at the same time.

“He should be alive, right?”

“He must be. I couldn’t feel that he died. Only that the connection was cut off.”

“Will we be able to meet him again?”

“Certainly.”

There were four days until the seal broke.

After that, only war and death awaited them.

That was why it was a dream-likestory. And if he really was alive, they hoped he wouldn’t even appear. They hoped that at least he could stay alive.

“For Asgard and the nine realms.”

“For Idun’s legion, for Idun’s warrior.”

Heda and Idun spoke. They were resolved as the Goddess of Youth and Life and the representative Valkyrie of the legion.

And four days after that...

A time close to midday...

THe seal of Valhalla broke down.

< Episode 43 – Reunited (3) > End

TL note: Thanks for reading~