Knots and Runes

Child of Shadow

Chapter 6 - Knots and Runes

By theMadLad

I had to catch Rossweisse once more as she fainted again, it was a bit strange but still pretty cute regardless, especially that side of hers that was—

"—Clumsy." Rossweisse's grandmother finished my thoughts as she shook her head while putting a hand up to massage her forehead, before speaking in an exasperated but fond tone, "That granddaughter of mine is just too clumsy, being a Valkyrie really doesn't suit her." She then turned to me with a smile, "Thank you for taking care of her for me."

I gave a smile in response with the shake of my head, "It's no issue, this is actually the second time today."

The grandmother turned to Odin with a glare, who simply raised his arms up in protest of his innocence while directing a glance towards me, "It wasn't my fault, blame 'Mr. Hero' here for seducing her, silly girl couldn't handle it."

She then looked towards me with an excited grin that contrasted the previous glare towards Odin, "So is it true? Are you my Rose's boyfriend?!" She seemed so happy at that moment, so I felt a bit bad about my next words, "No… we actually just met today."

I've never seen someone's happiness fall so quickly, it was so intense that it even made me flinch—it was as if someone sucked out her soul!

"N-now that's not to say I'm not interested!" At my response, her eyes lit back up and their lifelessness disappeared as they seemed to revive.

"T-thank the Allfather." She breathed out as she held a hand to her chest in relief, completely ignoring Odin's muttering of 'you're welcome!'

"Well, why don't you come inside…" She spoke while asking an unspoken question towards the end, my name. Thankfully Odin assisted me in that regard, "—Connla, his name is Connla."

Holy shit, I just realized… Odin was a pretty good wingman.

She gave Odin another glare for interrupting while I gave him a grateful nod, he simply responded with a cheeky smile before turning to me, "I'll come by tomorrow to pick you up." And then, just like that, he left while whistling a jaunty tune as he walked.

"…That guy." She sighed in exasperation at his actions before turning to me in realization, "Oh, where are my manners? I am Göndul, Rossweisse's grandmother."

I gave her a greeting as well before she invited me inside, leading me over to Rossweisse's room so I could set her on the bed before inviting me downstairs.

"So, how did you and Rose meet? Fufufu…" She asked while placing her hand over her mouth in a conspiratory manner, like a housewife ready to learn some juicy gossip.

I explained to her the basics of what happened, only going over my battle with the Curruid and meeting with Odin and Rossweisse. By the time I finished explaining she was staring at me with open disbelief, "You defeated the Curruid? …That would easily place you within ultimate class—not to mention, I can clearly tell that you're human."

It was pretty unbelievable.

The Curruid was an ultimate class, but that was not really specific. Ultimate class greatly ranged in terms of power, from the likes of Serafall Leviathan or even minor gods—to someone like Kokabiel.

Which was a big fucking difference.

I would place the Curruid around the middle points of ultimate class, perhaps a bit weaker than one of the five Dragon Kings.

—And I killed him.

So of course it was unbelievable. I clearly saw Göndul's doubts but wasn't discouraged, I didn't need to prove myself to anyone.

…Well, maybe I did to her, or she might not let me have lovey dovey copulation with her granddaughter.

"Tomorrow, Odin should bring me to fight some kind of match in order to debut me." I smirked as I finished, "You will see if my words are true or not then."

She looked at me with appraisal before speaking with a weary tone, "Well, I see that you are not lacking confidence… but, I suppose it's a good thing—Heroes should be brave after all." She then placed a thankful smile on her face as she looked at me softly before giving a bow, "Please take care of my Rose, she is clumsy and rash at times, but is a sweet girl deep down who tries her best for herself and those around her—" Göndul made eyes contact with me as she finished, "—and I trust her judgement regardless of her faults."

…So easy!? But although I should be concerned with the fact that me and Rossweisse hadn't even had a proper conversation… for some reason, this felt right in a way. While Odin had been rather sly in making me promise to be with Rossweisse, Göndul was different, hers was a heartfelt wish from a grandmother to a granddaughter.

I didn't have much care for doubts regardless, so once again, I made a life changing decision without hesitation, "Like I said to Odin before, I won't ever let her down—she chose me as her hero after all."

She lifted her head up to face me with teary eyes before giving me a hug, "Thank you, I have always worried so much about her."

I gave her a pat on the back while replying, "Well, I promise to take care of her." Fuck this was kind of weird, I felt as if I was getting married… well, I suppose that wasn't far from the truth. She then started to send me to Rossweisse's room so that I could finally actually speak to the girl.

But not without leaving me with some parting advice that she basically yelled throughout the house, "Rose is very shy and has the heart of a pure virgin maiden, so you have to take the initiative!"

I was a bit speechless at her words, but with the shake of my head—I entered Rossweisse's room.

And there she was.

—Curled into the bed while looking as if she wanted to die from shame. She was hiding her head tucked behind a pillow with only her red tipped ears poking out from behind her hair.

It was pretty cute.

…Was this the fabled waifu?

I approached her before sitting beside her on the bed and placing a hand on her shoulder and asking, "…Are you alright?"

Although with Odin and Göndul's approval making our relationship basically decided, I was more concerned about her thoughts. At my words she slowly peaked her head up shyly, revealing her bright red face and teary eyes for me to see, "I-I'm sorry, it's just I'm clumsy a-and," She hiccuped as spoke between sobs as she looked at me, "I really want you to l-like me and I keep messing things up—!"

She was interrupted as I put a hand on her head before patting it, honestly I didn't really like all the baggage she seemed to have. She was constantly criticizing and pitying herself that it really took away from the kind of person I knew she could be.

But I promised to support her—and I don't break promises.

I stared at her as she was stunned into silence from my actions. But, I could see the subtle smile she had from it—a small peak at the girl she was within. So I did what her grandmother asked, I took the initiative.

I continued to pat her on the head as I spoke, "How old are you Rose?" If I wanted to rid her of her self-deprecation, I needed her to realize it on her own. But, that was no excuse to let off from the attack! I changed to using a more personal nickname like her grandmother—this was what taking the initiative meant!

I had game, dammit!

She seemed to take a hit to her psyche as she misinterpreted my words, "I am y-young, young—you hear me?! I am only 17!"

O-oops, I might have made her angry.

I picked up the pace of my headpats, determined to get to my point, "Exactly! You are only 17, think about how much you've already accomplished at such a young age! Odin could've picked anyone to become his personal Valkyrie, someone more experienced or powerful. But no—he chose you!"

My words seemed to quell her as she started to lean into my hand for comfort. I leaned down and came into eye contact with her as I spoke, "You want to know why?"

"W-Why?" She spoke with an increasingly red face.

"Because you're amazing." I replied with my most charming smile. I was bullshitting mostly, because honestly I barely knew her. While I may have seen or read DxD, I didn't recall it too well, and even then—my understanding of the characters would still be superficial.

These were real people now, and deserved to be treated as such. And right now… I wanted to know the girl named Rossweisse.

"—F-fwah, Y-you don't know that!" She stuttered out in embarrassment. I laughed at her cute reaction, while she continued to make cuter noises in the background. I finally lifted my palm off her now messy hair and gave her red face an encouraging smile, "Then why don't you show me, Rose?"

I knew that Rossweisse had massive potential, but she was held back by her shyness and baggage. That's why sometimes, all it took to make someone truly shine—was a bit of encouragement.

"R-r-r-rose?!"

Ah, she passed out again.

…Welp, I guess she didn't hear me the first time then.

——————————

After she woke up in embarrassment, I managed to convince her to show me what she enjoyed doing. And to the surprise of absolutely no one, she showed me magic.

But I was definitely interested. Because, one of the things I remembered from DxD was that Rossweisse was extremely knowledgeable in magic, to the point of being the foremost expert on the Beast of the Apocalypse, Trihexia.

It was during one of our discussions that she brought up a term I did not recognize from DxD.

"Magic Crests?" I asked, only recognizing it from Magus' families from the Fate Series… but it seemed to exist here as well in some way.

"Yes…" Her mood seemed to drop on the topic and I was about to suggest a different subject, but she seemed obligated to tell me.

"Here in Asgard, magic is everything. It determines everything from your status to wealth, and those without ability in it… are left at the bottom to rot." She spoke with a grimace before continuing, "That being said, competition between families in regards to magic is very intense and this resulted in the creation of Magic Crests."

"These Crests are basically databases stored with different magic spells, runes, and more that are passed from one generation to another. They can even help with the efficiency of magic calculations and magic power needed in spells." She spoke passionately, but I could tell there was a hint of regret in her voice.

I sat next to her and pulled her into a side hug to comfort her while she made a multitude of cute noises in response to my actions. I could feel her body physically heating up in embarrassment… but eventually, she decided to lean into me as well.

That bit of comfort seemed to be enough for her to voice her woes, "I couldn't inherit my family's crest." She spoke in grief, it seemed as if the fact was one that she truly struggled with, "…I felt like such a failure. Like I had disappointed everyone I ever loved at that moment. Magic was everything, and I was an embarrassment."

I patted her head once more as she curled up into me, "S-so I tried my hardest to make up for it! I threw myself into my studies with e-every inch of my body to become just as good as everyone else! I skipped grades, graduated early, I barely made any friends and wasted my youth… and to achieve what, nothing but becoming some glorified maid!?"

She started to yell towards the end of her rant before curling into me further and crying again. Yeesh… If I was anyone else, all this baggage would be a huge deal breaker. I kind of see why Valkyries can't get anyone to date them now…

I dread to imagine her while drunk.

"It wasn't worthless." I spoke firmly while tilting her chin to look at my face. She looked away, shyly averting her eyes from me as I continued, "You still accomplished it all didn't you? You became Odin's 'maid' not just because of pity, but because of ability."

I gave her nose a little bop as she started to smile slightly at my words, "Now, why don't you show me some of these accomplishments."

She nodded shyly as she brought a hand up before projecting a magic circle. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I was a bit distracted… because while she might not have noticed how she had curled into me so much that I was practically spooning her soft body—I certainly did.

So, it was particularly notable how quickly her magic circle had stolen my attention, with my eyes widening in surprise as I looked at it.

"Are those Celtic Knots?" I asked while stunned, she had used my own Celtic culture's magic as the basis for her magic circle.

…and it made a lot of sense. I actually do something pretty similar but not in the form of a magic circle.

"Y-yes, I did! With how Celtic Knots use trees as a basis for magic, it synchronizes perfectly with how Norse Runes—""—all originate from the Tree of Yggdrasil!" I finished for her as we looked at each other with bright, excited smiles.

The World Tree, or Yggdrasil, is the place where all runes originate from. Odin was able to learn them from the tree after sacrificing his eye to Mímisbrunnr, the Well of Wisdom, and hanging himself for nine days and nine nights.

This was also one of the reasons I believed that Runes were weaker than they should have been. Because the World Tree didn't uphold all of existence like in myth, but only the Norse Pantheon.

So in turn, the Runes represented the Norse and their Gods only, causing them to be nerfed by the existence of the other Pantheons throughout the world—and in turn, reliant on the power and domains of the Norse Gods instead of reality itself.

But Rossweisse's idea had given them a notable buff. My own Culture's Druidic magic complimented Runes almost perfectly.

Druid Magic could be separated into two sections, Knots and Ogham. They both had basis in trees, as in Celtic culture, the tree was of utmost importance and a core symbol of belief—as Celts believed that trees connected the world of the spirits and the ancestors, living entities, and were doorways into other worlds.

Her magic circle had used the Celtic Five Fold Knot as its foundation, which basically was a four cornered knot held together by a final fifth knot at the center. It represented a few things, most notably the four elements and directions, with the final center knot representing the connection or balance between them.

She had then placed a Trinity Knot at the center of these four corners; this three cornered knot could represent a number of things, from the cycles of life to the passage of time. It could also be freely rotated to invert those representations.

The trinity also complimented the three sets of two rune chain pairs surrounding the center of the circle, which the caster would use to determine which spell would be cast.

Finally, the four corners and entire magic circle in general, were further connected and strengthened by the Celtic Sailor Knot that intertwined them, representing an unbreakable bond.

This entire magic circle was an ingenious union between two cultures, using both of them to empower each other further.

…and it was at that moment, we realized how close we were. She was sitting on my lap as I spooned her, leaning her body so closely to me, it was as if she was trying to meld us together.

Her face turned nuclear as she stared into my eyes, but this time she didn't pass out or even attempt to move away, she just sat there shyly… waiting for me to use the opportunity. Which I quickly took advantage of to wrap my arms around her, somehow pulling her even closer to me.

From there we sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, content. But eventually I broke it with a cheeky grin while holding out her own magic circle with my hand.

She seemed befuddled at how easily I had done it, but I managed to push past her inquiries and convince her to bring up her own magic circle. From there I spoke to her softly while overlaying my own magic circle over hers, "I think it's great, but it could be better."

There I added one more Knot, it was called Serch bythol, and was similar to both the four and three corner knot, with a two cornered knot instead. But its meaning was entirely different, as it represented family, union, and love.

Heh, I was basically proposing to her in a way. I wanted her to be mine, and what better way to show that than through magic? It also helped that this would strengthen the magic circle even further.

She also seemed to realize this, as she quickly devolved into a red faced, stuttering, shy, and absolutely cute mess. But eventually, she pulled herself together enough to skittishly accept the proposition, mirroring my knot on her own magic circle before linking it together—and instantly ducking into my chest to hide her face.

I could almost feel the magical circle become noticeably more powerful the moment after, as our union brought it to greater heights—whether that be because she was Norse and me Celtic, or me a Hero and her a Valkyrie—I didn't know. It could have been any number of reasons, but in the end, it didn't really matter.

What did matter however, was that Rossweisse was now mine.

And that thought in mind, I grasped my hand under her chin and brought her head up to face me. She seemed to realize where I was going with this, as she began to flutter her eyes with a smile that was shaking in happiness.

A moment later she puckered her lips in shyness as I dove in, taking her lips for my own. She moaned as we kissed, bringing her hands up to my hair with intensity as I brought one of the hands down from her hips and onto her juicy fat bottom cheeks.

—Then a flash of light interrupted us.

"—Squee! I got it, I got it! My Rose's first kiss on camera!" An elderly voice sounded out from the doorway, "Fufufu~! I can't wait to add this to my picture books~!"

I watched speechlessly as Göndul shamelessly danced in celebration, with camera in hand. Meanwhile, Rossweisse had shot off my lap like a rocket with a high-pitched 'Eeep!' before burying herself under the blanket in embarrassment.

Göndul then turned to me with a cheeky grin, "Fufu, don't mind me!" And then with a dismissive she turned to the door, but not before letting off another sentence that turned Rossweisse's brain to mush, "Make sure not to use protection, I want tons of great-grandbabies~!"

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Author's Notes

Connla X Rossweisse ship has officially sailed! Alright, alright, the next chapter will kick things back into action—with Connla vs a particular Valkyrie senpai!

Runes have been buffed, yay!

I hope you liked the explanation of Rossweisse's magic circle, it actually made a lot of sense when looking at it in the anime. Hell, I'll even drop a picture here!

Make sure to leave powerstones, comments would also make me very happy! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Join the discord at, https://discord.gg/AMyqBN2

Also, if you are wondering how to pronounce the ö in Göndul, then make the 'ay' noise in 'day' before tightly rounding your lips while making the sound.