Chapter 66 – Bargain!

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Here's the chapter of the week!

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Pov. Thor.

After weeks of thinking about recent events, I knew I needed to prepare for war.

Weeks have passed since my introduction to the 'avatar of Gluttony', who happened to be enraptured with the city the Aeolites had come to live in and decided to ask my permission to 'stay a little longer'.

I was obviously apprehensive, after all, she was responsible for a mission given by Tsukuyomi himself.

But according to her, it was a 'long run' mission so Tsukuyomi didn't expect the young Oni's return soon.

Another thing that caught my attention was that Enlil, for some weird reason, asked me again to contact Thoth as soon as possible, I did this favor in exchange for transferring Kamish to my land and Ereshkigal when I was free of obligations. , visiting her son whenever she wanted.

I probably extorted too much, for Enlil didn't like my demands at all...

But the strange thing was that after he complained for a few minutes he soon agreed; something that leads me to believe that the situation that demanded Thoth was much more serious than I thought...

That's why I asked him to stay in touch if he needs anything else, with the guarantee that he won't extort again. Enlil appreciated the gesture but only said that something strange was happening in the Ziggurat of Marduke.

Another peculiar fact had happened...

I'm going to be an uncle.

It was an impressive fact indeed.

When it comes to birth with divine blood, all gods and goddesses are not very fertile when interrelated, although this changes when the relationship is between a god and a mortal.

Therefore, the natural birth of a deity, with divine parents, was cause for celebration.

However, the divine parents who were going to have my nephew didn't please some clans...

The divine parents were Baldr and Nanna.

An Aesir and a Jotun.

Worse, an Aesir heir and an heir to the most populous clan in the Jotuns.

Baldr, when he discovered that Nanna was pregnant, promptly asked her to marry him and went to Nanna's father confidently and offered his share for the making of the Kostr.

Nanna's father did not approve of the dowry, although the dowry was beyond fair...

It was easy to see that Nanna's father did not like his daughter to marry an Aesir, after all, there was that small detail that after the great Asgardian war the race that most married the Jotuns were the Aesir and, therefore, nothing beneficial would come out of yet another Kostr between Jotun and Aesir, even if it is between heirs.

I, not so discreetly, said fuck it.

Baldr loved Nanna, Nanna loved Baldr, they will have a child and by extension my first nephew...

For me, that was enough.

It was then that I acted as a 'support' to then 'convince' Nanna's father in a 'semi-peaceful' way.

The wedding that took place months later was one of the most important in Asgard and among all the kingdoms.

Everyone was invited, but only one didn't show up...

Loki was not present.

In fact, it's been a long time since I've seen a sign of Loki, it somehow made me worried, but not worried that he was okay...

No, far from it...

I was worried he was up to something.

So, just in case, I stayed with Viljestyrke – Archer activated throughout the event.

After the wedding and celebration, here I was, in my humble home in Midgard, in the basement to be more specific, where my private forge was located with access to the fjord in case I asked the Telkhines for help.

I was in deep concentration at the time, after all, I was doing the first piece of my other project...

The Hnefatafl.

The original plan for this set was simple...

With the fusion of a piece with someone chosen, it would give access and the possibility to use the Viljestyrke – Archer, and Viljestyrke – Knight in a full way.

Regarding the hierarchy, I decided to be a little more fair and simple.

With a total of 12 pieces of 'king's guards', the hierarchy will work in descending order of power, with the 12th being the 'weakest' among the guards...

What I was doing at the moment was building the first prototype; more specifically, the second piece of the same prototype.

So far, this is the second piece I've built...

The Kingsguard.

"Very well, for now, everything is quiet… I just need to be a little more careful when adding a Yggdrasil seed," I said, whispering as I smoothed nervously as I performed the action.

At this time I added the Yggdrasil seed to the small blue piece with red details very carefully, after all, it was quite difficult to find something so small.

As soon as I put the missing piece on I let out a sigh I didn't even realize I was holding and wiped my forehead with sweat. I then picked up the small piece from the table and observed it closely, looking for any flaws.

"Well, everything looks according to –" I said, until I was interrupted by someone opening the door quickly.

"Thor! My archenemy!" said the voice of the person who broke into my forge.

I could only sigh in defeat when I recognized the voice and turned towards the owner.

Frey.

"… The last time you showed up at my house centuries ago, I killed half of a race and, in the next day, I had the biggest hangover of my life… Also, archenemy? Since when?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

This seemed to make Frey angry.

"You know very well what I'm referring to! My sister will not only be your servant, or worse... Your bed warmer!" Frey said.

... Huh?

"I never said she would be. In fact, your sister is cleaning the house after spending decades living in my house without my knowledge and doing absolutely nothing… Which reminds me that I have to skin one squirrel in particular," I said, frowning at the end.

Ratatoskr.

You bastard... You are the physical representation of a headache.

Frey looked insulted, but I didn't care when I quickly summoned a teleportation circle, which made Frey's eyes widen.

"Hey! Where are you going?!" Frey asked.

I answered truthfully.

"To your mother's house," I said.

... Ah?... That sounded more wrong than I initially thought.

"You bastard! It's not enough my sister, but you want my mother too?! Come back here!" shouted Frey, who soon ran towards me.

But luckily, I soon came out of my forge with the last word.

"Whatever you do to my house, I will do to your spine… So don't break anything!" I said.

And then I disappeared.

In the blink of an eye, I was on a cliff, next to a frozen beach in Midgard.

This was the home of Skadi and Njord.

I was here to request a simple favor from Skadi.

Due to her being associated with winter, consequently influencing all of Midgard, I always had to ask her for more 'corrupted ice', after all the stock I had was limited, and the biggest amount of ice I got was when I demolished the Castle Winter of Utgard a long time ago.

But the ice I collected from the castle would eventually run out, so I looked to my nearest ice source...

Skadi.

Although she refused to create corrupted ice out of nowhere, she was more than willing to 'clone' what remaining ice I had.

In return, she would get a small favor from me.

A good example was the favor of a few years ago.

Frey, out of stupidity or blindness, fell in love with the Jotun's sister whom one of his weapons accidentally killed in the past, and was willing to give Sumarbrander as a dowry for Kostr. For sheer stupidity, Skadi asked me to talk some sense into Frey, which I did...

Not so peacefully.

Frey was left lamenting that he was unable to love another woman but the Jotun who had captured their eyes.

When I saw that he wasn't going to stop, I could only promise to help him however I could. While he said he appreciated my help, he also said he wouldn't trust his best friend who wants to 'steal his sister'.

Anyway, it was time to order more ice. So I soon walked towards a small house on the edge of the cliff and knocked on the door, only to be welcomed by Skadi and Njord with open arms.

After getting more ice from Skadi, I headed towards Aeolita City, meeting up with Karna and Achilles, where the Hnefatafl project proved to be an absolute success.

Karna was Kingsguard 1, therefore being the strongest so far.

Achilles was Kingsguard 2, which didn't seem to please the hero because he didn't consider himself weaker than Karna.

This led to a dilemma...

So I set a rule to rise through the ranks of the Kingsguard.

Kingsguards can challenge each other to single combat in the Valhalla arena, with the rankings being bet on the match…

So, Achilles lost.

He didn't lose quickly or humiliatingly, which Karna himself admitted was a good fight.

Anyway, a few days later, I was surprised by Yamato, who wanted to be part of my 'crew'...

I said no.

After all, the three great Shinto rulers knew that Yamato had Taotie, and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't let Oni be part of another pantheon.

It would be different if Taotie was found by me.

But I wasn't going to give up easily on having Taotie under my wing in a legal way, so I asked for a meeting with Amaterasu and the leader of the Youkai, as Yamato was an Oni.

So now, here I was, somewhere on the fringes of Jotunheim in Midgard in front of Amaterasu and the current leader of the Youkai...

And a little girl, apparently five years old.

"... You are big!" said the child.

... By Ymir's beard, I had to bite my tongue to resist saying 'that's what she said', it was just a child after all.

"Yasaka, have more respect for others," said the Youkai woman with nine tails.

"Fufufu~ Young Yasaka-chan always says the first thing that comes to mind… So it's safe to say that no one is more honest than a child" said a young girl, with black and gold hair, wearing a pink Yukata of the same color as her eyes.

I knew she was Amaterasu...

The child, who was identified as Yasaka, seemed to be confused by what Amaterasu had said, but soon smiled.

"Thank you grandma!!!" said Yasaka, with a bright smile.

A smile that wasn't appreciated by Amaterasu when she heard what Yasaka had said and it only made a small cloud of depression rise in Amaterasu's head.

"Yasaka!" shouted the Youkai.

Yasaka looked embarrassed and soon apologized to Amaterasu and joined the side of the Youkai, who I assumed was her mother due to their similar appearance.

"*sigh* Frankly… I'm sorry about my daughter, I'm Kanao, representative of the Youkai and Kurama's wife, who at the moment cannot come due to a problem between some Youkai clans that he had to resolve, but I assure you that my word carries the same weight as my husband's word," said Youkai, identified as Kanao, who then bowed briefly.

I could only nod; I wanted to get this over with quickly, so I cut to the chase.

"Well, I think you already know, but I'll explain it briefly. An Oni named Yamato appeared in my territory and now wants to stay; however, due to unique circumstances, I felt I should speak to you first, as she is a little 'special'" I said.

Both frowned, though Yasaka was the only one confused.

...Obviously, she was confused, she was a child! Who had the idea to bring her?! Besides, she was risking her own daughter's life in a foreign territory!

"I don't mean to sound disrespectful... But why is a child in this meeting?" I asked, looking briefly at Yasaka.

The young Youkai puffed out her cheeks and pouted.

"I am not a child! Mother says only adults can attend meetings, so I'm an adult!" Yasaka said.

I snorted.

"...Yeah, yeah, of course, you are..." I said.

This seemed to irritate young Yasaka even more, as she tried to jump towards me while waving her little arms, but was soon grabbed by Kanao's hands in the air.

"Yasaka! *sigh*... Forgive my daughter, she is always fussy. For your question, it's quite simple, as Yasaka will be the future leader, so it's good for her to gain experience, I trusted to bring her due to Frigg assuring me that you are someone calm and reasonable" said Kanao.

... Oh? I suppose I can be glad that my mother trusts me.

"…At least while you're sober," Kanao said, with an uncertain smile.

... Well, nobody's perfect.

It was then at that moment that Amaterasu chose to speak.

"That aside… You know about Yamato and, by extension, Taotie. So you know as well as I do that you ask too much," said Amaterasu.

I agree, so I came prepared.

"I heard you guys were having problems with 'pigeons' and 'bats'… I can help with that" I said.

That seemed to get their attention.

"I don't know how this is relevant, there have been several meetings I've attended among the leaders of the other gods from various parts of the world to discuss more active movement of the angel and devil factions. I should point out that your father was present at these meetings, so what can you do to help me that even he couldn't?" asked Amaterasu, crossing her arms over her chest.

It was then that I pulled out a small yellow crystal from my storage space.

One of the most expensive things I've created, as well as the reason why my stash of corrupted ice runs out faster than scheduled.

"This single crystal, when crushed, will create a detection barrier that, according to my simulations, will cover all the territory you govern. Before you break it, make sure you are in the center of your territory and channel some of your power into the crystal before you break it so you can connect with the barrier and 'feel' the intruder" I said, explaining the object and function.

It was the first thing I did when I moved the Aeolite people to the north.

Igris, Karna, and Achilles were the only ones connected with the barrier that 'protected' the Aeolites from invasions.

I also tried staying connected, but for some reason, it didn't work for me.

In theory, the user connected to the barrier should feel a kind of tingling in the back of the neck in case of invasion by someone.

I didn't feel anything.

It was... like someone or something was preventing me from having the 'effect' of the rune, which was really weird.

But it should work perfectly for others.

My little barrier project seems to have interested Amaterasu.

"… Hmm… Would it be possible to have beyond that barrier, a possible future favor from you?" asked Amaterasu.

This whole time Kanao was silent and waited for Amaterasu to negotiate... Although it was noticeable that she wanted this barrier.

Amaterasu's proposal was already expected, after all, she would be giving up the 'Fiend of Gluttony' in exchange for greater security for her territory and a future favor.

"… As long as it doesn't involve Asgard as a whole, that's fine with me," I said.

I definitely didn't want to drag Asgard into whatever Shinto wanted later. Apparently, my answer was accepted by both leaders, and they both nodded.

I'll do the Yamato Kingsguard piece later, but now I'm going to get organized for the only thing left before I get ready for war for good. With my mind already set, I said goodbye to Amaterasu and Kanao, as well as the brat Yasaka and made a teleportation circle to the entrance to Bifrost, located on the northernmost island of Midgard.

When I stood above the Bifrost teleportation circle, I called out to the gatekeeper.

"Heimdalr! Open the gate!" I said, looking up at the sky.

As a barrier rose, a pillar of light fell from the sky and consumed me in light, blinding me for just a moment.

But... I felt a brief tingling in my back, I haven't felt it before.

When I opened my eyes, I didn't see Heimdalr, nor his house, Himinbjǫrg...

But I saw Asgard.

It was so far away it looked ridiculous. It was then that I realized that I was standing on a vast ocean, the water reaching up to my knees.

This was the sea that surrounded Asgard...

What the hell was I doing here?!

"Heimdalr! Stop joking! You know very well that this ocean has a much higher water resistance than Midgard, it doesn't even let summon magic other than Bifrost! Get me out of here!" I said.

It was then that I heard Heimdalr.

"My prince... Bifrost can't stand you to Asgard anymore, it seems I can only pull you there" said Heimdalr.

... What?

"... Are you telling me I'm heavy?" I said.

"No my prince... Bifrost just can't pull you anymore! Stay there, I will notify King Odin about –" said Heimdalr.

"Fuck no," I said.

I then started walking.

With each step creating waves, beyond that, I seemed to be human again and I felt like I was fighting against the current.

I just smiled as I thought it would be a good workout.

"... I suppose that's the saying... 'Don't skip leg day'!" I said, smiling slightly.

My walk across the ocean of Asgard went on for quite some time, as I listened to Heimdalr cry out in warning most of the way, with me ignoring the 'gatekeeper of the gods'.

When I got to the beach, everyone around looked at me as if I had grown two heads, I just shrugged and headed towards my destination, while doing a communication rune, trying to contact my purpose of coming to Asgard.

When I saw the person on the other side of the rune I smiled brightly.

"So… are you at home with your parents?" I asked.

I stared into Sif's face, which started to blush briefly.

"Yes… Again, are you sure about this?" asked Sif.

I waved.

"Relax… We're just becoming official," I said.

Sif seemed to grumble a little, but sighed and smiled at me.

"I'm waiting for you big guy," said Sif.

The rune image soon disappeared, symbolizing the end of communication, I then quickly created a teleportation circle with the destination being Sif's home. Once I found the house, knocked on the door, and was greeted by Sif, I wore a bright, nervous smile as she wore...

A dress?

"…you know, it's weird seeing you in a dress after all these years," I said.

Sif looked annoyed.

"It's a special occasion... You don't like it?" asked Sif.

She should know by now that it's past time to worry about such trivial things... But I guess it doesn't hurt to tease a little.

I leaned towards Sif while giving her a teasing smile.

"Oh, I like it, easier to take off I suppose, although... When we're in my bed I think I'll ruin that dress, as well as any other clothes you wear" I said, whispering the last part close to her ear.

This seemed to have an effect, for she soon blushed and, if it were possible, a cloud of steam erupting could be seen from her head.

"S-S-S-Stop your jokes and let's get this shit over!" said Sif, as she grabbed me and pulled me into the house.

A few seconds later I was sitting on some kind of wooden bench, with Sif beside me, while I was stared at by her parents.

Rhagnar looked at me seriously, though he flashed Sif a slight smile.

On the other hand, Idhuna...

"Let's be clear… Just because you fucked my daughter several times doesn't mean I like you" said Idhuna.

Rhagnar sighed.

"Idhuna, show more respect to Prince Thor. Also, it's our only daughter's future we're discussing, and she seems to like Thor," Rhagnar said.

Idhuna just snorted in response.

"You weren't the one who had to help Sif out of her pain after fucking-" said Idhuna, before being interrupted by Sif.

"Mother! No!" screamed Sif, jumping out of her chair and covering Idhuna's mouth with her hands, preventing her mother from speaking further.

"We don't talk about that here!" said Sif.

Idhuna removed Sif's hands from her mouth as she sneered.

"I didn't know I raised a pussy in my house. You have Einherjar blood, dwarf blood, and goddess blood; you are a quarter goddess, granddaughter of Gefsiun, and, by extension, a descendant of Jörð. But it looks like you have the blood of a fucking Elf, are you going to be a nature lover now, brat?" asked Idhuna.

I soon noticed that Sif had a popping vein on her forehead.

"Don't fuck with me, old fucker!" said Sif.

A vein soon appeared on Idhuna's forehead.

"Don't call me old! Know that I'm only a little over two and a half millennia old, I still have the energy to drink, fuck your dad, and most importantly, kick your ass!" said Idhuna.

It was then that Sif and Idhuna bumped their foreheads and stared at each other until they were interrupted by Rhagnar.

"Okay, that's enough! Let's get back to what matters!" said Rhagnar, gesturing to me.

Idhuna soon looked at me.

"There is no point in arguing, in a Kostr you must offer something of equal or greater value as a dowry for me and Rhagnar to authorize you to propose to Sif, I can curse and shame her, but I love my daughter, I will not let you marry her to waste the rest of her life when she might as well marry someone who is NOT related to anything dangerous!" said Idhuna.

"Thor is not dangerous!" screamed Sif, trying to defend me.

"Our neighbors pissed their pants when they heard only your lover's name! How by Hel is that not the same thing as dangerous?!" asked Idhuna.

Sif was silent, before looking at me.

"... I hate to admit it, but she's right... You're scary to anyone who doesn't know you," Sif said.

... Baldr doesn't have that problem, but I won't complain...

Also, I must admit that maybe my ego was inflated a bit.

I saw Rhagnar sigh, before looking at me.

"My wife brings up certain points, if Sif marries you she may be doomed to not having a social life, I don't wish my daughter to be excluded, so—" said Rhagnar.

Before Rhagnar could continue I took something from my storage collar and placed it in front of Idhuna and Rhagnar.

It was the pearl I found in the giant oyster, a long time ago on my trip to Greece.

Rhagnar just glanced briefly at the pearl, before raising an eyebrow and looking at me again.

"As I was saying, it's not possible –" said Rhagnar, before he was interrupted...

By Idhuna.

"... Sold!" said Idhuna, grabbing the pearl and looking at it with a twinkle in her eyes.

Rhagnar looked at Idhuna in shock as Sif screamed at her mother.

"... 'Sold'?! I'm not your fucking object you old– " Sif said, before being interrupted by me.

I soon grabbed Sif and lifted her off the ground, holding her princess style, and then walked towards the door.

"I'm glad you accepted Kostr, we'll send out the invites as soon as we decide the day!" I said, not looking back.

I soon looked at Sif.

"... Now it's my turn to ask... Do you really want to go through with this?" I asked, after all, she might still want to give up.

Sif just stared at me, until she cracked a smile and reached out a hand and placed it tenderly on my cheek, and kissed my lips.

"... More than ever... I love you" said Sif, still with a smile, now blushing a little.

... Well, that's it, ladies and gentlemen...

I'm engaged.

And the feeling is...

Good.

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Well, that's all folks!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

For those who speak Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, or any Nordic language:

I need a little help!

I tried to remember something, or even tried to search, but I can't remember the names of the Hnefatafl parts!

I know there are three:

King.

Kingsguard.

Mercenary/Viking enemy.

Anyone who knows the name of the Hnefatafl pieces in any Nordic language, please send me the translation!