Episode 31/Chapter 6: Idun's legion (6)

Sigurd's hair was golden.

The really soft and long hair that flowed down his shoulders and back seemed like a flowing river of gold.

But rather than beautiful, it gave off a strong impression like fire or the sun.

Sigurd's face was upright like a sculpture made from a rock. He didn't have an expression and displayed a rock-hard discipline through the strong magic power within his red eyes.

Tae Ho swallowed dryly. The moment he faced Sigurd's eyes, he felt like static flowed all over his body.

'Sigurd.'

Tae Ho knew about him. Precisely speaking, it was more correct to say that he had investigated him.

Who is the strongest warrior in Valhalla?

Who's the ranking number one? What sagas does he have?

It was a natural curiousness. It was an old habit of Tae Ho to perform research on the top player of any game he started and what his record was like.

'A protagonist from a legend.'

Sigurd was a successor of the Volsungr family that has inherited the blood of Odin.

So obviously enough, the blood of Odin also flowed in his veins. That and a lot more. More than anyone else in the Volsungr family.

He was already close to a demigod since he was born. He would surely become a great warrior even if he didn't receive any training.

But Sigurd also received proper training. The one that had trained him was the father of sheeps, dwarf Regin.

Regin was an outstanding blacksmith that had no competitors. Because of that, Sigurd naturally learnt blacksmithing skills from him and that made him into an even stronger warrior.

Sigurd wasn't merely a warrior that knew how to swing some weapon well. He could listen to the voices of his weapons just like the warriors of Erin could. In addition, he could perfectly understand the weapons of his enemies just by seeing them once.

When Sigurd grew up and developed completely, there was no one in Midgard that could beat him in a duel.

It wasn't excessive to say that he had already climbed to the seat of the strongest warrior.

But Sigurd's story didn't end there.

He was also a strong magician.

Dwarf Regin had transmitted to Sigurd all the magic and visions he knew excluding the most important ones.

His talent in magic was completely overwhelming, even more so than his talent as a warrior.

Because he had the blood of Odin, the King of Gods, flowing in his veins.

The strongest warrior in Midgard and at the same time a magician.

Dwarf Regin really treasured Sigurd. He had even said that Sigurd was the best magical sword he had made.

The reason Regin trained Sigurd to this point wasn't because of his love for his sheeps nor because Sigurd's talent was so beautiful that he couldn't leave him alone.

Regin had raised up Sigurd as his magical sword. The stories that were heard weren't comparisons or jokes.

It was all to remove his old enemy, the devil dragon, Fafnir.

The Dragon Slaughterer.

That was the nickname of Sigurd.

Sigurd had defeated Fafnir just like Regin had wished.

He didn't stop there and promptly defeated ten more dragons.

The battle against the dragons made Sigurd stronger. The blood of the dragons that he bathed in made his body strong like steel and the heart and flesh of the dragon he ate granted him mystical powers.

All of this had happened before he'd even entered Valhalla, when he was in his youth.

[Dragon Slaughterer]

Tae Ho breathed slowly. He could feel his saga even if he didn't see with the 'Eyes of the Dragon'.

He was a dragon's death incarnate. A specialized magical sword to bring down the legendary flying beasts.

The reason Adenmaha found the atmosphere to be harsh wasn't only because of the air in the room. Sigurd's existence itself made her, a dragon race, feel nervous. That was the Dragon Slaughterer that made any dragon ilk feel choked just with his presence.

Kalsted also had the blood of a dragon flowing in him, and because of that, Sigurd was a opposite existence for him.

'Don't cower. Just from looking at the bases, you are much more of a monster.'

Cuchulainn said matter of factly.

He already knew as much about his saga and Kalsted as Ragnar.

Ragnar had spoken, and Cuchulainn had agreed.

As it were right now, though, Sigurd's presence was entirely domineering. He wouldn't be able to become an opponent for Sigurd even if he fought with all his strength.

However, that was only in the present.

[Synchro rate: 59%]

Tae Ho slowly released his strength. He protected Adenmaha, who seemed to be in pain just from being watched by Sigurd. He grabbed on her waist as it seemed like she would fall at any moment.

A conspicuous color appeared in Sigurd's eyes which stared at Tae Ho and Adenmaha expressionlessly.

Tae Ho didn't dodge his eyes and faced them directly.

The one that turned his eyes away was Sigurd. He just slightly averted his eyes instead of trying to press down Tae Ho and Adenmaha by releasing all of his strength. They couldn't know what he was thinking about because he didn't have an expression, but at least it didn't seem like he had any enmity with them.

'It seems like he's on guard as shes the race of a dragon.'

Cuchulainn mumbled.

For Adenmaha, it was something she could get enraged at, but this place was Asgard, and in Asgard it was common sense for Sigurd to be aware of a dragon.

No sane dragons existed in Asgard, to say nothing of the ice and fire dragons that resided in Jotunheim and Muspelheim, respectively.

All the named dragons living on the roots of Yggdrasil like Nidhogg were evil.

'There were also few good dragons in Erin.'

Excluding Adenmaha, who was of a dragon race and a Goddess of the Tuatha De Danann, one could say that there was almost none.

In Sigurd's position, who'd fought against dragons all his life, he could only stand on guard as a warrior that had the blood of a dragon flowing in him appeared with a Valkyrie of a dragon race. No, it was more impressive that all he had done was stare.

'I heard that there are many good dragons in the Temple, and I even saw one directly in the Great War.'

If Asgard was of the northern European mythology and Olympus was the myth of Greece and Rome, then the temple belonged to the mythology of the East.

He had only heard things from Ragnar, but it seemed like maidens flew instead of Valkyries, and it seemed to be a world where immortals and soldiers formed a strong army.

Tae Ho listened to Cuchulainn's easy-going explanation and turned to look at Adenmaha.

"Adenmaha, are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Adenmaha panted and barely managed to answer. Looking at Adenmaha, Tae Ho naturally felt hostility towards Sigurd.

However, Adenmaha grabbed his arm. Sigurd hadn't done anything evil and wasn't someone that enjoyed bothering Adenmaha.

"It's fine."

Adenmaha reiterated her position, and Tae Ho nodded. He breathed in to calm himself down and looked at the front.

He could feel the several gazes he had missed as he was concentrating on Sigurd.

They were the gazes of the commanders.

The commanders were all putting on interested faces at the short clash of powers between Sigurd and Tae Ho.

Only superior-ranked warriors or above could become a commander of a legion. They had read several things from that short clash of powers.

"Let's start."

The voice received a flood of gazes. It was the voice of Thor.

He lightly hit the platform with Mjolnir and glanced at Freya, and she shrugged her shoulders and took off her veil. With that, all minor conversations ended.

Everyone in the conference room turned to look at Freya. She got satisfied at the atmosphere of the room that had turned silent and giggled and then put on the veil again.

"Then, we will be starting with the great conference."

The Valkyrie that was standing below the platform where Thor, Freya, and Sigurd were at raised her voice and then all the commanders and Valkyries sat on their seats.

After that, the story proceeded quite quickly.

Just like Ragnar had said, this battle was the biggest they had faced in tens of years, but it was pointless to say more than that.

It felt like the two sides had suffered losses they could still handle.

Obviously enough, the giants had suffered more than them.

They had lost Balgad, the Giant of Earth. As Balgad wasn't a giant that stood on the front lines, there wasn't an immediate loss, but it would surely become a problem in Jotunheim.

In addition, it was impossible even for the Magician King, Utgard Loki, to raise someone to the level of Balgad.

The next thing that was mentioned was the gate of Erin.

First, Freya had said that it was impossible to use it again now that it had been used once. She honestly recognized the flaw in the Great Barrier by mentioning the battle against the fomoires that had also occurred recently.

"It's to the point that we have to remove it install it again, even by taking some risks. I will send you the results of this after we decide it later."

After this, the reports of the several commanders took place. Tae Ho had also participated with the right of a commander, but as he wasn't taking part in the front lines, he had nothing to report. As he was just listening, the conference soon ended.

"Good. We will now honor the heroes in this battle."

As Thor said enjoyingly, the commanders also revealed jovial expressions. Freya smirked at their expressions and said with the purest voice,

"Idun's commander. Come to the front."

The moment Freya stopped talking, the wall that was next to the place Adenmaha and Tae Ho were sitting on disappeared, and some stairs appeared.

As Adenmaha and Tae Ho already knew that there would be a reward at the end of the conference, they could walk down the stairs rather naturally even though they were a bit nervous.

The Valkyrie that was below the platform conceded her seat to the both of them and then stepped back.

Adenmaha let out a long breath and Tae Ho tried to put on a calm expression for her sake.

Freya laughed at the two of them once again and then rolled her fingers to activate some magic.

"Kyak?"

Adenmaha let out a stifled scream. It was because the floor had started to move. The platform that Thor, Freya, and Sigurd were seated at and the platform Tae Ho and Adenmaha were standing on began to spin. It didn't end there, and the wall that was behind Thor disappeared like a lie.

Fresh air and wind entered in an instant. Adenmaha opened her eyes widely unconsciously and dropped her mouth.

There were warriors of Valhalla on the wide platform that you would have to look up at. If one also counted the Steel Warriors, it seemed like there would be tens of thousands.

'What a grand sight.'

Cuchulainn spoke, enjoying the moment. Adenmaha grew astonished at the unexpected meeting with the great army and then started to act excitedly.

Thor laughed and spoke with a voice that shook the ground and sky like thunder.

"Warriors, I remember the Great War."

The terrible war that occurred a hundred years ago.

Asgard had lost too many things in that war.

"Idun's legion was decimated to the point where they couldn't act as a legion anymore. Because of that, it has remained inoperable for the past hundred years."

But it was different now. The destroyed legion has started to recover again.

"I welcome the legion that has returned. I compliment the commander of Idun that has raised great merits."

Thor spoke about Tae Ho's performance.

He defeated Bress, the King of the Fomoires and destroyed Balgad, the Giant of Earth.

The hero of Vahalla that has retrieved several fragments of Garmr's soul.

Thor stood from his seat and hit his chest with the fist that was holding Mjolnir and the sound of thunder was heard at the same time so that everyone could hear it.

"For Asgard and the Nine Realms! For the Goddess of Youth and Life, Idun!"

Thor raised Mjolnir high and then the warriors of Valhalla answered. The tens of thousands of warriors hit their chests at the same time.

"For Idun!"

"For Idun!"

The voice that became one shook the sky and the earth. The commanders also expressed etiquette and called out the name of Idun.

Adenmaha turned to look at Tae Ho with an excited face. Tae Ho also felt his chest get heated up at the amazing cheer.

Could Idun be hearing it right now?

He thought of Idun's smiling face. He felt like he could listen to her voice that was like an excited bird chirping.

"For Idun."

Tae Ho said in a low voice and hit his chest twice and then the warriors yelled once again.

"For Idun! For the Goddess of Life!"

The Goddess of Life and Youth.

Tae Ho's Goddess.

He wanted to meet Idun as much as Heda right now.

-

Idun was standing on the green plains.

She'd heard the voices of the warriors of Valhalla that were calling out her name, and she'd cried and laughed.

It wasn't on the plains where she'd met Tae Ho. It was a place hidden beyond the big apple tree and somewhere Tae Ho had never visited before.

There was a big tombstone in front of Idun. Idun wiped off the tear that flowed down her cheek and touched the tombstone.

There were names of warriors engraved in it.

The warriors of Idun that lost their lives in the Great War.

Not a single name was omitted, from the lowest-ranked to the superior-ranked warriors. There were also the names of Valkyries on it.

Idun remembered all of their names. She hadn't been able to forget even though a century had passed.

Wind blew and Idun took a breath. She looked at the names that were at the highest place of the tombstone.

Idun, the Goddess of Life and Youth.

Bragi, the God of Poetry and Music.

The two Gods that lost their lives in the Great War.

The mother and father they couldn't meet anymore.

Idun, or more appropriately, the current Idun, held back her tears. She then put on a smile forcefully.

Idun's legion was reconstructed.

The new commander led the legion.

"My warrior, Tae Ho."

The present Idun leaned her cheek on the tombstone and then boasted about Tae Ho towards the previous Idun, the deceased warriors of Idun, and her father.

< Episode 31 - Idun's legion (6) > End