Episode 24/Chapter 2: The Shinsoo's of Earth (2)

The world of the giants, Jotunheim had several guys that claimed themselves to be the King.

However the ones that could be called the real King and had the strength and a force to back it up could only be counted on one hand.

The King that built up the strongest force among the other Kings.

The magician King Utgard Loki, rolled his fingers while leaning on the wooden throne. He lightly patted the armrest of the throne and looked at the four giants expressing etiquette in front of him.

They were originally five but they were now four.

The empty seat among the five fingers still hadn't been filled up and the magician King wasn't planning to fill it up hurriedly.

The giant of the Night, Abalt, was silent. The giant of the Beasts, Ort, saved his words. In the end, the one that opened his mouth was the giant of the Sea, Grund.

"A fragment of Garmr's soul was found in Midgard."

The death of Balzak, which had fallen over the sweet words of the Tyrant Bress, wasn't for nothing. The giants obtained a lot of information they had been missing.

The giants hadn't looked in Midgard and the reason was the same as Asgard's. The number of the traces of the Great War were so few in Midgard that the probabilities of a soul fragment being there was also low.

In addition, it wasn't a land the giants could approach easily.

The day Erin had been destroyed, the king of Gods, Odin, who could be described as the root of Asgard, set up a big barrier to protect Midgard. It was to evade the destruction Erin had faced.

After the barrier had been set up, the Gods of Asgard couldn't come and go to Asgard as freely as before. Deploying a large army also became more difficult.

However, that was the same for the enemies of Asgard. As it was a really large barrier, an opening could only be created. So it was possible to hide in Midgard little by little through the small holes but the number of giants that could come and go like this was limited. It couldn't be known if they were weak creatures like Fomoires, but for a giant, which was among the five fingers, to hide was something impossible.

"The warriors of Valhalla are the ones that killed Balzak."

There was no appreciation in Balzak doing what he wanted and dying because of that. He was merely an impetuous guy that aimed for the seat of the five fingers, even without knowing his place.

But the warriors that defeated Balzak were different. They had acquired two fragments of Garmr's soul in a short time.

And the places where the fragments were discovered were close to each other.

A few months had passed since no progress had been made in the search in Svartalfheim, Alfheim, and the surrounding territories of Asgard.

Perhaps Midgard was the place with the most fragments.

Just like Asgard had deployed warriors, maybe they should also do the same.

At Grund's careful advice Utgard Loki nodded slowly. He hit the armrest of the throne a few more times and then closed his eyes and said, "Balgad."

"Tell me, my King."

Balgad, the giant of Earth, who was also one of the five fingers, raised his head. The magician King rolled his fingers again and said, "I will entrust the task of Midgard to you. Only, don't be in a hurry. I don't want to lose you, followed by Harad."

The giant of Strength, Harad.

His last death was really heroic but looking at it from the side, it was really a dog's death.

He ignored the orders of the King and died by the hands of Thor for delaying. It was a carelessness that couldn't be excused.

But regardless of that, the magician King regretted Harad's death. His death hadn't been included in the calculations of the magician King.

Balgad, who was the biggest among the giants, had a body made of rocks and dirt. He nodded heavily and took in the warning of the King and then came up with a request.

"My King, am I able to use Sigil in this case?"

The other fingers showed a reaction before the magician King. The giant of the Sea, Grund, frowned and the giant of the Night, Abalt, looked at Balgad. Ort, the giant of Beasts, just laughed soundlessly.

Sigil, the murderer of the same race.

He was a sinner that hadn't only massacre his comrades to raise evil deeds but he also didn't know his place and even stood up against the magician King.

The reason why the magician King didn't kill him and just imprisoned him wasn't to just give him a long pain. It was to use him someday.

"I will allow it."

"Thank you."

The giant of the Earth, Balgad, expressed his gratitude to the magician King. Grund, the giant of the Sea, also had complaints on this decision but he didn't raise an objection towards the King. The giant of Beasts, Ort, just found it to be fun and the giant of the Night, Abalt, stayed silent.

Balgad stood from his place. He, who was the biggest among the five fingers, turned around along with a faint smile.

&

King Ivar gave a room to each warrior of Valhalla. Because of that, Tae Ho could sit on the bed of his room and have a conversation with Adenmaha one on one.

"Calling me right after what happened yesterday isn't a bit too much?"

"You are my only delight. It's to survive every day."

As Tae Ho spoke with a voice as if he was dying, Adenmaha laughed as if it was absurd and then crossed her arms again.

"You can also call Rolo."

"I wanted to see you."

First, compared to Rolo, you could converse with her, she was cute, pretty, good and most of all, could transform into a human so she wouldn't cause trouble inside the room.

If he called Rolo, it would be obvious that the room would become a mess.

As Tae Ho spoke casually, Adenmaha flinched but then snorted again.

"You won't get anything by doing that."

"Why is there nothing? There is."

As Tae Ho extended his hand, Adenmaha frowned and then took out a letter from a pocket.

"Here, a letter of consolation."

It was a letter written by Heda. As she had written again after a day there wasn't much content in it, but he regained strength when thinking that there was someone that wrote a letter for him.

'Soldiers don't go crazy over letters for nothing.'

Tae Ho started to read the letter with an expression that was much better than before and then Adenmaha smacked her lips and asked carefully, "Master...nim. Is it that harsh?"

"It is." Tae Ho answered immediately.

Adenmaha checked the dark circles that were below Tae Ho's eyes and asked again, "You said that it was attribute training right? How do you train for that?"

"It's basically like training the power of a God. You just manifest an attribute and endure it like that. The difference with Ragnar should be that Rasgrid pushes you to your limit..."

Ragnar was a really intellectual and excellent teacher, because he knew how to control the speed of the training. But Rasgrid was different. She just pushed him to his limit, as if she was quenching.

"Did you have some progress?"

"If there was none I would have been sad." He answered with a pathetic face but not even Tae Ho himself knew about the progress. As he merely squeezed out everything he had, he didn't have the time to test it.

'But I still had some progress.'

First, the time he could squeeze it out was longer than before. Didn't it get longer because he had something to squeeze out?

While Tae Ho was making a sad calculation, Adenmaha, that now had a compassionate face, asked again.

"And you said that you trained with Scathach at night, right?"

"That's even har... Now that I see, did the two of them know each other?"

"A bit. She was a famous woman."

She was the Queen of the Land of Darkness and at the same time a strong witch that had gathered several mystical powers. In addition, she was the teacher of the strongest warrior, Cu Chulainn.

"And you weren't famous, Adenmaha?" Tae Ho asked thoughtlessly this time as well. Whatever the case, Adenmaha was also a Goddess.

But Adenmaha flinched once again and replied while turning her eyes away as if she had become enraged.

"Men that ask too deeply aren't popular."

"Oh, so you weren't famous. So that was the case."

As Tae Ho spoke while imitating Heda, Adenmaha got enraged again. Tae Ho laughed as magnanimously as Bracky and then dropped his body and said, "Anyways, that's also hard. Receiving the power of Tuatha De Danann isn't easy."

Rather, the attribute training was the easy part. It was because he was just increasing the amount, like when he increased the power of a God.

However, the power of Tuatha De Danann was different. It didn't stop at strengthening his mental strength but as Scathach was transmitting him with several magic and mystics, he had to study.

While Tae Ho let out a cry, Adenmaha snorted with a rather proud face.

"Of course. Don't look down on Tuatha De Danann."

"Now that I see, can't I learn from you? You are also a Goddess of Tuatha De Danann."

Scathach wasn't a Tuatha De Danann. Although the comparison was a bit excessive, Adenmaha was a native and Scathach was a foreigner that had studied their culture.

However Adenmaha wore a troubled face at Tae Ho's question.

"Mm, it's not that I can't...ugh, just learn from that witch."

"Well, so that was the case. I'm sorry for asking something impossible."

If Adenmaha was a commoner A, then Scathach was a foreigner researcher that had a master's degree.

"I want to return."

"Right, thank you for today too."

Tae Ho took out a Summoning Rock and was about to stand from his bed. But then Adenmaha seemed to hesitate for a moment and then pushed down Tae Ho again and placed her lips on his forehead.

"Adenmaha?"

A soft, warm feeling spread from his forehead. As Tae Ho blinked, Adenmaha shrugged her shoulders, as if hiding her embarrassment.

"It's also a blessing from a Goddess. Cheer up. I heard from Rolo that master likes these things."

"It seems like there was a misleading statement in his words but thanks anyways. No, now that you did it, won't you do it again? Wait, I will ride on you."

'Right, what you gather is the blessing of Valkyries.' Cu Chulainn, who had been silent, said casually and Adenmaha pushed back Tae Ho, who was trying to get on her back, with all her strength.

"What are you doing!"

It seemed like a joke but it still needed proper punishment. And Siri, who had arrived at the right time, looked at Tae Ho falling down in his bed and frowned.

"That was kind of unsightly to see."

"Captain Siri?"

Tae Ho hurriedly got up and turned to look at her. Siri and Adenmaha shared a greeting with their eyes and then turned to look at Tae Ho again. She drew the same smile as before and said, "Be happy Tae Ho. We are being dispatched."

Siri was also receiving classes from Rasgrid.

Tae Ho stood up from his bed at the ray of hope.

&

There was a big mountain and a forest at the far north of Kataron that was called the Holy Land. It wa a place famous for having several hot springs with good effects but what was more famous than that were the two Shinsoos.

The notice that came from the north was related to the Holy Land. It seemed like the beasts in the Holy Land started to get more ferocious and recently, several monsters started to appear from it.

As Garmr's soul fragment was also pointing towards the north, Ingrid decided to leave Kataron and head to the Holy Land.

'Anyways, this is still good.'

Going out on expeditions meant that they would be moving and he wouldn't be able to move while moving.

No, honestly speaking, it wasn't that it was impossible but whatever the case, he was sure he would do less of that.

'At first glance it seems like your mind has rotten but...I understand you, as I have been observing for the past week.'

Scathach's lessons had been added on top of Rasgrid's.

While Cu Chulainn was comforting him, the warriors of Valhalla shared their farewell with King Ivar and his subordinates. Tae Ho gave a blessing to Helga, who would become a loyal follower of Idun and gifted her with a bar of gold from Valhalla.

"We will leave now."

"Wait a moment, Valkyrie Ingrid. We have prepared something for all of you."

King Ivar spoke and then clapped his hands. Then two big carriages and several war horses appeared from a far place.

"It's a small gift for you for having rescued Kataron. You said that you were still repairing the ship, so you couldn't use it properly right?"

"Thank you for your consideration, King Ivar. Let Odin's blessing be with you."

Ingrid hit her chest and then blessed King Ivar. The warriors of Valhalla also put on happy smiles because their legs wouldn't hurt.

But it was different for Tae Ho and Siri.

A carriage! A damn carriage!

"How good. You will be able to keep training on the road."

Rasgrid looked at Tae Ho and Siri and smiled brightly. It seemed as if it was because they had become closer or she had changed, since the impression she gave was quite different from when they had seen her in Black Fortress.

In the end Tae Ho and Siri had to focus on training in a corner of the carriage.

And how much time had passed...

As night came, Siri was able to be freed from the training and could sleep comfortably.

But Tae Ho's case was also different this time.

"Is that so? You are moving to the north? I understand, so let's start the classes."

It didn't matter whether it was his dream or it was travelling.

While Scathach was urging him to resume the training with a casual face, Tae Ho rolled his eyes and looked towards the golden apple tree. It seemed like maintaining the divine message took quite the toll on her since Idun, who was snoozing, raised her head and then waved her fist. Although he couldn't see her lips, it seemed like she had roughly said to cheer up.

'A ray of hope, my ass.'

Four days passed by from the schedule which was no different from before and the warriors of Valhalla reached the great city in the north, Radetza.

< Episode 24 - The Shinsoo's of Earth (2) > End