ACT 6
“Your Majesty!”
“Your Majesty, Sigrdrífa!”
“We wish you all the best!”
Cheers were coming from every direction.
The citizens of Glaðsheimr had gathered to celebrate their monarch’s big day.
Throngs of people had filled each side of the street near to bursting. It seemed that everyone in Glaðsheimr had come to offer their felicitations to their þjóðann.
“Heheh, no matter what anyone else says, right now I’m the happiest woman in the world!” Rífa said confidently, waving to the crowds with a beaming smile from the back of her carriage as it made its way to the ceremony grounds at the Valaskjálf Palace.
Even if all of the gods above were to deny it, this was one thing that Rífa wasn’t willing to concede.
Surely, there had never been a bride that had been so warmly celebrated by so many in the history of this world.
“Yes! Indeed you are!”
Fagrahvél tearfully nodded along in agreement.
Rífa couldn’t have imagined having anyone else accompany her to the ceremony grounds.
While she had a number of blood relatives among the courtiers of the palace, to Rífa, Fagrahvél was the only real “family” she had.
“Ah, seems we’re here.”
The carriage rolled to a stop and Rífa’s eyes caught sight of a statue of an impressive-looking warrior holding a spear. It was a statue of Wotan, the first þjóðann and founder of the Holy Ásgarðr Empire.
They had arrived in Hroptr Park.
It was the largest park in Glaðsheimr and a place of rest and refuge for the city’s denizens.
Tradition had dictated that the þjóðann’s wedding was to be held in the hörgr located atop the Hliðskjálf, but at Rífa’s heartfelt request, they had moved the wedding ceremony to Hroptr Park.
“This way, Your Majesty.”
Erna of the Maidens of the Waves, who had served as the driver of the carriage, removed the outer covering of the carriage and placed a step ladder against the opening.
“Your hand, Lady Rífa.”
“Mmhm.”
Rífa placed her hand upon the hand Fagrahvél offered her and stood up.
Her body felt light—as though she had simply imagined the sluggishness that had enveloped her whole body until the night before.
It wasn’t, of course, that she had recovered. Instead, it appeared that her body was well aware of an important fact—of just how important this day was to Rífa.
So long as she could make it through this day, she didn’t care if she were to fall over dead at the end of it. That was the level of Rífa’s commitment as she had prepared for this day.
“This is the biggest moment of my life.”
Steeling herself, Rífa disembarked from the carriage and made her way to Wotan’s statue. Awaiting her at the stage that had been constructed at its feet was a certain young man.
His hair, a jet black that was practically unheard of in Yggdrasil, drew the eyes of the crowd.
Through his appearance and the way he composed himself, one could surmise that he had survived the terrors of countless battlefields and had defied death many times—his face also radiated both strength and dignity.
The young man’s eyes were a particularly noteworthy sight. They reflected both the confidence born of his past accomplishments and an indomitable will that firmly grasped what remained to be accomplished.
Even so, those strong eyes also held a gentle glimmer—a reflection of his kindness and compassion that felt like it could accept and envelope the misery of the entire world.
Rífa felt that it had been his eyes that had first drawn her in.
“That outfit is...”
Those eyes that Rífa had fallen in love with widened ever so slightly in surprise.
She had purposefully avoided showing him her gown in the days leading up to the ceremony. Rífa wanted his memory of her to be when she was at her most beautiful.
“Yes. Mitsuki prepared it for me. Does it suit me?”
Rífa wore a pure silk cloth that sat gently upon her head. Apparently, it was in homage to a traditional outfit worn in Yuuto’s homeland.
It certainly stood out as an oddity in contrast to the empire’s styles, but that didn’t bother Rífa at all. If anything, this was what she wanted.
It’s said that men wish to make the people they love their own, but that wasn’t true of women. Women wanted to become part of those they loved.
The outfit and the ceremony helped turn Rífa from the þjóðann of the Holy Ásgarðr Empire to Yuuto’s wife.
“Yes, it looks very good on you.”
“Good.”
Rífa’s lips naturally quirked into a smile.
The man she loved told her that she looked beautiful. That one compliment made her feel as though all of her struggles had been worthwhile.
“We will now begin the wedding ceremony between the Steel Clan reginarch Suoh-Yuuto and the þjóðann of the Holy Ásgarðr Empire, Her Majesty Sigrdrífa,” the Imperial High Priest, who would serve as the officiant, announced in a grave, dignified voice.
While Rífa herself would have preferred the Steel Clan’s high priest—Felicia—to officiate the ceremony rather than some former underling of Hárbarth’s, this wedding was an extraordinarily important political event, one that could determine Yggdrasil’s long-term future.
Both Yuuto and Rífa needed to do everything possible to make sure that it didn’t appear as if the Steel Clan was forcing this wedding upon her. Rífa, especially, wanted to avoid leaving even the slightest concern in her husband’s future that was related to her.
“The Gods in the Heavens. O Ymir, the greatest on high, thy will be done. O Wotan, the Great Patriarch of the Empire, may thy protection ward us from all taint and disaster, may thy word cleanse us in spirit so that we may speak to thee and through thee to the gods in Valhalla.”
The high priest turned to the statue of Wotan and knelt, reciting the ritual prayers to the gods. The ceremony had finally begun.
As the crowds witnessed the event without making so much as a murmur, a lone fife played in the park.
A single priestess quietly ascended to the stage and formally placed a chalice in front of the bride and groom. Soon after, a second priestess appeared and poured wine into the chalice.
In Glaðsheimr, the bride and groom drink from the chalice in turn as they pledge undying love before the gods.
First, Yuuto lifted the chalice to the sky, took a sip from it then handed the chalice to the priestess. The first priestess solemnly took the chalice into her hands as the second priestess refilled the chalice with the sacred wine and placed it in front of Rífa.
Rífa, like Yuuto, lifted the chalice toward the sky before she took a sip from it and handed it to the priestess.
As one of the priestesses placed the chalice upon the altar that had been constructed at the feet of the statue of Wotan, the high priest waved a branch of mistletoe, continuing the ritual incantations to purify the chalice.
The bride, the groom, the priestesses, and the high priest repeated this ritual two more times.
Each time the bride and groom swore a vow.
The first, in thanks to their ancestors.
The second, to their undying love.
And the third, to the prosperity of their descendants.
“Now here, in the name of Ymir, the Supreme God, and Wotan, the Great Patriarch of the Empire, I, Loni, the High Priest of the Holy Ásgarðr Empire, do declare these two to be husband and wife!”
Once the ritual had been completed and the high priest had made his proclamation, the crowd went from being almost completely silent to cheering with such fervor and power that it could be called ear-splitting.
They were so loud that Rífa found herself feeling it rather than hearing it.
She could feel the entirety of Glaðsheimr—the air, the ground, the buildings—all reverberating with those cheers.
Rífa was struck with joy at just how much the people were rejoicing at her marriage.
“To my people. First, thank you for gathering here to celebrate my wedding. Let me begin by offering you my thanks,” Rífa said as the cheering began to die down.
With her voice amplified by Fagrahvél’s ability, Rífa’s voice was heard in even the furthest corners of the park where the ceremony had been conducted.
The cheers stopped in an instant and silence returned to the park. Everyone present closed their mouths, intent upon hearing every word that Rífa had to say.
“As you have seen, I am now the wife of the reginarch of the Steel Clan, Suoh-Yuuto. Look upon him. Isn’t my husband a handsome specimen of a man?” Rífa gestured toward Yuuto with her palm, as though she were gently introducing him to the crowd.
“It was love at first sight for me. Every day I see him, I find myself sighing in disbelief. Not only is he handsome, but he’s also kind. He always frets about my health and would never do anything that I would object to. No, rather, he puts all his efforts into doing things that make me happy. Just moments ago he saw my dress and made sure to compliment me on my beauty.”
Rífa boasted about her new husband to the crowd. She looked so very happy, her features lit up by her bright smile as she uttered the sweetest words she could think of.
A burst of laughter erupted from the gathered crowd.
This was what Rífa had planned for the ceremony.
Even if she had insisted that this marriage wasn’t forced upon her, there would be those who would take that insistence as proof that she had, in fact, been forced into the union, but if Rífa were to go on at length in public about her love for her husband, there would be few who could claim the marriage was a mere political ploy.
Rífa had, by her own will, fallen in love with Yuuto and become his wife. No doubt that the people gathered at the park would recount Rífa’s expression and her voice as she told her self-styled love story as proof of her sincerity and spread the word among the populace.
That was, in large part, why Rífa had chosen this park as the site of her wedding ceremony rather than the Hliðskjálf or Valaskjálf Palace. There was no other place that would let her execute this plan.
“However, he is not just a sweet man. As you all know, this man took the weak and dying Wolf Clan of the Bifröst Region and, in a mere three years, turned it into the great Steel Clan you see before you today. He is a strong and wise man who has the character needed to bear the weight of all of Yggdrasil upon his shoulders!”
The crowd once again erupted in a loud cheer.
For the common people, there was nothing more important than a mighty ruler who would make them prosperous and protect them from outside enemies.
She had expected things to proceed well up until this point. The problem would be the rest of this speech.
“The memory of the great earthquake that ravaged Glaðsheimr is, I’m sure, still very fresh in your minds. And unfortunately, such quakes are likely to continue. Yggdrasil is facing an unprecedented crisis.”
The crowd began to buzz in puzzlement as, in the middle of her wedding ceremony, Rífa changed the tone of the speech she was giving from sweet and syrupy to one much graver as she touched upon more troubling topics.
“This is all punishment due to the incompetence of my family line—the line of þjóðann—who, despite being given the divine task of governing Yggdrasil from the Great God Ymir, have failed, leaving the lands a shambles where neighbor fights neighbor in a neverending bloodbath. All I can offer to you, my people, is my sincerest regrets and apologies. I’m sorry.”
This was also something she had discussed with Yuuto beforehand.
If they were ever going to go public with the news, they needed to do it now, and it needed to come directly from Rífa’s lips.
While earthquakes were simply natural disasters and were unaffected by the intent or will of the people living upon that land, this was an age where the influence of the gods permeated every part of life.
Had the news been issued under Yuuto’s name, there would have been those who were working against Yuuto who would claim that it was Yuuto’s fault for earning the ire of the gods.
To avoid that, it was best that the dying dynasty shoulder all of the blame for the coming disasters.
“But, you, my people, have nothing to fear! You’ve all heard, I’m sure, the countless bounties of the heavens that my husband has brought upon this world! The number of miracles that he has brought forth! Yuuto, my dear husband, is the servant that Ymir has summoned to Yggdrasil to save its people!” Rífa declared firmly, no trace of hesitation in her voice, nor an ounce of deception in her words.
She sincerely believed every word that she told them, because Yuuto was, in fact, the prophesized Black One.
“My family line, the old line of Ásgarðr, has outlived its purpose. Which is why I shall return the title of þjóðann that was granted to me by the gods and shall hand it over to him! So, my people, witness the birth of a þjóðann—Suoh-Yuuto!”
“Sieg þjóðann! Sieg þjóðann!”
As Rífa finished her declaration, the loudest cheers of the day rang through the park.
It was at that moment that the two-hundred-year life of the Holy Ásgarðr Empire came to a close and the new Steel Clan dynasty was born.
“Phew. It seems like I’ll be able to fulfill my duty after all.”
The moment Rífa sighed, the strength left her body, and she felt a wave of fatigue and sluggishness wash over her.
It was probably because she had accomplished what she needed to do, so in response to her calmness, the tension had quickly left her body.
That tension had been the thing keeping her together, however.
“Oof.”
As Rífa tried to step off the stage, her legs wobbled beneath her and she missed her footing.
If she collapsed then and there, the ceremony that had been going so well up until that point would be ruined.
Just as Rífa closed her eyes and felt a sharp pang of regret at the fact that she had failed right at the end—
“Well done, Rífa. That was an awesome speech!”
—She was held in Yuuto’s embrace and somehow maintained her footing.
The women in the crowd who had seen the display began to whisper excitedly amongst themselves.
Yuuto had managed to turn a potential disaster to their advantage. By being the groom that saved his new bride from a fall, Yuuto had shown the witnesses just how much the two newlyweds loved one another.
“...Heh, I know, right?”
Now that they were husband and wife, thanking him here would be bad form. Instead, Rífa just quirked the corners of her lips into a slight smile.
They continued to lean on one another, supporting each other as they made their way to the carriage waiting at the park entrance.
“You all right, Rífa?”
It appeared that Yuuto, due to his proximity to Rífa, had noticed she wasn’t doing well.
“I’m fine. I let myself relax because the ceremony was over, but I remembered I had something I still needed to do.”
Rífa steeled herself again and thinned her lips as she faced forward.
She wasn’t able to easily bring the fraying threads back together. Her body still felt heavy, and the sluggishness remained.
She thought about how easy it would be if she could just close her eyes and sleep, but she couldn’t afford to let go of her consciousness quite yet.
“Something you needed to do?”
“Yes, that’s...”
The moment Rífa and Yuuto returned to the carriage—
“Rífa! You don’t look so good... Are you okay?” Mitsuki asked with an expression of concern spread across her face.
Because Mitsuki’s face was identical in appearance to Rífa’s, they had all decided it was best to avoid having her appear in public to keep from confusing the populace. For that reason, Mitsuki had watched the ceremony from the carriage.
While Mitsuki herself had wanted to participate in the ceremony, given the sensitivity of the matter, she was forced to swallow her tears and watch from afar.
“Oh, Mitsuki. Yes, I’m okay, please don’t worry. I still have things I need to do, so I can’t let myself die before I’ve completed them.”
“That’s the spirit! What do you need to do? Is there anything I can help with?”
“Actually, yes. One of the things I need to do involves the child you’re carrying within you. Yours and Yuuto’s child may as well be my own child. Make sure you give birth to a healthy baby.”
Rífa gently patted Mitsuki’s pregnant belly with her hand, smiling with a fond gentleness as she did so.
Rífa had finished her final goodbyes.
All that was left was...
“Yes! Yes! That’s right. Rífa, you need to live to hold this child.”
“Yes... I would like nothing more than to hold them... Gleipnir!”
With a strong declaration, Rífa unleashed ásmegin from the hand she had placed on Mitsuki’s belly.
She felt the Gleipnir latch on to something. At that sensation, Rífa grinned and pulled the object from Mitsuki’s stomach.
What appeared was a black cloud that was restrained by a golden rope.
It was the exact same cloud that had possessed Iálc when Yuuto and company had first arrived in Glaðsheimr.
“I’ve finally caught you, Hárbarth!”
H-How did you know I was in here?!
She could hear Hárbarth’s thoughts through her Gleipnir. Rífa couldn’t help but smirk in satisfaction at hearing his panic.
This old man had turned her into a caged bird, manipulated her as a figurehead, and humiliated her time and time again.
She honestly wasn’t sure that she’d be able to die in peace without getting back at him somehow.
She’d found the perfect method of revenge, and at the perfect time, no less. It was only natural that she couldn’t keep the smile off her face.
“Sorry to disappoint you, but you were the one that gave it away.”
There were many hints that had led her to realize Hárbarth’s plans, and thus capture him—
When he had possessed Rífa’s body, he hadn’t tried to kill Yuuto and had instead tried to get Yuuto to sleep with her.
Hárbarth had sought to hold the reins of power as High Priest of the Holy Ásgarðr Empire.
He had the power to possess those who were unconscious.
And finally, his utter obsession with avoiding death that had remained within Rífa’s mind even after he had been forced out of her.
With all that in mind, it was actually easy to surmise that Hárbarth would try to be reborn as Yuuto’s child and take over the new empire as his own.
“I actually noticed a lot earlier, but I had been waiting for the right moment.”
Rífa could easily imagine that Hárbarth, after being caught in Felicia’s Gleipnir, would have taken the appropriate precautions to avoid getting caught again, which was why it needed to be Rífa—she could cast Gleipnir without a song and use it as a surprise attack to deal with him. However, casting Gleipnir without a song took a heavy toll upon her body.
When using a seiðr as powerful as Gleipnir, it could very well cut short the caster’s life.
While Rífa had felt an immense boiling anger at the fact that Hárbarth was possessing Mitsuki and Yuuto’s child, she had bottled up the anger because she knew she had to pass the title of þjóðann to Yuuto first.
Now that the ceremony was done, though, there was no need for her to hold back.
“My final goal here on Yggdrasil is to take what remains of the old ways with me to Valhalla.”
As she said that, Rífa poured more ásmegin into the golden rope. The rope thickened and began to tighten around the black cloud.
Y-You meddling wench!
Hárbarth tried to fight back, but no matter how much of a monster the man seemed to be, he had no way of fighting the ásmegin of a twin-runed Einherjar like Rífa.
“This is the end for—”
Just as she was about to finish him off, Rífa broke out in a coughing fit. The control she had over her ásmegin loosened.
“N-Not now... Not yet... Guh!”
Blood splattered onto the carriage floor.
Rífa had been living on borrowed time for quite a while now and she was finally paying the price.
Bwahaha! Seems luck is on my side this time!
As he cackled, the black cloud began to swell.
Hárbarth was trying to tear his way out of the Gleipnir while Rífa’s flow of ásmegin was weakened.
She no longer had the strength left to cast Gleipnir without singing.
If Hárbarth managed to escape now, there would be no one who could stop him.
If this man were left free, it was clear that he would continue to go after Yuuto and the new dynasty he was trying to build. Rífa knew this and knew she needed to do something, but her body wouldn’t respond. She couldn’t find the strength.
Like a broken vase, every time she tried to pour power into it, it would spill out before she could use it.
In a flash of inspiration, Rífa had the idea to cast multiple Gleipnirs like she had when summoning Yuuto. Though she ended up dismissing the idea as quickly as it had come to her.
Both Mitsuki and Felicia needed to sing and dance to cast Gleipnir. They didn’t have that kind of time.
“Grrr, to come this far...!”
“Gjallarhorn!”
A familiar, reassuring voice that she remembered from her earliest days rang out.
Rífa immediately felt strength filling her body.
“Fagrahvél!”
It was the power of Rífa’s milk-sister’s rune, a rune called the Rune of Kings, the rune that boosted allies’ morale and in the process brought out their latent ability and made them elite soldiers that feared nothing—not even death.
“Lady Rífa! Use my power, please!”
“I shall! This is the end for you, Hárbarth! It’s time a minor villain like you left the stage!”
Rífa let out a powerful battle cry and let her ásmegin flow out in a torrent.
The golden rope swelled in an eyeblink, crushing the black cloud it held within.
Graaaaaaaaaaah! Stop! Stop! Stooooooop!
Hárbarth’s dying scream filled her ears, before eventually cutting off entirely.
The ghost that had haunted the empire had now, at last, been vanquished.
“Did I do it?”
With its task fulfilled, the golden rope sparkled as it dissolved into pinpricks of light.
In that light stood a girl with albino white skin, dressed in a beautiful wedding outfit.
The entire scene felt like something out of a dream.
Yuuto stood transfixed by the sight.
“Ah! Rífa!”
As the girl swooned, he came to his senses and quickly pulled her into an embrace to steady her.
“Ah, Yuuto, rest easy. I’ve taken down that monstrous old geezer. He’ll trouble you no more.”
“Y-Yeah, yeah! I saw it! You did so well! But we need to worry about you first! Felicia! Hurry... Someone hurry up and call Felicia over here!”
Yuuto cried out in desperation.
Ever since he had lost his predecessor Fárbauti, Yuuto had tried to tell himself to remain calm and collected at all times, but right now, at this very moment, none of that mattered to him.
“No, it’s fine. There’s nothing to be done for me now. Instead, can I ask something of you? Can you hold my hand?”
“Oh!”
Yuuto hurriedly took hold of Rífa’s hand. She had held her hand up above her, as though blindly seeking his touch.
He grasped her hand as though to tell her that he was there.
He was trying, desperately, to hold on to her life for just a little bit longer.
“Heh. Your hand is quite warm. It’s reassuring,” Rífa said with an expression as serene as her words. “It’s odd, you know. I feel no pain at all. Do you think that’s because of the effects of Gjallarhorn? I guess this is the best outcome I could have hoped for.”
“Lady Rífa!”
Fagrahvél rushed over in tears, taking Rífa’s other hand in her own.
“Ah, is that Fagrahvél I hear? You made it all possible. As to be... expected of my most loyal retainer.”
“Y-You... Y-You do me... T-Too much... Honor.”
Fagrahvél’s sobs racked at her body, breaking up her speech as she expressed her thanks.
Seeing Fagrahvél’s state, Rífa couldn’t help but chuckle.
“You really are a crybaby, aren’t you? With you like that, I’ll be too worried about you to go peacefully to Valhalla.”
“M-My... A-Apologies...”
“Indeed. Oh dear... Fagrahvél, I give you my last order as your þjóðann.”
“Y-Yes... Yes! I will do whatever you ask of me! Allow me to accompany you on your journey to Valhalla!”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. There’s no way I would ask my beloved big sister to do such a thing. No, find a good man, marry, and have children. That is my order to you, and my earnest wish.”
“B-But...”
Fagrahvél appeared to be at a loss for words. Up until now, Rífa had been everything to her. Fagrahvél wouldn’t be able to move on quite so easily.
But that was something that Rífa, with her long relationship with Fagrahvél, had already realized.
“Mm, let me choose a name for your child. If it’s a boy, name him Sigurðr—and if it’s a girl, then she shall be Rífa. How do those sound?”
“Oh!”
“You could have children with Yuuto if that’s what you’d prefer. Yes, have children for him in my stead.”
“Y-Y-Yes, Y-Your Majesty! I hear and I obey. I will do as you command, even if it costs me my life.”
“Mm, I’m counting on you.”
Rífa let out what sounded like an amused chuckle.
Yuuto understood at that moment.
Fagrahvél also probably understood what was happening as well.
That Rífa’s words were intended to keep her beloved milk sibling from following her in death, and that they were meant to give Fagrahvél a new reason to live after Rífa, her sister, was gone.
“That’s all that’s... Wait, no, there’s one more thing. Yuuto.”
“Yeah, what is it? Ask anything you want.”
“Something to remember me by. Take it. It might come in handy for you.”
“Ah! Wha—That’s hot!”
Rífa’s hand suddenly emitted an intense heat, as though it had become molten iron.
The heat ebbed in an instant, but Yuuto felt an odd new power begin to flow out of his body, as though a powerful flame had been lit inside him.
“Wh-What is this...”
“Y-Yuu-kun! Your eyes. Your eyes!”
Mitsuki pointed at her own eyes and opened them wide in surprise.
Yuuto was drawn to turn his head to glance at the mirror installed inside the carriage and froze.
In the reflection his eyes glowed with a golden, cross-shaped pattern.
“Th-This...”
“Heh, like I said, a memento. You’re now the þjóðann. You can’t look the part without the twin runes.”
Rífa chuckled in amusement.
It immediately clicked for Yuuto. He could pass on his twin runes to a person of his choosing. That was the secret to how the þjóðann’s line had been able to pass on their twin runes from generation to generation.
“Oh, my vision’s suddenly gone black. I wonder if it’s because I passed on my twin runes. I imagine I’ll be taken away to Valhalla at any moment now...”
“No! I don’t want this power! I’ll give it back to you! So please, please, even if it’s for a little while... Stay with me!”
“Heh, please, just take them. It’s about the only thing I can leave for you, you know.”
“Rífa!”
Yuuto couldn’t help but shout out her name. It was the only thing left that he could do.
His eyes burned with tears.
“Don’t cry, Yuuto. I was happy in the end. I leave my people in your hands. Make sure you make Mitsuki and the others happy.”
“Don’t go, Rífa! Please, don’t go!”
“Heh, if I’m to be reborn, I hope it’s by your side... again...”
With those words, the hand Yuuto was holding went limp and fell from his grasp.
His teeth clattered as he shivered.
He couldn’t believe it.
He didn’t want to believe it.
“Rífa! Hey! Rífa! Rífa! Rífa!”
Which is why Yuuto called out her name—over and over again.
But no matter how many times he called for her, Rífa didn’t answer.
She could no longer speak to him.
She could no longer yell at him.
She could no longer smile at him.
As the reality of that unacceptable fact settled in for Yuuto, he said in a quavering voice, “Don’t worry about your people. I’ll find some way to save them.”
It was the final promise that Yuuto made to his departed wife.
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