Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyria - Volume 3 - Chapter Pr

PROLOGUE 

“Big Brother, as your younger sister, I offer you congratulations from the bottom of my heart for receiving two new child subordinates.” Gently lifting the hem of her skirt and bending her knee, Linnea gave Yuuto a graceful curtsy. “And I sincerely thank you for inviting me to attend this happy occasion.” 

She was a charming and rather cute girl around the age of fifteen or sixteen, but despite appearances, she was the fully-fledged “patriarch,” or sovereign ruler, of the Horn Clan, and had considerable administrative skills. As expected, her court manners were excellent. As the daughter of the previous Horn Clan patriarch, she had received special training and education. 

She was referring to the Oath of the Chalice ceremony scheduled to begin at midday. The twins Kristina and Albertina, in recognition for their accomplishments during the recent war with the Lightning Clan, would be exchanging the vows of “parent and child” with Yuuto to become his clan subordinates. 

After leaving the palace and starting on his way to join in the preparations at the clan’s sacred tower, the Hliðskjálf, Yuuto had run into Linnea by chance. 

“Thank you for making the long trip here, Linnea,” he said. 

“Hee hee! If it means I get to see you, the distance is no trouble at all.” 

“R-right.” Yuuto’s response was clumsy. 

After a series of events culminating in his receiving a marriage proposal from Linnea, he’d eventually managed to reject it. That hadn’t made her give up on her feelings for him, however, and now he often found himself unsure of how to interact with her when she treated him with adoration. 

This patriarch who had crushed the armies of four rival clans, who was gaining renown in Yggdrasil as a wise and great ruler for one so young, was still unskilled when it came to matters involving women. 

“Big Brother, returning my clan’s former lands is a kindness I could spend my lifetime and still not fully repay,” Linnea said. “No matter how many words of thanks I might give, they could never fully express the gratitude in my heart.” 

“Like I told you, you don’t have to be so overly grateful,” he said, exasperated. “That was a perfectly appropriate compensation for what you did.” 

During the last war, Yuuto had managed to seize the citadels of three fortified castle towns from the Lightning Clan. 

One of these strongholds was the seat of a piece of territory near the Körmt River which had once belonged to the Horn Clan. That area had been taken from them by the Lightning Clan in an invasion during the rule of Linnea’s father, Hrungnir. 

Yuuto had chosen to give that city and its lands to the Horn Clan, but it didn’t seem like a particular kindness to him. The Lightning Clan had been strong opponents, and without Linnea’s efforts, victory would have been difficult. The Horn Clan had suffered their share of casualties, too. Properly rewarding others for their achievements was the natural and right thing to do as a ruler. 

Yuuto didn’t like how much he was being put on a pedestal, so he changed the subject with a question. “So, how’s Rasmus doing?” 

The Horn Clan’s second-in-command, Rasmus, was still recuperating after having the bones in his right shoulder smashed by the Lightning Clan patriarch Steinðórr. It was his dominant arm, and there were doubts that he’d ever be able to wield a spear in battle again. And he wasn’t the only valuable Einherjar the Horn Clan had lost. 

Looking only at the overall results, one could say the battle had resulted in a great victory for the Wolf Clan. But that victory had not come easy, or without cost. The twin rune Einherjar Steinðórr had been a formidable enemy worthy of his reputation as the Battle-Hungry Tiger, Dólgþrasir. The scars he had left behind were anything but shallow. 

“Thank you for your concern,” Linnea said. “He’s doing quite well. His fever has receded, and his appetite is healthy.” 

“I see. That’s good to hear.” 

Rasmus was Linnea’s child subordinate according to the bonds forged by the Chalice, but after her father Hrungnir’s death, Rasmus had served as a de facto guardian for her. He was already over age fifty, and the standard of medical treatment in Yggdrasil was extremely primitive compared to Yuuto’s 21st century world. It was possible he could have lost his life due to complications from his injuries. Linnea was surely the most relieved of anyone that he was on his way to recovery. 

“Speaking of which, have you heard?” Linnea suddenly lowered her voice to a whisper. 

That behavior was enough for Yuuto to infer what she might be talking about. “You mean the rumors that say that idiot survived.” (“That idiot” being Steinðórr.) 

“Yes, although the idea is rather hard to believe. But...” 

“I think it’s pretty baseless, but yeah.” Yuuto’s stern expression gave way to a small sigh. 

The death of the hero and patriarch of the Hoof Clan, Yngvi, had been a catalyst. After the Hoof Clan’s defeat three months earlier, the surrounding clans that Yngvi had subjugated or annexed had since broken off again. The Hoof Clan’s power and influence was now declining considerably. 

The death of a strong ruler meant the weakening of that nation, granting other nations a chance to take advantage of that weakness. Tracing back the threads of history, it wasn’t that rare an occurrence for a state to try to avoid that outcome by concealing the death of its leader and operating as if he or she were still alive. 

For a case of Japanese history, the Sengoku Era feudal lord renowned as the “Tiger of Kai,” Takeda Shingen, was said to have given instructions to his generals to conceal his death for three years. 

Thinking about it with common sense, the rumors were most likely to be that sort of misinformation cover-up. However, the reports he’d received from those who had fought Steinðórr in person, like Sigrún and Skáviðr, described him as a monster that defied all common sense. What if, by some chance...? 

He couldn’t totally discount the possibility. And if it really was true, it was something he couldn’t afford to ignore. 

“Once this ceremony is over, I suppose I’ll have Kris look into it right away,” Yuuto said. 

Kristina was an Einherjar in possession of the rune Veðrfölnir, Silencer of Winds, and she had extraordinary talent and skill when it came to gathering information. She would definitely be able to bring back accurate information on the situation. 

“Hey now, what’s this about my daughter?” An artificially sunny, ingratiating voice cut into Yuuto and Linnea’s conversation. It was a familiar voice, strangely discomforting in the way a slimy slug might be. 

Yuuto put on his own artificial cheery smile before turning around to reply. “Hey, Botvid. I didn’t realize you were already here.” 

“Ha ha ha, my beloved daughters are being accepted as the sworn children of my dear Big Bro, after all. This is the big day when my children leave the nest and start a new life. It’s such a joyous occasion for me as a parent that I couldn’t help but feel impatient, so I put everything aside and raced here as fast as I could.” 

Botvid gave a hearty, likable chuckle. 

His outward appearance was that of a dull middle-aged man, portly and with thinning hair, but this man was the patriarch of the Claw Clan, the Wolf Clan’s eastern neighbor. He was well-known in the region as a cunning villain whom it was dangerous to be careless with. The dire crisis the Wolf Clan had once faced due to his actions was still a fresh memory. 

That same Botvid was now rubbing his hands together and fawning over Yuuto. “But still, to think my Big Bro Yuuto would win so easily even against the Dólgþrasir... I’m beginning to think there’s no one in all of Yggdrasil who could defeat you.” 

Yuuto glanced over to Linnea, standing at his side. She was gazing up at him with eyes sparkling with admiration and respect. 

The two figures who had once been the greatest threats to the Wolf Clan’s existence were now in service to him. It really impressed upon him how much things could change over time. 

“I’ve just been blessed with more advantages than other people,” he said. “That doesn’t make me some great, amazing person. The race goes not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, as they say. I can’t count on things to go my way over and over just because I have a few advantages; the world’s not such a forgiving place.” 

Yuuto gave a deliberately cold response to Botvid’s fawning praise. It was how he really felt. Yuuto didn’t entertain in the slightest any ideas of himself as some great hero with outstanding abilities. 

He owed everything to the fact that for some reason his smartphone could get a signal in this world, allowing him access to modern 21st century knowledge thousands of years ahead of Yggdrasil. It was a cheat that no other person could use, but he considered that borrowed knowledge as something separate from himself. 

Ultimately, that was why no matter what results he was able to produce, he was never satisfied with himself. That was why he was able to so ravenously devote himself to increasing his own knowledge, to obtaining his own “strength,” so he could protect everyone. 

That untiring aspiration to improve himself was Yuuto’s true talent, and was actually quite a rare trait, but he himself wasn’t aware of that. 

Yuuto noticed that Botvid was staring at his face, as if inspecting it closely. “Hm? Is something wrong?” 

Botvid still wore his smiling expression, but something about his eyes reminded Yuuto of a reptile eyeing its prey. It wasn’t the most comfortable feeling. 

“Oh, no, no, I was just thinking to myself what an absolutely tremendous person you are, Big Bro. Accomplishing so much without becoming arrogant and prideful... you continuously surprise me.” 

Botvid then muttered quietly to himself under his breath: “...There’d be an opening to take advantage of if you’d just let yourself get cocky, but not like this.” 

Yuuto couldn’t possibly have heard the quiet remark, but ironically, he shrugged and replied using some of the same words. “That’s because when I let myself get cocky, I always pay for it.” 

He knew that his cocky behavior, his attempt to satisfy his vanity and impress Mitsuki and his underclassmen, was the reason he’d wound up in this strange other world of an unknown time and place. 

And when he’d gotten carried away, mistaking borrowed knowledge for his own talents, letting that knowledge control his actions instead of informing them, he had lost someone important to him. 

Indeed, two years earlier, he had been a foolish and hopeless child...