ACT 2
“Seven days left until the next full moon...”
In the heart of Fólkvangr, Sessrúmnir Palace, the dawn found Linnea in her office, at the end of a night without sleep.
She was around fifteen years old, still a young girl, but she was also the patriarch of the Horn Clan, ruler of her nation and the head of the clan family formed by the bonds of the Oath of the Chalice.
And despite the inexperience her youth might suggest, she had true political and administrative skill, and was filled with a genuine love for her people. The citizens of Fólkvangr praised her as a truly great and benevolent ruler.
Her beautiful appearance was an additional factor in her popularity, but this morning found her with dark bags under her eyes, and less color in her countenance.
She clasped her hands together on the desk and frowned bitterly. “This is so pathetic,” she muttered to herself. “I’m so sick of my own lack of nerve.”
It had been a week since the Panther Clan had established their formation surrounding the city of Fólkvangr.
Almost all of her available men had already been sent to fight in the Battle of Körmt River, and so there were only five hundred or so regular troops left in the city.
That being said, Fólkvangr was a fortress city protected by high, thick walls, and she had the cooperation of many volunteer soldiers from among the people of the city. An enemy force of only three thousand wouldn’t be capable of doing any serious harm to them right away.
As for the weapon known as the “trebuchet” that had wrought such destruction against Horn Clan cities during the war half a year ago, there was no fear of it being constructed here, for the plains around Fólkvangr lacked the necessary lumber resources to build them.
The wheat harvest had just finished as well, meaning there was more than enough food stockpiled to feed every citizen for three months.
In short, there was no need to worry about the city itself falling.
Yet despite that, Linnea found herself on edge, unable to get any sleep.
Siege warfare was fundamentally a long battle of waiting, a battle to wear down the enemy’s mind. As much as she understood the problem, Linnea had still fallen into a vicious cycle, where the more she felt the pressure that she had to sleep, the more difficult it was for her to fall asleep.
“I’m such a mess; I could never face Big Brother like this,” she muttered to herself.
Her sworn older brother was normally easygoing, and seemed somewhat unreliable, but when push came to shove, he displayed incredible grit and courageous spirit.
If he were here, he would surely be able to withstand this situation with no problem, humming all the while. Linnea couldn’t help but compare herself to him, and then felt humbled and inferior.
“Well, if I may speak as a fellow woman, I would certainly agree that your face, as it is right now, is not something you would want to show Father.”
“Huh?!” Linnea looked up, startled by the sudden voice. There shouldn’t have been anyone else in the office right now.
Standing in front of her, as if she had appeared out of thin air, was a familiar young girl, who giggled and shot Linnea a boastful grin.
“Kristina?!” Linnea cried.
Linnea had met this girl many times now, in both Gimlé and Iárnviðr. She was the daughter by birth of Botvid, the Claw Clan patriarch, and had become a direct subordinate of Yuuto, serving as the head of his spies.
“How did you get in here?! The city is completely surrounded by the Panther...”
“Oh, that has already been taken care of. I am sure you will get a report about it any second now.”
As if on cue, a palace guard ran into the office from his nearby post to hurriedly deliver the news. “Lady Patriarch! The Panther Clan has begun to retreat!”
Linnea found herself letting out a sigh.
It was a little sad that another clan’s spy had just brought her an update more quickly than her own messengers.
Bringing a report from the lookouts on Fólkvangr’s outer walls to Linnea in her office required passing it to multiple intermediaries along the way.
That was because allowing a low-ranked member of the clan to simply barge in to see the patriarch on a whim would be disrespectful, and possibly reflect poorly on the dignity of the position.
Linnea understood that these sorts of ceremonial methods were part of the reason that high offices maintained their symbolic power, but when faced with a wartime situation in which every moment counted, she could see how problematic it was that her messages were arriving so slowly.
There was some room for improvement in that system, but for now, Linnea put it aside and focused on the importance of the report’s details.
“Why are they retreating? Tell me what happened.”
“Yes, ma’am. While the details are still unclear as to why, what we know for certain is that the Panther Clan forces surrounding the city have broken off and started moving south.”
“It’s because the main force of seven thousand Panther Clan troops was wiped out,” Kristina put in. “I am sure, at this point, they realized they stood no chance of winning.”
“Seven thousand... wiped out?!” Linnea could only parrot back Kristina’s words.
This was unbelievable, a total bolt from the blue.
Once the enemy had surrounded her city, Linnea had lost all contact with the three thousand Horn Clan troops she’d sent off to the north shore of the Körmt River, and she hadn’t had any idea of what was happening to them.
She had been informed in advance that the Panther Clan was invading with ten thousand troops, and the detached force surrounding Fólkvangr was about three thousand, so she had assumed that her army was still engaged in battle with the main enemy body of seven thousand. She had, of course, been worried for them.
Linnea had assumed that the eradication of the enemy meant her own troops were safe, at least for now, and allowed herself to feel a sense of relief.
But this...
If that huge force of seven thousand had somehow been forced to retreat, that would be one thing, but wiped out? It was completely beyond the bounds of common sense...
“It can’t be!” A jolt ran through Linnea’s mind, something akin to a flash of inspiration. Her brain, clouded from her long lack of sleep, began racing frantically.
She knew of someone, someone who always seemed to do things outside the bounds of common sense with ease, who performed the impossible.
And there was another vital clue.
When Kristina had entered the room, she had said, “I would certainly agree that your face, as it is right now, is not something you would want to show Father.”
“Big Brother has returned, hasn’t he?!” Linnea slammed her hands against the desk as she stood up with a start.
She phrased it as a question, but her voice betrayed that she was already mostly certain of the answer.
Of course, she had already gotten word of Yuuto’s plan to return to Yggdrasil, knowing that it was supposed to happen on the night of the next full moon at the very earliest.
But, again, he was someone who made a habit of breaking the rules of common sense. He must have done something to bend the rules in his favor.
“Yes,” Kristina replied with a firm nod, and also a genuinely happy smile that was a little rare for her.
“Ah...!” Linnea gasped, and felt an intense heat welling up in her chest.
The heat spread to her eyes in an instant, and she burst out in tears.
“Ah, ahhh... I s-see! So B-Big Brother, he... he came back!”
Linnea was barely able to form the words through her sobbing.
Crying in front of other people like this was a display of vulnerability and weakness, something that a patriarch should never do.
However, the tears just kept coming, and she couldn’t do anything to stop them.
“Oh, honestly, won’t sobbing like that only make your face look even worse?” Kristina asked.
“S-shut up! Ngh... B-Big Brother, is he in good health?” Linnea added, sniffling, but with her voice slightly more under control.
“Yes, he is quite well. In fact, I would say he has only grown stronger and more imposing than he was before.”
“...I see!” A smile broke across Linnea’s face like a flower blooming in the sun, and she nodded happily to herself several times.
It would be a lie to say that there hadn’t been some part of her, deep down, that suspected that Yuuto had actually died, whispering those doubts to her mind in her weakest moments.
Of course, she had always stubbornly denied those doubts, but she had been constantly, constantly worried for him regardless.
If he was not only alive but well, then there could be no more joyous news for her.
“I’m glad. I’m so, so glad.” Once again, huge tears began to rain from Linnea’s eyes.
This time, Kristina did not make any teasing remarks.
“Must you return directly home, Uncle?” Haugspori pleaded. “Could you perhaps not come to our city first, even for just a little bit? Princess... that is, Lady Linnea has been so worried for you, and I’m sure she would be overjoyed to see you.”
Yuuto gave a wry smile at the man’s attempts to plead with him, but he shook his head slowly. “Hey, I’d love to see her again, too. But I left Iárnviðr immediately after I got back to this world, without giving anyone there the time of day. I need to get back and greet my people properly, as soon as possible.”
Yuuto had made the decision to go on a campaign against the whole Panther Clan, and that was all well and good, but if he set out against them now, without the proper preparations, he could easily see them turning the tables on him.
That being the case, he definitely needed to return to Iárnviðr first.
Besides, there were many people waiting longingly in Iárnviðr for Yuuto’s return.
Yuuto cared for Linnea as his sworn younger sister, and he had meant it when he said that he wanted to see her, but she was of another clan.
As difficult as it was at times, placing his own immediate clan family first was one of the necessary aspects of his position.
Haugspori seemed to sense Yuuto’s firm resolve on the matter, for he sighed deeply and seemed to back off. “I see. That is a shame.”
“Sorry, man. But I’ll be sure to invite her to Iárnviðr in the near future. Please tell her that I look forward to spending some real time talking with her then.”
“Yes, sir. I will make absolutely sure to tell her so.”
“All right, then. Be seeing you.” Yuuto casually waved a hand goodbye.
Felicia, who was sharing a saddle with him, took the cue and turned their horse around to depart.
“Sir, once again, let me thank you for saving the Horn Clan!” Haugspori shouted after them. “I was able to see up close for myself the command skills of a real-life god of war, and I shall carry that memory with pride for the rest of my days! Please, take care on the roads home!”
His voice was excited, and he held a clenched fist to his chest, as if he were even now looking back on his memories.
Haugspori wasn’t a very serious man, and so this manner was a bit rare for him.
Perhaps that showed just how striking an impression the previous battle had left in him.
After Yuuto and Felicia had been on the road for a little bit, she spoke up.
“It looks like even Haugspori has come to admire you deeply, Big Brother.”
“Yeah, well, I’m sure his image of me would be shattered if he knew I can’t even ride a horse,” Yuuto said, and gave a short, self-derisive chuckle.
Yuuto still wasn’t capable of riding a horse on his own, and so he was sharing a horse with Felicia, which she controlled.
It felt about as far as one could get from the image of a dignified commander.
However, Felicia seemed to have quite a different opinion. “Oh, that is hardly the case! Such a trivial thing would hardly make any difference at this point, I should think. Why, no one other than you could possibly have managed such a feat as completely wiping out a force of seven thousand expert fighters.”
“That was pretty much entirely thanks to the firecrackers, though.”
“You are far too modest, Big Brother. After all, was it not you who brought those items here with you?”
“Yeah, but it’s not like I invented, or even made them. And besides... if I’d only had the resolve to do this earlier, I wouldn’t have needed to bring any with me at all.”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“I mean the gunpowder... that’s what we call it where I come from, the stuff inside the firecrackers that causes the explosion. You see, I already know what you need in order to make it, and even secured the raw materials about a year ago.” Yuuto frowned. “But I’ve never had it mixed and used to make weapons. I couldn’t go through with it,” he finished bitterly.
To Yuuto’s mind, the word “gunpowder” immediately brought to mind images of firearms.
He already knew that Yggdrasil was a place on Earth, sometime in the distant past. That was exactly why he had been so hesitant: He was resistant to the idea of introducing such terrible weapons even earlier in his world’s history.
If he was planning to leave this era behind one day, would he be all right with leaving behind the terrible legacy of having introduced gun-based warfare?
Those thoughts were what had made him hesitate.
Considering that he had already introduced multiple history-changing future technologies into this world, perhaps that reasoning might have seemed a little hypocritical. But even so, gunpowder was one of the last lines he had been unwilling to cross.
“If I’d just given Ingrid orders to manufacture gunpowder earlier on, we wouldn’t have gotten into this sort of situation to begin with,” Yuuto continued.
Once he’d come to the final decision that he and Mitsuki would both go to Yggdrasil for good, he had immediately given Ingrid the order to begin production. But even for a genius craftsman like Ingrid, just one month wasn’t going to be enough to nail down the production and manufacture of both gunpowder itself and the weapons that would use it.
The result of that delay was that the Wolf Clan had faced the greatest threat to its safety since Yuuto had first taken power. They had lost a great many precious lives in that struggle, including Olof, Gimlé’s governor and fourth-ranked officer in the clan.
And it was all because Yuuto had hesitated to use gunpowder. Because he had lacked resolve.
His regret was immeasurable.
“Big Brother, you are too hard on yourself,” Felicia said. “It is our fault we found ourselves in such a crisis, because we lacked the strength to protect ourselves. And because of that, we even had to summon you back to this world to save us...”
“Hey. Don’t be stupid.” Yuuto gave Felicia a light chop on the back of her head with one hand. “I wanted to come back to this world. Sure, part of that was because you all were in danger, but it was also because I wanted to be with you all again. ...Oh, that reminds me. There was something I wanted to say to you specifically, once I got back.”
“To me?” Felicia tilted her head slightly.
Yuuto had been able to communicate with Felicia using his smartphone, even during the time that he was in the modern world.
Felicia seemed to be puzzled about what exactly he would have to say that had needed to wait until now, of all times. It seemed like she hadn’t any clue what it could be.
Yuuto couldn’t help but find that a little humorous, and he grinned. Then, he leaned forward and laid his forehead against Felicia’s back.
“Felicia, thank you for bringing me to this world. I’m grateful to you, from the bottom of my heart.”
“...Huh?” For a moment, Felicia seemed dumbstruck, as if she didn’t understand the words she’d heard, but she soon grasped their real meaning. Tears welled up in her eyes, then began to fall.
Yuuto usually had a tendency to panic at the sight of a girl crying, but Felicia was someone who had been by his side for three years now. He had fully expected this reaction.
And so, Yuuto placed a hand gently on her head, and kept speaking. “It’s been something that’s been hurting you all this time, right? Listen, you don’t have anything to feel guilty about anymore, okay?”
“...Okay! Th-thank you, thank you very much...!”
“Hey, I’m the one thanking you, here.”
“Right...”
For a while afterwards, until Felicia settled down and her tears stopped, Yuuto continued to gently stroke her head in silence.
“Oh, the water’s going to come in through there, so please open that part up!” Mitsuki called.
“Yes, ma’am!” The workers gave hearty, full-throated replies to her directions.
Thanks to the power of people working in numbers, the courtyard garden had been plucked clean of all of the weeds which had once overgrown it, leaving it looking remarkably different.
Now, in an area about the size of a large pond, ten or so laborers were working as one to turn up the soil and pack it into banks, surrounding it on four sides.
“Ohh...” Mitsuki heard a man’s voice from behind her, seemingly impressed at the work.
She turned around to see a tough-looking bear of a man standing there, watching the process.
It was Jörgen, the Wolf Clan’s second-in-command.
Mitsuki had come to learn that he was the type of man who was scary-looking on the outside, but once you got to know him, he was pretty kind-mannered and good at looking out for others.
So that was why, upon seeing him, Mitsuki immediately smiled and greeted him cheerfully.
“Oh, Jörgen, hello! How about that scare we had yesterday, huh?”
“Yes, indeed,” Jörgen replied. “That blasted Ingrid, she really gave me a shock.” He shook his head and sighed.
The two of them were referring to the events of the day before, when a loud explosion had interrupted their conversation.
At first there had been worries that it was an enemy attack, or that a part of the palace structure had collapsed. The palace grounds were in a panic for a bit, only for it to turn out to have been nothing more than a failed experiment by one of their own. It had been one hell of a false alarm.
“So, how are things going with your project here?” Jörgen asked.
“Oh, it’s going really well. Thanks to you providing me with so many great workers to help, it’s coming along really fast! Thank you very much.”
“That’s wonderful to hear. I am just happy that I can be of help to you.”
“You really have been a big help. By the way, were you here to ask me about something, perhaps?”
“Ha ha ha, nothing major, really,” he said. “As the person who gave you these men, I just wanted to come by to check and make sure they were doing proper work, and get in a nice walk while I was at it.”
“Everyone’s doing a great job! They’re working really, really hard!” Mitsuki leaned forward and clenched both fists in front of her to emphasize the point, almost frantically.
All of the people working for her right now were lower-ranking members of Jörgen’s faction of the clan. If he gained a good opinion of them here, it might bode well for their future prospects in the clan.
This project was already taking shape within just a single day, and that was all thanks to how dedicated and diligently these men had worked, so Mitsuki wanted to do right by them, as best she could.
Seeing that intense response from Mitsuki, Jörgen’s eyes widened, and then he smiled warmly at her. “Is that so? That’s wonderful to hear. It sounds like everything is well.”
“It is!” Mitsuki placed a hand on her chest and sighed in relief. If Jörgen was smiling, then that meant he didn’t have a bad opinion of the workers.
“Oh, that reminds me,” Jörgen said offhandedly, gazing at the worked earth. “I wanted to ask you yesterday, but never got the chance. What exactly are you making here?”
“It’s a paddy field,” Mitsuki said.
“A ‘paddy field,’ is it?” Jörgen replied, then paused for a second. “Hm... I see, so you plan to create a pool of water to play in, then?”
Jörgen’s response was so surprising that Mitsuki couldn’t help but stare at him round-eyed for a moment. “Huh?”
She then burst out in waves of laughter.
“Pfft! Ahahaha! Jörgen, you always have such a stern-looking face, but you’re actually quite the joker, aren’t you?”
“A joker?” Jörgen repeated. “I assure you that I was being entirely serious, but I gather I must have been a great deal off the mark.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have laughed like that.” Mitsuki hurriedly bowed her head deeply in apology.
She realized what had happened. She had let herself forget the fact that this was the world of Yggdrasil. On the whole, Yggdrasil did not receive a particularly substantial amount of rainfall. It was hardly the type of place well-suited for rice farming. And so, it was understandable that Jörgen didn’t know what a paddy field was.
Mitsuki also understood why he might have come up with an idea that it was a pool of water to play in.
She couldn’t speak the language of Yggdrasil, and she covered for that by using galdr song magic. The spell known as “Connections” made conversation possible between two people speaking different languages.
It was a very convenient spell, but it worked by transmitting the image held in the speaker’s mind corresponding to the words they were saying.
When Mitsuki had said “paddy field” a moment ago, the image in her mind had been of a paddy freshly plowed and flooded, before the rice plants had been planted and grown.
If someone with no relevant knowledge were to see that image, then it would certainly make sense that they might interpret it as a pool for recreation. Or rather, that might well be the only reasonable conclusion to make.
It really brought home the feeling to Mitsuki that this place was quite different from Japan in many ways.
“Please don’t worry about it,” Jörgen said. “Living in an unfamiliar land must be trying at times. If my remark was able to make you laugh, then it was well worth making.”
Jörgen’s words seemed to be from the heart, without any irony.
This man was indeed very different from what his tough exterior suggested: he was a caring and thoughtful person. Mitsuki felt like she could understand why Yuuto had entrusted him with the position of second-in-command.
“Now then,” Jörgen continued, “if I may take us back to the original topic, what exactly is this going to be used for?”
“Oh, um, it’s used to grow ‘rice,’” Mitsuki answered. “Yuu-kun is Japanese, after all, so I thought maybe he’d want to eat rice. I mean, I feel like eating it too sometimes.”
“Ahh, now that you mention it, that was something Father complained about from time to time,” Jörgen said. “He’d mutter things like, ‘I wanna eat rice so bad...!’”
Mitsuki nodded. “Yes, and when he came back to Japan, all he could talk about was how delicious it was.”
In fact, Yuuto had been so emotionally moved by a rice ball from a convenience store that it had been a little shocking for her.
It was often said that rice was part of the soul of the Japanese people, but perhaps that actually wasn’t too far off.
“I see, and so that is why you wanted this built,” Jörgen said.
“Right. I’d also like to find a way to make miso soup and soy sauce. After all, I’m the only one who knows the flavors of Yuu-kun’s homeland. If I want him to taste them, then it’s up to me to make it happen.” Mitsuki punctuated her statement by pounding a fist to her chest.
Yuuto was going to carry on as patriarch, a ruler who must shoulder the burden of the lives and futures of so many people. That was surely going to be very hard on him.
Food was the foundation for everything else in life. If you could eat delicious food, that would give you strength.
“Bwa hah hah hah!” Jörgen let out a big, hearty laugh, then nodded with satisfaction. “Father is surely the happiest man in all of Yggdrasil, to be blessed with such a generous and devoted wife. Why, I’d even wish to trade my own wife for you!”
“Oh really, now? You do realize that if you say things like that, your wife is going to kill you? And I think my own husband wouldn’t like hearing that, either.” Mitsuki chuckled.
“Ahh, now, that’s far too frightening for me. I’ll give up on such talk right away, then.” Jörgen gave an affected shrug.
It was evident that the two of them had become fully comfortable and open with each other.
At that point, a soldier ran onto the scene, shouting. “Second-in-Command! Second-in-Command, sir! Oh, and my Lady is here, as well. It’s good that I should find you both together.”
Since Jörgen was out of his office, the man must have come searching for him.
“What is it?” Jörgen asked.
The soldier caught his breath before continuing. “Just now, we received a messenger pigeon from Fólkvangr. Father completely destroyed the main army of seven thousand soldiers of the Panther Clan who were camped along the Körmt River! He captured three thousand of them alive as prisoners!”
“Ohhh!! Just as expected of Father!” Jörgen exclaimed with a sigh of admiration.
He was clearly joyful at the news, and without the slightest trace of doubt that it was all true. He clearly believed it only a matter of course that Yuuto could accomplish such a feat.
It gave Mitsuki a little glimpse at just how highly Yuuto was thought of in this world.
The soldier continued. “There’s more: As a result of that victory, the force of three thousand Panther Clan soldiers who had been surrounding Fólkvangr began retreating.”
“Oh-ho, then that means the remaining threat to the Wolf Clan’s safety has been taken care of at last.” Jörgen took a deep breath and let out a long, long exhale in relief.
He was the one to whom it had fallen to lead the Wolf Clan as its commander-in-chief while Yuuto was absent. The pressure from that responsibility must have been weighing heavily on him.
“Er, then, does that mean Yuu-kun is safe, and he’s coming back to Iárnviðr?” Mitsuki asked.
“Yes,” Jörgen replied. “Of course he is. After all, Father is the one and only true lord of Iárnviðr.”
“Oh, okay. Thank goodness...” Mitsuki placed a hand to her chest and sighed in relief.
After three long years apart, she had finally been reunited with her childhood friend, only to be separated from him by the barriers of time and space once more. And, when she had finally managed to overcome those, the battlefield had taken him away from her again.
Not only that, he had left the city in a great hurry, which meant that the war situation had been really bad.
Unlike Jörgen, Mitsuki didn’t know anything about the Yuuto of Yggdrasil, except through bits of hearsay and secondhand tales. At times she had seen things which gave her a little glimpse, but for the most part, the image of him within her was of her childhood friend, a “perfectly normal boy.” So, she had been worried sick about him.
“Then that takes care of one of my biggest worries, I guess,” she said. “But...”
Mitsuki was now left all the more concerned with one of her other biggest worries:
The absence of the girl who had provided the guidance and contributed enormous effort to enable Yuuto’s return, and who looked just like Mitsuki in appearance: Sigrdrífa, the Holy Ásgarðr Empire’s þjóðann, or “divine empress.”
She and Mitsuki shared a mysterious connection, allowing them to speak with one another in their dreams. But ever since the summoning ritual that brought Yuuto back, Mitsuki hadn’t been able to do that anymore.
During the ritual itself, Mitsuki had witnessed something peculiar happen to her: The right arm of her spirit form had dissolved like mist into thin air.
Mitsuki could only hope that she was all right.
Right now, that was really all she could do.
In the deep darkness of night, Hárbarth walked alone down a silent corridor.
His right eye was closed, and an old battle scar ran down the eyelid in a distinct vertical line. His face was creased with several layers of deep wrinkles, which spoke to his long and storied life, and his hair and the long beard on his chin were both completely white.
He was at least in his seventies, perhaps even his eighties, but his back was completely straight, and he walked with vigor in his step.
This man was currently the patriarch of the Spear Clan, one of the ten most powerful nations of Yggdrasil, and at the same time, he held the position of high priest of the Holy Ásgarðr Empire, placing a truly enormous amount of political power in his hands alone.
He was indeed the very image of the phrase: “thriving in old age.”
“This situation was a bit outside my expectations,” Hárbarth muttered to himself, and passed through a door at the back of the holy sanctuary, the hörgr, into the room beyond.
This was the sleeping quarters of the master of the hörgr — indeed, the very ruler of the Holy Ásgarðr Empire. It was thus not a place even the high priest of the empire could be allowed to enter so casually, but the old man paid no mind to that.
That was because there was no one left in the imperial government who would dare to challenge him.
“Now then, what exactly to do about you...” the old man muttered as he looked down at the white-haired girl laying at his feet.
She was dressed in a luxurious, ornamented outfit.
Her white hair was different from Hárbarth’s, being her natural color instead of the faded product of age. Hers was beautifully silken and looked almost translucent.
Her skin, too, was pure white like snow, and her features were quite lovely. Even her quiet, sleeping figure looked somehow divine.
Sigrdrífa, the divine empress.
Officially, she was the ruler of the empire, the rightful ruler over all of the lands of Yggdrasil. And she was Hárbarth’s betrothed, scheduled to marry him in the autumn of this year.
His future wife had apparently succumbed to some sort of illness, and had been in a coma for the last three days.
She had been a sickly girl to begin with, and being laid up in bed hadn’t been a rare occurrence for her, but not waking up for three days straight was certainly a first.
“After all it took to get here, it would be a problem if she went and died on me now,” Hárbarth said to himself, frowning.
He might be marrying her, but there wasn’t any love involved at all. It was nothing more than a political marriage, and to Hárbarth this girl was no more than something he needed to achieve his ambitions.
He could even replace her, after a fashion.
The essential factor that signified the þjóðann was the twin runes that were inherited through the imperial bloodline, borne by only one person at a time. Hárbarth had conducted extensive research into the lineage and history of the previous divine emperors and empresses, and had managed to discover the true nature of how the twin runes were passed on.
The first rule was that the current bearer of the runes could grant them directly to a successor. As long as their relationship by blood wasn’t too distant, the exchange could take place without problems. This had been proven by the þjóðann of six generations ago.
The second rule regarded what happened when the current bearer of the twin runes left this world without picking a successor.
When that happened, the runes would appear in the youngest person out of those who were closest in blood relation to the previous holder.
In other words, if the worst were to happen to this girl Rífa, the runes should logically pass to her younger cousin Tiwaz, the current head of House Jarl, one of the three great noble families of the empire.
Hárbarth had long since schemed his way into control of House Jarl at this point, so if Tiwaz were to take the throne as the next Divine Emperor, Hárbarth should have no problems moving in to manipulate the boy as his puppet.
He was supposed to be an extremely quiet, weak-willed boy, and would likely be much easier to control than Rífa, who was tomboyish and often rebelled against Hárbarth’s will.
Indeed, there would be no immediate problems with that arrangement. However...
“If I’m going to have a vessel for my will, I would rather it be someone carrying my blood, after all.”
Hárbarth had given birth to two sons and one daughter, but he had already lost both of his sons, one to illness and the other to war.
As for his remaining daughter, he had wedded her to the second-in-command of the Spear Clan, and she had blessed him with four grandchildren, but all of them were boys. Unfortunately, that left him with no female blood heir he could have married to Tiwaz.
If he was to create a future þjóðann carrying his bloodline, he needed Rífa.
That being said, if she remained in this comatose state, it was clear that she would soon waste away and perish.
As Hárbarth stood pondering his options, a voice interrupted, echoing in his head.
“Sir.”
It was the voice of the imperial priest Alexis, who was Hárbarth’s “eye” on the outside.
Alexis was an Einherjar of the rune Gnævar, Traveler of the Skies, which allowed him to converse instantly with someone else over any distance, by making use of special paired mirrors.
“What is it?” Hárbarth asked, seeming to question the empty air.
“Sir, er, this is a little unpleasant to report, but the ‘Black One’ has returned to the Wolf Clan.”
“What?!” Hárbarth’s one good eye shot open wide.
Sigyn was known as the Witch of Miðgarðr, one of the three greatest users of seiðr magic spells in all the land of Yggdrasil.
It was hard to imagine there was anyone in this world who could have broken Sigyn’s spell, one which she had poured every ounce of her vitality and spirit into.
And yet, lying here right in front of Hárbarth was perhaps the only girl who could have.
“Is that the cause of this, perhaps?” he asked himself aloud.
If that were the case, quite a few things would make sense.
Rífa had secretly left the imperial capital to travel during the previous winter, and had stayed in Iárnviðr for a time. Hárbarth had heard that she’d become quite intimate friends with Yuuto.
Perhaps her connection with him had given her cause to lend her powers to aid in his return.
“Time after time, you never cease to cause me trouble.” Hárbarth spat the words out bitterly.
He had worked so hard to preserve the glory of the empire, making plans in secret, plans that had been succeeding, only for the divine empress herself to dash them to pieces.
At the time of her secret escape and travels, Hárbarth had decided to look the other way and let her go to allow her one last bout of selfishness before marriage. She was, in the worst case scenario, replaceable. But to now see that she had repaid his graciousness in such a way made his stomach churn with anger.
“Sir, what shall we do?”
“Hahhh...” His brow deeply furrowed, Hárbarth let out a great, long sigh.
The boy’s return was of course beyond his predictions, but even more surprising was what had happened with the Lightning and Panther Clans. Both clans were themselves counted among the ten greatest nations of Yggdrasil, and yet even after they had formed an alliance, both of them had been easily turned aside from their invasion campaign. It was an outcome he could never have imagined, even in his dreams.
It seemed that the “Black One” had amassed power far greater than even Hárbarth had imagined.
At last, he had become too powerful to control.
Apprehensive about what effect his actions might have on trust in the authority of the empire, until this point Hárbarth had sought to progress his plans to erase the boy in secret. But now it seemed there was no room left to care about keeping up appearances.
“Hmm, yes...” Hárbarth glanced down at the girl lying unconscious below him, and the corners of his mouth curled upwards in a sneer.
“I suppose the girl being this way is just what we need. Let us make full use of her.”
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