“M~y my… My luck has been crappy recently hasn’t it? Even here in ‘Helheim’”
By using the rune of ‘Rad’, the location that we arrived was the underground of the human realm ‘Midgard’. Standing before the expanse of the pale frozen domain, I released a sigh while being disconcerted.
A few days ago — Yes, since the day the Gods’ vanguard, Einherjar, began their rebellion… there was something that was on mind excessively.
It was about the resurrection ability ‘Gullveig’ that belonged to the person that I, Loki, recognized as an equivalent partner, the boar Sei, since I am getting closer and closer to the truth.
To be frank, his ‘Gullveig’ ability, was not a resurrection ability, but rather, it was a creation ability. Even for me, the number two of the god realm… No, it was not even something that my brother, the Chief God could do.
Sadly, other than Sei, the one who possess that ability was not us, the God tribe, it was the ‘Dwarf’. After all, it would seem I was disdaining them since they were the small humanoid tribe who always lived in their caves, but actually I was quite impressed with their skill as a blacksmith which allow them to produce living object.
“…Sei. The brown boar, Sæhrímnir. Just what the heck are you anyway?”
Even if I asked him this, he would probably tilt his head with a foolish look as always.
He told me personally about this during the rebellion of the Einherjars, it seemed that he had no memories about his past. The fact that the boar couple that I met in the forest was not his real parent was something surprising which I thought he should had told me about this earlier.
Since the couple seemed excessive human-like, it was not surprising that their child would also be like them… I wonder why I accepted it without any doubt. On the other hand, it also seemed that they were not blood related.
“Okay. Guess I will go and make my appearance for a moment.”
While saying that, I started walking toward my location.
The location that I was headed was the extravagant big palace in the country of the dead ‘Helheim’ known as ‘Nastrond’.
That name was supposed to be used to represent this region, but… some time ago, it was decided that the name would be used for the palace that had been erected here instead.
A majority of the people who died in this world be washed up at ‘The shore of the dead’ – Just from how it was named, I could tell that the structure of this building was something grand. In term of the God community, Asgard, it would be ‘Valhalla’, well this was some expected after all.
The rusted door creaked gloomily, as if to let people know that I, a visitor, was here. I ignored the curious gazes of the deceased that came from the windows of the building, and firmly walked into the building.
Solemnly proceeding down the deathly-smelling hallway, I cut through the building until I reached the backdoor. Finally arriving at the end of the ashen courtyard, I saw a tattered hut that looked like it was abandoned. I couldn’t help but spill a wry smile.
“It’s just as tattered as you said it was now isn’t it? … Oi Sei! You’re there right!? Hurry it up, I, Loki-sama, have come to visit you!”
“““““““““““Eh!? Loki!?””””””””””
The moment I heard the echo-like voices, mobs and mobs and mobs of chibiboars came flying out of the tattered hut. Their numbers… ah, basically, there were a lot.
“It’s been a while Loki! What have you been up to since then?”
“Hey hey did anything interesting happen at the sky!? It’s just boring and tedious everyday here you see?”
“Hear this Loki! They said that boars don’t need beds! Isn’t that a terrible thing to say!?”
The mobs of same-face same-voice baby boars gathered around my feet and began making a fuss.
Ahh! Stop! Shut up you annoying runts! If you ask at the same time like that how am I supposed to answer!?
“That’s enough calm down Sei-s! Ask one by one got it!?”
““““““““““Al~right””””””””””
Their overlapping, polite answers could be attributed to their identical logic and thinking speeds. Normally, this was not something that could be categorized as normal. Since there was the concept of ‘Only one’ for living being, if one died in this world, the number in the afterword would be increased by one. This was a simple calculation that even a monkey can understand.
However, the Sei here was different. Relying on his unique attribute of ‘resurrection after dying’, which led him to take advantage of this attribute and died countless times under various circumstances.
However, this was not as simple as it seemed. When Sei died, he surely fell into the afterworld, so in exchange a new Sei was born in this world and it left behind the fact that he had died.
—-This was the result of ‘multiplication’.
“Yo Sei-s. Who is the oldest Sei here?”
“That would be… me, but… Loki-sama, you seem to get along with me quite well.”
The one who timidly answered was a Sei that was quite a bit younger than the one I knew. It seems that this iteration was from way before we first met. He had heard about me, but the truth was that he had no memories of close interactions with me, so his manners were like those he would use to a stranger.
“Well, and the newest one is…?”
“That would be me Loki. Since I’m the only one here that has experienced with the rebellion of the Einherjar.”
“I see. After facing Beruze and the other, you managed to survive till the end after all. It seemed that you were made into a meal right after that but… it seems that you are the one who died at that time then.”
After the rebellion of the Einherjars, since the Gods wanted to possess the resurrection ability, ‘Gullveig’ that Sei had, he was made into a meal. Well, I could say that was partly my fault because of the hypothesis that I came about but…
It seemed that, that would be the last moment where Sei would be made as a meal. Since after that day, the Einherjars were sentence to ‘the Ratatouille punishment’ which meant that Sei was relieved of his job as the ‘Dinner of Valhalla’.
(Well it’s something temporary until the punishment ended but…)
After looking at the mob of Sei that was in my field of sight, I closed my eye for a while. After taking a deep breath, I began asking everyone who was present.
A few days after the Einherjar rebellion which was today, the reason why I purposely came here was… to get an answer to my question.
“Answer me honestly, Sei. You… no, all of you… who want the Sei who was living above to not die anymore?”
That was right — since the current Sei who was able to revive after dying, so he chose to die.
Let me rephrase this, ‘He won’t die even though he dead’ because of this thinking Sei was able to choose death up until now.
But that was a big misunderstanding. ‘After dying, he will stay dead’ which was something that all the Sei here was experiencing and it was a truth that cannot be changed.
“To all of you who had died, to be frank the Sei who was living above is like a totally stranger right? This is because you were not the one who was resurrected and your life ended the moment when you died.”
“Well, that’s true…”
“Once I informed the Sei who is living above the truth, I believe that he will change his way of thinking. He won’t die without any hesitation and I assure that you that I am able to make sure he won’t die that easily. But before that, I would like to hear the opinion of you guys whom are deceased… What is your thought on this?”
“Argh… even if you said that…”
The replys I received were filled with them grinding their teeth. This was something unexpected, I didn’t thought that they would be this distress toward the answer of this question.
“Okay, I had the answer now, Loki. Let me be frank…”
At the end of the few seconds of worrying, the one who represent them to answer me was the newest Sei in ‘Helheim’. I believed that his answer had received the consent of everyone here. I remained silence and lend my ear toward his answer.
“I’m fine with the current situation.”
“…Huh? Is… that so…?”
“Yes.”
As if nothing happen, the answer was informed in a normal manner. Since the answer totally betrayed my expectation, it became a difficult situation since I became loss of word unconsciously.
“Eh… no, are you really fine with this? That is because you, would continue dying as usual you know? Did you answer me while fully aware of that matter?”
“Of course, I am fully aware of that. Um… Loki… actually there was something that was bothering me.”
“? What is it, do tell me.”
The moment when I answer him without any much thinking —it became something I regreted due to my thoughtlessly attitude.
I forgot about this since I was talking with familiar faces. Since this was the afterworld ‘Helheim’, in this hell which was covered by the frozen darkness, there was—
“What’s so bad about dying?”
— the pointless to rescue… deceased.
Without any respect toward living, and the thought that death was just death. Even though there was no difference in what I was looking now, but the Sei here was not the Sei that I knew of.
“Ah! Brynhildr-sama!”
At that moment, one of the Sei called out to the person behind me. Once I turned my head around, as what Hel told me, I saw the appearance of the Valkyrie Brynhildr. Right, she would always be here from now on.
“Haha, Sei-san. Did you behave like a good kid today?”
“Of course! If you wish for it, I will behave like a good kid until we die! Hold on, we are already dead.”
“Even for a deceased, it’s possible for them to die too, Sei-san.”
“Then I will be a good kid even if I need to be alive again.”
“As expected of Sei! As a reward, I will pat all of you.”
“Yea~~”
It seemed that they were enjoying this joyful atmosphere, Sei and Brynhildr that is. There was no mistake that this was a peaceful scenery. If there was no need to be caution toward the Giants, there would not be any mission or duty, it would be a usual day where we were release of our obligations, which was this.
But … is this really something acceptable?
“Hey, Brynhildr… it might be me overthinking but… don’t tell me that you are ‘Glad because you were killed by Beruze”….?”
It seemed like it was pointless for me to enquiry that. Brynhildr show a moment of [?] and answered my question immediately with a straight look.
“I am actually glad?”
“… Glad? About being dead?”
“Hey, Loki-sama, ‘Helheim’ is the country where all the deceased gathered. This is a place where there are many different kind of races could be found and it’s a peaceful place where there is no domestic conflict. Because of that, I have this thought. That it’s better for everyone to die right away.”
“!”
After hearing that, I lost my breath thoughtlessly. I couldn’t even project my voice… it seemed that a deceased was able to said this kind of thing with that kind of look.
“Woah, Brynhildr-sama, what a bold proclamation! But I completely agree with you on that!”
Instead of being simple-minded, Sei was actually being quite noisy. To be frank, it was hard on my ears and it was making me feel nauseous.
Somehow… if I was dead, would I also act the same way as them? Is that something pleasant? If I were to die to obtain this pleasant dream, does it mean that I’m trying to give up on living?
…I want to be excuse from that. There is no meaning for me to stay in a pleasant world while living through pleasant live.
“I’m sorry, Sei, it almost time for me to go back now.”
“Eh, are you going back this soon? I still haven’t heard any news about ‘Asgard’ yet.”
“I also have thing that I would like to talk about. There is still the matter behind the trick you used to kill Beruze just by saying ‘Die’.”
“Trick? Eh, I don’t quite remember about that but did I really kill him?”
“Yup. Do you have any idea what that power is?”
“The power to kill people just by talking? Nope! I have no idea about that!”
“That’s right…”
It was still liked a waste of effort, it the end there was still no clue about that. Well, there was no use rushing.
“Loki, please come and visit us when you had calmed down. I will be waiting for you.”
“I will also await your next visit, Loki-sama. Since I would like to hear the affairs of my sisters.”
“Ah. It won’t be a simple matter for me to drop back that easily, let’s meet again someday though.”
“If that is the case, then come visit us when you are dead. That way, you don’t have to use the rune of ‘sowelu’ to help maintain your body temperature.”
“Hey, don’t go and said the impossible.”
“Okay, let put the joke aside. …That’s right! Hey Loki, if I really do have that ‘power to kill’, if you are okay with it, I can kill you now.”
“Stop it!”
I used my shout to interrupt Sei’s words. Damn… I let out a voice that didn’t fit my personality.
But… I can’t believe he was able to say something stupid like that without changing his expression.
“Sei. This might spoil the mood but allow me to say this now. To you who had given up on living is no longer a living being… you are just a being now.”
Sei suddenly became amazed and looked blankly after hearing my voice which said that.
Even though I cannot read that boar expression as usual, but I was pretty sure he was not angry nor sad — it just seemed like he was showing an expression of consent and go ‘Ah’.
“M~y my… My luck has been crappy recently hasn’t it? Even here in ‘Helheim’”
By using the rune of ‘Rad’, the location that we arrived was the underground of the human realm ‘Midgard’. Standing before the expanse of the pale frozen domain, I released a sigh while being disconcerted.
A few days ago — Yes, since the day the Gods’ vanguard, Einherjar, began their rebellion… there was something that was on mind excessively.
It was about the resurrection ability ‘Gullveig’ that belonged to the person that I, Loki, recognized as an equivalent partner, the boar Sei, since I am getting closer and closer to the truth.
To be frank, his ‘Gullveig’ ability, was not a resurrection ability, but rather, it was a creation ability. Even for me, the number two of the god realm… No, it was not even something that my brother, the Chief God could do.
Sadly, other than Sei, the one who possess that ability was not us, the God tribe, it was the ‘Dwarf’. After all, it would seem I was disdaining them since they were the small humanoid tribe who always lived in their caves, but actually I was quite impressed with their skill as a blacksmith which allow them to produce living object.
“…Sei. The brown boar, Sæhrímnir. Just what the heck are you anyway?”
Even if I asked him this, he would probably tilt his head with a foolish look as always.
He told me personally about this during the rebellion of the Einherjars, it seemed that he had no memories about his past. The fact that the boar couple that I met in the forest was not his real parent was something surprising which I thought he should had told me about this earlier.
Since the couple seemed excessive human-like, it was not surprising that their child would also be like them… I wonder why I accepted it without any doubt. On the other hand, it also seemed that they were not blood related.
“Okay. Guess I will go and make my appearance for a moment.”
While saying that, I started walking toward my location.
The location that I was headed was the extravagant big palace in the country of the dead ‘Helheim’ known as ‘Nastrond’.
That name was supposed to be used to represent this region, but… some time ago, it was decided that the name would be used for the palace that had been erected here instead.
A majority of the people who died in this world be washed up at ‘The shore of the dead’ – Just from how it was named, I could tell that the structure of this building was something grand. In term of the God community, Asgard, it would be ‘Valhalla’, well this was some expected after all.
The rusted door creaked gloomily, as if to let people know that I, a visitor, was here. I ignored the curious gazes of the deceased that came from the windows of the building, and firmly walked into the building.
Solemnly proceeding down the deathly-smelling hallway, I cut through the building until I reached the backdoor. Finally arriving at the end of the ashen courtyard, I saw a tattered hut that looked like it was abandoned. I couldn’t help but spill a wry smile.
“It’s just as tattered as you said it was now isn’t it? … Oi Sei! You’re there right!? Hurry it up, I, Loki-sama, have come to visit you!”
“““““““““““Eh!? Loki!?””””””””””
The moment I heard the echo-like voices, mobs and mobs and mobs of chibiboars came flying out of the tattered hut. Their numbers… ah, basically, there were a lot.
“It’s been a while Loki! What have you been up to since then?”
“Hey hey did anything interesting happen at the sky!? It’s just boring and tedious everyday here you see?”
“Hear this Loki! They said that boars don’t need beds! Isn’t that a terrible thing to say!?”
The mobs of same-face same-voice baby boars gathered around my feet and began making a fuss.
Ahh! Stop! Shut up you annoying runts! If you ask at the same time like that how am I supposed to answer!?
“That’s enough calm down Sei-s! Ask one by one got it!?”
““““““““““Al~right””””””””””
Their overlapping, polite answers could be attributed to their identical logic and thinking speeds. Normally, this was not something that could be categorized as normal. Since there was the concept of ‘Only one’ for living being, if one died in this world, the number in the afterword would be increased by one. This was a simple calculation that even a monkey can understand.
However, the Sei here was different. Relying on his unique attribute of ‘resurrection after dying’, which led him to take advantage of this attribute and died countless times under various circumstances.
However, this was not as simple as it seemed. When Sei died, he surely fell into the afterworld, so in exchange a new Sei was born in this world and it left behind the fact that he had died.
—-This was the result of ‘multiplication’.
“Yo Sei-s. Who is the oldest Sei here?”
“That would be… me, but… Loki-sama, you seem to get along with me quite well.”
The one who timidly answered was a Sei that was quite a bit younger than the one I knew. It seems that this iteration was from way before we first met. He had heard about me, but the truth was that he had no memories of close interactions with me, so his manners were like those he would use to a stranger.
“Well, and the newest one is…?”
“That would be me Loki. Since I’m the only one here that has experienced with the rebellion of the Einherjar.”
“I see. After facing Beruze and the other, you managed to survive till the end after all. It seemed that you were made into a meal right after that but… it seems that you are the one who died at that time then.”
After the rebellion of the Einherjars, since the Gods wanted to possess the resurrection ability, ‘Gullveig’ that Sei had, he was made into a meal. Well, I could say that was partly my fault because of the hypothesis that I came about but…
It seemed that, that would be the last moment where Sei would be made as a meal. Since after that day, the Einherjars were sentence to ‘the Ratatouille punishment’ which meant that Sei was relieved of his job as the ‘Dinner of Valhalla’.
(Well it’s something temporary until the punishment ended but…)
After looking at the mob of Sei that was in my field of sight, I closed my eye for a while. After taking a deep breath, I began asking everyone who was present.
A few days after the Einherjar rebellion which was today, the reason why I purposely came here was… to get an answer to my question.
“Answer me honestly, Sei. You… no, all of you… who want the Sei who was living above to not die anymore?”
That was right — since the current Sei who was able to revive after dying, so he chose to die.
Let me rephrase this, ‘He won’t die even though he dead’ because of this thinking Sei was able to choose death up until now.
But that was a big misunderstanding. ‘After dying, he will stay dead’ which was something that all the Sei here was experiencing and it was a truth that cannot be changed.
“To all of you who had died, to be frank the Sei who was living above is like a totally stranger right? This is because you were not the one who was resurrected and your life ended the moment when you died.”
“Well, that’s true…”
“Once I informed the Sei who is living above the truth, I believe that he will change his way of thinking. He won’t die without any hesitation and I assure that you that I am able to make sure he won’t die that easily. But before that, I would like to hear the opinion of you guys whom are deceased… What is your thought on this?”
“Argh… even if you said that…”
The replys I received were filled with them grinding their teeth. This was something unexpected, I didn’t thought that they would be this distress toward the answer of this question.
“Okay, I had the answer now, Loki. Let me be frank…”
At the end of the few seconds of worrying, the one who represent them to answer me was the newest Sei in ‘Helheim’. I believed that his answer had received the consent of everyone here. I remained silence and lend my ear toward his answer.
“I’m fine with the current situation.”
“…Huh? Is… that so…?”
“Yes.”
As if nothing happen, the answer was informed in a normal manner. Since the answer totally betrayed my expectation, it became a difficult situation since I became loss of word unconsciously.
“Eh… no, are you really fine with this? That is because you, would continue dying as usual you know? Did you answer me while fully aware of that matter?”
“Of course, I am fully aware of that. Um… Loki… actually there was something that was bothering me.”
“? What is it, do tell me.”
The moment when I answer him without any much thinking —it became something I regreted due to my thoughtlessly attitude.
I forgot about this since I was talking with familiar faces. Since this was the afterworld ‘Helheim’, in this hell which was covered by the frozen darkness, there was—
“What’s so bad about dying?”
— the pointless to rescue… deceased.
Without any respect toward living, and the thought that death was just death. Even though there was no difference in what I was looking now, but the Sei here was not the Sei that I knew of.
“Ah! Brynhildr-sama!”
At that moment, one of the Sei called out to the person behind me. Once I turned my head around, as what Hel told me, I saw the appearance of the Valkyrie Brynhildr. Right, she would always be here from now on.
“Haha, Sei-san. Did you behave like a good kid today?”
“Of course! If you wish for it, I will behave like a good kid until we die! Hold on, we are already dead.”
“Even for a deceased, it’s possible for them to die too, Sei-san.”
“Then I will be a good kid even if I need to be alive again.”
“As expected of Sei! As a reward, I will pat all of you.”
“Yea~~”
It seemed that they were enjoying this joyful atmosphere, Sei and Brynhildr that is. There was no mistake that this was a peaceful scenery. If there was no need to be caution toward the Giants, there would not be any mission or duty, it would be a usual day where we were release of our obligations, which was this.
But … is this really something acceptable?
“Hey, Brynhildr… it might be me overthinking but… don’t tell me that you are ‘Glad because you were killed by Beruze”….?”
It seemed like it was pointless for me to enquiry that. Brynhildr show a moment of [?] and answered my question immediately with a straight look.
“I am actually glad?”
“… Glad? About being dead?”
“Hey, Loki-sama, ‘Helheim’ is the country where all the deceased gathered. This is a place where there are many different kind of races could be found and it’s a peaceful place where there is no domestic conflict. Because of that, I have this thought. That it’s better for everyone to die right away.”
“!”
After hearing that, I lost my breath thoughtlessly. I couldn’t even project my voice… it seemed that a deceased was able to said this kind of thing with that kind of look.
“Woah, Brynhildr-sama, what a bold proclamation! But I completely agree with you on that!”
Instead of being simple-minded, Sei was actually being quite noisy. To be frank, it was hard on my ears and it was making me feel nauseous.
Somehow… if I was dead, would I also act the same way as them? Is that something pleasant? If I were to die to obtain this pleasant dream, does it mean that I’m trying to give up on living?
…I want to be excuse from that. There is no meaning for me to stay in a pleasant world while living through pleasant live.
“I’m sorry, Sei, it almost time for me to go back now.”
“Eh, are you going back this soon? I still haven’t heard any news about ‘Asgard’ yet.”
“I also have thing that I would like to talk about. There is still the matter behind the trick you used to kill Beruze just by saying ‘Die’.”
“Trick? Eh, I don’t quite remember about that but did I really kill him?”
“Yup. Do you have any idea what that power is?”
“The power to kill people just by talking? Nope! I have no idea about that!”
“That’s right…”
It was still liked a waste of effort, it the end there was still no clue about that. Well, there was no use rushing.
“Loki, please come and visit us when you had calmed down. I will be waiting for you.”
“I will also await your next visit, Loki-sama. Since I would like to hear the affairs of my sisters.”
“Ah. It won’t be a simple matter for me to drop back that easily, let’s meet again someday though.”
“If that is the case, then come visit us when you are dead. That way, you don’t have to use the rune of ‘sowelu’ to help maintain your body temperature.”
“Hey, don’t go and said the impossible.”
“Okay, let put the joke aside. …That’s right! Hey Loki, if I really do have that ‘power to kill’, if you are okay with it, I can kill you now.”
“Stop it!”
I used my shout to interrupt Sei’s words. Damn… I let out a voice that didn’t fit my personality.
But… I can’t believe he was able to say something stupid like that without changing his expression.
“Sei. This might spoil the mood but allow me to say this now. To you who had given up on living is no longer a living being… you are just a being now.”
Sei suddenly became amazed and looked blankly after hearing my voice which said that.
Even though I cannot read that boar expression as usual, but I was pretty sure he was not angry nor sad — it just seemed like he was showing an expression of consent and go ‘Ah’.
