“Look here! Loki, look at this! I had properly written down in my diary, on the matter that happen just now!”
“Ah~ I understand I understand. I also had a vague memory of it, the legend of your tenacity.”
We were at my room after we came back from the decisive battle at the plain of ‘Vígríðr’. I thrust my diary toward the fed up Loki to show him the content.
The content was this ‘As a response to the unreasonable request from the wicked god, Loki, the brown boar, Saehrimnir was killed by the person that he thought was his friend.’
You don’t understand what it mean? What a coincidence, I also have no idea. Then why don’t we try to investigate further by taking the account of the explanation from Loki.
“I understand it properly okay? I’m properly understand that you are discontent on this. Beside didn’t you said that you will participate in my ‘Plan to free Fenrir’? You did said that right? Because of the word you said that time, I start to depend on you.”
“Yes, I said that, I am confident that I said that. I will not make any excuse on that since that is the truth. But… it is out of my expectation that the method of helping is a story that start from ‘I’m sorry, but can you die once again?’!”
“That… that’s why I am apologizing numerous time to you like this.”
“That’s not the problem! You better don’t forget that life is something that last for one time only!”
Breathe in… breathe out…. I could finally be at ease now since I had said all the thing that I wanted to said. For god’s sake, Loki always said these outrageous stuffs, no matter how many time it was…
— The cause for all this happened around one hour ago. Let turn back the time to the moment before the sun set.
“I had a small request for you since it’s finally time for us to proceed to free Fenrir.”
My partner, Loki, whom I didn’t heard for one month ever since he began his aimless trip. To think that this was the first thing that I heard from him immediately after he returned to the God Realm ‘Asgard’ from his journey.
For your information, there was a certain battle in ‘Valhalla’ that happened exactly one month ago from today.
That was the serious match between me and my master which was the Chef Head. It was not like we were fighting physical, okay? We had a cooking battle while betting on our value and pride.
The conclusion of that match with the unprecedented match ended as a victory for me but… I was a little worry since I didn’t notice Loki who served as a judge that time suddenly went missing.
For your information, Fenrir was a powerful magic wolf that was feared by all of the God. According to the prophecy from the God of prophecy, Mimir, he would have his revenge on the world, so he was currently isolated at the end of the world while his body was binded by the magic ribbon, Grapevine.
But… due to a certain reason, I went and meet him personally, he didn’t seem like an evil wolf at all to me.
Moreover, since he was the son of Loki, I had promise to help with the plan to free him secretly. Since I had said that myself, I expected to follow it since I was a boar that kept its promise. After all, I was a gentleman.
I didn’t expect that I had to die as the first step for that plan…
“There is no choice. Since this is something necessary in order to obtain the ‘Sword of Ívaldi’.”
“That… is that the sword that is able to cut through Grapevine?”
“That’s right. Grapevine seems like a thin ribbon but it had the feature of unbreakable since it is a special made order to the Dwarf. No matter how powerful Fenrir is, it’s a fact that he is unable to slice it. The sword of Ívaldi is needed to erase that feature so that it could cut through it.”
After saying that, Loki showed a thumb up while laughing as if he was implying that it something awesome. Yup, it was. I understood that it was awesome.
But to think that one of the material to make that was…
“To think that it’s the ‘Heart of a dragon’.”
I suddenly said that unconsciously while letting out a sight.
Well… I should had predicted from the beginning that there was such a future where there would be a request for such an ‘extreme ingredient’. That Grapevine which was binding Fenrir right now was made from strange material.
Things like ‘the footstep of a cat’ and ‘the root of a stone’. The ribbon was made out of these ingredient that seemed impossible to gather. That was why it was obvious that a befitting ingredient was needed to made a sword that was able to cut through it.
I had no complain if one of the ingredient was heart of a dragon which belonged to the legendary aerial type.
“Well it’s true that it’s not something impossible for me. That is because I am able to transform into a dragon by chance and thanks to the power of ‘Gullveig’, I won’t die even if my heart was taken away. After considering all this condition, there is no one else that is more suitable for this.”
“Isn’t that right? That’s why there is no mistake in asking your help on this.”
“No, can you at least think from my perspective when your friend ask for your heart. By taking that into account, this is a mistake from the very beginning.”
But… let’s put the promise and such aside, I also shared the same feeling with Loki on the desire to free Fenrir. That was why I accepted Loki request unwillingly in the end.
By taking the opportunity, we also had a bit serious battle but… it was a pity that the result was the overwhelming victory for Loki. I was a fool since I thought that I had a chance to fight a bit bravely since previously he said that ‘I bear too much responsibility in dragon extermination’ and in fact he was quite good at it.
“Well… it’s something in the past now and I did agree on it too. So, Loki, since you somehow manage to obtain the heart of a dragon now, what is your next ingredient?”
“Argh…. Actually… actually Sei, the matter about the heart of a dragon…”
Hm…? What… what’s the matter? This is bad. I had a bad prediction about this without a need to finish hearing what he said…
“Sorry. Actually the heart… I am unable to obtain it.”
“What… what do you mean by that? I am sure that I was killed by Loki right?”
“Ya. I chopped off your head in a neat manner. That way I am able to retrieve your heart from your corpse but… there is nothing. There isn’t an organ in the corpse that is worthy to be known as a heart. This is something that I only know now, somehow it seem that dragon does not have a heart.”
Don’t have… a heart? Eh, that can’t be true. Is it alright for such living being to exist? I wonder how a dragon circulation system function without a heart.
No, wait for a moment, that was wrong, Sei. That was indeed mysterious but the important thing right now was not the secret of a dragon. But it was the fact that it was impossible to obtain the heart of a dragon. In another word…
“My death was in vain like how a dog dies!?”
“No, that’s wrong! You had properly transform into a dragon! So you’re not a dog!”
“This is not the time for you to said thing like that!”
How could that be… to think I was unable to fulfil the objective even though I had tried my best while risking my life…
No. I couldn’t blame Loki for this. That was because no one knew that a dragon didn’t have a heart. Moreover, I was not aware of it even though I was able to transform into a dragon.
But we were in a bind… if one of the ingredient was something that did not exist in this world, it seemed that the dream of making the sword of Ívaldi was a dream after all. This was not something I should said but I thought we should tell Ívaldi-san a piece of our mind.
“Hey, Loki, is there any chance that we were being played with?”
“… That might be true… but I don’t that it. I am unable to think that the enthusiasm from Ívaldi is for show and it’s a dreamlike situation to be able to craft a sword with the support from a God. There is no dwarf that won’t grab hold of this chance that could lead to a birth of a legend.”
“Then that means… there is a high probability that he is not lying.”
Yup~, the heart of a dragon was it… perhaps it ws not something that was obtainable from a dragon even though it was known as the heart of a dragon?
In the worst situation, I might have to go and seek advice from Nidhogg since he was a dragon that I was acquaintance with. But, he was located at the country of the deceased ‘Helheim’. Since it was far, cold and dangerous, if possible it was a place that I didn’t want to go. Let’s just put that as our last method
“For the time being, Sei, let’s go ask someone near here who is knowledgeable on dragon. If that does not bear any fruit, then we had to go to ‘Helheim’ and visit Nidhogg.”
Ah, it seemed that Loki was having the same thought as me.
“There is one person that come to mind when it comes to knowledge on dragon. Let’s go and ask that person first. …there is something that I want to say but… since it already night time now, how about we meet up at ‘Valhalla’ tomorrow morning?”
“Ah, that’s right. Then, let’s meet up when it’s time for breakfast tomorrow.”
While fluttering his hand, Loki went out of the room, I raised my front leg as a respond to that.
Okay, I couldn’t wait for tomorrow. That was because if we were able to know more about a dragon, then I might be able to figure out the mystery on the reason for my dragon transformation.
I was excited since this was a situation where I was able to kill two bird with one stone, I decided to sleep as preparation for tomorrow.
The next morning. Loki arrive at ‘Valhalla’ on time as what he declare. After we met up, we take this opportunity to have breakfast together.
“Oh, this is quite an amazing sight.”
“Eh? Which is?”
“Having breakfast together with the Einherjars. Normally, it’s rare for me to approach ‘Valhalla’ at this time. It’s unexpectedly quite magnificent even though it’s morning.”
The gentle ray from the sun shine in the morning of the ‘Valhalla Big Canteen’. Loki expressed his astonishment while looking at the numerous dishes that was lined up alongside the wall.
That’s right. The breakfast for the Einherjars was normally in the buffet style. It was fine whether they wanted to eat on the spot or place it on a plate and eat it on the table. If I had to mention it, there was only one rule here which was the winner was the quickest.
“Since the dish that was made from my meat or Ikusu meat dish last night will disappear from the magic pot, Eldhrimnir, when the moon set. Mostly the meat that was used for breakfast are the meats from the livestock that was bought from Aegir-sama. If I had to say it, the number are quite limited. This is a system where those who wake up early is able to dine on their favourite meat dish.”
“I see, isn’t that great? That method is healthy and the meat is most probably chicken or beef right? I’m not saying that pork or venison is bad but it nice to have the common meat some time. But the dish that I ate during the cooking match last time… both of them are quite amazing.”
Loki wiped off his drool while showing a triumphant look unconsciously as if he remembered the taste of the dish that time.
“Hehe. Even though you said both of the dishes are delicious, in the end I won with my dish right?”
“That’s right but there was just a slight difference only okay? Moreover… I would prefer to eat the Ikusu meat instead. The female Ikusu instead of the male you. If you think about it logically, hehehe!”
“What is with that rude remark! Isn’t that just being sexist!”
“But you are able to understand the feeling properly right?
“Yes.”
Ah, I done it, I answered immediately without having a second thought. Well, what done was done, since it was the truth after all. Instead of drinking the mead from the jug, it would be better to drink it directly from the brea… ahem, I mean using ‘Odin style’. This was the same as that.
“Oh~, what’s the matter? Oshishou-sama, do you perhaps intent to eat Ikusu?”
“Ya. Especially when you are in your human form just like now, it’s not the normal eat… huh Ikusu!? Why… why are you here!?”
“Why, I normally come here to have my breakfast…”
I was surprise that Ikusu answered with a puzzle face while looking at me who was being exaggeratedly surprised. Is that so, you came here for your breakfast. It was a given since this was the time for that.
“Yo, Sei’s first disciple. I think this is the first time we are having a conversation like this. If I am not mistaken your full name is… Eikpyrnir. Is that right?”
That’s right. It was exactly as what Loki said, I had a disciple. The baby deer, Eik… argh, to think that Loki was able to remember such a difficult name.
Putting that aside, her nickname Ikusu was a praiseworthy disciple of mine who was willing to be my replacement for the dinner once I requested her.
Well there was a lot of problem until it became like that but… what past is past, the most important thing was the experience gained from that.
“Eh… um…that… yes… that right…”
After Loki spoke out to her, the enthusiastic of her disappear and she was slurring on her word while hiding behind of me.
I thought for a moment on the reason but I had forgotten the fact that she was an extreme shy girl. Since she was a deer that watered all the plants in the big farm alone without depending on anyone. I had forgotten about it since she was so cheerful but to her it was quite nervous when standing in front of another person like this.
She started to open her heart a little with the kitchen staff since she showed up quite often in the ‘Valhalla Kitchen’ after she became my disciple but… it seemed that she was quite nervous when talking to a person that she met for the first time.
“Ikusu, he is Loki. He is one of the judge during the cooking match last time, even though he is like this, he’s the number 2 in the God Realm. Of course, you are aware of this right?”
“Even though you said that, you don’t even notice me until Gerhilde informed you right?”
“Well, that is because Loki transformed into a hawk!? Can you not said thing that would cause people to misunderstand!?”
Weren’t you being rude since you said it in a manner as if I didn’t know anything? Moreover, we were in front of my disciple so I wished that you would choose your word more carefully.
Then, after listening to our frank argument, Ikusu began to reveal her face slowly from my back. Well, even if you hid behind of me when I was in my boar form, you wouldn’t be able to hide anything from the beginning…
“Loki-sama, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your judgement on me.”
“Oh. Well, even though it ended up like that, you were truly delicious. You were so delicious that I started to drool unconsciously.”
“It… it’s an honour. That… if you are fine with it, I hope you can taste it this time also…”
“Oh, I would love to do that. I regret a bit since it would be nice if I had savor you properly. I will rely on you to me its spicy when I taste it next time.”
“I… I understand! Actually there were various spices growing in my farm, that’s why I am sure the dish will be suitable for you next time!”
Yup, I wondered what was going on with this conversation. The statement should be something straight forward but if you thought about it properly, I feared that the content was quite disturbing…. This was already the destiny for a food ingredient.
After this and that, that strange interaction managed to break the ice between Loki and Ikusu immediately. With this I was able to be at ease with my position as a partner and as a Shishou.
Around the moment when the early bird Einherjars left, the second wave of Einherjars started to enter the canteen in a continuous manner.
I didn’t want to be involved in the genuine congestion. After we said our goodbye to Ikusu, we began to walk over to our destination— which was a certain room at the main building of ‘Valhalla’.
“Oh, aren’t you Sei-dono. It seems that you are together with Loki-sama today, may I ask what do you need from this old man?”
The room that we had arrived. It was the room of the strongest Einherjars, the legendary black swordsman, Witige-san.
Rumour had it that the match between him and the great hero, the dragon slayer, ‘Sigurd’ ended up as a tie. I was pretty sure he had a bit knowledge when it came to dragon.
“I’m sorry for coming this early in the morning, Witige-san. Actually we have a question about dragon… would you spare us some of your time before your practice begin?”
“Ho ho, dragon is it. Okay, I glad to answer it if it is something that I am aware of.”
“Then let just go to the point, Grandpa, it’s about Sigurd subjugation of Fafnir, did he told you how he killed Fafnir?”
Loki ask him without beating around the bush. As a response to that, Witige-san slowly swing his head and answered.
“Loki-sama, it’s a pity but… he didn’t. It’s true that I had a match with Sigurd but I only know about his legend after that… and he didn’t told me anything either.”
“I see. Then, how about him? Since your father had a pretty close relationship with Fafnir.”
“Hm… it’s true that when my father, Wayland was young, he become the disciple of the blacksmith, ‘Regin’ who was the younger brother of the dragon form dwarf, Fafnir… and it seems that Wayland can’t stop his quarrel with Regin son-in-law, Sigurd. As a result, he quit within three year. Since it was something that happened before the birth of the legend of the dragon slayer, as expected the detail info…”
Sigh, is that so. It was true that Witige-san was close to Sigurd and Fafnir but it seemed that he had no knowledge on the legend of the dragon slayer.
“Sigh. It seems that I was unable to be of help… I am sorry.”
“No, don’t said that, there is no need for Witige-san to apologize at all. In fact, we would like to thank you for sparing us some of your time.”
I gave my thanks in a polite manner and bow down. Loki was being Loki as he scratch his head as if he was showing his disappointment.
Then… since it ended up like this, it seemed that we had no other choice. I looked toward Loki while having that thought, after our eyes met, Loki let out a big sigh and said.
“Seem like there is no other way. Then, let’s hurry up and head toward ‘Vanaheim’. Do you want to come together, Sei? As a companion on the trip.”
“Of course, that is my intention from the start. …Ah, but before that, can we go to the canteen for a short while?”
“The canteen? Didn’t we just had our breakfast just now? Don’t tell me that you have Alzheimer now?”
“No, I don’t have Alzheimer at all! Can you not something this rude toward a young boar while holding me!? …The truth is I wanted to go to the kitchen instead of the canteen. Since it’s possible that we won’t be coming back for a while after we went to ‘Vanaheim’, so I want to have a talk with the Chef Head to confirm on the jerky in the storage.”
“Ah, I see, the so called preserved food. Else, your disciple can’t be made into a meal.”
As expected of Loki, it seemed that he understand it quite well. That was not it, well since the person who found out that my ‘Gullveig’ was able to transfer to other was none other than Loki.
“Since that is the case, let’s head to the kitchen first.”
We headed toward the kitchen after I dragged Loki who gave a small nod toward my plan. The Chef Head was precisely taking a break after he finish cleaning up the breakfast in the kitchen.
“Chef Head~!”
“Oh? So, it’s just Sei-kun. Ah, good morning to you too, Loki-sama.”
After the Chef Head saw us, he stood up from his chair and greeted us. But Loki immediately urged him to sit down with his hand gesture. Unexpectedly, Loki seemed like a well-manner person at these time. He even gave his thanks properly to the human who bought a drink to him.
“Chef Head. How is the stock of my jerky?”
“Hmm? I’m pretty sure there are still some left but… if we include the one in the confetti, there is more than enough. Why do you ask that?”
“Actually I will be going to ‘Vanaheim’ together with Loki now. It’s not like this will be a day trip but it might take a long time so I just want to confirm the stock.”
“Hee, that is quite a good worry from you. I am delighted.”
While saying that, the Chef Head showed a carefree smile and patted my head. But at that moment, the chef Head immediately withdraw his hand as if he thought of something.
“I’m sorry, Sei-kun, it seems like I patted you as if I looking down on you. Since I had lost to you in a cooking match.”
He said that while averting his gaze, and the smile of the Chef Head unexpectedly change to a smile to laugh at himself. Ah, please hold it for a moment, was the Chef Head being disturbed by that?
“Chef Head, you did not lose at all! I only manged to do that since I am able to transform into the world most delicious chicken, ‘Gullinkambi’ with the help of everyone.”
“No. That’s not the reason for you victory right? You must never forget that you had put in the ingredient which is ‘love’ in your dish. Moreover, Sei-kun… it a pity but in the culinary world, the result is the most important.”
“The result…? No, I never thought like that. Culinary is… the ‘smile’ is the most important.”
“Smile…?”
The Chef Head opened his eye wide after hearing that. I continued with my sentence.
“Even though I made the judges cry with my dish in the end. Even if that is the tear of joy, there was no smile at all. But when Odin-sama and Loki taste your dish, they were surprised at first and reveal a smile. That was the greatest smile. I think that that is… the genuine dish.”
“A meal that… let the one who eat it smile…”
“That’s right. That why when I taste my mother meal that I thought is the number one in the world— I always show a smile.”
Loki who served as a judge in that cooking match nodded his head to agree on my assertion.
That right — it was true that I might had won the ‘match’. But if we were talking about the ‘meal’ only, the victory belong to the Chef Head.
“… Thank you, Sei-kun. Just by hearing you said that, I can be at ease. But…”
In that moment — the expression of the Chef Head become clouded.
“I wish I was… able to hear you said that earlier. If I was able to hear you said that earlier… I might have a different future.”
The next moment when I was thinking about that, the Chef Head stood up from his chair forcefully and took out a small vial from the pocket of his apron. He put it on top of the counter as if he wanted to smash it.
“Chef… Chef Head. This is…?”
I jumped up toward the counter, and checked the content of the vial. Based on the appearance, the content was a pure white powder. But I was not sure on the true identity of that powder.
“Sei-kun, don’t you think that sometime… after the turning point which is the cooking match, my meal taste a bit different?”
The Chef Head talked in a calm manner to confirm each and every single word. While slowly getting a feeling of something ominous, I chose my word carefully to answer him.
“Yes… that… right… once you put it like that it’s a bit strange… it became mild right?”
The moment when I answered that, the Chef Head hang his head slightly and smirked.
It was as if he was saying as expected through his joyful expression. Putting that aside, but there was an ominous shadow in his expression. I had no idea why was the Chef Head making such an expression.
“…That’s correct. That’s right. My new dish that had become a bit mild… is not only for the Einherjars, but it made to serve more people. After the cooking match, the God Tribe had become interested in ‘food’. Of course, Odin-sama is included among them.”
As if he was repeating his word, the expression of the Chef Head gradually become dangerous. Chef Head… what were you trying to say? I was unable to stop this throbbing of mine.
“Ah, that’s right. The reason for my dish becoming mild is… the reason is this white powder. Hey, Sei-kun. What do you think… this powder is?”
“What… I… I don’t know, isn’t it just some sort of a secret ingredient only?”
The Chef gave me a daring laughter toward my reply. That smile was not an affirmation nor a denial.
“Actually I… I was chosen by Freya-sama when I was young and begin starting to work for a long time in the ‘Valhalla Kitchen’. Due to that long months and year, the God started to put their trust on me. Thanks to that, everyone is willing to eat my meal without any doubt. For a month they had my new dish that contain this ‘secret powder’. This powder… without knowing that this powder is a strong addictive!!”
“!! Poison… is it!?”
For a month—after he lost to my in the match, the Chef Head mixed in a strong addictive substance in the meal he prepared!
His unexpected word thrust deep into my chest. Loki forehead began to excrete large cold drop as if he approached the counter while covering his mouth.
“Ha ha ha! To me this is some sort of a dangerous poison, if it was possible I don’t want to use it! Even though there was a choice for me to not use this! But… he he, it’s all your fault, Sei-kun, since you were able to overtake me that easily…!”
“An…And… I misjudged you! To think that you had the guts to poison all of us as your revenge since you lost to Sei in the cooking match!”
The moment when that conclusion was decided, Loki grabbed the Chef Head by his collar. But… as if the Chef Head had predicted that, he immediately put his hand into the pocket at the chest, he took out a similar vial as the one in the counter and scatter it toward Loki face.”
“Here you go! You should have a proper taste of it too! Since you will become happy!”
“!? Damn you… cough… cough!”
“Loki!?”
“Hold it, you too Sei-kun! I want to hear your opinion too!”
The Chef Head also scattered the powder toward me without holding back! Damn, this was bad! I inhaled some of it due to my carelessness!
The white power which was a strong addictive was eating me up from my inside. This special smell that coiled around my nasal cavity and the taste that remained on my tongue… …lick… this was yogurt!!
“Do you understand now? Sei-kun. That powder is… a product that was made from Heizu mead in powder form. There was no harm to your health so please be at ease.”
That must be a joke, there was no harm to my health!? Then I really had no choice but to be at ease!
…huh? Eh… that meant…?
“Um… in another word this is the milk power of the mead… right? It’s true that it is somehow a strong addictive but… why are you using that?”
After I inquired him in that manner, the Chef Head sat down on the chair slowly and answered me.
“I understand it in the previous cooking match that my dish lacks ‘love’. Since Odin-sama had mutter the word love by himself. That’s why in order for me to understand more about this love, I accepted the love from Heizu that she keeps pressuring me….”
“Accepted the love… don’t tell me you had become one!?”
“I did not do that! I swear to the God! But I did promise her on that in the future. When I discuss with her about using an extract from the love in my meal, she suggested an idea of using the mead powder. But she pressured me on the condition of using that as an experiment is to marry her, I was unable to reject her… so to me i’st a powerful poison even though I am aware that it was a seduction from a demon. Damn… if you had encouraged me earlier I wouldn’t made such a hasty decision like this, ah!”
The Chef Head covered his face with his left hand, there was a sparked from the expensive engagement ring on the ring finger.
I see…. It was not like the Chef Head was planning to do anything bad like a revenge since he lost to me. It was just that… the Chef Head had went toward the direction that was out of his expectation in order to made a better meal since he had lost to me in the cooking match.
“I don’t see any harm to it. You can at least wait until she become an adult right?”
“No matter how long I wait, the gap in our age still remain! I bet the public will say thing like ‘Hey, perverted Chef Head, are you going to enjoy an all you can drink full course tonight as well?’, ‘As expected of the lolicon chef head, he is quite skilled in handling his knife at night.’ Or ‘Hey, the live scum of the society Chef Head, when are you going to create a new menu?’ !!”
Ouch, it seemed this was getting worst. What an amazing persecution complex he had. Well… it was quite scary since it had become a reality now…
“Hey, Sei-kun, is there a method for me to cancel our engagement now? Let’s think together on the method that will not hurt Heizu and at the same time, a method where I won’t get killed either! Ah, that’s right! Loki-sama, you are quite skilled in quite these type of stuff right! Please lend me…”
At that time, the words of help from Chef Head that seemed like it would continue forever suddenly came to a halt. I looked toward the Chef Head since it seemed something had happened, the thing that he was looking at —-
“What are you talking secretively… darling.”
Heizu who was filled with love, anger and sadness could be found there. Yup, if I had to put it… the dark aura from her wasseriously bad.
“Darling… do you dislike marrying with Heizu?”
“No, that’s not it! It’s not like I dislike it but? Heizu is quite cute and there is a lot of people misunderstood this due to inadequate explanation but you are quite smart too. You are such a fantastic female that will be a waste on someone like me!”
“A waste? Then, it’s the perfect for Darling. You always said this right? You had to paid attention to expiry date since I won’t forgive the act of wasting.”
Ah… I also realized that he always said that. Treat all food ingredient with the utmost respect, those were the words that the Chef Head was quite familiar with.
“Hey Darling. You won’t treat Heizu feeling poorly right? Hey… can you bring out your ring.”
“Ring? Like this?”
While saying that, the Chef Head hold out his ring finger with the engagement ring on it. Then, Heizu line up her ring together with the ring finger, and whispered in a sweet manner with the upturned eye.
“Let’s get married?”
“I’m fine with it!”
You were fine with that!
“Ah, no, that… argh, Sei-kun and Loki-sama, what should I do!
“As if I know! For god’s sake, I thought that was something bad for a moment but to think that it was just an act. It seemed like And trouble is not so big, how about we take our leave now?”
“That’s right.”
We walked out while sighing and shrugging our shoulder. Chef Head, may you be burst open with your everlastingly happiness.
“Okay~, then where should we use our rune?”
After we went out of the kitchen, Loki started to think of a place where he could chant the rune magic.
The rune of ‘rad’ that Loki was planning to use now was a rune for teleporting, so it was not like it was an offensive type of magic. It was a magic that can be chanted as long as the place was wide enough but… unfortunately at this time, there was a lot of pedestrian traffic in ‘Valhalla’, so it wouldn’t be easy to use it.”
“The Einherjars are quite restless since it close to the starting time for the practice. What should we do, it will be a big trouble if they were teleport to ‘Helheim’ together with us…”
“If that really happens, it won’t end as a big trouble alone. As expected, even though it’s quite troublesome, it seems we have no choice but to step out of ‘Valhalla’.”
While cracking his head, Loki walked toward the entrance off the main entrance. I began to dash in order to catch up with him but, somehow even the entrance was full of Einherjars.
Woah, that couldn’t be help. That was because there was a totally of two hundred thousand of them. This was really a bad timing for us.
“Tch, it seems pointless no matter where we go on the ground. Let’s jump, Sei. Let’s jump up to the building.”
At the same moment when Loki said that, he carried me under his arm and jumped toward the top of the palace by leaping on the ground and the wall. With a thud and his waving mantle, a super hero had arrive on top of the roof. It was so cool, I hoped that I could do such an exaggerating action one day.
“This is my first time on top of the roof but it seems that the roof is really made by putting several large shield together. I wonder how many shield was used for this.”
“Hmm? I never bother with that stuff at all. Putting that aside, Sei look there, the view is quite nice. We are able to see ‘Vingólf’ from this spot.”
After following the sight from Loki who was smirking, it was true that we were able to see the Goddess dorm, ‘Vingólf’. Even though my room is at the top floor, it seem that the view is quite different at the roof.
“Hey Sei, if I were to change into a hawk or an eagle now, doesn’t that mean that I will be able to see everything inside ‘Vingólf’?”
“!! That is true… they did said that an eagle or a hawk possess quite a sharp eyesight! What should we do!? Should we try it!?”
“Okay, let’s try it out! On the count of three? One, two, three, ‘mannaz’.”
“Sei-san, Loki-sama. What are you guy doing here at this spot?”
““Argh!?””
A voice suddenly came out from the back of us. Both of us gave out the shout of surprise together and looked behind. What we saw there was Brynhildr-sama which was descending on the roof while knitting her eyebrow suspiciously.
“Um… Brynhildr-sama! That…. that’s not it, we are definitely not planning to do any bad at all!”
“You fool, in fact didn’t you just go and reveal all of it! Hey, Brynhildr, we are not like that, we are just planning to go to ‘Helheim’.”
“‘Helheim’ is it? If that is the case, aren’t you suppose to use the rune of ‘rad’ instead of the rune of ‘mannaz’?”
She was clearly attacking us with the sharp gaze and voice of her. This was seriously bad, what should we do to escape from this situation.
“… hey Sei-san. It doesn’t seem like you are planning to do anything bad but… if that is true then you should be able to answer me honestly right?”
“Um… of course. To be honest, that… we really did plan something like that.”
“I am happy that you answer me honestly. So, what exactly are you planning?
“Ah, no, I sorry but I am unable to explain with one word…”
“Huh?”
This… this was bad, this had totally become something suspicious already. Even if Brynhildr-sama was an owner of a pure heart, she had probably started to realize my gentleman mask.
“Hey, Brynhildr-sama, you shouldn’t jump to conclusion that fast. We thought that if we were able to transform into Sleipnir then we will be able to run to ‘Helheim’. We can exercise at the same time also.”
“No, that is not something normal. It’s not like you are Sei-san who was able to transform into Fenrir.”
“That’s why if I cooperate with Sei, then we might be able to do that right?”
“That… that is true! Please excuse me for my rudeness, Loki-sama, that is not something that I am able to think of.”
Woah… wasn’t Brynhildr-sama too… pure? I wondered how we managed to get out of this with such a poor excuse. At this moment, this was convenient for us but I was more worry about your future instead…
“From the start, why do you want to go to ‘Helheim’? Since that is not a place for a living being to freely going in and out right?”
“Ah, that is because—”
I immediately explained our current situation to Brynhildr-sama after changing the topic the moment she was convinced with our answer. Since Brynhildr-sama had already awared of the plan to release Fenrir, so there was no problem for me by doing this.
After hearing that, something unthinkable came out from Brynhildr-sama.
“The heart of a dragon… heart… of a dragon…. Ah! If that is the case, I had a clue on that!”
“Eh, is the true!?”
Loki and I exchanged looks without even thinking. Brynhildr-sama used her index finger to touch her forehead, and began to speak of her past memory.
“That is something that happen three hundred and sixty… no two hundred years ago. It was around the time when I was still trapped in the flame building of ‘Hindarfjall’, the human hero, Sigurd who arrived there was proudly proclaim this. ‘I beheaded the greedy evil dragon and burn its heart to kill it.’—”
“Burn the heart…? In another word, a dragon really do possess a heart after all!”
Loki grabbed his fist while saying that in a excited manner. I see, we had forgotten about it but we still had a choice to hear it directly from Sigurd himself. As expected of Brynhildr-sama.
“Thanks for the information Brynhildr-sama. Then, where is Sigurd now? It’s not like he is still alive and he is not one of the Einherjars also… I guess we really do need to go to ‘Helheim’?”
“Yes. A few year after he depart from the flame building, he was involve with a conspiracy and got himself assassinated…”
“…assassinated…”
To think that the end for the great hero of the dragon slayer was being assassinated…
Since he did not die honourably, he was unable to be invited to ‘Valhalla’ as an Einherjar, so he was the strongest heroic spirit that fallen into ‘Helheim’ as a deceased. I wondered what was his current feeling when he was serving in the darkness of hell.
If we were able to meet up with him, then he would be able to answer our various question. Only he knew about it including the thing that Brynhildr-sama heard in the past.
Then, at that moment. As if some feeling swelled up to her, Brynhildr-sama said this with a firm decision.
“Um… Loki-sama. If you are planning on going to ‘Helheim’ then can you bring me along with you?”
“Hmm? I don’t mind but… don’t you need to do your mission?”
“That is true but I only need to search for Helmwige who hidden somewhere since she is going to skip out on her mission again today. Since that is the case, since it had been a while I would like to him also… Sigurd that is.”
Brynhildr-sama immediately looked back toward Loki eyes and said those word sincerely.
I wondered what she was going to tell Sigurd after she met him. What kind of existence was Sigurd for her and hers for Sigurd.
I wondered why… I somehow felt a pain in my chest when I thought about that. This pain was… was it because I was jealous?
(…Don’t be a fool. After getting help from various people, I finally became somehow of a hero boar right? As a hero, I don’t have the time to be jealous over Brynhildr-sama affair.)
That right. It was impossible for me to said this out. Before you thought who about that, you should face the reality first, Saehrimnir. Since she did not belong to me and I did not belong to her —
I swayed my head lightly to shake off the feeling of defeat that swelled up from my heart. At the same time, I saw a certain illusion.
“?”
A black sediment slowly seep out from my body and it headed toward Brynhildr-sama. That black sediment stop the moment when I switched my feeling.
“What… was that… just now?”
“? What’s the matter? Sei-san.”
“Nothing…”
Brynhildr-sama called out to me after she notice that I was blinking repeatedly. I waved my front leg to make an appeal as if nothing happened in order to ease her worry.
“Okay. [[I worship you the skull of Ymir; Kiss his body. I will now dig up this constant and unchangeable majestic Omniscience. I revere the fleeting shifts and changes of the world, and I will indicate the patter of the unknown, the transition, circulation and stagnation! The fifth rune of Futhark, Rad! ]]”
The rune magic was successfully activated after Loki chant it. After we were surrounded by the light of rad that extend up to the sky, we headed to our destination. To ‘Helheim’… the land of dusk that was govern by death, darkness and ice.
“Look here! Loki, look at this! I had properly written down in my diary, on the matter that happen just now!”
“Ah~ I understand I understand. I also had a vague memory of it, the legend of your tenacity.”
We were at my room after we came back from the decisive battle at the plain of ‘Vígríðr’. I thrust my diary toward the fed up Loki to show him the content.
The content was this ‘As a response to the unreasonable request from the wicked god, Loki, the brown boar, Saehrimnir was killed by the person that he thought was his friend.’
You don’t understand what it mean? What a coincidence, I also have no idea. Then why don’t we try to investigate further by taking the account of the explanation from Loki.
“I understand it properly okay? I’m properly understand that you are discontent on this. Beside didn’t you said that you will participate in my ‘Plan to free Fenrir’? You did said that right? Because of the word you said that time, I start to depend on you.”
“Yes, I said that, I am confident that I said that. I will not make any excuse on that since that is the truth. But… it is out of my expectation that the method of helping is a story that start from ‘I’m sorry, but can you die once again?’!”
“That… that’s why I am apologizing numerous time to you like this.”
“That’s not the problem! You better don’t forget that life is something that last for one time only!”
Breathe in… breathe out…. I could finally be at ease now since I had said all the thing that I wanted to said. For god’s sake, Loki always said these outrageous stuffs, no matter how many time it was…
— The cause for all this happened around one hour ago. Let turn back the time to the moment before the sun set.
“I had a small request for you since it’s finally time for us to proceed to free Fenrir.”
My partner, Loki, whom I didn’t heard for one month ever since he began his aimless trip. To think that this was the first thing that I heard from him immediately after he returned to the God Realm ‘Asgard’ from his journey.
For your information, there was a certain battle in ‘Valhalla’ that happened exactly one month ago from today.
That was the serious match between me and my master which was the Chef Head. It was not like we were fighting physical, okay? We had a cooking battle while betting on our value and pride.
The conclusion of that match with the unprecedented match ended as a victory for me but… I was a little worry since I didn’t notice Loki who served as a judge that time suddenly went missing.
For your information, Fenrir was a powerful magic wolf that was feared by all of the God. According to the prophecy from the God of prophecy, Mimir, he would have his revenge on the world, so he was currently isolated at the end of the world while his body was binded by the magic ribbon, Grapevine.
But… due to a certain reason, I went and meet him personally, he didn’t seem like an evil wolf at all to me.
Moreover, since he was the son of Loki, I had promise to help with the plan to free him secretly. Since I had said that myself, I expected to follow it since I was a boar that kept its promise. After all, I was a gentleman.
I didn’t expect that I had to die as the first step for that plan…
“There is no choice. Since this is something necessary in order to obtain the ‘Sword of Ívaldi’.”
“That… is that the sword that is able to cut through Grapevine?”
“That’s right. Grapevine seems like a thin ribbon but it had the feature of unbreakable since it is a special made order to the Dwarf. No matter how powerful Fenrir is, it’s a fact that he is unable to slice it. The sword of Ívaldi is needed to erase that feature so that it could cut through it.”
After saying that, Loki showed a thumb up while laughing as if he was implying that it something awesome. Yup, it was. I understood that it was awesome.
But to think that one of the material to make that was…
“To think that it’s the ‘Heart of a dragon’.”
I suddenly said that unconsciously while letting out a sight.
Well… I should had predicted from the beginning that there was such a future where there would be a request for such an ‘extreme ingredient’. That Grapevine which was binding Fenrir right now was made from strange material.
Things like ‘the footstep of a cat’ and ‘the root of a stone’. The ribbon was made out of these ingredient that seemed impossible to gather. That was why it was obvious that a befitting ingredient was needed to made a sword that was able to cut through it.
I had no complain if one of the ingredient was heart of a dragon which belonged to the legendary aerial type.
“Well it’s true that it’s not something impossible for me. That is because I am able to transform into a dragon by chance and thanks to the power of ‘Gullveig’, I won’t die even if my heart was taken away. After considering all this condition, there is no one else that is more suitable for this.”
“Isn’t that right? That’s why there is no mistake in asking your help on this.”
“No, can you at least think from my perspective when your friend ask for your heart. By taking that into account, this is a mistake from the very beginning.”
But… let’s put the promise and such aside, I also shared the same feeling with Loki on the desire to free Fenrir. That was why I accepted Loki request unwillingly in the end.
By taking the opportunity, we also had a bit serious battle but… it was a pity that the result was the overwhelming victory for Loki. I was a fool since I thought that I had a chance to fight a bit bravely since previously he said that ‘I bear too much responsibility in dragon extermination’ and in fact he was quite good at it.
“Well… it’s something in the past now and I did agree on it too. So, Loki, since you somehow manage to obtain the heart of a dragon now, what is your next ingredient?”
“Argh…. Actually… actually Sei, the matter about the heart of a dragon…”
Hm…? What… what’s the matter? This is bad. I had a bad prediction about this without a need to finish hearing what he said…
“Sorry. Actually the heart… I am unable to obtain it.”
“What… what do you mean by that? I am sure that I was killed by Loki right?”
“Ya. I chopped off your head in a neat manner. That way I am able to retrieve your heart from your corpse but… there is nothing. There isn’t an organ in the corpse that is worthy to be known as a heart. This is something that I only know now, somehow it seem that dragon does not have a heart.”
Don’t have… a heart? Eh, that can’t be true. Is it alright for such living being to exist? I wonder how a dragon circulation system function without a heart.
No, wait for a moment, that was wrong, Sei. That was indeed mysterious but the important thing right now was not the secret of a dragon. But it was the fact that it was impossible to obtain the heart of a dragon. In another word…
“My death was in vain like how a dog dies!?”
“No, that’s wrong! You had properly transform into a dragon! So you’re not a dog!”
“This is not the time for you to said thing like that!”
How could that be… to think I was unable to fulfil the objective even though I had tried my best while risking my life…
No. I couldn’t blame Loki for this. That was because no one knew that a dragon didn’t have a heart. Moreover, I was not aware of it even though I was able to transform into a dragon.
But we were in a bind… if one of the ingredient was something that did not exist in this world, it seemed that the dream of making the sword of Ívaldi was a dream after all. This was not something I should said but I thought we should tell Ívaldi-san a piece of our mind.
“Hey, Loki, is there any chance that we were being played with?”
“… That might be true… but I don’t that it. I am unable to think that the enthusiasm from Ívaldi is for show and it’s a dreamlike situation to be able to craft a sword with the support from a God. There is no dwarf that won’t grab hold of this chance that could lead to a birth of a legend.”
“Then that means… there is a high probability that he is not lying.”
Yup~, the heart of a dragon was it… perhaps it ws not something that was obtainable from a dragon even though it was known as the heart of a dragon?
In the worst situation, I might have to go and seek advice from Nidhogg since he was a dragon that I was acquaintance with. But, he was located at the country of the deceased ‘Helheim’. Since it was far, cold and dangerous, if possible it was a place that I didn’t want to go. Let’s just put that as our last method
“For the time being, Sei, let’s go ask someone near here who is knowledgeable on dragon. If that does not bear any fruit, then we had to go to ‘Helheim’ and visit Nidhogg.”
Ah, it seemed that Loki was having the same thought as me.
“There is one person that come to mind when it comes to knowledge on dragon. Let’s go and ask that person first. …there is something that I want to say but… since it already night time now, how about we meet up at ‘Valhalla’ tomorrow morning?”
“Ah, that’s right. Then, let’s meet up when it’s time for breakfast tomorrow.”
While fluttering his hand, Loki went out of the room, I raised my front leg as a respond to that.
Okay, I couldn’t wait for tomorrow. That was because if we were able to know more about a dragon, then I might be able to figure out the mystery on the reason for my dragon transformation.
I was excited since this was a situation where I was able to kill two bird with one stone, I decided to sleep as preparation for tomorrow.
The next morning. Loki arrive at ‘Valhalla’ on time as what he declare. After we met up, we take this opportunity to have breakfast together.
“Oh, this is quite an amazing sight.”
“Eh? Which is?”
“Having breakfast together with the Einherjars. Normally, it’s rare for me to approach ‘Valhalla’ at this time. It’s unexpectedly quite magnificent even though it’s morning.”
The gentle ray from the sun shine in the morning of the ‘Valhalla Big Canteen’. Loki expressed his astonishment while looking at the numerous dishes that was lined up alongside the wall.
That’s right. The breakfast for the Einherjars was normally in the buffet style. It was fine whether they wanted to eat on the spot or place it on a plate and eat it on the table. If I had to mention it, there was only one rule here which was the winner was the quickest.
“Since the dish that was made from my meat or Ikusu meat dish last night will disappear from the magic pot, Eldhrimnir, when the moon set. Mostly the meat that was used for breakfast are the meats from the livestock that was bought from Aegir-sama. If I had to say it, the number are quite limited. This is a system where those who wake up early is able to dine on their favourite meat dish.”
“I see, isn’t that great? That method is healthy and the meat is most probably chicken or beef right? I’m not saying that pork or venison is bad but it nice to have the common meat some time. But the dish that I ate during the cooking match last time… both of them are quite amazing.”
Loki wiped off his drool while showing a triumphant look unconsciously as if he remembered the taste of the dish that time.
“Hehe. Even though you said both of the dishes are delicious, in the end I won with my dish right?”
“That’s right but there was just a slight difference only okay? Moreover… I would prefer to eat the Ikusu meat instead. The female Ikusu instead of the male you. If you think about it logically, hehehe!”
“What is with that rude remark! Isn’t that just being sexist!”
“But you are able to understand the feeling properly right?
“Yes.”
Ah, I done it, I answered immediately without having a second thought. Well, what done was done, since it was the truth after all. Instead of drinking the mead from the jug, it would be better to drink it directly from the brea… ahem, I mean using ‘Odin style’. This was the same as that.
“Oh~, what’s the matter? Oshishou-sama, do you perhaps intent to eat Ikusu?”
“Ya. Especially when you are in your human form just like now, it’s not the normal eat… huh Ikusu!? Why… why are you here!?”
“Why, I normally come here to have my breakfast…”
I was surprise that Ikusu answered with a puzzle face while looking at me who was being exaggeratedly surprised. Is that so, you came here for your breakfast. It was a given since this was the time for that.
“Yo, Sei’s first disciple. I think this is the first time we are having a conversation like this. If I am not mistaken your full name is… Eikpyrnir. Is that right?”
That’s right. It was exactly as what Loki said, I had a disciple. The baby deer, Eik… argh, to think that Loki was able to remember such a difficult name.
Putting that aside, her nickname Ikusu was a praiseworthy disciple of mine who was willing to be my replacement for the dinner once I requested her.
Well there was a lot of problem until it became like that but… what past is past, the most important thing was the experience gained from that.
“Eh… um…that… yes… that right…”
After Loki spoke out to her, the enthusiastic of her disappear and she was slurring on her word while hiding behind of me.
I thought for a moment on the reason but I had forgotten the fact that she was an extreme shy girl. Since she was a deer that watered all the plants in the big farm alone without depending on anyone. I had forgotten about it since she was so cheerful but to her it was quite nervous when standing in front of another person like this.
She started to open her heart a little with the kitchen staff since she showed up quite often in the ‘Valhalla Kitchen’ after she became my disciple but… it seemed that she was quite nervous when talking to a person that she met for the first time.
“Ikusu, he is Loki. He is one of the judge during the cooking match last time, even though he is like this, he’s the number 2 in the God Realm. Of course, you are aware of this right?”
“Even though you said that, you don’t even notice me until Gerhilde informed you right?”
“Well, that is because Loki transformed into a hawk!? Can you not said thing that would cause people to misunderstand!?”
Weren’t you being rude since you said it in a manner as if I didn’t know anything? Moreover, we were in front of my disciple so I wished that you would choose your word more carefully.
Then, after listening to our frank argument, Ikusu began to reveal her face slowly from my back. Well, even if you hid behind of me when I was in my boar form, you wouldn’t be able to hide anything from the beginning…
“Loki-sama, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your judgement on me.”
“Oh. Well, even though it ended up like that, you were truly delicious. You were so delicious that I started to drool unconsciously.”
“It… it’s an honour. That… if you are fine with it, I hope you can taste it this time also…”
“Oh, I would love to do that. I regret a bit since it would be nice if I had savor you properly. I will rely on you to me its spicy when I taste it next time.”
“I… I understand! Actually there were various spices growing in my farm, that’s why I am sure the dish will be suitable for you next time!”
Yup, I wondered what was going on with this conversation. The statement should be something straight forward but if you thought about it properly, I feared that the content was quite disturbing…. This was already the destiny for a food ingredient.
After this and that, that strange interaction managed to break the ice between Loki and Ikusu immediately. With this I was able to be at ease with my position as a partner and as a Shishou.
Around the moment when the early bird Einherjars left, the second wave of Einherjars started to enter the canteen in a continuous manner.
I didn’t want to be involved in the genuine congestion. After we said our goodbye to Ikusu, we began to walk over to our destination— which was a certain room at the main building of ‘Valhalla’.
“Oh, aren’t you Sei-dono. It seems that you are together with Loki-sama today, may I ask what do you need from this old man?”
The room that we had arrived. It was the room of the strongest Einherjars, the legendary black swordsman, Witige-san.
Rumour had it that the match between him and the great hero, the dragon slayer, ‘Sigurd’ ended up as a tie. I was pretty sure he had a bit knowledge when it came to dragon.
“I’m sorry for coming this early in the morning, Witige-san. Actually we have a question about dragon… would you spare us some of your time before your practice begin?”
“Ho ho, dragon is it. Okay, I glad to answer it if it is something that I am aware of.”
“Then let just go to the point, Grandpa, it’s about Sigurd subjugation of Fafnir, did he told you how he killed Fafnir?”
Loki ask him without beating around the bush. As a response to that, Witige-san slowly swing his head and answered.
“Loki-sama, it’s a pity but… he didn’t. It’s true that I had a match with Sigurd but I only know about his legend after that… and he didn’t told me anything either.”
“I see. Then, how about him? Since your father had a pretty close relationship with Fafnir.”
“Hm… it’s true that when my father, Wayland was young, he become the disciple of the blacksmith, ‘Regin’ who was the younger brother of the dragon form dwarf, Fafnir… and it seems that Wayland can’t stop his quarrel with Regin son-in-law, Sigurd. As a result, he quit within three year. Since it was something that happened before the birth of the legend of the dragon slayer, as expected the detail info…”
Sigh, is that so. It was true that Witige-san was close to Sigurd and Fafnir but it seemed that he had no knowledge on the legend of the dragon slayer.
“Sigh. It seems that I was unable to be of help… I am sorry.”
“No, don’t said that, there is no need for Witige-san to apologize at all. In fact, we would like to thank you for sparing us some of your time.”
I gave my thanks in a polite manner and bow down. Loki was being Loki as he scratch his head as if he was showing his disappointment.
Then… since it ended up like this, it seemed that we had no other choice. I looked toward Loki while having that thought, after our eyes met, Loki let out a big sigh and said.
“Seem like there is no other way. Then, let’s hurry up and head toward ‘Vanaheim’. Do you want to come together, Sei? As a companion on the trip.”
“Of course, that is my intention from the start. …Ah, but before that, can we go to the canteen for a short while?”
“The canteen? Didn’t we just had our breakfast just now? Don’t tell me that you have Alzheimer now?”
“No, I don’t have Alzheimer at all! Can you not something this rude toward a young boar while holding me!? …The truth is I wanted to go to the kitchen instead of the canteen. Since it’s possible that we won’t be coming back for a while after we went to ‘Vanaheim’, so I want to have a talk with the Chef Head to confirm on the jerky in the storage.”
“Ah, I see, the so called preserved food. Else, your disciple can’t be made into a meal.”
As expected of Loki, it seemed that he understand it quite well. That was not it, well since the person who found out that my ‘Gullveig’ was able to transfer to other was none other than Loki.
“Since that is the case, let’s head to the kitchen first.”
We headed toward the kitchen after I dragged Loki who gave a small nod toward my plan. The Chef Head was precisely taking a break after he finish cleaning up the breakfast in the kitchen.
“Chef Head~!”
“Oh? So, it’s just Sei-kun. Ah, good morning to you too, Loki-sama.”
After the Chef Head saw us, he stood up from his chair and greeted us. But Loki immediately urged him to sit down with his hand gesture. Unexpectedly, Loki seemed like a well-manner person at these time. He even gave his thanks properly to the human who bought a drink to him.
“Chef Head. How is the stock of my jerky?”
“Hmm? I’m pretty sure there are still some left but… if we include the one in the confetti, there is more than enough. Why do you ask that?”
“Actually I will be going to ‘Vanaheim’ together with Loki now. It’s not like this will be a day trip but it might take a long time so I just want to confirm the stock.”
“Hee, that is quite a good worry from you. I am delighted.”
While saying that, the Chef Head showed a carefree smile and patted my head. But at that moment, the chef Head immediately withdraw his hand as if he thought of something.
“I’m sorry, Sei-kun, it seems like I patted you as if I looking down on you. Since I had lost to you in a cooking match.”
He said that while averting his gaze, and the smile of the Chef Head unexpectedly change to a smile to laugh at himself. Ah, please hold it for a moment, was the Chef Head being disturbed by that?
“Chef Head, you did not lose at all! I only manged to do that since I am able to transform into the world most delicious chicken, ‘Gullinkambi’ with the help of everyone.”
“No. That’s not the reason for you victory right? You must never forget that you had put in the ingredient which is ‘love’ in your dish. Moreover, Sei-kun… it a pity but in the culinary world, the result is the most important.”
“The result…? No, I never thought like that. Culinary is… the ‘smile’ is the most important.”
“Smile…?”
The Chef Head opened his eye wide after hearing that. I continued with my sentence.
“Even though I made the judges cry with my dish in the end. Even if that is the tear of joy, there was no smile at all. But when Odin-sama and Loki taste your dish, they were surprised at first and reveal a smile. That was the greatest smile. I think that that is… the genuine dish.”
“A meal that… let the one who eat it smile…”
“That’s right. That why when I taste my mother meal that I thought is the number one in the world— I always show a smile.”
Loki who served as a judge in that cooking match nodded his head to agree on my assertion.
That right — it was true that I might had won the ‘match’. But if we were talking about the ‘meal’ only, the victory belong to the Chef Head.
“… Thank you, Sei-kun. Just by hearing you said that, I can be at ease. But…”
In that moment — the expression of the Chef Head become clouded.
“I wish I was… able to hear you said that earlier. If I was able to hear you said that earlier… I might have a different future.”
The next moment when I was thinking about that, the Chef Head stood up from his chair forcefully and took out a small vial from the pocket of his apron. He put it on top of the counter as if he wanted to smash it.
“Chef… Chef Head. This is…?”
I jumped up toward the counter, and checked the content of the vial. Based on the appearance, the content was a pure white powder. But I was not sure on the true identity of that powder.
“Sei-kun, don’t you think that sometime… after the turning point which is the cooking match, my meal taste a bit different?”
The Chef Head talked in a calm manner to confirm each and every single word. While slowly getting a feeling of something ominous, I chose my word carefully to answer him.
“Yes… that… right… once you put it like that it’s a bit strange… it became mild right?”
The moment when I answered that, the Chef Head hang his head slightly and smirked.
It was as if he was saying as expected through his joyful expression. Putting that aside, but there was an ominous shadow in his expression. I had no idea why was the Chef Head making such an expression.
“…That’s correct. That’s right. My new dish that had become a bit mild… is not only for the Einherjars, but it made to serve more people. After the cooking match, the God Tribe had become interested in ‘food’. Of course, Odin-sama is included among them.”
As if he was repeating his word, the expression of the Chef Head gradually become dangerous. Chef Head… what were you trying to say? I was unable to stop this throbbing of mine.
“Ah, that’s right. The reason for my dish becoming mild is… the reason is this white powder. Hey, Sei-kun. What do you think… this powder is?”
“What… I… I don’t know, isn’t it just some sort of a secret ingredient only?”
The Chef gave me a daring laughter toward my reply. That smile was not an affirmation nor a denial.
“Actually I… I was chosen by Freya-sama when I was young and begin starting to work for a long time in the ‘Valhalla Kitchen’. Due to that long months and year, the God started to put their trust on me. Thanks to that, everyone is willing to eat my meal without any doubt. For a month they had my new dish that contain this ‘secret powder’. This powder… without knowing that this powder is a strong addictive!!”
“!! Poison… is it!?”
For a month—after he lost to my in the match, the Chef Head mixed in a strong addictive substance in the meal he prepared!
His unexpected word thrust deep into my chest. Loki forehead began to excrete large cold drop as if he approached the counter while covering his mouth.
“Ha ha ha! To me this is some sort of a dangerous poison, if it was possible I don’t want to use it! Even though there was a choice for me to not use this! But… he he, it’s all your fault, Sei-kun, since you were able to overtake me that easily…!”
“An…And… I misjudged you! To think that you had the guts to poison all of us as your revenge since you lost to Sei in the cooking match!”
The moment when that conclusion was decided, Loki grabbed the Chef Head by his collar. But… as if the Chef Head had predicted that, he immediately put his hand into the pocket at the chest, he took out a similar vial as the one in the counter and scatter it toward Loki face.”
“Here you go! You should have a proper taste of it too! Since you will become happy!”
“!? Damn you… cough… cough!”
“Loki!?”
“Hold it, you too Sei-kun! I want to hear your opinion too!”
The Chef Head also scattered the powder toward me without holding back! Damn, this was bad! I inhaled some of it due to my carelessness!
The white power which was a strong addictive was eating me up from my inside. This special smell that coiled around my nasal cavity and the taste that remained on my tongue… …lick… this was yogurt!!
“Do you understand now? Sei-kun. That powder is… a product that was made from Heizu mead in powder form. There was no harm to your health so please be at ease.”
That must be a joke, there was no harm to my health!? Then I really had no choice but to be at ease!
…huh? Eh… that meant…?
“Um… in another word this is the milk power of the mead… right? It’s true that it is somehow a strong addictive but… why are you using that?”
After I inquired him in that manner, the Chef Head sat down on the chair slowly and answered me.
“I understand it in the previous cooking match that my dish lacks ‘love’. Since Odin-sama had mutter the word love by himself. That’s why in order for me to understand more about this love, I accepted the love from Heizu that she keeps pressuring me….”
“Accepted the love… don’t tell me you had become one!?”
“I did not do that! I swear to the God! But I did promise her on that in the future. When I discuss with her about using an extract from the love in my meal, she suggested an idea of using the mead powder. But she pressured me on the condition of using that as an experiment is to marry her, I was unable to reject her… so to me i’st a powerful poison even though I am aware that it was a seduction from a demon. Damn… if you had encouraged me earlier I wouldn’t made such a hasty decision like this, ah!”
The Chef Head covered his face with his left hand, there was a sparked from the expensive engagement ring on the ring finger.
I see…. It was not like the Chef Head was planning to do anything bad like a revenge since he lost to me. It was just that… the Chef Head had went toward the direction that was out of his expectation in order to made a better meal since he had lost to me in the cooking match.
“I don’t see any harm to it. You can at least wait until she become an adult right?”
“No matter how long I wait, the gap in our age still remain! I bet the public will say thing like ‘Hey, perverted Chef Head, are you going to enjoy an all you can drink full course tonight as well?’, ‘As expected of the lolicon chef head, he is quite skilled in handling his knife at night.’ Or ‘Hey, the live scum of the society Chef Head, when are you going to create a new menu?’ !!”
Ouch, it seemed this was getting worst. What an amazing persecution complex he had. Well… it was quite scary since it had become a reality now…
“Hey, Sei-kun, is there a method for me to cancel our engagement now? Let’s think together on the method that will not hurt Heizu and at the same time, a method where I won’t get killed either! Ah, that’s right! Loki-sama, you are quite skilled in quite these type of stuff right! Please lend me…”
At that time, the words of help from Chef Head that seemed like it would continue forever suddenly came to a halt. I looked toward the Chef Head since it seemed something had happened, the thing that he was looking at —-
“What are you talking secretively… darling.”
Heizu who was filled with love, anger and sadness could be found there. Yup, if I had to put it… the dark aura from her wasseriously bad.
“Darling… do you dislike marrying with Heizu?”
“No, that’s not it! It’s not like I dislike it but? Heizu is quite cute and there is a lot of people misunderstood this due to inadequate explanation but you are quite smart too. You are such a fantastic female that will be a waste on someone like me!”
“A waste? Then, it’s the perfect for Darling. You always said this right? You had to paid attention to expiry date since I won’t forgive the act of wasting.”
Ah… I also realized that he always said that. Treat all food ingredient with the utmost respect, those were the words that the Chef Head was quite familiar with.
“Hey Darling. You won’t treat Heizu feeling poorly right? Hey… can you bring out your ring.”
“Ring? Like this?”
While saying that, the Chef Head hold out his ring finger with the engagement ring on it. Then, Heizu line up her ring together with the ring finger, and whispered in a sweet manner with the upturned eye.
“Let’s get married?”
“I’m fine with it!”
You were fine with that!
“Ah, no, that… argh, Sei-kun and Loki-sama, what should I do!
“As if I know! For god’s sake, I thought that was something bad for a moment but to think that it was just an act. It seemed like And trouble is not so big, how about we take our leave now?”
“That’s right.”
We walked out while sighing and shrugging our shoulder. Chef Head, may you be burst open with your everlastingly happiness.
“Okay~, then where should we use our rune?”
After we went out of the kitchen, Loki started to think of a place where he could chant the rune magic.
The rune of ‘rad’ that Loki was planning to use now was a rune for teleporting, so it was not like it was an offensive type of magic. It was a magic that can be chanted as long as the place was wide enough but… unfortunately at this time, there was a lot of pedestrian traffic in ‘Valhalla’, so it wouldn’t be easy to use it.”
“The Einherjars are quite restless since it close to the starting time for the practice. What should we do, it will be a big trouble if they were teleport to ‘Helheim’ together with us…”
“If that really happens, it won’t end as a big trouble alone. As expected, even though it’s quite troublesome, it seems we have no choice but to step out of ‘Valhalla’.”
While cracking his head, Loki walked toward the entrance off the main entrance. I began to dash in order to catch up with him but, somehow even the entrance was full of Einherjars.
Woah, that couldn’t be help. That was because there was a totally of two hundred thousand of them. This was really a bad timing for us.
“Tch, it seems pointless no matter where we go on the ground. Let’s jump, Sei. Let’s jump up to the building.”
At the same moment when Loki said that, he carried me under his arm and jumped toward the top of the palace by leaping on the ground and the wall. With a thud and his waving mantle, a super hero had arrive on top of the roof. It was so cool, I hoped that I could do such an exaggerating action one day.
“This is my first time on top of the roof but it seems that the roof is really made by putting several large shield together. I wonder how many shield was used for this.”
“Hmm? I never bother with that stuff at all. Putting that aside, Sei look there, the view is quite nice. We are able to see ‘Vingólf’ from this spot.”
After following the sight from Loki who was smirking, it was true that we were able to see the Goddess dorm, ‘Vingólf’. Even though my room is at the top floor, it seem that the view is quite different at the roof.
“Hey Sei, if I were to change into a hawk or an eagle now, doesn’t that mean that I will be able to see everything inside ‘Vingólf’?”
“!! That is true… they did said that an eagle or a hawk possess quite a sharp eyesight! What should we do!? Should we try it!?”
“Okay, let’s try it out! On the count of three? One, two, three, ‘mannaz’.”
“Sei-san, Loki-sama. What are you guy doing here at this spot?”
““Argh!?””
A voice suddenly came out from the back of us. Both of us gave out the shout of surprise together and looked behind. What we saw there was Brynhildr-sama which was descending on the roof while knitting her eyebrow suspiciously.
“Um… Brynhildr-sama! That…. that’s not it, we are definitely not planning to do any bad at all!”
“You fool, in fact didn’t you just go and reveal all of it! Hey, Brynhildr, we are not like that, we are just planning to go to ‘Helheim’.”
“‘Helheim’ is it? If that is the case, aren’t you suppose to use the rune of ‘rad’ instead of the rune of ‘mannaz’?”
She was clearly attacking us with the sharp gaze and voice of her. This was seriously bad, what should we do to escape from this situation.
“… hey Sei-san. It doesn’t seem like you are planning to do anything bad but… if that is true then you should be able to answer me honestly right?”
“Um… of course. To be honest, that… we really did plan something like that.”
“I am happy that you answer me honestly. So, what exactly are you planning?
“Ah, no, I sorry but I am unable to explain with one word…”
“Huh?”
This… this was bad, this had totally become something suspicious already. Even if Brynhildr-sama was an owner of a pure heart, she had probably started to realize my gentleman mask.
“Hey, Brynhildr-sama, you shouldn’t jump to conclusion that fast. We thought that if we were able to transform into Sleipnir then we will be able to run to ‘Helheim’. We can exercise at the same time also.”
“No, that is not something normal. It’s not like you are Sei-san who was able to transform into Fenrir.”
“That’s why if I cooperate with Sei, then we might be able to do that right?”
“That… that is true! Please excuse me for my rudeness, Loki-sama, that is not something that I am able to think of.”
Woah… wasn’t Brynhildr-sama too… pure? I wondered how we managed to get out of this with such a poor excuse. At this moment, this was convenient for us but I was more worry about your future instead…
“From the start, why do you want to go to ‘Helheim’? Since that is not a place for a living being to freely going in and out right?”
“Ah, that is because—”
I immediately explained our current situation to Brynhildr-sama after changing the topic the moment she was convinced with our answer. Since Brynhildr-sama had already awared of the plan to release Fenrir, so there was no problem for me by doing this.
After hearing that, something unthinkable came out from Brynhildr-sama.
“The heart of a dragon… heart… of a dragon…. Ah! If that is the case, I had a clue on that!”
“Eh, is the true!?”
Loki and I exchanged looks without even thinking. Brynhildr-sama used her index finger to touch her forehead, and began to speak of her past memory.
“That is something that happen three hundred and sixty… no two hundred years ago. It was around the time when I was still trapped in the flame building of ‘Hindarfjall’, the human hero, Sigurd who arrived there was proudly proclaim this. ‘I beheaded the greedy evil dragon and burn its heart to kill it.’—”
“Burn the heart…? In another word, a dragon really do possess a heart after all!”
Loki grabbed his fist while saying that in a excited manner. I see, we had forgotten about it but we still had a choice to hear it directly from Sigurd himself. As expected of Brynhildr-sama.
“Thanks for the information Brynhildr-sama. Then, where is Sigurd now? It’s not like he is still alive and he is not one of the Einherjars also… I guess we really do need to go to ‘Helheim’?”
“Yes. A few year after he depart from the flame building, he was involve with a conspiracy and got himself assassinated…”
“…assassinated…”
To think that the end for the great hero of the dragon slayer was being assassinated…
Since he did not die honourably, he was unable to be invited to ‘Valhalla’ as an Einherjar, so he was the strongest heroic spirit that fallen into ‘Helheim’ as a deceased. I wondered what was his current feeling when he was serving in the darkness of hell.
If we were able to meet up with him, then he would be able to answer our various question. Only he knew about it including the thing that Brynhildr-sama heard in the past.
Then, at that moment. As if some feeling swelled up to her, Brynhildr-sama said this with a firm decision.
“Um… Loki-sama. If you are planning on going to ‘Helheim’ then can you bring me along with you?”
“Hmm? I don’t mind but… don’t you need to do your mission?”
“That is true but I only need to search for Helmwige who hidden somewhere since she is going to skip out on her mission again today. Since that is the case, since it had been a while I would like to him also… Sigurd that is.”
Brynhildr-sama immediately looked back toward Loki eyes and said those word sincerely.
I wondered what she was going to tell Sigurd after she met him. What kind of existence was Sigurd for her and hers for Sigurd.
I wondered why… I somehow felt a pain in my chest when I thought about that. This pain was… was it because I was jealous?
(…Don’t be a fool. After getting help from various people, I finally became somehow of a hero boar right? As a hero, I don’t have the time to be jealous over Brynhildr-sama affair.)
That right. It was impossible for me to said this out. Before you thought who about that, you should face the reality first, Saehrimnir. Since she did not belong to me and I did not belong to her —
I swayed my head lightly to shake off the feeling of defeat that swelled up from my heart. At the same time, I saw a certain illusion.
“?”
A black sediment slowly seep out from my body and it headed toward Brynhildr-sama. That black sediment stop the moment when I switched my feeling.
“What… was that… just now?”
“? What’s the matter? Sei-san.”
“Nothing…”
Brynhildr-sama called out to me after she notice that I was blinking repeatedly. I waved my front leg to make an appeal as if nothing happened in order to ease her worry.
“Okay. [[I worship you the skull of Ymir; Kiss his body. I will now dig up this constant and unchangeable majestic Omniscience. I revere the fleeting shifts and changes of the world, and I will indicate the patter of the unknown, the transition, circulation and stagnation! The fifth rune of Futhark, Rad! ]]”
The rune magic was successfully activated after Loki chant it. After we were surrounded by the light of rad that extend up to the sky, we headed to our destination. To ‘Helheim’… the land of dusk that was govern by death, darkness and ice.
