Waltrautesan no Konkatsu Jijou - Chapter 3 - Part 3

Waltraute tried to head straight for the boy’s house, but the other 8 Valkyries held her back. It could be easy to forget, but her job was to gather the souls of the most excellent war dead in preparation for the final battle of Ragnarök. If she forced her way into that house in the human world of Midgard, the parents could very well be afraid their son was going to die soon.

And so Waltraute sent the two ravens Muninn and Huginn instead.

But they had their complaints.

“Y’know, you seem to have forgotten…”

“But we’re actually Lord Odin’s private scouts.”

But despite their complaints, they frantically flew off once multiple Valkyries glared at them. It seemed the ravens needed to go ahead and admit to being an errand-runner for the entirety of the heavenly world.

The ravens arrived in Midgard and peered in through the window to the boy’s room, but…

“Hm? The boy isn’t here.”

“What?” said Waltraute as she looked down into Midgard from the 3rd runway.

It was late at night. Even a Valkyrie who was unfamiliar with the customs of the human world knew a boy of his age should not be out that late.

“Where did he go?”

“There’s some kind of map in his room.”

“The writing is really bad, but I think it says ‘training journey’.”

When Waltraute heard that, she really did hold her head in her hands. With this, there was no way she could face his parents.

“Where did that boy go!? From our previous experiences, I doubt he will stay within Midgard!!”

That boy had already attempted to head to two different worlds out of the nine worlds that branched off of the world tree. That was rare enough for anyone in Midgard, but that boy had done it completely unarmed. It would not be surprising if he had some insane idea such as heading to the giant world of Jötunheimr in order to drink the water gushing from the spring of wisdom.

But the information Muninn and Huginn provided went beyond Waltraute’s expectations.

“Well, if what this map says is accurate…”

“It looks like he intends to explore the fire world of Muspelheim.”

“That is the enemy’s headquarters ruled by the evil Surtr!!” exclaimed Waltraute. “Why is that boy once again heading towards an area with a danger level of red!?”

When the final battle of Ragnarök happened, it was said a large number of evil spirits and giants would be dragged from that world using the giant ship Naglfar that was made from the nails of the dead. It was the most evil of all places. And Surtr, the one who ruled at the top of all that evil, would burn away all nine worlds with his burning sword.

“Hmm. If a human tries to learn the fighting techniques and magic of Asgard, it takes decades. He may be trying to take a shortcut by using a different system,” suggested one of the ravens.

“You fool. They would never simply teach him their techniques or magic! They would only deceive him and devour his soul!! Dammit. Did my foolish comment drive the boy this far!?”

As Odin and the rest of the Æsir would not grant people’s wishes so easily, it was not uncommon for sorcerers to worship Surtr or Hel, the queen of the underworld, who possessed power using a different system.

But a Valkyrie like Waltraute knew well what fate awaited those who took such shortcuts. Some had their souls taken by the queen of the underworld and some had even their souls destroyed by a Valkyrie. Either way, there was no hope for them.

She hurriedly mounted her white horse and requested permission to use the 3rd runway.

“…Tch. Too much data traffic. I can’t activate Bifröst right away.”

She glared at Heimdallr the watchman, but the timid controller merely shook his head.

She looked into the sky beyond the end of the 3rd runway and opened her eyes wide.

She looked across the entirety of the human world of Midgard.

“…There he is. He is only moving on foot, so he has not made it out of Midgard yet. I can still have him turn back. No dark shadow will grab ahold of his soul!!”

“What should we do?” asked the ravens.

“Due to the data traffic, it will be 20 or 30 minutes before Bifröst can activate. You should be able to reach him quicker. Contact that boy and inform him of the danger. Use your words to stop him before I arrive!!”

“Understood.”

As she listened to Muninn and Huginn’s words, Waltraute concentrated while sitting atop her white horse. Many magical processes were being executed at high speed, but she could not stand how the surrounding devices with poor data transfer speeds could not keep up.

“There he is. We found the boy,” reported one of the ravens.

“Hey! Wait up, wait up!!”

(Okay!!)

The boy looked surprised at Muninn and Huginn’s sudden appearance.

“It’s Huginn and Muninn,” he said.

“Yes, it’s Muninn and Huginn.”

“Were you forced to run over and give me a message again?”

“Did you have to remember that part!?” The two ravens flew around the boy. “Please do not go to the fire world of Muspelheim! That is not as safe a place as you think it is!!”

“If it isn’t dangerous, I can’t train there.”

“Good point, but we are saying its difficulty level is too high for you to level up!! While not everyone there is a great demon king, it is something like an island filled with small demon kings. You cannot gain experience points there!! You’ll just get your ass kicked!!”

“You’re only equipped with the Leather Clothes and the Wooden Stick! A beginner is supposed to train by wandering around just outside the city and heading back to the inn when your health is down too far! You have to gather money, gather equipment, search for party members, and all sorts of other things before heading there!”

“???”

Either because they had used too much jargon or because they had not planned out their argument, the boy did not quite understand.

Muninn and Huginn continued squawking.

“And didn’t your parents teach you that that the evil spirits and giants of Muspelheim will never open their hearts to a human? Why would you go somewhere that dangerous?”

“Well…” The boy swung his wooden stick around. “I want to train on my own in the same place as the people of Muspelheim.”

“What?”

“Setting aside the fact that there are no ‘people’ in Muspelheim, what do you mean by that?”

“Our human world is protected by the gods and Waltraute, right? That would be the same as having her control the horse for me. To really get strong, I have to work hard on my own!”

“…Mh. So that’s it,” muttered Waltraute as she held the reins of her white horse and frowned.

It was true that using that method could allow a human soul to contact the residents of the fire world of Muspelheim and gain skills and magic while avoiding being tainted.

If one was doing the exact same things but changing their location, there would be no problem.

The Valkyrie had a feeling that working outside of the protection of the gods would only lower his speed of growth, but she was relieved that he was not thinking of borrowing the power of the ruler of the fire world or the queen of the underworld.

“In that case, he should have asked me to teach him!! No, no, wait. I was the one that pushed him away by telling him it was impossible.”

Waltraute’s mood sank into self-condemnation.

The cause of it all really was her.

At any rate, the situation could be summed up in the following: that boy of Midgard was heading for Muspelheim. However, he was not seeking the evil skills and magic of the evil spirits and giants. He simply wanted an environment to train under his own power that was outside of the protection of the gods.

If that was all, he was not taking a shortcut or heading down the path of heresy.

The end result was perfectly acceptable, so there was no pressing need for her to stop him using the authority of a Valkyrie.

However…

“The question is whether the residents of Muspelheim will accept the boy or not. The odds of that are extremely low. Is dragging him back the only way to protect the boy?”

Waltraute was a bit unwilling to do so since it was her overprotectiveness that brought about the situation in the first place, but she had no choice here.

The Valkyrie began thinking about seeing him safely back to his house and then introducing him to a training menu a human could manage.

As she thought, the voices of the boy and the two ravens reached her ears.

“But it is true that Muspelheim is a dangerous place,” said one of the ravens. “How about you use the knowledge of the Æsir as a shortcut? We can give you that knowledge. There is no need to be reckless. Lord Odin ordered us to gather information from all across the heavenly world, so we have plenty we could teach you.”

“Actually, do you think Waltraute wanted to play the role of the sexy tutor?” added the other raven.

“Hey, wait!!” shouted Waltraute. “Do not make up nonsense, you fool!!”

“Um,” said the boy. “I want you to keep this a secret from Waltraute. I don’t want to worry her.”

“I am already incredibly worried, you fool!!”

Waltraute decided anew to drag that boy back, but then…

“And this is a manly training journey. Mr. Nebby from my neighborhood said men go on journeys to get stronger!”

“No! That was just a free spirit trying to show off!!” complained Waltraute.

“I’m going on a manly training journey! And once I get strong, Waltraute will praise me a whole bunch!! So keep this a secret!!”

“…………………………………………………………………………………Uuh.”

When Waltraute heard him talk like he was secretly preparing a birthday present, she let out a groan as the departure process for the 3rd runway continued.

For his safety, she needed to head out and take him back immediately.

But if she did that, the boy’s touching plan would be ruined.

The battle-obsessed Waltraute did not hate that kind of effort taken to obtain strength.

Training was a battle against oneself.

One who continued working while brushing aside all temptation and setbacks would win definite blessings. She felt a just beauty in that fact.

And she also knew exactly how rude it was for a third party to smash that gathered beauty.

And so…

While swearing silently that it was for purely official reasons and not because she had been shaken by him imagining the praises he would receive from her, she spoke.

“I-I can’t stop him,” Waltraute finally muttered. “I can’t believe this! I can’t stop that boy now!!”