Waltrautesan no Konkatsu Jijou - Chapter 4 - A.E. 0 - Part 10

Once the great giant Ymir’s core was sliced in two, the distortion of fate disappeared. The switchover from one cause of Ragnarök to another finished smoothly.

And this also affected Siegfried.

In the proper path of fate, his life had already been lost.

But that great man had no real attachment to the world of the living.

As if to announce that this was the proper way of things, the core of his being did not waver.

“Sorry, but I’ll be taking this,” said Siegfried to the boy while holding Nothung. “I want you to head down a path that does not involve wielding this. Doing so will help your Waltraute and my Brynhildr. Plus, it should enrage that one eyed bearded old man.”

“?”

“You do not need to understand. The fact that you do not know the value of this sword and that you cannot compare the values of the two options shows that fate is back to normal. Just as I travelled down my path, you travel down your path. That will be the quickest path to building up your greatest strength,” said Siegfried with a grin. “I used brute strength to face down gods in battle, but it seems the human will always be at a disadvantage no matter how hard he struggles. That’s how I ended up dead. But your method might allow you to truly rival the leader of the Æsir.”

“What do you mean?”

“Odin ranks things according to battles, so he sees no danger. He feels safe because he is the strongest. And that is why he cannot deal with anything when it comes to a love comedy. I guess you could call it the power of love. I’m not too fond of that sort of thing, but that bearded old man must hate it even more. Never fight your opponent under his own rules. If you want to protect something or someone, then force your opponent to fight under your rules.” He then glanced over at Brynhildr who had yet to come to where she lay collapsed on the beach in a swimsuit. “But please do not forget that heading down your path will affect the fates of more than just Waltraute and yourself. It only has to be when you have some extra time. Maybe do it during the times when you have no plans with Waltraute. But call out to her on occasion. It’s about time she finally starts speaking with a human that does not reside in her memories.”

And the switchover of fate was complete.

The long, long countdown to the final battle of Ragnarök was set anew.

“Ah!? Despite everything that happened, why is my tiny body the only thing that has not reverted to normal!?”

“That’s because you shrunk due to eating too many apples of immortality. It had nothing to do with all that complicated stuff.”

The small Waltraute lamented and Freyja replied in annoyance while wearing her usual light clothing.

The other eight Valkyrie sisters had already left the beach.

The entire trip to go swimming had been unnatural, so they had quickly returned to Asgard once the switchover of fate had ended.

Siegfried was also gone.

He was merely an addition to Brynhildr’s power as one of the war dead.

The boy grabbed at the small Waltraute’s armor and said, “Hey, hey.”

“What?”

“If I don’t get home soon, my dad will be mad.”

“But you are supposed to stay overnight for a honeymoon!”

“Stop it, stop it,” warned Freyja. “Commenting on that could tear back open the sealed wound to fate. Really, we should avoid making any meta comments for about 2 weeks.”

“Mh.”

That left nothing else for her to say. And even the small Waltraute did not want the atmosphere to grow any more serious.

She called in her white horse and mounted it. She pulled the boy up and placed him in front of her.

“I have no choice then. Freyja, I will be taking this boy home.”

“Okay. …But why did it have to turn into a battle story at the very, very end? That was a hell of a day off.”

Freyja needed to return to Asgard, so she used Bifröst to break her existence down to particle form in an unnecessarily sparkly way.

The small Waltraute and the boy used the white horse to travel along the surface.

As they did, the boy said, “Waltraute.”

“What?”

“Would you be sad if I died?”

“Nn,” groaned the small Waltraute because she was unsure why he had asked the question.

It was likely related to what had happened during the distortion of fate.

The boy had chosen to kill in order to protect the one most important to him and he had also seen Siegfried seal off his own possibility of resurrection in order to protect who he found most important.

That experience must have made him think.

The idea of death could not be handled lightly even by a Valkyrie who watched over the deaths of many humans and took the souls of the war dead to Asgard.

Those who treated death extremely lightly like a certain bearded old man were the biggest fools of all.

“Let me tell you something,” she replied.

“What?”

“Risking and losing your life can indeed save someone else’s life. And there is a certain beauty to it. It is true that many heroes have intentionally sought such a fate.”

“I see.”

“But.”

“?”

“No matter how many people are moved by such courage and even if a life is saved, the life saved will always be filled with sorrow. That is one answer and one must never falter if heading down that path.”

Meanwhile, they arrived at the boy’s house.

The sun had almost set and the boy’s parents rushed out to meet him. They seemed more surprised by the giant white horse than the small Waltraute. The horse was from Asgard, so it had a strength that gave it a certain elegance.

They might have thought Waltraute was some kind of noble to be riding such a wonderful horse, but she was actually a god.

After being lowered to the ground by the small Waltraute, the boy smiled and spoke while completely ignorant of what his parents were thinking.

“Um, this is Waltraute. She’s my wife. We just went on our honeymoon.”

“Is that so?” replied his parents while smiling.

They seemed to think he was playing house with a neighborhood child. The only question on their minds was whether such a high class family lived nearby. They also sincerely hoped that the boy would not hurt her while they played.

“Bye, Waltraute. I’ll write you a letter.”

“Goodbye.”

After seeing the boy enter the house while waving, the small Waltraute began to return to Asgard.

But before she could, the boy’s father spoke.

“Please be a good friend to the boy.”

“I will.”

And then the effects of the apples of immortality wore off.

Waltraute’s 10 year old form was wrapped in bright light before transforming into a tall and glamorous beauty.

It was a slight annoyance, but the beautiful Waltraute ignored it and added, “As it was the outcome of a competition, I would never have wavered regardless. However, I, Waltraute the fourth Valkyrie sister, will vow once more. I may be inexperienced when it comes to mortality, but I will vow to remain by his side no matter what until the moment he dies.”

This time, Waltraute left the completely shocked parents behind (although it seemed she had not noticed the change in their emotions at all) and used Bifröst to break her existence down.

An unnatural aurora was drawn across the night sky as Waltraute returned home.