ACT 1
“Here is the next one,” Felicia said. “‘Inform the honorable Lord Yuuto, patriarch of the Wolf Clan. I am Douglas, patriarch of the Ash Clan.’”
Autumn was more than halfway over, and the light from the sun had grown softer, and the air felt colder against the skin.
In the patriarch’s office, Felicia read aloud to Yuuto the contents of messages addressed to him, just as she always did, in a beautiful voice like a golden bell.
However, Yuuto got the sense that her voice was less spirited than usual. Lately, Yuuto had been so overwhelmingly busy that it had been making his head spin. That meant that his adjutant must also be feeling that way. It was possible she was starting to feel worn out.
Yuuto didn’t feel good about always making her read him messages like this, but he couldn’t read the writing of Yggdrasil, so there was nothing he could do about that right now.
“Ohh, the Ash Clan. That takes me back,” Yuuto remarked with a bit of surprise, finally registering her words.
The Ash Clan had once joined with Botvid of the Claw Clan to attack Iárnviðr. They had been Yuuto’s opponents during his first real battle — and his first great victory. It had all taken place a year and a half ago, but even now he could remember it vividly.
Until a little over two years ago, Yuuto Suoh had been a relatively normal boy attending middle school in 21st century Japan. Thanks to a combination of coincidences, he had found himself transported to the war-torn world of Yggdrasil, and whether it had been fate or curse, he was now the sovereign ruler of the Wolf Clan.
As Yuuto indulged himself in a bit of reminiscing, Felicia’s sweet voice continued to read out the message.
“’I, Douglas, express my humble request that Lord Yuuto might exchange with me the Oath of the Chalice. And, in that event, I hereby pledge my intention to offer my daughter by blood, Dorothea, to serve Lord Yuuto at his palace...’”
“Ugh, not again!” Yuuto exclaimed wearily, scowling.
He had already received the same kind of letters from the Wheat Clan and the Mountain Dog Clan, both of which were former subordinate clans of the Hoof Clan.
Yuuto had defeated the supreme ruler of Álfheimr once known by the alias Yngfróði, Lord of Abundance: the Hoof Clan patriarch Yngvi. And very soon afterwards, he had also defeated Steinðórr, patriarch of the Lightning Clan, a peerless warrior renowned by the name Dólgþrasir, the Battle-Hungry Tiger. With that, the other nearby clans were apparently all awed and frightened by Yuuto’s military strength.
In each case, Yuuto had only gone to war reluctantly and for the sake of self-defense, but from a more faraway perspective, it was understandable that he might come across as an ambitious new ruler eager to expand his territory and influence.
Faced with such an opponent, and one that they could not defeat militarily, these people were trying to protect themselves as much as possible by declaring their intention to submit to him and enter under his protection, rather than wait for him to potentially invade them.
“At least in terms of getting more clans on my side and under my influence, this is exactly what I want to happen, but...” Yuuto slumped back against his chair, and gave a weary smile at the irony.
The real tricky part of this situation was how to deal with the “princesses,” the girls of high standing the other nations would send to him. They were meant to serve both as hostages that served as physical guarantee of the alliance, and as potential wives or mistresses that would foster closer ties between him and their home nation.
Some might say that as a man surrounded by noble girls from which he could take his pick, he was unreasonably blessed by his circumstances. But Yuuto had someone special to him back home in Japan, his childhood friend Mitsuki Shimoya. With her waiting bravely and patiently for his return, he could never think of betraying her.
“For now, politely let the other parties know that I would like to exchange the Oath of the Chalice with them, but that I decline any marriage proposals. I’ll leave it up to you to come up with a good reason.”
“Yes, Big Brother,” said Felicia. “I believe that with the current status of the Wolf Clan, you will be able to push through negotiations with such a smaller and weaker clan on your own terms, with little trouble.”
Nodding, Felicia offered her opinion as she took down Yuuto’s words on a piece of paper.
It was as she said; the Wolf Clan was now far more large and powerful than when Yuuto had first become patriarch.
It wasn’t like he was making any unreasonable demands. If he was dealing with a tiny clan, unable to mobilize even a thousand soldiers, then it shouldn’t be hard to get them to accept the alliance under these terms.
“Well, more importantly, the biggest problem right now is the fact that we’ve gotten so big.” Yuuto shook his head and sighed, letting his gaze fall on a sheet of paper spread out on the desk.
It was a simple map of the lands surrounding the Wolf Clan. Surveying and measuring techniques were still pretty undeveloped in Yggdrasil. More than likely there was a fair bit of difference between this map and the actual geography, but this was still better than nothing.
Tapping a finger on the map, Yuuto mumbled to himself. “The most glaring issue is the shortage of personnel.”
In the space of the past year, the Wolf Clan had expanded its territory to almost three times its former size. He needed to govern all of that newly acquired territory, but naturally, that meant he needed to appoint civil officials to carry out the day-to-day work in each local area, as well as supply armed forces to protect the peace of local towns and cities, and defend them from bandits and foreign threats.
Because a good portion of that new territory was along the border with the Lightning Clan, who he’d just gone to war with, he was prioritizing resources there, and in turn they were starting to see some serious negative side effects here in Iárnviðr.
In any case, the lack of manpower meant that his administration was no longer able to govern smoothly.
“We’ve gotta do something about this...” Yuuto muttered.
He needed to secure more capable people, and fast. For Yuuto right now, that was his greatest unresolved dilemma.
After finishing his work for the first half of the day, Yuuto had lunch on the terrace, and as he looked down into the large courtyard, he saw that the bazaar-style marketplace was up and running.
The merchant traders had set up their tents, inside of which various wares were closely packed together on display, and the whole place was filled with lively and excited voices.
In particular, a store set up on the north side of the courtyard seemed to be booming, with a gaggle of merchants frantically scrambling to bid on the goods there.
“I’ll bid thirty bygg of silver!”
“Then I’ll bid forty bygg!”
“Grrr... then one barr!”
“One barr, twenty bygg!”
“One barr, thirty bygg!”
Apparently whatever it was, it was so popular that it was being sold in auction format. The merchants raised their hands one after the other, and with each passing second, the price shot upward.
“It sure is getting heated down there.” Standing next to Yuuto, Sigrún spoke in an uninterested tone.
This silver-haired girl was the leader of the Múspell unit, and of Yuuto’s personal guard. She was the greatest warrior of the Wolf Clan, and responsible for killing both the Claw Clan’s hero Mundilfäri and the Hoof Clan patriarch Yngvi, each fearless and unrivaled warriors in their own right.
Perhaps because of the colder late autumn climate, today she was wearing a hooded fur cloak. The hood had wolf ears attached to it, and it actually suited her quite well.
“Ohhhhhh!!” All of a sudden, a chorus of shouts spread through the crowd of merchants like a wave. It seemed the winner had been decided.
The concept of standardized currency such as coins hadn’t caught on yet in Yggdrasil, so it was normal for most merchants to settle their payments with silver.
“Bygg” and “barr” were units of measurement for weight. One bygg was equivalent to the weight of 180 grains of barley, and one barr was equal to 60 bygg.
Yuuto had once put his smartphone, the LGN09 a.k.a. Laegjarn (166 grams) on the merchant scales, and it had come up as 20 bygg. So, that meant one barr was approximately 500 grams.
“Whoa, that’s a crazy price,” Yuuto whispered in astonishment. “And just for something like this...” He tapped a fingernail with a clink against the drinking glass in front of him.
Incidentally, the average commoner working manual labor received wages equivalent to about two bygg of silver for one month’s work.
“‘Just for something like this’ is a pretty harsh way of underselling it, if you ask me. It took us a whole lotta hard work to get to where we could make ‘something like this,’ you know.” Sitting across from Yuuto, a red-haired girl puffed out a cheek in dissatisfaction.
The girl’s name was Ingrid. Like Yuuto, she was only midway through her teenage years, but she was an Einherjar with the rune Ívaldi, Birther of Blades, and a genius at making things.
Stirrups, waterwheels, paper, and so much more...
When Yuuto used the information gained using his smartphone to come up with various ideas and inventions, it was no exaggeration to say that it was thanks to Ingrid every time he was able to actually build and produce each one of them.
If Yuuto was the star actor, the main character who had publicly rebuilt the weak and tiny Wolf Clan and defeated all of its hostile neighbors, then this girl was his best supporting actor, and the lead role behind the scenes.
“Besides, they should be able to make more than enough profit even if they buy them at that price,” Ingrid said. “If they take them to the imperial capital Glaðsheimr, people from the imperial family and the upper class will be willing to pay several times more. After all, in all of Yggdrasil, here in Iárnviðr is the only place you can get ’em. They’re the rarest of rare goods.”
Ingrid spoke with confidence, puffing up her average-sized chest with pride.
It was said that glass had its origins around 3000 B.C., and even in Yggdrasil, people had already known of its existence.
However, the common way of producing glass in Yggdrasil was quite primitive. After building a casting mold primarily from sand, molten glass was poured directly into the mold.
The pieces of glass formed this way were mainly used by the wealthy and nobility as luxury decorative art pieces, and nothing more.
“There was also supposed to be an early method for making glass called ‘core forming’ that got developed in Mesopotamia by 1550 B.C., though...” Yuuto muttered to himself.
Yggdrasil was somewhere in the late Bronze Age in terms of civilization and technology, so the eras should theoretically line up, but it seemed that the technique of making core-formed glass was still unknown here.
Of course, that didn’t say much. As an example, silk-making had originated in China around 3000 B.C., but the technique hadn’t reached the West until the 6th century A.D., a whole 3600 years later.
This was a world with no telephone or internet. It wasn’t unusual for a technique or invention that had long been in use in one region to be almost totally unheard of in another region for hundreds or thousands of years.
It was said that the glass pieces created through the core forming method had once been treated as equal in value to wares made of silver and gold. And just a moment ago, those merchants had indeed assigned that much value to glass wares as simple as the drinking cup in front of Yuuto now.
“Talk about making a killing,” he murmured.
The glassmaking technique Yuuto had introduced was glassblowing, established in the latter half of the 1st century B.C., 1,500 years after core-forming.
By attaching a lump of molten glass called a “gather” to one end of a thin iron pipe and blowing into it, one could make the blob of glass expand and take shape. It was a technique still in use in the 21st century.
Thanks to the advent of this method, it was now possible to produce a larger volume of glass products, and do it more cheaply.
“You’re amazing as always, Big Brother,” Felicia said. “With this, the Wolf Clan will only grow more and more prosperous. Why, the poverty we were in two years ago feels so far away now. I never dreamed back then we’d even be able to have meals in the middle of the day like this.”
Felicia tore off a piece of her bread and popped it into her mouth, making a face of absolute delight and even trembling a bit as she savored the taste.
Two meals a day was the norm in Yggdrasil: breakfast and supper. But for Yuuto, who was both used to three meals a day and also a growing young man, that didn’t feel like nearly enough, and so now that the Wolf Clan’s food supply situation had so dramatically improved, recently he had taken to having three meals a day. As his adjutant, Felicia was always at his side, so she had begun having three meals a day, as well.
“Look, all I did was show a video about glassblowing to Ingrid. She’s the amazing one for being able to actually recreate that technique and put it into practice.”
“Tee hee! Ingrid is impressive, isn’t she?”
“I-I didn’t really do anything all that special either, okay?” Ingrid’s face began to turn red. She was shy, and had trouble accepting direct compliments like this. “I-if you’re gonna give out compliments, give some to the craftsmen who actually made ’em. A-all I did was teach those guys the basics of the basics, and they did the rest.”
The main components of glass were sand, ash from plant matter, and lime, and all of them could be found in plentiful quantities anywhere in the world. But however much a genius Ingrid was, she was only one person. She couldn’t very well handle the mass production of glass by herself.
Yuuto had plenty of other jobs he needed her for, as well. It would have been a waste to let her spend all of her time and talent solely on glassware production.
So there had been a cultivation of a whole group of apprentice glassmakers, trained in the glassblowing technique that Ingrid had mastered. The glass items being sold in the bazaar right now were all made by those apprentices of hers.
“W-well, I’m just glad those prices show they’re being appreciated for what they’re worth. Those guys all really worked their butts off this past half-year...” Ingrid spoke quietly, looking down at the courtyard. Yuuto could see tears in the corners of her eyes.
She usually spent all of her time shut away in the workshop, but the fact that she had made a point of coming out to witness the first sale of her apprentices’ work like this showed that she was a girl who was good at looking after others. She must have been especially moved at seeing proof that her students had come into their own.
Incidentally, she had also taught the tatara furnace method of refining iron to a group of her most skilled, most trusted craftsmen, and so now the process of mass iron refinement had begun in various places throughout Wolf Clan territory.
In order to prevent the leak of sensitive information about the process to neighboring clans, it was conducted under multiple layers of heavy security.
At the end of the day, one could not talk about the current prosperity of the Wolf Clan without mentioning Ingrid’s role in it all.
“U-um, I-I, I’ve brought some more tea!” From behind him, Yuuto heard a cute-sounding voice speak with a clumsy stammer.
Turning around, he saw a cute little girl of perhaps ten, with light brown hair cropped at shoulder length, holding a serving tray and wearing an incredibly nervous expression.
It wasn’t the same serving girl who usually waited on them. But more importantly, something else about her stood out to Yuuto. He was certain that he recognized her face.
“Wait, aren’t you...”
“Y-y-yes, Master! I’m Ephelia, the slave Master bought along with my mother!”
As Ephelia stammered in a high-pitched voice, Yuuto snapped his fingers as the memory came back to him. “Ah! So you are the little girl from back then.”
It had been right around the time he had taken Horn Clan patriarch Linnea prisoner and brought her back to Iárnviðr. He’d purchased a mother and daughter who were being sold as slaves in the market.
It had only been about three months ago, but right afterward, the wars with the Hoof Clan and Lightning Clan had happened in succession, so it felt like a long time ago to Yuuto.
“H-h-here y-you go.” With trembling hands, Ephelia tilted her pitcher to pour tea into Yuuto’s glass. She was so nervous and shaky that just watching her made Yuuto feel anxious.
“Hey, don’t tense up so mu—augh, that’s hot!” His warning came to late, and the hot tea she was pouring splashed out of the glass and onto Yuuto’s pants.
“Ah! Awawa! I’m s-so sorry!!” Ephelia’s face nearly turned blue with fright, and she hurriedly used her scarf to try wipe down the spot on Yuuto’s pants. “Ohh... Oh no, what have I done... I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’ll do anything anything I promise please forgive me. I’m sorry I’m so sorry.”
She repeated her pleading apologies over and over. She’d seemingly gone completely into shock.
To a slave like her, at the absolute bottom of society, a clan sovereign like Yuuto was so far above her he might as well be a god. And he was also her direct master, with the right to decide even her life or death. It wasn’t unreasonable for her to be frightened of him in this situation.
As Ephelia seemed just about ready to burst into tears, Yuuto placed his hand gently on her head and rustled her hair. “I’m not gonna get mad at you over something like that.”
“Eh... oh...”
As Ephelia looked up at Yuuto, he could see the light returning to her eyes as she regained her senses. It seemed she understood that she hadn’t upset him.
“Have you gotten used to living here? Nobody’s giving you a hard time, right?” Yuuto made sure to speak to her in a gentle voice.
If she became ashamed at having gotten so upset and started newly apologizing for that, they’d be right back where they started. Changing the subject completely was the best course of action here. A good ruler should always be quick to seize an opportunity to move things in his favor.
“Y-yes,” she said nervously. “Everyone’s been really good to me.”
“Mm, I see.” Yuuto showed her a little smile.
He wasn’t the naive Yuuto of two years ago, who would have simply taken her words at face value and been reassured without much thought.
However, though Ephelia’s tone of voice still had some remnants of nervousness, there was no hint of the gloominess of someone who was going through a painful experience and trying to hide it. He could assume she was speaking from her heart.
“By the way, what happened to the usual girl?” Yuuto asked.
“O-oh, right. She caught a cold and wasn’t feeling well today. But everyone else was so busy. So Ephy wanted to... ah! No, u-um, I-I wanted to...”
“Ohh, that’s good of you. I’m impressed.”
It would seem that she normally referred to herself in the third person. That wasn’t terribly rare in children her age.
Yuuto pretended not to notice Ephelia’s mistake, and with a kind laugh, he ruffled her hair once more.
“E-ehehe!” Ephelia giggled bashfully, but also happily.
She was like a little puppy.
Yuuto couldn’t help himself from ruffling her hair even more.
“Awawa! M-Master?!”
“Ha ha, just giving you a reward for your hard work.”
“Nnn...” Embarrassed, Ephelia stared at the ground, her face bright red, which just made her even cuter.
Yuuto had several sworn little sisters and sworn daughters thanks to the Oath of the Chalice, but all them were fairly close in age to him, and each of them were dependable fighters or exemplary professionals in some field. The twin girls from the Claw Clan were a bit more younger than him, but both of them were frighteningly skilled in their own ways.
By contrast, Ephelia’s helplessness stirred up Yuuto’s instinctive desire to protect in an almost refreshing way. If he’d had an actual younger sister of his own, she might be something like this.
“Ephelia’s a bit of a long name,” he said. “Is it okay if I just call you Ephy?”
“O-of course. Ephy is Master’s property, so please use whatever name you like.”
“Okay, then.” Still petting Ephelia’s head, Yuuto gave a reassuring, easygoing nod...
...and suddenly he noticed he could feel several intense gazes on him.
With a shudder, Yuuto looked up to see three Einherjar glaring in his direction with very complicated and hard to read expressions.
Yuuto was the ultimate authority figure in the Wolf Clan. Felicia was his adjutant, Sigrún the captain of his personal guard, and Ingrid his close friend and partner.
And yet, what sent a chill down Yuuto’s spine was, without a doubt, terror.
“W-what is it? Is something wrong, you guys?” Yuuto inquired, unable to keep himself from flinching a bit.
At his words, the three of them seemed to come back to their senses and hurriedly shook their heads.
“N-no, there is nothing wrong,” Felicia said quickly. “(M-maybe Big Brother prefers younger girls after all. He did mention that his beloved Lady Mitsuki was a year younger than him, and he certainly seems to have taken a liking to Kristina...)”
“It’s nothing, Father,” Sigrún agreed. “(W-why? Even I couldn’t get Father to pet my head that much. I’m jealous of her, but I can’t say it out loud in front of everyone...!)”
“O-ohh, no, it’s nothing, don’t worry,” assured Ingrid. “(H-how could I admit I’m jealous of a little girl?!)”
“Uh, th-that’s good, then.” Yuuto didn’t feel like the answers he’d heard were the truth, and he wondered what they’d been muttering under their breaths, but he didn’t pursue the matter any further.
The sense of terror he’d felt a moment ago was still fresh.
A wise man keeps away from danger, as they say.
“Ah, that’s right. Ephy, would you like one of these sweets?” Pulling himself together, Yuuto took one of the leftover baked sweets from a plate on the table and held it out to Ephelia.
Once again, the atmosphere around the table seemed suddenly oppressive. Yuuto got the sense that he might have just made a terrific mistake, but it was too late to turn back now.
“O-oh, n-no, thank you! It would be unthinkable to eat Master’s food.” Ephelia shook her head violently side to side, trembling.
Surprisingly, baked sweets had a long and storied history. Even in ancient Mesopotamia in the 22nd century B.C., there was a sweet, cake-like confection called “mersu.” It was made by taking kneaded dough and mixing in things like dates, figs, raisins, honey, and variety of spices, and baked in a clay pot.
Of course, in an early era like this one, confections and desserts were an indulgence that could only be eaten by those with at least some wealth and status. It was, indeed, unthinkable for a slave like her to eat one.
Her reaction had been pretty much what Yuuto had predicted, so he deliberately made a disappointed face as he responded.
“I see. Well, that’s a problem. You see, I’m no good with sweet foods. But if I don’t finish them, it would be disrespectful to the people who made them. And most of all, they’d go to waste. It’d really help me out if someone were to eat one of them, you know?”
“Eh... uh... um... b-but...” Ephelia was stammering, but her eyes were already locked onto the confection in Yuuto’s hand. Deep down, she did want to eat it more than anything. She reflexively swallowed. All she needed was just one more push.
“Go on, take it.” A bit forcefully, Yuuto took Ephelia’s hand, and placed the baked sweet into it. “Now, eat it before it gets stale. It’s really tasty.”
“O-okay. Then, I humbly accept!” After having it personally handed to her by her master, Ephelia certainly couldn’t make him take it back. She made up her mind, and stuffed it into her mouth.
She chewed a few times, then a look of utter joy and ecstasy spread across her face. It seemed that girls loving sweets was just as true in Yggdrasil as it was in modern day Japan.
“Ish... ish sho yummy.” A few tears fell from Ephelia’s eyes.
“Hey, now, was it really tasty enough to cry over?” Yuuto said.
“Yes. But, it’s not just that... I just remembered eating one a long time ago...”
“A long time ago? ....Oh, right.” Yuuto dimly recalled that when he’d purchased Ephelia and her mother, the slave merchant had mentioned they had lived a life where they’d been “well cared-for.”
Even though she was still only around ten or so, she must have already been through some frightening experiences. The fear she had shown after her earlier blunder gave him just a glimpse of how bad it must have been.
“Hey, I’m sorry if I made you remember something bad,” he said.
“No, it’s all right. This is really delicious.” Ephelia chewed slowly, seemingly savoring every bit of the flavor.
To Yuuto’s taste, they were lacking in both sweetness and texture compared to the candy and cakes of modern-day Japan, but it must have been an incredibly rich treat for her.
“Okay, then,” he said. “...Huh? Hold on. Hey, Ephelia, can you by chance read that sign over there?” Yuuto pointed to a shop’s signboard down in the courtyard.
Ephelia tilted her head quizzically for a moment, then responded. “Umm, the one that says ‘One bygg of silver for 360 bygg sheep’s wool’?”
“Okay, that’ll do. Aaaaall right, you can eat as much of these as you want.”
With a satisfied nod, Yuuto picked up the plate of leftover sweets and handed the whole thing to Ephelia.
“H-huuuh?! N-no, I c-can’t accept this much!” Ephelia went pale and began shaking her head back and forth again. It seemed having so much bestowed on her by her master really was too much for her to accept.
“It’s fine. After all, thanks to you, I just thought of a really great idea.” Yuuto gave her a confident and reassuring smile.
With the thoughts racing through Yuuto’s mind, he couldn’t sit still and have a leisurely lunch anymore. He felt as if the world had suddenly opened up before him, and in a burst of high spirits, he stood up from the table to leave.
“...So men really do prefer younger girls, don’t they?” Felicia muttered. “I... I understand, though. By next year, I’ll already be twenty, after all, a woman past her prime...”
“To think she could so completely earn Father’s good favor in such a short amount of time...” Sigrún mourned. “This girl, I underestimated her...!”
“I can’t believe you sometimes! You just work your way through one girl after the other... Learn to control yourself a bit!”
The three girls who served as Yuuto’s trusted retainers appeared to be busy having some sort of fundamental misunderstanding about him.
“Mandatory education?” Felicia tilted her head in puzzlement.
She didn’t immediately understand the significance of the term.
Felicia and Yuuto had parted with the other girls on the terrace, and now the two of them were alone in Yuuto’s office.
Yuuto nodded, leaning back against his favorite chair. “That’s right. Look, that Ephy girl could read, right?”
“Yes, well, she supposedly was living well before she became a slave, so she likely attended a vaxt at some point.”
Yggdrasil was a world still in the Bronze Age, but there were places in many major towns and cities that taught basic reading, writing, and arithmetic, essentially basic schools for educating future bureaucratic officials. Such a place was called a “house of tablets,” or vaxt.
Of course, as evidenced by Yggdrasil’s less than 1% literacy rate, at present, only those from a very well-off stratum of society could afford to attend a vaxt.
“Mm-hm, that’s probably true,” said Yuuto. “Which means that, given a proper education, even a small child like Ephy can learn to read. And, without any education, even a fully mature adult can’t read a word.”
“Yes, that’s... true? ” Felicia gave a vague, uncertain response. To her, it probably just sounded like Yuuto was doing nothing more than stating the obvious. She hadn’t grasped his true intentions in bringing this up.
“So, think about it,” Yuuto said. “Assuming we do it in a way that’s flexible and works with our current circumstances, we could have all the kids from around ages seven to fifteen receive an education. Don’t you think that sounds interesting?”
The corners of Yuuto’s mouth pulled upwards in an excited grin.
He remembered how the popular term “Spartan education” had its roots in the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta, where every citizen had gone through an incredibly harsh and intensive period of mandatory education and training.
The world of Yggdrasil was one in which the ruling class was determined by ability and merit rather than bloodline, thanks to the Chalice of Allegiance and clan system. In that sense, it bore some similarities to the democratic systems of ancient Greece and Rome, where citizens had several rights and could elect their rulers by vote.
In a more fixed society governed by inheritance, where the children of farmers could only become farmers and the children of soldiers could only become soldiers, Yuuto could have expected a backlash to implementing widespread education, mainly from the powerful upper classes. But in a meritocratic society with the Oath of the Chalice at its core, it should be comparatively easier to acclimate the populace to the idea.
Of course, there were bound to be problems that arose once he actually tried to implement the policy, but all he needed to do was deal with them as they emerged.
To Yuuto, this seemed like a brilliant and inspired idea, but Felicia’s expression only grew more suspicious and doubtful.
“...Um, Big Brother? You say ‘all of the children,’ but I would point out that the reality is that attending a vaxt is very expensive, and I believe there are only a limited number who could afford to do so. Wouldn’t it be quite hard on the citizens to force such a burden on them?”
“Hm? Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. We’re going to make it free for them, you see.”
“...Pardon?” Confused, Felicia was now asking Yuuto to repeat himself.
Well, that’s understandable, Yuuto thought wryly to himself. The idea was totally normal to someone from the 21st century, but had to have sounded completely bizarre to a person from this era.
“It’ll be free. The teachers’ salaries, the supplies, the upkeep — all of those costs will be paid for by the Wolf Clan.”
“Wh-whaaat?! U-um, Big Brother, it is indeed true that thanks to your tremendous efforts, the Wolf Clan as of late is incomparably more prosperous than it was before. But even so, I cannot think we have enough to afford...”
“We do, thanks to the glass. You saw just how crazy everyone was over it down in the bazaar earlier. It’s going to make us a huge profit, far greater than even the paper.”
“I see... That is true... However, frankly speaking, I think it is a very long-term plan in terms of its payoff. I fail to see how it can contribute at all to our present dilemma with our lack of personnel...”
“You’re right, but, well, that’s it’s own problem, and I plan to work on it separately. But where I come from, there are a couple of sayings appropriate for times like this. The first is ‘haste makes waste,’ and the second is ‘the longest way round is the shortest way home.’”
Often, when faced with a difficult problem, many people had a tendency to put off working on the more difficult job of solving the core cause of the problem, instead focusing on taking immediate actions and stopgap measures.
But if one only continued to produce incomplete, temporary solutions, then without fail, the problem would snowball over time, growing worse until it reached a point where no stopgap measure would be good enough, and nothing more could be done.
It had only been a little over a year since Yuuto became a patriarch, but he already knew that fact all too well.
It was true that he was desperate to get his hands on talented new recruits for his administration, but they weren’t going to just pop out of thin air for him anytime soon.
“So, I guess for starters, we should just stick with basic reading, writing, and arithmetic for everyone, and some combat training for the boys.” Yuuto stared into space, counting off the necessary subjects with his fingers.
The idea of teaching young, innocent children something as violent and brutal as combat didn’t exactly make him feel comfortable, but Yggdrasil was a world of might-makes-right, where the strong took what they wanted from the weak who couldn’t resist.
Yuuto had already sent out his armies several times now, in defense of the Wolf Clan’s territory.
“If it does not possess the will and the means to protect itself by its own power, then no matter the great nation, it shall not maintain its peace and independence for long. That is because, unable to rely on its own power to protect itself, it can only rely on fortune.” It was a quote from that bible of politics, Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince.
In the end, preparing for the next conflict to come was absolutely necessary in this war-torn world.
“It may seem like a long way off right now,” Yuuto said. “But if we make sure to sow the seeds right now, then five or ten years later when we reap the benefits, it’ll make the Wolf Clan stronger than it’s ever been before.”
And it’s good insurance for after I’ve already gone back to Japan, Yuuto added in his thoughts.
The threats from the Claw Clan and the Horn Clan had since passed. The wars with the Hoof Clan and Lightning Clan after that had both been unexpected, but resulted in the Wolf Clan’s further growth and expansion.
As far as Yuuto was concerned, he had already more than accomplished the task left to him by his predecessor.
The only thing left that worried him was what would happen to the Wolf Clan after he went back home.
He sincerely wished that the clan would be able to live in peace and prosperity, even after he left.
That was just one more reason why he wanted to make such long-term preparations.
“You wish to know all of the famous users of seiðr magic?” Kristina asked, blinking in surprise.
At first glance, she looked like a normal, cute young girl of around twelve or thirteen. She normally always went everywhere accompanied by her sister Albertina, but tonight she was by herself.
Albertina was currently in bed back in their room, hugging a pillow and soundly snoring.
“Considering the divine techniques you already possess, Father — you call them “cheats,” yes? — I don’t see how you would have need of them. Besides, you have Aunt Felicia, as well.” Kristina seemed mystified by Yuuto’s request.
Seiðr, meaning “secret art,” was a type of ritual magic that required more complicated conditions and steps to perform, but could accomplish more powerful effects than the galldr song magics which only required one’s voice.
They were mainly used for things like praying for rain or a bountiful harvest, dispelling sickness from those of high rank, or divining the future.
Of course, just because one performed a seiðr didn’t guarantee that rain would fall, or that the harvest would be bountiful, or that the sick would be healed. The overall lack of reliability in their results was such that they didn’t seem much better than shams or placebos to Yuuto.
To him, the modern day techniques he used were far more powerful and reliable. There was the sandbag strategy he’d used to dam the waters of a river and then unleash a flood on his enemy, or the Norfolk system of crop rotation that built upon its own results in a virtuous cycle, or his use of improved city sanitation to reduce the spread of disease.
However...
“Well, that doesn’t really matter. Just tell me about the ones you know of.” Concealing his true intentions, Yuuto pressured Kristina to continue.
Kristina silently thought to herself for a minute. “I think the most famous one would have to be the priestess and seer, Völva. It is said that her powers as an oracle helped Divine Emperor Wotan unite Yggdrasil and establish the Holy Ásgarðr Empire.”
“Hmm... let’s go with just people that are still alive.” Yuuto had learned from Felicia that the first divine emperor founded the empire around two hundred years earlier. He couldn’t imagine someone from that time would still be alive today.
“Hm, then in that case, how about the Sigyn, the Witch of Miðgarðr? She is an Einherjar with the rune Svaðilfari, the Unlucky Traveler, and her name is known even here in the Bifröst Basin.”
“Oh, interesting. So what kinds of seiðr can she use, for example?”
“Let me see. She is proficient with a seiðr that gives some of her own good luck to another person, Hamingja, and one that allows her to take on the misfortune that is about to befall someone, Fylgja.”
“Ohh, so just like what the name of her rune suggests, she’s good at manipulating luck, then?”
“Aside from that, she is also famous for a seiðr called Fimbulvetr that can turn people into powerful berserkers that fight fearlessly to the very last.”
“Whoa, that one’s scary. So all of them end up creating misfortune as a byproduct, whether it’s for herself or for her enemies. Is there anyone else?”
“There is Sif, the priestess of the Snow Clan. I have heard that she can use the seiðr Gullveig, used to promote a bountiful harvest.”
“Huh? Wait, isn’t that also one of the names Linnea’s predecessor, the previous patriarch of the Horn Clan, went by?”
“Yes. That is because the previous Horn Clan patriarch Hrungnir had so fully mastered that seiðr, there was no one better than him with it.”
“Uh huh, I see. Well, I don’t need to hear about any crop-related ones. Any others?”
“I would think that agriculture is the most important and fundamental thing for a nation... Hmm. That reminds me, Father, you were summoned here by Aunt Felicia’s seiðr Gleipnir, were you not?” Kristina suddenly looked like she’d realized something, and looked straight into Yuuto’s eyes, her gaze searching.
“Y-yeah. That’s true, I was.” Yuuto tried his best to act unfazed, but her remark hit so close to the mark that he ever so slightly flinched.
“Hmmm...” With just that, it was as if this clever girl suddenly pieced together everything. She narrowed her eyes, her reproachful, stare sliding over him.
“I see now. You were searching for a method for returning home. You are quite the cruel father, enlisting your own new daughter in helping with that task.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” Yuuto quickly gave up on making any kind of excuse, and slumped his shoulders, defeated.
Because he’d been called to this world during a rite pleading for victory for the Wolf Clan, at one time, Yuuto had assumed that if he helped bring them that victory, he could go back home. But in the end, even after subjugating the Claw Clan and Horn Clan, even after defeating the Hoof Clan and Lightning Clan, there was no sign of him being able to see Japan again any time soon.
What had pulled Yuuto into this world was Gleipnir, a seiðr which was ordinarily used to grasp ahold of unnatural or otherworldly powers and seal them. So, Yuuto had for some time been considering that some other kind of seiðr might have a chance of sending him back.
Ever since he’d first arrived, the threats of immediate danger and crisis had meant he’d had to keep putting off his investigation, and now over two years had gone by.
He didn’t want to let any more time get away from him. He had someone back home waiting for him. So, he was becoming more and more impatient to get his search seriously underway.
“So was the reason you went through all the trouble of calling me out here in the middle of the night that you didn’t want Aunt Felicia to hear us?”
“You’re right again,” he admitted.
I really can’t underestimate this girl, Yuuto thought to himself.
She was an expert at being able to fully deduce these sorts of things with only the tiniest of hints. She was still quite young, but her ability to handle and analyze information was unparalleled.
“Of course, if I did let Felicia know, I’m sure she’d tell me what she knows, and help me search, but...” Yuuto trailed off with a bitter smile.
He got the feeling that if she did help him, she would likely be smiling on the outside, all the while crying on the inside. He was at least that much aware of how much she cared for him.
Felicia had once said to him that she wanted him to rely on her more. Yuuto already thought of her as his trusted confidant, and was sure he’d be relying on her for plenty in the days to come.
Even when it came to his search for a way back home, if he’d exhausted all other avenues and had no choice left but to rely on her powers, then it would be painful but he’d ask for her help.
However, he didn’t want to hurt her if this was something he could get help from other people with.
She was the person responsible for pulling him into Yggdrasil, but she was also the person he owed his life to. She had cared for and aided him ever since those first days when he was helpless.
“Honestly, this is quite a letdown, Father,” Kristina said. “More than anything, it’s quite rude to me.”
“I said I’m sorry, okay? That was wrong of me.” The result of Yuuto’s efforts was that he found himself apologizing profusely to Kristina.
She had recognized him as the one man she could deem worthy of making her sworn father, and it hadn’t even been three days since she had exchanged the Oath of the Chalice with him, only to now find that he was secretly scheming to abdicate his position as patriarch and escape back home alone.
It couldn’t be helped if she saw him as utterly irresponsible.
“Here I had been so sure that you had given into your bestial urges,” Kristina said. “I was so looking forward to a dangerous and thrilling nighttime rendezvous, too.”
“Wait, that’s what you meant?!”
“Really, are you sure you’re okay, living a celibate life at your age? Doesn’t it... affect you?”
“The fact that a kid like you seems so well-informed about that stuff is way less okay for me right now!”
“Oh, I just happened across the information somewhere. Really, just by chance.”
“Yeah, right... I know just what kind of person you are.”
“Well! I am just a normal little girl, I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re implying, Father.” Kristina giggled mischievously.
It seemed that in regards to Yuuto’s unfaithfulness and disrespect, she was willing to let the matter go without any more comment. She’d even used an unexpected and outlandish joke to break up the oppressive mood in the air. She really was a smart girl.
Inwardly grateful to his considerate sworn daughter, Yuuto grumbled to himself about what to do next.
“Well then, in regards to both my way home and the need for more personnel, we need to do what we can to discover qualified people and recruit them. ‘The people are my armies, the people are my stone walls, the people are my moats, mercy is my ally, while evil is my enemy.’ Those words are as true as ever.”
They were the words of Takeda Shingen, the Japanese warlord and ruler famous for his battle standard, the furinkazan, which itself featured quotes from Sun Tzu.
The quote emphasized that what truly protected a nation was not castles or walls or moats, but first and foremost the power of its people. It was a quote that served as a good representation of the man renowned as perhaps the strongest military ruler of the Sengoku Period.
“All right, then,” he murmured to himself. “What to do...”
“The introduction of currency is being received incredibly well among the city’s population. Everyone is talking about how it’s made transactions simpler and reduced the amount of arguments that break out. With things running more smoothly, there are a lot more transactions taking place as well, and the marketplace is busier than ever.”
It was the following day, and in Yuuto’s office, a man was reporting the current situation to him in a quickened, fervent voice.
He was in his mid-thirties, with an intense, masculine face and the sun-tanned skin of someone who had spent many years traveling the roads.
His name was Ginnar. He was the manager and boss of the Iárnviðr bazaar.
He had originally been a merchant trader who had traveled the length and breadth of Yggdrasil’s many lands, but around half a year ago, Yuuto had seen his talent and seen fit to personally employ him.
Yuuto had done some studying of economic theory on the internet, but in the end, he was still no better than a total amateur when it came to the real thing. Right now trade was the Wolf Clan’s primary source of income, so an experienced man like Ginnar who knew the business inside and out was a valued asset to him as an advisor.
That said, it still would have been improper for the patriarch to suddenly give an outsider his Chalice oath directly, so for the time being, Yuuto had had Ginnar exchange the Oath of the Sibling Chalice with his second-in-command, Jörgen.
Jörgen was Yuuto’s child subordinate, and Ginnar had become Jörgen’s sworn younger brother, so according to clan hierarchy, Yuuto was technically now his sworn parent, similar to a father-in-law in the modern day.
Jörgen himself had now become quite the father figure himself as the head of the largest faction family within the Wolf Clan, over fifteen hundred strong, equal to the population of a small clan. The position as such a man’s younger sibling subordinate was not a loss of face for Ginnar. It was quite the opposite; objectively speaking, it was quite preferential treatment to give such status to a new recruit.
“Then there’s the fact that trust in the currency creates added value, so we scratch up a little more profit on every sale,” Ginnar went on. “Not to mention the fact that using copper coins means we can get the material for them at low cost by recycling the bronze weapons and armor we don’t use anymore. We’re turning such a profit it’s practically robbery. You’re really amazing, Father! Even we merchants would have trouble coming up with such a devious method.”
“Oh come on, now, don’t make it sound like I’m some kind of villain.” Yuuto shook his head with a wry smile. He knew the man was complimenting him, but the choice of words left something to be desired.
Despite his exasperated response, he found he could relax more when talking with someone like Ginnar. In his position as the patriarch, most people were too overly humble and considerate of him.
Ginnar’s frank and friendly manner was his trademark, and it surely came from his life as a merchant trader who traveled from place to unfamiliar place, constantly having to form connections with strangers and do business with them.
“Still,” Felicia said from behind Yuuto, “it is wonderful to hear that it turned out so well.”
Yuuto nodded. “Yeah, that’s for sure. This means it should be fine to expand the practice to all areas throughout Wolf Clan territory. Once we’ve done that, I just need to find some way to get the other clans under our protection to start using currency, too. Well, I suppose the only way to do that is to have direct talks with the other patriarchs.”
A currency that was only really used in Iárnviðr would still pose a lot of inconveniences when it came to trade. In fact, the trade merchants purchasing the Wolf Clan’s glass products still weren’t using the Wolf Clan’s new currency, but instead paying by weight in raw silver or barley.
If the currency gained traction in a wider area, it would be convenient enough for the merchants to begin using it in their transactions, too. That would lead to an increased profit on trade within the Wolf Clan’s sphere of influence, and greater prosperity for the clan.
“In that case, let us get started on the arrangements right away,” said Ginnar. “The sales of glassware yesterday gave us quite a lot of silver, but I can’t be sure we have enough copper coins yet to cover the wide amount of territory under discussion.”
“All right, I’ll leave those matters to you, then. Oh, but before that, I should give you your reward, though.”
It was Yuuto’s policy, and thus the Wolf Clan’s, to always give a proper reward to those who accomplished something for the clan.
Machiavelli, whom Yuuto had fully come to respect as his historical teacher on matters of politics, said this on the subject:
“A great ruler must appoint talented individuals as his advisors, and reward them appropriately for their accomplishments.”
Introducing a new practice or custom always carried associated risks, however much more convenient it might be. This man Ginnar’s skill and experience had surely played a large part in getting the people of the city to accept the new currency so readily.
“Heh heh, thank you very much. If at all possible, I’d really like to have something like that glass ornament you have there.” Rubbing his hands together, Ginnar glanced over at a beautiful glass statuette of a wolf sitting on Yuuto’s desk.
As expected of a former trade merchant, he had a good eye for valuable objects. Ingrid’s apprentices had all grown into competent craftsmen, but Ingrid herself was still the only one skilled enough to be capable of creating something so fine and complex.
“Sorry, but this is something a good friend of mine gave me to celebrate our recent victory,” Yuuto said. “I can’t give it to you.”
“N-no, of course not, and it’s not that I really need it to be that one in particular. I would be fine just with something that looked similar.”
“Hmm, okay then, I’ll see about asking Ingrid to...” Yuuto trailed off mid-sentence. Then, with a gasp, his eyes widened. And slowly, a wide grin spread across his face.
“I’ve got it! Ginnar... how about I give you something much, much better than a glass ornament?”
“Ohhh! Y-you would give me something even better than this?!”
“Oh yes, and it’ll also take care of the Wolf Clan’s personnel problem, too. I’m gonna make sure you accept it, whether you like it or not.”
“H-huh?”
Yuuto’s suggestive statement was enough to make Ginnar’s face cloud over with sudden suspicion.
The market master’s eyes instinctively darted over to Yuuto’s adjutant Felicia, as if seeking help, but she only lightly shook her head in response.
Yuuto then proceeded to explain exactly what sort of reward he was going to give Ginnar.
“Wh-whaaaaaat?!”
Ginnar’s astonished shout was loud enough to be heard outside the walls of the patriarch’s office.
At the same time that Yuuto was steadily working to put in place the arrangements he needed to leave the Wolf Clan safely behind him, far to the west, the former Hoof Clan capital of Nóatún had just come under the control of a new ruler.
The patriarch of the Panther Clan, Hveðrungr, sat himself down on his throne and smirked. “Not bad. I have to say I find this chair quite comfortable.”
If one were to describe his appearance with two words, they would be “strange” and “suspicious.” A black mask covered the upper half of his face, its surface shimmering with an ominous, dark luster.
One year ago, this man had unexpectedly shown up in the lands of the Panther Clan, at the time nothing more than a single small nomadic clan in the Miðgarðr region. Despite being an outsider to them, he had rapidly distinguished himself with so many great achievements that he had established himself as a hero within their clan, eventually rising to become their next patriarch.
In what seemed like the blink of an eye, the Panther Clan had then proceeded to conquer and annex all of their neighboring clans, and to top it off, they had just finished conquering the Hoof Clan, one of the ten Great Clans of Yggdrasil, as easily as swatting a fly.
Everyone within the Panther Clan agreed that it was all thanks to this man Hveðrungr, and the refined iron and stirrups he had invented for them.
“Heh-heh-heh, but unfortunately the rest of the palace of the supreme ruler of Álfheimr is in quite the sorry state.” Hveðrungr’s lips turned upward in a smile of sinister joy.
It was just as he’d said. The once gorgeous decorations lining the walls and halls of Nóatún’s palace had all been looted or smashed beyond repair, and everywhere one looked, there were countless bloodstains. The corpses had been taken away, but it was a sight gruesome enough to overwhelm the faint of heart.
The two generals waiting upon Hveðrungr each spoke up, their spirits high.
“Father, let us seize this momentum and capture the lands south of the Örmt River, as well!”
“Yes, with that last battle, their forces are already on shaky footing. They’ll scarcely even be able to defend against us!”
The first of the two generals was Narfi, a slender man with handsome, clean-cut features and a gentlemanly bearing. The other, Váli, was the complete opposite, thick and brawny with a crude, wild appearance and a hairy face. The two of them were both veteran warriors of the Panther tribe, and both Einherjar.
“Forget about them.” Hveðrungr’s answer was terse and disinterested.
His two generals were quite visibly disappointed at this. For a nomadic clan of subsistence hunters, allowing one’s weakened prey escape was disgraceful.
The words of a patriarch were absolute and final, but these two generals still couldn’t bring themselves to accept them.
“Father, I find that strange,” Narfi objected. “Those don’t sound like the words of such a wise man as you. The prize is so close nearby, ready and waiting for us to take it.”
“It’s just as Narfi says,” Váli agreed. “If we carelessly allow them to reorganize themselves, it’ll just be more trouble for us. We have to act now, Father!”
The two of them moved closer to Hveðrungr as they made their impassioned, boastful pleas. But the patriarch sat still with his chin propped against one hand, with no sign that he’d been the least bit persuaded.
“Destroy the Hoof Clan completely, and the Lightning Clan will await us,” the patriarch said. “If we stir up trouble with their ‘tiger,’ it will be quite the bit of work to deal with him. I’m going to leave that area of the Hoof Clan intact as a buffer zone.”
The rumors about the Dólgþrasir, the Battle-Hungry Tiger of Vanaheimr, had reached even the distant northern Miðgarðr region. Those rumors had spoken of a young man so invincibly powerful that even a group of Einherjar fighting together hadn’t been strong enough able to overcome him.
Hveðrungr didn’t consider him an unbeatable opponent, but he had no doubt that a battle would produce a great many casualties on his side, as well.
No, the one enemy Hveðrungr truly had to kill was somewhere else, and this stronghold city of Nóatún he had just captured would bring him another step closer to that goal. Fighting unnecessary battles against other enemies he didn’t care about would just be an annoying waste of time.
Fortunately, the previous patriarch of the Hoof Clan, Yngvi, had exchanged the Oath of the Sibling Chalice on equal terms with the Lightning Clan patriarch Steinðórr. There had been no such oath exchanged with the most recent Hoof Clan patriarch, but at the very least, the two clans were formally related at the moment. The Lightning Clan wouldn’t just blindly invade Hoof Clan territory in this state.
And, according to what Hveðrungr had heard about the Dólgþrasir’s character, he wouldn’t find the defeated and weakened Hoof Clan forces to be a strong enough opponent to be worthy of attacking. They would make the perfect shield.
“Hm, I see,” Narfi said. “So that was your reasoning.”
He seemed to understand the meaning behind Hveðrungr’s words now, and nodded in assent. Váli, on the other hand, still refused to yield.
“That so-called tiger lived his life snug and secure behind city walls; he’s nothing more than a domesticated cat! What are you so frightened of him for, Father?! If that is how it’s going to be, I’ll go take care of both the Hoof Clan and the Lightning Clan myself!”
Váli stood up with a start, bellowing furiously.
He was still young, and only tenth ranked in the Panther Clan, lowest among the chief officers. But when it came to matters of valor on the field, he was a powerful and reputed warrior who had survived the white-hot crucible of countless battles, and one of the strongest three within the clan.
Perhaps his youthful, competitive spirit was also driving him forward; a desire to fight the Dólgþrasir and see for himself just how strong an opponent he was.
However—
“...Really?” Hveðrungr asked. “So you’ll defy me and move my armies on your own, then. Is that what you’re saying, Váli?”
“Ah...!”
The instant Hveðrungr whispered those words, Váli was overcome by a sudden sense of mortal terror, as if a knife were being pressed directly against his throat.
The words themselves had been quiet, but the eyes behind Hveðrungr’s mask blazed with silent hatred and fury. It was such clearly understandable and intense murderous intent that a cold sweat began to run down Váli’s back.
“N-n-no, no Father. I... I wouldn’t possibly. Never. I-I was only thinking of you, Father, and the Panther Clan, so I...”
“Right, I’ve heard enough. I’ve no need for you anymore.” Hveðrungr slowly stood up, staring haughtily down at Váli, who had frozen in place. There wasn’t a hint of hesitation in his eyes. They were callous and compassionless... the eyes of someone looking at a mere object.
“F-Father, p-please, please forgive me. I g-got too carried away with myself. I know it was wrong.” Váli had seemed to shrink into himself, his body shaking, as if all of his previous bluster had been nothing more than a lie.
He was a respected warrior renowned for his bravery on the battlefield, and far from the sort of man who would cower in the face of death.
But now he was frozen before Hveðrungr like a deer in headlights, paralyzed by an instinctive fear that swallowed his mind.
“Now, now, forgive him, Rungr.” A woman who had been standing next to the throne moved next to the patriarch, drooping her body against his, and placed her hand gently over his hand before it could finish moving to draw the sword at his hip.
She was a beauty in the full blossom of youth, with long, silver-white hair that flowed down her back in a great ponytail. She pressed her abundant chest against Hveðrungr, and flashed him a coquettish smile.
“Váli might be an idiot, but he is one of our best fighters,” she said. “You’re going to fight your most important battle soon, right? Don’t you think it’d be a waste to lose someone like him now?”
“The fact that it’s important is exactly why I don’t need the kind of idiots who act on their own,” Hveðrungr growled. “In the past, all of my plans, and everything I’d built up, were ruined by exactly that type of man.”
As if his own words had triggered some memory, the vicious aura emanating from Hveðrungr grew in intensity.
His hatred was so intense that it seemed to swirl around him, and everyone in the room with him had their hearts eaten away at by the black fear that it inspired in them.
The woman was no exception. The confidence fell away from her expression, and the color began to drain from her face. Just as Yuuto Suoh of the Wolf Clan had the spirit and aura of a great leader, just as Steinðórr of the Lightning Clan had the spirit and aura of a peerless warrior, Hveðrungr of the Panther Clan had an intense aura of wickedness and evil that could hold sway over people.
But even under the pressure of that wicked aura, the woman laughed playfully.
“Hmhm... hee hee hee, you’re as frightening a man as ever. That’s exactly why I chose you to be my husband, and relinquished the position of patriarch to you.” Sigyn stared lovingly up at Hveðrungr’s face, shrouded in its iron mask.
She didn’t know all of the details of what had happened to him in the past. However, there was no doubt that whatever event had sparked such hatred in him had also burned away any traces of softness or naivete. To Sigyn, that made him extremely dependable, and irresistably attractive.
Sigyn wasn’t just the seiðr user reknowned as the Witch of Miðgarðr. Until two months ago, she had also been the patriarch of the Panther Clan, and its greatest female warrior in a generation.
That was why she knew, from her own experiences, that a “benevolent ruler,” virtuous and tolerant, was in the end nothing more than the empty ideals of the masses.
People who were to stand above others and rule them needed pride that wouldn’t allow the idea of anyone greater than themselves. They needed to be merciless enough to toss aside and sacrifice their own child, sworn or otherwise, when the situation demanded it. They needed a vigilant and suspicious heart, unwilling to completely trust anyone, be they friend or family.
Naturally, Sigyn had no way of knowing this, but centuries later, the man who would attempt to conquer the world, Alexander the Great, would have this written about him in the Varia Historia by Claudius Aelianus:
“He hated Perdiccas because he was a great soldier, Lysimachus because he was a skilled commander, and Seleucus because he was brave and gallant. Antigonus and his generosity, the irreproachable good morals of Attalus, and Ptolemy’s good fortune all irritated him.”
Yes, Alexander the Great had held complicated feelings towards all of his subordinates who held specific qualities that surpassed him.
Even the man who would later become the founder and first emperor of the Han dynasty, Liu Bang, would succeed in uniting China but then fall into a pattern of purging those underneath him who began to rise in fame due to their achievements.
One of Liu Ban’s retainers, Han Xin, would be known as one of the three great heroes of the early Han dynasty, but still find himself imprisoned. At that time, he would cry out, “The hunting dog becomes food as well after it is used to hunt game!”
In Japanese history, there would be the case of Minamoto no Yoritomo, the establisher of the Kamakura shogunate. He would grow suspicious of his own brothers, Yoritomo and Yoshitsune, after their making great names for themselves in the war against the Taira clan. Fearing they would aim to replace him, he would them demoted and later killed.
Sigyun’s intuition based on her own life experience thus touched on one aspect of the truth of human nature.
But it was also a fact that people would not follow a ruler who was merely excessively cruel. She had decided for herself, then, that her role as his wife was to support and complement him in his rule.
“Even an idiot like that is a child that I’ve taken great pains to raise up over the years,” Sigyn said. “Could you forgive him just this one time, for me? I’ll be sure to give him a very thorough talking to, that he won’t soon forget. Please.”
“...Hmph,” Hveðrungr muttered. “Fine, if you insist. But Váli, there won’t be a next time.”
Even Hveðrungr couldn’t flatly dismiss such a sincere request from his predecessor as patriarch.
He had appeared before the Panther Clan a year and a half ago, so his authority as its leader had yet to become fully entrenched. It wouldn’t be a good idea to publicly disrespect his wife, the person who could most vouch for his authority.
At least, not for now.
Váli dropped to his knees on the spot and bowed his head down low. “Y-yes, sir! I will take those words to heart, and be sure to know my place as I devote myself to your faithful service!”
The man felt, down to the marrow of his bones, that there was nothing he could do to win against this man, and any trace of rebellious spirit in his heart had vanished. His face looked exhausted, as rivulets of sweat poured down it.
However, Hveðrungr was no longer paying any mind to the likes of him.
“Almost time.... it’s almost time,” he murmured.
Hveðrungr’s gaze was fixed eastward, towards the lands of the Wolf Clan, the place he had once called home.
Towards the lands of the hated enemy who had stolen everything from him.
The dark whims of fate had pulled apart two brothers onto very different paths, and now, after a year’s time, they were about to meet once more.
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