Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyria - Volume 5 - Chapter Ep

EPILOGUE 

“Mm...? Oh, good timing,” Yuuto called, spotting a convenient Einherjar. He was on his way back from finishing a call with Mitsuki in the Hliðskjálf, and now he was looking at the girl with the rune Veðrfölnir, Silencer of Winds. “I want to take a nighttime walk through the city for a bit, so could you accompany me?” 

Kristina objected, “But this is the hour when good little children should be getting along to bed.” 

“Then you should be just fine.” Yuuto gestured with a jerk of his chin for her to come along, and began to walk toward the gate to the city. 

Kristina rolled her eyes and moved to walk alongside him. “Well, as for me, I would prefer to be in bed myself, cherishing the good little girl who’s already asleep there.” 

“Don’t be like that. Now come on.” This was a more forceful manner than Yuuto normally displayed. He was such a serious person, so patient and self-denying, that his subordinates often worried about him because of it. But even for him, there were days where he needed to be a little selfish and take a break like this, or he wouldn’t be able to function. 

Today, Mitsuki had told him what she’d learned, and it had given him quite a shock. There was the possibility he was somehow Fenrir, Jörmungandr, and even the great black fire giant Surtr who would burn down all of Yggdrasil. It was so preposterous that he had a hard time taking it seriously. 

For starters, he didn’t have the slightest ambition or intention of setting the land of Yggdrasil on fire. 

So he was trying not to worry about it, but the thoughts were still stuck in his head, and he couldn’t dismiss them. 

Now that he’d heard it described, it did seem true that the path he’d taken so far was the one that led to the mythical end of the world, to Ragnarök. 

At this rate, eventually he might lead the world of Yggdrasil into a fate of destruction and despair. 

In other words, that also meant he’d no longer have a way to get home to the 21st century. 

And that wasn’t all. 

Mitsuki had been purposefully vague about it, but Yuuto knew that the fate of the creatures who cause the end of the world in Norse myth was not a happy one. 

In other words, it seemed the future held in store for him was that of a tragic death. 

“Brrr, it really is a cold one tonight.” Yuuto’s body was shivering. He wasn’t sure if it was merely from the cold. 

Suddenly, he heard a high-pitched, yapping bark. 

“Mm? Oh hey, if it isn’t Hildólfr,” he said. 

The wolf puppy ran up and began to lovingly brush up against his legs. Yuuto broke into a smile and reached down to pat its head. 

When Sigrún had gone out on a mission to take care of some mountain bandits, she’d brought back this garmr cub with her. Right now it was still the same cute size as any other normal puppy, but apparently it would eventually grow to be just as big as a lion or tiger. 

Yuuto knew of an ancient canine species called the dire wolf, said to have gone extinct 100,000 years before the modern day. An adult of the species was said to be huge, capable of weighing as much as 360 kilograms. Perhaps the garmr was some subspecies or descendant of the dire wolf. 

In the 21st century, there had been a buzz in the news for a while when a hunter in Canada claimed to have found and shot an abnormally huge wolf weighing over 100 kilograms. But to think that wolves even larger that were just living normally in Yggdrasil... it was astonishing. 

Whether it was the strange wildlife, the Einherjar, or the magical “elven copper” known as álfkipfer, the world of Yggdrasil just wasn’t normal. 

“All right, since you’re here, why don’t you join us on our night walk?” Yuuto asked the puppy. 

Arf! 

Hildólfr couldn’t possibly understand Yuuto’s words, but he barked happily and followed, running in circles around Kristina and Yuuto as they continued on. 

Seeing that brought to Yuuto’s mind the phrase “the dog is running around the yard with joy,” a lyric from one of the old Japanese nursery rhymes he’d grown up with. 

“Heh, but it’s amazing how friendly you are with people, little guy,” Yuuto commented. 

Looking at the creature now, it was hard for him to believe that until just recently, it had been living in the wild. Perhaps that was because Sigrún and many other humans had been treating it kindly and with affection. 

Even if it was eventually going to become a predator the size of a lion or tiger, for now it was a cute little puppy. That was all that was necessary for it to now be popular and loved among the people in the palace. 

As the saying went in 21st century Japan, “Cuteness is Justice.” 

As they exited through the outer palace gate, Yuuto looked out at the moonlit city and spoke solemnly. “You know, it always gets me how the city is so loud and lively during the day, but at night, it’s so quiet.” 

The main street that had been so packed with people was now completely empty. There wasn’t any light from any of the houses or buildings, as if he was wandering into a ghost town. 

“It’s nighttime, so that is only normal, isn’t it?” Kristina replied indifferently. The still, silent cityscape didn’t inspire any emotion or opinion in her at all. 

“Well, no, in the country I came from, there are cities and towns that are pretty bright even at night.” 

“Well, that sounds like quite the grand and luxurious country. Perhaps I should have expected as much from Father’s beloved homeland?” 

“Huh... Well, I suppose it’s true that even globally speaking, my country was pretty advanced and wealthy.” 

This unimportant small talk continued as the two humans and one puppy ambled aimlessly down the city streets. 

I was right. At times like this, I just need to talk to someone, Yuuto reflected. If he were all alone, his mind would just be racing in circles with negative thoughts. And he enjoyed talking with Kristina; the witty banter between them always naturally left him with a little smile. 

A bit of smiles and laughter was the best medicine for the heart at times like this. 

“Gwagh!” a man’s voice called. 

Thud! Wham! 

The sounds of a deep-voiced man crying out in pain and the loud sounds of something crashing violently cut through the quiet night air. 

“It is coming from the tavern ahead of us that way,” Kristina said, pointing to a narrow side street branching from the left-hand side of the main street. “What shall we do?” 

A fight in a tavern wasn’t that unusual. It wasn’t something the patriarch of the clan should stick his nose into. It was likely that his involvement would just turn it into more of an incident. For right now, it would be best to leave things be, and— 

“Do not presume to touch us, lout!” a girl’s voice shouted. 

“Whaaat?!” the man yelled. 

“Honestly, this is more horrible than the tales we’d heard. No one is here but you tawdry, vulgar lot.” 

“Huuuh?! I don’t know who you think you are, but you’ve gotta lotta nerve talkin’ like that, bitch!” 

As further voices reached him, Yuuto realized it wouldn’t be so simple. He was definitely hearing a girl’s voice in the mix now. And it was the voice of someone fairly young, and also fairly full of pride. 

With that attitude, the conflict had no hope of settling down peacefully. 

No, far from it — the girl seemed to be trying to provoke a fight with the rest of the patrons. 

He couldn’t let the situation go now, or he wouldn’t be able to go to sleep in good conscience tonight. Actually, he probably would be so concerned about the incident that he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep in the first place. 

“Tch. Looks like fate brought us here for a reason. Kris, let’s go.” With an irritated click of his tongue, Yuuto ran towards the direction of the voices. 

Before long, the bright flame of a torch caught his eye, along with the telltale sign on the building indicating a bar and tavern. There was a gaggle of around ten people gathered together out in front of the building. 

Angry shouts flew back and forth, and it looked like the situation was about to erupt into a full-on brawl at any second. 

“Wait, wait! Everyone calm down!” Yuuto grabbed the shoulder of the person closest to him and tried to make himself heard. 

“Haaah?! What the hell do you want?!” 

“If you’re tryin’ to get in our way, we’re gonna start with you!” 

The men who turned around shouted at him with intense, threatening voices. 

Yuuto was now a man with tens of thousands of soldiers under his command. This sort of threat wasn’t enough to scare him or make him flinch, but he could tell that the men were already well overheated with anger. 

Just as he was wondering how to solve this problem, Kristina snapped from beside him, “Be silent. Does no one recognize who stands before you now?! Behold, the august lord of our Wolf Clan, the eighth patriarch Yuuto Suoh!” 

“Haaah? Don’t be stupid!” 

“Yeah, you think our lord patriarch would be out here at some run-down tavern in the middle of the... gaah?!” 

“Oh! Ohhh! It’s...!” 

The red faces of the drunken men all drained of their color on the spot. 

For anyone in the Wolf Clan, even if they happened to be unfamiliar with their patriarch’s exact face, they knew his basic characteristics. Right now, illuminated by the brightly flickering flame of the torch, not one of those men could mistake his dark black hair and black eyes. 

The men all seemed to jolt out of their drunken stupor, and they all began to shake with fear. 

Kristina confirmed this herself before continuing with her haughty, dramatic speech. 

“You stand before your lord and patriarch,” she proclaimed. “All of you show insolence. Kneel! Kneel, and bow your heads!” 

“Y-yes, ma’am!!” 

Every one of the men shouted in obedient response, their voices nearly in unison, and they dropped to their knees, slamming their foreheads to the ground and prostrating themselves. 

Okay, you don’t have to go that far, Yuuto thought, and he almost protested the same thing to Kristina, but he was distracted by another person there. One of the people in front of him hadn’t dropped to their knees or bowed, and simply stood there. 

It was a girl. 

“Wha...?!” The moment Yuuto saw the girl’s face, his expression froze in shock. 

She was a young girl with bright crimson eyes, like the color of blood. Her hair was as pure white as the snow that fell from the sky that night. 

These were very rare traits, even in Yggdrasil. At the very least, Yuuto had never seen anyone with them before. 

But that was not what had shocked him. 

It was her face. Staring aghast at the young girl’s face, Yuuto spoke in almost a whisper, his voice wavering. 

“Mitsuki...?” 

Her hair and eye color were different. But besides that, everything else... 

This girl was the absolute mirror image of Yuuto’s childhood friend.