Epilogue #3
After Tae Ho sent off all the beings from the Temple and Olympus he returned to the residence of Idun. However, Adenmaha’s expression wasn’t good at all.
“What’s wrong Adenmaha?”
Adenmaha’s cheeks swelled up at Tae Ho’s call and then she spoke while glancing at him.
“Blessing, blessing, blessing, blessings. You just kept with the blessings, blessings, blessings, blessings.”
When he saw off Olympus and also the Temple.
It wasn’t like the madness festival of blessings but Tae Ho had still exchanged dozens of blessings.
“Uh.. Adenmaha?”
When he smiled awkwardly implying if she didn’t know that that was only a greeting Adenmaha pouted her lips. She did know it but she couldn’t help but pout today.
As Ademaha got out in that way, Nidhogg that was smacking her lips also stuttered.
“Nidhogg also knows how to bless. She can do it well.”
Tae Ho coughed unconsciously. But it wasn’t the time yet. He didn’t know the reason for that but Adenmaha and Nidhogg weren’t the only ones that had to be soothed.
“So that was the case, that happened. You have been wandering to give blessings all day. And I didn’t even know that.”
Idun’s voice was heard from behind. He felt that the ‘so that was the case’ attack has been added to a new repertory recently.
Adenmaha snorted, Nidhogg grumbled and Idun giggled.
“But well, it’s all fine as Olympus and the Temple returned today. Yes yes. There was a warrior that wandered happily to bless other Goddesses while leaving behind the poor Goddess that couldn’t even leave a step out from the residence as she had to be committed on healing the injured and producing golden apples… But that warrior should also know what shame is. That warrior will only concentrate on this poor Goddess. Isn’t that right?”
Her voice was cheerful but it felt like she had a lot of things accumulated inside of her. Tae Ho flinched and Adenmaha pouted even more.
While Nidhogg was checking her surroundings, Idun walked confidently and grabbed Tae Ho’s arm. She then pulled it and spoke like she was grumbling.
“That’s why today I-”
She stopped there. Idun flinched for a moment and then her golden hair got dyed in red.
Heda. Idun’s representative Valkyrie.
She smiled brightly. She ignored Idun’s complaining voice and took off her veil. Heda then winked towards Tae Ho and said.
“I’m the number one. Understood?”
Tae Ho nodded. He could only do so.
He imagined the back of a shrimp getting destroyed in a battle between whales but that was merely an imagination.
&
Three months passed since the decisive battle against the Kingdom of Fire.
Asgard was comparatively peaceful but battles were still occurring in the other worlds like Olympus and the Temple.
The battle of Olympus was one which they had to defend. A battle that they had to drive away the remaining Kingdom of Fire outside of Olympus and protect the land which Olympus would live on.
The battle in the Temple proceeded silently. Daji, that got to the seat of commander followed by Tongtian Jiaozhu, decided to go with an exhaustive guerilla tactic instead of going for a frontal attack which they had no chances to win at.
Son Wukong decided to push forward instead of getting embroiled by Daji and conquered the already devastated Kum Oh Do. His strategy was to remove all the land in which the group of Daji could hide at.
“It will be a long battle but will be as certain.”
Son Wukong was a really patient man compared to how he looked.
The reinforcements of Asgard being led by Thor were battling in Dilmun. Gathering together the survivors of Dilmun and forming a single force was their objective.
The strongest warrior of Valhalla, Sigurd, was with Thor and Echidna protected Sigurd’s side. The two of them had become quite close after defeating Azidajaka.
‘Echidna must be hitting on him one sidedly.’
‘Ey, I think that Sigurd’s reaction is quite good to say that. Hydra wrote a letter to Nidhogg saying that she thinks that she will have a younger sibling soon.’
‘He is a man indeed.’
The battle continued even when Cuchulainn and Tae Ho were speaking nonsense with each other. It was because Dilmun wasn’t the only world that had beings that wanted to maintain the world.
Xindu, Memphis and Maya.
He would have to gather the survivors of those worlds one day and also settle things with Avesta, the world where the destructive beings won completely.
‘Someday that is.’
Gathering survivors was a different matter but settling things with Avesta was something that would happen in the long future.
Time flowed by once again.
About half a year since the decisive battle.
There was someone that visited the Three Sisters under the golden World Tree.
It was none other than the queen of the dead and the last children of Loki, Hela.
“You are still connected. The fate of you three brothers are connected with the fate of Asgard.”
Hela nodded slowly at Skuld’s words. They have already had this conversation before but it really was like Skuld had said.
The three children born between Loki and Angrboda were each connected with the fates of different Gods.
And the Gods whose fate was connected with them were existences that could decide the fate of the world called as Asgard.
The one Fenrir was connected to was Odin, that represented the past of Asgard.
The space snake Jormungand was connected with the generation that follows after Odin, Thor that represents the future.
And the one representing the future while taking reference the time Hela was born at.
The one that would decide the fate of Asgard that was created by Odin and protected by Thor.
That man was Tae Ho. And he didn’t only protect Asgard but also the future of the ten realms.
“We may have been a kind of mark.”
“That may be the case. And i’m really glad that you are a being that wants to maintain the world. If you were a destructive being then your existence would have grabbed the toes of the master of Asgard and the protector of all ten realms.”
Just like the Space Snake and the World Wolf did to Odin and Thor.
That was the truth but it wasn’t nice to hear. When Skuld confirmed that Hela’s fate was still connected to Tae Ho, she didn’t speak about fate anymore.
Hela understood Skuld’s consideration and formed a small smile. She talked about a different thing first.
“Now that I see, is the master faring well?”
Even though they were connected by fate, it was only like a mark just like Hela herself had said so it wasn’t that they could know of the situation of the other when they were far from each other.
Skuld nodded slowly and said.
“Of course he is doing well. Only that nowadays…”
“Nowadays?”
“It seems like he’s not at the residence.”
Skuld looked at a distant place for a moment and started to speak of what she saw at the residence of Idun.
&
Half a year.
Exactly in half a year, the scale of Idun’s legion grew by about twenty times. It was because a great number of warriors had entered Idun’s legion as recruits.
And that was a really obvious thing.
“Because all of Asgard must have seen that.”
Everyone not only from the world of Gods Asgard but also the mortal world Midgard and the smaller worlds such as the world of fairies Alfheim.
“And they must also be looking at it at this moment.”
Sigrun added to Gudrun’s words. Her eyes were fixed at the new World Tree that was standing like an illusion. The beautiful golden apple tree.
“Thanks to that only we are the ones with our hands full.”
They had many things to do as the number of warriors increased abruptly but at the same time new Valkyries have also entered the legion.
“The identification tags got completely solved right?”
Sigrun and Gudrun looked at each other and laughed soundlessly.
The warriors at the residence of Idun were currently in training. It was a training being led by the first ten people that entered the legion after Tae Ho.
Rolo and his children flew above those warriors. They grew enough to be able to carry some warriors in their backs.
Rolo looked at the residence with a satisfied smile along the wives he brought back from the forest. The residence would have been really fun and peaceful if it wasn’t for his damned master.
McLaren rolled in the ground like he agreed.
But compared to those two there were some that waited for Tae Ho’s return.
Helga, that was one of them, turned to look to the north of Asgard, where the new Erin was located at.
&
Erin was changing little by little. A village got established in the land that was previously a wasteland and forests and a river got formed outside the village.
The survivors of Erin that were scattered everywhere in Asgard gathered up. The ones that belonged to other worlds but wanted to join in Erin also joined up.
The one in charge of gathering the survivors was Merlin. He already knew almost all the places where the survivors could be at as he had wandered in Asgard for dozens of years.
The Goddess of hunt of Erin, Siri, and the God of thunder Bracky accompanied Merlin and established the key points of the new Erin.
The one protecting Erin instead of the three people that left was Scathach. She looked up at the disciple standing next to her and asked.
“Did you get accustomed to your body?”
“Well, kind of?”
Cuchulain grinned and said. After the decisive battle against the Kingdom of Fire ended, Scathach searched for methods to move the soul of Cuchulainn that was in Gae Bolg to another body. It was because she couldn’t leave the soul of her beloved student in that state forever.
But even though she had Odin’s and Freya’s assistance she wasn’t able to find a sharp solution.
It was because there was a high probability for Cuchulainn’s soul to extinguish in the process they moved his soul to a new body as it was already established in Gae Bolg.
That was an unavoidable thing. In the first place, Cuchulainn’s soul entering Gae Bolg happened after he struggled desperately at the end. In addition, the current Gae Bolg was separated in pieces and gathered together once again. So naturally, Cuchulainn’s soul also got split in pieces and gathered up so it was more unstable than normal souls.
When they were about to give up in the end Tae Ho suggested a completely different idea.
And the result of that was the current Cuchulainn.
They didn’t take off Cuchulainn’s soul from Gae Bolg and just transformed Gae Bolg into the appearance of a human.
When they heard that the first time they wondered what Tae Ho was talking about but when they thought about it deeply they realized that it was quite an excellent idea.
The Goddess Adenmaha and the gryphon Rolo were able to become dragons. It wasn’t weird for a weapon to become a person.
Scathach, Odin, Freya and even Merlin joined their strength this time and created one magic.
It was a magic solely for Cuchulainn and Gae Bolg.
“I am a spear. I feel like I got an insight.”
“Well, that’s the truth. In addition, in emergency situations I have to return to being Gae Bolg to fight with the master.”
“Umm, that’s right.”
“That’s unavoidable.”
Scathach laughed and Cuchulainn kissed Scathach in her forehead and smiled.
“But it’s still good to have a body.”
“It’s not bad.”
Scathach also smiled back and then looked at a distant place. One of the fragments of Erin that was far away was regaining the light of life.
&
“The scent became good.”
“Because it became a habitable land once again.”
“It would be good if we can plant an apple tree here too.”
They were Nidhogg, Adenmaha and Idun respectively.
Tae Ho cleared his throat when he heard Idun say that she wanted to plant an apple tree but soon regained his composure. It was because there was nothing bad with doing that. The current Erin had an abundant land as the number of survivors was too few.
“But master, are you really going to depart now?”
Adenmaha embraced Tae Ho’s arm and asked. Tae Ho blinked asking what she was talking about but soon understood her meaning.
What he had prepared since the decisive battle against the Kingdom of Fire.
The thing he wanted to do since he got allocated to Idun’s legion and the thing he was able to do for real now.
“Well, the situation got kind of organized. It will be fine to visit for a moment. I have already spoken about this with Odin-nim and Freya-nim.”
He would be going to Terra- to Earth.
It was impossible to stay there as Tae Ho had turned back to being the master of Asgard but it was fine to go for a moment just like he had said.
Idun took off her veil. Heda blinked with her golden eyes and said.
“We did speak about this back then but… I never thought that a day like this would really come.”
“What, so you were just spouting things?”
That he may be able to return to Earth when the war ended.
Heda smacked her lips at Tae Ho’s inquiry and answered.
“No, well… I thought that it would be nice if you could return but I never thought that you would be able to return for real. That was something of the future back then.”
A hundred years since the Great War. For the war that continued for more than a thousand years against the destructive beings to come to an end.
She had thought that if that chance would arrive someday it would be in a long future.
Heda turned to look at Tae Ho in a new light. The corner of her lips kept curling up just by looking at him.
My warrior Tae Ho.
Idun’s warrior.
But it was at that moment. Adenmaha grabbed Tae Ho’s arm again. She then spoke to Tae Ho, that turned to her side by reflex, and said while smiling.
“This time I will also go with you. I said that I would follow you to the ends of hell, right?”
“Nidhogg will also go. I want to drink that thing called coke. I also want to eat pizza and watch movies.”
Nidhogg butted in and grabbed Tae Ho’s other arm. The food and attractions she hadn’t been able to see yet have already taken her heart.
Heda smiled. She shrugged her shoulders and said.
“This time I will also go with you.”
“What about the golden apple tree?”
“Will something big happen in a few days? And Adenmaha, what is that regretful face?”
“N, no. I don’t feel regret at all. I’m rather happy that you are coming.”
“Nidhogg also likes it!”
Adenmaha spoke a bit awkwardly and Nidhogg in a bright way.
Heda laughed brightly at the answer of those two people and then grabbed the arms of the two of them.
“Fine, then let’s return quickly to pack our things.”
“Yes yes! I will boast about this to Hraesvelgr grandpa and Ratatoskr!”
Nidhogg and Adenmaha got dragged by Heda.
The three people advanced first. Tae Ho, that had been looking at the three of them from behind, laughed in a good mood. Tae Ho couldn’t avoid forming a smile when he saw the three of them just like it was the case for Heda.
The wind grazed Tae Ho’s ear. He turned to look up the sky naturally and then felt someone watching him. He could face it without using the eyes of the dragon.
The World God Asgard.
The one protecting Asgard and Asgard itself.
She smiled towards Tae Ho. Tae Ho hit his chest with a fist and replied.
“For Asgard and the nine realms.”
A low voice.
The World God Asgard smiled and gestured with her eyes. Tae Ho turned his eyes and saw the three people that had advanced quite a distance.
“Tae Ho master! Come quickly!”
“Master!”
Nidhogg and Adenmaha urged him. Heda tilted her head while looking at him asking what was wrong.
Go quickly.
The World God Asgard said. She blessed Tae Ho that had protected her and the nine realms and Tae Ho nodded. He started to walk towards Nidhogg, that had started to return to him as she couldn’t wait anymore, Nidhogg that was trying to hold her back, and Heda that was waiting still. He whispered one more time inwardly.
‘For Asgard and the nine realms.’
For the world that started anew.
Tae Ho smiled.
< End of Valhalla Saga >