EP.22 Hraesvelgr -3
EP.22 Hraesvelgr -3
"So you came to fix the nest I wrecked?"
"Yes."
"Oh-ho? You're pretty good! It's more stylish and sturdier than my old nest. Well made."
"I'm glad you're satisfied."
"Ah, but there's one thing that hasn't been verified yet."
"Oh? What's that?"
"Durability. I need to make sure it won't collapse no matter how much I roll around! So, Seon-ju, come on in here for a moment!"
Hraesvelgr went into the nest.
She spread the wings on her back wide and beckoned me over, inviting me inside them.
The intent behind the invitation was blatantly obvious, and since I had no idea what she might do, I had no intention of taking the bait.
Even so, Hraesvelgr's wings did look incredibly soft...
"Husband...? You're not having strange thoughts, are you?"
"Hic!"
"Shall you honestly tell me what you were thinking?"
"I-I was thinking about the eagle's soft wings..."
"Heh! Honestly, you're really hopeless, husband. They aren't feathers, but I'll let you touch my tail instead, so please be satisfied with this."
Miho's fluffy tail wrapped around my neck.
From its fragrant scent to its soft texture, it was the perfect tail that matched my preferences.
No matter how curious I was about the texture of Hraesvelgr's feathers, as long as I had this fox tail, I could suppress that level of curiosity.
"Tch!"
"Jealous, huh...?"
"I know! I know, okay! It's that saying, if you're jealous, go find a companion keeper!"
"As long as you know."
"You really are such an annoying crow...!!"
"Haha! Anyway, what about the thing I asked you to look into?"
"You would have already confirmed my answer with your future sight ages ago, wouldn't you? Why ask again?"
"That's true, but I wanted to let my dear husband hear it too. Would you mind telling him yourself?"
"You're probably the only one who bosses around a Great Divine Beast like this."
"If you don't fix that fussy habit of yours, you'll never lose your virginity, you know?"
"Fine! I'll tell him, okay! I'll tell him!"
While I was savoring Miho's tail, the bird Divine Beasts had been raising their voices in trivial chatter.
Suddenly, they called us over, saying they needed to discuss something important.
Once we all gathered together in Hraesvelgr's new nest, the eagle cleared her throat lightly and spoke.
"Ahem! The reason I called you all here is simply to share the information I gathered at the request of that crow over there."
"Information Yata asked for?"
"Yes. As her companion keeper, you'd know this well, but that crow is a very particular one, isn't she? A half-wit who could just say it herself but can't, claiming the future will change. So I'm telling you to prevent any problems."
Yata's future sight was certainly an ability that surpassed all others, but it had the limitation that she couldn't reveal everything she foresaw to others.
The same applied now.
The fact that she knew everything yet deliberately asked Hraesvelgr to look into it and then had her share it, it made me certain that what we were about to hear would be extremely important.
"Seon-ju. Do you know what's on the opposite side of where I live?"
"Do you mean the south?"
"Yes."
"I know there's an endlessly vast sea in the south."
"Then do you know what Divine Beasts live in that sea?"
"Uh... maybe Siren, Kraken, Skötumóðir, things like that?"
"You only mentioned the cute little ones."
"Huh? Did I?"
Kraken was known as a high-risk Divine Beast that had destroyed countless human ships...
For even that Divine Beast to be called a cute little one... it seemed the perception gap between humans and Great Divine Beasts was quite large.
"At most, they've only lived a few hundred years. To me, they're no different from children."
"I-I see..."
So by that logic, what did that make me, someone who had lived only twenty years?
If that was youth beyond childhood, wouldn't I be a newborn baby going wah-wah?
And she was the one who tried to marry such a newborn baby...
"H-Hey, that's only by Divine Beast standards! You're not a Divine Beast, right? So stop looking at me like I'm a criminal, right now!"
"Hmm... now that I hear it, that's true."
"No matter how desperate I am for marriage, I don't touch minors, alright?! Minors aren't even my type!"
"Isn't an old hag who's as old as can be chasing after a young man also pretty shameless?"
"Shut your mouth! Crow!"
"Haha!!"
The topic had gone off on a tangent for a moment, but Hraesvelgr, having regained control of the situation, directed a question at me again.
"Bakunawa, Makara, Leviathan. Have you ever heard any of these names?"
"Aside from Leviathan, this is my first time hearing them."
"Then how much do you know about Leviathan?"
"Only that it's an incredibly long and massive sea serpent, that just its appearance causes tsunamis, and that all aquatic life in the surrounding area dies."
"Right. So if you had to face Leviathan at the seaside, how do you think it would go?"
"I can't think of anything other than a brutal death."
Fighting a sea serpent Divine Beast, which would already be a toss-up on land, out in the ocean would be reckless.
I didn't know what abilities it had, but Leviathan was a Divine Beast that had lived for an immense time, just like the eagle and the giant wolf before me.
Even if it wasn't a Great Divine Beast, I had no idea if there was any chance of victory.
"Right. Even for me, it's not just one but three Divine Beasts that are tricky to deal with, and they've recently started moving at the same time. All because of a single human."
"A single human... do you mean me?!"
"Correct. Under the pretext of enforcing the Divine Beast Rules and punishing you and your companion Divine Beasts for breaking them."
"Ugh...!!"
"So, what do you say? If you accept me as your Companion Animal even now, this lady here can protect you safely."
"Old lady, if you're going to try a hard sell, at least finish all the information first."
"Stop calling me an old lady! If we go by that, crow, aren't you an old lady too?"
"Even so, unlike you, I have a master."
"Yike!!"
Yata sported the most derisive sneer of all time as she flaunted the Companion Mark engraved on her thigh.
Hraesvelgr's pale face turned as red as a carrot at that.
Not out of embarrassment, but from sheer anger.
"Pisses you off, doesn't it? If you don't want to be mocked worse than this, you'd better finish your story completely."
"Haah...!! Fine! So continuing on, I mentioned three Divine Beasts started moving, but they won't actually attack all three at once."
"Why is that?"
"Strangely enough, all three are on bad terms. If they charged in together, you'd definitely end up with a scene of them fighting each other."
If that was true, the best scenario for me would be for all three Divine Beasts to come at once.
But it was best to assume that wouldn't happen.
In the end, even if I defeated them individually, I was still stuck with the task of fighting three powerful sea Divine Beasts.
Divine Beasts living on land were already hard enough to deal with, yet now I had to face Divine Beasts in the ocean where my movement wasn't free...
I was already anxious enough to sigh.
"You don't need to be so gloomy."
"Huh?"
"They are tricky opponents, but they are by no means unbeatable for you and your Divine Beasts. And they each have their own personalities, too. There are ways to make them back off without necessarily fighting."
"Ah..."
"So there's no need to tremble with anxiety already."
"You're right."
Hraesvelgr had read my inner thoughts that I hadn't revealed outwardly and was earnestly telling me ways to overcome this difficult situation.
Her smile, bearing splendid years of experience, projected the image of an intellectual and dependable older sister.
Enough to make me trust and follow her.
"Of course, you're always welcome to lean on this big sister! If you marry me, I'll protect you for life! If marriage is too much, how about one help session for one night of sex? If you accept now, you can even get my virginity on top of it!"
If only she hadn't said such frivolous lines, it would've been so nice...
My heart, which had briefly reconsidered her, turned sour.
Anyway, it was still true that thanks to Hraesvelgr, the cloud of worries gathering over me had been swept clean.
As she advised, there was no need to agonize in distress at that moment.
"That's everything, right? Crow, I've shared all the information you asked me to look into."
"Good work. Thank you, even for easing my dear husband's worries in my place at the end."
"In that case, would it be okay to ask for my commission payment?"
"If it's a night with my husband, I'll leave you with a 'Have you no conscience?' and refuse."
"Aww! Don't be so stingy! One night is no big deal, right? Huh?"
"If you really want it, you'll have to agree to one more of my requests."
"R-Really?! If I agree to one more request, you'll let me spend a night with your husband? Good! Then I'll do anything!"
"Hey, Yata?!"
I was flustered by the crow's completely unexpected act of selling me out.
I never imagined Yata would put me up as the payment...
Naturally, Miho and Alice, whose mood had turned hostile, were about to confront Yata as well.
But as if to tell us not to worry and that she had a plan, she flashed us a playful, mischievous smile.
"So what's the request?"
"It's to train Tia."
"By Tia, you mean that baby dragon from earlier?"
"Right. Since her abilities are the exact same lineage as yours, you can advise her on how to use various abilities and help her strengthen them."
For Tia's growth, Hraesvelgr's presence would certainly be helpful.
Strengthening Tia's abilities would naturally have a good effect on me as well, so it was clearly a good suggestion.
But using that to sell me out... wouldn't that be problematic in many ways?
"That's true. So is that really enough?"
"Yes. If you don't believe me, let's draft a contract. As it happens, I have Minerva's Feather."
"Fine! However, I'm exhausted from the long journey right now. Is it fine if the baby dragon's training starts tomorrow?"
"Sure."
"And can I receive the payment upfront, tonight?"
"Fine."
"Really? Do you really mean it?"
"Of course I really mean it."
"Alright! The moment my long dream comes true is finally here!!"
Yata had even used Minerva's Feather, a Divine Beast tool that absolutely compels the fulfillment of a contract, to make the deal.
Originally, everyone, including me, should have been demanding answers from her, but no one objected and we all stayed quiet.
Even Miho.
There was only one reason we had no choice but to do so.
It was the expression on the crow's face as she watched Hraesvelgr, who was celebrating all by herself, grinning wickedly.
That was unmistakably Yata's signature twisted smile, the one she always showed when deceiving someone.
Miho, who had spent a long time with her, and even Alice, who had only fallen victim to it once, knew the crow's underhandedness all too well.
We simply stayed quiet and offered our premature condolences to the eagle who had become the crow's sacrificial lamb.
***
Night came, and in accordance with the contract, we were to spend the night in Hraesvelgr's nest.
To that end, Hraesvelgr made every preparation, such as washing her body for a long time in a lake near the snowy mountain, but in the end, the scene Hraesvelgr desired did not come to pass.
"T-This is contract fraud...!!"
"Regrettably, Minerva's ability didn't activate. So it's not fraud."
"No! What kind of 'night' is this in the whole world?!"
A situation where everyone was lying side by side in the nest.
However, Hraesvelgr and I were positioned as far apart as possible, with my companion Divine Beasts filling the space between us.
"Isn't this also strictly 'one night'?"
"The 'one night' I wanted was a wild night of a man and a woman stickily entwining their bodies!"
"If you wanted that, you should have added the condition 'just the two of us' to the contract terms."
"You damn crow! You tricked me again!!"
"That's why you should have properly read the contract terms, dear pushover?"
"Aaargh!!"
The cry of the giant eagle echoed through the snowy mountain.
Once again today, Hraesvelgr's hymen remained intact.