Chapter 3: Raiders of the Golden Lions
Loki learned much from the girl named Kankun. This was a small island in the frozen north. A land locked in ice. Home to the Nod tribe, a people who survived through raiding to sustain themselves in the endless cold. But he gleaned little about his own situation.
"Then... what am I?"
"...Pardon?"
"This isn't the game world I designed and set the lore for. Is this some other world?"
"...G-game? Another world?"
"......"
It was a fruitless conversation. In the end, he couldn't figure out what had happened to him.
Loki rested his chin on his hand, gazing at Kankun. A strange world. But a truly cruel one.
What a child with a tragic fate.
A rebellion had erupted in her tribe, the Raguna Tribe. Her uncle had slain her father, and she had fled to this temple as her last hope.
As Loki fell silent, Kankun glanced at him nervously and stepped forward cautiously.
"Um..."
"......?"
"What should we do now?"
Not "I," but "we." She was likely speaking on behalf of the villagers.
What am I supposed to do about that? The words rose in his throat, but Loki merely held his silence. There was too much to think about.
He tried to sort through the situation.
Five minutes passed. Ten minutes.
Still, Loki found no answers. Above all, Kankun's eyes—filled with fear and desperate hope as she watched him—were an unbearable weight.
...Why is this girl still here?
"How long do you plan to stay here?"
"Pardon?"
"Aren't you going home?"
"I... um... Are you just sending me away?"
"......?"
Loki tilted his head. Kankun mirrored him, tilting hers in the same direction.
"......?"
"What do you want?"
At Loki's question, Kankun looked troubled. What was she supposed to want from the devil standing before her? She had made a wish, and he had awakened as she desired. By all rights, he should claim her soul... yet he was simply trying to send her away.
"C-Can I just... go?"
"Do you think I'd demand something from you?"
"Pardon?"
"What could you even offer me?"
"Um... my soul...?"
Kankun's expression was awkward, her words phrased as a question. Loki shook his head.
"No need."
Kankun looked shocked.
"Go, then. I have much to consider."
Kankun's face crumpled. She had braced herself, but being shooed away like a pest felt utterly unfair.
Loki glanced at the sword clutched in her arms and added one more word.
"Later."
Kankun turned back.
"I'll call when I need you."
"...Yes!"
As Kankun left the audience chamber, she gazed up at the massive temple.
I'm... alive, right...?
Relief was short-lived; a strange feeling lingered. The shock of recent events still swirled in her mind. And to be dismissed as unnecessary by the devil himself? Was this good fortune or ill?
Still...
-I'll call when I need you later.
He had said he'd call her later.
Eh...?
Why was she glad about that?
As Kankun tilted her head in confusion—
"Ah!"
She looked down at the sword in her arms. A faint golden glow emanated from it.
I... I took it without thinking!? B-But it's brand new now?
The rusted, chipped blade had become a gleaming golden longsword. The warm energy rising from her hand had made her grip it tightly...
She had forgotten to offer it to the devil.
Wh-What do I do? I should return it...
Kankun panicked, glancing between the temple and her village.
"Kankun! Kankun—!"
"Kankun... are you okay!?"
Villagers emerged from the underbrush.
"Th-Thank goodness! You're safe!"
They surrounded her.
"Huh?"
"The rebels have all retreated for some reason!"
"Kankun, the village needs you. Let's hurry back!"
"W-Wait, I need to return this sword...!"
But the villagers' hands pulled Kankun toward the village.
Loki watched Kankun depart through a magical mirror. Beside him stood an old man frozen like a statue, not daring to move.
The Nod tribe's priest, Shaman.
"How long will you stay here?"
"H-How to even describe this..."
Shaman placed a trembling hand on his chest, slowly knelt, and bowed his head in submission.
"I am Shaman. I pay homage to the Constellation of Sin, whom my ancestors have served."
Fear and awe filled his voice.
"D-Demon—no, Lord of All Sins! As priest guardian of the Nod tribe, it is my sacred duty to serve you and protect this temple. My task is to let you rest in peace. Therefore..."
"Begone."
Shaman looked up at Loki in shock.
"I-I wish to serve you here; it is my joy. So please, trust in my loyalty and faith—"
From the eye slits of Loki's helmet, red light flashed menacingly.
"I know nothing of that."
"......"
Shaman retreated with a crestfallen face.
"Later."
He turned back to look at Loki.
"We'll speak once I've sorted my thoughts."
Shaman's face brightened.
Kankun moved busily. She was helping clean up the ruined village and tend to the dead.
She turned her head. The villagers shuffled about in wretched states. Some treated the wounded; others stared blankly, unable to accept reality.
"Kankun."
An elderly man in ragged clothes, wrinkled and filthy, approached. One of the Raguna Tribe's elders.
He eyed her nervously, visibly anxious.
"What should we do now?"
"Huh?"
"You're the niece of the traitor Kudan Raguna, but before that, you're the daughter of Karan Raguna, who ruled this village. As the chief's bloodline, the decision falls to you."
Kankun froze. She felt countless eyes upon her.
A hundred or so survivors amid the ruins. All looked to Kankun.
The weight of responsibility to protect them crushed her. She shrank involuntarily.
At just fifteen, newly of age, she was far too young for this.
"Th-That is..."
"Kyaaah!"
A sudden scream pierced the air. Villagers fled from the forest.
Behind them burst a massive horse—and atop it, a warrior. A cavalry unit charged from the woods, spears raised.
"Wh-What?!"
"Raid!"
"Is it Kudan again?!"
Screams echoed everywhere.
Kankun saw them: heavy cavalry clad in golden scale armor and barding.
Among the raiding Nod tribes, only one had such fine equipment.
"The Golden Lions... Partas Tribe?!"
The Nods were raiders. Their slave-hunting had begun.
The Partas Tribe was utterly ruthless.
"What? Did someone else already sweep through!?"
"Capture them all as slaves! Kill the old ones if you want!"
Mad laughter filled the air.
Wherever the cavalry passed, corpses littered the ground. Golden-armored heavy infantry followed slowly in their wake.
Kankun paled at the sight.
"Wh-What are you doing!? Run!"
She shouted at the Raguna tribesfolk, but they stared back in despair.
"Wh-Where to?!"
"Kankun, it's hopeless. We have nowhere to flee!"
The village had already suffered greatly from Uncle Kudan Raguna's rebellion. Few could fight, and they stood no chance against the Partas Tribe.
She despaired. Hope of survival had been fleeting; now another calamity struck.
"Uwaaak!"
Men who resisted screamed as spears pierced them.
"N-No! Not him! Please, not the child...!"
A woman had her hair grabbed, her child torn away and dragged off with her.
Kankun's mind went blank at the horror. Unbidden, one figure came to mind.
"The temple..."
Its master—the devil, the Constellation. He had harmed only those who showed hostility, sparing her and Shaman.
Perhaps... he wasn't dangerous to those who didn't oppose him.
Kankun screamed to her tribesfolk at the top of her lungs.
"To the temple—!!"
The Raguna tribesfolk looked at her.
"Run to the temple! It's safe there!"
"......!"
They bolted desperately. Had her voice been too loud? The Partas warriors turned toward Kankun.
Sweat beading coldly, she backed away hastily...
"Grab that girl—!"
Kankun turned and ran. She had to escape. As fast as possible... to the temple of the Constellation of Sin!
Loki regarded the skeletons before him. Black-armored from head to toe. Some wielded massive greatswords, others shields, spears, bows and daggers, even instruments as a military band. An array of unit types.
Monsters he had placed to guard Valhalla Palace during his days as a game planner.
Hm...
Loki twitched a finger right. The skeletons aligned to the right.
Left, and they shifted left. Perfect precision.
...Interesting. They obey my commands?
Loki snapped his fingers. The air split, revealing a glassy surface like a mirror reflecting him.
A goat-horned helmet symbolizing the devil. Crimson eyes blazing from the sockets like fire. Heavy black plate armor, fur cape, black smoke rising from the joints—sometimes forming snakes or wolves.
Indeed... this is the character I created.
Leader of the armies of death and giants. Bringer of the world's end, Ragnarok. The king of evil.
Loki.
He had become the game character he had conceived and designed.
But...
If Kankun spoke true, this world wasn't his game's lore. A completely different realm.
Still, the programmed obedience makes them follow my orders.
Loki eyed the skeletons. And those behind them.
Beings radiating greater power, black-boned embodiments of death itself.
Fifty undead: Death Knights, Liches, and more.
They seem to obey me too.
Loki looked down. Beneath Valhalla Palace. Beings still in development.
What of the giants' king?
Settings incomplete before he came here; their reaction was unknown.
As Loki narrowed his glowing eyes—
"Um... D-Demon—no, Constellation of Sin!"
Loki looked up. Shaman, the Nod priest, stood rigid.
Sweating profusely, he stammered,
"Un-uninvited guests have arrived."
"Uninvited?"
"Raguna Tribe villagers. Shall I drive them off?"
Raguna Tribe villagers?
-I am... Kankun Raguna... Your shaman.
Loki recalled the girl he had just sent away. She bore the Raguna name.
Related to her?
"Why have they come?"
"...It seems their tribe was attacked."
Loki remembered first meeting the girl. She had been assaulted by mysterious men then too.
That girl.
Held the holy sword, Brurtgang.
Loki traced a finger through the air. Space parted; a magical mirror summoned.
It showed a map of the palace surroundings.
There: the girl fleeing with Brurtgang, pursued by golden-armored men.
"...Not using the sword?"
Or doesn't know how?
Loki drummed his fingers on the armrest.
Brurtgang recognizes its wielder as master early on.
A mythic item blessed by gods. For non-gods or masters, it blazed with intense light, burning them.
But if the master dies, that's different.
If she fell, they'd claim the mythic item.
He rose.
They sought Brurtgang. And he had questions about this world.
Loki strode forward. The kneeling skeletons rose and followed.