A little too rough knock from my descendant woke Valfreya from her deep slumber.
As soon as she opened her eyes in the amethyst, she glared directly at me down the hill and began to speak.
Calling me a filthy weakling, huh?
With that kind of attitude right from the start, her character level seemed about the same as in the original.
In other words, she’s not someone I should get close to. Either in power or personality.
“H-Hilde, um, is she a little broken…? Is she okay? I was definitely told not to get close earlier…”
Friede turned to me and pointed at the amethyst.
“Umm… should be fine, right? What do you think?”
“Well, it feels a bit eerie, but other than that…?”
Friede furrowed her brows and tilted her head slightly while responding.
Yeah, so it’s just eerie, huh? It seems Friede hasn’t noticed at all that Valfreya has awakened.
The blue eyes glaring at me from inside the amethyst and the eerie voice echoing in my head are only reaching me, huh?
I could roughly guess the reason. It might be because Brunhilde’s body is a descendant of the Valkyrie.
The Valkyrie is a humanoid biological weapon that has had an ‘ice heart’ implanted into a human body, allowing its powers to be passed down.
Brunhilde, having acquired the Valkyrie’s traits through generational inheritance, was fundamentally the same race as the old Valkyries.
So, it’s only natural that Valfreya, who was the commander of the Valkyries’ order, speaks only to me.
For Valfreya, Friede by my side is just an unpleasant little human holding a weapon.
Guess I’m treated like a cockroach crawling out of a toilet? If the seal were lifted, she’d probably want to kill me first thing.
But since the seal isn’t lifted right now, she’s instead talking to me.
【Come to me, my soul’s master.】
Just like that.
◆◆
For those familiar with online games, you should already know this: just because you can talk doesn’t mean the other person is like you.
Valfreya fits that case perfectly as a villain.
After all, the old Eisenstein was a group that had created modified human combat troops through bio-experiments, so it’s impossible for such a group’s commander to be a decent human.
Of course, she must be a depraved chain murderer, a million light-years away from morality and ethics.
【O young Valkyrie, come up to the castle and greet me. The moment has come to fulfill the duty inscribed upon your soul since birth.】
It was obvious just from her words.
With a voice as eerie as a snake, openly commanding me to come to the castle, her intentions were crystal clear.
She planned to lure me into the castle to fully lift her seal. Claiming it was my duty and all that.
But who cares?
【Come! Fulfill your duty as an Eisenstein knight!】
‘Ah, that’s not happening.’
I strongly thought that in my head.
Like the Valkyrie, the language Valfreya used wasn’t the common tongue, but an ancient language.
I could understand what it meant, but I didn’t want to vocalize it. To Friede, it would just look like I was muttering in some strange foreign language.
That would make me look a bit crazy, wouldn’t it? I’m not crazy.
Of course, I’ve heard that kind of insult often… But those who are called “dog bastards” aren’t really beastfolk, right?
No, actually, it’s rather rare for them to be called that.
Why? Because it would be like calling a black person descended from slaves a “monkey.”
Saying something like that would get you shot, just like calling beastfolk “dog bastards” here would likely get your face bitten off.
In other words, being frequently called a “dog bastard” is proof that the one insulted isn’t a beastfolk.
Similarly, I’ve been tagged with the insult of being crazy, meaning I’m actually pretty far from being one. Right?
Alright. Proof completed.
A flawless argument that no one could refute.
◆◆
【…What?!】
Was my refusal that surprising? Valfreya asked back, her tone mixed with shock. A hint of anger was also in there, it seemed.
Well, if she had broken out of the amethyst, it might be one thing, but there’s no reason for me to be afraid of a girl stuck inside it.
Who would be scared of a lion in a zoo cage? Even if it roars loudly, people would probably just take photos and say how cool it is.
【You refuse? To the duty of a Valkyrie, as a knight?】
‘Yup, not gonna do it.’
So I answered her provocatively. Just to get back at the shock I felt earlier.
Honestly, if not now, when would I get to mock a monster like that? Anyone else wouldn’t be able to hold it in.
‘Sorry, but maybe you should find someone else. I’ve already finished my service period.’
Oh, how she loves her duties as a knight. It’s been ages since I completed my national service, ya old lady. Those two years were when my sense of patriotism went poof.
【…Rude, lowly, and foolish. To think you’ve forgotten your duties even if you’ve fallen so low.】
‘You’re really harsh, Grandma. When did you ever see me?’
I quietly moved my feet towards the helmet that rolled down the hill, continuing to mock her.
【G-Grandma?!】
Valfreya stumbled over her words, genuinely shocked.
Her reaction was so amusing I couldn’t help but snicker.
How fun.
It felt oddly liberating; despite constantly shooting my mouth off, I didn’t feel a hint of anxiety.
It was as if the extreme tension had broken past its limit, leaving my mind forcibly calm.
I felt like nothing could scare me anymore. That’s about how I felt.
Of course, that one magical girl who said something similar ended up being a meal just seconds later…
Valfreya was like a mosquito trapped inside a pumpkin. As long as I didn’t help, she wouldn’t be popping out of that amethyst anytime soon, so my head wouldn’t get bitten off.
“Umm… Hilde, are you okay…?”
Maybe my smiling face looked weird. Friede cautiously asked about my state.
“Huh? Ah, of course, I’m fine. Come on, let’s hurry to grab that helmet.”
I patted Friede’s head, smiling to reassure her.
“Come on, Friede, you should smile too. Things may have gotten a bit crazy in between, but everything turned out fine, right?”
I couldn’t see properly because my eyes were glued to the tossed spear, but I could guess that the last gear Valfreya had spit out was definitely a helmet.
So all that was left was to scratch Valfreya’s insides a bit to relieve her stress and then grab the helmet before dashing out.
Grandma can stay here. I’m heading home with Friede—no, back to the surface.
That was when.
【How dare you mock me, Valfreya! You lowly, impertinent vermin who doesn’t even know your place!】
Whether she was boiling with rage or what, Valfreya completely dropped her mysterious tone and began to shout wildly.
Oh man, this is really annoying.
I instinctively winced. It was like thunder cracking in my head.
【Valkyrie, obey the binding oath of your bloodline, your soul!】
Now she’s pulling out the oath of servitude, huh? Talk about arrogance.
Well, I suppose that makes sense to her. After all, she’s like a second-in-command of Eisenstein.
Speaking of which, the binding oath inscribed in the soul…
Yeah, I know there’s a setting for that. The Valkyrie is a human weapon of Eisenstein. Naturally, just like every weapon, there must be some kind of control mechanism.
That was the binding oath.
An oath inscribed into the souls of Valkyries, passed down through generations.
It was literally a slave contract forced upon them to absolutely obey the commands of Valfreya, their master, and her superiors.
Brunhilde must have had it inscribed in her soul as well.
According to the original novel, although you couldn’t eliminate the oath itself, you could nullify commands with a saint’s mental defense technique…
But the one next to me is not a saint; it’s my hero. So we couldn’t pull off such skills.
【I, your rightful master, command you, Valfreya Eisenstein! Offer your body and soul as a sacrifice for me!】
With the binding oath activated, Valfreya shouted again, demanding my entire existence be offered as a sacrifice to lift her seal.
A sacrifice.
That was the fundamental reason I had strictly warned Friede not to step into the stronghold up on the hill.
The moment we entered that fortress, Friede and I would be completely absorbed, turning into the offering for Valfreya’s release.
【Offer your sacrifice!】
Her sharp voice echoed in my head like a mallet. It demanded submission to the slave mark embedded in Brunhilde’s and the Valkyrie’s souls.
My response was simple.
‘Can’t do, I’m busy. I’ll offer incense next time. If you’re hungry, just take a nap or something.’
I grinned and delivered my mocking counter as I told her to stop talking nonsense and go take a nap. Why would I obey a suicide command? Not a chance.
【W-What?!】
Valfreya was genuinely astonished. Her voice sounded a hundred times more shocked than when I called her “Grandma.”
【This is impossible. Even if you’ve fallen, your essence doesn’t change. There’s no way you can refuse the oath inscribed into your soul…?】
Well, it makes sense that she couldn’t understand. The binding oath couldn’t be countered without saint-level mental defenses; it was literally a brand inscribed onto the soul.
Even Brunhilde at the later stages of the original novel couldn’t resist without the help of the saint, so there’s no way the current Brunhilde could refuse the oath.
Yet, I’m not Brunhilde.
My body is Brunhilde, but my soul is completely different.
So I couldn’t care less about an oath of servitude. That was an oath inscribed in her soul, not mine.
So if you want something, you’ll have to command Brunhilde’s soul, not me. Where the heck that is, I don’t know either.
That was exactly why I could openly mock Valfreya.
Because I didn’t have the binding oath on me, I could easily disregard whatever nonsense the crazy witch was shouting.
And that’s exactly what I did.
Reaching the bottom of the hill, I picked up the blackish-gray helmet embedded in the rocky ground and made my way out of the fortress.
【No way, soul transfer…? No, that can’t be. Why would anyone perform such a high-level ritual on a fallen Valkyrie like you?】
By the time we made it past the crumbling fortress walls, Valfreya finally seemed to grasp why the binding oath didn’t apply to me… But that wouldn’t change a thing.
In the first place, it seemed she came to understand, but didn’t fully trust such a revelation.
Yeah, keep pondering like that.
With a part of the amethyst broken, she was half-awake and would spend the rest of her life alone pondering the matter.
That was a satisfactory outcome.
