Chapter 218
Chapter: 218
“Alright, moving on.”
“Huh? Wasn’t the story finished already?”
“The tale just told was about the soul-stealing Valkyries, and the next story is about something else.”
“Something else… Ah!”
Freya’s expression finally changed as she grasped what I meant.
“Are you referring to… illegal entry?”
“You’re well-informed.”
Not just any illegal entry, but a breach into a paradise meant for those who passed judgment in the afterlife—there’s no way I’d let that slide.
I had started with Odin’s soul thievery because I was furious, but honestly, this was the main topic.
“Now, tell me everything you know. How you got here, what you’re doing here, and what Odin is planning. All of it.”
“Y-Yes!”
With her future already mortgaged to me, Freya shared everything she knew without a hint of resistance.
“They’re relocating the Aesir gods to escape destruction. Or rather, this place isn’t even meant for your lot.”
“I was just following orders. That old man Odin told the other Aesir gods that he built this place, but… he only gave me the bare minimum of information to keep it to myself.”
If she was told to keep it to herself… that means she knows what this place really is.
“Well, the way he explained it was extremely vague! He called it a land cherished by the Goddess of Life, and a blessed space beyond death. It’s always been like that! That old man!!! He twists things with complicated words, making them hard to understand! And he acts like I should get it while he keeps all the knowledge to himself! When I ask him again, he says I don’t need to know yet and just dodges the question! Ugh! I’m stuck helping him because he’s a major deity! But I’m totally fed up!”
“Sounds like you’ve got quite a buildup, huh?”
“Of course! I really don’t want to see that old one-eyed crank any more than I have to! Plus, he seems off his rocker right now! Ugh! It feels like I’ve gone mad just by listening to his strange ramblings!”
He’s gone mad, huh… Hmm. Did my prophecies drive Odin into madness?
“Anyway, Odin created a passage for the Aesir to enter this place. Then he ordered me and the Valkyries to transport resources here and fortify it.”
“Fortify…”
When I first saw the Aesir gods working on something here, I thought perhaps Odin had made a mistake while creating a new world and ended up opening a door to another world… Paradise.
I lightly brushed aside the idea that they were preparing to relocate to a new world.
However, if Odin was indeed planning to create a new world and lead the Aesir to escape destruction, there would have been no need for fortifications.
They were merely moving to a world inhabited solely by Aesir, so fortifying wouldn’t make sense—it would be a waste of resources and manpower. He’d probably focus on stabilizing and consolidating that world instead.
But Odin first instructed them to fortify. Preparing defenses before making a full relocation.
And more importantly, he knew exactly where this place was. He knew it was a world beyond death.
Because of this, I couldn’t forgive Odin.
If it were just a mistake, I could overlook his trespassing into paradise, but if he entered with intent, then it couldn’t be forgiven.
Thus…
“The Aesir must perish.”
“Excuse me?”
“No, the destruction was already unavoidable, but… it must be as devastating as possible.”
It’s time to set my thoughts into motion for the Twilight of the Gods… Ragnarok.
“Wait, does that mean… the Aesir?”
“All I’m doing is tweaking an already destined path to ruin, so no need to stress about it.”
And Freya… well, I need to give her some other tasks later. To help her avoid the fall.
“But, but… what about me and the Valkyries?”
“Don’t worry. I’ve already said that I’d swap your punishment with other work, so you won’t get swept up in the destruction.”
I’m not sure how the other Aesir will fare, though!
After giving Freya a few instructions, I began preparing for the Twilight of the Gods.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
After Freya built up a fortress in one corner of paradise, it wasn’t long before Odin arrived with the Aesir gods to relocate into paradise.
While carrying on as if he created the paradise I made, he even named it Valhalla, but the wise and knowledgeable traits of the old god were nowhere to be seen.
Just a one-eyed lunatic with clouded eyes.
Nevertheless, due to his retained abilities… he managed to carve a path to paradise successfully.
The Aesir gods, who had relocated to Odin’s world of Valhalla, believed they had escaped their fate of destruction and started celebrating daily in the fortress.
They feasted on the meat of a pig that resurrected the next day, filling themselves with the honey ale of a rock salt goat instead of milk, indulging in banquets.
What they didn’t know…
That in the place they fled to, paradise was a mirage.
That the firmly built fortress was designed not to protect them from enemies but to cage them so they couldn’t escape.
Lastly, that a force was steadily moving to wipe all the Aesir out completely.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
The Aesir’s invasion of paradise… illegal occupation? Well, it works out meaning-wise, so it’s fine. Anyway.
News about the Aesir’s unauthorized occupation of paradise spread through various deities, each showing varying reactions.
First up, the Underworld.
Led by the three judges of the Underworld, those who manage the Underworld, those who protect it, and the inmates who are promised a reduced sentence based on their efforts.
They were outraged at the news that part of their paradise had been occupied by others.
Well, it’s only natural. Paradise is a place beyond the Underworld. It’s a place you can reach if you pass judgment in the Underworld.
It was closely connected to the Underworld, so they had every right to be angry.
Thus, the Underworld prepared for an all-out war.
Next up… the dragons.
Informed by Keres about the situation in paradise, the dragons were initially disinterested.
Whether paradise was occupied or not didn’t seem to concern them much.
But as the story spread, evolving slightly in its telling, the message that eventually reached me via the Dragon Lord’s network was…
“Paradise, created for dragons, has been occupied by the Aesir gods.”
Uhh… hmm.
Not particularly different content, right? It’s a place I made, and Keres did try to create a dragon afterlife, but expanded it, and the Aesir gods carved a path to invade.
Hmm. A lot got omitted, but isn’t it close enough?
Anyway, the news reached the dragons, who were pretty furious.
Dragons who grasped the situation were enraged that their Creator Dragon God would have his paradise occupied!!! While others, hearing the twisted message, were furious that the world created for dragons was overtaken without permission!!!
In the end, all that remained was the fact that the dragons were furious.
Beyond that, there were golems created by the children who were imitating Talos, the giants suffering under the Aesir, the wolf god imprisoned by the Aesir, gods wanting to seize the Piece of Baal held by Odin per Zeus’s orders, and some gods who saw the Aesir as thorns in their sides.
Hmm… these Aesir gods. Why do they have so many enemies? There were several gods grinding their teeth in anger at them!
Nevertheless, all these diverse beings gathered with a singular goal.
Only to bring about the fall of the Aesir.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“Honestly, exterminating the Aesir seems like something Mom could do on her own, right? Simpler than squashing bugs.”
“That’s true, but isn’t that kind of boring?”
“Boring, you say?”
I looked at the fortress built by the Aesir.
It stood there as if claiming the paradise as their own turf.
“I want them to despair. To regret stepping into this paradise with their muddy feet and to sink into destruction.”
“Despair, huh.”
“Yes, despair. But I’m too strong to allow them that. They’ll vanish before they even realize despair, which really isn’t satisfying.”
Then I gazed at those surrounding the Aesir fortress.
A variety of dragons, countless deceased, the god of giants, the wolf god, and even massive golems.
“But I believe they stand a decent chance of plunging the Aesir into despair.”
And… I have one more trick up my sleeve.
