Ch.77Chapter 77

Freya rubbed her stinging forehead and glared at Wendigo.

Her gaze held a power that could enchant others, showing just how indignant she felt.

“Is this how you use mystical powers? For petty revenge? You could put them to better use.”

“Siiigh…”

Though Freya’s enchantment was powerful, Wendigo remained completely unmoved.

Enchantment only works when the target has at least some interest in you.

For Wendigo, who had absolutely no interest in Freya, her enchantment couldn’t take hold even if it wanted to.

Above all, considering how long Freya had lived, this was quite…

“Are you thinking something rude about me?”

Wendigo was startled, not expecting Freya to read his thoughts.

However, Wendigo didn’t show any reaction. Without facial expressions, there was no way to confirm suspicions anyway.

Wendigo played innocent with practiced ease.

“I’ve already flicked your forehead. Why would I need to think anything rude?”

“Freya. Stop playing around and get to the point.”

“Darling, but Wendigo…”

“Are we doing this again? If you’re going to keep complaining, I’m getting up.”

When Shir tried to move her arm away, Freya panicked and hugged her tightly.

She didn’t want to miss this opportunity where Shir, who usually despised her (not that she minded), allowed such direct contact.

“Alright, alright. Just let me enjoy this a little longer~”

When Shir gave her a blank stare, Freya hurriedly snapped her fingers to command the man.

The man, enchanted by Freya, walked before Wendigo and knelt down according to her will.

Wendigo observed the man and asked Shir:

“I assume you didn’t bring him without reason… Is there some important issue? To my eyes, he just looks like a warrior with some mental problems.”

To Wendigo, the man didn’t seem particularly special.

From his clothes to the dagger at his waist, nothing emanated mystical energy, nor did he possess an exceptional physique like Gulmarg.

He was just an ordinary northern warrior. One could bring dozens like him from any village on the forest outskirts.

Shir understood this well.

“Yes. When I first received the report, I thought he was just another madman.”

The world is vast, and there are many madmen. This was a kind of law that applied to any era or world.

But Shir realized this madman was a slightly different type.

“Would you remove his upper garment?”

Wendigo nodded and approached the man, swinging his claws. The sharply honed claws tore the man’s clothes in one go.

‘…I didn’t mean to tear it apart.’

He had intended to cut it cleanly, but the man’s clothes were more tattered than expected.

Still, he could quickly see why Shir had asked him to remove it.

Unknown characters were tattooed near the man’s heart.

“Characters I’ve never seen before.”

“They might be unfamiliar to you, Djin. These are characters used by Summoners. However, the tattoo wasn’t done by a Summoner.”

“Indeed, a Summoner wouldn’t inscribe characters so sloppily. It would be difficult to force it like this too.”

Inscribing characters was a basic skill and the most important technique for Summoners.

Most spells required creating artifacts, and if the characters were even slightly misaligned or shaky, the spell wouldn’t work.

Naturally, skills honed over long periods would show, even if someone tried to deliberately mess them up.

‘This is definitely in poor condition.’

The characters inscribed near the man’s heart were difficult to read due to torn skin, rotting flesh, and unwashed blood.

“Who inscribed this?”

“It’s better if we hear it from him directly, don’t you think?”

Freya smiled and commanded the man.

『Answer honestly to our questions.』

Freya’s voice resonated like a beautiful harmony, and the warrior fell deeper under its spell.

At this moment, the man’s life belonged to Freya.

“Ah… Yes, of course. Please, let me hear your voice again!”

“Sure. After the questions are over, I’ll let you hear it again.”

When the warrior begged desperately, Freya smiled mischievously and made the promise.

The others watching thought simultaneously:

She has absolutely no intention of fulfilling that promise!

Wendigo gestured to Freya.

She approached with a grin and leaped onto Wendigo’s shoulder, much to his disgust.

“I wasn’t telling you to climb on my shoulder.”

“I know. I did it because I knew you’d hate it.”

Freya was delighted by Wendigo’s expected displeasure.

Wendigo considered throwing Freya to the ground but calmed himself.

Freya wasn’t a subordinate but a kind of business partner. Throwing such a person to the ground would be too rude.

“Still, rudeness is rudeness. I’d appreciate if you refrained from such behavior in the future.”

“You’re too rigid and no fun. So, what did you want to say?”

Wendigo whispered in Freya’s ear.

“Does this man need to stay alive?”

“My, what an unusual question from you! Of course it doesn’t matter if he dies. That was our agreement, wasn’t it?”

“No. I just wanted to make sure.”

Wendigo organized the information in his mind.

If Shir and Freya came personally, this must be a significant issue, yet the prisoner could die without consequence…

‘So the background is important, but this man is just a pawn.’

If he were someone significant, he wouldn’t have been enchanted merely by Freya’s manifestation.

Having organized his thoughts, Wendigo approached the man and asked directly:

“Who is behind you?”

“That’s… Uwup!?”

The man vomited blood and writhed in pain.

Wendigo wasn’t particularly surprised. He had encountered people who placed taboos on their subordinates before.

Wendigo recalled the Gracious Wolf and looked at Freya. She responded as if it were nothing.

“Don’t worry. My enchantment has incomparable power. Even if he wants to die, he’ll hold on until he tells us everything.”

“…I wasn’t going to ask that, but that’s good.”

Wendigo, who had been about to ask if she knew about the taboo, held his tongue. Freya’s attitude was answer enough.

Moreover, if the man would spill information and then die as Freya said, there was truly nothing to worry about.

The man spat out blood mixed with flesh and began to speak.

“He is… the one who breaks military discipline and foretells victory, the patron of warriors and observer of tragedy, the great…”

“I’m not interested in titles. Just tell me the name quickly.”

“…His name is Alfodur, the God of War and the King of Gods who rules over the northern deities.”

When such a grandiose entity emerged as the background of this shabby warrior, Wendigo gave Shir a skeptical look.

Shir read the emotion in Wendigo’s eyes and avoided his gaze, offering an excuse.

“I, I just thought he was a madman, but Freya insisted we bring him.”

“Hmm… Maybe she just wanted to play a prank on you?”

At Wendigo’s sharp conjecture, Shir flinched but shook her head.

Although Freya was an eccentric Djin who enjoyed flirting with women and being cursed at…

Though she was known to sponsor many beings including her mother, only to abandon them when they aged…

‘It’s infuriating that there’s a real possibility of that.’

But at least until now, Freya had never told Shir a serious lie.

Shir defended(?) Freya with conviction.

“At least Freya has never played pranks about matters like this.”

“Darling! I knew you believed in me despite always being so prickly!”

Freya squealed and flew to Shir, rubbing her cheek against hers.

Shir grimaced at Freya’s excessive affection and tried to back away, but it was a futile resistance.

It was impossible for a frail woman to overcome Freya’s strength.

Wendigo sent his condolences to the distressed Shir and continued the interrogation.

“What’s the meaning of what’s carved on your chest?”

“This… I don’t know. The voices of the gods were beyond my humble ability to hear. They personally inserted the characters into my head, and I carved them on my body so I wouldn’t forget.”

‘So they’re the kind who beat information into people’s heads when words don’t work…’

Wendigo was convinced that these self-proclaimed gods weren’t normal either.

If communication fails, shouldn’t one seek alternative methods rather than forcing information into someone’s head?

The others seemed to share Wendigo’s thoughts as they whispered among themselves.

“It’s not a bad method, but it doesn’t seem to consider the subject’s safety.”

“That might be why this man went insane. But the efficiency…”

‘…Summoners can’t be helped. Their job is researching such things.’

Wendigo deliberately ignored Skadi and Shir’s academic discussion and asked another question.

“Why were you trying to infiltrate the forest?”

“That’s… AAAAARGH!!!”

“!”

Wendigo jumped back in surprise. The man had started screaming and smashing his head against the ground.

Freya clicked her tongue.

“Oh dear, it seems even my enchantment wasn’t enough to help him endure.”

“Freya, why is he doing that?”

To Gulmarg’s question, Freya shrugged and answered.

“Whoever placed the taboo on him must be quite nasty. He’s breaking protocol, so the taboo is tearing apart his mind.”

“Does that mean he was truly chosen by a god?”

“What? Of course not. Hardly any gods would take interest in such a pathetic creature.”

Freya sneered at Wendigo’s naive question.

Gods weren’t kind. More precisely, there were more cruel gods than kind ones.

And the northern gods were often among the cruelest. Most of them treated the weak as expendable.

“Northern gods never favor the weak. They’re all perverts who love fighting and imposing trials.”

“If you say so, it must be truly serious.”

“…Are you insulting me? That’s too much. I’m a fairly generous Djin, you know?”

“What are you talking about? I just meant that you’ve lived a long time, so you’ve probably seen worse situations than we have.”

“……”

Freya silently glared at Wendigo.

This Djin, despite being born not long ago, acted like a thousand-year-old spirit.

Even his polite speech pattern was irritatingly refined!

“Um, everyone. I think we need to stop him.”

“My head, get out of my heaaad!!!”

The man, or rather the madman, continued smashing his head despite it being torn open and bleeding profusely.

At this rate, the madman would clearly die from his head bursting.

“It’s better to save him. Skadi, if you would.”

“Skadi dear, nothing will change if you do, but if you want to try, go ahead.”

At Freya’s meaningful words, Skadi activated the spell in her ring with a puzzled expression.

Roots emerged from the ground and bound the madman’s arms, legs, and even his neck and mouth.

The madman resisted, shedding bloody tears, but it was futile.

There was no way an ordinary warrior could break a spell that had temporarily restrained even Wendigo.

“In this state, to heal him…”

“Wait, don’t approach. Something’s strange.”

Wendigo blocked Skadi from approaching the madman. He could sense unknown energy fluctuating around the madman.

The madman’s body froze as if turned to ice, and his eyes rolled back showing only the whites.

After a moment, the madman’s pupils returned to normal.

Wiggle, wiggle.

The madman moved his fingers to communicate.

“He seems to be asking us to release him.”

“His condition has definitely changed. Skadi, would you release him?”

Skadi nodded and withdrew the roots. Freed from restraint, the madman moved his body around to relieve tension.

Wendigo realized the madman’s aura had changed.

The shabby warrior was gone. His posture was firm, his face full of composure and confidence, and his eyes held a subtle glow.

‘I’d believe it if someone said he was a tribal chief, or even a king.’

“Ah, aah. I’m not sure if my voice is working properly.”

“Warrior, your voice has changed.”

Gulmarg gripped his club in amazement. One thing he’d learned in life was that strange things were generally dangerous.

Wendigo also drew an ice sword from the ground and tensed his body.

If the madman tried anything suspicious, he was ready to behead him.

The madman was still moving his body, checking his condition.

As if something displeased him, the madman frowned…

“Ah, I see. The field of vision is too wide.”

“…?”

Wendigo was bewildered by the madman’s incoherent words. But the bewilderment didn’t stop there.

The madman, with an expression of satisfaction, began to pluck out his own eyes.

Seeing this, Freya frowned and muttered.

“Definitely a crazy old man.”

“That voice… It must be Freya. It’s nice to see you again, though it saddens me that I must capture your beautiful form with just one eye. If I had known, I would have kept both!”

Having plucked out an eye, the madman made a horrifying joke to Freya in a friendly voice.

With his mangled head, exposed skull, torn face, and bloodshot remaining eye.

Covered in blood, the madman smiled and greeted them politely.

“Greetings. My name is Alfodur, once the chief deity who held the throne of gods. Now, well… I’m just one of the forgotten gods who has barely returned to the middle realm.”

‘It would have been better if you’d stayed forgotten.’

At the appearance of this new madman, Wendigo inwardly cursed.