Chapter 77

Freya glared at Wendigo while rubbing her sore forehead.

Her gaze contained the power to enchant, showing how resentful she felt.

“Are you using mystery just for venting? It would be better to use it for something more useful.”

“Hiss…”

Freya’s enchantment was powerful, but Wendigo didn’t waver at all.

Enchantment only works if there’s at least some interest in the other party.

For Wendigo, who had no interest in Freya at all, her enchantment was impossible to take effect even if she wanted it to.

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

“You’re thinking something rude, aren’t you?”

Wendigo was surprised, not expecting Freya to read his mind.

However, Wendigo didn’t show it at all. Since he had no expressions anyway, even if she was suspicious, there was no way to confirm it.

Wendigo played dumb smoothly.

“Why would I think such things when I’ve already given you a forehead flick?”

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

“Darling. But Wendigo…”

“Are you going to keep this up? If you keep grumbling, I’m going to get up and leave.”

When Sira tried to remove her arm, Freya was startled and hugged her tightly.

She didn’t want to miss the opportunity of Sira, who usually despised her (which she didn’t dislike), allowing such blatant contact.

“Okay. Okay, just let me enjoy this a little longer~”

When Sira looked at her with a blank expression, Freya hurriedly snapped her fingers and ordered the man.

The man, enchanted by Freya, walked in front of Wendigo and knelt according to her will.

Wendigo observed the man and asked Sira:

“Surely you didn’t bring him without any reason… Is there some important issue? To my eyes, he just looks like a warrior with a slightly odd mind.”

To Wendigo’s eyes, the man didn’t have anything particularly special.

From the clothes he wore to the dagger at his waist, nothing felt mysterious, and he didn’t have an outstanding physique like Gulmag.

He was a common Northern warrior that could be seen anywhere. You could probably bring dozens like him just by visiting villages on the outskirts of the forest.

Sira knew this well too.

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

The world is wide, and there are many madmen. This was a kind of rule that applied equally in any era, any world.

However, Sira realized that this madman was a slightly different type of madman.

“Could you remove the man’s upper clothing?”

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.’

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

Still, he could quickly understand why Sira had asked to remove it.

Near the man’s heart, unknown characters were tattooed.

“These are characters I’ve never seen before.”

“They might be a bit unfamiliar to you, spirit-nim. These are characters used by shamans. However, the tattoo wasn’t done by a shaman.”

“Indeed, a shaman wouldn’t engrave characters so messily. It would be difficult to do it forcibly too.”

Engraving characters was the basic and most important skill of a shaman.

Most shamanic arts are used by creating artifacts, and if the characters are even slightly misaligned or shaky, the shamanic art can’t be applied.

Naturally, a skill honed over a long time would show signs even if forcibly ruined.

‘Indeed, the condition is quite poor.’

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

“Who engraved it?”

“It would be better to hear that from his own mouth rather than us, right?”

Freya smiled and ordered the man.

『 Answer honestly to the questions. 』

Freya’s voice resonated like a beautiful harmony, and the warrior gradually fell into it.

At this moment, the man’s life became Freya’s possession.

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

“Alright. I’ll let you hear it again after the questions are over.”

When the warrior pleaded desperately, Freya promised with a mischievous smile.

The others watched this scene and thought simultaneously:

She definitely has no intention of granting that wish!

Wendigo gestured to Freya.

She approached, grinning, and flew onto Wendigo’s shoulder, which he detested.

“I didn’t mean for you to come onto my shoulder.”

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

Freya was delighted when Wendigo disliked it as expected.

Wendigo considered throwing Freya to the ground but calmed himself and suppressed his anger.

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

“Still, rudeness is rudeness. I hope you’ll refrain from such actions in the future.”

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

Wendigo whispered in Freya’s ear.

“Does this guy need to stay alive?”

“My, what an uncharacteristic question? Of course it doesn’t matter if he dies. Isn’t that what we agreed on? Didn’t you know?”

“No. I just asked in case.”

Wendigo organized the information in his mind.

If Sira and Freya came personally, it must be a quite important matter, but the prisoner doesn’t matter if he dies…

‘The background is important, but this guy is just a small fry.’

If he was someone significant, he wouldn’t have been enchanted just by Freya manifesting.

After organizing his thoughts, Wendigo approached the man and asked directly:

“Who’s behind you?”

“That’s… Urgh!?”

The man vomited blood and writhed in pain.

Wendigo wasn’t greatly surprised. There had been someone before who placed taboos on their subordinates.

Wendigo recalled the Gracious Wolf and looked at Freya. Freya reacted as if it was nothing special.

“Don’t worry. My enchantment has incomparable power to ordinary ones. Even if he wants to die, he’ll endure until he says everything, right?”

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

Wendigo, who was about to ask if she knew about the taboo, swallowed his words. Freya’s attitude was as good as an answer.

Above all, if he spilled the information and died as Freya said, there really was no need to worry.

The man spat out blood mixed with flesh and opened his mouth.

“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, quickly tell me the name.”

“… His name is Allfather, the god of war and the king of gods who reigns over the gods of the North.”

When such a grandiose being popped up as the background for a shabby warrior, Wendigo looked at Sira with a sour expression.

Sira 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 should bring him with a serious face.”

“Hmm… Maybe she was just trying to tease you?”

At Wendigo’s sharp guess, Sira flinched but shook her head.

Although Freya was an eccentric spirit who enjoyed flirting with women like a playboy and liked being cursed at.

Even though she was said to be a snob who supported numerous beings including her mother but abandoned them when they got old…?

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

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

Sira revealed her conviction and defended(?) Freya.

“At least Freya has never joked about things like this.”

“Darling! I knew you always believed in me even though you nag!”

Freya squealed and approached Sira, rubbing her cheek against hers.

Sira was disgusted by Freya’s excessive display of affection and tried to back away, but it was a futile resistance.

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

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

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

“This… I don’t know. The voices of the gods were not for my lowly self to hear. They personally inserted the characters into my head, and I engraved them on my body so I wouldn’t forget.”

‘So they’re the kind who beat it into his head when words don’t get through…’

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

If dialogue doesn’t work, shouldn’t one seek other methods rather than beating it into someone’s head?

The others seemed to share Wendigo’s thoughts as they whispered:

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

“It might be the reason why that man went mad. But the efficiency…”

‘… Shamans can’t be helped. Their usual work involves researching such things.’

Wendigo deliberately ignored Skadi and Sira’s academic discussion and threw out a question.

“What was your reason for trying to infiltrate the forest?”

“That’s… Arghhhh!!!”

“!”

Wendigo was startled and stepped back. The man had started screaming and banging his head on the ground.

Freya clicked her tongue.

“Oh my, it seems even my enchantment wasn’t enough to make it easy to endure.”

“Freya, why is he doing that?”

To Gulmag’s question, Freya shrugged and answered.

“The one who placed the taboo on him is quite nasty. Since he’s committing an action not in his orders, the taboo is ravaging his mind.”

“Then does that mean he was really chosen by a god?”

“What? That’s impossible. There are hardly any gods who would take interest in such a pathetic fellow.”

Freya sneered at Wendigo’s naive question.

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

And the gods of the North were often the cruelest among them. To the extent that most of them regarded the weak as disposable.

“The gods of the North absolutely don’t like the weak. They’re all perverts who love fighting and inflicting trials.”

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

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

“What are you talking about? I said that thinking you’ve seen more worst-case scenarios than us, having lived for so long.”

“……”

Freya quietly glared at Wendigo.

Come to think of it, this spirit hadn’t been born long ago, yet his actions were no different from a thousand-year-old spirit.

Even his polite way of speaking made him twice as annoying!

“Um, everyone. I think we should stop him first.”

“My head, get out of my head!!!”

The man, no, the madman didn’t stop even as his head was torn and blood flowed profusely.

At this rate, it was obvious the madman would die from his head bursting.

“It would be better to save him. Skadi, please.”

“Even if Skadi darling does that, nothing will change. Well, if you want, go ahead.”

At Freya’s meaningful words, Skadi activated the shamanic art contained in her ring, puzzled.

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

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

There was no way an ordinary warrior could break free from shamanic arts that had temporarily bound even Wendigo.

“In this state, to treat…”

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

Wendigo blocked Skadi as she approached the madman. He felt an unknown energy swirling around the madman.

The madman’s body stiffened as if frozen, and his eyes rolled back, showing the whites.

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

Wiggle wiggle.

The madman moved his fingers to communicate.

“It seems he’s asking to be released.”

“Indeed, his state has changed. Skadi, would you release him?”

Skadi nodded and withdrew the roots. Freed from the bindings, the madman moved his body in various ways to release tension.

Wendigo realized that the madman’s aura had changed.

The shabby warrior’s appearance was gone. His posture was firm, his face full of composure and confidence, and his eyes had a faint glow.

‘I’d believe it if they said he was a tribal chief, no, a king of some tribe.’

“Ah, aah. I’m not sure if my voice is coming out well.”

“Warrior, voice different.”

Gulmag grabbed his club in wonder. One thing he had learned in life was that strange things were generally dangerous.

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

Just in case the madman tried anything strange, he could behead him.

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

As if something wasn’t to his liking, the madman frowned…

“Ah, I see. It’s because 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 started plucking out his own eyes with an expression of relief.

Freya watched this and muttered with a frown:

“It’s definitely a crazy old man.”

“This voice… It must be Freya. I’m glad to see you again like this, but it’s sad that I have to capture your beautiful form in just one eye. If I had known, I would have left more!”

The madman, having plucked out his eye, threw a terribly gruesome joke at Freya in a friendly voice.

A mess of a head with exposed bone on the forehead, a torn face, and a bloodshot single eye.

Covered in blood, the madman smiled and greeted politely.

“Greetings. My name is Allfather, once the chief god who occupied the throne of gods. Now… I’m just one of the forgotten gods who have barely returned to the middle realm.”

‘It might have been better when you were forgotten.’

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