episode_0126

Balpreya woke up from a long sleep due to the somewhat aggressive knock of her distant descendant.

As soon as she opened her eyes in the amethyst, she stared straight at me below the hill and approached me to talk.

Am I a weak descendant?

Seeing her starting an argument from the first word, it seemed like her level of character was not much different from the original.

In other words, it means that you shouldn’t approach closely. Neither physically nor characteristically.

“Hi, Hilde. That thing seems a bit broken… Is it okay? I clearly told you not to approach because it was dangerous earlier….”

Freide pointed at the amethyst while looking back at me.

“Um… Shouldn’t it be okay…? What do you think?”

“Well, it’s a bit creepy… but other than that…?”

Freide frowned, looked at the amethyst, and answered with a slight nod.

Well, it seems that’s the extent of being creepy. Apparently, Freide didn’t seem to notice at all that Balpreya had woken up.

Are the blue pupils staring at me from the amethyst and the eerie voice echoing in my head only reaching me?

The reason was roughly guessed. It’s probably because Brunhilde’s body is a descendant of Valkyria.

Valkyria is a human-shaped biological weapon that has been modified to inherit the power of Valkyria after transplanting an “ice heart” into a human body.

Brunhilde, who obtained Valkyria’s characteristics through gene manipulation, was essentially the same race as the ancient Valkyrias.

So, it’s natural for Balpreya, who was the commander of the Valkyrias, to only approach me.

For Balpreya, Freide next to me is just a human brat holding an unpleasant weapon.

Like treating a cockroach crawling out of a toilet? Perhaps she would have tried to kill it first even if the seal had been broken.

Currently, since the seal is not broken, she is talking to me instead.

【 Come to me, your soul’s master. 】

That’s what she said.

—

People familiar with online games already know, but it’s not right to consider someone the same as you just because you can communicate with them.

Balpreya was exactly the kind of villain that fit into such a case.

Originally, the old Eisenstein itself was a group that created genetically modified human combat units through biological experiments, so how could the commander of such an organization be a normal human?

Naturally, they were nothing but a chain murderer far removed from ethics and morality.

【 Young Valkyria. Come up to the castle and greet me. The moment has come when the duty engraved on your soul since birth will be fulfilled. 】

Just by listening to the words, it was obvious.

A creepy and eerie voice like a snake. It was so clear that the purpose of speaking was to command to come up to the castle.

She would probably drag me into the castle to completely release her own seal. Saying that it’s my duty or something.

Do you understand?

【 Fulfill your duty! As a knight of Eisenstein! 】

‘Ah, that won’t work.’

I strongly recalled such sentences in my mind.

Like Valkyria, the language Balpreya was using was not a common language but an ancient one.

I could understand the meaning, but I didn’t really want to answer out loud. In Freide’s eyes, I would look like suddenly muttering in a strange foreign language.

That would seem a bit crazy. I’m not crazy.

Of course, I’ve often been called crazy… But those who call others bastards are not really dogs, right?

No, rather, those who call black people slaves or monkeys born from their parents are extremely rare in settings.

Why? Because, in Earth terms, it was a level of calling black people n*****s.

If you talk like that, it’s as natural as getting shot, calling a dog person here a bastard and having your face torn off wouldn’t be surprising.

In other words, being frequently called a bastard here is nothing but evidence that the person who receives insults is not a dog person.

Similarly, I lived with the insult of being called a crazy woman, but in reality, I am far from being a crazy woman. Isn’t that right?

Alright. Proof complete.

It was a perfect argument that no one could refute.

—

【…What did you say?】

Was my rejection quite unexpected? Valfreya asked in a puzzled tone mixed with slight anger.

Well, unless she breaks out of her shell, there’s no reason for me to fear whether the woman trapped inside the shell is angry or not.

Where would you find tourists at the zoo afraid of the lion in the cage? Even if it roars loudly, everyone will admire it, take pictures, and move on.

【You refuse? Your duty as a knight, Valfreya?】

“Yes, I won’t do it.”

So, I blatantly gave a sarcastic response, seeking revenge for her surprise.

Honestly, when else would I ever dare to be sarcastic to that monster? Anyone else would have not held back.

“I’m sorry, but please recognize someone else. I’ve completed my term of duty and been discharged.”

She seems to like her duty as a knight. It’s been a long time since I fulfilled my duty to defend the country, Grandma. It was two years that cleanly evaporated my patriotism.

【…Rude, lowly, and even foolish. Even if you’ve fallen to such a pitiful state, surely you haven’t forgotten your duty.】

“Grandma, you’re being harsh. When did you see me to say such things?”

I casually moved my steps, approaching the helmet rolling down the hill, continuing to be sarcastic.

【Ha, Grandma…?!】

Valfreya stuttered as if truly shocked.

Her reaction was shamelessly lacking in dignity. If she’s roughly several hundred years old, then naturally, she should be called Grandma.

Did she hope to hear sisterly words at that age?

“Oh, are you perhaps a grandfather? I’m sorry about that. Your voice sounded so authoritative.”

【That…ugh…!】

Valfreya groaned as if her spine was being pulled. Her reaction was so funny that I couldn’t help but chuckle.

Funny.

It was a strange feeling. Constantly making sounds like a popped cork without feeling any sense of danger.

The tension that had soared suddenly broke through its limit, forcibly stabilizing my mind in return.

Now, I felt fearless. That kind of feeling, more or less.

Of course, the magical girl who spat those words was turned into a meal a few seconds later, but…

Valfreya was like a mosquito trapped in a pumpkin. As long as I didn’t help her, she couldn’t escape the shell, so there was no chance of my head being bitten.

“Uh…Hilde, are you okay…?”

My quietly laughing appearance must have seemed odd. Freyde cautiously asked about my condition.

“Huh? Oh, of course I’m fine. Come on, let’s go get the helmet quickly.”

I smiled reassuringly while patting Freyde’s head.

Freyde, you should smile too. Despite some mishaps along the way, everything has worked out fine, so we should naturally be happy, shouldn’t we?

Due to being fixated on the thrown spear, I couldn’t see clearly, but it was evident that the helmet was the last thing Valfreya vomited.

So, all that remained was to gently scratch Valfreya’s insides to relieve stress and grab the helmet before escaping.

Grandma is still here. I’m going back to Frey’s house – no, I’ll return to the surface.

That was the moment.

【 How dare you mock me, how dare you mock Balbrey! A lowly and ignorant fool, an arrogant vulture who doesn’t even know his place! 】

Whether it was a fever reaching to the head, Balbrey threw away his mysterious tone and shouted fiercely.

Ah, it’s really annoying.

I involuntarily twisted my expression. It was like thunder roaring in my head.

【 Balquira, obey the covenant engraved in your lineage, in your soul! 】

Balbrey now brought out the covenant of the master. It was a tone that was hard to tell which side was being arrogant.

Well, it’s natural for her. She was like the second in command of Einstein by now.

But still, the covenant engraved in the soul…

Well, there was such a thing in the setting. Balquira is Einstein’s human weapon. Like all weapons, Balquira naturally had some kind of control mechanism attached to her.

That was the covenant of the master.

Engraved in Balquira’s soul, a covenant passed down through generations.

It was a literal slave contract engraved in the soul, forcing strict obedience to Balbrey, the owner of all Balquiras, and the orders of that authority.

Probably also engraved in Brunhilde’s soul.

The original novel’s possession said that while the covenant itself cannot be eliminated, orders could be neutralized through the miracle of the saint’s spiritual defense…

Beside me was a hero. She wasn’t a saint. We couldn’t perform such feats.

【 Your rightful master, Balbrey Einstein, commands. Offer yourself as a sacrifice for me! 】

With the covenant of the master activated, Balbrey shouted once again. To offer my body and soul entirely as a sacrifice to release her seal.

Sacrifice.

That was the fundamental reason why I had to warn Frey not to approach the castle on the hill.

The moment we entered that castle, Frey and I would be absorbed entirely, becoming sacrifices for Balbrey’s liberation.

【 Offer the sacrifice! 】

The sharp voice echoed in my mind. Obeying the slave imprint engraved in Brunhilde’s and Balquira’s souls.

My response was simple.

“I’m busy. I’ll prepare the offering next time. If you’re hungry, go sleep or something.”

I chuckled and dismissed the nonsense order to commit suicide. There was no way I would obey that.

【 What…?! 】

Balbrey was genuinely astonished. Her voice was tens of times more surprised than when she heard Grandma’s voice.

【 This is absurd. Even if corrupted, the essence remains unchanged. How could one refuse the covenant engraved in the soul…? 】

Well, one could. The covenant of the master was like an imprint engraved in the soul, impossible to resist without saint-level mental defenses.

Even Brunhilde in the latter part of the original novel couldn’t resist the covenant without the help of a saint, so there was no way the current Brunhilde could refuse the covenant.

However, I am not Brunhilde.

Physically, I may be Brunhilde, but perhaps my soul is entirely different?

So, I didn’t know anything about the covenant of the master. It was an agreement engraved in the soul, not the physical body, engraved in Brunhilde’s soul, not mine.

Therefore, if you wanted to give orders, you should address them to Brunhilde’s soul, not me. I didn’t know where that would be located either.

That was precisely why I could openly confront Balbrey.

Because I wasn’t bound by the covenant of the master, unlike Brunhilde, I could just listen with one ear and ignore the ramblings of the senile witch.

And that’s exactly what I did.

Arriving just below the hill, picking up the black-gray helmet stuck on the stone floor until escaping outside the fortress.

【 Surely, soul transfer…? No, that can’t be. For a mere fallen Val’kyr, who in the world would resort to such a desperate ritual… 】

As we were about to escape the crumbling city walls, it seemed like Val’kyr Valfreya finally understood why my pact didn’t work… but even so, nothing was going to change.

From the start, she seemed hesitant, almost as if she couldn’t believe it herself.

Well, keep pondering like that.

With part of the amethyst shattered, waking up in a daze, she would spend the rest of her life alone.

It was a satisfactory outcome.