Ubermensch – Chapter 147

Chapter 147

Thor. The god I served.

Though my faith was waning, I bowed to him in awe.

“Valiant Thor. Your servant pays his respects.”

Thor wore a pleased expression and patted my shoulder.

“Rise, warrior. I did not come to meet a servant, but a warrior!”

Thor lifted me up, and we sat by the same bonfire, eating the same meat and drinking warmed ale.

Freyja was eloquent. Even to me, a believer, Thor wasn’t much of a talker, but he was a good listener.

To someone like me, with a heart full of stories, the latter was a much better conversational partner.

I talked all night.

Stories from my childhood, the tale of how I became a werewolf, my time serving in the Varangian Guard, meeting Freyja, and so on.

“Is that so? You met Freyja.”

That was the first time Thor, who had only been listening with interest, opened his mouth.

“Then you must have heard about the truth of the gods.”

“Yes.”

Freyja confessed to me that even the power of gods has limits. I was disappointed in the gods because of that, but it allowed me to face their limitations.

Perhaps it was a fortunate thing.

To be able to meet my idol without excessive expectations.

“Even gods have limits. Many find it hard to accept this truth.”

“To be honest, I did too.”

“Be thankful you learned it now.”

Thor said with a heavy expression.

“There are many who only realize it after becoming Einherjar.”

I recalled old memories with a bitter expression.

Freyja had asked me to kill them.

Those she had personally recruited.

How must they have felt?

The goddess who eliminated her own warriors, or the warriors who were abandoned by the goddess…

Aside from that part, Thor didn’t interfere with my story. I wasn’t much of a storyteller either, so by the time morning came, I had run out of tales from my life.

“…Well, that’s how I ended up here.”

As I awkwardly finished my story, Thor asked me,

“What are your plans now?”

“I’ve lived for hundreds of years traveling south, so I’ll try living for hundreds of years traveling north again.”

“Won’t you join me on my journey?”

“Are you on a journey as well, Thor-kke?”

“Yes. A journey to revive faith and regain strength. An endless journey with no known end.”

Dawn was breaking, and Thor stood with his back to the rising sun.

His hearty laughter shone brighter than anything else.

“You know the truth. That this is now the world of humans.”

Holding Mjolnir in one hand, he extended his other hand to me.

“But, I want to reclaim it. Our power. Our faith. And our people. I want us, who have cared for our people for hundreds and thousands of years, to become the object of faith once again, not that southern bastard nailed to a cross.”

The gods had disappointed me.

However, my idol was asking me for a chance.

Was there any reason to refuse?

I thought about it carefully and soon reached an answer.

“There’s no reason to refuse.”

There was nothing particularly wrong with the world of Christianity. But was there anything particularly wrong with the world of the old faith?

I was an old man, and I felt more affection for the old than the new.

“You’ve thought well.”

“I trust you’ll make me more famous than TRP.”

Thor laughed. A hearty and cheerful laugh, a smile befitting the god of valor.

“Well, that’s a feat you’ll have to achieve yourself.”

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And so, Thor and I began to travel together.

What he and I did was simple.

We would intervene whenever a fight broke out somewhere.

If those who held the old faith fought with those who believed in Christianity, we would help those with the old faith. If those with the old faith fought amongst themselves, we would mediate. And if those who believed in Christianity fought amongst themselves, we would attack both sides.

Leave even one more person who worshipped the old faith, reduce even one convert. It was a good plan.

The only problem was that the means was murder, and coincidentally, both Thor and I were best at killing.

I was a werewolf who had been the strongest warrior in the North Sea for hundreds of years, and Thor was literally the god of strength and valor.

I wasn’t keen on fighting where I unilaterally killed those weaker than me, but if it was a fight to protect our faith and culture, there was no reason to refuse.

Many legends arose from the wars we waged.

We became the talk of taverns, the bane of messengers, the rumors that troubled kings, and most of all, the nonsense that made priestesses furious.

I liked the last one best.

I didn’t particularly dislike priestesses. But there was no reason to like them either.

But Thor hated them, and he enjoyed screwing them over.

Then I should enjoy screwing them over too.

After a decade or so, the number of those who worshipped the old faith gradually began to increase. Even in the face of the flooding tide of Christianity, those who followed the old traditions, those who carried Odin’s spear and Thor’s hammer instead of the cross with the nailed fool hanging on it…

Thanks to the old superstitions running rampant, the old faith was reviving.

Thor’s power grew stronger, and we were purely delighted.

At the thought that the old faith, and the good old days, could return.

Then one day.

The night Thor left to meet someone.

As I was killing time sitting in a tavern, someone sat beside me.

“You seem to be having a good time.”

It was Freyja, her hood pulled deep over her face.

I tried to remain as calm as possible and said,

“It seems you’ve forgotten your request not to see each other again.”

“I tried. Nevertheless, you called for me.”

“We did?”

I asked back, taking a sip of my beer.

“Thor seems to want to regain his divine power.”

“Yes.”

“Stop it.”

“Why should we stop?”

“Please, just stop it.”

Freyja said in a calm voice.

“This meaningless slaughter.”

Crack!

The wooden beer mug shattered in my grip.

I clenched my teeth and said forcefully,

“I only did what I had to do.”

“What did you have to do?”

“I only followed the guidance of my god.”

I glared at Freyja.

“You forced me to break my oath, but Thor-kke guided me.”

“Don’t use god as an excuse. You were the one who acted.”

Freyja looked at me.

“You were the one who chose to harm people because of religion, to slaughter the weak who were no match for you. You chose to be with Thor who commanded it. Why blame god?”

“I only want the good old days to return.”

“Can you make the waves return to the sea? Can you return the falling rain to the sky? Time is the same, so why do you believe violence can turn back the world?”

“Those are not words a god should speak.”

“Your words are not words a human should speak either.”

I stood up.

“If you have nothing more to say, I’ll be going.”

“No. I have more to say.”

“I have nothing to hear.”

I stood up and went outside.

It was winter. The night air was cold.

I relied on my drunkenness to endure the cold and looked for Thor.

Thor’s scent was as strong and refreshing as lightning. A pungent smell.

I followed Thor’s scent beyond the milk-white fog.

To a grand palace covering the horizon.

“Thorkel. My warrior.”

Thor welcomed me.

“What brings you here?”

“Is this the famous Bilskirnir?”

“It is.”

Thor looked at the palace with a bitter expression.

“Once, this place was filled with farmers who worked diligently. I held feasts every day. But now, the farmers worship the southern bastard god instead of me. To avoid famine and for a bountiful harvest, they call his name, not mine.”

Thor lamented.

“The sorrow of losing one’s followers is something only those who have experienced it can understand. Just as those who haven’t lost a child can’t presume to know the pain of those who have…”

“…”

“You seem to have met with Freyja. Am I right?”

I nodded.

“Yes.”

“She always made men agonize.”

Thor chuckled and looked at Bilskirnir.

“I can guess what she said. She probably told you not to kill people, right?”

“Yes.”

“What do you think?”

“I’m confused.”

“Because of what she said?”

“No. Because of what she didn’t say.”

I had stood up without hearing Freyja’s last words.

Because I could guess what she was going to say.

“Mighty Thor. My god.”

She would have wanted to ask.

“When will our war… your task… ever end?”

I wanted Thor to lie. I wanted him to say it would end soon. But Thor, the Thor I worshipped, was an honest and valiant god.

“When I’ve driven the southern bastard god out of all my people.”

He was brutally honest.

“Even if it means killing all the heathens?”

“Yes.”

And sadly valiant.

“Mighty Thor. My god.”

I looked at Thor.

“Let’s stop here. I will live my life as your believer, so Thor-kke, you will always have at least one believer wherever and whenever. As long as I live, you will never be forgotten. Your servant begs you, please add mercy to your valor and honesty.”

Thor looked at me.

“Thorkel. Are you abandoning me too?”

“I’m just afraid. Of the blood that must be spilled from now on, the deaths that must be piled up…”

“You may leave if you wish. I will walk this battlefield alone.”

“I will not leave.”

I stood before Thor.

“I will stop it.”

Thor wore a sad expression.

“Your wisdom has betrayed your faith!”

Thor raised Mjolnir high, and I drew my shield and axe.

However, the outcome was already decided before the fight even began. Who could stand against the god of thunder?

Clang!

But my shield withstood the blow of the famed Mjolnir.

It was impossible.

Unless there was intervention from another god…

“Freyja.”

I finally realized.

It was Freyja who had arranged to meet Thor here, and she had persuaded me while I was away from Thor.

Two became one and one became two, so now the numerical advantage belonged to Freyja.

“Her sweet talk has conquered another warrior!”

Enraged, Thor raised Mjolnir, shaking heaven and earth, and lightning rained down like a storm.

But Freyja was the most skilled sorceress among the gods, and I was a decent warrior for a human.

“Mighty Thor! Please stop. This once, please bend your unyielding will!”

“I have never fled from an enemy.”

“Thor!”

I roared, but Mjolnir spewed lightning.

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There was a long battle.

There were precarious moments and painful moments.

However, the outcome was already decided the moment I changed my mind.

I wept before my god, who lay collapsed, covered in blood.

“There were other ways. You could have stopped!”

“When you grow old doing only one thing… it’s not easy to stop…”

“Mighty Thor. My god.”

I said, sobbing.

“I will not worship any other god but you. I swore it, so it shall be.”

“Those are not words for one who has killed a god…”

Thor laughed heartily.

He was valiant and honorable even in the face of death.

A god worthy of a warrior’s worship.

Ah, why didn’t people understand?

With such a great Thor right here, why did they abandon their faith?

Thor looked at Freyja.

“You… you harm a fellow god for those who do not worship you.”

“Even if they abandoned me, are they not my children? A mother cannot abandon her child, even a prodigal one.”

“Is that your new faith?”

Thor laughed heartily.

“The end of days. Truly the end of days. The world where people worshipped gods is over, and now gods serve people.”

“…The world is bound to change.”

“Then, I pray your new god does not abandon you…”

And so, Thor closed his eyes. Without Jormungandr, without serpent venom. He fell by betrayal and conspiracy.

I knelt and sobbed, and Freyja placed her hand on my shoulder.

“Thorkel.”

And I, audaciously, brushed her hand away.

“Before, I said I didn’t want to see you again.”

I said through gritted teeth.

“Now, in the name of Thor, I swear. If I ever meet you again, I will crush you!”

“Thorkel…”

“Begone, harlot! This is the domain of a noble one!”

“I promise.”

Freyja said quietly.

“I… will not seek you out first.”

She disappeared into the milk-white fog.

I looked at Bilskirnir as it crumbled.

And I realized.

That I was now alone in the world.