"How do I get there!? Please tell me Ms. Layla!""First, to explain, there are currently other worlds than this world, Midgard, that exists, … or how do I describe it, domains, lands… land of the light elves Alvheim, the dark elves and dwarves Svartalvheim, land of the giants Jotunheim, land of the fire beings Muspelheim, and finally the land of the dead Helheim, these worlds are ruled by the tree of Yggdrasil, the worlds are connected one into another level by level, it comes into this order; humans, light elves, dark elves, fire beings, and the dead, in order to reach the dark elves one needs to pa.s.s through the land of the light elves, which is currently… already a colony of the dark elves. If you want to save her highness Claire, our little hope is that the source of the curse welling in Claire"s body is in that territory"
What is this? Norse mythology? If it"s Norse then there should be a world missing right? The land of G.o.ds… Asgard, but that isn"t something I should worry right now, Claire is in danger, I have to do something about it immediately.
"I see, then being a light elf you are what they call… a refugee right? You are taking refuge here in Midgard"
Layla looked surprised at my ability to take in her outrageous explanation almost immediately, but aside from the resemblance of the world to the Norse mythology famous in my world, I think she had no reason to lie to me - as a result, I am able to believe her in her explanation easily.
"Tell me Ms. Layla, how do I get there? "
It"s all or nothing, even how unrealistic it is, right now if there"s a way, I don"t feel like stopping.
"Andrei! Don"t tell me!"
"Chill Gideon, don"t overreact I"m just gathering information":
Gideon losing his cool is rare, but it"s the right response for that kind of question, he guessed my intent and may have thought of it as reckless but I don"t plan to go without a plan, that"s why I need to know.
"There"s a portal, and I have the key to it, but only light elves can go through it, if we tweak it for humans, at best I can send a few persons to go through, which means we can"t send an army, I"m telling this only because we owe you very much for the reclamation of Kydus and protecting us in our escape, but I advise against going-"
"But Ms. Layla Claire is-"
"Think about it Andrei, will her highness Claire be happy if you save her that way? Will her majesty Michaela even agree? You may be in a high after defeating the dark-elves with your ideas, and inventions, but the time you set foot at the light elves territory what you will meet is a world destroyed by dark-elves with all of them occupying the majority of the lands, have you seen how the humans that were possessed transformed into? That was just a fraction of their force, this time you will be facing more of them, and they won"t have any restriction in their magic, a vast difference to how you faced them before! As a woman, if I were her highness Claire, if you truly love her you won"t throw your life so easily.
The paths between worlds only occur when there is an alignment between the bridges that connect to it, it happens only once yearly in the human world, once you are in you can"t come back until I open it again, and that will be after another year, our communication from here will be severed, 99% it will be only then a one-way trip, you won"t be able to come back. "
Layla made me realize that what I was thinking was far too naive, I was only able to win because of the people behind me; the people of Ethraeri and Kydus, Michaela, Rara, Gideon, Layla, Claire, and Erneis. I didn"t do the miracle all by myself, everyone did their role perfectly if I was thrown into the land or world she just described a man who doesn"t even know magic, its the same as throwing my life for nothing.
"Then, are there other alternatives?"
I tried asking for alternatives since she"s so against it, then there may be a loophole we can use so that Claire may still live.
"I"m sad to say Andrei, but nothing, there"s nothing we can do at the moment, all we can do is wait for a miracle"
There are no alternatives after all, and a miracle? I tried relying on that, I was powerless and I tried to pray for a miracle to heal Ann, but there was nothing. It"s foolish to wish for such a miracle in a G.o.dless world, even if there"s one I doubt he would give that easily, G.o.d sometimes plays favorites.
Ms. Layla looks sad, she must have been shouldering the responsibility since she has been entrusted to heal Claire, she"s also desperate, I can tell from the look in her eyes, she wants to save her but she couldn"t. Feeling obligated to me, she told me the solution at the same time, gravely warns and stops me from doing it - however the situation doesn"t change if we maintain the status quo, there"s no cure. If that"s the case, then am I okay with just waiting? No, I know I have to do something.
Fate! G.o.d! Whatever or whoever you are! You"re not going to take someone away from me this time, the situation right now is different, something can be done, it may be risky and dangerous, and I may not even live before I can do something, but at least its better than doing nothing.
I made my decision, I"m not going to let Claire die, thinking about it, this isn"t even my original world, I have come from far far away, I do not belong here, and I may have died already in my old world which may be the reason why I was sent here for some reason or coincidence.
If that"s the case, the answer should be clear, I who comes from a different world have no business in preserving my life. Claire has yet to live her life fully, she is kind enough to die, of course, I am afraid, since fighting those beings, it still shakes me deep into my core, but Claire and Michaela, those two kept me going, together with the people here who accepted me for who I am.
At least in return, I have to give back a thousand folds of what they gave, even how tiny hope there. This time I won"t be powerless, I will save Claire from her curse, and save Michaela from her sadness, Claire who"s just like the moon and pretty stars becoming my light in my darkness, Michaela who"s like the sun, who keeps me motivated, and gives me the courage to live another day with a smile - although they may not realize it, these two helped me a lot.
I looked at Layla who had a worried look on my face, I think she told me that she has the key because she unconsciously still believes that I may be able to do something. I look at Gideon next to her who also has the same expression, it"s priceless, just how perfect are these two? They even have the same expressions.
"Ms. Layla, I want to save her… I don"t want her to remain at that state forever, if that"s the only solution to this problem, then I"ll willingly do it, I may be just a fragile human, without a single speck of talent or mana, but I think I"ll go after all"
"I see… it seems that you have made your mind already huh? No matter what, the desire to save your love comes first before everything huh… I admire that. And it seems me and my idiot husband can"t stop you anymore, with that look in your eyes.
Then at the new moon, thirty days from now the bridges between Midgard and Alvheim will align again with each other, please prepare by then, you can bring up to two companions to accompany you, please get ready and prepare everything you need by then.
And you also need to talk about this to your fiance her highness Michaela"
Ms. Layla"s tone was a bit stern, it may be due to my persistence, or maybe my feelings to save Claire got through her, I understand where she is coming from, and if something bad happens to me, she might end up carrying the burden and responsibility, I thank her from the bottom of my heart.
After the serious talk, I excitedly discussed with Gideon on ma.s.s-producing bullets at the end of the month so I can use them, those magic bullets will increase my survivability role, and also I set with them some appointments when I could learn more about Alvheim and some common knowledge I need to know from his wife Layla, which also increases my survivability rate and ensures that I am on track to destroying the device.
As the couple talked about what I need to get ready, I stared at the stairs of the inn that goes to the second floor.
Claire, don"t worry, soon enough you"ll be lowkey dissing me again, you who saved me from my darkness when I came into this world, this time I will be the one who"ll do the saving.
"I can"t wait to hear your deadpan responses and your smile once again," I muttered.
Now that I found a lead to Claire"s recovery, I have to prepare for the long and uncertain journey, and the first thing to do is to ask permission from Michaela, the one who took me in - she has the authority over me, but in her current state will she even answer to my question? I"m afraid she might even want to come.
After that will then be choosing my travel buddies, it"s a hard task, who would risk themselves for someone they barely know? Even if they did know Claire do they even have the same strong feelings to be in such a suicide mission?
Unlike the last battles where the odds are calculable, the upcoming battles may be very different, in that world where the dark-elves are at their full strength. But what about the light-elves? Since Alvheim is their land or domain, then I might be able to ask for help.