GxG 30
The change in atmosphere was instant. I wasted no time wrapping Hana in my power so that if a fight started, I could protect her to the best of my ability.
I noticed those two were strong when they walked into the café, but I thought the polite thing was to acknowledge that and basically ignore each other.
Him clocking Hrist on sight was not something I expected, especially with the work I put into her cloak. This just got very dicey very fast, especially since none of us actually know Hrist's current legal status.
It would be really awkward if she was on their wanted list or something similar. That's a great way to blow a vacation, that's for sure.
"Now, there's no reason to get so excited." The old man tried to calm everyone down, but we were all too high strung from his sudden reveal.
"…Hrist?" Whispered the silver haired girl accompanying the older man. She was desperately searching for a hint of something, but the cloak was at least enough to block her senses.
Everyone was still for a moment before Hrist and I made eye contact. She slowly nodded, so I gave a sharp nod in return. Our cover was already blown, and I didn't want to risk a fight with Hana in my arms. At least if we tried to talk this out, we may avoid a fight, versus a nearly guaranteed one if we bolt.
Kunou could maybe take on the silver haired girl, but the old guy was giving me mixed feelings. It wasn't worth the risk, even if we put full effort into escaping.
With my permission she slowly reached up and lowered her hood before turning to the two at the other end of the stand off.
"Rose." Hrist's voice seemed calm, but there was a nearly indescribable undertone. This was the Valkyrie who was handling her mission before everything went wrong, then? Hrist stared for a second before turning to the old man and doing a salute.
"Lord Odin"
Ah? This old guy? He did not look anything like this in the political primers that Yasaka gave me.
It seemed like Odin was full of jokes, as he sensed my confusion, smirked at me, and then snapped his fingers.
Whatever illusion he had himself under faded away, and I was unable to grasp even a little bit of how it worked. Maybe ignoring Magic for so long may not have been the smartest.
What was revealed was a man who looked maybe 70% similar to before, but matched the photos Yasaka had given me before. His beard became much longer, and one of his eyes became a monocle.
In front of me was Odin, the Chief God of the Norse, and I would be a fool to think there was no shenanigans afoot.
"Hrist. Officially listed missing in action after your first mission. Suspected of turning traitor, using the mission to slip away." Odin began talking at a leisurely pace, as if he was listing out some facts about the weather for the week.
Hrist froze as her eyes widened in shock, but she wasn't the first to speak.
"What? You think she turned traitor?" Rossweisse snapped, whipping her head to look at Odin.
"Don't take the tone with me, girl. She disappears for years only to come slinking back with the princess of another faction and the worlds latest gossip piece. It's not a good look." Odin said while gesturing to Kunou and then me for some reason.
Gossip piece? I don't think I really did anything to be global news though. The fight with those Hero Faction losers wasn't that exciting, and I don't think people are bored enough either.
I could see Hrist deflating with each word Odin spoke, while Rossweisse seemed to be getting madder. I don't know the full story, but Hrist seemed like she was close with Rossweisse before she got pieced, and I guess Rossweisse still feels the same.
Right as Rossweisse was about to explode, Odin's entire demeanour shifted again. He totally relaxed while shrugging, showing his palms in a non-threatening gesture.
"Is what I would say if I was blind and stupid." Odin laughed at Rossweisse's dumbstruck face, while Hrist just looked confused.
Kunou had been in full fight or flight mode the entire exchange, with the fur on her tails standing up and everything. It would be cute in any other scenario.
Poor Hana had been trying to press herself into my arms as hard as she could while being utterly still, but she relaxed the fastest at Odin's mood shift. I always forget how much she relies on her senjutsu to sense the world. I should probably know that my daughter isn't human, but it slips my mind so easily.
"Sit. Let's talk." Odin took control of the situation again, waving off the barista who took the first offer to bolt. I know it's probably a bad idea to let him lead the conversation around so much, but I had no leverage.
"Alright." I nodded at the god. With the chance of a fight breaking out significantly lowered, I passed Hana to Kunou before sitting across from Odin once again. Hrist sat across from Rossweisse who was positively vibrating to dive over the table, but a side glace from Odin kept her in her chair.
Kunou sat closer to the door, still not totally calm, while Hana was looking around curiously now that her senses weren't screaming at her. If Odin noticed Kunou's little move, he didn't say anything about it.
"I guess we should introduce ourselves, since things have gotten to this point." I opened with.
"Seems redundant, but sure." Odin shrugged but continued to talk "I'm Odin, chief of the Norse, God of Wisdom and all that. Beside me is Rossweisse, my assistant, bodyguard and all-around gofer."
Odin seemed pretty blasé about his own titles, and while Rossweisse seemed glowingly proud of her own titles it was hard to miss her eye twitch when she got called a gofer. Poor girl, I guess this is what Hrist meant by her being overworked.
Now that things were calming down I actually got a good look at her. Between the silver hair and vibrant blue eyes, she was rather pretty. The very fitting suit she had on helped.
"My name is Nathan Meyer, Sage. Beside me is Kunou, princess of the yokai, while the little cutie is my daughter Hana. Finally, Hrist, who I'm escorting home." I laid out the identities of my group. Kunou's title might not hold nearly as much sway as it did in Japan, but it should help smooth over whatever is happening here.
"Hn." Odin grunted as he observed our group, lingering on Hana again before settling on Hrist.
"I knew that report was bullshit the second I saw it." Odin opened, knocking the wind out of whatever Hrist was building to say.
"Ah?"
"Yup. I may not meet all the new graduates, but I do keep tabs on my forces. Also the report having no paper trail was a massive give away that something was wrong."
"What? You never mentioned this!" Rossweisse grit out.
"Of course not. You were already upset about Hrist going missing and I couldn't risk you spooking the rats. Hrist was sadly already gone so it was just a waiting game at that point." Odin explained before turning to our group.
"One that paid off better than I could have ever predicted." He finally finished his mini conversation and looked right at me.
"What do you mean 'paid off'?" I asked. Honestly this whole dancing around and being formal thing blows.
"Exactly what I meant. Hrist came back in one piece and now I get to talk to the newest active Sage." Odin said, taking a sip of his drink that appeared… sometime in the last few minutes.
Damn, this old man keeps doing things and I have no idea how it happened. First the illusion, and now his drink. I didn't detect anything either time.
Its feels like a real kick in the balls after running roughshod around Kyoto with my Sage powers. I don't like not having control, but I don't know if this is just me being protective of Hana or some deeper issue brought about by being immensely powerful for so long with basically zero resistance.
Something to ponder later.
"Well, I don't know what you want to talk about. Our goal was to escort Hrist to safety, which we…" I glanced at her, and she did a little nod. "Accomplished."
"And how did my dear Valkyrie come under your care?" Odin not-so-subtly prodded. He is probably running like 4 separate mind games right now, but that's whatever.
He hasn't popped a titty yet, so he's already behind Yasaka in the art of negotiation.
Instead of directly answering I glanced at Kunou who shrugged. "He was going to find out anyways, that was kind of the end result of escorting Hrist."
"How, uh…" I trailed off while waving a hand around. Thankfully Odin knew exactly what was up.
"As soon as I recognized Hrist I had the whole block locked down. Even the barista was an intelligence officer who happened to be on their normal shift." Odin wiggled his fingers, causing some runes to briefly flash across his hand and around our table.
I didn't feel any hostility, and that is the one thing Sage's are good at, so I let him work his magic.
"Now even a god couldn't spy on us without paying a significant price."
"I'll take your word for it. Anyways, I was chilling at home when a stray devil popped up in the woods nearby." Both Odin and Rossweisse were smart people, and their gaze instantly became icy.
I continued talking.
"I recognised what I was looking at from some primers I had gotten, and decided to subdue instead of kill. I became a sage shortly after, spent some time in Kyoto learning senjutsu medicine, one thing led to another and here she is, mostly cured." I briefly narrated my journey of curing Hrist, to which Odin looked thoughtful while Rossweisse looked utterly dumbfounded.
"Mostly?" Odin asked, an odd look on his face.
"Well, its not like I had a guide. I was learning as I was going the entire time. It took almost three years from start to finish, with maybe eight months of that studying in Kyoto." I said casually, to which Rossweisse made a strange sound and started coughing.
"Three years from meeting a stray to curing them?" Rossweisse's entire being radiated disbelief, but deep in her eyes was… recognition and hunger? Weird.
"Don't get your panties tied in a knot girl, he's a Sage. They're all sick in the head one way or another." Odin waved her off.
That was an odd thing to say. I should probably ask somebody about that later.
"Anyways, I cured Hrist, heard her story, and decided to escort her home. My original plan was to travel the world and learn new things, so this more so set my next destination rather than disrupted my plans."
Odin was silent for a moment before turning to Hrist herself.
"It is like that. We can talk details later, but I'm still recovering" Hrist replied with a small smile, but was flexing her hand to show that she wasn't 100% yet.
This seemed to satisfy Odin who turned back to me.
"You've done a service for the Norse. Is there anything you would like as a reward?" He asked, leaning forwards towards the table. It's a wonder he doesn't get his beard caught on anything with the way he keeps moving around.
Centuries of experience maybe?
"Well, I've read through all the senjutsu stuff I got from the yokai, and I've been wanting to expand into Magic. The yokai had some basic books but it wasn't really enough to start on self study. If I had to ask, maybe a Magic tutor and a tour guide while we're here?"
I think that's a pretty reasonable ask. I was clear the Magic tutor can be some basic mook, and the tour guide can be literally anybody. Spend a few weeks here learning and exploring and then leave.
Odin spent about three seconds thinking about my request before he got a blatantly dastardly look in his eye.
"I can grant that easily. I have just the person too. A Valkyrie under me is on punishment duty right now, and teaching a newbie mage while being a tour guide sounds perfect."
There is going to be some sort of rug pull in the next 30 seconds, I can just feel it.
"Someone is in trouble? I never heard anything about this." Rossweisse tilted her head while asking, obviously trying to think about which of her fellow Valkyries was in for a boring month.
To which Odin turned to face her with a gentle smile on his face.
"Why, little Rose, it's you." And there is the rug pull.
"Me? What did I do?" Rossweisse's jaw dropped, utterly unprepared to get sideswiped by her boss like this.
"You raised your voice at me earlier and hurt my feelings." Odin whined. Such an old face whining is not a good look.
"You mean when you called Hrist a traitor?" Rossweisse's voice pitched, still in shock from what she was hearing.
"Yeah. Exactly like that." Odin straight up pointed at her like a petulant child.
This wasn't the worst way this whole confrontation could have played out, but it is definitely one of the weirdest.
"You can't- I worked hard!" Rossweisse sputtered, her eyes swimming in confusion.
I'd be confused if my chief god acted like this too.
"I'm literally your boss, I totally can. If I say you hurt my feelings, you get punished. That's how this works."
Rossweisse looked ready to retort before she took a moment to collect herself and turned to our group.
"Please take care of me." She did a little bow, and I was hit with a massive sense of déjà vu.
I turned to squint at Kunou, who seemed to be glaring at Odin for some reason.
The little skit was broken by Hana's ultra cute giggles. It was hard to be mad after hearing that, and even Rossweisse looked ready to melt despite being so mad earlier.
With the conversation seemingly over, Rossweisse wasted no time pouncing on Hrist, and the girls split off to another table. Rossweisse seemed torn between hugging Hrist or cooing over Hana.
I understand that feeling, Hana has that effect.
Odin took this time to lean over and whisper. "So, when you acquired your daughter, what was it like?"
It was an odd thing to ask, and I don't think he meant my feelings either.
"What do you mean?"
"You know. The celestial phenomena. Rainbows, lightning, aurora, maybe a volcano or earthquake?" He continued, making gestures for each thing he listed.
"Nothing like that happened though? I was practicing my senjutsu in my garden, got called away for an emergency and when I came back, I was down a flower and up a baby." I gave him a side eye for asking such a weird thing.
Odin's single eye looked like it was about to pop out, it was bulging so hard.
"Is that so? My mistake." He tried to laugh it off, but he knew something about Hana that I didn't.
I don't like that.