Arc 1 Chapter 7: The Queen’s ‘Guard’

(Marlana POV)

“Nghhh…”

I stretched out my arms as I exited my office. One of the ministers from the kingdom of Danes had come over to Camelot to discuss certain matters about trade rights and whatnot. Honestly, the man was filled with questions and questions and I had to answer all of it. Not only that, I feel as if he did that intentionally just so he could keep me there in the room. Ugh… his stares was really annoying. I know he was looking at my breasts and if he kept me there a tad longer, well. I would have had to ‘convince’ him to leave.

“Hey you two. Stop slacking and get back to your position.”

I caught two guards talking with one another. It’s not bad that they’re talking and all, but… the fact that they’re not aware of my presence show they’re too distracted. I mean, I had to walk up to them just for them to finally notice me. When they did, you could see them shaking slightly.

“Sorry mam, won’t happen again.”

I sighed.

“Look… I’m not mad at you two for talking with each other, but if an enemy gets this close, then it’s you two who’ll lose your life. That’s why this conversation is good and all to keep boredom away… just make sure you’re alert.”

“Hah!”

They brought their hands to their chest in a salute. I nodded in approval and kept going my way. It’s a really nice day today. Outside the window, I could see that the sky was clear and the wind must breezy as the trees leaves swayed back and forth. It would be good if I could bring Artura outside today. I mean, she’s pretty bogged down from a lot of things and is getting pretty stressed about her position. Well at least Bryan finally visited us. It’s been, what. A month since we last saw him. I mean, he was sending us letters and all, but even that stopped a couple of weeks ago. Honestly, the nerve of him. Well… at least I know Artura is happy. Honestly, the smile she had when she heard Bryan was visiting was something else… though it did turn a bit darker when she read through the letter. Hmm… I wonder what they’re talking about.

“Ahh… Marlana.”

A girl walked up to me. It was the commander of the Elite guards, Sara.

“Oh, hey Sara. What are you doing here?”

She shrugged.

“I’m just watching over the officials so that they don’t bother master.”

I blinked. I’m… not sure if I heard that right.

“Um… who?”

“Master.”

“You mean Artura?”

“No. I’m talking about master.”

She gave me an innocent smile as I continued to stare at her blankly. This girl was the commander of our elite guards. She was by far the only person capable of going against me and even Artura. Although Bryan could do the same, he’s a bit… special. But still, just hearing her say master… Just who could it be?

“Ok… I honestly have questions about you, but first, where’s Artura?”

“She went somewhere with master.”

“…”

I feel as if I know who this master is… the thing is. I really don’t want to be right.

“Hey Sara. When you say master, do you mean Bryan?”

“Hai!”

“… I see…”

Hmm… I guess that’s understandable…

“WHAT?!!!!”

I grabbed her by the shoulder.

“Tell me. What did that idiot do to you?”

“Master didn’t do anything to me. He saved me and my daughter, that’s why I decided to follow him.”

“But what about your title as the Elite Guard commander?”

“Oh, that. I threw it away.”

She gave a proud smile. I couldn’t help but maniacally laugh as I processed everything she said. Her, leave the guards. Master… she called Bryan master… hahahaha… this is really funny. Hahahaha.

“Marlana?”

“I’m ok, I’m ok. Rather, this is probably a dream. Please pinch me to wake me up.”

She smiled. Before I knew it I felt an intense pain on my arm.

“OW, OW, OW, OW, OW. OK, I GET IT, I’M NOT DREAMING!!”

She let go as I rubbed the now pink skin.

“Ugh… I can’t believe this. Just how much did we miss when Bryan stopped contacting us?”

“Hmm… let’s see. An attempted assassination of the Gaulic queen, the destruction of the Medelwr Organization, the futile attempt of the Holy Empire to make a beachhead in Camelot and Masters new small army.”

I couldn’t keep up as Sara nonchalantly listed several concerning things to me.

“Where’s Bryan!”

“Master went with Artura right over there.”

She kept her smile as she pointed towards the courtyard. Just as she pointed, an explosion rocked the entire castle.

“Oh God, what have they done?”

I couldn’t help but exclaim that as I made a full rush for the courtyard. Sara was with me as we quickly made our way to the courtyard. In no time, the cherry blossoms could be seen. In the middle, four people could be seen. The first one was Artura who had a pale look on her face. The other was Lily who also had the same pale look on her face. That actually surprised me knowing that Lily was not one to be surprised. The other two girls, I couldn’t really tell who they were. One was a beautiful woman who had piercing red eyes and red hair. She didn’t have the same look as Lily or Artura, but her eyes were shifting as if she was nervous about something. On the other hand, the last girl was like a goddess that descended down from heaven as she stood on some kind of spell structure on the ground. She had wings that were beautiful to look at with the white plumes floating around her. Her spear and her shield were intricately design and had a bluish color. Her blonde hair and beautiful eyes complemented her slim figure that were covered in very intrinsically designed armor.

“What the hell are you guys doing?”

I ran up to them as they all looked at me.

“Art thou friends of these mortals?”

That is… a very old way of speaking. I hardly understood her as I kept staring at her stupidly. And I know I was staring at her stupidly since she looked at the red haired girl. As if understanding, the girl went up to her and placed her hand on the girl’s throat. In no time, a light appeared.

“Ah… ah… testing, 1, 2, 3. Perfect. Thanks master. I should be able to talk now.”

The red haired girl nodded, though she still looked anxious.

“As I was saying, are you friends of these people?”

She pointed at everyone present.

“Um… Yes. And you are?”

“Me… right, I haven’t introduced myself properly.”

She gave a slight smile towards Lily and the red haired girl as her weapons disappeared and her wings tucked themselves behind her. She then took a graceful curtsy as she raised the sides of her battle skirt slightly.

“My name is Freyja, Goddess of War. Leader of the Valkyrian order. Today I have come here to answer the call of my new master.”

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(Bryan POV) (1 hour later)

“So… why am I sitting on a seiza?”

“Because, you’re common sense needs to be hammered by the nails of common logic.”

Currently, two people were standing above me. One gave me a glare filled with accusation while the other gave me a look as if I committed the highest known taboo known to mankind.

“I thought you were going to summon Hilde? Actually, what I want to know is, how the hell did you managed to get the spell for summoning Freyja dono?”

“How should I know? Even I was surprised that she appeared.”

“I don’t know if you’re playing dumb or if you’re trying to act cute. I mean, come on. You can’t fool me. We both know you have the highest amount of knowledge when it comes to summoning spells!”

She gave me a look that told me she doesn’t believe me. The thing is though, I’m actually telling the truth. I have no idea why I summoned Freyja instead of Hilde. Honestly, I would never confuse the tomboyish fighter with the weird out of this world goddess.

“Ugh… this is bad. What am I supposed to tell my kingdom? Oh guys, by the way. I have Freyja as my personal bodyguard… THEY’LL RIOT TO SET HER FREE!”

I looked over at Artura only to see a crazed look on her face as she looked back and forth from me to Freyja. Right now, the goddess merely shrugged as she drank the tea Marlana gave her.

“Can I please have some more?”

“Yes milady.”

Marlana gave the goddess more tea. She seemed to have calmed down after initially fainting at the beginning. Though it was actually harder to tell her I was currently the girl, but somehow she believed it. The same thing had happened to Sara… though now she was just silently leaning on the wall. I looked back at the two girls on the couch who seemingly had a calm look on their face. Ugh… how envious. I want something to drink too.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“HEY, CATALEA FOCUS!!”

I instantly looked in front of me.

“Listen. Can’t you just bring her back and summon Hilde? At least with her, I don’t care what I have to do. Fight, bark, tell her a story. Just summon Hilde and send our goddess back to the heavens. I can’t have Freyja guarding me. It’ll overturn my entire kingdom and you know what I mean by this.”

I sighed.

“Well… in all honesty, that is what I’m planning to do. Actually, more like I’m trying to do just that at this very moment. But there is one thing that’s currently stopping me from doing just that.”

“And what is that?”

I looked towards Freyja. She smiled before taking another sip of her tea. Lily walked up to the goddess.

“Um… Freyja dono.”

“Yes Lily.”

“By any chance… are you stopping Catalea from sending you back.”

“Why I do not know what you mean?”

“… yep, this is a problem.”

Lily did a face palm as Artura looked at the two spirits in confusion.

“Um… what’s the problem?”

“It seems there’s more to this than Catalea accidently summoning Freyja.”

“Oh, and how do you know that?”

Lily looked at Freyja who was giving an innocent smile.

“It’s because, milady normally says her sentences fully when she lies.”

“Ehh… but I am a goddess. Of course I would not lie.”

“… Freyja dono. I’ve served under you for millenniums. Of course I would know the what’s and what nots with you. Also, you tend to blink when you lie.”

She instantly clicked her tongue.

“You know it doesn’t hurt to have a little fun now is it.”

She pouted as she leaned back on her chair, gone was her divine aura. She even started talking in her usual heavy English accent.

“So… why did you come here instead of Hilde?”

She shrugged.

“Cuz… you know how it is in Valhalla. It’s the same old thing. Honestly, it’s been really boring so I thought coming to the mortal world would be a great experience. Who would have thought that Bryan would be sent to a different world. Honestly, I’m amazed by the amount of luck he has. Speaking of which, is your magic back to full strength after coming here?”

“No, it hasn’t returned fully, but I really don’t think that’s the problem here. Rather, your real personality is showing now.”

“Oh… woops.”

She coughed as she straightened her form to look like a dignified woman.

“Anyway master, what is thy bidding?”

Do you really think speaking properly now would make them forget about your earlier bouts? Of course I didn’t say that, but I couldn’t help but stare at the familiar face before me. In my world, she was known as the goddess of death, but the first time I met her… I honestly felt really disappointed. Even Lily felt the same considering she’s served her for hundreds and hundreds of years. As for Artura and Marlana…

“Are you really our goddess deity?”

“Hundreds of years of culture… this… this can’t be right.”

… Needless to say, they were also disappointed. The goddess shrugged.

“Hey, it’s you mortals that forced your beliefs on us. Don’t think we’ll change just because you think we act in a certain way. Speaking of which, nice job of portraying me in your pictures.”

A completely nonchalant rebuttal. I sighed.

“You really haven’t changed… Well… as you can see, I have no way of returning her. Rather, I feel as if everything was planned.”

I emphasized the everything part as I gave her an accusative look. She smiled, mischief in her eyes.

“Oh come on now ‘Bryan’ it’s not good to turn away a former lover now isn’t it.”

Silence. The entire room became silent. I then began hearing creaking noises as each person in the room turned their heads towards me.

““””…what?””””

I looked towards Freyja in shock. WHY DID SHE BRING THAT UP! Turning back to everyone in the room I placed my hands in front of me in a denying fashion.

“It’s not what you think!”

I heard a thud as the goddess fell to the floor.

“It hurts… your refusal really hurts. Just to think we’ve even shared the same bed before… how could you?”

“Oye you’re not making this any better, and what’s with the fake te…”

“Bryan!”

“…Hai?”

I looked at Lily whose eyes were no longer smiling. At this rate, I felt that my life could actually be in danger. Why? Is because four women were looking at me with bloodlust. Heck, one of them had been quite the entire time, and now… yeah. This might be bad. I looked over at Freyja asking for her help. She sighed.

“Alright, alright. Break it up. Now back to our previous discussion, you said you wanted a guard for her right?”

She pointed at Artura cleverly diverting the topic from me to her.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Sigh… well, I guess it can’t be helped.”

She raised her hands in front of her.

[Jeg innkalle deg, Einherjar i nord. Gjør din mestere budgivning]

A crystal blue light began emitting from the ground. Soon, a man began to appear. His skin was pure blue… almost like a diamond. His eyes were also blue and his hair was… really slick. He was oddly wearing a butler’s uniform and his appearance and stature would put any noble to shame.

“Since I want to go with Bryan, I will give you my personal servant. His name is Isfjell. He is my most trusted butler and would do anything to accomplish his goals. Isfjell!”

“Madame?”

“I want you to become this girl’s bodyguard. You are to follow everything she tells you too and you must protect her, even at the cost of your own life.”

The butler bowed. All of a sudden, a small ring formed around Artura’s hand. She was surprised as she looked at the beautiful blue ring. What was even more surprising was the fact that the butler changed. His skin turned light brown and his eyes were dark blue. His hair was now grey, giving him that sharp look.

“Master.”

He bowed before Artura who looked really excited. As for me, I felt relief. I managed to dodge two bullets. My relationship with Freyja and Artura’s bodyguard. At least with this, two problems are gone… but.

“When we get home… you’re explaining everything to me. AGAIN!”

“Sigh… alright I will. Just know, my relationship with Freyja isn’t what you think it is.1”

“… I’ll believe it when I see it. Actually, how did you even keep that memory from me?”

“… it’s because…”

“Neh Bryan, can we go now? I want to see this world.”

We were suddenly interrupted by the goddess herself. Lily gave her a piercing look though she instantly gave up with a sigh. As for me…

“We can’t go yet. Disguise yourself and make sure not to make eye contact. Me and Artura still need to talk with the two commanders we caught.”

“Oh… you want me to torture them?”

“No Freyja… just stand in the sidelines for now. I don’t want anyone to see you.”

“Fine…”

She pouted for a second. Marlana once again looked disappointedly at Freyja and sighed in dejection.

“Master, I’ve brought the two commanders.”

May instantly appeared beside me.

“Good, where are they now?”

“They’re currently waiting with the officials in the conference room.”

“Perfect. Artura!”

She looked over to me.

“Come on. You still have a meeting to finish.”

With a nod, we both prepared ourselves for the coming meeting. 

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Author's Note:

I wonder how many people expected this story to turn out like this XD

Anyway, already working on the next chappy, and that one is the info dump. Raises fist in the air.

BEAT THAT WRITERS BLOCK. I'VE OVERCOME YOU BY WRITING FUNNY CHAPTERS FIRST. HAHAHAHAHAH...

Ahem... anyway, just expect for more. Also, the relationship between Bryan and Freyja. I know you guys want to know badly... but for the sake of tortu... i mean, the story, I won't tell you till... around arc 3 or 4 or 5... so yeah... don't ask for it yet lol.

If you guys have questions, feel free to ask. Also, to the guy who commented about the butler. As you can see, I actually liked the idea, so I implemented it. I was gona go for another valkyrie, but... too many females lol

Have to give the guys a chance. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

P.S. Arc 1 is... partially done. We have 5 or 7 chapters to go, depending on how much I write in each chap O:

Update: A section of the story was in black... weird. Either way, I had it fixed just about now.