356 Saving Magnus Hilda 1 (1/2)
To appear externally hardworking, Zero employed five spare PMs to take his place in copying talismans. He had about an hour to prepare them before the first offering. The magic trick that Zero readied himself for was going to be a huge blast by the time Magnus Hilda became plague free. Not to mention, Zero would probably never have to worry about food supplies ever again on his travels. Right now, the doctor didn't want to trouble Zoe to cook for his meals on the go because the zashikiwarashi was already extremely busy with helping Zero manage his household matters in the village.
Zero reported the good news to his best friend using the party call function and explained to the wood elf his brilliant plan to secure food supplies for their journey.
”And all the offered food will go straight to the shared inventory,” Zero bragged and waited to be praised.
Truen was silent for a while. On one hand, the archer was very impressed by how resourceful and cunning Zero had turned out after two years of training, on the other hand, he was appalled by how naive Zero can still be.
”You understand that the offering will be in giant portions, right? Like literally giant-sized meals that will feed a village of dwarves and a huge party of humans. I'm not worried about you seeing as you have an appetite that rivals three grown giants. However, I don't think I will be able to eat any of those offerings. You should save that for yourself.”
Zero's jaw fell in shock when Truen rejected the food offerings. ”Why?! Don't do that, I can downsize the portion for you... there is a pharmacy dimension, I can also create other dimensions now using the system. I can make a kitchen!”
Truen sighed. ”Don't waste resources like that. Besides, it's not very important. I can live solely on nutrition pills and mana potions. My body is much like a plant, I don't need much to survive. Not eating for a week is fine as well.”
Zero thought about it. Indeed, Truen ate very little and the elf doesn't really like eating meat for some reason although he humours Zero and eats it with him. Zero didn't force the matter and agreed to let it be. Then, he brought up the issue about needing to run an errand for the royal family and get a new statue of Freya made for the shrine.
”My persuasion has gone through successfully but I'm now being made to work extra! I can understand why Baal abhors the concept of working. I'm a doctor, shouldn't it be enough for me to just save people's lives? Why do I have to draw talismans and run errands for them as well? Isn't this a little too much? I've been taken advantage of...”
Truen thought about it. ”Well, the plague is going to take some time to fully disappear. We might as well treat this as part of the adventure. Besides, the royal family will compensate you well for your efforts so we have nothing much to lose. Are you in any hurry to go anywhere in particular?”
”I guess we can take it slow and easy for now,” Zero grumbled. ”We've only settled the food issue here. There's a concern about money that you had, right? Do you think the royal family will give us more than the merchants?”
Truen laughed. ”Zero, Magnus Hilda may not be wealthy when compared to some of the other territories but I can assure you they have more than six hundred binnites in their treasury to spare. Even if they didn't have money, I'm sure it would be something of great value.”
Hearing that, Zero was suddenly reminded of his earlier curiosity. ”Oh yes, Truen, do you happen to know why Queen Rosalind only wears a steel crown? Don't royal members usually wear golden crowns decorated with a lot of sparkly gems?”
”Magnus Hilda is special,” Truen explained. ”I heard this from Camie but the royal family of Magnus Hilda are appointed by people. King Richard is a merchant and Queen Rosalind is a warrior. It is a tradition in Magnus Hilda for one ruler to be the protector of the land and one to be the strategist. The strategist ruler wears the silver crown and the protector ruler wears the steel crown. Only the gods can wear gold so I'm going to assume the Freya statue they want you to make will cost quite a bit.”
Zero was amazed to hear that the giants were very humble. They didn't even adorn themselves in gold and left the best for the gods. Hyndla and the other Norse gods must have been very loved. Still, Zero couldn't understand why nobody worships Freya. She was a Great Goddess after all. Truen apologised for not being able to help. Neither Madeline nor Joseph knew about Freya either and Zero decided to call Freya to clarify her relationship with the other Norse gods.
”Hello, Zero. How is everything?”
Zero smiled and greeted Freya warmly. ”I'm currently in Magnus Hilda, the land of giants. There is an interesting story here saying that Hyndla is the goddess who founded this land. The giants also worship the Norse Gods like Odin, Loki and Thor but it is rather strange that nobody here knows about you. Did you have a bad relationship with those gods mentioned?”
Zero's question was rather direct and Freya flinched when she heard it. It took a while for the Great Goddess to come clean about it. Odin was her husband but it didn't happen until the late Aesir-Vanir war. Before the war that earned her war goddess status, Freya didn't have a good reputation. Many goddesses and gods were jealous of her beauty and Odin was an oblivious fool. Loki didn't like her very much either and was the one who spread rumours about her promiscuity. On the other hand, Hyndla was like the shining maiden that everybody loved before the war.
”I-I'm so sorry, I didn't know...”
Freya laughed. ”Don't worry about it. It's all in the past now. Ever since humans slew the gods I've lost all my kin. They're probably somewhere in the void and resting while I guard what remains of Valhalla. These giants you speak of must be Hyndla's children. They're very good children. That Queen you speak of sounds very much like a Viking warrior. It's rather rare for Vikings to use swords rather than axes, she must be very skilled.”
Zero launched into the tale about his meeting with the royalty and explained to Freya that he needed to borrow her name to save this land.
”Hence, I would like to create an apparition using your name to convince them when the shrine is built. This way, you can get the prayers to strengthen your domain while I get the food to fuel my journey. How does that sound?”
Hearing that she was going to have a new group of very pious worshippers made Freya very happy. ”Why would I reject such a deal? Do you have any idea how hard it is to spread faith nowadays? Being the only Norse God remaining, I don't have a lot of time to make my journey across the world to create miracles and spread my name. If the things you say about Magnus Hilda are true then I can definitely make an appearance and bless that land in my name in return for their faith. You don't have to create an illusion using my name at all. Just offer me a prayer when it is done and I shall appear.”