Ah! The following day

by zeroIQ

Getting married is never really simple for anyone, let alone a certain mortal and his goddess. One might expect that with the hard part out of the way, the rest would be just an ordinary married life. But with those two and the ones around them, there is no such thing as ordinary...

7. Chapter 7

I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series

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At this point, Lind could certainly say that she regretted her decision to go on her own. Despite her original belief that going shopping was just a simple task, the way that the mortal realm worked, made it an incredibly frustrating one for the goddess. Not only there were so many different shops that served the same purpose, but that could be also said about the products that were available there. There were tons of brands for the exact same thing, not to mention all the additional variations, flavors and even colors for a few of them, making it very difficult to pick one over the others. The descriptions on her piece of paper were not particularly helpful at all.

'Even rice has different varieties. Oil too,' thought Lind as she studied each of the virtually identical items as carefully as she could. Unlike Peorth that stayed with the Norns on a few occasions, she had only been at the temple once before, during the Angel Eater incident. As such, the goddess had no idea what kind of materials Belldandy used on a daily basis. If only she had asked Belldandy to create a miniature of herself then things might have been easier. However, Lind supposed that finding a spot for Belldandy to hide might've been an issue considering that her attire didn't seem have any spots for it.

But that wasn't the only problem she had with her clothes. Even though she had originally thought that they didn't restrict her motions, the reality was a bit different, especially after she walked for a while in them. Certainly they were a lot less elastic and comfortable compared to her combat uniform, even though the latter was designed to be an armor and therefore way more durable. Of course, Lind had to keep in mind that the materials that mortals had at their disposal were nothing compared to what they used in Asgard. On the other hand, her patience was running out. She wanted to get this done as soon as possible in order to get back to the temple, where she could try something a bit less difficult to move in.

'Let's see, I got the rice, a bottle of soy sauce, eggs, sugar, a daikon, tofu... Now, for pork...' That last one was not easier than the rest, since there were different varieties based on which part of the animal the meat came from. On top of that, the processing of the meat was important too. Looking at the metallic cans on the shelves, she remembered the incident not too long ago when an entire crate of them was delivered to Ansuz-sama. While those particular ones were a bit different than the ones in front of her, she was uncertain if taking one of these might be a good idea. Perhaps Belldandy's family didn't like that kind of processed meat or perhaps it was only limited to those that had the 'SPAM' label on them, just like the ones from that incident.

Of course the sender was also probably the reason for that reaction, since Loki was hardly on Ansuz-sama's favorite list of gods. At any rate she was not going to risk it, so she moved to a different section of the store in order to get a different variety of pork, called bacon. Her dorm mate occasionally consumed that for breakfast, though she never trusted her fellow Valkyrie's cooking to try some. Last time she sampled anything that Thrud had prepared, her tongue was nearly scorched by all the spiciness.

Like any other goddess, Lind had her own house. When on active duty, all Valkyries were supposed to live in the dorms, waiting for any situation that might require their immediate intervention. In an effort to facilitate camaraderie among the ranks of the Fighting Wings, each one of Valhalla's dorm rooms was shared between two individuals. Unfortunately it was very hard for Lind to find someone brave enough to stay with her, especially given her past reputation.

Thor's daughter was one of the few that wasn't intimidated by her in any way, though that also proved to be a problem when the blonde goddess was getting a bit too friendly. Like that time when she offered to cook something for them. Even Lind knew the difference between a normal pepper and a habanero, despite not being all that familiar with cooking and the various food ingredients. So when her fellow Valkyrie accidentally used a fairly large quantity of the latter instead of the former, the blue haired goddess decided that the cafeteria's meals were a better option if she wished to eat something. Unless it was such a simple recipe that her dorm mate couldn't possibly mess up.

Food was technically not a necessity for immortals, it was only something that they enjoyed socially, except for those who were deployed in the mortal realm and happened to have something edible for a recharge medium. Hence, not everyone was totally familiar with cooking and especially not the ingredients that mortals used despite the fact that their popularity was currently increasing in Asgard. The current influx of various human recipes had certainly caused the gods to try all sorts of new dishes, instead of having the same old ones time after time.

Grabbing the American style bacon she had seen Thrud eat, she hoped that Belldandy could use that. At least with that done, there was only one remaining shop she had to go to. The goddess of the present had requested a vase in order to put some flowers in the room that she now shared with her husband. It was a bit of a female touch that Keiichi's room had apparently lacked according to Belldandy, so Lind had to go and buy one.

XXX

"Bloody Hell!" echoed a frustrated voice in the Scottish Highlands. "I was sure that it was here! Darn snake! I'll get you one day..."

"It's a sea serpent."

Turning to his side the tall red haired god gave a dirty look at the shorter black haired companion of his. Although he never asked him to accompany him, the annoying prankster was worse than glue sometimes, always eager to go wherever trouble was. Even if he was the source of it most of the time. The odd pair of gods had nothing in common, aside from the unfortunate fact that the trickster was adopted into the taller god's family for unknown reasons. As far as he knew, virtually nothing about Loki's past was known, not even the names of his real parents. Perhaps only their father knew, but refused to say anything about it.

"Shut it Loki," was all that the irate god had to offer, still upset that his target had apparently vanished. "I got down to Midgard as soon as the Gate had opened and it still managed to disappear."

"It could have just been your imagination, Thor," said Loki. "With all the random wishes that Niflheim had granted, the most likely explanation is that it was actually the residual energy of one of them. Who knows, humans have that tourist attraction in this area, so someone wished for it and temporarily had a monster in the lake. Surely it was not a demonic super weapon."

Thor's mood had not improved a bit, despite the fact that the explanation sounded logical. Standing a bit taller than most, with fiery red hair that was pulled in a short ponytail, the god of thunder was an intimidating sight at best and a terrifying one when angry. Additionally he was still wearing the gold trimmed white combat uniforms that war gods of the Fighting Wings used, a somewhat different variety from what the Valkyries had and ironically more similar to the demons', with a split cape over some plain looking combat fatigues.

Contrary to his current appearance, the god had retired from active duty a long time ago and joined Yggdrasil's debugging department, a decision that baffled many gods in Asgard. Thor, however, felt that he was done with playing soldier. Especially not while following his half brother's orders, as Tyr was far from his favorite member in the family. As a matter of fact, he could tolerate Loki a bit better these days, as crazy as that sounded.

Loki was used to the fierce god, so he was much less concerned than anyone else might have been in his position. In contrast to Thor, he was about average height, with short black hair, purple eyes and wearing a rather plain grey and white attire that was very similar to what most gods had. Unimpressive at a first glance, he was certainly not less troublesome than the god of thunder. In fact, he was often a problem all by himself, since he loved mischief and pulled pranks at any opportunity he could find.

The most interesting fact about the trickster god was his ability to change forms at will. Normally all gods and demons could do that, but in the vast majority of cases, there was little control over the forms they could take. Loki was one of the very few immortals who had the ability to alter those configurations to nearly anything that he wanted, at least to a certain point. Most had a single default humanoid appearance that they used on a daily basis, despite some minor variations in terms of their physical size and age.

On the other hand, his current appearance was only one of the many that he could assume, although it was the one that seemed most natural for him and therefore was considered to be his official look. The primary reason was that his mind found that this appearance was matching his personality and identity better and due to that he always ended up using it as a 'default' one. The other reason was that the gods really wanted a picture of him for his registration papers and an amorphous blob wasn't acceptable.

After several seconds, Thor simply gave up. It was pointless to insist after all. His target was either gone or had never been here to begin with. On the other hand, that troll of a god had brought some interesting news. "Hey, you said something before, right? When I was searching for that darn snake... Can you tell me again, now that I have more time to actually listen to you?"

"It's a sea..." tried to repeat Loki, in a hopeless effort to correct the thunder god, but to no avail.

"Serpent, snake... Whatever! It could be an alligator for all I care!" shouted Thor. "I want the news!"

"Oh, that!" said Loki in a rather happy voice. "I bought a kilt. They had one for a nice discount."

No matter how many eons Thor knew that troublemaker, he could still manage to surprise him with his completely random nature. "Not that, you ingrate! I don't care about you shopping trip! Tell me what you said when you first arrived here!"

"Um... Nice weather?" said Loki, as he slightly tilted his head.

"No! After that!" It was safe to assume that any further delays would result in bodily harm, given how the god's light blue eyes started to glow all of a sudden.

Loki scratched his chin as he considered what to say. It was fun, but at the same time depending on his next few words, there might be another incident like that one they had in Siberia some time ago. Poor forest, never stood a chance... "Well... your niece got married."

"About time," said Thor, giving a knowing nod. "I hope she found someone better than that moron who though he was a musician. Tree spirits..."

"Wrong niece."

"What?" asked the god of thunder. "If it wasn't Urd, then who? Skuld is too young... Baldr doesn't have any kids. Actually he doesn't even have any girlfriend yet, you neither, not that it surprises me... Wait... Belldandy?!"

"That one." Loki really didn't want to be the first one to tell him, but on the other hand, it was going to be really interesting. Or maybe he should have picked a safer hobby.

"I wasn't aware she was dating anyone. So who's the lucky god?" asked a smiling Thor.

"He's not a god."

"Okay... the goddess in that case," said Thor. "I won't judge."

"Wrong again," said Loki, who briefly toyed with the idea of letting the red head try again, although the next ones on the list could make the god of thunder very annoyed. They already had an incident with a demoness in the family and it didn't work very well. So he simple decided to go for it and tell him. "It's a mortal."

"Oh." Thor seemed to be in deep thought, processing the information, along with the associated complications. "Not that again! Like father, like daughter... What a pain..."

"Not to sound rude or anything, but you don't appear to pay attention," said Loki as he knew exactly what the other god was talking about. "I said that they got married. You realize that this could only mean one thing..."

"They passed the test," finished Thor, as he caught up. "Hm... That changes a lot of things. Maybe Belldandy isn't that similar to her father after all. Good for her! But I wonder what kind of mortal managed to pass the Gate with her. Most who had tried to do the same met failure and heartache in the end."

"Well, if you're wondering about the mortal, I've got a quick sketch of him." Searching through the numerous pockets of his clothes, he found a piece of paper with a sketch of the boy. "Here! Take a look at this, I just made it before I left Asgard."

"What the heck is that?" asked Thor as he started at the so called sketch. "Did you ask a toddler to make it? 'Cause I don't understand anything from those stupid lines."

Loki simply grumbled. "Everyone is an art expert these days... Excuse me for being an artificer instead of an artist."

"Who cares?" asked Thor with a shrug. "You would probably suck at that too."

"Are you insinuating anything? My magical artifacts are the best in Asgard," said the trickster god with in an annoyed tone. "Why else do you think that they keep asking me to build parts for Yggdrasil every time they need an upgrade?"

"True. Probably the only reason why the Council hasn't sealed you yet. With you being a troublemaker and everything," said the god of thunder. "Although your filthy monopoly is coming to an end. I do know one goddess that's going to put you out of business for good."

"That kid still has ways to go before she manages to integrate magic and technology in an efficient manner. Not to mention that she needs to stop installing self destruction devices on everything that's not an explosive to begin with. I had even asked Ansuz to give a few lessons to Skuld, but she totally turned me down for no reason at all..." The trickster god let out a sigh as he remembered that particular incident. Her mother had insisted that he was going to be a bad influence for the pure and innocent little goddess.

Ironically, the following day Skuld made the prototype of her very own bomb, which became one of her most successful creations. What were they expecting anyway? Their entire family consisted of troublemakers to begin with, even if each had their own style. "But that's a totally different case. I still don't understand why my sketch is so bad. I mean, take a look to the original," said Loki as he summoned a picture of the mortal in question.

Staring between the image and the crude drawing, Thor could see more than enough reasons to justify his earlier evaluation. However, that wasn't what bothered the red haired god. "If you had an image, then why had you even bothered with that thing in the first place?"

"Give me some credit, Thor. It was a well calculated decision on my part. Knowing you, I was worried that in case you didn't take the news well, there might have been a possibility that the depicted mortal may have had his head at an angle that is physically impossible for his kind. So, in that case I would have only given you the sketch. That may have given the poor mortal some time before you managed to find him. I'm not that bad at drawing, you know." Feeling a bit better, the trickster god enjoyed the suspicious look on Thor's face. The god of thunder was debating whether or not to say anything about this, but remained silent as he diverted his attention to the picture of the boy who managed to get lucky with his niece.

After a few moments, the red haired god had already made up his mind. "We're going."

"Where?" asked Loki in a rather innocent, but clearly fake voice.

"To meet that boy in person, of course." Raising his hand skyward, the god of thunder summoned the portal that would transfer them straight to Nekomi.

"Wait a second, Thor! We can just fly there on our own. There's no need to use the Gate for that," said Loki who apparently didn't like that idea and hoped to simply fly to their destination.

"I'm not taking you on a shopping trip around half the globe. Because that's what you're most likely going to do and honestly I don't have that much time to waste," answered Thor, who happened to know the other god's intentions.

"Aw..."

Seconds later, two lights shot up into the sky.

XXX

Meanwhile, an unlikely group of four headed deeper into the massive cave system under Niflheim, in search of the missing Judgment Gate.

Hild was currently the one in front. According to her claims, she had already been there before and therefore knew the right path. Taking a wrong turn could get someone easily lost in this natural labyrinth, a usually fatal error since the longer one remained here, the less likely one was to get out alive..

"Have you really been here before?" asked Ansuz, who was right behind the Daimakaicho. "After all that explanation of how dangerous this place is, what were you doing here?"

Looking over her shoulder, the demoness merely smiled. "Who knows?"

Apparently, Hild was in no mood to reveal that bit of information, especially if it was about something sensitive. So instead of pressing on, the goddess decided to simply switch to another topic that also bothered her. "So, why are we walking there anyway? Flying is much faster and we avoid wasting time as well. Especially in a situation like this."

"Because we're trying to keep a low profile, you know. Flying requires magic and that's going to turn us into a bunch of obvious targets. We might as well send an invitation to those guardian snakes, asking them to come and get us."

Despite the fact that it made a lot of sense, it still didn't make the goddess feel any better. She was a former Valkyrie and certainly not weak by any means, but the place was giving her the creeps. Of course, it wasn't due to the darkness that filled the eerily silent tunnel. Instead, it was the ambient dark energy that threatened to suffocate her. Even the blonde demoness behind her seemed to struggle in order to remain calm and while the other two appeared to have much better control, she didn't doubt that they were on edge as well.

Surt was the last in the group, following Hild's orders. The Daimakaicho insisted that he had to keep an eye on Hagall, just in case the situation became too hot for her. He honestly didn't know why he had to babysit the one who was supposedly Niflheim's number two, but arguing with her had always proven to be futile, as she always managed to get what she wanted. While the blonde demoness had some rather unique powers, they were nothing particularly impressive at all, especially for someone that high up in the chain of command.

In his opinion, Hild almost appeared to be concerned about her subordinate's well being and while it wasn't unlike her to do something like that, it still made him wonder. He did know that the Daimakaicho had raised the blonde, but given the fact that she had never officially adopted her, he merely assumed that she was just meant to be a servant. Then again, that happened shortly after she left her own daughter in Asgard and perhaps she was worried that Urd could become jealous or even worse, believe that the blonde was meant to be her replacement.

At any rate, he was stuck with babysitting duty and for the first time realized how Hild must have felt back then in Muspelheim. The fiery realm was a very dangerous place, so children had to be under constant supervision at all times, especially given the unruly nature of the demons. As such, small groups of kids were assigned to an older individual, usually a young adolescent that was supposed to keep an eye on them. However as far as he could remember, it often happened to be the other way around, with them trying to keep the young Hild out of trouble, something easier said than done on several occasions. Well, maybe they weren't the easiest to deal with too, but they somehow managed to stay safe.

Sadly out of all of them, only he and Hild remained, as the other two didn't survive their first century as fully fledged Eldjotnar. Not thanks to those bloody gods anyway. At least he had the last laugh after they landed on top of his unit during their foolish attempt to take over Muspelheim, late in their most recent war. It was the last skirmish before they finally agreed to the terms of the doublet system and the reason why a young officer like him got the promotion that made him the ruler of Muspelheim. Especially given the fact that none of the gods made it back home from that fight.

"Okay, that's as far as we can go like that," said Hild, as she suddenly stopped and turned to look at the rest of them. "From this point on, we need a plan if we want to do this. Hagall-chan, you're going to be our secret weapon!"

Pointing at herself in an uncertain way, the demoness could only say one thing. "Me?! But you're a much better choice to deal with them, Hild-sama."

"The thing is, Hagall-chan, that we don't want to have to resort to that if it can be avoided. Using your ability, it is possible to make them think that you are one of them. From that point on, getting the Gate back is going to be a simple task. The rest of us will make sure that you're going to be safe. Anyone want to add anything?" Looking around, Hild saw that the rest were content or at least silent.

Hagall certainly seemed nervous, but tried her hardest to hide it from the others. Not that the Daimakaicho could blame her, given that she was far more worried the last time she's been here, especially since that she was on her own back then. At least with all of them together, their chances were substantially better.

Getting to the main chamber only took a few minutes, but in that short amount of time, their surroundings changed dramatically. While the tunnel was relatively narrow, the new area was so large that it was hard to see the walls in the darkness. Despite that, there were tree roots hanging from the ceiling of the cavern, a bizarre sight given how deep they were supposed to be underground. No regular tree possessed such an extensive root system, leaving only one possible candidate, Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life.

That ancient life form was a true mystery as nobody really knew all that much about it, with only bits and pieces available although those were often considered to be sensitive information. Like the fact that it capable of altering reality and its roots extended in other realms as well, regardless how far those were from Asgard, where its main part was resting.

Rumors had it that the actual tree was in fact that processing core of the gods' supercomputer, unlike its demonic counterpart that was merely named after the infernal dragon. The entire administration complex was apparently built around the tree, with all sorts of computer subsystems and other equipment that allowed the formation of a link between the tree and the celestials. That very connection gave them the ability to manipulate the lower realms, almost as if they were mere simulations inside the computer.

Interestingly, the demons used a very similar trick, by latching onto the roots of the tree and gaining access to its powers, something that greatly annoyed the gods, despite the fact that they could do nothing to stop it. Yggdrasil operated on its own for the most part, with the gods having control over certain aspects of its activities.

The rest was outside of their sphere of influence and the elders amongst them warned that any attempt to change that was extremely dangerous for anyone involved. Because of that, there was no other reason but to share the same resources with Niflheim, which lead to a fierce competition over time.

This was the main reason why both realms ended up fighting each other, although things had improved slightly after the doublet system was established. Furthermore, hacking into the other side's system, or rather their control mechanism, was prohibited in fear that it would simply escalate the situation and lead into a new era of conflict. The few ones that dared to break the rule were severely punished, with Welsper being the most recent example.

"Keep your eyes down, no matter what," warned Hild as they walked in the vast subterranean cavern. The overhanging roots would most certainly tempt the others to look up, something that she greatly regretted a long time ago. Above them was the massive and horrifying form of Nidhogg currently hanging from the ceiling and entangled in Yggdrasil's roots. One could even say that the Tree of Life was holding the gigantic abomination in place and away from the rest of the world. The only thing that the latter could do was to spend its time in eternal sleep, occasionally waking up and gnawing at the roots, even though it was pointless since they regenerated as fast as they were damaged.

Despite that, the dragon was far from harmless, since it possessed an entire army of snakes and even had the ability to create smaller versions of itself that were more than capable of dealing with any of them in no time. The only thing that the celestials managed to do against one of those avatars was to put them to sleep and run away, hoping that the dragon would lose interest once it woke up. Anyone that actually tried to harm the dragon, realized that it was nearly impossible to kill since its regenerating capabilities matched those of Yggdrasil. The only result was to annoy the creature, which resulted in a very violent and lethal response.

Given the fact that they looked like a bunch of insects compared to the massive beast, it was imperative to ignore it as they moved forward. Even a glimpse of the creature above them could render the mightiest of them into a shaking crybaby, something that they certainly didn't need at this point. The main goal was to find the Gate that was probably located in one of the several piles of random stuff that the dragon decided to keep. Most were things that somehow fell down from the throne room above the Pit, but a few others were ones that the dragon's avatars had collected over time.

So far the good news was that there was no sign of the snakes that usually wandered around the caverns. However, Hild was only getting increasingly nervous, thinking that it was a bit too easy. It would be dangerous to assume that they had managed to sneak into the area without anyone noticing. If that was the case, the snakes could be watching them already, rendering her plan to use Hagall's power to create illusions, completely useless. If that was the case, then her blonde assistant was in much greater danger that she considered to be acceptable, so after a moment of debating with herself, she ended up moving from her position and towards the other demoness, just in case.

Moments later, they reached the center of the room, where the missing Gate was most likely located. Now all that was left was to find the thing and get out of there as fast as possible.

XXX

Having acquired the last item on the list, Lind had decided that it was about time to head back. Despite some difficulties, her shopping trip was relatively uneventful. Balancing the bags she was carrying, instead of levitating them, she walked towards the spot where she had parked Keiichi's BMW.

Lind was known as a patient and even persistent goddess, but it had been a challenge to ignore the discomfort she felt from her tight pants. Her original expectations were based on her previous experience from similar outfits that were available in Asgard. Sadly, the human made materials were nothing like the ones that the celestials were using, causing her a fair amount of issues. Her movements were indeed restricted and even worse, they were sticking to her body way too much. Finally deciding that it was enough, Lind took a turn at a narrow alley between two buildings, where she could readjust her clothes, away from the prying eyes of the other pedestrians.

It only took a moment to readjust her pants in such a way that they weren't annoying her that much and while it was not really a solution, it would have to do for now. As she was about to get the bags off the ground, the Valkyrie noticed than in very brief amount of time she needed to dislodge a particularly annoying piece of denim off her backside, a stray dog had taken the opportunity to check the source of the delicious scent that came from the direction of those plastic bags. Shoving his snout into one of them, he was very close to getting hold of some tasty bacon, until the bipedal entity next the bag had different ideas.

"Hey! Don't touch other people's food without permission!" shouted Lind. "I really don't like thieves."

The poor mutt didn't stick around to apologize or even explain his situation. Instead he opted to run away like normal, since word in the alleys indicated that this was the best decision when dealing with those that had two legs. Unfortunately, in his hurry he hit one of the other bags, causing it to tip over and resulting in a loud crash.

Lind was really disappointed with her momentary lack of attention, resulting to the likely irreparable damage to what was most certainly the vase that Belldandy had requested. Technically speaking it should have been only a minor issue for most goddesses, but Lind was not great with repair magic, a rather embarrassing fact. Buying a new one would be a gross waste of Belldandy's money and she really didn't want to bring it back home in such a sorry state. Even if the other goddesses could repair it back to its original condition, there was still the fact that she needed to overcome that hurdle. At one point she had to manage to do this all by herself. A Valkyrie wasn't supposed to run to others for such insignificant matters.

Once she made her mind up, she took a step back and called her powers forth, hoping to get it right this time around. Taking a moment to inspect the outcome of her attempt, she noticed a slight improvement. But it was still a rather pathetic attempt overall. The vase only had a slight resemblance to its original configuration and while most would recognize it as one, she was not happy with its current appearance. Lind did briefly consider the possibility of breaking it again and trying one more time, but as it was, she doubted that she could get a better result. It was humiliating, but she needed to ask Peorth again.

Unfortunately given the vase's new shape, it was a bit hard to fit back into the bag. So she had to resort into carrying all of them in one hand and the vase on the other. She was a few minutes away from the parked bike, when a reluctant voice called out to her.

"Excuse me, miss!"

Turning around, the Valkyrie noticed a bespectacled man with gray hair that seemed to be very nervous as he struggled to get closer to her.

"Yes? Can I help you?" she asked.

"My apologies for interrupting you like that, but I couldn't help but notice the rather unique vase that you're carrying. I happen to be a glass artisan and one of my regular clients had recently requested a modern piece, much like the one you have. That happens to be my weak spot, I'm afraid. I'm most comfortable with the more traditional designs and I would be interested to learn where you purchased this item. Normally I wouldn't even consider such an option, but I don't want to say no to an old client. Even more, it could be a nice business opportunity if they are interested in purchasing some of my works as well."

The man appeared to be a strange one, although the Valkyrie could have sworn that there was something vaguely familiar about him. Looking at the distorted vase and briefly wondered who could actually think that this was intentionally made in such a manner. Even more bizarre was the idea of having to pay money for getting it. However, if the man wanted an answer then she was going to give him one. "Actually, I didn't buy it from anywhere. I'm the one that made it like that."

"What?!" asked the somewhat startled man. "I'm sorry, but I would've never thought that you were a modern artist." On the other hand, she did appear to have that eccentric appearance that was occasionally associated with artists. Her blue asymmetric hair was a clear indication of that, although the markings on her face were somehow familiar.

Lind on the other hand was rather confused about the man's comment. She was indeed a fighting expert and was familiar with many types of martial arts, but had no idea what he was talking about. Instead, she decided that the more direct approach was probably the best option in situations like this. "Do you want the vase? You look very interested in it."

"Eh?" asked the bespectacled man. "I would be certainly interested, but I'm not certain if you want to part with it. After all, it's your work."

It was her handiwork alright, but suddenly she had an idea to get out of her current predicament. "I could sell it to you if you want. A friend of mine requested a normal looking one, so I need some extra money to go and buy one."

The man blinked a few times, wondering if he'd heard her right. "But miss! Something like your work certainly costs a lot more than that. As a fellow artist, I wouldn't want to buy anything unless it's a fair deal for both parties involved. How does fifty thousand yen sounds to you?"

That was several times the amount of money that Belldandy had given her. "But...!"

"I see... It's not enough," said the man. "How about sixty thousand? I still need to have some room for making a profit as well."

The Valkyrie gave it some thought. The man just increased the offer despite the fact that he was actually buying a distorted vase. Telling him the truth was out of question, but on the other hand, she could buy a new vase with all that money. Plus, the rest could be useful for Keiichi-kun, who like most other mortals depended on money for his everyday activities. "I agree. That sounds fair."

"Very good." Once the transaction was over, the man just realized that he hadn't actually introduced himself. Searching in his pockets, he found a business card that he offered in a reluctant manner, almost as if he was afraid to come into contact with her. Despite his mannerisms, Lind took the card and immediately noticed something rather interesting. However, before she managed to say it, the man had already beat her to it. "Pleased to make your acquaintance. I'm Morisato Keima, owner of the Glass Cat shop in Kushiro."

"I'm Lind," said the Valkyrie, trying to avoid the full version of her introduction that included license class, assignment and of course the fact that she was a goddess. "I must ask, though, are you related to Morisato Keiichi?"

That slightly took Keima by surprise. "I do have a son whose name is Keiichi." However, he suddenly realized why her facial markings looked somewhat familiar. His son's girlfriend had also a few as well, just like her two sisters and the other woman who was living with them. He was certain that she wasn't there during the previous time that he dropped by for a visit with his wife, Takano, but perhaps she was a recent addition to the otherwise bizarre inhabitants of the Tariki Hongan temple.

"Keima-kun, I don't know that Keiichi's really into modern vases..." said a female voice from behind the man.

Speaking of his wife, the glass artisan was caught red handed this time. He had promised to go buy something for Keiichi's birthday and instead he spent their entire budget on business. There was no way he could get himself out of this one.

Meanwhile above the unlikely group, the mini Urd was intently observing the current developments. She had just arrived the moment when Keiichi's father met Lind, so she decided to stick around and see how things would progress. 'Ufufu... Things are going to get interesting...'

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AN: I would like to offer my thanks to WhoIsAtlas for proofreading this and making the needed corrections.

Additionally I would like to thank everyone that has offered their feedback and support both here and on the Goddess Relief site.

I'm back from my vacations and finally have the chapter ready. Actually it took me a bit shorter than I anticipated, but at the very least I can work on the story at a more comfortable pace like I used to.

There are several things I'd like to note for this chapter.

Thrud in the Norse myths is the daughter of Thor and Sif and mentioned as one of the Valkyries and she's exactly that in this story too. Her character model is based on the unnamed Valkyrie that was seen in Lind's flashback scene during the Angel Eater arc in the manga. She's the one that assisted Lind with her training.

Thor is a well known son of Odin, so there is little I need to add about him at this point.

On the other hand, Loki is a different situation. He is technically Odin's sworn brother in Norse myths, not his son by any means. However he is listed as an adopted member of Odin's family for the needs of this story.

Tyr is also mentioned as a son of Odin as well, although that particular information is not very well established in the myths. Basically some list him as one of the various sons of Odin, while others have those two gods to be unrelated and instead mention Tyr as son of Hymir. I used the version that had him related to Odin, so that it makes the family tree of the Norns a bit larger. I hope that this will be a more interesting option since the three goddesses have three uncles this way (including Loki as well).

Baldr is also Odin's son and one that died when Loki tricked Hod (or Hodur) to shoot him. In this story however he's not actually dead and that's why Thor mentions that he doesn't have children yet, instead of using a past tense.

Loki is also mentioned as being an artificer that supplies the gods with various components for the computer that allows them to interface with the World Tree. An artificer is the archaic word for a skilled craftsman and inventor, so I found it to be fitting for someone that does that job.

Kushiro, the hometown of Keiichi is only mentioned once in the manga, when his father appeared and Chihiro asked how far did he had to travel. Keiichi's reply was that he came from Kushiro. It's an actual city in eastern Hokkaido, unlike the fictional Nekomi city. That bit of information is not really mentioned again in the story, only that he's from Hokkaido. Also, the name of his parents' shop is actually written on Takano's outfit, when she appeared in the manga.

Finally, Yggdrasil itself is an actual tree, with the computer only being there in order to allow the gods to interact with it. Interestingly the demons are also possessing a computer that's latched at the roots of the World Tree, allowing them to affect the world with it as well. That is another reason why they call their system Nidhogg, since like the actual dragon itself it's attached to Yggdrasil. The fact that both sides are essentially using the same core for their world altering systems is the main reason for ending up competing with each other. Otherwise I don't see why that would be necessary, in the event that their resources were clearly separated.