Fate: I Heard After Death, You Can Ascend to the Throne of Heroes?-Chapter 303: The god of Mischief

Three years passed in the blink of an eye.

In Svartalfheim, the realm of the dwarves, outside Mime's cave.

"Good morning, Nor~~"

Early on a morning, on Monday of the week cycle, the little green bird with a tiny tuft of feathers on its head, named Shini, flew back from the distant realm of Asgard, bringing the golden apple plucked by the Goddess of Youth, Idunn to Promise.

Sitting under the evergreen tree outside the cave, Promise took the golden apple as usual, however, noticing the visibly excited expression on the bird perched on his shoulder, he couldn't help but ask, "What's up, Nini? Did you hear something interesting this time?"

It had been three years since this bird became the part-time delievery guy for Promise and their relationship had become a bit closer since then, so much so that she had even accepted the nickname he had given her, 'Nini'.

Shini ..Nini.

Oh well...the little bird didn't have much to say.

After all, Nini atleast sounded a bit better than little green or little feather.

"Yes, Nor, let me tell you, the god of trickery Loki is up to his mischief again! This time, he actually cut off Lady Sif's golden hair, which shines like the sun, and now he's being chased all over the world by Lord Thor, the god of thunder!"

Shini replied in a lively, cheerful female voice, her tone filled with amusement.

Originally, she obviously couldn't speak, but as a divine messenger, learning language wasn't difficult for her.

Back then, the reason she chirped and squawked was because the Norn of Fate, Skuld, rarely spoke, so she hadn't bothered to learn.

But after staying with Promise for about three days, she quickly mastered the language.

Lady Sif, in her mouth was the wife of Thor in Norse mythology.

Not only that...she was also the goddess of earth and harvest, one of the twelve major gods of Asgard.

And among the gods, she was the most beautiful goddess, well.. after Freyja, of course.

Legend had it that her most remarkable feature was her long, golden hair, which shone more beautifully than gold itself.

Because of this, Sif took great care of her hair everyday, treating it as a treasure.

She even went to see the Norn of Fate to obtain water from the spring of Urd, which nourishes Yggdrasil, so that she could cleanse her beautiful locks.

But perhaps it was precisely this kind of love for her hair that drew Loki's attention.

And being the god of mischief, how could he watch other person living happily, doing their own business,

Much less Thor's wife?

So, taking advantage of her afternoon nap in the Evergreen Garden, Loki cut off her hair.

Promise listened as Shini chirped away, recounting what she had seen during her recent trip.

The scene of goddess crying in her room, vowing never to go out again, and the furious Thor, the god of thunder, chasing Loki all over the place in his chariot.

Thinking about the scene, Promise couldn't help but laugh. "In the past three years, almost everything you've told me has been about that god of trickery. Hmm... I think I understand why even you don't want to get close to him."

"Because Lord Loki is really too much! He even thought about drying up the waters of Urd's spring or cutting off the hair of Goddess Skuld to keep her fate-seeing eye always exposed. If it weren't for the great King Odin stopping him!"

Nini's expression turned human-like with anger, clearly upset on behalf of her goddess.

From this, it was quiet evident that even a bird in Asgard couldn't stand Loki.

"And Lady Sif is obviously such a kind goddess! Once, when I was tired from flying and stopped near her, she even brought me dew on a leaf herself!"

"Oh?" Hearing this, Promise couldn't help but tilt his head to look at the bird on his shoulder. "Then why do you seem so cheerful..."

After all, it had been three years since they first met.

Not to mention, because of the Norn of Fate's orders, Shini had been inseparable from Promise for these three years.

So Promise had long since realized that if this bird ever met his horse brother in the future, they would get along famously.

One eats grass,

the other eats melons!

If called out on it...

"No way, that's nonsense, I'm not!"

She would deny it quickly and firmly, three times in a row.

If pressed to the point, she would even claim that she wasn't eating melons or enjoying the spectacle.

She was merely recording, recording everything, fulfilling her glorious mission on behalf of the Norn of Fate who couldn't leave her sanctuary.

It definitely wasn't because she found it all so amusing!

"Well... if that's the case, then that trickster god will probably be coming here soon."

As he thought about it, Promise said this.

"Huh?" Hearing this, Nini tilted her head, her lively eyes blinking as she looked at Promise and spoke. "Why do you say that?"

"Because in order to appease the wrath of Thor, the god of thunder, he must return the hair to the goddess Sif so that she will stop crying. So I think the god of trickery should come here to find a a skilled blacksmith to forge an exact replica of her hair."

Promise said this, but the truth was, of course, that he remembered this Norse myth.

Loki, after cutting off Sif's hair and burning it, was caught by an enraged Thor and beaten to a pulp.

In the end, he had no choice but to beg for mercy and swear that he would return a pair of exactly the same long hair to Sif no...he vowed to replace Sif's hair with something even more magnificent, so, that the goddess would stop crying.

Only then did Thor let him go.

Loki then traveled to Svartalfheim, the realm of the dwarves, and convinced the skilled dwarven smiths, the Sons of Ivaldi, to craft a new head of golden hair for Sif.

This magical hair was made of fine gold and would grow like natural hair when placed on her head.

But off course, how could things go smoothly when Loki is involved.

But in typical Loki fashion, he took things further and after Sif's hair were created, Loki made a bet with a dwarf, Brokkr, that his brother Eitri (or Sindri) would not be able to craft items to match the quality of those displayed by the sons of Ivaldi (who had already created Sif's golden hair, Odin's spear Gungnir, and Freyr's ship Skidbladnir).

Not only that, but he also made a bet with a proud dwarf, wagering his own head if he lost.

During the process, to avoid actually losing, Loki transformed into a fly and and biting Brokkr while he worked the forge, preventing him from working in peace.

But in the end, Loki still lost.

Because that proud dwarf forged not one, not two..but three divine weapons.

The Sindri forged three divine weapons of legendary quality and one of them was the same or even more impressive than Odin's spear, Gungnir.

That weapon was none other than Thor's future weapon, the hammer Mjölnir!

The most feared weapon in the Nine Realms.

In the end, the gods judged that Brokkr and Sindri had won the bet.

But of course, Loki didn't end up losing his head.

It wasn't because they were soft-hearted or anything, but because Loki used a clever trick,

When the dwarves tried to claim his head, he cleverly argued that they had no right to harm his neck because the best was only about his head itself.

He claimed that in front of so many gods who valued justice, if they were to cut off his head, they must not harm his neck in the slightest.

Instead, the furious dwarves could only settle for sewing Loki's lips shut as punishment.

Recalling these events and looking back at the little bird, Nini, on his shoulder, Promise thought about all the rumors he had heard through her over the years.

He finally understood why, when he first met Odin, the god's first reaction was to warn him to stay away from Loki.

"But I still want to paint that wolf and that snake," Promise muttered.

After all, that was the wolf that devoured the King of the Gods.

And the serpent that defeated Thor, the god of thunder, and encircled the world!

As the painter of the gods, the deity of painting in Greek mythology, if he didn't paint them, Promise himself felt he would no longer be worthy of holding the pure white brush.

"Huh? Nor, did you say something?"

Shini tilted her head, her curious eyes looking at Promise.

Just as Promise was about to brush it off with a casual remark,

"Nor!"

A familiar male voice called out from behind.

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End!!