Einherjar Becomes Valkyrie

After sending her father and Harlan to Lutrel, Elena asked Nia to help Lynette settle into her makeshift workshop, after which she went to the courtyard of the fort where Erin and the others' training routinely took place.

Since there would be no training today because of Armand's absence, Erin and Teo focused on their general studies with Maya-sensei. Still, upon hearing from Erin that Bryn had been absent from the study, Elena had a slight idea of where to find her.

For the past few days, Elena had noticed Bryn's low spirits, but with how busy she had been so far, she hadn't been able to pay much attention to Bryn.

Upon reaching the barracks training yard, Elena found Bryn swinging her practice sword.

"How is the training going?"

Bryn was surprised to hear Elena's voice; she immediately turned her sight to find the beautiful violet-eyed young woman who had saved her from becoming a slave.

"Elena-sama... I..."

Some tears formed at the edge of Bryn's eyes.

Seeing that, Elena approached Bryn and hugged her, something that took Bryn by surprise.

"Are you not satisfied with your progress?"

Hearing that question, Bryn's shoulders shook, and she cried.

Even though she was stronger than Teo and Erin, this was because of the physical difference between them, Erin and Teo were still children and Bryn was already at the age where many commoner women already had one or two children. How could she feel that she was really getting strong? Then there was Nia. Once Nia joined the training, Bryn finally realized her true level, she could not even be a match for Nia, who was younger than her.

*When I first met Nia, she wasn’t stronger than you"

After hearing about Bryn's frustrations, Elena pulled away from her and exclaimed that.

Such words surprised Bryn. From what she had heard, Nia wasn't even three months old next to Elena.

"How is Nia so strong now?"

"That's because she performed a ritual to get stronger."

Bryn blinked several times in surprise. She did not doubt Elena's words, she had seen enough of what Elena could do to doubt her.

"Elena-sama, c-could I also perform that ritual?"

Elena smiled and then invited Bryn to sit next to her on some nearby stone blocks.

"If you perform the ritual, without a doubt you will become stronger, but your life will be tied to mine, if I died, you would also die"

"I'm not a hero, and I don't pretend to be, remember?"

Elena exclaimed this at noticing Bryn's thoughts through her expression.

Bryn quickly remembered the words Elena had given her and the others when she gave them a choice between following her or being free. Bryn closed her eyes and took a deep breath, the anxiety draining from her heart by the time her eyes opened again.

“You don't need to become strong as Nia, you can do it at your own pace and live peacefully in Izana as one of my knights. If one day you find something or someone who can make you happy, then I will share your happiness as if it were mine"

Bryn's eyes watered again in response to Elena's words.

"Elena-sama, I..."

Bryn's father was a hunter in a small village near Lutrel. Before her mother's death when Bryn was nine, her father was a good man who cared for his family. However, that loving father became gloomy upon losing his beloved wife, and he got completely lost in the alcohol.

Although her father never laid a hand on her, Bryn endured her father's screams and outbursts of anger for years.

Bryn endured that thanks to the company offered to her by a boy of her village, Glen, who was the son of a carpenter. Inevitably Bryn fell in love with Glen and her love was reciprocated.

By the time Bryn turned fifteen and she was the right age to get married by commoner standards, Glen asked her to become his wife, something Bryn gladly agreed to. However, there was a great obstacle that both had to face to realize their love, Bryn's father.

When Glen was brave enough, he asked for Bryn's hand, something that caused her father to erupt in anger. 'I have already delivered a woman of my family to the gods, I will not deliver any other woman to anyone else'. After saying these words, Bryn's father pounced on Glen and beat him.

Bryn didn't blame Glen for running away. She was grateful her father hadn't beaten him to death.

After that, Bryn decided to run away from her home to marry with Glen even without her father's approval, unfortunately for Bryn, Glen didn't come back to look for her in several days.

At fearing that the injuries her father had inflicted on Glen would have been worse than she imagined, Bryn used the moment when her drunken father fell asleep to find Glen.

Upon arriving at Glen's home, Glen's father asks Bryn to leave and never to look for his son again, since Glen had already found another woman. Incredulous of those words, Bryn made her way to find Glen.

Once Bryn found Glen, she could see how when he saw her, he trembled with fear as he avoided looking into her eyes.

In utter disbelief, Bryn heard Glen beg her to go away and forget about him. Bryn's heart shattered upon hearing that and she finally understood the reason Glen's father had told her that Glen had already found another woman, Glen's father was trying to protect his son's manhood. Glen was terrified enough not to hesitate to give up on Bryn. He was just a coward.

With her heartbroken and hopeless, Bryn returned to her father's side, and for three more years, she watched her father lose himself completely in alcohol, reaching a point where he offered Bryn´s hand to the highest bidder to get money and keep drinking. At fortunate, and later to Bryn's misfortune, no one in her village was interested in accepting her father's proposal, everyone was afraid that, in a moment of sobriety, her father would claim her back using his fists. Thus, one day when Bryn's father was very drunk, a group of men who were buying women for Lutrel's brothels arrived. Bryn was sold by her drunken father for just two gold pieces.

"I want to be strong so that no one else can dispose of me as if I were an object. I want to be strong to build my happiness without depending on false promises"

Thick tears fell from Bryn's eyes as she clenched her fists in great frustration.

"I understand, if you are so determined, then I will not object more"

The ritual required a drop of blood from Elena, and she could only use ten drops of blood. Elena had already used one blood drop during the ritual with Nia, and had used another during the creation of Bela, she already only had space to use eight more drops, going beyond that would have great repercussions on her body. Her body abnormality would drop from 10% to eight percent if she used just one more blood drop than from this limit of ten. For this reason, Elena had to be very careful when choosing to use the remaining eight blood drops.

However, Elena could not refuse to give one of those precious blood drops to Bryn, Bryn's story, although different from hers, could be summed up to some extent in the same way as her past; frustration and helplessness. Bryn could not oppose everything that was happening around her, in the same way that Elena could not do so before she gets Kaname's legacy.

"Thank you, Elena-sama"

Bryn wiped her tears and followed Elena into the lonely fort.

In search of some privacy, Elena led Bryn into one of several rooms that Izana's soldiers were supposed to occupy.

"The power I possess is in my blood, if I give you to drink a little of it through a ritual, your body will change to become stronger, but this will create a bond of life between us, and as I said; if I die, you too will die"

Bryn nodded; she had already accepted the price to pay.

Elena smiled and then closed her eyes and put her palms together. An ominous blood-colored pentagram was drawn under the floor at her feet.

"Blood ritual, bound of lives, the union of destinies"

After opening her eyes, Elena looked at Bryn. She seemed just as determined.

"Come, come closer Bryn"

Bryn entered the magic circle and stood in front of Elena; Elena could not help but show a wry smile because of the difference in height of about five centimeters between them.

Elena bit her lips to get some blood, then she was forced to prop herself up on the tips of her feet to bring her lips to the lips of a very surprised Bryn.

Once Elena's tongue invaded her mouth, Bryn regained her composure only to blush. However, she did not resist since this should be an important part of the ritual, ¿right?

In response to Elena's action, the magic circle under her feet flashed brighter.

Elena pulled her lips away from Bryn, a thin strand of saliva forming a fragile arc between their lips.

Bryn's mind was spinning. She never imagined that her first kiss would be taken by Elena. However, as she tried to process what happened, her mind faded.

"Get some rest Bryn"

Elena held Bryn in her arms and then sat on the ground and supported Bryn's head on her lap.

Elena looked at Bryn's face as she nodded in satisfaction. Perhaps Bryn was not as beautiful as Lynette or Nia, but Bryn was a sober beauty, and above all, her body figure was fully developed. Elena felt her blood boil at imagining herself running her hands over Bryn's bare skin, feeling the curves of Bryn´s figure, and harvesting those two sweet ripe fruits that were sheltered under Bryn´s clothes.

A satisfied smile formed on Elena's lips. The first step in luring Bryn into her garden had been taken.

"Soon I will help you forget that fool who did not have enough courage to fight for you"

After muttering that, Elena leaned down slightly and kissed Bryn's forehead.

At this point, Elena's conviction was as solid as steel, and from her personal point of view, as pure than mytril; she would create a garden of maidens to love and by which to be loved, a garden of lilies.