"State your affiliation and identity!"
Four pairs of wings spread wide as the angels took up attack positions. These were the Powers (Angels of Power), as they're called, the guards of the divine realm.
In a god's private legion, these angels serve as mid-to-low-level commanders, but in Valhalla they were nothing more than guards.
"How dare you! Who do you think you are!"
Was it because our party was so small, just the two of us? Seeing the Powers even point their weapons at us, Ariel spread her fifteen pairs of wings and shouted.
"Pr...Praise the Light!"
"Praise the Light!"
The Powers showed the highest form of respect reserved for gods and dropped to their knees before Ariel.
"The one who should receive that greeting isn't me—it's Lady Artemis."
"Gasp! What a terrible breach of protocol..."
"Please forgive us."
Only then did they greet me again and beg for mercy. Truth be told, this was mostly my and Ariel's fault for coming to Valhalla with our presence completely concealed.
Naturally, they couldn't rule out the possibility that we might be unwelcome visitors.
"I forgive you. And I commend you for your faithful duty in guarding Valhalla."
The Powers looked up at me with moved expressions. Angels are beings born to serve the gods. Of course they'd react this way after receiving praise from a deity.
With them seeing us off as if they'd rip out their own hearts to give us, Ariel and I entered through Valhalla's main gate.
"Praise the Light!!"
The Powers standing at attention on both sides raised their swords of light before their faces in unison and shouted. And then the massive gates of Valhalla opened.
Countless gods and angels bustled through the streets, and in the distance I could see the massive form of Father Odin. The giant World Tree at the center of Valhalla—that was Odin himself.
In Valhalla, all gods are strictly forbidden from using divine power. Except in very special circumstances, even the Supreme Gods weren't exempt from this rule.
Thanks to this, many gods walked the city just like ordinary humans. Occasionally, angels would fly through the sky to get around, but this was considered extremely low-class behavior for a god—something only angels did. Kind of ridiculous when you think about it, but anyway, in the divine realm, where we have all the time in the world, walking wasn't really a problem. If anything, I think this custom was created to add a little variety to the boring routine of the divine realm, or maybe to create opportunities for chance encounters with each other.
"It's been a while, Lady Artemis."
An attractive silver-haired goddess standing at Valhalla's entrance bowed her head and greeted me warmly. And I knew this goddess very well.
"Long time no see, Luna. How have you been?"
Luna, goddess of moonlight. She wasn't one of the Supreme Gods, the highest tier of deities, but she was one of the only thirty-four Great Gods. She'd hidden her wings, but behind her back existed twenty-four pairs of wings. If she gained just one more pair, she too would receive the status of Supreme God.
That said, she still couldn't compare to my twenty-nine pairs of wings, but since I was the first god, that was only natural.
Anyway, how I became friends with Luna was pretty simple. When I first received divine status, I was the one who helped save her from dying in the war against Chaos.
Naturally, it was around the middle of the war, and we were desperate for every god we could get, so I rescued her even though it took some serious effort. I don't know how Luna interpreted that act, but she followed me around ever since. And during Ragnarok, the war between gods, she fought under my command. If time hadn't passed and she hadn't become a Great God and been assigned the Middle Sacred Land, she probably would've stayed at my sacred land.
If there wasn't an absolute rule that gods with sacred lands can't visit other sacred lands, Luna might've practically lived at my place.
"Yes~"
Luna beamed at my greeting. At the sight of her, I had to break out in a cold sweat trying to suppress the lust rising inside me.
I barely managed to use my transcendent power to hide my reaction.
"Ariel greets Lady Luna."
"Right."
The formal greetings between Ariel and Luna went back and forth. They hadn't had a good relationship from their first meeting, and I couldn't figure out why for the life of me.
"What's that behind you?"
The angel assisting Luna had two horses with her.
"Unicorns, obviously."
Luna said it like it was the most natural thing in the world. So yeah, out of all the pegasuses and the option of just walking, why did it have to be those?
"You want us to ride those together?"
"Yes."
Luna said it like it was obvious, and I couldn't tell if she was just thick-skinned or enjoying this situation. As a god, I felt disgusted with myself for not knowing.
Even though there's clearly a difference in power, gods can't read each other's innermost thoughts in the divine realm. Same goes for especially powerful angels. That's because there are secret techniques for hiding your inner feelings. You can try to break through and read them, but the other person will sense the attempt, making it pointless.
It's a technique only useful for interrogations.
Sure, riding something would be more comfortable physically than walking, but unicorns? No way. It's not that I dislike how they look. The problem was the unicorn's nature.
The unicorn that approached sniffed Luna, then bent its legs to make it easy for her to mount. The other unicorn did the same, coming up to me, sniffing me all over, then promptly bending its legs.
These bastards are perverts who go crazy for virgins.
Naturally, I couldn't help but feel disgusted. Plus, every time we rode unicorns past male gods, those flirtatious looks they sent made me want to puke.
Whether Luna knew this or not, every time there was a gathering of gods, she'd wait for me with these unicorns. But I couldn't ignore her thoughtfulness either. Once I tried coming alone way earlier than usual because I hated it so much, but Luna showed up and made a huge scene saying she'd return the Middle Sacred Land and follow me, which totally freaked me out.
So does Luna like me? That question was hard to answer. Once, half-joking, half-serious, I tried to feel her out about whether she had any interest in the same sex, and she got dead serious and said no.
Her reaction was so extreme I couldn't bring it up again.
"I heard those are among the very few gods who..."
"Hehe. You haven't changed."
At the unusual sight of unicorns moving through the city, gods and angels stared with strange expressions. At least the angels didn't gossip, but the gods were different.
If I weren't Artemis—if I weren't one of only eight Supreme Gods, the one who reached the pinnacle among them, the one who slew the leader of Chaos—it probably wouldn't have been just gossiping, but closer to mockery.
"Lady Artemis, how long are you planning to stay in Valhalla after this gathering ends?"
"I'm not sure."
I hadn't come with a set schedule, so I couldn't give a definite answer.
"But why do you ask?"
"Ah! It's nothing. Just curious."
When I asked back, Luna got flustered and mumbled. And then the conversation continued in a completely mundane and boring way. We mainly talked about pretty dry stuff that had happened in the meantime, so naturally the conversation was boring.
Generally speaking, life in this divine realm is incredibly monotonous. If lust weren't tormenting me, I probably would've already taken my angels and headed to the front lines against the demon gods.
Officially, the war with the demon gods had stopped, but small-scale battles still broke out occasionally in the border regions.
Due to the agreement with Odin, both sides were forbidden from destroying gods, but capturing them was a different story. Actually, since the ceasefire, no gods or demon gods had been captured, but that's only possible because the gods who participate in the border skirmishes are all mid-to-lower-level gods of similar strength.
To stop a god from being destroyed and capture them, you'd need an overwhelming gap of at least two ranks.
Honestly, when it comes to strength, gods above the upper ranks are a bit lazy. Once you've become a High God or higher, or if you're about to become one, as long as you govern your assigned sacred land well, you can enjoy a heavenly, prosperous life without any economic worries.
But for lower-level gods and middle-level gods, who make up the vast majority of deities, it's a different story. Though they're gods, they're thirsty to become stronger. Some were satisfied just being gods, but many were determined to leap to upper-level god status as quickly as possible. For them, the fastest route is gaining divinity through war. Naturally, that's why small-scale skirmishes never stopped.
So why don't upper-level gods and above, who could capture opposing gods more easily, participate in battle? It's because they can no longer destroy gods.
The only way to steal divinity from an opposing god of a different rank is through their destruction, but since that's impossible, even if you capture them, all you get are their assets. Some gods participated hoping to rape their captives, but they were treated as complete trash in the divine realm, so gods who cared about their reputation absolutely wouldn't do such things. Though it's a bit different for demon gods.
Anyway, that kind of thing only happened early on. Now, so much time has passed since the ceasefire that whenever an upper-level god or higher appears, most gods tuck their tails and disappear, or upper-level and higher gods on standby respond quickly. So upper-level gods and above, who don't want to waste their time on something with no gain, don't participate in battle.
The only reason I'd go to the battlefield is to break the boredom. Not really to gain anything specific.
If I were going to capture and rape a Demon God, I'd rather just come out in Valhalla.
"Nothing's changed, has it? Valhalla..."
At Luna's words, I nodded. Valhalla is an incredibly static city. Since its construction, its exterior has never undergone major changes, and that's the gods' way of being considerate toward Odin, whose strength is fading.