In the universe, there is a strange kingdom known as "Iceland." This land allows humans, dwarves, and elves to live together freely under the Law of the Holy Hammer from the two divine siblings, Modi and Magni. This kingdom is constantly expanding and now has as many as eighty-three villages.
Good Teeth Village is the sixty-fifth village founded in the kingdom of Iceland. It almost became the forty-ninth village, but its name was submitted at the same time as Black Teeth Village, so it had to be changed to Good Teeth Village, even though the villagers firmly believe their teeth are blacker than anyone else's.
On the main road in the middle of Good Teeth Village, the rhythmic stomping of feet echoed, and if you followed the sound, you would find a dance taking place inside a tavern. There were more than ten pairs dancing. Many of the couples were not male and female; more than five were male-male and female-female. There were also many couples dancing between humans and elves, and dwarves and humans. But even with such a variety of dancers, nothing was as striking as the tavern's musician, a dwarf who was creating this lively music.
Generally, dwarves are known for inventing things, and this strange musician was no exception. He wore a peculiar helmet made of two metal plates that created a cymbal sound when he moved his head up and down. On his body, he wore an odd suit of armor with four strings extending from it, and when he moved the wooden levers in each hand, he could play two string instruments at once. He also had a large drum under his bottom and used his heels to continuously kick out different rhythms.
This dwarf musician, named "Whirlpool," is currently the most famous person in Good Teeth Village. In a single day, he has to travel and play at five different places, for which he earns nine silver coins every day.
It is now late afternoon. The strange dwarf Whirlpool must be at the "Crescent Moon Tavern" to play for the customers in exchange for one silver coin from the owner, a young elf woman with black hair named Cynthia.
Many patrons of the Crescent Moon believed Whirlpool was secretly in love with Cynthia, so he agreed to play for half the pay he would receive elsewhere. They enjoyed teasing the pair about their relationship—usually at Whirlpool's expense—because the owner, though quiet in demeanor, carried an imposing presence. Perhaps that was a trait of black-haired elves.
Dancing and drinking continued inside the tavern. Whirlpool played many instruments at once without tiring, when suddenly a strange sweet scent drifted in and a brown-haired elf in a white dress edged in red entered. Whirlpool froze and momentarily stopped playing.
Cynthia tapped the wooden counter with the back of her hand to signal Whirlpool to resume. The music restarted and the stomping resumed.
Cynthia didn't pay the new arrival much attention; she turned back to her desk and started to read the book in her hands again. The brown-haired elf, smiling faintly, came to Cynthia's workstation, near the perpetually busy kitchen.
"I finished the work, Cynthia," said the brown-haired elf, who reached into the wide sleeve of her garment and took out several orange flowers, placing them on Cynthia's desk.
Cynthia brushed the orange flowers aside with the back of her left hand, then took a gold coin from a pouch at her waist and placed it on the desk. She rested her hand on the coin and slid it across the desk toward the brown-haired elf.
The brown-haired elf stared at the gold coin, her smile slowly widening.
Cynthia, losing patience, snapped, "Nessy! Why haven't you collected your pay yet?"
The brown-haired elf flinched at the scolding and tucked the gold coin into her loose sleeve.
"Your gold is so pretty..." Nessy mumbled under her breath.
"You brought back saffron, good. But I still need the Dark Mushroom to use as another ingredient. Will you take that job, Nessy?"
"But the Dark Mushroom grows only in Svartalheim, Cynthia. You know the dwarves there aren't as friendly as the ones in this village."
"Nessy, you're only a brown-haired elf of low standing. Those dwarves wouldn't see you as an enemy, would they?" Cynthia called her "Nessy" repeatedly, though the brown-haired elf's real name was Vanessa.
"If only I were like you, with hair black as the night—it would be wonderful. But my hair is brown. To some dwarves that looks like golden brown. Cynthia, you know everyone's 'gold' isn't the same. But pitch black like your hair leaves no doubt of inferiority."
"If the dwarves see your hair as golden brown, they must be blind in the eyes and foolish in the head," Cynthia shot back.
They traded barbs about each other's low status by elven standards, seemingly trying to provoke anger. The tavern regulars, used to their banter and knowing they were long-time friends, paid it no heed and returned to dancing and drinking.
"Not every dwarf is foolish—look at him," Vanessa said, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb at Whirlpool. "That one can play so many instruments at once."
"That one's an idiot," Cynthia vehemently disagreed.
"An idiot for playing so much for your tavern and getting paid only one silver coin?" Vanessa countered.
"If he were smart, he wouldn't take two silver coins at a time in this village."
"What!? I'm losing you," Vanessa said, making a face.
"He has so much talent—he shouldn't be playing in a village like this for such poor pay. There are dozens of villages in Icegard. Why stay here? Just cross the stream ahead and you'll reach a new village," Cynthia argued.
"But the next village doesn't have a beautiful black-haired elf," Vanessa replied.
"That proves he's a damned fool—work this hard for almost no pay."
"So he must have some purpose at this tavern," Vanessa finally understood the implication.
"The Moon told me his name is 'Schroeder.' He used to be the gardener of the Affarahants family," Cynthia said, speaking oddly, hinting at hidden meanings.
"The moon? I thought you preferred to talk to the stars," Vanessa said something strange as well. But this was all just teasing Cynthia again, because in reality, both "the moon" and "the stars" were secret names for the elf assassin guild. Vanessa herself had a secret name: "Butterfly."
"You're getting ahead of yourself. When you're in this village, you have to listen to me," Cynthia said in a reproving tone to Vanessa, because in truth, they were not as close as the villagers thought.
Present-day Alfheim is home to four famous elf assassins: Enya, the Night Blade; Fenris, the Golden Mask; Elafindi, the Flower; and Muninn, the Black Bird.
The Black Bird Muninn is the assassin codename of this Crescent Moon Tavern owner, who everyone in Good Teeth Village knows as "Cynthia." Even Vanessa herself does not know Cynthia's real name.
The elves' plan to assassinate the gods Modi and Magni is considered a matter of the highest urgency and importance. The fact that two top assassins have been called to work together on this mission confirms its significance.
Suddenly, a regular customer named "Bob" walked toward Cynthia's counter. It seemed he had some kind of problem.
The two elf women's conversation immediately shifted.
"How many of the dark mushrooms do you want?" Vanessa said this sentence, but the real meaning was, "Who am I assassinating in Svartalfheim?"
"There are four colors of dark mushrooms. Those two special customers both like all four colors. Just find the largest of each of the four colors," Cynthia explained, with the true meaning being, "The leaders of the four dwarf families are allies of the gods Modi and Magni. Take care of all four of those family leaders."
Bob walked over and said in a gentle voice, "Excuse me, ladies, can I interrupt for a moment? I only have a gold coin on me. Can I exchange it for some silver coins, Cynthia?"
Cynthia held out her right hand with a blank, emotionless expression.
Bob took out two gold coins from his money pouch and placed them in Cynthia's hand.
Cynthia opened a drawer under her counter, took out two stacks of silver coins, and quickly handed them back to Bob. It seemed that exchanging gold coins for silver coins was a regular occurrence in the tavern, so the black-haired elf woman was prepared beforehand.
"Huh!" Bob cried out. "Cynthia, there are only twenty-two silver coins here! Doesn't a gold coin get you twelve silver?"
Cynthia's expression remained serious as she said, "Whether money comes in or goes out, I, as the owner, must benefit." She then turned her attention to Vanessa and added, "I need all four of these mushrooms before the next full moon, Nessy."
"What? All of them before the next full moon? That's not good. I'd better leave now," Vanessa pretended to be clumsy and flustered. She then stood up and knocked over Cynthia's counter. The drawer in the counter fell out, and its contents scattered across the floor.
"You..." Cynthia yelled, glaring at Vanessa with a fierce look.
Vanessa continued to act clumsy, quickly bowing and saying loudly, "Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to. I'd better get going." After saying this, Vanessa quickly ran out of the Crescent Moon Tavern. Before she was out the door, she pretended to trip on the lower door frame again, which made the customers inside the tavern laugh once more.
*******
On this night, the moon still cast its lovely, soft light as it always did. At this moment, Vanessa was lying on her back, gazing at the moon from atop the great gray-furred wolf who was moving through the night. The large wolf was named "Vaness," a name Vanessa had given him after she found him living alone as a young pup while she was hiking in the forest.
There was an old legend that spoke of two giant wolves, Sköll and Hati, who would one day swallow the sun and the moon, thus beginning Ragnarök. Vanessa looked at the moon, lost in thought. 'How big would a wolf have to be to leap up and devour the sun and the moon?'
"Nessa, if we cross that river, we'll reach the realm of Svartalfheim." A low, deep voice came from the giant wolf named Vaness.
"How are we so fast! Vaness, have you gotten bigger again?" Vanessa wondered if Vaness had grown even taller, giving him longer legs and allowing them to travel faster than before.
"I haven't grown for a hundred years, but perhaps I'm faster because my magical power is getting stronger and stronger." The voice came from the great wolf's body, but his mouth didn't move as he spoke, which meant it was all being communicated through magic.
"Then you and I will have to switch. Ever since I got my magical weapons, I've neglected my magical training." Vanessa said this as she shifted from lying on her back to her side. She propped her head up with her left hand, feeling the scent of the river become clearer and clearer.
"But Nessa, your magical power still seems very strong. In all my life, I've never seen anyone with stronger magical power than you."
"Well, you spend all day with me, how would you have seen any other mages? This universe is vast. Besides the Elves who have magical power, humans and dwarves also have magic. And there are the gods as well." Vanessa paused slightly at the word "gods," changing from a side-lying position to a sitting one before continuing. "Especially the gods. Their magical power is so great that even we Elves can't compare."
Vaness didn't reply immediately, as he was concentrating, preparing to leap across the great river that separated the realms of Midgard and Svartalfheim. They floated in mid-air for a while with the great river's surface below them, before Vaness's four paws landed on the soil of Svartalfheim.
"So, Nessa, have you ever met any gods?" Vaness picked up their conversation where they had left off, as he turned his back on the great river and moved on.
"Not yet, unfortunately. Even though I was ordered to find a way to assassinate the gods Móði and Magni." Vanessa lazily lay back down on Vaness's back.
"Was that an order from the moon?" Vaness knew that Vanessa was a leader who called herself "the Moon."
"I received the order a while ago. But it's still just a plan to strike at the alliance of the gods Móði and Magni. Perhaps my skill isn't enough to kill a god." Vanessa often underestimated her own abilities because she was categorized as a "Forest Elf," not a High Elf, who could potentially have abilities far superior to hers.
"Nessa, we've come to a fork in the road. Which kingdom is your destination this time?" Vaness had only been ordered by Vanessa to head to the realm of Svartalfheim and did not know which dwarven kingdom they needed to go to.
Currently, the dwarven realm of Svartalfheim is divided into four major kingdoms: Dvergar's Holdfast, Drekabani, Sterkburinn, and Dvalinn's Keep. Dwarves generally have a short-tempered and irritable nature, which often leads to new kingdoms being created and separated in a short amount of time.
"Actually, all four kingdoms are my destination. But for now, let's head to the most distant one, the kingdom of Dvergar's Holdfast." After Vanessa answered Vaness's question, she intended to take a nap, so she would have the energy to assassinate the long-famous red-haired dwarven king, King Gyrðir.