Chosen of Yggdrasil

Chapter 2

The look of awe and fear on the elven maiden was quickly replaced with a face resembling anger and hate, she knew her heritage was problematic but she could do little other than bite her tongue and keep silent as the man picked his reward, not like they could reject his demands in the first place.

"Well knife ear? Isnt that exactly what you said?"

Everyone could feel a grin forming beneath his helmet but none dared bring it up, the giant stature and bloody axes of the man made everyone think twice before even speaking. The elf maiden was the first to break the uncomfortable silence despite the terror and hostility the man before her exuded.

"Y-yes, that is what I said sir, Im assuming you want our valuables?"

She began with submissive appeasement, hoping to present herself as trustworthy and weak enough that the man wouldnt view her and by extension her allies as a threat. Nonetheless the emotions felt by the adventurers were mixed, with many not wanting to part with their valuables for obvious reasons.

"Valuables? What could you possibly possess that someone such as myself would consider a valuable?" 

Harbinger didnt quite like terrifying the people he just saved, but for whatever reason he simply felt like it was the natural order of things, his tone and demands felt so natural that it felt as though he had always been like this.

An audible gulp escaped one of the adventurers whilst the maiden began thinking of what else to offer, he voice stuttering for a moment before one of her friends interjected, saving her the embarrassment. Though that feeling was short lived.

"Then perhaps its our bodies youre after?" 

Said one of the few female adventurers as she stepped forward, compared to everyone she seemed older and more seasoned than the rest. To live to her age in this business was either a miracle or the result of a pragmatic and apathetic mind, she was clearly the latter and the she knew that in cases such as these sacrificing ones dignity was preferable to death.

"What? Gods no woman what the hell is wrong with you?!" Harbinger shouted with a low growl, even suggesting such a pitiful and abhorrent thing awoke something in him which made him feel a primordial disgust towards the mere suggestion.

That is when, much to his surprise, the youngest male of the group threw himself forward and hugged the armored leg of the Chosen, just before desperately pleading with him.

"Please sir Knight, do not take offense to our impudence. Its just that we are used to much harsher treatments than most, vanguards like ourselves are viewed as expendable and thus we all do whatever we can to scrape by from day to day, this includes the lowest of all actions when times are truly desperate." His voice quievered near the end as pleadingly spoke to the towering mass of muscles and steel, desperately clinging onto him in hopes of somehow easing and stopping his visible anger.

Yet as his usual emotions were suppressed, Harbinger couldnt help but feel a tad disgusted at the pitiful nature of those before him, they were truly bottom feeders, the lowest dregs of their hierarchy used only as meatshields meant to clear the way and expose the danger of an operation for everyone else above them, or for other much more depraved purposes. Yet that is when whispers sang a sirens song deep within his mind, an instinct overtook him as his levels in the class Norscan Tyrant kicked in.

"Then as my reward, your souls will be bound to me in eternal servitude to the Gods, whatever fate befalls me shall befall you. Sounds fair right?" He let out a monstrous laugh while the adventurers prepared to flee, the ominous tone of his demand alerting every single survival instinct they had. 

But instead of fleeing, the young man knelt in front of him, seemingly overtaken by the desire to ensure the survival of his comrades and himself, a heroic and foolish decision to be sure. Without a word the young man merely nodded as he looked the giant in his burning ever-changing eyes.