IBHJ Chapter 788

"I'll cooperate with you, but you have to promise me something," Skadi said.

"What promise?"

"Don't ever do that kind of thing to me again!" she said, too embarrassed to say it outright.

"Don't make it sound like I actually did something weird. Whether it was before or now, I've always been a perfect gentleman."

However, seeing that Skadi was starting to cooperate, Shirou nodded with satisfaction. What mandatory events? Those were all made up by him. Even if there were any, he could use Merlin's records to change them. The whole point was to make Skadi cooperate with him, and guess what? It worked like a charm.

Skadi had never come across a scheme like this before. Shirou didn't realize that Scathach jokingly called him a liar because he kept pulling stunts like this. But it was just a joke. Branding him as a liar over this would be way too naive. It was simply a method to get what he wanted. Being straightforward and thinking that sincerity would make others understand and cooperate was just too foolish. Everything boils down to method, even the human heart. With the right approach, things can get done.

"Wait, this snowy land..." Skadi suddenly noticed something.

He nodded, "Yes, that's right. It's the dream world."

"I don't remember much, but I recall dreaming about being a powerful teacher, and that boy was a weak student I protected. You're playing the role of that student now, aren't you?" she asked calmly.

"Yes," he nodded, "It's the weak me from the past. Everything was half-baked, and I needed your protection for every little thing. To be honest, reliving the feeling of being a weak, ordinary person is a bit uncomfortable-"

"So you're weak now?" she interrupted.

Shirou nodded, "Of course. And at the end of this dream, this world is destined to be destroyed, and I'll die- Wait, why are you asking this?"

"No reason." Skadi's tension melted away, and she looked at him with cold, piercing eyes. "But I think we have some scores to settle, Eternal King."

"Wha-" Before he could react, she rushed over, flipping him to the ground and straddling his body.

"What are you doing?" Shirou asked in a panic. He couldn't turn over with Skadi straddling him.

"Isn't it obvious? It's payback time!" Skadi's face grew colder as she thought about how he had humiliated her in reality. She reached out and grabbed his cheeks, pulling them apart.

"Ah! Ow! Ow! That hurts!" he cried out, but Skadi, sitting on top of him, ignored his pleas. This was all about getting even.

"It hurts! Stop it, stop it! Get off me already!"

She only stopped pulling his cheeks when they turned red and felt like soft jelly. Shirou rubbed his sore face, grumbling under his breath. Still, the situation felt strangely nostalgic. In that reset world, whenever he teased his shisho, she would always retaliate in this same way.

"You mentioned some plan and brought me here. So, what do you need me to do?" Skadi asked.

Rubbing his cheeks, Shirou explained, "I should have told you earlier. In the reset world, I met Odin and obtained the Well of Mimir. The Runes of Wisdom told me that your soul also possesses the Runes of Wisdom, but before that, I need to help you retrieve your memories."

Skadi furrowed her brow. "Are you saying that two thousand years ago, the world Odin and the Norse gods visited was the same one from our dream?"

He nodded.

She asked again, "And in the dream world, I was Scathach, and I also met Odin, who gave me the Well of Mimir?"

"That's right."

Skadi's expression turned skeptical. "Then it seems the Runes of Wisdom have deceived you."

"What makes you say that?" he asked, puzzled by her statement.

Skadi slowly raised her hand and pointed to a corner of the room not far away. Following the direction of her finger, he turned his head and saw an old spear discarded in the corner like garbage. He couldn't help but be stunned, because that spear was no ordinary object. It was the legendary spear Gungnir!

"What's it doing here? This is-"

"I don't know if you've noticed, but that Gungnir has lost its divinity," Skadi calmly stated the cruel fact. "It's Odin's divine spear, coexisting with his divinity. If Gungnir has lost its power, it means that in this dream world, Odin is already dead..."

Odin was dead! Shirou was stupefied. His understanding of the reset world was limited to his journey to Iceland with his shisho to deal with the evil Skadi, meeting Odin there, and drinking from the Well of Mimir. But why, when entering the dream again, was Odin already dead, and why had Gungnir appeared in his house?

What exactly happened in Iceland before the reset? Who killed Odin? How did he himself die in the end? And how was the world reset? Why was it reset in the first place? These layers of unresolved mysteries swirled around him, leaving him with more questions than answers.

Odin's death came as a surprise to him. In fact, when he realized the concept of the world being reset and that Skadi possessed Odin's divinity, he had understood that Odin must have died in the reset world. However, he had assumed that Odin died at the moment the world was destroyed, but surprisingly, the god had died long before.

What exactly was going on? Shirou furrowed his brows, lost in thought. His past life memories had been revived with the help of resonance from the invisible vortex and Skadi's divinity, but those memories were incomplete. Many things remained unclear. For example, in the dream that once drove him mad, he had killed someone with a dagger. Who was the victim? Also, when the reset world was invaded by giants, how did he meet his end? Shirou didn't know, but he was certain that all the answers, as well as the Runes of Wisdom needed to save Skadi, were hidden within this dream.

"Let's familiarize ourselves with the progress of the dream first," Shirou said. Skadi nodded in agreement.

The two of them left the room, their footsteps echoing softly against the polished wooden floors as they navigated through the spacious mansion. As he stepped outside, the cool morning air greeted him, carrying with it a sense of familiarity. What caught his eyes were the modern buildings that lined the street, their facades a blend of glass and concrete. The street itself was deathly still, as if frozen in time, waiting for the city to awaken.

"Fuyuki..." Shirou softly breathed out the name, a hint of nostalgia lacing his voice.

They were indeed in none other than Fuyuki City, a place that held a special significance for Shirou. Just then, the quiet morning was interrupted by the sound of an engine as a black sedan pulled up in front of them. As they wondered what was happening, the driver's side window rolled down, revealing a young woman with short chestnut hair. She poked her head out, a bright smile on her face. "You're up early today, Master, Big Brother."

Skadi immediately showed a puzzled expression. Who was this girl?

Compared to Skadi, Shirou had already recovered some of his past life memories, so he calmly asked, "Taiga, what's the matter? Why are you in such a hurry?"

That's right, this young woman was his kouhai, another disciple taken in by Skadi, Fujimura Taiga.

"The military sent another big procurement order that needs your approval," Taiga explained. "Get in the car, quick."

"Still as hasty as ever." he slowly stepped forward and opened the rear car door, politely letting Skadi get in first before joining her.

Skadi sat in the car, curiously checking out her surroundings and poking at the buttons on the seat. Shirou noticed her country bumpkin behavior but didn't say anything. Just then, a newspaper in the pocket behind the front seat grabbed his attention.

He snatched the newspaper and read it, his eyebrows immediately knitting together. Skadi followed his gaze and saw that the front page had a picture of several giants standing in the snow, heads raised and roaring. The headline screamed "Giants!" in huge letters, showing just how shocked the writer was.

He nodded. The giants in the photo were the Frost Giants from the Connection Points. When he looked closer at the newspaper, he saw that the timestamp for the Frost Giants was July 20, 2003.

"This timeline..." he frowned.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

"No, it's nothing." He didn't tell Skadi that he had encountered the extraterrestrial invasion incident in Fuyuki before, and that it had also happened on July 20, 2003. Could there be a link between the two?

Shaking his head, he looked at Taiga, who was focused on driving, and asked, "Taiga, what's today's date?"

"...26th?"

"No, I mean the month and year."

"February 26th, 2006. Are you still half asleep or something?" Taiga shot him a suspicious look.

"Mm, maybe. I did sleep a bit too much," he said with a smile.

"Huh?" Taiga looked at him with surprise and doubt. "Are you really Big Brother? This is just too weird, Big Brother actually smiled? No way!"

"What's so strange about that? I'm human, aren't I? Of course I smile sometimes."

"No, no, no. It's normal for other people to smile, but if you do it, you must be possessed or something. Master, you better check on him. He might be cursed," Taiga said, turning to Skadi.

Skadi had a completely bewildered expression, not knowing how to respond.