Einherjar Becomes Valkyrie

「Elena-sama, can I ask you a reckless question? 」

As they gathered their few belongings at the inn to start their journey, Nia finally decided to try to find some answers.

Elena did not seem by any means to be an arrogant young noblewoman, even so, Nia had seen with her own eyes how Elena pushed by, arrogance? she took the lives of two men.

If Nia had not seen this with her own eyes, she would never believe that Elena would be able to do such a thing. Despite not having too much time with Elena, Nia could ensure that she was not a bad person simply based on the feelings her voice conveyed. As for those two events, Nia could only perceive an iron determination in Elena's voice.

「You don't need to ask my permission to talk to me about anything, Nia」

Elena just smiled imagining what was possibly bothering her cute maid.

「Elena-sama, was it really necessary to have… killed those two men? 」

Despite everything, Nia couldn't help but show nervousness when asking the question.

Elena smiled again and sat on the bed, and with a wave of her hand, invited Nia to sit next to her.

「 For you to understand that, I first need to tell you about myself, Nia」

Once Nia was seated, Elena proceeded to speak about herself.

As he had said before, Elena was the daughter of a Marquis, but her mother had been a simple slave that her father had taken while he was drunk. Hearing that revelation shocked Nia.

As the daughter of a slave, Elena was destined to be a slave as well, however, luck gave Elena a good appearance and this saved her from that fate.

Elena's father, the Marquis Armand Eis Lutrel is a tough man, but he was upright and fair, so even if Elena's mother was a mere slave, he recognized his fault in allowing mother and daughter to live quietly in a small secondary house near his palace.

Elena lived quietly next to her mother in that small house, both did not have to worry about anything, the food was sent to them from the palace as well as their basic needs such as clothing and medicinal herbs, and occasionally received a visit from their father.

By the time Elena was seven years old, it became clear that she would become a very beautiful woman, so her father decided to recognize her as his daughter and took her to live in the palace. As a gesture of goodwill to Elena, his father named her mother as her servant.

Elena's new life didn't have a good start, her half-sister and older half-brothers despised her, and her father's wife constantly pointed out any fault on her part. Despite all this, with her mother at her side, Elena did not struggle in her manners classes and in the rest of the education for which her father assigned several tutors.

By the time she was eleven years old, Elena was already a noble lady, something that filled her mother with pride and her father with satisfaction. However, not long after, her mother became ill and even though her father brought in the best doctors in the kingdom to treat her, in the end, she died with a sure smile that her daughter no longer needed her.

Her mother's death was a severe blow to Elena, but with the conviction of fulfilling the promise she had made to her, she continued to strive and by the time she was twelve years old, Elena was already considered the most beautiful daughter of the Marquis and who what better manners did have between the Marquis Lutrel daughters. Elena's father was fully satisfied once various marriage proposals began coming to him in search of Elena's hand, although strangely he never even contemplated paying attention to such proposals.

Despite the possibility of being used as a political tool by her father, Elena was willing to accept that possible fate, that was her way of paying for the kindness her father had shown her and her mother by allowing them to always be together.

With Elena's position rising above her half-sister, hatred for Elena grew and when she was thirteen, one of her older half-brothers attempted to rape her to ruin her as a political tool by stealing her chastity.

On her mother's advice, Elena always carried a small dagger hidden in her clothes, so once it became clear that no one would come to her aid, Elena used that dagger and stabbed her older half-brother.

With her half-brother's life at risk, the servants who had been pretending not to hear Elena's screams finally intervened.

Elena was locked in her room not only to capture her but also to protect her from the wrath of her father's wife. The least the servants wanted in that situation was that the Marquis' wife ends up murdering her in a fit of anger.

Once his father returned to the palace and found out what had happened, he erupted in anger, but not only against that bad son but also Elena.

That half-brother Elena had stabbed in self-defense was none other than her father's official heir, Richell Eis Lutriel, sixteen years old. The problem is that Elena had practically deprived her half-brother of the possibility of fathering his children in the future.

Disappointed by her father's reaction and fearful of the possible consequences, Elena escaped from the mansion and did the only thing she could do to keep herself safe, she joined the first cavalry order she found.

According to the laws of the kingdom regarding orders of chivalry, even if those who sustain and create them are the nobles, in the end, all knights belong to the crown. Therefore, a knight in service technically renounces his family and offers all his allegiance to the king.

Such convenient laws of course have a second purpose in addition to maintaining control over the orders of chivalry, and this is to attract young nobles who for one reason or another try to escape their families. In this way, orders will always have knights, and the kingdom will always have professional soldiers at their disposal.

Once at Saint Eclestine's order, Elena was relieved not to be contacted by her father.

Forced by the circumstances to find another way, Elena gave herself completely to training while as she grew up she had to bear the insinuations of her superiors and colleagues.

As a result of her reluctance to agree to hand over her body, Elena was constantly sent from one mission to another, until the recent conflict broke out and she was sent to die on the battlefield.

On the battlefield facing death, Elena awakened a power of which she was unaware and managed to survive.

After hearing that story that was no less tragic than hers, Nia burst into tears and hugged Elena.

Nia didn't need to listen anymore to understand Elena, now that she was strong enough, she would never be humiliated by anyone else.

Tearfully, Nia began to tell her own story encouraged by the empathy and security she could feel from being with Elena.

Nia's mother was a priestess among the elves, a profession in which women gave themselves body and soul to the mother goddess and were therefore not allowed to become involved with men.

To the elves' displeasure, the priestesses of the mother goddess were extremely coveted by the despicable humans, so they had to jealously protect them.

However, during a procession trip, the caravan in which Nia's mother was traveling was ambushed by human bandits. Nia's mother was the only survivor of the attack and although the elves reacted quickly, by the time they managed to rescue her it was too late, those despicable bandits had stolen her virtue.

Despite such misfortune, since Nia's mother had not voluntarily surrendered her body and therefore her heart had not been corrupted, she was allowed to continue serving as a priestess.

Not long afterward Nia's mother found out that she was pregnant, and something like this would not be tolerated, she would be immediately pressured to abort. Filled with mixed feelings about her duty as a priestess and the maternal feeling that slowly grew in her, Nia's mother decided to give birth and although her pregnancy was discovered, she refused to abort, alleging that only the mother goddess could interrupt something that had happened for mother goddess design.

Nia was born and despite the hatred that surrounded her, her mother's love was more than enough for her as she grew happily. However, tragedy ensued when the sanctuary in which she lived was attacked by satyrs.

While Nia and her mother tried to flee, both ended up separating amid the chaos. Nia was only seven years old when that happened, she was still a naive girl who did not distrust even those who had always shown her a looks full of contempt, therefore, when she met one of the old women of the sanctuary and she offered to guide her towards her mother, Nia did not hesitate to accept.

In the company of that old woman, Nia managed to flee from the sanctuary but was unable to see her mother again. That old woman who led her through the forest did not hesitate for a second to use it as a bargaining chip with human merchants in exchange for food and equipment that would allow her to make her way to one of the great elven cities.

It was in this way that Nia's ordeal began. Human merchants sold her to a slave trader, and him, seeing great potential in her due to her elven blood that would undoubtedly bestow great beauty on her in the future, decided to train her to become her a servant to sell her at a great price to some noble.

For seven long years, Nia was harshly trained and since her price would be even higher if she were a virgin, her chastity was respected. Once that slave dealer received a juicy offer from a noble, he took Nia intending to take her to that person, however, the carriage in which she was transported was attacked by bandits and she ended up falling into the hands of these.

Although some bandits were eager to steal her virtue, they were so ruined that Nia and her chastity were too precious a commodity to devalue their price. Those bandits sold it for fifty gold coins to another slave dealer, who brought it to this city and presented it at the auction where Elena had bought it.

「Nia, do you want to see your mother again? 」

「Yes」

Nia did not hesitate in her response.

「Then why did you choose to stay by my side? If you had chosen to be free, you could go find her 」

「My mother's life is much longer than ours, she can wait a little longer for me」

Nia smiled faintly and Elena felt a prick dig into her heart.

「Dont worry Nia, if the opportunity presents itself, I'll help you find your mother」

Nia could only nod as she clung to Elena's arms and continued crying.

As for Elena, she could only imagine the enormous will that small trembling body harbored to have for chosen to stay by her side, instead of trying to find her mother. Elena couldn't imagine being able to make the same decision to find herself in the same situation as Nia.