After they finished eating, Tania rested her elbows on the table and folded her hands.

  “All right. What does our Lord El require of us?”

  Anpiel placed his hands together and spoke solemnly.

  “Our mission is to locate and apprehend the god Loki.”

  Ana raised her brows in surprise.

  “That’s quite the big fish.”

  The malak nodded.

  “You may already know that the new Kingdom of Denmark, founded on the land of Jutland, has decided to embrace Christianity. This became possible because the god Odin has allowed the faith to enter his territories—signing a peace treaty with the Kingdom of Lel.”

  “Oh, that’s excellent news for my work in Ireland,”

  said Ana thoughtfully.

  “However,”

  continued Anpiel,

  “Loki, who had been imprisoned, has somehow managed to escape. Using his cunning and shapeshifting powers, he infiltrated the world of humans. He now seeks to incite a civil war between King Harald Bluetooth, who supports the spread of Christianity, and his son, Sweyn Forkbeard, who wishes to restore Denmark to the worship of the Norse gods.”

  Tania leaned back in her chair, intrigued.

  “But Jutland is beyond our jurisdiction. Shouldn’t Odin or Thor deal with that problem?”

  “The god Odin has chosen a passive stance,”

  explained the angel.

  “He allows the Christian faith to grow, yet refuses to defend it.”

  “And so,”

  he continued,

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “our Lord El wishes to protect the Christians living in that land—and shield them from Loki’s corruption. Odin has granted us permission to intervene.”

  “In other words, Odin wants to test what we’re capable of,”

  Epona added with a smirk.

  “May we request our Totems for this mission?”

  asked Tania.

  “That won’t be necessary,”

  replied Anpiel.

  “According to our intelligence, Loki is a renegade god and therefore should not possess one.”

  “Very well,”

  said Tania, nodding.

  “One more thing,”

  Ana interjected.

  “We’d like this young lad to accompany us on the mission.”

  Epona turned toward Rodrigo, frowning.

  “Him? Why?”

  “He’s recently discovered he’s a nephil,”

  explained Ana.

  “Participating in this mission will earn him recommendation points when we take him to Lel.”

  “I see no issue,”

  said Anpiel.

  “I’ll simply report it to my superiors in Lel.”

  Rodrigo, though listening carefully, understood little of what they were discussing.

  He didn’t know where Jutland or Denmark were. His knowledge barely reached beyond Spain and the Frankish realms. The rest of the world was a mystery to him.

  And then there was that strange word again—

  “Totems? What on earth are those?”

  he wondered silently.

  Ana smiled at him reassuringly.

  “Relax, Rui. Everything will be fine. This mission will open a great future for you in the eyes of El.”

  Anpiel concluded in a grave tone:

  “One last thing—according to our sources, the demon god Loki intends to bring Ragnarok upon the world. So proceed with utmost caution.”