Chapter 1153

Harald grew up beside Dorry and Brogy, and his spoiled, violent streak stemmed from his enormous size, strength, and royal blood, which convinced him he could do as he pleased. Sailing past a New World kingdom, he saw a giantess named Ida displayed in a circus, assumed she was being abused, and razed the town to carry her off. To his shock, Ida struck him and demanded he turn back, explaining the townsfolk had rescued her from the sea and that she worked the circus willingly to repay their kindness. She rebuked his habit of belittling humans as mere arrogance, words that humbled him deeply.

Harald returned to help rebuild the town and came to treasure all he learned among the humans. Falling in love with Ida, who returned his feelings, he invited her back to Elbaph. Years on, he set out to atone for his past by forging bonds with other nations and sharing knowledge, confident his old friends Dorry and Brogy would spare innocents out of honor. Ida bore his son Hajrudin, but custom barred Harald from making an outsider his queen, so she raised the boy in a nearby village. Harald instead wed Estrid, a northern woman obsessed with omens who seemed to crave luxury more than fortune, and eighteen years later she gave birth to Loki.

Repulsed by Loki's unusual eyes, Estrid branded the infant a cursed monster, ordered the kingdom told he was stillborn, and hurled him into the Underworld, planning never to bear another child. To her dismay the baby survived and began climbing the Treasure Tree Adam back toward the Sun World. Estrid soon fell ill, and on her deathbed she insisted Loki be killed, claiming to have foreseen that Harald would one day die by his hand, though no one believed her. As Harald's diplomacy faltered against the World Government, every misfortune that struck Elbaph came to be blamed on Loki's curse. The cover continues the Yamato pilgrimage serial.