By the way, I just want to say I really admire your diligence in scoring and reading all the contest fics (far more diligent than I -- I don't think I've gotten through half of them yet!)

This setting definitely emphasized Kurogane's warlike side, between the extremely militaristic culture they're part of and the madness he inherited from Ashura. But I think the more time he spends with Yuui. the more it will bring out his gentler aspect -- for all that Yuui is portrayed as the one willing to get his hands dirty for Fai's sake, he still has a gentle heart. After all, the whole reason he didn't want to go hunting in the first place was that he didn't enjoy killing "some poor defenseless animal." (Giants, on the other hand, are hardly defenseless, and thus fair game!)

I had fun researching and writing about Asgard (not gonna lie, the fact that I didn't have to come up with a whole new fantasy world on my own was a plus.) For all that the Norse mythos is not as well known as a classic fantasy setting, there are a lot of elements -- trolls, dwarves, giants, dragons, curses, magic rings -- that are quite familiar fantasy tropes. I'm happy this contest gave me a chance to work with it!

And thanks again for taking the time to read so carefully!