Chapter 293: Old Man

"Are all of these necessary?"

"Apparently not."

The air was filled with all sorts of noise. From whispers to calls, to shouts, to the sound of carts being pushed around as a long line of stalls that sell all sorts of different stuff, made the straight paved road busy.

However, even as the giants were indeed busy, their stares still could not help but be occupied by the small, robed individual that was walking with one of their soldiers. Some of them hid their most valuable items, as they thought that Van was some kind of dwarf that was there to get some extra earnings.

Lorei decided to have Van put on a robe so that the others would not be able to see him. But alas, it seemed to have the reverse effect as more giants were looking at him. Considering his size, he would garner attention no matter what he does.

"Do not worry, high human Van," Lorei nodded her head as she gestured to Van to continue walking, "They are not looking at you like that because they despise you. The ones they despise are those greedy dwarves, there are a lot roaming around here since they have a base near here."

"Are you and the dwarves in some kind of war?" Van asked as he slightly loosened up the robe.

"Sshh," Lorei quickly covered Van's whole mouth with her finger, "Please do not utter anything of the kind. If the dwarves happen to hear you, they might think we're planning something."

"...Are you?"

"Of course not, we would never dare!" Lorei quickly looked around her as she pushed Van to the side, "Please, let's stop talking about the dwarves around here. They have many ears loitering in the market."

"Speaking of… why are we here? Did you need to buy something?"

Van and Lorei walked for a couple of days to reach where they are now. Van initially just wanted to carry Lorei around, but considering her size, it was an accident waiting to happen.

"Oh, this is the entry point of the River," Lorei said as she pointed towards the other end of the straight market, "The people started to build a business here since from time to time, someone from Vanaheim visits our realm… and they usually buy everything in bulk. Even my family has a spot here. It just sort of became a market for anyone."

"And the… Crystals? You're not selling them?" Van looked around, and he could only see some meat and some other trinkets being sold. There was also an abundance of farming equipment and mining equipment, but not a single Crystal was being sold even though the ash giants seemed to be mining them.

"...You really do not know anything, do you?" Lorei let out a long and deep sigh as she continued across the market, "The crystals are not our property. The authorities in Asgard have decreed that all of the crystals in Jotunheim are theirs. The dwarves are tasked to take them from us."

"They don't pay you?" Van could not help but furrow his eyebrows.

"They allow us to stay here."

Lorei's tone slightly became sedated as she looked at the 8 Fragmented worlds in the sky, "It was well before my time, but it would seem that a war happened between my realm and Asgard. Half of our population were killed, the other half were kept alive to be slaves… thousands of years later, we are the product of that."

"And if you don't give them enough crystals?"

"..." Lorei blinked a couple of times as her eyes returned to the horizon, "They wipe half of the population of the village that did not carry out their end of the bargain."

"They could… do that?"

"The Aesirs are a powerful race, we can do nothing but obey them."

"...The Aesir."

They have been popping up throughout their conversation. Based on all the stories that he has heard throughout their journey, the Aesirs were basically god-like beings, or perhaps they truly are gods. If their strength is similar to Athena and Artemis when they still had their souls intact, then Van could imagine them being capable of wiping out the whole realm.

But unlike the Olympians, who seemed to be close to the mortals that lived amongst them, the Aesirs were more like wardens who treated the other races like slaves.

"What about the Vanir, do they also treat you like this?"

"Oh no, not at all," Lorei let out an awkward chuckle, "We wouldn't be as welcoming to you if they did. They try to help us from time to time, and the only reason that none of them are staying here is that they too are under the Aesirs' rule."

"...Interesting," Van could not help but place his hand on his chin. There were 9 realms in total in this universe, and all were under the thumb of the Aesirs.

"And the crystals?" Van then once again asked as they still have not reached the end of the unusually long market, "What do the Aesirs need them for?"

With Van's sudden question, the first response that Lorei gave was bewilderment, "But shouldn't you know it? You did--"

"Frost Giant, who is that with you?"

Before Lorei could finish her words, 4 people of similar height to Van started approaching them from one of the stalls. And as soon as the four walked away, the stall owner let out a huge sigh of relief before proceeding to hide all of his valuables.

Van could not help but slightly roll his eyes as the four approached them. He didn't even need to ask what race they were. But still, he could not help but feel a bit agitated from being compared to them.

Unlike Van, the four had larger heads and much wider bodies. Their legs were also somewhat stumped due to the muscles that almost looked like they were some sort of salt bread clumped to each other from how round and defined they were.

"It's Nanya."

"Nanya?"

"None of ya business, dwarf."

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Lorei quickly stepped forward, blocking Van from the view of the dwarves.

"You dare talk to us like that!?" The dwarf that asked Lorei a question quickly rushed towards her. And surprisingly, even though their legs were short, the strength and agility with each of the dwarf's pushes were enough to leave a dent on the paved road.

Lorei quickly grabbed the axe that was hanging on her waist, but before she could swing it, Van stepped forward, grabbing the axe by its heel and pulling it back. He then raised his other hand, casually pushing the advancing dwarf by slapping him on the cheek.

This caused the dwarf to roll a couple of times on the ground, almost hitting one of the giants that had instantly gathered around them due to the commotion. The robes that wrapped Van's head slipped, fully revealing his face.

"Why did you do that!?" One of the dwarves roared as all of them quickly unsheathed their weapons, "You ugly fuck!"

Hearing this, Van's eyebrows twitched. He had been called a midget, trash, beggar… but never once in his life had he been called ugly. If it wasn't for the fact that the giants might get in trouble for the death of these 4 dwarves, then he might have already killed them.

"You… you do not need to get in between our squabbles, Van!"

Before Van could do anything else, Lorei once again stood in front of Van.

"Why are you loitering around with these filthy giants!?" One of the dwarves shouted, "Don't tell me you-- wait, Van?"

Hearing his name being uttered, not only the dwarves, but the rest of the giants that were surrounding them all could not help but let out a slight gasp. And soon, all the giants returned to their stalls, placing all of their valuables in front of their booth.

"You're… from Vanaheim? You're a high human!?"

"..." His name and the realm where the High Humans and the Vanir reside may have certain similarities, but was that really enough reason for them to quickly assume that he was from Vanaheim? Even the Ash giants stopped calling him a dwarf when they heard his name.

And suddenly, the already hustling market became even noisier as the giants all called for Van to check out their stalls.

"Silence! Everyone shut your mouths!" The dwarves all let out screams of their own to drown out the cheers of the giants, but all they could do was add to the noise.

Van, who was the center of the attention, could only let out a sigh as he gestured to Lorei to continue escorting him to the River while the dwarves were busy. Lorei quickly nodded her head and ran through the crowd.

"Although it truly was not necessary, thank you for helping me earlier," Lorei said as soon as they were clear of the noise.

"No need for thanks," Van shook his head, "I just do not like people... who step on others."

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"Hm."

The two continued to walk through the market. And finally, after a few more minutes, they seemed to have finally reached their destination as they reached the end of the market.

Van had already noticed the infrastructure in front of them a few minutes ago, but now that they were directly in front of it, he could not help but look up with his mouth slightly open in awe. Although it was not as tall as the Wall back in the Pit in America, the fact that the whole building in front of him seemed to be made of gold just made Van speechless.

Even the edges of its wooden gate were cornered with gold, with its shielding filled with more than a hundred crystals.

Van walked towards the gate, but when he noticed that Lorei was not following her, he could not help but stop and turn around.

"Beyond the gate is the River… we are forbidden from approaching it, Van," Lorei said before suddenly kneeling to Van, "Although our journey together may have been brief, it was an honor to walk side by side with a Vanir."

"...I see," Van let out a short breath before nodding, "Thanks for leading me here, Miss Lorei."

"The gratitude is mine, High Human."

Van once again turned around as he continued to walk through the already opened gate. And as soon as he passed through it, he saw 8 colossal bridges, seemingly made out of light, the River.

Van could only assume that they lead to the 8 other realms beyond the sky. But there was, however, one more thing that caught Van's attention-- an old man.

There was an old man standing in front of one of the bridges, looking at him with his eyes wide open, trembling as if he had seen a ghost. Although Van did not hold the same expression, he could not help but shake the feeling that the old man looked somewhat familiar to him. He just could not determine where he had seen him before.

However, the words that came out of the old man's mouth quickly cleared Van's mind of any other thoughts he was having.

"...Evans? Wha--"

But before the old man could finish his words, he suddenly disappeared out of thin air. Trails of gold lightning quickly emerged from Van's eyes as he tried to rush towards the old man's position. But alas, there was not even a single trace of him left before he could reach where the old man was previously standing.

Van then looked towards the bridge where the old man was previously standing in front of, only to read the words 'Asgard' etched on the floor before it. And without any hesitation, his feet made their way towards the bridge.

But before he could even take 3 steps, he noticed a sudden rise in temperature behind him. He quickly looked back, only to see cracks crawling their way throughout the whole building that hid the River. He could also feel the ground beneath him collapsing, and before he could take a step on the bridge, its light flickered…

...and never came back.

"!!!"

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