After a while...
Snow Rush City.
This is the largest town in the Asgard Plain, but it’s only one of the nine cities in Asgard.
A large river divides this city into two parts, and the robust Asgardians use enormous black wooden sailboats to transport goods from the city to other cities downstream, bartering for other necessities.
Asgard has no currency; they barter with items of equal value. A sheep for a sheep; if you don’t have one, then make a promise, selling your strength.
By nightfall, the aurora in the sky was stunningly beautiful, the breeze blowing outside the window, the Cow Flag Tavern in Snow Rush City was packed, with strong Asgard won carrying trays filled with mugs of ale weaving through the crowd, setting glasses on tables.
They played the accordion, sang risqué countryside ballads that made won blush, and played wild pranking gas. In the corner of the tavern, so people were engaged in poetic duels, spewing obscenities and mocking words along with beer foam, landing on each other’s thick beards.
Although the tavern was noisy, there were so who preferred peace. They sat at corner tables, eating sliced lamb, discussing recent events.
"Have you all heard about the incident at Jon’s lumberyard?" A burly man with a thick beard lowered his voice and spoke to the others at the table.
"Four people died, very quickly, and it’s said that Jon didn’t even have ti to grab his axe—there were no signs of a struggle." Soone at the table knew about it.
"He’s a sturdy man, could crush a bear with his bare hands, I don’t know who could do sothing like this." The burly man with the thick beard said.
"If you dared to stare at Jon, he’d gouge your eyes out!" Another person at the table chid in appropriately.
They fell silent for a mont, the only sounds at the table were of chewing and drinking.
"He and his two sons, plus a helper, all strong n, for them to die so quickly..." The burly man with the thick beard clicked his tongue.
"Did the city guards say anything?" Soone asked.
"The lord is sending people to investigate, but no news has leaked. I heard it from my cousin, you must keep it a secret." The burly man with the thick beard whispered.
"Oh... I hope there’s an outco to this. Thor is away, and Odin has also left..." Soone sighed.
"Are you afraid?" The burly man with the thick beard asked.
"No! If it’s so mixed-blood from the Frost Giant or Fla Kingdom, I’d certainly fight!" The questioned person replied loudly.
The cheerful atmosphere in the tavern was briefly interrupted by this sudden loud outburst, then laughter erupted from sowhere, and the atmosphere returned.
"I certainly wasn’t doubting you, brother." The burly man with the thick beard raised his cup and said.
"You’re worried, I can tell." The other person raised their cup too, clinking it with the burly man with the thick beard.
They took a sip and continued chatting.
"I heard... Loki is back..." The burly man with the thick beard whispered.
The people at the table trembled, the cups they raised to their lips shook.
"Don’t talk nonsense... be careful, the lord might cut out your tongue!" Soone warned softly.
"A lot of strange things have happened recently, not just at Jon’s lumberyard... have you heard? It’s said that a while ago, two strange girls arrived in Riverwood Town asking around for peculiar information." The burly man with the thick beard said.
"Girls? Are they pretty?" Soone interjected.
"You’d have to ask the people from Riverwood Town, but ever since they appeared, people have been disappearing." The burly man with the thick beard wore a mysterious expression.
"That might indeed be Loki’s doing..." Soone at the table agreed softly.
At that mont, the sound of hooves resounded from outside the tavern, a considerable number, the sound circled the entrance before fading away.
Nineteen shield-bearing guards rode out from the south gate of Snow Rush City, heading downstream along the river. They carried no torches, wearing flat-topped iron helts, carrying heavy weapons like double axes and greatswords on their backs.
The ssenger brought bad news, a small village along the river had strange happenings. A farr claid to have seen a strange-skinned man with a hood.
He ca with three won, killing everyone without a single sound of battle, everyone was lying on the ground, their throats slit, and the four of them vanished as if everything happened in an instant.
Just seeing corpses wouldn’t be so unusual. The farr claid he was absolutely sure of the ti; when the mysterious man and won left, the shadow of the tree at the village entrance was pointing toward the wheat field.
When the guards arrived at the village in a hurry, the entrance was pitch black, with only the occasional sounds of chickens clucking and dogs barking.
"Hor, take five n, dismount and check inside with . Hastings, take five and guard the village entrance, the rest, circle around to the back of the village." The guard captain commanded.
Six n drew the axes tied to their horse’s backs, unfastened their shields and strapped them to their left arms, then advanced slowly in an infantry squad formation.
They had barely entered the village when they saw so villagers’ bodies, still lying on the ground, blood having dried, no signs of struggle.
The captain ordered the others to stay alert and proceeded to inspect a corpse himself. It was a sturdy carpenter, with so tools he ant to bring back to his workshop scattered by his hand, his throat bore a bloodied hole, as if he had been suddenly killed while busy with his own work.
"Damn... the village chief’s house over there..."
While the captain was inspecting the bodies, an underling gently tapped his shoulder and whispered.
The captain looked up and saw, at the gate of the distant village chief’s mansion, a person in a ragged, hooded cloak sitting on the steps, seeming to be waiting for soone.
"That’s... no, not a survivor." The captain stood up, intuition telling him the person before him was very dangerous.
Six n shielded their chests with their shields, cautiously approached the person, their footsteps careful and small, axes in hand glinting with the white reflection unique to mithril under the aurora.
"I waited a long ti... thought you would react faster."
Chen Ke sat there, blue eyes glimring in the darkness of the hood, wearing a thick, hunter’s cloak he found at a hunter’s ho, he liked the style, it could wrap his whole body.
"Where are you from, stranger?" The captain asked.
"Ah... from very, very far away, beyond anything you can imagine. It’s not as cold there as it is in Asgard." Chen Ke replied.
"You have committed wicked acts in the realm of the King of Nine Realms, the Thunder God; tell what you’re pursuing! Why have you done this?!" The captain questioned further.
"I’m hoping to ask your king for sothing, but I don’t know the way to the palace." Chen Ke said calmly.
"There is nothing in Asgard you need, and you, have hard it!" The captain shouted.
"Your Thunder God has also hard my world, so I’d say we’re even." Chen Ke chuckled.
"The Nine Realms belong to the Thunder God! He has that right, and you do not! Prepare to face Thor’s hamr in judgnt!" The captain banged his axe against his shield, roaring, unwilling to converse further with Chen Ke.
"You’re like them, unwilling to tell what I want to know, so the result won’t be any different." Chen Ke sighed.
Ti paused.
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