"Latanya… is the leader of Vanaheim?"

"That's what I just said. The gods of Vanaheim, the Vanir, listen to her…

...Come to think of it, lots of Vans going on around in this place. I am starting to think this whole place was created solely for you, Van."

While Gerald was currently deliberating and thinking of his theories. Van, on the other hand, was once again completely at a loss. From all the stories he had heard, the gods listen to no one but their own kind.

The Vanir may help the lower races from time to time, but other than that, they leave them to their own devices-- akin to taking care of a pet. Latanya had god-like abilities, sure. But it did not take the fact that she was still huma--

Van blinked a couple of times as he halted his thoughts. Latanya wasn't a human-- she was an avatar made from one of the treasures of the Olympians. Could it be that because of that, they mistook her as one of their own?

"Tch, damn it. Maybe I should have renamed Midgard as Midgerald."

"..." Van's crawling thoughts were then easily disrupted upon hearing Gerald's words. It somewhat came as a shock to him that Gerald… did not really change. Hundreds of years, Van could not even fathom living past 50; but one thing he does know is that time would ultimately change people.

By the way it was looking, everyone he once knew had already completely changed. Charlotte became somewhat amenable; as for Harvey, he has not met him yet-- but based on everything he had heard so far from Charles, and now Gerald… the Harvey he once knew was completely gone-- even harboring hatred for his kind. Whether or not their relationship will still be able to mend was a question that needed a deep answer.

But Gerald… Gerald, on the other hand, remained true to his core. He might have found love through Xinyan, but he didn't seem to change a single bit, he was still a little bit wrong in the head... but so was he. And considering the time that Gerald had spent here and the things that have happened to him, he had the right to be even more so.

It was weird, Van thought. If he hadn't met Charlotte and saw her condition, he probably wouldn't even be this considerate towards his situation and would have truly probably attacked him the same way his daughter did.

But Charlotte… changed everything for Van. Seeing her in that almost childish state, asking and longing for her family-- it woke Van up to the reality that he was going to face in this world.

Friends becoming enemies, families becoming acquaintances, and enemies becoming… just people. People that have their own story to tell, and with what he just heard from him, he has had quite a harsh one since coming to this world.

For Van, even though he was alone, his trouble was momentary. One way or another, he was quickly welcomed to this land. He was treated as a High Human, he met Charlotte and took over her tavern, and when he met the forest giants, it didn't even take a second for them to treat him like their god.

He even met his daughter. Life welcomed him in this world, while Gerald and the others had only experienced death upon death. And as for Gerald, the only way to prevent one more death… was to let Latanya heal his beloved, Xinyan.

"Do you know Latanya, Vanya?"

"I have heard of her from mother, yes," Vanya quickly answered her father, "But as we forest giants like to keep to ourselves, the Vanir do to-- we rarely meet, if at all. In my ten thousand years of existence, I have only met a handful of them."

"Of course you won't meet anyone of them," Gerald quickly interjected as he clicked his tongue, "You're asleep for 95% of your life."

"I am not!"

"When was the last time you were awake?" Gerald scoffed, "You weren't even there to stand by your mother and brother as they were gutted and burnt like pigs in front of millions of humans. You were peacefully sleeping along with your trees, or so I heard."

"I--"

"I am sure you heard your mother's cries. So why exactly did you not wake up? Were you scared? Or perhaps, you wanted them gone so you will be the last progenitor of your kind."

"It's time for your mouth to separate with the rest of your body, human."

Vanya's eyes suddenly lit up as she looked Gerald straight in the eyes. She then stretched her hand to the side, instantly summoning a spear that was seemingly made with wood; but even as it hummed and buzzed from the sheer speed of her trembling hands, there weren't any signs of the spear deteriorating, or even cracking.

"I don't blame you, though," even with Vanya's tone adding to the burning chill of the underground, Gerald didn't even seem to flinch as his eyes remained staring at her, "Even by my standards, your brother was a monster. It's like he absorbed all the worst traits of your father… such a bundle of joy."

"That's enough from you, golden-haired monkey!"

The whole cave trembled as Vanya suddenly disappeared from her spot. Gerald, on the other hand, only let out a smirk as his hand was quickly raised in the air. Seeing the two moving slowly in front of him, Van could not help but let out a long but deep sigh as he casually moved in front of Gerald, summoning his shield and facing it towards him. His right palm, on the other hand, was pointed towards the approaching Vanya, ready to catch the spear she had menacingly pointed at Gerald.

"!!!"

He could see Vanya's eyes slowly widen as he stood blocking her path. But as she was only less than 3 meters away from Gerald, she could no longer stop her advance. The only thing she could do was slightly move her spear to the side, but before it could even move an inch, Van caught the spear by its wings.

The force was enough for Van to be thrown, but as he had his shield ready on his other hand, it quickly planted itself onto Gerald's stretched arm. Van slightly gritted his teeth as he was sandwiched by the two opposing forces; one relentless, the other unmovable.

A growing whistle sound then resounded in the air as trails of golden lightning slowly crawled their ways throughout Van's body, completely covering it. And after what seemed like a few seconds for him, he opened his mouth and let out a thunderous roar, instantly pushing Vanya and Gerald to opposite sides of the room.

Gerald quickly recovered himself, digging his hand through the ground and leaving crevices as he slid a couple of meters away, just stopping short of hitting the block of ice that confined Xinyan.

Vanya, on the other hand, was caught by Van, who was already behind her. But perhaps 'caught' was not the right term, as Vanya was almost two times bigger than him and the only thing that Van did was cushion Vanya's momentum.

"...Father, I--"

"That's enough, Vanya," Van let out a short but deep sigh as he shook his head, "You should start acting your age, you're technically the oldest one here. Don't give in to his taunts."

"I'm-- I apologize, father. It's just that I couldn't take him insulting you any further. You have to understand, mother put you up on a pedestal… and for me, no one is allowed to desecrate that."

As soon as Van heard that, the only thing he could do was let out a sigh. Just what exactly did Artemis tell her about him?

"Ho," Gerald then once again slowly approached the two, gently rubbing the hand that was hit by Van's shield, "I see you've become faster… and not to mention a whole lot stronger."

"Enough playing games, Gerald. You said Artemis and Ymir were killed in front of millions of people… What did you mean by that?"

Gerald let out a small chuckle as he heard Van's question. But after a few seconds, the tone of his voice slowly became pacified as he looked Van straight in the eye, "Execution."

Van's hand quickly trembled, turning into a fist as the piercing word reached his ears. Vanya was the same as well, unable to look at his father as she closed her eyes and turned his head to the side.

"...You were there?"

"Not my style," Gerald let out a small chuckle, "I was already here when it happened, I heard it from Harvey's men that were stationed here… who are sadly dead now. Fuck, why did I kill them?"

"...Why were they killed?"

"Your daughter hasn't told you yet?" The amusement in Gerald's voice was clear to hear, "I've already told you, your son is a monster. A face only a mother could love, which apparently got her killed as well."

"He wasn't always like that," Vanya then finally broke her silence as she let out a long and deep breath, the tone of her voice, once again calming down and returning to monotonous nature, "He was good. Merciful and just, even. But something in him just snapped, like the branch of a rotting tree waved by a wind-- sudden…

...I apologize for saying this, but I am afraid his execution… was just."

"What… exactly did he do?"

"Perhaps the one who experienced it firsthand should be the one to tell you, father. My accounts of the situation may become biased," Vanya quickly said as she looked towards Gerald.

"..."

"Sit down then," Gerald then let out a long and deep sigh as he sat on the ground,

"Let me…

...tell you my story."