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“Are you right here, in the center of The Temple?”

He asked calmly in the other’s language, for Laine, who likewise held relevant authority, instantly learned the pronunciation of this language. Yet the fact that the first ‘local’ he was about to meet might just be an ‘ornament’ was somewhat amusing to him.

It seemed the Aesir Tribe had become extinct, but the abandoned remnants they left behind still existed—an irony indeed.

“Of course, strange deity, I am deep within the Golden Palace, which is also the name of this palace. You just need to come in, and you will see me,” the ancient voice continued.

Not knowing that much of his identity had been revealed before even meeting, the old voice went on.

“Come quickly, I will spare no detail about the past of this place.”

…

The core of the Golden Palace.

The spacious hall, the towering throne—here, where the gods of the Aesir Tribe had once gathered daily, was the heart of the Divine Palace.

But now, within the Golden Palace, the gods were gone, the throne untended, and only on a platform floating to its left was there a presence that may or may not be considered ‘alive.’

It was a head, a huge, wrinkled head. He was Mimir, guardian of the Spring of Wisdom, and thus his name was the same as the Fountain.

Now, however, only a lonely head remained, still capable of thought and speech, but unable to do anything more.

“Outsider…”

A deep voice echoed in the hall, and the aged head was now twisted in a grotesque kind of joy, looking somewhat comical.

He had thought he would perish with this broken world, yet unexpectedly, he met an Outsider, even though he wasn’t quite sure how ‘outside’ this Outsider actually was.

“How many years has it been, perhaps tens of thousands? I can’t quite remember. Ever since Odin hurriedly left, no one has come here,” he said.

Sensing the unfamiliar deity rapidly approaching from the outskirts of the Golden Palace, Mimir was excited. He had never seen such an aura before, and it didn’t quite fit in with Asgard, but that didn’t matter. Whatever realm this god was from, he had come here with a purpose.

“Probably for Odin’s treasure hoard… Just in time, as I hold the means to open it.”

To Odin, his lord, wielder of ‘Gungnir,’ Divine Lance, king of the Aesir Tribe, Mimir had no such thing as loyalty.

He had been a guardian of the Spring of Wisdom, a member of the Ancient Giants. He had personally witnessed the process of Odin’s self-sacrifice, as well as the revelation he received after drinking from the Spring of Wisdom’s waters.

However, afterward, between two of the nine realms on the World Tree, Asgard ruled by the Aesir Tribe, and Vanaheim ruled by the Vanir, war broke out, and it was only after this war that Asgard intended to rebuild the walls that ringed the realm, to safeguard its security.

In the end, as both deity races grew weary of the prolonged conflict, they decided to make amends and exchanged hostages as a symbol of peace.

The Vanir sent the god of sunlight and fertility, Freyr, and his sister, the Goddess of Beauty, Freyja—one of the Vanir’s finest. Yet, the cunning Odin played a trick by sending the foolish but handsome Heimdall, and the wise but aged and ugly Mimir as hostages.

When the gods of Vanaheim interacted with them, Mimir acted as Heimdall’s attendant, answering with his experience and knowledge smoothly. This successfully convinced them that Odin’s hostages were of significant importance in Asgard, on par with the two deities they had sent, and thus the war between the two deity races came to an end.

However, as time went by, Odin’s trick eventually came to light, and the Vanir discovered Heimdall’s foolishness, enraging them for having been deceived. But Odin had achieved his goal, and having enjoyed a long peace, the Vanir gods were not willing to restart hostilities.

So Mimir became the scapegoat. His head was chopped off, sent back to the Golden Palace in Asgard as proof of Vanaheim’s wrath.

Odin did little more than chastise and naturally had no intention of retaliating. He merely preserved Mimir’s head with herbs and rituals, allowing the ancient giant who once guarded the Spring of Wisdom to still think and speak.

Since then, Mimir’s head had served beside the throne in the Golden Palace as a counselor to the Divine King, discussing matters too complex to decide.

“Hehehe… so, in all things, where is the absolute nature of good and evil?”

“Like now, you are dead, and I, I am very much alive.”

Mimir had certainly not volunteered to be a hostage in Vanaheim, especially one destined to be exposed, as he never had a choice, but now it was different.

He let out a chilling laugh again as his gaze shifted toward the passage not far off that led to the meeting hall.

In his perception, the strange deity was nearly here. He needed to think carefully about how to persuade the other party to take him away.

Once away, he might have a chance at a new beginning.