My Hermes System

A month had passed since Van's encounter with the Aesir known as Hermod; they had been waiting for the Aesir to respond, but there weren't even any signs of an Aesir's hair landing on the Branch or Muspelheim.

Van was starting to think that they might not have actually received Hermod's head, but Gerald assured him that it did… as his accuracy was almost godly, he said.

Suffice to say, Van's life had become monotonous after the encounter. Charlotte's tavern was being taken care of by Queen Nori and the other forest giants; Vanya was the one handling the talks with Surtr and the fire giants in the perimeter of Muspelheim. As for the Branch, it does not seem to have any plans of moving anytime soon.

Van had also come to know that the Branch was loosely created by Artemis herself, so he had been trying to see if he could find a way to control it... but alas to no avail.

And so, the only thing he had been doing the past few weeks was practically talking with Gerald, hearing stories about his stay in this world.

Beatrice and Edward were the first ones to get married.

Harvey met her wife in one of the villages they rescued from the forest giants under Ymir.

Victoria remained vigilant and aloof as always, never letting anyone near her. It would seem that Harvey tried to make a move on her before he met his wife, but Victoria did not even give him time.

Beatrice and Edward were also the first ones to have a child-- a boy. Sadly, he died along with them during the war against Ymir. Violently gutted by the progenitor himself. Harvey's wife met the same fate.

She was gutted by Ymir... along with the baby she was carrying in her womb. Gerald described it in detail; Ymir mutilated the stomach of Harvey's wife, decapitating the baby inside her; as if that wasn't enough, Ymir pulled the baby out and threw it straight towards Harvey, before putting an arrow straight through its already still heart, skewering it to a tree.

Harvey was never the same since, and no one could really blame him.

As for Gerald, he stayed by his brother's side until what happened to Xinyan came to pass. After that, they haven't even seen each other in the flesh, or even talked through Charles.

"Did you know Charlotte was here?"

"No. If I did, then I would have probably challenged her to a duel. But still, to think that Charles hid her from all of us… maybe your lover didn't have to die. Maybe no one would have died if she was on our side."

"...Yeah, I think so too."

"It wouldn't have been fun, though," Gerald then let out a small chuckle as he jumped from the roof, "I'll go check on Xinyan. Smell you later, allibeggar."

"..." Van did not really have time to refute as Gerald already disappeared from his spot; the only thing he could do was let out a sigh as he leaned on the roof, looking towards Vanaheim.

Just what did the System want? It seemed to be giving him Objectives on the go, only ringing as soon as something was revealed to him. As for the EXP rewards being given to him, as well as the penalty-- how does it actually work?

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How could his System provide itself with the very same thing that makes it stronger in the first place? It seemed contradictory; impossible, even. If the System could level up just by the simple act of meeting someone, then why not just give the EXP to him outright and get it over with?

The only thing that Van could think of was that something or someone is tampering with his System-- a third party.