Chapter 93: Loki (I)

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...

In the Royal Palace of Valaskjalf, Loki presided over the usual gatherings and meetings as the acting king, while Asgard moved forward as if nothing were amiss.

The All Father was still in Odin’s sleep as Frigga, Loki and Thor’s mother, still looked after him.

The initial estimate was that the All Father would wake up in a few days, but that had not happened at all. This reason had become a source of discomfort among the ones taking care of the slumbering King, but Loki had been able to keep the unrest away from the court and citizens.

One illusion that showed the All-Father on his feet and going on a holiday, while leaving the kingly duties to Loki for the time being, was enough to calm down the rumours and other possible problems. Only one person in the court knew the whole truth aside from Loki, and that was Frigga.

There were even talks of having Loki become the crown prince; some had even said that it wouldn’t be out of line for Loki to get coronated as the next king since All Father didn’t seem that interested in taking his crown back, but the man himself had vehemently refused to entertain the subject.

Even though he had been raised to become the king, that was not what he thought of these days.

He had the Gungnir, the empty throne, the crown, and even the people who would support him taking it all. But he just couldn’t take that final step.

Aside from handling the rare official matters, Loki spent most of his time simply hovering around the throne. He had not once sat on the golden throne.

In fact, he had even sent Sif and the Warriors Three to Earth. Hoping they’d sneak back in with Thor, or that his brother would ask them to bring him back home and they would indulge him like they always did.

Sif’s rudeness and the distrust of the other three had only made him smile as Heimdall sent them to Midgard. It was the perfect plan. The moment Thor returned, with the hammer or not, Loki would finally have some time to figure things out for himself.

He’d finally be able to find out what he wanted.

However, the four who had been very rude to him and there was not an ounce of trust in their eyes as they left, returned differently.

The first shock was that Thor wasn’t with them; worst of all, their eyes had changed as well.

Fandral and Volstagg had a look of respect in their eyes. And Hogun also had this silent approval in his gaze. But the most significant change was in Sif.

"I apologize for being rude to you. I was out of line... your majesty." All of the quiet fury in her eyes, when she had left, was now doused completely. Even if she was most unnerved by calling him with that official title, she continued without that usual fierceness. "It was thoughtless of me to accuse you without knowing the truth of the matter; I didn’t know you had so many things to consider."

After hearing Sif say that, Loki was unable to sleep that night.

’Things to consider? Yes, I had many things to consider...’

"But I definitely didn’t consider this!" He slammed his door with a grunt.

He had just hoped they’d return with Thor, and he would’ve acted as the All-Father’s enforcer and put up a mild resistance before accepting defeat.

After Thor got his place, Loki planned to slip away for a while. But all that went out the window now. What bothered him the most was the way they looked at him; it was like he had turned into some benevolent person without knowing.

That honestly hurt more since Loki had no good intention in sending them to Midgard.

These four had been most vocal about their discontent with him taking on the responsibility as the king. Especially after he told them he had alerted the All-Father about the attack on Jotunheim, leading to Thor’s banishment.

But these guys had changed their views after meeting Thor. Maybe he should’ve followed them to Midgard and seen it all with his own eyes, but it was a bit too late for that.

’I don’t want to look at that stupid mug again.’ Loki still believed what he heard that night was an illusion or something of the sort. Which was another reason he hadn’t revisited the town Thor was in.

There was no way Thor had changed that much, and he would never say something like that about him. The real one must’ve been somewhere else.

And these four as well; they had been deceived by that fake Thor and his words.

"At least something useful came out of their visit." Loki looked at the three books he had picked up from the boxes Sif and others had brought in.

Since he had more work to handle around here while maintaining the illusions, he had been unable to visit Midgard these past few days and continue the search for this unbearable writer named John Doe. But this Midgardian has been on his mind constantly, and not in a good way either.

Still, he didn’t even know that new parts of the story had been released until today.

That’s why the moment he saw the three new volumes of Pluto in the box, he snatched the copies before anyone else could take them.

And now that he was done with the official duties for the day, Loki returned to his room and locked the door behind him. It was finally time to read further and find out what happened next.

But before that, he searched and tried to undo any suggestion or illusion spell that may or may not have been cast on this book for about an hour before he was satisfied.

The fluffed-up copy of Volume One, with noticeable creases in its spine, finally got a rest today as he opened Volume 2 of Pluto.

The lightly painted pages, full of blue and gloom, picked the story up with the murder mysteries continuing in another Midgardian nation.

In that very nation, Gesicht was having a meeting with a kid.

This kid, Atom, was also a robot. And just like Gesicht, Loki had also thought of him as a normal kid from his mannerisms at first. Even now, as he waited for his ice cream and gazed at another kid playing with a flying disk with his mother, he gave off this human vibe.

"Well, after pretending all the time, I eventually got it. Got what ’delicious’ really means."

’He has very deeply ingrained himself within their culture.’ Loki was reminded of his own origin and the bed he was lying in right now.

But could one really understand these things if they pretend long enough? Hasn’t he been pretending to be the prince of Asgard long enough? How come he couldn’t understand anything?

What did he want to understand at all?

Well, Loki wasn’t sure about those things. But the one thing he understood was that he felt sick to his stomach right now.

Atom himself seemed to have a heavy past, a robot sold to the circus because he looked like a kid. People thought that was entertaining.

"Maybe I shouldn’t have read this one." Loki’s brows crinkled.

But his attention soon shifted towards Gesicht, not knowing Atom’s past. That wasn’t normal. This was an artificial life form with things called memory chips; there was no way he would just forget part of his information.

Still, he could only read ahead for now as Atom took Gesicht’s memory chip and inserted it inside his chest. But before saying anything, Atom left for the bathroom like he was imitating humans.

’Why is he crying? What did he see in the chip?’ Loki’s brow furrowed further as the Chapter conveniently moved on from that plot.

"Seriously, I ought to find this writer and have a word with him." With an angered huff, he turned the page as Gesicht walked away with Atom waving goodbye until the end.

The next Chapter leaned into the Tokyo police headquarters that were investigating the recent murder. Loki wondered if Midgard actually had technology similar to what was shown on these pages.

He could easily project a scene he had seen once through his magic, but this scanning thing that reconstructed the crime scene was quite advanced. What type of machinery did it use?

’I can do better than this.’ Loki sped through the pages as Atom helped the police with the investigation, linking the recent murder completely with Pluto and the reenforcing it’s human identity.

Then it showed the next human who was the next target, Professor Ochanomizu.

’That’s a dreadful name, what type of surname is ’tea water’?’ Loki blinked as Atom came to meet this professor and talked about the Bora Survey group.

The previous two murdered humans, alongside this professor, were all part of this group. And apparently, they were also targets just like the seven robots.

After that, there was a bit of expansion on the war they kept speaking about.

The Bora survey group was dispatched by the U.N to find the Robots of Mass destruction hidden in the Persian Empire after the accusation from the United Nations of Tharacia. But all they found was a sea of thousands of discarded robot corpses beneath a mosque.

’What a waste of time.’ He sighed as the story now focused on another giant robot.

This one was named Hercules, and he was about to have a match with Brando from the previous volume. Gesicht had just arrived to meet this robot. This one, however, wasn’t partial to mimicking humans.

He seemed callous on the surface, but Loki could see that the tough exterior was just a false pretence it had to shield itself.

Loki couldn’t help but think over why anyone would need to do something so pointless. Why did anyone think that putting up a performance was the way?

"Why would you think that way?" Loki sat up on his bed and sighed.

The conversation on the pages shifted to monuments and why Humans build them.

’Of course, their memories fade away. But what is the deal with Gesicht then?’ Loki was unable to let go of that inconsistency.

Maybe it wasn’t an inconsistency, but a hint? He couldn’t exactly say, but it was better to think it was a hint, as this writer hadn’t dropped the ball yet, aside from grating his nerves with that scene cut he pulled with Atom earlier.

And as if on cue, the pages shifted back to Atom, where the conversation with Ochanomizu turned towards BRAU1589. Maybe it was time he’d get an answer about what was wrong with that robot and why he murdered a human.

But this professor also thought that there was nothing wrong with that robot; he even called him perfect.

How could that be? How could something created for a purpose kill one of its creators for no reason, going against everything it was built on?

"Perfect and yet he killed a human? Are you saying that’s what being human is?"

Loki was stuck on that line for the rest of the night.