Chapter 1069: The Quiet Daily Life Before Christmas (Part 1) (Patreon)

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The gardens of the Celestial Palace, regardless of the season, always teemed with a unique vitality. Following the onset of winter, the evergreen trees replaced the once lush broad-leaved forests, lending a touch of primordial and wild atmosphere to the surroundings.

Parting the branches of shrubs adorned with bright red fruits, walking along the stone pathway, one would arrive at a suddenly open square, with a frozen fountain now transformed into an ice sculpture.

Under the thick layer of snow covering the fountain's edge, a slight movement caught the eye. Soon, a small pit formed as a butterfly, folded from yellowed paper, fluttered its wings a few times to shake off the snow, before gracefully taking flight.

Passing over the spouts of the fountain, skimming the moist earth, the butterfly lightly touched the surface of the babbling brook formed by melting snow, carrying with it the chill moisture, towards a fair and delicate hand.

With distinct knuckles, the fingers gently closed the weighty tomes, a run through the dark locks, and a turn of the head to face the golden-haired man approaching.

"Frigga knew you were here studying, she asked me to bring the cloak to you, to prevent you from catching a chill," Thor handed the cloak to Lady Loki.

Lady Loki accepted the cloak but did not drape it around herself. Instead, she held it and looked at Thor, tore out a page from the notebook nestled beneath the books, and handed it to him, saying, "Kamar-Taj's Christmas gift to Asgard. If everything is alright, notify Sif, and have her prepare to lead the team."

Thor frowned, taking the paper and gazing at the many human-specific magical realm terms written on it. He set the paper down and looked at Lady Loki, saying, "Christmas gift? In all these years, I have never heard of Asgard receiving a Christmas gift from Kamar-Taj. All-Father shouldn't have kept this from me..."

"They are sending it for the first time this year," Lady Loki tilted her head, saying, "But you should also know why. Some time ago, didn't you compensate for the loss of the Time Stone at Sanctum Sanctorum? This is a part of what I obtained."

Thor stood still, completely perplexed by Lady Loki's logic. He walked to the other side of the flower pavilion table and sat down, toying with the paper butterfly on the table, asking, "What does this have to do with me compensating Sanctum Sanctorum? Didn't you swap the Time Stone, causing them to incur a loss, which we then had to compensate for?"

Lady Loki sighed, looking at Thor with an expression of "why do you never understand," and then, somewhat angrily, she slapped the notebook on the table, saying, "I swear, this is the last time I explain such principles to you. After this, don't expect to hear anything similar from me again, Thor Odinson! You fool!"

Thor remained unfazed, wearing a smile as he looked at Lady Loki and said, "Isn't this great? I don't understand certain things, but you excel at them. Our abilities complement each other perfectly, making us a golden duo..."

Upon hearing Thor's last words, Lady Loki's eye contact dimmed for a moment, but then she cleared her throat and asked Thor, "Let me ask you, if the Sorcerer Supreme lost the Eye of Agamotto, wouldn't he need to retrieve it?"

Thor nodded, saying, "Of course! ...Wait, did you swap the Eye of Agamotto, and does he know about it? Wouldn't he come to you to reclaim it?"

"What if I don't return it to him?"

"Can you defeat him?"

Rolling her eyes, Lady Loki said, "If I couldn't defeat the Ancient One, how could I not defeat Stephen? You are underestimating my worth as the first mage of the Nine Realms."

"Stop beating around the bush," Thor shook his head, "If you have something to say, just say it, don't ask me anymore. I can't figure anything out."

Lady Loki sighed as if resigned and said, "The Sorcerer Supreme belongs to Sanctum Sanctorum. However, now Sanctum Sanctorum needs to operate in the mortal realm, so the majority of their field operatives are under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s management."

"When the Sorcerer Supreme's Time Stone is lost, naturally, Sanctum Sanctorum needs to search for it. But Sanctum Sanctorum's sorcerers need S.H.I.E.L.D.'s approval to enter the mortal realm for their search."

"So, to prevent these sorcerers from disrupting the order of the mortal realm, wouldn't it be necessary for dutiful S.H.I.E.L.D. to conduct a series of training sessions in advanceto educate them about the rules of the mortal realm?"

"Wait!" Thor interrupted Lady Loki, "The operators at Sanctum Sanctorum, aren't they from the prison that Nick...?"

"Don't talk nonsense!" Lady Loki raised her voice again, cutting him off, "What do you mean 'from the prison'? That's the Human Special Talent Reserve Management Center. Moreover, that group is specifically allocated to Sanctum Sanctorum to facilitate diplomatic communication between S.H.I.E.L.D. and Kamar-Taj."

Thor shrugged, saying, "Alright, whatever you say."

"To conduct training for the sorcerers, naturally, they would need a training base and personnel. Of course, this is not a big deal. However, when they come to the mortal realm for the search, they would naturally require assistants and security personnel. Thirty sorcerers in a team would need around thirty thousand security personnel. Isn't that reasonable?" Thor looked at Lady Loki, puzzled. Lady Loki began counting on her fingers, "The Eye of Agamotto, as a long-standing artifact of the Sorcerer Supreme, lost due to force majeure, should naturally be reported as a significant loss..."

"Stop!" Thor held up a hand, "Wasn't it not lost? At that time, didn't Stephen find out that the Time Stone was with you?"

"But I still haven't returned it to him!" Lady Loki stated defiantly.

"Then won't he come to reclaim it from you?"

"But he can't defeat me!"

Thor slapped his forehead, and Lady Loki continued, "The Eye of Agamotto was taken by the first mage of the Nine Realms. Neither Sanctum Sanctorum nor S.H.I.E.L.D. has the capability to retrieve it. Isn't that a loss? Furthermore, to prevent similar incidents in the future, Sanctum Sanctorum should naturally enhance its security management. In addition to adding a security team of one hundred thousand, they must also train their current security personnel..."

"What's the point of all this?" Thor said, utterly puzzled, "Even if... even if Nick and Strange need money, what does this have to do with you? You don't need human currency!"

Lady Loki sighed and looked skyward, saying, "However, I helped them obtain the funds they desired, and I even assisted them in receiving compensation from you. So, when they are distributing dividends, shouldn't they also assist me by sending magical items and energy equivalent to Earth's assets to Asgard?"

Thor widened his eyes, looking at the list in his hand. After scrutinizing it for a while, he said slowly, "You know what, there are indeed some valuable items here, like the Ancient One's shard-forged magic conduits. Surely these were obtained by the Ancient One? You actually managed to make those stingy humans hand over these items?"

Lady Loki rolled her eyes and said, "That's because these items are of little use to them. The primary function of the Ancient One's shards is to construct teleporters between starships, but since humans neither possess starships nor require teleporters, they have the Sling Ring."

"The shard-forged magic conduits are used to create the magical pathways for crafting staves, but Kamar-Taj's sorcerers do not need staves, and neither does the Ancient One. Only we, the gods with abundant divine power, need staves to control the potency and precision of magic."

Lady Loki sighed, "All these are just scraps the Ancient One collected from various places in space. When they couldn't fit them anymore, they returned them to Kamar-Taj, until recently when even Kamar-Taj's warehouse couldn't accommodate them."

"They want to rid themselves of these items, but they wouldn't simply give them to us. As you said, those humans are incredibly stingy."

"So, that's why I swapped the Time Stone. It allowed you to compensate them with the technology for the spaceship bridge and monitoring equipment they needed. Then, under the guise of a Christmas gift, they provided us with these materials..."

"Why couldn't we just exchange directly?" Thor asked.

"If we exchanged directly, it would become a transaction," Lady Loki placed her hand on the table, saying, "Do you think the people of Asgard would accept conducting an equivalent exchange with the feeble humans? They only wish to receive tributes from humans."

"Furthermore, these feeble humans are unwilling to engage in trade with Asgard. Setting aside whether these items are genuinely useful to us, even if they were just a pile of true scraps, they would keep them in their warehouses indefinitely, just in case they might be useful one day."

Lady Loki looked into Thor's eyes and said, "Thor, you are not just a general and a king now, but also a politician. And the first thing a politician must learn is how to not be accountable to your constituents."

Thor widened his eyes, but Lady Loki confidently continued, "Few in Asgard can understand the pressures we are currently facing, and the kind of pressure that compels us to support humans and, in some aspects, even appease them..."

"If we were to publicize all these plans, we wouldn't receive support, but endless condemnation and protests. However, if we were to reveal the truth about Ragnarok, it would only lead to panic and rebellion."

Upon hearing this, Thor also sighed, reluctantly nodding in agreement with Lady Loki's words. After all, he also knew that to confront Ragnarok, they needed to gather all available forces, and the potentially powerful humans were also essential allies.

However, the high and mighty gods of Asgard could never accept the idea of needing to ask for help from humans. Without the truth of Ragnarok being disclosed, everyone would think that Thor was selfishly using his power for personal gain.

But if the truth were to be revealed, regardless of whether the Asgardians believed it or not, it would only lead to panic and unrest. The fact had already proven that the majority of extreme warlike factions could only accept victory and not failure.

If they were to learn that Asgard's fate was sealed to failure, the chaos it would cause was something Thor didn't even need to contemplate.

Even if every god of Asgard remained loyal and willing to fight alongside Thor until the very end, their long-standing mental inertia meant they lacked political foresight. This would lead to Asgard's disadvantage in diplomacy, and at this moment, Lady Loki's role was indispensable.

"So, we've made a deal. Each party obtained what they wanted while also allowing the factions on Earth to become closer to Asgard, Sanctum Sanctorum, and S.H.I.E.L.D., and receive more funds..."

Lady Loki listed the gains from this small Time Stone theft case. Thor couldn't help but exclaim, "Among all of Asgard, only you could pull off something like this. Sif and I wouldn't have been able to come up with such a complex plan no matter how hard we tried..."

Shaking her head, Lady Loki said, "It's not actually that difficult. It's just that none of you ever thought in this direction. Or, to put itdifferently, Asgard previously had no diplomatic means other than firepower. But times have changed..."

"Don't say that, Lady Loki. While others may not be able to do it, you can, and that's your strength," Thor reclined in his chair, looking up and said, "I can't imagine how painful it must be to face the impending end alone."

However, Lady Loki shook her head and said, "Even until the end, you won't be alone. Though humans may seem very stingy when it comes to money, they are overly abundant in emotions, eager to share with everyone."

Thor thought of many people, including those who had helped him when he was stranded on Earth. He nodded and then said, "I am going to Earth to spend Christmas with my friends. What about you?"

"I have no friends," Lady Loki said as she stood up, holding the book.

The god maiden turned her head to gaze into the distance, where the silver-clad spires of the Celestial Palace rose against the horizon, wisps of smoke billowing from the training grounds, and the silhouette of pine trees standing sentinel-like on the earth.

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 1070: Mundane Pre-Christmas Day (Part 1)