"It's alright, we'll find a way to send a message to your husband."

After the sight of all of the forest giants kneeling to Van, the queen was now in a panic as to what to do. Her husband, the King of Jotunheim, was sure that the Branch will not be moving anytime soon-- that was the reason she was so confident in taking her time.

​​

But as soon as they arrived back to the territory of the forest giants, the Branch did not even wait for her to even react as it suddenly moved without any warning. And the other forest giants, who should be worrying about her, were instead laughing and cheering; as their mood had been completely uplifted by Van's presence.

"The important thing to do now is to celebrate the arrival of our progenitor, King Van!"

"King Van!"

If she wasn't currently in a dire predicament, then Queen Nori would have surely still been cheering for Van. But alas, all she could think of was what her King would do as soon as he found out that she hasn't gotten off the Branch.

But alas, no one seemed to care about her. And finally, after a few more minutes of cheers and noise, the forest giants' voices subsided.

"King Van, please follow us."

And as soon as everyone started to settle down, the 4 Elders of the forest giants quickly bowed their heads; their palms pointed towards the largest tree in the vicinity. At a quick glance, the tree looked like it has been carved from the inside out as it was almost completely hollow inside. But if one were to take a closer look-- one would find that the roots, the branches, and the barks have shaped themselves into arcs, turning the inside of the tree into some sort of hall.

Compared to the outside, where Van's eyes were completely drowned by the hints of sunlight that passed through the edgings of the leaves, the inside of the colossal tree was dim; with not even a candle to light its walls. Its only source of light was the leftover radiance that reflected from the ground outside.

However, the Elders told Van to walk deeper into the tree, where seemingly no light could reach. Van did not hesitate to step forward, but still, he summoned his shield. Although it was all but confirmed that these were his descendants, Van still did not know them that well.

There was also the fact that the first people he had killed in this world were the forest giants from the Sleipnir group-- some of them might have heard of that and held some sort of grudge. It didn't help that the 4 Elders were also quietly following behind him without even uttering a single word.

Even though they were of a different race, one would not mistake these elders for other than their age. Their skin was almost like that of a dead tree; as if a strong wind would rip them away.

"...Do I keep going?"

After a few more minutes, Van could no longer contain his patience. The tree did look gigantic when he was outside, but for them to be walking for the duration they have, it felt as though the interior was actually bigger.

"We are nearly there, King Van."

A dry voice whispered into Van's ears as the 4 Elders urged him to go forward.

"What's in here anyway?"

"What you seek and what you need. The fruits that have long been accomplished, but not once had it seen the full tree where it had been born."

"...What?"

"It's--"

"Never mind."

Van could only let out a long and deep sigh as he continued to move forward in the dark. Even though he had increased his STR to an unbelievable level, he was still not able to see in the dark or hear things from long distances like Charlotte. Was it some kind of [Passive Skill], or maybe something he could learn?

Nisha could also somewhat see in the dark and her eyesight was also at a high level--but she wasn't as strong as Charlotte. Maybe it truly was just a Skill. Upon thinking of Nisha, Van could not help but let out another sigh.

If his assumption was right, then they were all probably dead now. Almost all of the people he knew were gone-- Nisha, Gil, Andrea, the people he met in other countries, and many others. Most of them had no chance of fighting the flow of time.

However, Van had also listed people that could still be alive even after thousands of years-- Sarah, her father was able to live to a thousand; Latanya was self-explanatory. And then, of course, the other Olympian gods, wherever they could be.

There was also Angela, whose physical growth had been stuck to that of a child. Since she was with Artemis and the others, she would have also been here for tens of thousands of years. If there was one thing that Van had learned from the many seemingly immortal people he had met, it was that the longer one lives, the crazier one gets.

Angela was also not right in the head before, he could only imagine what she would be like now… but there was a higher chance of her already being dead, as she would have surely tried to reach out to Charlotte.

Van continued to list the people that might still be alive after all these years, but even then, they still haven't reached the end of their destination.

"Seriously, how big is this pl--"

But before he could finish his words, a bright light suddenly showered upon them, completely blinding him for a few seconds. Van immediately ducked down, tightly covering himself with the shield and ready to dodge as soon as even the slightest tremble in the air dared to approach him.

But it never came. And as soon as his recovering eyes were able to see, the sight of the 4 Elders kneeling presented itself to him. But this time, the direction of their bodies was not towards Van, but past him.

Van blinked a couple more times to clear all of the blurs that wrapped his eyes, and as soon as he was able to see clearly, he quickly looked towards the direction the 4 Elders were kneeling in.

And there, he saw a woman. Almost all of her body was covered in roots; with only her head and a part of her torso bare, as if she was connected to the tree itself-- or perhaps it was better to say…

...that she was the tree herself.

"...Vanya," he quickly muttered.

Van had almost mistaken Queen Nori's daughter as Artemis, and sometimes even Nori herself. But this time, even though the woman in front of him had the exact same face as Artemis, Van seemed to instinctively know who it truly was.

Even though he had not met her yet, even though this was the first time she was seeing her, Van instantly knew who she was. Van's feet slowly made their way towards Vanya, and as they did so, the branches and the roots that were in their path moved away; making a road for him to safely traverse.

But still, even with the trees themselves giving him way, Van chose to halt his steps as he looked at Vanya, who remained unmoving even with their presence there.

"What… is wrong with her?" Van then turned around to the kneeling Elders, his words slightly sedated.

"She is asleep, King Van. We do not know yet when she will be waking up."

As soon as he heard the Elders' words, Van quickly let out a sigh of relief. "When was that last time she was awake?"

"She was there to witness Nori's birth, and that was 152 years ago now."

"...152 years ago?" Van blinked a couple of times as he turned his focus back to Vanya.

"Yes, King Van. I am afraid she only wakes up when she wants to. But you do not need to worry. Vanya is the trees and the forest itself, she holds a part of the will of Artemis. She…

...was the one who welcomed you as soon as you stepped inside our territory."

"I… see," Van almost choked at his own breath as soon as he heard the Elders' words. So the welcoming words that the trees were muttering… those words were from her?

And so, once again, he made his way towards the unmoving Vanya. Gently dropping his shield on the ground before carefully caressing her face and cleaning away all the dried leaves that stuck in her hair.

This… was his daughter. She was probably tens of thousand years older than her, but she is his child.

It was a complicated feeling, but still, a feeling that he did not want to go away. If she truly could hear him through the trees, then what was he even supposed to say to her?

The closest experience that Van had to taking care of something was from the Relic Graveyard-- it was a rat… and he ended up eating it when it died. And the closest thing he had to a parent figure was Andrea and Charlotte.

If it was them… what would they do in this situation? What would a father do in this situation?

Van continued to touch his daughter's face for a few seconds as he thought of what to say to her. Until finally, he removed his hand, only to place it back again…

...with a slap.

"Stop being so lazy...

...It's time to wake up."