The activity around the freight station remained intense even after Strax and the others arrived. Workers unloaded sacks of seeds with disciplined speed, employees registered goods on enormous tal clipboards, and industrial carts crossed the tracks carrying boxes to newly built warehouses. The constant sound of wheels, railway whistles, and voices coordinating deliveries filled the air of Asgard with an almost unbelievable energy for soone who had left that city weeks ago, still marked by fires and makeshift reconstructions.
Strax remained for a few seconds observing all that activity before finally letting out a long, tired sigh. The journey had been long, the weight of the gigantic cart had demanded more effort than he would admit aloud, and above all, the psychological shock caused by Asgard’s absurd transformation still seed to cloud his thoughts. His eyes scanned the enormous Victorian buildings around him as if repeatedly trying to confirm that it was real.
Monica imdiately noticed his expression.
She adjusted her glasses with a small, habitual movent before closing so of the docunts she carried under her arm. Her face showed genuine tiredness, but also a satisfaction that was hard to hide. There was pride there. A lot of pride.
"You should go in first," she said calmly. "Before three more neighborhoods appear out of nowhere while you’re looking."
Tiamat let out a loud laugh at that mont.
"Don’t joke about that! I truly believe you’re capable!"
Scarlet crossed her arms while still observing the urban skyline filled with industrial smoke and streetlights.
"I still find this psychologically offensive."
Frieren, still holding the partially eaten apple, simply nodded calmly.
"Monica hardly slept this month."
"Neither did you," Monica replied imdiately.
"I dozed off twice."
"For forty minutes."
"It was an efficient nap."
Strax slowly rubbed his face before finally starting to walk alongside Monica toward the city center. Ouroboros, Scarlet, and Tiamat followed close behind, still absorbing every detail of this new Asgard. As they advanced along the main avenues, everything seed more absurd. There were electric trams crossing urban tracks, cafes full even at dusk, illuminated shop windows displaying sophisticated clothes, and enormous tal signs advertising newly founded banks, law offices, and comrcial companies.
People walked the streets like citizens accustod to prosperity.
That was perhaps the strangest thing.
There was no atmosphere of desperate survival. There was no constant fear etched on their faces. Asgard now possessed its own identity. A living city. Organized. Ambitious.
Strax observed a group of workers leaving a foundry wearing standardized uniforms and comnted slowly:
"They seem disciplined."
Monica nodded.
"We created organized work schedules, fixed salaries, and guaranteed als for industrial workers. This reduced urban violence by almost fifty percent."
Scarlet glanced at her sideways.
"You talk like an administrative monster."
"Thank you."
"That wasn’t a complint."
"Even so, thank you."
Tiamat chuckled softly as she walked, observing everything around her. Unlike Scarlet, she seed genuinely fascinated by the urban insanity that had sprung up there. Her eyes wandered over the enormous administrative buildings, the illuminated tal lampposts, and the sophisticated shop windows like a child entering a new toy.
"There’s even the sll of fresh bread in the air," she comnted, surprised. "When we left, there was still smoke from fires in half the neighborhoods."
"Industrial bakeries opened two weeks ago," Monica replied. "Flour production stabilized faster than we expected."
Ouroboros remained silent for a few seconds before finally speaking:
"That explains why the supply reports have improved so much."
Monica nodded imdiately.
"We also expanded the storage systems. We built underground silos in the northern district."
Strax slowly turned his face to her.
"You built underground silos."
"Yes."
"In a month."
"Yes."
He was quiet for a few seconds.
"I really should be afraid of you."
Frieren took another lazy bite of her apple.
"I already said that."
As they moved toward the elevated city center, the urban flow began to change. The streets beca cleaner, the buildings more refined, and the movent less chaotic. Elegant carriages crossed wide avenues while civil servants walked carrying neatly organized docunts and leather bags. Guards patrolled street corners with disciplined posture, wearing dark uniforms adorned with the symbol of Asgard.
Then the enormous central palace appeared before them.
Unlike the old, partially destroyed building that had stood before, the palace now resembled a fusion of monuntal Victorian architecture and a modern administrative fortress. Grand towers rose above the ornate walls, illuminated windows reflected the darkening sky, and dozens of flags fluttered in the cold north wind.
Strax paused for a mont, gazing at it.
"You renovated the entire palace as well."
Monica seed genuinely confused by his astonishnt.
"We needed administrative space."
"That doesn’t answer anything."
She simply continued walking.
The enormous main gates opened imdiately upon recognizing the group. Guards bowed in respect as Strax finally entered the renovated palace.
And that’s when the shock intensified.
The interior was packed.
Civil servants crisscrossed corridors carrying docunts neatly stacked in enormous piles. Secretaries worked at desks lined up close to the walls. Maids rushed past carrying trays of tea, als, and mailboxes. So people discussed city maps at large planning tables while others frantically wrote reports.
The entire place seed to function as the administrative heart of a newly born industrial empire.
As soon as Strax entered the main hall, the movent slowed instantly.
Employees raised their heads.
Maids stopped mid-way.
Then, almost simultaneously, everyone bowed respectfully.
Silence filled the hall for a few seconds.
Strax stood observing this with a strange expression.
It was still difficult for him to get used to formal displays of authority of that kind. Especially considering that a good part of Asgard had been built in absolute chaos just a few weeks before.
One of the younger maids almost dropped a tray upon realizing that the king himself had just entered. Another employee discreetly pulled the girl back before she completely panicked.
Strax ran a hand through his hair as he walked slowly down the main corridor.
"Things have changed quite a bit in a short ti."
His voice was lower this ti, almost reflective.
Monica walked beside him, clutching her docunts to her chest.
"We’ve worked very hard."
There was no arrogance in the response.
Just genuine exhaustion.
Scarlet watched the busy corridors as several female employees respectfully made way for the group.
"Privacy has decreased considerably..."
Tiamat agreed imdiately.
"Very much so."
Ouroboros looked around, observing the absurd number of people working inside the palace.
"Definitely a lot."
Monica seed to have anticipated that comnt.
She sighed wearily before replying:
"After five o’clock everyone leaves. The administrative sectors close completely, and only the night guard remains."
Scarlet imdiately relaxed her shoulders slightly.
"Good."
Tiamat pointed to a group of employees crossing the hallway carrying enormous architectural blueprints.
"Because honestly... I don’t want to wake up and find twenty bureaucrats running down the hallway while I’m looking for food."
"That already happened once," Frieren comnted calmly.
"WHAT?"
Monica closed her eyes for a second.
"It was during the tax reorganization."
"Why was there a tax reorganization inside the kitchen?"
"Because soone turned the kitchen into a temporary eting room."
Tiamat stared at her in horror.
"You guys are sick."
Scarlet began to giggle softly.
Strax continued walking through the corridors, observing the details of the renovated palace. tallic chandeliers illuminated the spacious halls, red carpets ran along the central corridors, and enormous industrial clocks marked administrative schedules on the walls. The entire place seed to function with frightening precision.
Ouroboros observed everything in silence, but her gaze showed sothing close to admiration.
She rembered the old Asgard perfectly.
The smoke.
The rubble.
The constant feeling of fragility.
Now that place seed solid.
Permanent.
Alive.
A young secretary rushed past, clutching an absurd stack of papers, before stopping abruptly upon noticing Strax in the corridor. She nearly had a heart attack trying to decide whether to keep running or bow properly.
Strax simply made a calm gesture with his hand.
"Keep going."
The girl nodded frantically before disappearing down the corridor as if fleeing from death itself.
Tiamat observed this and began to laugh.
"You scare people without even trying."
"She seed more scared of the papers."
"Probably because Monica would kill her if she lost any reports."
Monica didn’t deny it.
Scarlet imdiately pointed this out.
"See? She didn’t even deny it."
As they climbed the main staircases toward the private quarters, the movent finally began to lessen. The upper corridors were quieter, reserved only for inner palace sectors and smaller administrative dormitories. There were still employees working here and there, but in much smaller numbers.
Strax let out another sigh as he finally felt the fatigue of the journey truly hit his body.
"I just wanted to rest for a few hours."
"You deserve it," Ouroboros replied calmly.
Tiamat crossed her arms behind her head as she walked.
"Especially after hauling that monstrous cart halfway across the continent."
Scarlet smiled slightly.
"Technically, we bought half the continent."
Frieren raised her hand.
"I bought three trees."
Everyone looked at her.
"Only three?"
"They were very good trees."
Monica opened a double door at the end of the main corridor, finally revealing the private wing reserved for Strax and his wives.
The contrast with the rest of the palace was imdiate.
There was silence.
No employees running around.
No piles of reports.
No frantic movent.
The lighting was softer, the atmosphere warr, and the distant sounds of the city seed muffled by the thick stone and dark wood walls.
Scarlet imdiately let out a satisfied sigh.
"Now this really feels like ho."
Tiamat practically entered first, with no dignity left.
"Finally, peace."
Ouroboros observed the surroundings with a small, tired smile as she slowly removed her heavy travel coat.
Strax stood in the doorway for a few seconds, looking at them all.
Then he slowly turned his face to Monica.
"Thank you."
She blinked a few tis, almost surprised by the simple sincerity of it.
Then she adjusted her glasses again.
"Just try not to destroy any districts for the next twenty-four hours."
Strax seed genuinely offended.
"Once."
"Twice."
"Technically the second ti wasn’t my fault."
Monica just sighed.
Scarlet started laughing again as she closed the door behind them, finally isolating the group from the administrative chaos of that monstrously alive new Asgard.
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