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"I want to explore the universe, but there are no star charts on Earth, so I came to Asgard to ask," Fini replied. Noticing Thor's slightly uneasy demeanor, he added casually, "What? Am I not welcome?"
"Uh, no!"
Thor was taken aback for a moment, then immediately shook his head. So much time had passed that his resentment toward Fini had mostly faded. "Welcome to Asgard!" he said.
With a hint of excitement, Thor then extended an invitation: "There is a banquet tonight. You must attend. An Asgardian feast will never disappoint you!"
"Can I skip it?"
Fini felt a headache coming on. He had been practically force-fed alcohol for three days straight. Even if he was treating it like water, he was starting to reach his limit.
"Why?"
Thor looked at Fini, bewildered. "Asgard hasn't held a banquet in a long time. This celebration is bound to be a joy. You should come and experience it!"
Having come straight to find Fini upon his return, Thor was entirely unaware that the festivities had already been raging for three days.
"Fine."
Fini thought it over and eventually decided not to refuse. After all, this was Thor's victory celebration, and he would no longer be the center of attention. It would likely be a much easier experience than the previous nights.
Thor had only stopped by to check on Fini, and now that they had met, he wasn't quite sure what else to talk about. Furthermore, he still needed to report the details of his campaign to Odin, so he didn't linger.
In the evening, Fini changed into formal attire and returned once more to the Great Hall.
Perhaps because the madness of the past three days had finally burnt itself out, this banquet felt remarkably normal. There was no premature revelry, no boisterous shouting—it almost made Fini feel like he had been specifically targeted during the previous nights.
Before long, Thor made his entrance. With his flowing golden hair and a bright smile, he truly was Asgard's most radiant prince. Everywhere he went, people stepped forward to offer their greetings.
"I didn't realize there had already been three days of banqueting," Thor said as he wove through the crowd to reach Fini. After a brief comment, he stared at Fini and asked, "I heard you drank every single Asgardian warrior under the table?"
"What? Did they send you to finish the job?"
Fini looked at the two mugs in Thor's hands and then at the cheering crowd around them. He sighed inwardly.
"Haha! Asgardians never admit defeat!"
Thor let out a loud shout, drawing a massive cheer from the onlookers. The music swelled, and the banquet officially began.
"Tch."
Fini curled his lip. He knew exactly who had "admitted defeat" over a certain hammer back on Earth. However, with so many eyes on them, he didn't want to embarrass Thor. He reached out, took the mug, and said, "Alright then, let's go!"
As it turned out, Thor's tolerance wasn't actually that high—certainly not compared to the previous groups. Before long, he was visibly tipsy, his eyes growing hazy.
However, Thor wasn't a typical Asgardian. He was of Odin's true bloodline, possessing the power of lightning within him. Fini noticed a faint flicker of electricity crackle across Thor's skin, after which his expression immediately cleared.
Fini was stunned. To use divine power just to win a drinking bout... he wondered if Odin knew about this.
Just as Fini's thoughts drifted toward the King, a commotion broke out at the edge of the crowd. The two turned to see Odin and Frigga walking toward them.
"Father! Mother!" Thor immediately stood up to greet them.
"Good evening, Your Majesty, My Queen," Fini added his own greeting.
Odin gave Thor a look of fatherly doting before turning his gaze to Fini. "How do you find our Asgard? Has your stay these past few days been satisfactory?"
"Very much so. It is even more beautiful than I imagined!"
Fini offered several compliments. His emotional intelligence wasn't so low that he would criticize someone's home to their face—especially when that person was an All-Father. Even if there were things he found lacking, such as their transportation, he wasn't about to say it.
"If you like it, you are welcome to stay for some time."
"Thank you."
Fini felt certain it wasn't just his imagination; Odin truly seemed to want him to stay. Could he be trying to recruit him?
While Fini was pondering this, Odin turned his attention back to Thor. He began loudly proclaiming Thor's achievements from the campaign, and every sentence he spoke drew thunderous cheers from the crowd.
Watching this scene, Fini suddenly understood why Loki harbored such deep-seated resentment toward Odin. He was certain that if it were Loki standing there, Odin would never have gone to such lengths to broadcast his deeds and build his prestige. At the end of the day, it seemed Odin had never truly considered giving Loki a chance at the throne.
He really isn't biological, is he? Fini sighed inwardly.
As he listened to Odin bolster Thor's reputation, Fini felt a small spark of irritation. During the three days of banquets held "in his honor," Odin hadn't shown his face once. Yet for Thor, because of a victory that didn't even seem particularly significant, the King appeared in person to lead the cheers.
Fini glanced at Thor, who was beaming like a sunflower. He couldn't help but feel that Odin doted on him far too much. Although Thor had been exiled to Earth for "remodeling," the results hadn't even fully taken root before Odin started coddling him again.
Fini also felt that Odin's parenting track record was a bit of a disaster.
There was Hela—undeniably powerful and someone even the Ancient One considered dangerous. Yet, due to Odin's educational failures, she turned into a warmonger, forcing him to seal her away with his own hands.
Then came Thor. Perhaps feeling he hadn't given Hela enough affection, and having a son in his old age, Odin had smothered Thor with protection. He gave him Mjolnir at a young age, resulting in an arrogant personality. Even now, Thor remained merely a "God of Hammers," unable to truly tap into the divine power within his own body.
And then there was Loki. Even if he wasn't biological, if you raise a child, you shouldn't show such blatant favoritism. If it weren't for Frigga protecting him, Fini suspected Loki wouldn't have waited until Thor's coronation to rebel.
Odin departed after praising Thor's deeds. After he left, Thor stopped trying to out-drink Fini and sat down to chat.
"How is Earth lately?" Thor asked, taking a small sip from his mug.
"Fairly normal. Just the usual internal conflicts, nothing major," Fini replied.
Over the past few days, using the "prestige" of his Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Fini had asked Heimdall to keep an eye on Earth and notify him if anything unusual happened.
"That's good."
In reality, Thor and Fini weren't that close. Thor's impression of him was limited to the Battle of New York, where he had been too focused on Loki and the Chitauri to really get to know him.
"Sif mentioned you've been spending all your time in the library?"
Thor tried to find a topic to kill the awkward silence. "I spent a lot of time there back when I was taking an elective in Groot-speak."
(End of Chapter)