The portal flashed, and Sylvie and Lokie, carrying Helen, hurried out—or rather, judging by their posture, they had rushed out.
The moment she landed, Sylvie grabbed a nearby attendant and asked, "We want to go to Asgard. What ship do we take?"
"To Asgard?" The attendant beside her looked puzzled. Though he was neither humanoid nor Asgardian, he still sized Sylvie up, looked at her as if she were insane, and said, "This is Asgard. Aren't you already in Asgard?"
"I..." Sylvie choked for a moment. "Isn't this the Nine Realms?"
"Where did you crawl out from, country bumpkin?" The attendant rolled his eyes. "The Nine Realms are ancient history. That place is now the capital star region of the Asgardian Empire. What are you going there for?"
Lokie stepped forward, pulled Sylvie aside, and once again used her visiting-relatives excuse. Her appearance was naturally rather delicate, and she was carrying a child, so the attendant softened and said,
"All right, you can ask at the service counter ahead whether there are any ships leaving soon. But you should go to the information area and learn some basic common sense first. Don't just barge in without knowing anything. The queen doesn't have the best temper..."
Lokie led the somewhat dazed Sylvie to the information area, where they finally learned the specific details of the Second Cosmic Thousand Year War.
"That was roughly what happened. Her Majesty Thor won the war. She is the greatest ruler in Asgardian history, but recently, she has rarely appeared in public..."
The information clerk was quite patient. After all, there were many long-lived species within Asgard's territory, and missing an entire era was not unusual. But Lokie keenly seized on the key point and asked,
"Then why exactly did Asgard launch a war against the