Chapter 296 - 296: Charlotte?
"Miss Charlotte!? Charlotte!"
Van's calls were being drowned by the sound of the crowd that was clamoring and shouting due to the literal bloody mess that Van left in front of the Branch. The woman who he presumed Charlotte immediately ran back inside the Branch as soon as their eyes met.
Although she indeed look a lot younger, maybe even younger than her own daughter-in-law, Van was sure it was none other than her, or at least some sort of relative. Van still remembers what Charlotte looked like when she was younger vividly, as her pictures and videos were all over Africa.
But the fact that she ran away and continues to run away as he called for her, there was a high chance that it was her. If it wasn't for the crowd of people pushing him out, then he would have already used his speed to block her path. He still could, but this crowd would surely die as he goes through them.
"High Human Van, what is it!?"
"I recognize that woman!" Van finally gave in and used his Air Step to float into the air, causing the people around him to let out gasps of shock and awe, "Charlotte Gates!"
But even with most of the different races' attention already on Van's, the woman who might be Charlotte still didn't stop, pushing her way through the crowd and causing the people near her to stumble and fly away.
"..." Yup, this could be none other than Charlotte. But why exactly was she running away?
"V... Van, please go down!"
With the people all staring at Van, Lorei started to panic. Although they were far away from the crime scene that Van left, with Van flying in the air, he already garnered all of the people's attention, making him the first primary suspect. She knew that there was probably no one here that could stop him, but the others didn't know that.
If they happen to offend Van, then he might commit another massacre... And considering he killed everyone without even batting an eye earlier, there was actually a high chance of that happening again.
She quickly grabbed Van's foot before he could fly away, but she ended up being dragged as Van proceeded to run through the air. She almost felt her arm being ripped away from her body as it was swayed back and forth from Van running.
It was a good thing that the crowd dispersed as they saw Van float in the air, if not, then Lorei would definitely be filled with the guts of the crowd.
"Charlotte, I know it's you!"
Lorei could then feel instant relief as soon as Van stopped running, blocking the woman he mentioned that was his friend. Lorei's legs seemed frail, however, as she quickly dropped to the ground as the whiplash finally got to her.
"Ghost, stay away!"
But even so, her ears were perked as she tried her best to listen to the conversation that was about to happen in front of her. She promised herself that she would be fully invested in finishing this journey with Van, however it ends. She wasn't going to stop now that it was getting too juicy.
"What do you want from me!? Stay away, please stay away! No... please no!"
"Miss... Charlotte?"
Van could not help but blink a couple of times as he watched Charlotte suddenly grovel on the ground, embracing herself as she rocked back and forth while covering her ears.
"Are you alright?" Van then calmly approached Charlotte, kneeling a meter away from her as he gestured for her to calm down, "It's alright, Miss Charlotte. It's just me."
Van furrowed his eyebrows in disbelief. Was this really Charlotte? The Charlotte he knew feared almost nothing, and even if she did, she showed no signs of it. This groveling young woman in front of him... was she really Charlotte?
"It's me, Van... Evans."
Charlotte then slowly glanced towards Van, and as soon as she saw he was still there, she once again closed her eyes in fear, "Stay away! I've had enough, please let me rest!"
"It's me, Evans..." Van's voice started to become sedated. For the first time in weeks, he had finally met someone he knew in this unknown world... and yet she refused to even acknowledge him, "...Miss Charlotte, it's just me."
Van didn't know how many seconds had passed, but Charlotte still refused to look at him. The only thing he could do was let out a long deep sigh as he stood up,
"Let's go. It seems I made a mistake," he then said as he turned around.
Lorei could clearly hear the disappointment in Van's voice. This was also the first time that he was seeing this kind of expression on his face. Lorei had always felt that Van was surrounded by an aura of loneliness, he just hasn't shown it to her, at least until now.
For the first time, Van felt like he was just the same as them, grounded. Even though she had only been with him for a week or two, it was enough for her to have this image of him being an unreachable entity.
Lorei could only look back and forth between the woman called Charlotte and Van, before letting out a long sigh of her own as she turned to follow the completely pacified Van.
And perhaps that was the best way to describe him, as Van's thoughts were completely gone. The only thing he wanted to do right now was leave and be far away as possible from everyone else.
But it would seem that he was not truly allowed to rest, no matter what world he was in as a couple of different races blocked his path. He could not even be bothered to look at them, only telling them to move out of the way with a quiet voice.
"Please move to the side."
Van could only sigh, as the only things he could see were the people's feet, as he remained looking down on the ground.
"Did you come from Jotunheim?" One of the individuals blocking him stepped forward. Judging by the sizes of their feet, they were of a smaller race than the giants, maybe even belonging to a race similar to a human. But Van was just too much in a trance to even care anymore.
"No, now please step away," Van said as he continued to walk carelessly, not even bothering that he hit the individual along the way.
"Were you the one who killed the members of the Sleipnir at the entrance?"
The individual did not seem to mind, as he just continued to talk even as Van was stepping away. His companions, however, were of a different mind as they all gathered around Van, completely blocking his path from all directions.
"And if it was me?" Van then finally looked up, turning around to look at the woman that was talking to him, "What are you going to do about it?"
Van finally saw what the individual looked like, and the group that blocked his path truly did look like humans, there was just one tiny difference-- their ears were exaggeratingly elongated and pointed, as were their eyebrows.
"T… they attacked High Human Van first!"
Lorei's voice once again reverberated through the air, and once again in defense of Van. But this time, she was lying. It was true that the members of Sleipnir threatened and provoked him, but they did not really assault him first-- it was Van that suddenly started killing them.
But of course, that information wouldn't really be helping them right now.
"This is a High Human?" The leader of the long-eared group then looked at Van from head to toe, her sharp eyebrow raising with curiosity as she did so, "Why would a High Human even be on the Branch?"
"The Gate of the Rivers of Jotunheim exploded!" Lorei once again increased the volume of her voice, her words earning the gasps of not only the group but also the people that happened to be near them.
"...Exploded? What do you mean?"
"It blew up! High Human Van r… rescued me and some other people from dying when it happened."
Once again, Lorei lied, "Please my elven friends, let's not garner the wrath of our Vanir friends any--"
"That's enough, Lorei."
Van's long and deep breath whispered into Lorei's ears, and as it did so, she could not help but instinctively kneel and shake her head, "Please, High Human Van, enough blood has been shed today. Please do not commit another massacre!"
Hearing Lorei's words, the group of elves quickly jumped away from Van, drawing their weapons and quickly pointing them towards him.
"Maybe if I end up killing all of you, someone from Asgard should come for me, right?"
The elves could not help but look at each other as a buzzing noise suddenly filled the air. Van currently had one of his hands raised, turning into a blur as a sort of vapor started fuming from it.
"I'm tired… I just want to return to my world."
"High Human Van, please don't!" Lorei continued to kneel on the ground, "Please have mercy on all of the people here!"
A shower of sweat almost filled Lorei's face as a trail of golden lightning started to emerge from Van's eyes. This was the last thing she saw before the members of Sleipnir all started dying almost at the same time.
But as if a gong that signaled the stop of a match, a voice whispered into Van's ears, causing him to halt the massacre he was about to commit.
"Evans?" It was Charlotte, pointing at him with her trembling hands, "It…
...it really is you?"