Dragons of Asgard 3 by Logan Jacobs (first ebook reader txt) 📗

“Mmm, yes, neither have I,” I agreed.

While the girls finished their meals, I carefully watched the marketplace for any suspicious activity. The place was crowded, and all I could see were frost giant families, couples, and solo individuals out buying wares from the booths. There were plenty of vendors to choose from, even in the small area I could see, and the place was packed with booths on either side of the main street.

The vendors were so close together that most of their booths were touching, and they ranged from food, to jewelry, to clothes, to potions. It seemed they didn’t have the same system in place as the Asgardian marketplace did, where the vendors would set up booths near other vendors with the same wares. This was a free-for-all, and I kind of liked how it gave the consumer the opportunity to walk all around looking for just the right booth.

Another vendor with jewelry caught my eye. The craftsmanship was beautiful, and I wanted nothing more than to run over and buy each of my women something special, but we had a mission to do, and I needed to focus on that over everything else.

I made sure to look over at the girls every now and then as they chatted, but my attention was really focused on the market all around me. I saw plenty of frost giant children running around, though they were nearly the size of Asgardians, at least in height. It was almost strange to see my born enemies appear so incredibly normal, but I knew the war wasn’t about any of us, it was about things far back in the past that only Kings truly cared about.

Most Jotunheim citizens probably didn’t even care about the Asgardians and the war with them anymore. I would imagine it was like it was with us, where we were told to hate them from the time we were children. We personally had no reason to hate them, but our realms were at war, and that meant we had to despise the other species altogether.

Still, seeing the sweet families walk through the marketplace warmed my heart, and I thought about how ridiculous the war was in the first place. The two realms didn’t need to be feuding any longer, it had gone on long enough.

If my time dealing with the dragon trade had taught me anything, it was that anybody was capable of evil, no matter their lineage. I’d seen elves, Asgardians, dwarves, and frost giants all with their hand in the dragon trade.

Nobody, besides children, were innocent, but not everybody was guilty. I couldn’t penalize all frost giants for the actions of a few, just like I couldn’t penalize all the elves, and I hoped nobody would penalize all Asgardians. After all, it was two Asgardians, a half-Valkyrie, and an elf out working to save all the dragons. We were a strange group, but we were trying to undo the sins of all the different peoples, not just the frost giants.

After a few moments, I started to suspect we were in the very nice area of the marketplace. The wares were incredibly well-made, and the clothing and fabric I saw for sale was made of high-end silks and some other strange materials I presumed were native to Jotunheim.

We needed to find the dirty part of town.

While Eira and I agreed most of the criminals we’d known operated in plain sight, a lot of their clientele wouldn’t come to this area to try and buy some illegal product. The deals would be done in the open, but they probably would be in the part of the market where there were less valuable wares around. Not only would that area have less people, but since the wares were mid-range, they’d be less memorable to whoever passed by. Nobody would be focusing on the other frost giants in the area, because they wouldn’t be focusing on anything other than getting to the better part of the market.

The only problem was that I had no idea where the poorer part of the market would be, and it would be incredibly suspicious to ask. Nobody would want to go to that area without a reason, and I didn’t want to give anybody a reason to follow us.

“So, where are we off to, now?” Asta asked once everyone had finished their meals.

“We need to do some looking around,” I said. “This appears to be the really nice part of the marketplace, but we need to find the area without so many high-end wares.”

“I guess it would make sense most of the really expensive stuff would be right here.” Kas nodded. “This is pretty close to the entrance.”

“Right,” I agreed. “But we need to find the areas where there are less people.”

“Where should we begin?” Eira asked as she looked around curiously.

“Well, there’s really only one way to go right now.” Kas shrugged. “This is a huge tunnel, but nothing branches off until a little further down.”

“You’re right,” I agreed. “We’ll walk down the market and see how we feel about the tunnels we come across first. We might want to wait until a few tunnels down to try and branch off.”

“It would be a lot easier to navigate if there were signs or something,” Kas sighed. “I haven’t seen a single sign saying where anything is.”

“These people all live here,” Asta pointed out. “I wouldn’t imagine they need signs.”

“Maybe not,” Eira acknowledged. “But we have signs in Asgard.”

“Yes, but we also get plenty of visitors in Asgard,” I countered. “I doubt the frost giants have many visitors from other realms.”

“Yes, that’s true.” The redhead nodded. “Most people probably don’t know about the ice caves. We didn’t even know this place existed until Ramir told us.”

“I wonder how he knew,” Asta puzzled. “Do you think he disguised himself as a