Chapter 27: Do You Remember How Many Pieces of Bread You Have Eaten?
Shirou looked at Ishtar's body, but what he saw was not the Goddess of Venus. Instead, it was the "Lancer Rin"—Ereshkigal—the Mistress of the Underworld, who had descended to the surface alongside Ishtar.
Ereshkigal, an indigenous goddess of Mesopotamia, the Mistress of the Underworld, the ruler of the deceased. She and Ishtar were sisters, both Earth Mother Goddesses of Mesopotamia. The younger sister, Ishtar, was the Mistress of Heaven, while the older sister, Ereshkigal, was the Mistress of the Underworld and the guardian deity of the city of Kutha. Usually, she could only live in the Underworld, though she could occasionally manifest in the world of the living through the sleeping Ishtar.
As one of the "Three Goddess Alliance" attacking Uruk, Ereshkigal—or Eresh—loved humanity from the depths of her heart. However, understanding the eventual fate of humanity, she had twisted this affection into something grotesque. She wanted to kill everyone, to make everyone perish, to bring everyone into her Underworld. Her wish was as distorted as it was pathetic.
Seeing that Shirou did not respond immediately, Eresh asked again, "Um... may I sit beside you?"
Eresh felt boundless curiosity about Shirou's existence. This man who had easily defeated her sister—she wanted to understand why he had come to Uruk to take on this task that was widely considered impossible.
"You may," Shirou said, pulling his gaze back.
Eresh, as the older sister, was far gentler than her sister Ishtar, so Shirou did not treat her with the same harshness he used with Ishtar.
"Thank you."
Eresh moved with small, hesitant steps, slowly drawing near like a kitten that wanted to get close to its master but was afraid of being hurt. Finally, she reached Shirou, and there was only a palm's width of space between them.
"Um..."
Not knowing what to say, and having no experience in interacting with humans, a faint blush even appeared on Eresh's neck.
"Is there something you want to say?" Shirou suddenly turned his gaze toward her.
Under the man's direct stare, Eresh felt her cheeks suddenly heating up. "You... um... why did you capture my sister?"
"Because she's quite impudent." Shirou answered without hesitation. "With that face, provoking me like that in my presence—if I didn't capture her, who would I capture?"
"That face? Do you know the owner of this body?" Eresh asked, puzzled.
"Of course. Her original name is Rin Tohsaka; she only came to this world because of Ishtar."
"So that's how it is..." Eresh nodded.
Thinking about it, though: Tsundere Rin, Lancer Rin, and Archer Rin all merged into one—isn't this a "Trinity" even more superior to the Lion King?
"By the way..." Eresh suddenly remembered something and felt confused about Shirou's attitude toward her. "Um... are you not afraid of me? I mean... I am..."
With her fair, slender legs pressed slightly together, Eresh lowered her eyes and spoke hesitantly. She didn't know how to phrase her question. She wanted to ask what Shirou thought of her—not the version of her possessing Ishtar, but her, the Mistress of the Underworld.
To her question, Shirou chuckled slightly. "Of course I'm not afraid—not of who you are now, nor of who you are at other times."
Not only was he not afraid, he even had much bolder ideas.
The silver light of the moon spilled over the earth, and Eresh's red eyes flickered slightly. The night air was a bit chilly, but Eresh felt a warm current surge through her heart, completely untouched by the cold of the night. A smile gradually bloomed on her face, as gentle and beautiful as a blossoming flower—as if it were a delicate, vibrant flower that had never before bloomed in the Underworld.
"Really... are you truly not afraid of me?" Eresh's cheeks carried a bashful blush, her eyes filled with tension, terrified that Shirou might suddenly change his attitude.
"Of course not."
"Even though I am a goddess?"
"Wouldn't that be even better?" Shirou sat up and reached out to stroke her cheek, which was burning from extreme shyness. Touched on the cheek, Eresh felt incomparably bashful, her slightly widened eyes shimmering with moisture. Their faces moved closer and closer, but Eresh ultimately couldn't withstand her internal shyness and gently pushed him away.
"No!" Eresh puffed out her cheeks. "You must have used this gentle expression to trick many other girls, haven't you?"
"Do you remember how many pieces of bread you have eaten?" Shirou countered.
"..." Eresh stared at him expressionlessly, then exhaled. "I came here today because I have something more important to tell you."
"Oh? What is it?" Shirou asked.
"You are here to oppose—or rather, to help Gudako oppose—the 'Three Goddess Alliance.' So, in reality, how do you view them?"
"How do I view them?" Shirou looked at the goddess of the Underworld in confusion.
"Yes, how do you view them?" Eresh asked. "First is Gorgon. She is the Goddess of Demonic Beasts and the most powerful among the three."
Gorgon was Medusa, a goddess born from the gathering of resentment. She would not reconcile with humanity; she would only attack, again and again.
Eresh continued, "I don't actually know much about her. The cultural differences are too vast; there isn't even a basic definition of what is good and what is evil." As she spoke, Eresh plucked a weed from the ground. "Then there is the Goddess of the Forest, Quetzalcoatl, who represents the Feathered Serpent."
She kneaded the weed into mud and tossed it into the lake.
Then, lowering her eyes slightly, she said to Shirou: "And finally, there is me. I cannot forgive the current Mesopotamia. I cannot accept the path you all want to take—forsaking the gods and wanting only to create a world for humanity."
"However, this is humanity's own choice." Shirou looked into her eyes. "Humanity leaving the gods is like a child leaving its mother's embrace. It is both the direction of human progress and a symbol of human evolution."
Eresh was like that mother. Just a moment ago, the child was still constantly by her side, living only under her wings, but the next second, the child was to leave. This vast sense of contrast was something she could not accept.
"Humanity cannot escape the suffering of death and the fear of living. They develop too fast and understand too much, leading them to be unable to accept their original lives, and so they want to leave the gods." Eresh said with some agitation, "But, if they only relied on the gods—if they only relied on us—humanity could continue to live safely. With the protection of the gods, they would no longer have to endure so much suffering."
"Blaming those unreasonable things, those painful things, and those desperate things on evil gods, and then clinging to good gods to live out their days... I have always thought this, always believed this. For these past thousands, tens of thousands of years, this is what I have done."
Eresh poured out her heart, her hands grabbing Shirou's right hand and pressing it against her chest.
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