"Guinevere-nee, isn't this a bit much?"
"What's so much about it? After such a humiliating failure, what's wrong with wearing a sign!"
Aboard the Vimana, Ishtar sat listlessly, a sign hung around her neck by Guinevere that read: "I am a Useless Goddess."
But knowing full well that the body she used belonged to Rin—and that Rin had a high chance of messing up crucial tasks like capturing the Bull—Guinevere had still sent her alone...
Therefore, Ishtar being ravaged by the Bull and ultimately losing track of it meant Guinevere bore a share of the responsibility.
That's why she only hung that sign on Ishtar and wasn't very angry anymore after just a few seconds.
As for Guinevere, all she felt now was helplessness.
"I say, Ritsuka, this is only your second time meeting her, right? Why are you defending her like this? Be honest, are you captivated by her beauty?"
Having gone through the previous seven Singularities, Ritsuka was already quite experienced, and she wasn't the type to get shy about such things.
"Ishtar is indeed beautiful. If this were the last Singularity, I might have had a heart-to-heart. But the situation is urgent now, and Mash..."
Guinevere, Mash, Ritsuka, Ishtar, and little Fou—the four of them and one Beast—were all seated aboard the Vimana.
When speaking of Ishtar, Ritsuka's tone shifted from admiration to regret, causing Ishtar to puff out her chest proudly, as if to show that both she and Ritsuka had excellent taste.
But after mentioning Mash, Ritsuka's voice grew somber. After glancing at Mash, she furtively scooted closer to Guinevere.
And unless absolutely necessary, she really didn't want to whisper secrets with Guinevere, who was a true lesbian. Although she was also a lesbian, she only wanted to find a girlfriend who wasn't one.
"Ahem, Guinevere-nee, can you hear me?"
"Speak. And pull back a little; don't breathe right into my ear."
"Ahem, got it. Then, Mash, can you hear me?"
As she said this, Ritsuka pulled back slightly but still leaned half her body against Guinevere. She didn't raise her voice or look at Mash, which only made Ishtar glance over curiously and left Mash feeling bewildered and uneasy.
She understood: her Senpai wanted to whisper something about her to Guinevere.
"Phew, looks like Mash can't hear. And she knows that if she came closer, I wouldn't say anything."
With that, Ritsuka first let out a sigh of relief before beginning to explain Mash's birth, her flaws, and the burden on her body after becoming a Demi-Servant.
"Are you saying that if Mash continues to fight, her remaining lifespan will be numbered?"
"Actually, if it weren't for Dr. Romani's adjustments, Mash would have long since been unable to run around so energetically."
"Then how do you know your Dr. Romani isn't hiding things from you?"
In her Throne of Heroes, Guinevere's past life memories were almost entirely preserved like discs, but this also meant that in her normal state, she could no longer recall them completely.
In the hazy parts of her memory, Mash's physical condition was supposed to have been concealed by Chaldea until the very end.
"Guinevere-nee, it's thanks to you teaching me swordsmanship that I gained a better understanding of the human body. After returning to Chaldea from the Divine Realm of the Round Table, I half-forced Mash to let me give her a massage."
"And then you discovered something was wrong with her body?"
"Yes."
"So you want to ask for a way to give Mash a flawless body?"
"Guinevere-nee, do you have such a method?"
"I don't, but the King of Heroes might. His treasury shouldn't lack such things."
At this, Guinevere remembered how the original Mash had resolved her physical flaws.
No, that wasn't about fixing a physical defect; it was Fou who, at the cost of his thousand years of accumulated mana and his own intelligence, granted Mash a perfect resurrection.
Thinking of this, Guinevere felt even more determined to ask the King of Heroes on Ritsuka's behalf. If Mash's physical defect could be resolved now, she wouldn't have to truly die when facing the Demon God King later, and Fou wouldn't have to pay such a terrible price.
She didn't want Mash to die, nor did she want the adorable Fou to become a mere Beast.
"Ritsuka, if the King of Heroes refuses to help, we'll just leave his soul in the Underworld!"
"Ah, let's not do that. We can ask for the King of Heroes' help through other means. Uruk still needs him, so we must bring his soul back as soon as possible."
"Hey, wait a minute. Are you saying Gilgamesh's soul went to the Underworld?"
Though spoken in whispers without any soundproofing magecraft, Mash couldn't hear them, but the far more powerful Ishtar had been listening all along.
"So, you already knew that one of the Three Goddess Alliance wasn't me?"
The Three Goddess Alliance—an organization Guinevere had long been aware of, but which the King of Heroes, Mash, Ritsuka, and others had previously misunderstood.
In the King of Heroes' understanding, it was the Goddess of Magical Beasts, Quetzalcoatl, and Ishtar who formed an alliance, agreeing that whoever entered the City of Uruk first would become the ruler of this land.
In reality, while the agreement was correct, the mistake lay in the membership of the Three Goddesses: Ishtar was not among them. The true member was Ereshkigal-chan, whom the King of Heroes and the others did not know.
As sisters, Ishtar and Ereshkigal descended together in the same body: Ishtar occupied the body during the day, and Ereshkigal at night.
To this day, Ishtar remains unaware of this arrangement. She only knows that Ereshkigal exists and that Ereshkigal is the true member of the Three Goddess Alliance.
"That's right. The King of Heroes worked himself to death on his throne, and we know that Ereshkigal is the real member of the Three Goddess Alliance.
Ishtar, will you join us? Let's go prove to Ereshkigal-chan that you're not a 'Useless Goddess'!"
Ishtar's surprise was due to hearing of the King of Heroes' death, but she immediately regretted speaking up. Events unfolded just as she had feared: Guinevere had indeed made this shameless request.
"Ereshkigal-chan? You say her name so affectionately! But if you're that close, you shouldn't need me to come along, right? Besides, you all should know that Ereshkigal and I don't get along!"
Ishtar, Mistress of Heaven and the Goddess of Fertility representing human life; Ereshkigal, Mistress of the Underworld, representing human death.
Furthermore, in the myths about them, Ishtar once visited the Underworld and was killed on the spot by Ereshkigal, though she was later resurrected.
"Tsk, tsk. Is it that you don't get along, or are you just afraid of her?"
After gently steadying Ritsuka, Guinevere walked over to the still-seated Ishtar. She crouched down in front of her, making sure their eyes met before speaking.
And so, she saw the flicker in Ishtar's eyes, saw her struggle to hide her true feelings, unable to speak.
"Aaaah, fine, I'm scared of her! So what?! You gonna bite me or something?!"
"No, I won't bite you. I just wanted to say that if this trip doesn't go smoothly, I'll definitely give her a good beating. Want to join me in spanking her? Since you two are one and the same, she's practically my junior too!"
Ishtar didn't register the "one and the same" or "junior" parts. Her mind was completely filled with the thought of spanking Ereshkigal.
"Aaaaaah, fine, I'll go! You promise I'll get to spank Ereshkigal's butt!"
"Mm-hmm, I promise."
Ishtar had more or less agreed to go with them, but how much of Guinevere's words were actually honest?
Still, they'd deal with the future when it came, even if that future was just later today.
For now, they had arrived at the City of Uruk, flying directly over the Royal Palace and landing before Siduri in the Great Hall.
On the throne in the Great Hall, the King of Heroes had truly exhausted himself to death.