Meeting
Ishtar looked at the two vigilant girls before her, hands on her hips, her expression full of impatience.
"Daring to touch my body without permission, from which city do you two come?"
"Touch?" Hearing this clearly unreasonable accusation, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash exchanged a look.
"You're the one who fell from the sky and crashed into us, aren't you..." Ritsuka, still feeling dizzy from the impact of the landing, replied subconsciously.
"In my opinion, the recent incident was indeed an accident!" Mash argued logically. "May I ask if we can talk this over? Miss... um—"
She looked at the other party's rather revealing attire, weighed several words, and ultimately could only manage a "Miss?"
They could also see that this person before them didn't seem to be the type who would listen to reason.
And this face... it looked so familiar...
"You actually don't recognize me?" Ishtar frowned. "Are you serious about that?"
"I apologize," Mash said with a touch of embarrassment. "We are members of the Organization for the Preservation of Human Order, Chaldea. We were sent to this Singularity to restore the Human Order."
"In other words, you are guests from a foreign land, right?" Ishtar's face darkened instantly.
"Um, that could be one way to put it," Mash felt as if she had just stepped on a landmine.
"Tsk, foreigners..." Ishtar looked the two girls up and down. "You lack manners!"
"And you're so weak! How dare you run around everywhere?"
Under normal circumstances, Ishtar's personality wasn't this terrible, but since she had been cornered against a wall by someone just this morning, she was currently in a foul mood.
Then, having encountered two outsiders who looked just like Kiana, it was no wonder she wasn't giving them a friendly reception.
"Listen well. Generally speaking, touching me without permission," Ishtar didn't actually intend to do anything to them, just scare them verbally, "would be impossible in this world! Because I would blow any audacious fool away before such a thing could happen!"
"But as for you two," she scrutinized them. "I'll be magnanimous and forgive you, seeing as it was an accident."
"Thank you, thank you," Ritsuka finally recovered from the shock and introduced herself. "My name is Fujimaru Ritsuka, I'm from Chaldea..."
"I don't care what your name is," Ishtar interrupted her. "I won't tell you my name either!"
"And I certainly won't tell you anything else!"
"Instead, you two should honestly tell me!" She suddenly pointed a finger at Ritsuka. "For example, whether anything important has fallen nearby!"
"Huh?" Ritsuka and Mash looked at each other. "What do you mean by 'important things'?"
"You know, the kind of things that, at a glance, make you think, 'Hey, that's powerful stuff,'" Ishtar said evasively. "Have you seen it?"
"Even if you ask me like that..." Ritsuka was baffled. She had just arrived at the Singularity; what could she have possibly seen?
"Did you lose something important?" Mash asked, being more helpful.
"How could that be! I didn't lose anything!" Ishtar jumped up, appearing anxious. "How could I be a forgetful person!"
"Oh~~~" Mash and Ritsuka exchanged a look.
She definitely lost something, didn't she!
"Hey! Say something!" Seeing their silent knowing, Ishtar shouted in frustration. "Sometimes silence is the cruelest thing of all!"
"We just arrived..." Ritsuka wanted to say more, but they were interrupted by a roar. The three of them snapped out of their conversation to find themselves surrounded by dozens of demonic beasts.
"Danger, step back!" Ritsuka subconsciously moved with Mash to stand in front of Ishtar.
"Senpai, these demonic beasts are the same type as the ones that attacked us before," Mash reported quickly.
They had been attacked once before Ishtar arrived.
"The numbers are higher than before, we..." Ritsuka was still analyzing the situation.
"Hey, who do you think you're talking to?" Ishtar folded her arms, looking at the two blocking her path, her eyes narrowing.
"You should be the ones stepping back!"
She gave them a disdainful look, then stepped in front of them and launched herself into the air. Dozens of light beams were released from her sides, and the surrounding demonic beasts were instantly routed by the barrage from above.
Mana Burst (Gems).
For ordinary demonic beasts, Ishtar's basic attacks were essentially one-hit kills.
In the blink of an eye, the targeted beasts were cleared away, and Ishtar finished off the final one with a stylish downward kick.
"S-so powerful!" Mash was shocked to see these demonic beasts, which she had to fight tooth and nail to defeat, being cut down like produce.
"Is this the Age of Gods?" Ritsuka felt a heavy weight in her chest. A random encounter with someone was already this formidable, and they had only been in the wild for ten minutes and already faced two waves of demonic beasts...
Just then, another roar echoed.
A third wave of demonic beasts emerged from the city ruins.
"This..." Ritsuka sighed. Well, demonic beasts were troublesome, but they weren't without allies here.
She turned her head, only to find that the person from before was no longer there.
"Chaldea's... Fujimaru Ritsuka, right?" Ishtar glanced at the girl with the shield, then at the surrounding swarm of demonic beasts. Hmm, they should be able to handle this.
That would do.
"If you can't even deal with this level of demonic beast, then wanting to restore the Human Order is nothing but a pipe dream."
"Do your best!"
Leaving those words behind, she flew off on the Boat of the Heavens, Maanna, with a whoosh.
Ishtar was just like that—she would help if she encountered people, but once she saw they could handle the trouble, she would leave.
She was incredibly willful.
"Ahhh! Those damn foreigners!" In reality, she was actually fleeing from everything that happened this morning.
Ishtar's true self might not be so pure, but Ishtar possessing Rin was definitely quite pure.
Just thinking about how she had been teased by a girl, and then fled in defeat... Ishtar felt her whole body heating up.
But no matter how much she blushed, she didn't dare go back to the temple... so she kept flying around outside.
Using the excuse of searching for the Bull of Heaven.
Killing time under the guise of doing serious work; it was as if doing so meant she didn't have to go back and face Kiana.
"Audacious, presumptuous! How did she dare!" Ishtar hugged her head in the sky, her face flushed with shame.
Then, catching sight of a gathering of demonic beasts on the ground, she fired a light spear downward out of frustration.
Hmm, that felt a little better.
Though, calling it "anger" wasn't quite right. After all, if she were truly angry, she wouldn't have just run away. Even if that was due to shame and indignation at the time, she should have gone back and fought Kiana to the death by now.
To avenge this humiliation.
After all, in her eyes, she was certainly stronger than Kiana—the main reason was that Xia Yu had never revealed her true strength in front of her.
The fact that she hadn't gone back yet and was repeatedly ruminating over what happened this morning showed that she wasn't truly angry in her heart. Compared to anger, there was actually more shame and indignation.
But regardless, she had to return to the temple after dark.
So annoying!
On the other side, Xia Yu looked at the food sent over by Uruk and nodded repeatedly.
"The quality is truly good," she patted Siduri on the shoulder. "Gilgamesh didn't send over his own food rations, did he?"
"Miss Kiana, Uruk is not lacking in high-quality ingredients," Siduri said respectfully. "What we lack is regular food that can be grown on a large scale."
The city-state of Uruk wasn't large, but the Absolute Demonic Front was immense.
With Gilgamesh's courage, he disdained the idea of just surviving in a tiny city. The hundred-meter-high wall that protected the final fire of humanity encompassed the Uruk city-state and the surrounding mountains and rivers for dozens of kilometers.
Otherwise, if it were just a city, the residents would have long since starved to death without the ability to engage in agriculture.
However, even so, Uruk's food supply could only be described as barely sufficient, mainly because the wheat yields were truly pathetic.
As for high-quality food... Uruk was never lacking in demonic beasts.
"Do you want seeds?" Xia Yu tilted her head after hearing Siduri and casually pulled out a few potatoes. "These are good things. Gilgamesh should recognize them, right? Just take them back and show him."
"Although they might not be of much use, perhaps there'll be a surprise."
Mainly because the Singularity was destined to perish, and time was running out for the Absolute Demonic Front. Once this Singularity was resolved, everything within would lose its meaning.
Even if these potatoes were popularized, it was likely that not even one harvest would be completed before the world ended.
This was why Xia Yu didn't place much importance on it.
The Singularity had no future.
"Then many thanks, Miss Kiana," Siduri respectfully accepted the potatoes. "By the way, Goddess Ishtar is currently..."
"Oh, she went out early this morning," Xia Yu said nonchalantly. "Heaven knows what she went to do, but she seemed in a hurry."
"Mm, no spices," she said, flipping through the ingredients sent from Uruk. "Cooking like this is tasteless."
"This... we have brought every variety of spice we could collect," Siduri answered with unease.
"Oh, I know, I don't blame you; this era is just like this," Xia Yu said understandingly. "Is there nothing even in Gilgamesh's treasury?"
"Of course there are no spices in the King's treasury..." Siduri shook her head. You might get fine wine, but spices...
"Fine then," Xia Yu said with some regret, then waved her hand at her.
"Go back. Ishtar will probably be back soon, and I need to start cooking."
As she spoke, she constructed pots, pans, a stove, and a fire. She then skillfully tied her hair into a high ponytail, rolled up her non-existent sleeves, picked up a piece of meat, and began to study how to prepare it.
Seeing this, Siduri felt a lump in her throat.
No, wait, what?
You're the one actually doing the cooking in the temple?
Ishtar might not know, but how could she not?
This person was someone that even King Gilgamesh didn't dare to easily provoke. She had originally assumed that being 'captured' as a hostage was just because the other party found Ishtar interesting and had come to play.
But you're actually researching cooking for people?
The contrast was like King Gilgamesh personally roasting meat for himself.
Such a mysterious and powerful big shot, washing her hands and making soup for others... Lady Ishtar was truly worthy of being the Goddess of Beauty of Mesopotamia!
"Hm? What's wrong? Is the sight of me cooking that surprising?" Xia Yu tilted her head at the stunned Siduri. "Oh, right, you all worked hard. It couldn't have been easy transporting these things here."
"It wouldn't be right if I didn't treat you to a meal."
Xia Yu looked at the ingredients around her. Mm...
Forget it. She didn't know how to make local Sumerian delicacies.
She took out the leftover rice from last night, chopped a few pieces of meat, beat a dozen eggs, and added some small seasonings to start making fried rice.
Before long, a large pot of fragrant and delicious fried rice was served to Siduri and the Uruk soldiers.
"Come, try my cooking!"
While they were stunned, on the other side, Fujimaru Ritsuka also met the second person she had seen since arriving at the Singularity.
He called himself Enkidu.
Who was Enkidu? A character in the Epic of Gilgamesh. His tone was gentle, his manners elegant, yet he possessed a fierce combat ability far beyond what his appearance suggested. He was a Noble Phantasm with a will of his own.
As the Chain of Heaven that bound heaven and earth, he was called the strongest corner by the King of Heroes. Unlike ordinary Heroic Spirits, he was not a human who had achieved great deeds; he became a Servant as a Noble Phantasm created by the gods, Uruk's strongest "weapon."
Although he was a doll manufactured by the hands of the gods, he was also an avatar of the earth that was coordinated/integrated with nature. Despite having many adventures as the only friend of the King of Heroes, he still returned to the earth as a doll after obtaining a heart.
Originally a "clay handicraft capable of arbitrary transformation" created by the gods, he could freely change his form according to the situation.
His entire body was essentially a weapon of the gods.
However, in the past, he lacked a human-like spirit or emotions, largely no different from the beasts of the wilderness. Basically, he possessed long, faintly glowing hair close to green, androgynous, with beauty that transcended common sense and gender, appearing as a human-shaped youth of about sixteen years old.
It was said that after manifesting on the earth, he obtained humanity and wisdom after encountering a saint-like, kind priestess; thus, Enkidu imitated the form of the priestess (as a basic form). His current appearance was a look imitated out of respect for the priestess.
His combat power was equivalent to that of the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh, at his peak. The epic mentions that during the great battle with Gilgamesh, the performance he exerted was enough to be on par with his opponent, one of the strongest heroes in human history.
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T/N: If you spot mistranslation, do tell me.
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Shilling time!
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