When he thought of this, King Marco suddenly flew into a rage, so angry that he smashed the teacup straight at the tightly shut door, "Get out! All of you, get out!"
———
Ishtar felt as if she had just woken from a dream.
For a goddess who, from the past up until now, had never really suffered any setbacks, today's failure was without a doubt a massive blow to her.
If it had been Tiamat's true body, that would have been one thing. But the problem was that what she faced was merely that "mother's" spiritual body, and she couldn't even muster the slightest thought of resisting.
And now she had even become the enemy's captive.
'This guy doesn't look like any kind of decent person at all. If he takes advantage of this chance to do something bad to me...'
When Ishtar thought of that, her spirit jolted, and she suddenly opened her eyes.
What entered her field of vision was a pitch-black room.
A single candle flame, like a bean of light, dispelled the darkness.
"You're awake?", Immediately after, she heard the boy's gentle voice by her ear.
Ishtar lightly frowned and tried to get up from the floor.
However, at that moment, her legs suddenly went weak, and her whole body involuntarily collapsed again.
She lowered her head to look at herself. Her gaze was blank at first, then as if she suddenly realized something, she abruptly lifted her head and said in a low, cold voice, "So you drained someone else's mana completely dry. You really do have some nasty tastes, White Dragon of Britannia."
"And this place should be a basement, right? Your preferences are really quite unique."
A White Dragon could devour everything. Even the radiance of a holy sword could be swallowed whole, so draining Ishtar's mana clean was naturally not difficult at all.
Alvin was sitting on a chair. He turned around and looked at the goddess before him.
Her black twin ponytails naturally fell down on both sides. Her figure was tall and graceful, and the dress she wore couldn't fully conceal her fair, delicate skin, exposing a pair of dazzlingly white, long legs.
At this moment, she was sitting on the floor in a seiza-like pose, her hands bound by silver shackles. She bit her lip tightly, and her gaze toward the boy was filled with shimmering moisture.
Stifled! Simply stifled to the extreme.
Even back in Uruk, Ishtar had never felt this stifled before.
Not only was the mana in her body restricted, but when she was as weak as an ordinary woman, her hands were also tightly bound.
'This demon dragon,' Ishtar took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.
"What exactly do you want to do?", Very quickly, she spoke in as calm a tone as she could manage.
Since he hadn't disposed of her immediately after capturing her, that meant she was still useful to Alvin.
Alvin sat down across from her, glanced at her a few times, then helplessly said, "I say, aren't you a bit too wary of me? If it weren't for me, you might have gone straight back the moment you manifested."
"As for why I brought you to the basement, this place is less likely to be disturbed. It's more convenient for questioning. That's all."
If Alvin hadn't stepped in to stop things and smooth them over at the time, just kicking over Tia-mama's desserts would have been more than enough to condemn Ishtar to death.
So what Alvin said wasn't really a lie.
Ishtar was clearly unconvinced. She stubbornly pressed her lips together, her pretty face full of anger, and said, "If it weren't for 'Mother's' intimidation, there's no way I would have fallen into the hands of a despicable White Dragon like you."
"Despicable, huh? White Dragons in Britannia are originally called the Despicable King, so being a bit despicable doesn't really matter," Alvin smiled, "But since you've already said that, then it should be fine if I become a little more despicable, right?"
As he said this, he lightly poked Ishtar's waist with his finger.
Because her dress didn't cover her waist, when his warm finger touched her smooth skin, Ishtar's whole body almost jolted.
"Mm~"
Her slender body trembled slightly, an uncontrollable sound drifting from her red lips, and her legs unconsciously rubbed together.
"If you don't cooperate, it might not be this simple later. I have quite a few annoying interrogation potions on me."
Morgan le Fay was an expert at making potions. Just for interrogating prisoners alone, she had nearly twenty types. Although Alvin wasn't proficient in potions, he understood a bit of the basics.
Some of the simpler ones, he could still brew on the spot.
"Hmph! You think mere potions would be useful against a god—"
Just as Ishtar finished speaking, she saw Alvin get up and start rummaging around for potion ingredients. Her cute face couldn't help but twitch slightly, her eyes filled with fear.
After a brief silence, she bit her red lip and said, a little aggrieved, "What exactly do you want to ask?"
"The one who summoned you was King Marco, right?", Alvin asked bluntly.
"You let me go first and then—"
Before Ishtar could finish her sentence, Alvin suddenly placed one hand on her thigh, then slowly moved it down to her fair, delicate foot, lightly touching the sole.
Despite the fact that she hadn't worn shoes from the moment she descended, Ishtar's feet were completely spotless. Their shape was beautiful, her toes slender and delicate, like rare white jade in the world.
This was also a woman who didn't like wearing shoes, but whether it was because she was a god or for some other reason, there wasn't a speck of dust on her feet.
Alvin thought about it, but his hands didn't stop moving because of it.
When she felt the unfamiliar touch of fingers against the sole of her foot, Ishtar almost reflexively tried to pull her foot back, as if electrocuted, but Alvin held it firmly in his grasp.
"Alvin, I'll kill you!"
As soon as her words fell, a ticklish sensation came from her other foot as well. Ishtar's toes instinctively tensed, and she let out a sharp cry.
Alvin said calmly, "Actually, I'm already pretty gentle. But next time, I'll wait until the punishment is over before listening to your explanation."
"I'll give you three more seconds. If you're still stubborn, you'll get to experience other punishments."
This time, Ishtar didn't keep being stubborn. She didn't know what kind of temperament this White Dragon really had, and she didn't want to take unnecessary risks.
"I was indeed summoned by King Marco."
"Why is King Marco able to summon a god?", Alvin asked.
Ishtar glanced at him and said, "You White… White Dragon, isn't that obvious? Because he has my holy relic."
The word "idiot" was just about to slip out instinctively, but when she saw the bright, sunny smile on the boy's gentle face, Ishtar forcibly swallowed the words that were about to leave her mouth.
"You're a god, at least. Can King Marco's mana alone support your manifestation?"
Alvin paused, then continued, "And even if it could, wouldn't a god's manifestation be 'stopped'?"
Ishtar froze for a moment. Hearing Alvin say this, she suddenly remembered something very important.
A god's descent did indeed require a holy relic, but at the same time, it also required the consent of one side.
The will of this planet, Gaia.
Gaia and Alaya. The former was the will of the planet, while the latter was the aggregate will of living beings.
The biggest difference between the two was probably that the Heroic Spirits on Gaia's side all possessed "divinity," while Guardians and the like belonged to Alaya's side. So-called Guardians were types like "Emiya Shirou."
From this point of view, Ishtar should belong to Gaia's side. So if King Marco summoned a god for no reason, how could Gaia possibly agree?
Or did King Marco use some method to deceive Gaia?
If not, then the only possibility was that Gaia tacitly approved King Marco's summoning ritual, but why?
Just as Alvin's thoughts were still in disarray, he suddenly heard footsteps coming from outside the door.
'There is actually someone here?'
Alvin couldn't help but freeze for a moment.
After all, this was an extremely hidden basement in King Marco's manor. It was precisely to avoid being disturbed that Alvin had deliberately brought the unconscious Ishtar here.
'Could it be Tia-mama?'
'No… this mana doesn't really feel like hers.'
Alvin closed his eyes, and in an instant, his perception covered a large area outside the basement.
"..."
'Holy crap… why do Morgan and Lily know I'm here?'
As if he sensed something, Alvin abruptly opened his eyes.
Then, his first reaction was to quickly unlock the shackles on Ishtar's hands, while secretly calculating his next move.
Feeling the mana in her body slowly recovering, Ishtar lifted her head in confusion and looked at him.
"What's wrong with you?"
Even Ishtar could tell that Alvin was panicking inside.
"It's nothing. Anyway, you're free now. Leave quickly. Just don't come looking for trouble with me again afterward," Alvin kept his tone as calm as possible.
"Then why is your forehead sweating? Are you really okay?", Ishtar's eyes were full of doubt.
Alvin waved his hand and said, "I'm the White Dragon of Britannia. What could possibly happen to me."
As soon as he finished speaking and was about to push the door open, he suddenly heard that the footsteps had already stopped right outside the door.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
The knocking seemed to echo along with Alvin's heartbeat. Immediately after, a pleasant female voice came from outside the door.
"Alvin… is that you?"
It was Morgan le Fay.
"I sensed his mana fluctuations, could he be locked in here?"
When Artoria's voice followed, Alvin's heartbeat grew even faster.
Ishtar took in the entire scene, and as if she realized something, the corner of her mouth suddenly curled into a vengeful arc.
Just as Alvin's mind was still blank, he saw a hand press down on the door handle behind him.
Then, she slowly pushed open the basement door.
———
As the basement door slowly opened, the nearly identical faces of the two sisters, aside from their hair color, came into view.
Standing on the left was the King of Arthur, clad in a heavy cloak and wearing a crown. Her golden hair was simply tied up at the back of her head, a few golden strands framing that noble and beautiful face.
The moment her eyes landed on Alvin, they immediately lit up with joy. However, her gaze quickly shifted to the woman behind Alvin, and the joy in Artoria's eyes gradually turned into confusion.
In the end, that confusion turned into teasing and anger.
The expression on Alvin's face had long since completely frozen. His body stiffened slightly, like a statue that could scatter in the wind at any moment.
Beside Artoria, Morgan had also noticed the goddess in the basement.
Very quickly, beneath her hazy veil, her peerlessly beautiful face was covered in frost, and she couldn't help but narrow her eyes.
Although she had shown never seen Ishtar before, she could sense something abnormal about her.
The goddess before her already looked extremely beautiful even now, but Morgan could tell that the other party was deliberately concealing her true beauty.
If her beauty were EX-rank, then at this moment, she was probably only at B-rank at most.
When did he end up with such a beautiful "acquaintance". Morgan le Fay lifted her gaze. Those already dark eyes seemed even deeper.
"Am I not supposed to have come and disturbed you?", Morgan's cool, pleasant voice echoed faintly in the basement.
'It's over, they seem to have misunderstood something,' Facing these two dangerous gazes, Alvin forced a gentle smile onto his face and said,
"Lily, Morgan, why did you come together?"
Morgan casually glanced at Ishtar behind him. Beneath the thin veil, the corner of her mouth drew a charming curve as she said, "Ever since Merlin sent you to the Imaginary World, I've been searching for your whereabouts. I just didn't expect that you'd already escaped that place with no sky and no earth on your own."
[T/N: There's a monthly discount ongoing on my P@treon page for the next three days. You can get 20% off on your membership. Enjoy~
p@treon. cum/AmbitiousTranslator ]