Another hand gently stroked her smooth golden hair, his eyes full of helplessness.
"Actually, a lot of things happened after parting ways with the gods, and I can't really explain them clearly."
"But what I said before still counts. I will stay with you all the way, until the Age of Gods truly comes to an end."
He had said those words once before, and Ishtar naturally still remembered. But she was clearly not used to someone touching her so intimately, and her face slowly started to turn red as she said in a low voice,
"Y-you know who I am, right? Don't just touch my head like that. I am the goddess of the heavens, you know."
Alvin pretended not to hear, gently stroking Ishtar's smooth golden hair, then rubbing upward against it until he messed it all up.
Ishtar shot him a vicious glare. As someone who possessed the full divine authority of Beauty Manifestation EX, she had plenty of goddessly dignity. But because of her slightly flushed cheeks and those watery eyes, that glare instead carried a hint of weakness and allure, and no matter how you looked at it, it had no killing power at all.
Ishtar soon lowered her head again.
Mm, although she was usually very arrogant, a goddess like Ishtar, who was used to everyone obeying her, actually found a bit of proper "rebellion" to be a bonus.
And since she was a tsundere, when she said "don't" it did not necessarily mean she really did not want it. If this were Morgan or Lily instead, doing this would probably get me thrown straight into a little black room.
Feeling the atmosphere gradually ease and grow a bit ambiguous, Alvin spoke up at the right time, "Let's head out first. An alien flying ship has landed. We need to get this news back to Britain as soon as possible."
Ishtar came back to her senses a beat late. She looked at the big bag of gems in her hands, then secretly glanced at Alvin before softly humming a quiet "mm."
.
.
.
After nearly ten minutes, Alvin brought Ishtar out of the flying ship without any real danger.
Along the way, he carefully searched the entire ship. Aside from some gold, there was nothing special to be found.
And the inside of the ship seemed to have been deliberately damaged. When he tried to activate it, the ship did not respond at all.
'An alien lifeform, who exactly could it be?'
Alvin looked at the torrential rain outside the ship and could not help muttering to himself.
———
King Marco sat in the sealed room, his face full of terror.
This great noble, who had gained the most after the White Dragon war, had long since forgotten the fear he once felt toward the White Dragon, as well as the wild joy of surviving by sheer luck.
Over the years, he had befriended major nobles, secretly recruited soldiers, and hired magi, turning himself into a towering presence among the aristocracy.
His ever growing ambition made him crave greater power. He wanted to climb higher step by step, to the point that when the White Dragon returned, he no longer even took it seriously.
But now, the god he had summoned had gone missing, and King Arthur and Morgan had both appeared at his manor not long ago. Once the matter of him sending people to attack the White Dragon was exposed, that alone would be enough for King Arthur to convict him.
Although the White Dragon was not well liked in Britain, in a certain sense it was still part of Britain's upper ranks.
Thinking of this, King Marco felt even more regret.
"It's all that woman's fault. Yes, it's that woman who tricked me."
If not for that woman who called herself the Lord of the Clock Tower's Department of Law luring him, how could he have ever taken the initiative to summon a god?
"Heh! Looks like you regret what you did?"
"Oh, no… rather than regretting your actions, maybe you regret that your dirty little deeds got found out?", At that moment, a cold yet pleasant voice suddenly sounded from behind him.
"Wh-who's there?"
King Marco suddenly turned his head, and his pupils quickly shrank.
In the shadows of the room, a pair of bewitching crimson eyes was quietly staring at King Marco.
"Who are you? What are you?"
His manor had hired many magi from the Age of Gods and was protected by multiple layers of barriers, yet in just a few days it had been infiltrated again and again, and the barriers had not reacted at all.
"Who I am is not important. What matters is that I know what is troubling you, and I can help you. That is enough, isn't it?"
Footsteps echoed in the silent room as the woman's voice, cold and alluring, continued, "Do you want power, King Marco?"
In the dim light, the woman wore a cold, elegant white dress. Her golden hair fell like a waterfall, and her scarlet eyes reflected the yellowish lamp as she slowly walked out of the deep shadows.
The moment he saw her, King Marco's pupils shrank violently.
Even though she was restraining her aura, just seeing her made a deep, instinctive dread rise in his heart.
"It's you… you are the alien creature from that flying ship?"
"Flying ship?"
Arcueid raised her brows slightly, then sneered, "I have nothing to do with that ship."
"But its owner probably has the same goal as I do. We both came to kill the strongest being on this planet."
"You know who the owner of the ship is?", King Marco asked without thinking.
"Of course. But she has already left."
A faint curve lifted at Arcueid's lips, "In any case, you do not need to know about those things. That is enough idle talk. Let us stop here."
Arcueid lazily sat down on a chair, lifted her eyes, and stared at King Marco with a dark gaze, "Now, answer me a few questions. About King Arthur and the others."
"You are after King Arthur and Morgan?", King Marco tried his best to stay calm.
"If you insist, they are among my targets. But right now, I am more interested in the guy Gaia took a liking to not long ago," Arcueid's flawless face showed neither joy nor anger, but an invisible pressure radiated from her, "I have looked into it, King Marco."
"You should be quite familiar with him. With that White Dragon, right?"
———
Late at night. Heavy rain.
Arcueid stepped over the threshold and left King Marco's manor in high heels.
["What exactly are you trying to do."]
Gaia's voice sounded in her mind.
"Nothing much. I just find everything in this world terribly boring, so I am looking for a bit of fun."
["What do you want to do?"], Gaia repeated.
Arcueid soon revealed a charming smile, "If nothing unexpected happens, that White Dragon you keep talking about should be the strongest creature in Britain, right?"
"Since you also dislike humans, I will take your place, since you cannot act, and become the will of this planet."
Kill the White Dragon, destroy Britain, the most brilliant nation left under the afterglow of the Age of Gods, then stand atop Britain's ruins and become Earth's UO.
If I get that far, it should pass quite a bit of boring time, shouldn't it?
["Are you interested in Earth's UO?"], Gaia's voice asked.
Arcueid did not answer. She simply lifted her head and looked out at the pitch black curtain of rain in the distance.
It seemed she had remembered something from the past, and a hint of nostalgia appeared in her cold eyes.
Back then, if he had just agreed to become her retainer, she could have performed the "embrace" ritual for him and made him a True Ancestor who would never grow old.
Yet he had refused, choosing to die naturally from illness instead.
Arcueid stayed silent for a long time before softly saying, "Probably because of the words of some hopeless idiot right before he died."
———
After bringing Ishtar away from the flying ship and safely returning to Britain, Alvin did not go to see Artoria right away. Instead, he first went to find Lancelot and had him temporarily seal off the forest area where the ship had landed.
Lancelot was currently swinging his sword on the training ground. After hearing Alvin's reminder, he simply gave an "mm" and said, "You worry too much sometimes. Back when the ship landed, Galahad and Tristan had already rushed over there. Unless something unexpected happened, that place should already be sealed off."
Lancelot continued swinging his sword, but his eyes unintentionally glanced toward the goddess of the heavens standing at the entrance to the training ground.
Soon, he lowered his voice and asked, "What's with that goddess?"
As someone who had been through it, he could naturally tell that the way Ishtar was looking at Alvin was a little off.
"Alvin, I need to remind you…"
"I know what you want to say. I have a sense of measure about this. Don't worry," Alvin smiled and cut him off.
Lancelot could only shake his head helplessly.
When it came to private relationship issues, he was not really in a position to give Alvin advice. In that regard, the two of them were about the same.
What did make him a little concerned, though, was the matter Alvin had just mentioned about the flying ship.
A being from beyond the heavens, a trace of worry flashed in Lancelot's eyes.
For Britain, this would probably become another massive turning point.
Alvin left the training ground and said to Ishtar at the door, "I will take you back first. After that I still need to report what happened today to King Arthur."
Normally, Ishtar would have refused Alvin outright, but recalling everything that had just happened on the flying ship, she ultimately nodded in reluctant agreement.
.
.
.
After sending Ishtar back to her room, Alvin headed straight for the Hall of the King.
Not everyone in the palace knew what the Night Watcher looked like, but even setting that identity aside, Alvin was one of King Arthur's aides. The guards by her side naturally recognized him and let him through.
Guided by a servant, Alvin smoothly entered the Hall of the King and saw King Arthur seated on the throne. The golden crown added a touch of nobility and majesty to her pure and beautiful face, and her eyes shone brightly.
There was less of her usual gentleness and more of a king's cold, noble elegance.
Lily is really playful in private, but she is also pretty charming in formal situations like this.
Since there were other guards present and King Arthur's other aide, Ariel, was also there, Alvin maintained a respectful attitude, bowed, and said, "My king, I am back."
Artoria looked unusually serious today. She first had Ariel prepare some black tea, then said, "I heard you left the palace earlier. Did you go to the northern forest?"
"Yes. This afternoon, a flying ship from beyond the heavens landed in Britain. I was a little uneasy, so I went to investigate it. Inside the ship, I saw this."
Alvin took a gold coin out of his pocket and handed it to Artoria.
"This coin was brought back from the ship. There were many such coins on that ship, and every single one has the same pattern carved on the back."
Artoria flipped the coin over. On the back was carved a gigantic creature, so enormous it seemed to hold up the heavens and the earth, and in its hand it gripped a great sword filled with killing intent.
Staring at the pattern on the back of the coin, Artoria's eyes flickered as she quickly asked, "You suspect the owner of that flying ship is the one on this coin?"
"It is just a possibility. I am not sure either, which is why I brought the coin back to show you," Alvin said.
Artoria pondered for a moment, "I have never seen the person on this coin. Do you have any leads?"
'It is an alien being. How could I possibly know,' Alvin shook his head helplessly, "I do not really know either."
In his previous life, Alvin had paid some attention to Type Moon games, but he knew very little about alien beings.
He had heard that powerful existences like UO and Beasts existed in the Type Moon world, but as for the specifics, like who exactly was among the UOs, he did not really know.
If he had to say something, he had once met someone who called herself "UO" in a past simulation game.
She lived in a castle, often tasting crimson wine alone on the castle's balcony, staring at the moon in a daze. That person was called Arcueid.
Artoria pondered for a moment, then instructed the aide beside her, "If I remember right, someone saw Merlin in the palace today. Go invite him here."
Ariel lowered her head slightly in a bow, then quickly turned and left the hall.
Watching Ariel's departing figure, Artoria could not help deeply furrowing her brows.
They knew far too little about that mysterious flying ship right now. Even though she had already guessed, back when travelers from other worlds started appearing frequently in Britain, that a day like this would eventually come.
After all, if those who "traveled" were not just modern magi, but also beings from other planets?
Then the problems Britain would face in the future would only grow more and more.
Even so, not even Artoria had expected that day to arrive this fast.
Just then, a gentle voice suddenly sounded beside her, "My king, your brows are all scrunched up. That does not look good."
"You have faced far more hardships than this in the past. Did you not overcome them one by one anyway?"
Alvin gently comforted her, patting her fragrant shoulder, "Do not worry. This time, I am here too."
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