Solar-Powered Ishtar
"The Underworld is still here..."
Merlin rubbed his chin in thought. "In that case, the meeting of the Three Goddesses that my Clairvoyance saw..."
"Wait!" Right at that moment, the Doctor from Chaldea suddenly raised an alarm. "A massive magical energy signature is approaching!"
"What..." Hearing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka subconsciously looked up, only to see several streaks of light flashing across the sky as a few magic bullets came crashing down toward them.
Mash swung her Great Shield up, blocking directly in front of everyone.
"Found you," Ishtar said, leaning on Maanna as she looked down at the group below. "You were the ones snooping around and prying into my business with the pasture owner, right?"
After being lectured by Xia Yu, Ishtar had thought about it carefully and asked the people at the pasture herself, only to find that things were exactly as she had said, which left her feeling somewhat guilty.
As for the people at the pasture, they didn't dare hide anything from a goddess and casually ratted them out.
Ishtar's silhouette looked so brilliant under the twilight sun. "To think you'd dare pry into a goddess's holiday schedule, there's a limit to how thick-skinned you can be!"
"I'll teach you a... uh, Kiana, why are you here too?"
Right after she finished speaking, she saw Kiana looking at her with a thoroughly resentful face. Ishtar's confident expression instantly turned into panic. "I... I didn't do it on purpose! I didn't sense your presence at all just now!"
Most of the time, gods didn't just rely on their eyes to recognize people; they also used divine power, presence, and things like that, mostly because it was genuinely convenient and allowed them to identify someone beyond visual range.
Particularly a god like Ishtar who loved flying around in the sky—she had simply fired off a few magic bullets right after sensing the presence of the Chaldea group, which resulted in this awkward situation.
"You didn't sense it?" Hearing this, Xia Yu rubbed her chin. "Now that's interesting."
She had never done anything to conceal her presence; she went everywhere perfectly out in the open.
If it were just Ishtar being careless, that would be one thing, but the problem was that when Kingu attacked Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash a few days ago, he had also completely ignored Xia Yu before making his move.
Logically speaking, this shouldn't be happening to her.
Truly interesting.
"I'm only here because of them, of course," Xia Yu patted Fujimaru Ritsuka's shoulder. "We're good friends after all, so it's only natural to say hello when we meet."
"Good friends?" Hearing this, Ishtar's expression as she looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka became highly unfavorable. It was already troublesome enough that the gloomy woman down in the Underworld was competing with her, and now there was another one here!
"Ha? You're just my attendant," she said with a thoroughly displeased look. "Your friends don't have right of way in my territory, and besides, they wantonly pried into a goddess's schedule..."
"Be my guest," Xia Yu said, giving Fujimaru Ritsuka a look that said 'sorry, I can't help you.' Ignoring the other girl's betrayed expression, she unhurriedly walked over to the side, found a clean spot, and sat down.
"Heh, so that's how it is," Ishtar's spirit lifted upon seeing this. "In that case, are you all prepared to receive a goddess's punishment?"
She didn't actually intend to do anything severe to these people, but a beating was probably unavoidable.
"Oh dear, looks like someone did something shameful and is afraid of people finding out," Merlin added fuel to the fire from the ground.
"Are you embarrassed because people found out you're a gem bandit?"
"Merlin?!" Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash turned to look at Merlin in shock. Why are you provoking her!
Betrayed twice within the span of a few minutes, Fujimaru Ritsuka felt completely miserable.
"That's not it at all!" Hearing this, Ishtar couldn't take it anymore. Her face darkened as she said, "First of all, I never attack humans for money!"
"But didn't you take away their gems?" Fujimaru Ritsuka asked.
"I merely took the proper reward for defeating the demonic beasts!" Ishtar emphasized. "If humans receive help for free, you will all quickly sink into depravity!"
As she spoke, her eyes couldn't help but dart toward Xia Yu.
But Fujimaru Ritsuka quickly extracted the core detail.
"In other words, you have provided help for free before?"
"Uh..." Hearing this, Ishtar's face stiffened, and she turned her head away in embarrassment. "Shoot..."
"In... in any case!" After the embarrassment came a fit of anger. "I will absolutely give you a divine punishment!"
"To actually treat me like an idiot twice in a row! You'd better properly pay for the offenses you've committed!"
The heavenly boat Maanna beside her began to gather beams of magical energy.
"Wait, we have no intention of fighting you," Fujimaru Ritsuka still wanted to try and reason with her.
"Save your breath!" Ishtar was already past listening to reason. "I'll take the treasure in your hands as mental compensation!"
Then she fired off a spear of light.
"You really are a bandit!" Merlin complained while dodging the spear of light.
"Come, let me see what you've got!" Amidst a cloud of dust, Ishtar kicked straight toward Fujimaru Ritsuka.
But Mash decisively blocked in front of her.
"Heh, not a bad amount of force," Ishtar noted, breaking through Mash's defense with a rapid succession of moves. "But compared to me, you're still a bit lacking!"
The next moment, she appeared right in front of Fujimaru Ritsuka. Just as she was about to strike, Merlin drew the sword from his staff and released magical energy to drive her back.
"Tsk, what a pain," Merlin looked at the goddess before him, then glanced at Xia Yu, who was watching from the sidelines.
The latter had actually pulled out a cucumber and was watching the battle with great relish.
So he wasn't in a hurry either. With this layer of relationship present anyway, Ishtar would at most give them a beating; nothing truly bad would happen.
"A waste of effort!" Ishtar rubbed her hands together, preparing to attack again. The next moment, a scythe swung at her from behind.
Subconsciously, she flew straight up into the air.
"Haha! If you can't fly, don't even think about catching me!" Ishtar's body drifted freely through the air like a nimble fish. "Revere the goddess, powerless mortals!"
"Hey, that's just too cowardly!" Merlin's eyes widened as he shouted, "Come down here and settle this fair and square!"
"Why would I abandon my own advantage?" Ishtar looked thoroughly smug. "Now then, the game ends here!"
She raised her left hand high. "It's time for me to bring out my true strength!"
The next moment, the twilight sun vanished from her body as the distant sun fully sank beneath the mountains.
"Uh... bring out..."
The very next second, her head drooped down, and she just hung there in the sky, completely motionless.
"Huh?" Merlin froze instantly upon seeing this.
"She stopped moving?" Fujimaru Ritsuka was also bewildered, unable to figure out what Ishtar was doing.
"Alright, alright," seeing this, Xia Yu swallowed the last bite of her cucumber, stood up, and walked over to everyone. "The sun has set, so the princess of the day should go to sleep."
The next second, she flew high into the air, arrived beside Ishtar, and caught the unconscious goddess.
"Wait, what's wrong with her?" Fujimaru Ritsuka looked curiously at Ishtar in Xia Yu's arms.
"Oh, she's been under a lot of pressure lately and hasn't been sleeping well these past few days," Xia Yu said with a straight face. "So fatigue broke her body down, and she automatically enters a sleep state the moment the sun goes down."
"...This," the group exchanged glances upon hearing this.
What a half-hearted answer...
No matter what, the reason for Ishtar's fainting definitely wasn't that!
But everyone tactfully chose not to ask.
"Alright, since the sun has set, we might as well find a house to rest in," Xia Yu looked at them. "I'll cook, you guys go clean up a room."
"Okay!" Hearing this, everyone became enthusiastic in an instant. Xia Yu had occasionally visited their base a few times these past days, and who among them hadn't tasted her cooking?
Even Gilgamesh, after tasting it, expressed jealousy toward Ishtar for being able to eat it every day.
'Tsk, how does a woman like that deserve such luxurious food every day,' those were his exact words.
If he had such a cook under him during the Uruk period and Ishtar stole them away, he and Enkidu would have fought past the Bull of Heaven just to break the cook back out.
Soon, with everyone's highly efficient cooperation, a small room was cleaned up.
"I have flour!"
"I'll use magecraft to get water!"
"Um, I found some wild vegetables!"
"I managed to get some bird eggs here!"
Not only did they clean up the room, but each of them also very consciously brought out the ingredients they had scavenged.
"Hmm, this combination of ingredients," Xia Yu rubbed her chin. "Oh well, let's just make a bowl of noodles."
"Merlin, give me a dream."
"You got it," Merlin naturally knew what she wanted to do. He tapped his staff, and a dreamscape unfolded.
Seeing this, Xia Yu snapped her fingers. The Herrscher of Reason core began to shine, and a large kitchen was materialized. Various ingredients began to cook themselves.
That's right, it was the exact same operation she used in dreams. With Merlin's assistance, the various pots, pans, and ingredients were all working hard on their own, making the entire small house look incredibly magical.
"Coach, I want to learn this!" Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at the scene that resembled a magical kitchen from a fairy tale, her eyes practically sparkling as she looked at Xia Yu.
"Big Sister Kiana, I want to learn too!" Mash was also eager to try.
Merlin, naturally, was waiting to eat what was prepared. Others might not be clear on it, but he knew that the foundation for learning this trick was that you had to be a good cook first.
Anna, who was on the side, also looked toward the cozy kitchen with a sense of longing, but after Xia Yu's gaze drifted over, she reached out and pulled down her hood again.
Seeing her avoidant look, Xia Yu didn't force her, but simply reached out and patted her head.
"Giving you the Slayer of Immortals just to have you come here and do labor," she shook her head. "The Humanity Order really is a piece of work."
"Uh... Big Sister Kiana, you know Anna?" Fujimaru Ritsuka was somewhat surprised to hear this.
"Actually, you guys know her too," Xia Yu shrugged. "But this is her privacy. When she's willing, she'll tell you herself, right?"
She looked down at Anna.
"...I don't know you," Anna's voice was somewhat hollow.
"It's just that you don't know me yet," Xia Yu smiled gently. "It's fine, we can get to know each other slowly."
Hearing this, Anna shrank her neck and lowered her head once more.
Xia Yu didn't force her either and continued her kitchen magic.
Right at that moment, Ishtar, who was lying on the table to the side, woke up.
"Ara, it's dark," she opened her bleary eyes. "Good morning... wait, what's going on? Where is this place?"
She looked up and saw Fujimaru Ritsuka. "And who might you be?"
"Uh... that, I am Fujimaru Ritsuka, humanity's last Master," Fujimaru Ritsuka introduced herself subconsciously upon hearing this.
"Ha? What does that mean?" 'Ishtar' had a completely bewildered face. "Wait, although I don't know what's going on, why am I here?"
"A kidnapping, right? This must be a kidnapping!" Ereshkigal, who had logged into the account, looked slightly excited. "Aren't you afraid of retribution for doing this kind of thing?"
She was a goddess, so she naturally didn't fear the current situation. Defeating the few people in front of her wouldn't be an issue at all, but Ereshkigal, who had grown up in the Underworld since birth, had never encountered this kind of situation.
A sense of crisis? There was none of that.
Her mind was entirely filled with immense curiosity and excitement!
Seeing this, Anna subconsciously extended her scythe, resting it against her neck. "Don't make useless resistance!"
"Anna," seeing this, Xia Yu turned around. "Give me some face."
"..." Hearing this, Anna withdrew her scythe without a word.
And Ereshkigal finally saw Xia Yu to the side.
"Wait, Kiana, you're in league with them?" A sudden, inexplicable emotion rose in Ereshkigal's heart.
What's this? Claiming to admire me left and right, yet doing this kind of kidnapping thing with other people...
"Yes, I'm in league with them," Xia Yu said with a smile upon seeing this. "I conspired with these people to kidnap the goddess Ishtar. Now, do you understand your situation?"
As she spoke, she even gave her a playful wink.
Uh, Ishtar?
Hearing this, Ereshkigal's expression froze. Right, she was currently using Ishtar's body.
In other words, the person they kidnapped wasn't her?
Ereshkigal immediately convinced herself cheerfully.
"Then what do you want from kidnapping the goddess?" Believing she had understood Xia Yu's meaning, she also gave her a wink, then straightened her face and spoke with absolute seriousness.
Hearing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash exchanged a glance.
These two definitely had some unspeakable secret, exchanging glances in front of everyone like that. Do they really think everyone is blind... wait, they really did have to pretend to be blind.
Between these two, one was a goddess and the other was someone whose status was at least at the level of a beast. Given the current situation... it was better to just pretend to be blind.
To save their lives, it wasn't shameful.
Fujimaru Ritsuka even seized the opportunity to ask, "We hope you can tell us about the Three Goddess Alliance."
Although she didn't know what kind of romantic roleplay they were doing, being able to gather more information was still good.
"So that's how it is," Ereshkigal sighed upon hearing this. "Fine, you can ask... wait, what's going on with that kitchen?"
She looked up and saw that fairy-tale kitchen, then followed the magical energy to look at Xia Yu. "You made this?"
"Uh-huh," Xia Yu smiled. "Do you like it?"
"I do!" Ereshkigal was essentially influenced by Tohsaka Rin as well, and what girl wouldn't like such a magical fairy tale?
★ ★ ★
T/N: If you spot mistranslation, do tell me! But for faster responses, please notify me on my discord server instead (link is in my profile). Thanks!
★ ★ ★
Shilling time!
Members of my [email protected]/quickinquickout can read advanced chapters on quick-tl(dot)com—and even customize translated terms to match their preferred names and terminology!