Chapter 259:
"Mount Ebih is just ahead," Merlin said as he led Fujimaru Ritsuka's group and a large cart of treasures along the rugged mountain path. "
That is the peak that the goddess Ishtar forcibly suppressed and occupied by force."
"After flying out of Uruk, Ishtar built a Temple on the mountain and treated it as her territory."
"But trying to persuade that Ishtar..." Da Vinci's voice came from the bracelet. "Isn't that harder than defeating her? She is
a super willful woman that even Da Vinci-chan can't do anything about."
"Not to mention you guys also want to coax information about Kiana out of her. Aren't they on very good terms?"
"Aren't you afraid she'll turn hostile and refuse to acknowledge you when the time comes?"
"But we have the secret manual given by King Gilgamesh now," Fujimaru Ritsuka said, looking at the large cart beside her. "It should be fine... right?"
"It should be okay," Mash replied. "This is much more cost-effective than fighting."
"Besides, although Ishtar causes trouble for people, she isn't a bad goddess."
"Are you referring to her protecting the pastures from the Demonic Beasts?" The Doctor spoke up teasingly at this point. "That is indeed somewhat responsible."
Though not by much.
"There's also the first impression," Fujimaru Ritsuka recalled how she had helped herself and Mash when they first met as strangers.
"But still, causing destruction for the sake of protection," Da Vinci said, stroking her chin. "This behavior is also quite willful."
"And she even extorted money from the pasture owners," the Doctor picked up the conversation. "This goddess really is..."
Even though he had become a mortal, he was someone who had once been a proper Caster Gilgamesh. Pointing fingers in this situation was already an instinct.
"But as a reward for rescuing them, it's actually quite reasonable, right?" Da Vinci's perspective was different.
"I already knew your thought process was a bit like that..." The Doctor glanced at Da Vinci-chan, "But to actually express understanding for this kind of thing..."
In his habits, a god protecting the world should not seek anything in return; at least, that was how he did it.
"True, her methods might be a bit clumsy..." Fujimaru Ritsuka was obviously taking Da Vinci-chan's side too.
Mash continued, "But she is indeed protecting Uruk."
Well, three against one; the Doctor was completely routed.
"So it's really great that we don't have to fight," Fujimaru Ritsuka took another look at that large cart of treasures.
"Understood," Da Vinci-chan said, while putting the 'arrogant' 'King Solomon' in a rear naked chokehold from behind. "Then I wish you all the best!"
"By the way," just then, Merlin asked 'casually', "About Romani, I'm quite curious about something. You all don't seem too worried about Kiana becoming an enemy."
"Oh? Why would you think that?" The Doctor asked, panting heavily after finally escaping from Da Vinci's iron grip.
"Before this, you all put immense effort into analyzing the backgrounds, abilities, and other intel of all the enemies you faced," Merlin asked with a smile. "But with Miss Kiana alone, you guys are doing it super half-heartedly. That's very strange!"
Hearing this, Da Vinci and the Doctor exchanged a glance.
What other reason could there be? Of course, it was because Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others had already communicated with Chaldea, unanimously agreeing that Firefly and Kiana were the same person.
So they just decided to lie flat. Otherwise, what could they do?
Unless Humanity Order truly grew anxious and sent out all the Grand Classes to fight an earth-shattering battle, otherwise they couldn't see a sliver of hope in defeating that super warrior from twenty thousand years in the future.
Are you kidding? Even the Beast hatched from something like All the World's Evil was speedrun in ten minutes. With Chaldea's scrawny little arms and legs, what else could they do?
Cling tightly to the bigshot's thigh, of course!
They definitely couldn't win in a fight, that was beyond doubt. Currently, Kiana, who appeared to be on the same level as a Beast, still offered some hope of being defeated, so the Uruk faction was still trying to struggle in every possible way.
But Chaldea was terrified that if they fought too hard and she dropped the act, directly switching to her main account, and then dropping a line like 'Like Fireflies to a Flame, Life Begets Death', what would they do then?
"It's not like we can glean any intelligence anyway," Da Vinci-chan sighed and said. "The intelligence related to her is basically all provided by you guys. We know as much as you do. Although we had contact with her friend Miss Firefly, it was only for a few days."
"Alright, alright," Merlin said, but his attitude boiled down to one word: disbelief!
Kiana's special regard for Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash wasn't something he couldn't see; he wasn't blind.
Right at this moment, an astoundingly large Saint Graph reaction was suddenly detected on Chaldea's scanners.
"Careful! Someone's heading your way!" Da Vinci-chan immediately warned. "The Saint Graph reaction is already very close!"
"Understood, we will..." While advancing cautiously, Fujimaru Ritsuka began to express her thanks, but right after turning a mountain pass, they saw Ishtar's Temple.
"This is..." The group stared dumbfounded at the towering architecture before them, finding it hard to maintain their expressions.
Flanking the glittering golden stairs were two giant pure-gold fortune cats. They each held a massive sign—the right one said 'Fortune', the left one said 'Wealth'. On their chests were plastered the words 'Great Luck' and 'Prosperity'...
The entire Temple was built with gold and white as its primary colors, with towering golden pillars on both sides. Beneath the sun, the lighting effects were simply incredible!
A look of pure nouveau riche bling.
"This is definitely Miss Ishtar's Temple!" Mash said with absolute certainty.
This glittering and dazzling appearance matched that money-grubbing goddess's aesthetic perfectly.
"Moreover, it strongly exudes the confidence of 'I have conquered Mount Ebih!'"
The junior was quite good at appreciation.
"Alright, alright," Seeing this, Merlin waved his hand and walked forward. "Stopping here won't get us anywhere, let's quickly go in—"
Before he could finish his sentence, several light bullets flew over from the top of the Temple.
Fortunately, Merlin had a knack for preserving his life and dodged them incredibly smoothly.
"How dare you have the thick skin to boldly show up at my doorstep for sightseeing!" Ishtar rested one hand on Maanna and the other on her hip, mocking, "You just got beaten to a pulp by the Goddess of Demonic Beasts, and now it's my turn?"
"You're underestimating me way too much!"
"Uh, we didn't get beaten up that badly," Fujimaru Ritsuka scratched her cheek in embarrassment upon hearing this.
"Hah? If my Servant hadn't intervened, do you think you would have survived?" Ishtar subconsciously retorted.
"Uh, how do you know so clearly?" Fujimaru Ritsuka asked, secretly grumbling in her heart. 'Does she even know that she's your Servant? It seems like Big Sister Kiana never agreed to it, right?'
"That... do you even need to ask?" Ishtar's expression stiffened. "A goddess is naturally omniscient!"
How could she possibly admit that she was watching from afar in the sky at the time? If others heard, they would probably think she was some kind of stalker.
"Then, Omniscient Goddess!" Fujimaru Ritsuka placed a hand on her chest. "As the representative of Uruk, I have something I wish to say to you!"
"Something to say?" Ishtar interrupted her, having no desire to listen to sweet talk.
Her Servant hadn't returned home for a whole day; she was probably fooling around in Uruk again. Hmph!
How could she give Fujimaru Ritsuka a good look?
"By the way, who permitted you to climb Mount Ebih! And enter my Temple?"
Hearing this, Merlin patted the dust off his white robe. "Even if we wanted to knock, there's no door here for us to knock on."
Watching Ishtar looking like she was picking a fight, Ana, who had long prepared for battle from the side, was entirely out of patience upon hearing this. "Merlin, just shut up!"
Couldn't he see she was in a bad mood and ready to take it out on them? Yet he was adding fuel to the fire!
"It seems my previous attitude caused you to misunderstand," Ishtar said with a cold face. "I am neither your friend nor your companion. I am not like you humans!"
"I am a goddess! To continue entangling myself with you would damage my reputation."
"As both the Goddess of War and the Goddess of Venus, I, Ishtar, am praised as the goddess among goddesses! Now, let me show you how formidable I am!"
As soon as her words fell, she summoned her weapon and swooped down from mid-air. Ana immediately went up to intercept, and Mash raised her shield to follow.
Soon, the three were tangled in a brawl. Well, mainly Ishtar was attacking, while the latter two defended passively.
"As expected of the goddess Ishtar, she is truly strong," Merlin couldn't help but sigh with emotion upon seeing this.
"Fujimaru, are you ready?"
"Yeah!" Fujimaru Ritsuka pulled out a bag from her embrace. "I'm counting on you, Merlin!"
Just then, Ishtar pushed the two back. Feeling her fighting spirit rising, she simply pulled out a gem and crushed it, her aura growing even more powerful.
"It seems you've accepted this level of intensity reasonably well, so next, I'm going to increase the power!"
After saying that, she prepared to swoop down from the sky again.
Right at that moment, Fujimaru Ritsuka rushed forward holding the bag in her arms, shouting her name.
"Ishtar!"
"Hah? You still want to rush up and protect your Servant?" Ishtar looked at her as if her brain was broken. "That's a very bad habit of yours, Master of Chaldea!"
As she spoke, the light bullet in her hand aimed at her, ready to fire.
However, with a single blast of a light bullet, the sprinting Fujimaru Ritsuka turned into crimson flowers, while the real Fujimaru Ritsuka had already arrived by her side.
Then she raised the bag in her hand and swung it hard!
In an instant, countless precious gems danced in the air, the dazzling array of jewels directly blinding everyone present.
Naturally, Ishtar, who had inherited Tohsaka Rin's nature, was no exception. She stared at the sky full of gems, completely dumbfounded.
Seeing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka recalled what King Gilgamesh had told her at the time.
'That girl loves gems, but despite her deep love for them, she has no affinity with them. She has a fatal lack of Golden Rule.'
Gilgamesh said gloatingly, 'Up until now, she has only had a pitifully small harvest relying on the tribute of humans, and now no one goes back to offer her tribute.'
'In other words, we need to offer gems to Ishtar?' Fujimaru Ritsuka asked.
'You are still lacking in finesse,' King Gilgamesh shook his head upon hearing this. 'Doing that will only make that woman even more insatiably greedy!'
Gilgamesh revealed an inhumanly wealthy smile. 'Go buy her off. This is the secret manual This King imparts to you. This King entrusts you with thirty percent of the ores in the Treasury of Babylon.'
'Use these to win the goddess in an auction!'
Armed with such a secret manual, Fujimaru Ritsuka initiated her charge at Ishtar.
It was super effective!
"What? What is all this?" Ishtar was completely stunned. Looking at the gems scattered everywhere, she even forgot about the battle. "With this many, I won't have to worry about gems for magecraft!"
The original Ishtar naturally wouldn't be such a money-grubber, but who asked her to use Tohsaka Rin's body for a Divine Descent, fusing with Tohsaka Rin's nature!
"Oh no!" Fujimaru Ritsuka's acting was incredibly perfunctory as she held the cloth bag and yelled, "The gems meant to be offered as tribute to the goddess Ishtar have all scattered!"
But Ishtar no longer had the time to scrutinize her expression; her eyes were completely captivated by those gems.
"What did you say?" She said in disbelief, "These gems are a tribute to me?"
Would that Gilgamesh be so kind?
"By the way," right at this moment, Merlin pushed the cart forward and pulled off the tarp covering it, revealing a whole cart of gold and gems underneath, striking while the iron was hot. "These are just the deposit."
"What? That's..." Tohsaka Rin stared at the most dazzling item on top of the treasure pile, a luxurious crown inlaid with radiant gems of various colors. "The Crown of Seven Stones?"
"These are all for me?"
"Of course, they are all for you!" Fujimaru Ritsuka immediately replied.
"What? Are you a god?" In this moment, Tohsaka Rin's nature took the upper hand. Ishtar held her head in her hands; under the sunlight, the radiant pile of gems was so blinding.
"Calm down, me, and Ishtar! How could there be such a good thing in the world!"
Seeing this, Mash quickly explained, "We want to hire the goddess Ishtar to become a reliable fighting force! This is the common wish of the people of Uruk!"
If you think it's impossible for pies to fall from the sky, then we'll provide a legitimate reason, and then strip away your defenses layer by layer.
Ishtar's pupils quaked upon hearing this; she was clearly hesitating.
Fujimaru Ritsuka struck while the iron was hot, "King Gilgamesh promised to open the Treasury of Babylon to you!"
"Hah? How could that guy..." Ishtar's first reaction was disbelief.
"Sigh, Fujimaru, just tell her the total amount," Merlin said with a helpless look.
"As long as you agree to become our companion, twenty percent of the ores in the treasury will be offered to you!" Fujimaru Ritsuka reached out her hand and said.
"Wh-what did you say?" Ishtar was completely stunned upon hearing this.
Then she took a few deep breaths, summoned Maanna, and plopped herself down on it.
She had no choice. If she didn't do this, her legs would give out. That was a full twenty percent!
"But even if that treasury..."
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