"The enemy was eliminated by Shirou-dono the moment it appeared. I didn't even get a chance to show what I could do... Grr, how frustrating!"
Ushiwakamaru returned to Shirou's side with her head hanging in disappointment.
Even after putting everything she had into a leap at top speed, she still could not outpace Shirou's Projection, loading, and firing process.
Before Ushiwakamaru could reach the enemy, the Magical Beasts attacking the farm were pierced by the rain of blades Shirou unleashed and killed on the spot.
After several encounters with the enemy, Shirou was gradually getting the hang of it.
The speed at which he could fire his weapons was Shirou's greatest advantage.
It was thanks to that incredible speed that he had once been able to contend with King Gilgamesh's "Gate of Babylon."
"Thanks to the support of Ushiwakamaru-san and Benkei-san, I was able to eliminate the Magical Beasts safely."
At Shirou's words, Ushiwakamaru gave him a doubtful look.
"Really? Because I can't help feeling that you could have handled everything on your own even without me."
"Too much modesty isn't a good thing, Shirou-dono."
"As expected of Merlin's disciple. Unlike your master, your character is so impeccable that there's nothing to criticize."
"Hahaha! At this rate, what little value Ushiwakamaru-sama had to begin with will disappear completely."
"Benkei! Sit in seiza right there!"
After finishing their sweep of the Magical Beasts near the farm, Shirou and his companions accepted the farm owner's hospitality.
"Is something bothering you, Shirou-dono?"
"..."
The red-haired boy shook his head, then silently looked up at the sky.
What is it? Am I imagining things?
For a while now, Shirou had felt as though someone was watching him.
...
And so, Shirou's second day in Uruk came to an end.
Word of his exploits had even reached the Sacrificial Grounds.
That evening, Siduri came to the dormitory intending to congratulate him, only to find Shirou sprawled helplessly across a chair.
Even Shirou, who had undergone harsh training in Magecraft and swordsmanship since the age of eight, needed time to adjust to the environment of Mesopotamia during the Age of Gods.
The moment his work ended, the aftereffects quickly caught up with him.
Like someone waking up the morning after their first visit to a gym, Shirou returned to the dormitory with his entire body aching so badly that he could barely lift his arms.
"...Your Magic Circuits are overloaded."
For some reason, Ushiwakamaru looked especially pleased.
"This only happened because Shirou-dono pushed himself far too hard during the day... Now you'll need plenty of proper rest."
"Sorry you all have to see me like this."
Shirou spoke with embarrassment.
The dense Mana in the air of the Age of Gods had overstimulated his brain and Magic Circuits, causing him to neglect his physical condition.
It seemed he would need a little more time before he could fully adapt to fighting in this era.
Shirou had originally planned to try cooking the fresh beef the farmer had given him that evening, but in the end, Siduri prepared dinner for everyone instead.
"Sorry."
"Please don't apologize. It's because Shirou-sama fought the Magical Beasts that we can sit here and enjoy dinner in peace."
Siduri placed the finished beef stew on the table.
Ushiwakamaru folded her arms across her chest and spoke with a smug expression. "Heh heh heh, don't worry about it, Shirou-dono."
"You truly did a splendid job today. It was quite an eye-opening display, but…"
"No matter how capable you are, my presence is still indispensable after all."
Shirou gave her a helpless, wry smile. "Right. I'll be counting on you from now on as well, Ushiwakamaru-san."
"Mmm~ mmm~ mmm! I'm glad you understand. So tonight, I'll take care of Shirou-dono."
"...Huh?"
Ushiwakamaru picked up Shirou's dinner and happily brought a spoonful to his lips.
"I'll feed Shirou-dono since he can't move. Here... ah~"
".........."
Even if she was a hero from a thousand years ago, being fed by a girl around his own age was still mortifying.
Shirou hurriedly looked around for help, but Musashibou Benkei turned his gaze away, while Siduri merely touched her cheek and smiled.
Wait! Someone help me!
"Come on, Shirou-dono. Ah~"
Shirou opened his mouth in despair.
As he swallowed the food in humiliation beneath the girl's delighted gaze, he silently resolved to adapt to the environment of the Age of Gods as quickly as possible.
...
Seven days passed after his first day of work, and Shirou continued carrying out his duties protecting Uruk without issue.
Although the assignment came with no formal compensation, Siduri had still given him some money for living expenses and personal use.
Having learned from his first day, Shirou no longer fought at full power as he had in the past. Instead, he limited his output and eliminated enemies at a steady pace.
That said, perhaps he had simply been lucky to encounter such a large-scale Magical Beast attack at the beginning. Things did not always go so smoothly.
The number of Magical Beasts roaming the outskirts of Uruk was steadily decreasing.
That was not a good sign. It meant the enemy's forces were gathering around the Northern Fortress.
King Leonidas, the Lancer commanding the army at the Magical Beast Front, apparently also lived in the Heroic Spirit Dormitory, but even after spending a week in Uruk, Shirou had yet to meet him.
Leonidas was said to have returned to the dormitory to rest every night in the past, but recently, no one had seen him there.
The fighting at the Northern Fortress had become so intense that they could not afford to relax even at night, when the Magical Beasts ceased their attacks.
According to Siduri, a powerful Magical Beast with extraordinary intelligence had appeared at the Northern Fortress and organized the lesser Magical Beasts into a disciplined army.
With the number of Magical Beasts around Uruk dropping sharply, Shirou had no choice but to follow Siduri's advice and remain in the city to take on requests from its citizens.
"Alright, that should do it. How does it look, ma'am?"
"Oh my, you've been a tremendous help. My back hasn't been good lately, and just cutting this much wheat makes it hurt terribly."
"That sounds rough. Please don't overdo it."
"When you're having trouble, try cursing King Gilgamesh toward the heavens. I'm sure someone will come to help you before long."
"Hahaha! Speaking ill of such a wise king would surely bring divine punishment down upon me."
The elderly woman who had hired him laughed as she patted Shirou on the back.
With no Magical Beast hunting assignments available, Shirou had begun running errands around the city.
He expected to remain in this era for quite some time, so establishing ties and building relationships with the locals was essential.
His task that day was harvesting crops.
The elderly woman grew wheat and had always managed it alone, but her health had begun to decline that year, making it difficult for her to continue harvesting.
In the past, she could have submitted a petition to King Gilgamesh and borrowed two soldiers to help at her home.
However, because of the Magical Beasts, manpower in the city had become severely strained.
Siduri had passed the request on to Shirou, so he came to help.
Having grown up in the city, Shirou had no experience with farm work. Although he did not know where to begin at first, he quickly got the hang of it.
Once the work was finished, Shirou accepted five pieces of Priestess Silver from the elderly woman.
Mesopotamia during the original Age of Gods naturally had no concept of currency.
To confront the crisis, Gilgamesh had transformed Uruk into a fortress city.
He had grain cultivated within the city, soldiers trained, major construction projects launched, and a monetary system introduced.
"Damn it... Don't abuse your Clairvoyance."
Shirou weighed the heavy silver coins in his hand as he started home at dusk.
He passed through the market and slipped around a corner into an alley.
Then, just before reaching the dead end at the far end of the alley, Shirou stopped.
"You've been following and watching me for an entire week, haven't you? What do you want from me? I don't sense any hostility from you."
As he spoke, Shirou suddenly spun around.
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeek!?"
A girl's panicked scream rang out behind him, accompanied by an enormous surge of Mana.
Yet when Shirou turned, no one was there.
The long, narrow alley contained no one but him, as though the girl's scream had only been a hallucination.
".......... Did she run away?"
Shirou muttered to himself.
It seemed he had caught the attention of an especially shy woman who refused to reveal herself.
Come to think of it, hadn't that scream sounded a little familiar?
The red-haired boy thought it sounded a lot like someone he knew.
...
"Haa... haa... haa..."
The goddess Ishtar collapsed atop the Boat of Heaven Ma'anna, drenched in cold sweat and gasping for breath.
That was close...
That was far too close... He nearly caught me!
I used the authority of the Goddess of Beauty to erase my presence as much as possible, so how did he still notice me?
Goddess Ishtar was astonished by Shirou's perception. This boy truly was extraordinary.
Ever since Ishtar had encountered Shirou while patrolling the Garden a week earlier, she had been quietly following him.
That was also why the number of reports concerning victims of the goddess Ishtar received by King Gilgamesh had fallen by seventy percent.
From that moment onward, the goddess had focused all her attention on Shirou, leaving her with no time to concern herself with anything else.
Simply put.
Ishtar had fallen in love with the red-haired boy at first sight.
The goddess had always been ruled by her emotions when it came to romance.
In terms of appearance, the boy was merely somewhat above average. He could not begin to compare with the goddess Ishtar, the "embodiment of beauty."
Placing them side by side was like comparing a "golden crown set with seven-colored jewels" to "a chunk of iron ore freshly dug from the earth and still covered in mud."
Ishtar adored lavish, glittering things. Plain men held no interest for her, and yet...
For some inexplicable reason, she felt strongly drawn to the red-haired boy.
Even she could not explain it. Perhaps this body was influencing her?
Several decades earlier, Mesopotamia's Age of Gods had entered its final phase.
It was then that the goddess Ishtar disappeared from the earth along with the other gods.
The Mistress of Heaven who now appeared here had actually been summoned three months earlier by the Priestesses of Uruk.
When the Magical Beasts first appeared in the north, the Priestesses secretly carried out a ritual behind the king's back.
They attempted to summon Ishtar, the city goddess.
The Priestesses valued the city goddess above the king, and they regarded the instability of space-time as a heaven-sent opportunity.
Taking advantage of King Gilgamesh's absence while he constructed a fortress north of Uruk, the High Priestess first summoned "a soul compatible with the goddess's Divine Spirit," then used that soul to summon Ishtar.
As a result, Ishtar, the city goddess of Uruk, truly descended.
The gods of Mesopotamia were generally blond, but she had black hair. That trait came from the girl who served as her "base."
The two selves had completely merged into an entirely new being, yet she still remained fundamentally the original "goddess."
Compared to the original Ishtar, she had become slightly more human. That was why she unconsciously protected the citizens while eliminating Magical Beasts.
Goddess Ishtar believed that her love at first sight for the boy was probably another effect of this body.
But...
This body possessed the highest possible compatibility for the goddess to inhabit. It was the perfect vessel summoned by the Priestesses from the distant future of human history.
In other words, the kind of man this body liked was naturally the kind of man Ishtar herself would like.
H-how could that be...
Why would I fall for such a plain, penniless brat...?
That confusion and humiliation only made Goddess Ishtar even more embarrassed.
With her usual arrogance, she would normally appear proudly before the object of her affection and propose marriage. If he refused, she would simply knock him unconscious and carry him away.
Yet now, she was too timid even to show herself before him, daring only to watch from afar with a flushed face.
"Maybe I shouldn't have run away just now? But my body moved on its own... Ugh, what if he thinks I'm some kind of weirdo?"
Ishtar pressed her hands against her burning cheeks.
Today, too, the goddess agonized over her love.
...
On the tenth day since arriving in this era, Shirou finally received his second summons from King Gilgamesh.
"What's this about? I thought you'd completely forgotten me."
The moment he entered the audience chamber, Shirou voiced his displeasure.
Hearing that, the golden King of Uruk bellowed, "Fool! This king is extremely busy! How could I possibly have time to concern myself with every nameless nobody like you?"
"Although he says that... the king actually asks me about Shirou-sama every day. He hasn't missed a single day," the Head Priestess added from beside him.
"Stop saying unnecessary things, Siduri!" Gilgamesh roared, growing even more furious.
"My apologies. I spoke out of turn."
"...Hmph."
Gilgamesh rubbed his forehead. He looked even more exhausted than when Shirou had first met him.
Shirou could more or less understand why the king had been too busy to deal with him. The situation at the Magical Beast Front was clearly dire.
"Shirou, I've heard no shortage of rumors about you these past few days. My ears are nearly calloused from hearing your name."
"I've only done a few insignificant things," Shirou replied modestly.
"Spare me the pleasantries. You're only saying that because you want to see this king struggle between praising you and refusing to swallow his pride, aren't you?"
Gilgamesh rested his chin on one hand.
"Siduri tells me you're confident in your martial ability and want an assignment that places you in direct conflict with the Magical Beast army."
"Very well. This time, I shall grant your wish and assign you a mission suited to your status. Go to the front lines!"
"The front lines... You mean..."
"The Magical Beast Front."
The King of Uruk nodded.
"The commander currently leading the Magical Beasts in the north is a scorpion-man who calls himself Girtablilu. Go and bring me its head."
"My king, please reconsider! That creature commands hundreds of thousands of Magical Beasts. How is this any different from sending Shirou-sama to his death?"
Siduri stared in shock and began to plead with him, only for Gilgamesh to silence her.
The King of Heroes narrowed his cunning crimson eyes.
"Shirou, for someone like you, this should present no problem, correct?"
The boy met his provocative gaze and replied without concern.
"Of course I'll complete the mission. You talk too much, King Gilgamesh."
...
"To be honest, I was a little taken aback."
"What do you mean?"
On the way back to the dormitory, Siduri spoke thoughtfully.
"This is the first time I've ever seen the King act like that. He saw someone as a rival and deliberately provoked them."
"That's quite remarkable! In other words, the King considers Shirou-sama a competitor."
"Nothing like this has happened since Enkidu's death."
"It seems my hunch was right. You truly are special... Did something happen between you and the King?"
"Comparing me to that King's closest friend is a massive exaggeration. If Gilgamesh heard you say that, he'd sentence me to death for disrespect on the spot."
"You're right, hehe... Shirou-sama, please keep this a secret from the King."
Shirou scratched the back of his head awkwardly and somehow managed to brush the matter aside.
After the Fourth Holy Grail War, he had read The Epic of Gilgamesh out of personal interest and learned the story of Gilgamesh and Enkidu.
The King of Heroes, Gilgamesh, was born of both man and god.
As a child, he was approachable and humble, a wise sage who understood reason. Yet when he reached young adulthood, he displayed the complete opposite qualities and became an uncontrollable tyrant.
He gathered treasures from across the nation, demanded more prosperity from his people than was necessary, and dismissed the gods as "beings of the past" before casting them aside.
To admonish such a king, the gods created a clay figure named Enkidu.
Enkidu and King Gilgamesh were said to have fought for three days and three nights before the temple of Uruk without either emerging victorious.
From that day forward, King Gilgamesh regarded Enkidu as his one and only friend.
The King somewhat restrained the tyranny he had displayed until then. Although the citizens of Uruk continued to fear him, he carried on ruling the kingdom.
Afterward, King Gilgamesh set out on adventures with his closest friend and accomplished many great deeds as a hero.
Together with Enkidu, he slew Huwawa, the Magical Beast that guarded the White Cedar Forest, and brought scarce, high-quality timber back to his people.
Yet it was precisely this achievement that drew the attention of a particularly ill-tempered goddess.
Rare things, beautiful things, things praised by others.
A certain goddess wanted to possess anything of that sort, simply because it caught her interest.
Inanna, daughter of Anu and hailed as the Goddess of Goddesses, better known as the goddess Ishtar, proposed her love to King Gilgamesh.
The greatest goddess in the world confessed her love to the King of Heroes.
King Gilgamesh, however, rejected her.
After all, he knew how coldly and cruelly Ishtar had treated her husband, Dumuzid.
For Ishtar, it was likely the first rejection she had suffered since the day she was born.
She had been spoiled since childhood. Both her father, Anu, and Enki, the god of the abyss, had bestowed mountains of treasures upon her.
And yet she had been rejected by a man... by a mere human, no less!
Enraged, Ishtar ran to the god Anu and tearfully complained to him.
And so Anu, who doted on his daughter, granted her something extraordinary.
It was the mightiest Divine Beast, powerful enough to destroy the world: Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven.
With this Divine Beast at her command, Ishtar intended to destroy Uruk.
The bull ravaged crops, drained rivers, and summoned wind and rain. After rampaging for several months, it was finally slain by Gilgamesh and Enkidu together.
Uruk was saved, but Enkidu incurred the wrath of the gods for killing a Divine Beast and was stripped of his life.
Enkidu had originally been a weapon created by the gods. In modern terms, they had simply pulled the plug.
Having lost his only friend, King Gilgamesh was overcome with grief and began to comprehend the reality of "death."
If even a being like Enkidu could not escape "death," then was "death" truly something that could never be overcome?
From then on, King Gilgamesh began his search for immortality.
He reached the end of the world and descended deep into the abyss, where he obtained the herb of immortality, only for it to be stolen by a snake.
After returning to the surface, he stopped to bathe. The snake seized that opening and swallowed the sacred herb.
As a result, snakes gained the ability to "shed their skin," while humanity forever lost its chance at immortality.
During the Fourth Holy Grail War, the Catalyst prepared by the Tohsaka Family was the shed skin of that very snake.
Having lost his chance at immortality, Gilgamesh returned to Uruk, only to find that the kingdom had already fallen into ruin during its king's absence.
King Gilgamesh reflected upon his own selfish recklessness and devoted himself to restoring Uruk. From that point onward, he never again departed on an adventure and spent the rest of his life fulfilling his duties as king.
That was the account recorded in The Epic of Gilgamesh, but it did not necessarily represent the whole truth, just as The Tale of the Heike never mentioned that Ushiwakamaru was a girl.
One thing, however, was certain. Every tragedy had begun with that selfish and capricious goddess, Ishtar.
Although Shirou had not seen her in person over the past ten days, he had heard plenty of rumors about her.
Seated high in the sky, the goddess laughed uproariously while unleashing indiscriminate saturation attacks upon the ground below.
The earth split apart, and even the Magical Beasts serving under her were caught in the devastation.
The sight left everyone trembling in terror. She was no city goddess of Uruk. She was the very embodiment of brutality.
After returning to the dormitory, Shirou prepared a lavish dinner and briefly said farewell to his companions.
"Please give our regards to Leonidas-dono."
"Yeah, I will."
"And to Tomoe Gozen as well. That woman is always pushing herself too hard... We're counting on you, Shirou-dono."
Under the cover of night, while the Magical Beasts slept, the young man set out alone for the Northern Fortress.
He failed to notice that a beautiful figure had furtively slipped out of Uruk and followed after him.
"Alright~ This time, I'm definitely going to create the perfect setting for my first meeting with Shirou and raise his opinion of me!"
The goddess had no idea that Shirou's opinion of her had already sunk as low as it could possibly go.
***
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