"...er…ke…."

"...ster..wa….up"

"Maybe I…."

"Hehehe, you're so…."

,,,

…

The pleasant sensation of having my hair caressed by a magical hand welcomed me back into the world of the conscious. Deviating only when it found some interesting strands of hair with which to tug and play with, said magical hand methodically traced a path from my forehead down to my crown, bringing an almost heavenly comfort to my tired soul.

Now, while it would have been polite of me to let this person know that I was awake, the soft content humming that accompanied their actions made me hesitant to interrupt their fun. Or more precisely, to interrupt Ereshkigal's fun, her identity betrayed to me by the gentle melodic tint that accompanied her one-of-a-kind voice.

Yes, it was the clear joy in Ereshkigal's actions that made me so hesitant to stop her actions. Not at all the soft feeling of her thighs that encompassed the back of my head. Not at all, believe me.

Wait. 'What about Ishtar?' you ask. 'Couldn't it have been her instead?' Well, as a master, I'll let you know that I take great pride in knowing a great deal about my servants. Something as simple as finding the little nuances that differentiate their otherwise identical voices is but child's play to me.

Ok well I mean, if we're being honest now. If it had been Ishtar with me instead of Ereshkigal, I would have woken up to being used as a pillow, not the other way around.

Anyway,

From the breezy sensation that caressed my face almost as gently as Ereshkigal's hand, to the prickling sensation from the glass underneath me, I knew that this was not the Chaldea base at the Wandering Sea. And if we were not in Chaldea, then it meant that some sort of singularity had popped up, and it would be up to the two of us to fix it. And sooner rather than later if we didn't wish to anger either Sion or Da Vinci… or Mash if she hadn't also made the unexpected trip.

"Hey"

Ending the small reprieve into heaven(hell?) that I had been granted by the goddess, I called out to her as I opened my eyes and was immediately greeted by a surprised pair of trembling eyes whose red color was slowly spreading throughout the entirety of her face.

"A-Ah… y-y-y-you see…wha-wha-what I-I-"

"Thanks for watching over me, Ereshkigal. It seems that I lost my consciousness at some point."

"Huh!? Uhmm, yeah… yeah that's right, I was just keeping watch over you haha. Nothing else Master, nothing else…":

Having defused that small explosion I got off Ereshkigal's lap, helped pull her up, gave a good stretch to my body, and decided to let the bomb go off anyway.

"Oh, by the way, that lap-pillow felt really good. Thanks"

"Ah- So y-you you were… W-WAIT. NO, MASTER, LISTEN TO ME. IT-ITSNOTWHATYOU'RETHINKIIIIING!"

Blessed with her adorable overreaction, I felt that now was as good a time as any to take stock of the situation.

The first thing I noticed was that yes, it was in fact just me and Ereshkigal who were present in the small clearing of this so far unknown forest. Thanks to the connection–or in this case lack of– that I hold with my servants, I was aware that it was just Ereshkigal and me who had been brought over from Chaldea. However, in these kinds of situations, it was rather common for a rogue servant or other potential ally to quickly make themselves apparent.

"Hey, Ereshkigal."

"Y-YES!"

"Can you sense anyone around us?"

"Hmm, Like a servant or enemy?"

"Yeah."

"Hmmm… No. I'm sorry Master, I can't sense anything near us."

"It's fine, don't worry about it."

While asking Ereshkigal for a quick check of our surroundings, I tried to establish communications with Chaldea. Key word here, tried.

Now, it wasn't as if I hadn't found myself without contact from Chaldea before. Or that I hadn't been in situations where it was just me and another servant. But It was another thing to find myself both lost without local aid and without communication to Chaldea. Speaking from experience… yeah, Shimosa hadn't exactly been a picnic.

Well, considering whom fate had deemed appropriate to pair me with back then, I sincerely doubted that anything as bloody or chaotic as that singularity(lostbelt?) will happen again.

Then again Ereshkigal was the goddess of the underworld so… it's probably best for me to not make any needless assumptions. No point in being all pessimistic just yet.

"Hey, Ereshkigal."

"Yes?"

"It seems it'll be just you and me for a while. I can't seem to get in contact with Chaldea and am not exactly sure just why."

"Eh? Just Master and me?"

"Yeap, just you and me."

"Just Master and me…"

"Ereshkigal?"

"Master and me… Ehehehe… hehe… hehehe ."

Deciding to simply leave the giddy goddess to her own fantasies, I decided to get a proper look at the forest itself. And welp, there wasn't anything particularly interesting about it. The ground was covered in grass, the trees with leaves, and the animals were, well, 'animaly'. No strange oni, ungodly chimera, or fae to report of.

So, yeah, nothing exactly interesting in our immediate surroundings. Key word here, immediate. Because off in the distance was the second thing I had noticed. That being the absolute behemoth of a tower that stretched up to the heavens.

No seriously, this tower was actually going up beyond the clouds themselves. Despite the fact that we were surrounded by trees, all you needed to do to see this tower was raise your head and look to the sky. Because not even the clouds themselves were too high for it.

Yeah, if I was a betting man-which I'm not, no matter what Blackbeard or Artoria(The Lancer one) or the other's may want-I would bet on that sky scraping tower being the source of all this hullabaloo.

So that just left us with one last thing. And so, the third thing that I noticed, and most important of all I might add, was the adorable smile that had refused to leave the goddess's face since our last conversation. At this rate, I was seriously beginning to worry that I would lose the goddess to her imagination. So, trying to rescue her before she fell in too deep, I called out to her, saying "Did something good happen?"

"Huh? Ah no, it's nothing Master hehehe, please don't worry about it."

"Well. If you say so."

Yeah, that silly smile on her face was my reminder to take Ereshkigal out more. Hopefully this singularity was one of the more 'funner' ones. That or one which resolves itself rather easily and allows the two of us to sightsee for a while. Just not another Shimosa please. Not because I don't want to get impaled and have my innards rearranged again mind you. But because Ereshkigal just doesn't deserve to have to deal with something like Shimosa. Goddess of the underworld or not.

Regardless, it was time for us to move. So-

"Pardon me, Master?"

"Yes, Ereshkigal?"

"I believe I have discovered the source of this singularity."

"Did you now?"

"Yes! I have good reason to believe that it's that tower over there." As she pointed to the massive tower, her expression suddenly took a more solemn tone as she said, "I'm getting a really bad premonition from just looking at it, so I'm certain that it has something to do with whatever is going on."

"Huh, is that so? Well, good job Ereshkigal, I'm glad to have gotten such a capable goddess as my companion."

"O-of course! You can count on me, Master! I'm your number one goddess, so please continue to count on me!"

Her eager words causing a large grin to grow on my face, I replied with an affirmative, "I will."

Ereshkigal and I had continued walking towards the tower for the better part of two hours now, with Ereshkigal choosing to happily hum when not pointing out an interesting plant or animal that caught her attention. Quite abruptly however, I found myself pulled back as Ereshkigal grabbed onto my sleeve after having stopped moving.

Keeping the two of us in place, Ereshkigal turned to me, and giving me a gentle smile that tugged at the strings of my heart, she said with a gentle voice, "Master I-, I just wanted to thank you."

"What for?"

"Well you know, for letting me have that moment earlier."

Playing the fool, I asked her, "Whatever do you mean?"

"Mou Master, you know what I mean. I'm talking about the thing with the tower."

"Thing with the tower? Whatever do you mean?"

At my continued prodding, a very annoyed pout hijacked Ereshkigal's face. However, after giving me a glare that let me get the message, she decided to mercifully continue with "Well, it's just that, I doubt someone as attentive as Master wouldn't have immediately noticed something so, you know, massive."

Having been found out, I gave Ereshkigal a small smile, saying, "Well… yeah, it is kind of hard to miss. Isn't it?"

At that, Ereshkigal let a soft chuckle escape from her. Then, having never released my sleeve, she forcibly resumed our journey. She chose to stare at the ground while we moved, although surprisingly we were able to avoid any trees or other obstacles that might have tripped us up. After about a minute however, this incredible feat too came to an allowing her gaze to rise, the goddess turned to me and said with a bright smile. "And that's why, thank you Master. For being considerate of me."

"For you? anytime."

Although the smile she had been wearing immediately increased in intensity, she quickly got rid of it in exchange for a haughty one as she said, "W-well, if you truly mean what you're saying y-you'd…" Her false haughty expression gave way to a more honest melancholic one however, as she finished the sentence with a weak tone, muttering almost silently, "You'd bring me along more often…"

Trying to lighten up the mood I raised my arm, showcasing the hand that had been holding on to my sleeve the entire time and said, "Doesn't seem I have much of a choice now, do I?"

With the realization of what she had been doing all along dawning upon her, Ereshkigal's face slowly morphed into one of panic as she screamed out for the entire forest to hear, "A-AH MASTER! I'M SO SORRY!"

"It's fine Ereshkigal, really. You don't have to worry about it."

"B-but I"

"No really, you don't have anything to worry about. All you did was grab my sleeve. I mean, compared to the things someone like, say, Kiyohime has done, this was seriously nothing."

At those words, it seemed a small epiphany dawned on her as she remembered some of the more rambunctious members of Chaldea. Along with the fact that they had gotten away with things significantly worse than just a simple sleeve grab. So, after letting out a nervous chuckle, she tried to put up an energetic expression as she loudly proclaimed, "W-well then. Let-let us resume on our journey, there's a singularity to solve!"

Although I could have left it at just that, her earlier melancholic expression emboldened me into taking this next action. One in which I reached out my hand to her and held it wide open as I said, "Hey, Ereshkigal."

"Yes!?"

"I think I'm feeling a bit tired, why don't you keep pulling me along the rest of the way like you were just doing?"

Her immediate reaction was one of confusion. However, as the meaning behind my words quickly dawned upon her, I was given the wonderful spectacle of seeing Ereshkigal's face once more turn completely red, followed by some adorable sounds as she tried and failed to formulate some kind of coherent response. Eventually Ereshkigal seemed to tire of all her flailing, and with my hand not leaving its position, her expression morphed into a meek one as she began to slowly inch her way towards me. Although, almost as if afraid that she had misinterpreted my actions, Ereshkigal's gaze vacillated between my hand and my face, looking for any sign of disapproval to what she was doing.

With only a few inches separating our hands, Ereshkigal abruptly stopped. Then, with her gaze slowly trailing upwards until it connected with mine, she said with a skeptical tone, "I-I don't think holding someone's hand will help with fatigue, Master."

With that I had thought my little stunt dead. However, before I had the chance to bring my hand back to my side, an almost imperceptible 'But' escaped from Ereshkigal's lips.

"But…" she repeated, this time louder. "If you're going to insist, and I do mean IF you're going to insist…"

Finally, a coy look lent itself to her face as she 'reluctantly' accepted my proposal, saying, "Then I… well… I guess I don't really have a choice, do I?"

And so, taking a hold of my hand, the goddess quickly turned away, her face beet-red as she began to awkwardly, but contently, make her way towards the cloud piercing tower that was undoubtedly at center of this latest singularity.