Hello everyone and welcome back to the start of chapter 133 of the story!
Ordeal Call IV on the 30th of April guys! Just gotta endure a whole month till there! C'mon, I know you all can go through more dead weeks! But yeah, OC IV, the end is really near. And I still won't speculate about the 10th Anniversary yet. I'll tell my thoughts and expectations about it more ahead when we get closer to it and with more info. Also, good luck on your rolls for Everyone's-Mother a.k.a Tiamat!
So yeah, with all that said. Let's go into the chapter!
DISCLAIMER: All of the Nasuverse characters belong to Nasu and are property of Type-Moon, with the exception of the OC's that belong to me, the author
Having long since exited the legendary Cedar Forest, the chaldeans had begun to make their way torwards Uruk, correctly this time. No more under the guidance of the fake and impostorous enemy servant who claimed themselves to be Enkidu, the party now were on the company of more trustworthy servants such as Britain's most famous mage of the arthurian tales, Merlin, and the mysterious rogue servant known as Ana.
Helping them in the background in previous Singularities in one way or another, this was the first time the group was meeting the great wizard and candidate to Grand Caster for the very first time. They had huge expectations for him. It was Merlin after all The mage who could pull off a thousand spells and tricks, mastered and merged in the arts of magic, magecraft and so on. He'd surely be of enormous help for Chaldea.
Altough...not much during direct, physical combat.
"How the hell can you be so damn weak?!" Ritsuka exclaimed in shock and consternation torwards the wizard who was next to him, Merlin still wearing his buoyant smile despite having his clothes slightly dirty and singed from the party's recent battle with a group of wild wyverns.
"Oh? I think you have made a bit of a mistake there." Merlin chuckled as he extinguished the small flame in his shoulder so non-chalantly. "Being a powerful mage doesn't necessarily mean I'm a good fighter and expert on more direct combat. Hence why I instead decided to back you up with some spells for the majority of the fight."
" 'Spells' that ended up doing almost no effect or damage on the enemies! So thanks for nothing on that one!" Nala rebuked Merlin, bringing up how little to no help they ended up being against the wyverns.
"In my defense, you wouldn't expect the bad luck of us having come to face with enemies that are of a class with advantage to mine, did you?" Merlin replied back, haven't counted for the fact the wyverns they ended up fighting were of the Rider-Class, natural opposite to his Caster-Class.
"I still think you could've done better, Merlin-san..." Mash murmured, judging that it was just excuses from the wizard for having performed poorly now.
"See what I told you about? Completly useless. In every sense of the word." Romani talked to the party, having already guessed Merlin wouldn't be everything they imagined him to be.
"Fou fou!" Fou responded to that, sounding like he was also agreeing with the doctor's observation.
"Well, at least we're grateful for the huge help you gave us, Ana." Ritsuka took off his gaze from the Caster servant to now stare at the small one, thanking her. "You took some weight off of ourselves."
"I only did as means of my own survival." Ana, the mysterious girl, replied in the same collected tone she had been speaking since they'v met her so far. "I knew you'd be able to deal with such creatures by yourselves."
"Able to do it or not, you still did amazingly well!" Peko told to the young servant. "We dealt with the wyverns way faster than ever before."
"Whatever you and your companions say. I don't think I made that much of a difference." Ana thought the compliments were unnecessary, dismissing them.
Seeing that the night had recently arrived to the land, Ritsuka decided they were good for today. "The sun went away already. Guess it means our day ends here."
"We're going to set up the camp then, master." Mash replied, already knowing what Ritsuka would say next. "This is a great spot as well. Besides the monsters we've killed, I do not detect any other hostile beings nearby."
"Time to build a bonfire and get some benches then!" Nala exclaimed, already about to get her hands on the materials.
"Don't mind if I help you on that, Nala." Mash offered her aid to the girl before shifting her gaze to Ana. "Do you wanna help is set the bonfire as well, Ana-san?"
"Hmm, I think so. There's nothing better to do anyways." Ana accepted casually.
"I'll be making the dinner in the meantime." Peko responded, already trying to come up with what to cook. "Care to assist me on that, Ritsuka?"
"Sure thing! What's on your mind for dinner?" Ritsuka asked to his friend, joining him as he begun using his powers to germinate some vegetable plants in the ground.
"Can't get too creative today so some standard soup will do." Peko responded, thinking on a few more details. "Maybe bread too to eat alongside it. When the girls are done with the bonfire, we'll begin cooking."
"But first and foremost, extract the vegetables from the ground and chop them up!" Ritsuka speaked the first step. "It will be an honour working on chef Peko's special soup!"
The boy blushed a bit of embaressment at Ritsuka's playful teasing. "I-It will be just standard, average soup like I said! There won't be anything of special about it..." Composing himself, the boy stared back to his friend. "Take it serious please, Ritsuka."
"I will. Was just joking with you there." Ritsuka chuckled happily, ruffling the hair of the younger boy.
"May I also join in your task of making dinner?" Merlin asked to the two, approaching them. "It might not look at first but I-"
"Fouuuu!" Appearing from surprise, Fou attempted to attack Merlin again as a way to deny his offer in Ritsuka and Peko's stead. However, the mage simply stop the blow with his bare hand, continuing to smile to Ritsuka and Peko as if he was anticipating for it this time.
"-do know how to make food tastier with some spices."
"Fou really wants this guy dead." Ritsuka murmured to Peko, gazing at both the wizard and animal with a disconcerted face.
Peko was giving the same gaze. "Their relationship must have been some sort of messed up for Fou to hate him." He murmured back to Ritsuka before proceeding to talk back to Merlin. "I wouldn't exactly take you for someone that knows how to cook. Eh, that's a bit og a surprise in fact. What spice do you recommend to turn the soup more tasty then? Black pepper? Coriander? Bay leaf? Sweet pepper? Spinach?"
Merlin looked a bit oblivious to the boy. "...Yes. That's more or less what I had in mind indeed."
"You will cast some of your magic spells on the soup, won't you?" Ritsuka said, immediatly cutting to the chase.
"I think it was really that obvious, wasn't it?" Merlin confessed, not even doing any effort to deny what Ritsuka said was true.
"Hum, I dunno if we'd be okay with that then." Peko said. "Not like we don't trust you to help us. But, would it really be safe to cast a spell on the food you're about to eat? What if it comes out wrong?"
Merlin laughed slightly bemused to that. "Worry not, young one. I assure you that on my entire life that spans through centuries, I never before casted a wrong spell ever. While the worst it happened was some to come out imperfect while I was mastering its arts, I would never let myself to accidentaly poison you. While such scenario could be somewhat perceived as comedic by some, it would be tragic nontheless and not to the best of all our collective interests as well as of humanity. Thus, the probabilities of me mistaking on a spell by accident are as null as void of zero itself."
"If you say so..." Peko responded, still a bit reluctant if Merlin had truly the skills to cook.
"No way that you learned how to cook in some capacity." Romani responded, not believing in the wizard. "When did you had the time for that? I'm calling it a bluff!"
"You'd be surprised with how many things I can still do even when confined to my tower." Merlin replied to the doctor. "Watching over humanity for centuries can eventually get dull, so I had to find myself doing other hobbies to spend the time."
"Just promise you won't put anything 'unnatural' on the soup, okay?" Ritsuka told him, taking into notice by now how Merlin could be a bit playful.
"I will not. Rest easy." Merlin replied with a comforting yet cheeky smile.
"You totally must have denied access to kitchens with that face..." Romani commented, hoping that Merlin wasn't feeling like playing a prank on the chaldeans as the three begun to collect the vegetables that sprouted from the ground.
Half an hour had passed, and now the entire party were sitting all around the bonfire on the improvised benches with the bowels of soup in their hands. And to the relief of anybody, the dinner was great, Merlin having seemingly kept the promise.
"Hm! This soup is very nice, Peko, master!" Mash gave her opinion of the food as she swallowed it down. "Did you used the same ingredients or you decided to add or change something?"
"It does feel different. In a good way though!" Nala added, eating the soup with gusto.
"Well, it was most of the same to be honest." Peko replied, happy to see they were liking the dinner they made. "Altough I also admit it tastes a bit opposed to what I usually cook. Guess we have Merlin to thank for that." The boy looked to the mage sitting next to him.
"Looks like I have to congratulate you, Merlin! Your touch made it better after all." Ritsuka said, glad that letting the wizard help them out on the dinner wasn't a bad decision. "By the way, may we know what spell did you do to make this soup so good?"
Merlin gave a sly smile as he closed one of his eyes. "Apologies, but I'm inclined to not reveal it. It's a secret."
Romani looked a bit jealous behind Merlin on his hologram. "At least you had to be good in something..." He muttured bitterly before having his cheek grabbed and pulled by Da Vinci. "Owowowowow!"
The italian inventor sighed in enervation. "Can you please stop acting like a jerk torwards him, Roman? That doesn't look like you at all now."
"So Merlin did this soup as well, hm?" Ana looked down at the food on the bowel she was holding in her own hands, haven't taken a bite of it yet. The rogue servant just stared deeply at it, as if her mind had spaced out, thinking of something in silence.
"It will get cold if you do not eat it." Nala said next to Ana, spoon hanging on her mouth, pulling the girl out of her thoughts and getting her attention. "But like, since you're a servant, I understand if you don't feel the need to eat at all. So don't mind to ask me if I can eat your soup too!" She said joyfully, taking out the spoon from her mouth.
"..." Staring quietly to the other girl, Ana simply took her gaze away from her and back on the soup in her hands. "Noisy."
"Eh?" Nala gave a baffled expression in return while Mash slightly leaned over behind her to stare at Ana.
"At the minimum, take a bite out of it to see if you like." The shielder said, seeing that the rogue servant didn't look very enthusiastic to try out. "I guarantee you that you're gonna love it."
Letting Mash speak, Ana ended up being convinced to try. "Okay then." Bringing up the spoon to the dish, she moved the piece of soup into her mouth, eating it, not having great expectations for it. "!" But it was when the flavour begun kicking in, that she was proved wrong, her eyes getting a bit more lively and wide once she swallowed the soup down her throat. "It's...It's..." Without dwelling on it too much, Ana went for another bite again, starting to eat the soup almost passionately.
"Wow! If it wasn't for the fact you are a servant, I'd think you were starved by the way you're eating the dish!" Nala commented, a bit impressed at how Ana went from having little interest in the soup to eat it so fervently.
Mash let out a small smile. She was right about Ana just having to experiment to like it.
"See? It's good, isn't it?" Peko speaked to the rogue servant who just finished eating her soup in quick time, much to the slight shock of everyone else in the group except for Merlin.
"Maybe even more good than we've thought!" Ritsuka said agape in his own mind as he saw Ana putting the now empty bowel down.
"So delicious..." Letting out a satisfied exhale, the young rogue servant swiftly composed herself once she realized she had shown a moment of supposed 'weakness' to the party. "I-I mean...it was tasteful indeed." She said while partially hiding her face under thw hood, staring to both Peko and Ritsuka. "You cooked well."
"Isn't she the cutest, guys?" Merlin said, teasing Ana for her behaviour.
"Drop dead." Ana responded back with no emotion, not even looking directly at the wizard.
Staring at the rogue servant, Ritsuka's mind then thought of a question. "Thinking about it, we've been walking torwards Uruk for what now? Two days? I wonder how close to the city we are."
'According to the calculations of the distance between your current location and Uruk, you're expected to arrive the city tomorrow." Romani revealed how much was still left for the party to reach Uruk through his screen.
"We could've already been there a lot faster if we went on Árma Hermes." Peko lamented a bit. "Altough if it was already hard to fit us all in the vehicle to escape the Demonic Beasts, it would be impossible to take in Merlin and Ana as well."
"I don't mind the walking excercise. It's good for the legs." Ritsuka replied, being a bit more optimistic.
"It's a bit hard to believe that it's already been two full days since we left that place." Mash said while Nala was munching on the bread by her side. "What were you doing in that forest by the way, Merlin-san?" She threw the question to the wizard. "Having appeared at the moment you did, was your presence there solely to stop the fake Enkidu from leading us to their trap?"
"More or less so." Merlin responded, about to explain. "Since the very moment you landed on Mesopotamia, I was able to detect your presence in this Singularity and observe you from afar. I saw the very moment the imposter that now bares the name of Enkidu approached you and was guiding you away from Uruk. Fortunately, or unfortunately for them, they were leading you to the Cedar Forest where I already was. Hence why I managed to anticipate and foresee perfectly the moment and location of the forest where me and Ana would step in your way to intervene. So it was a case of being at the right place in the right time. Were I on another place of Mesopotamia during that, things may not have ended so well for you if I didn't reached in time."
"So we were 'a coincidence' away to have ended up in whatever trap they had for us." Nala commented. If it wasn't for that detail, who knows where the chaldeans could be now?
"But Merlin-san was already in the Cedar Forest then." Mash speaked, now aware that Merlin wasn't there for their arrival at first. "What were you originally doing in it?"
"To find an item." Merlin responded. "As a servant of King Gilgamesh, I was sent to search for a thing called 'Tablet of Destinies' within the Cedar Forest. But as you might suspect, I didn't had success on it so far."
"Tablet of Destinies? What is it about?" Peko asked to the wizard, curious.
"Hmm...beats me." Merlin replied, appearing to not have much idea on it. "But King Gilgamesh is vehement on me to find it as quick as possible, so it must be of great importance. It was also there I recently bumped into Ana, meeting her shortly before your arrival. A lucky finding if I say so myself!"
"I don't think the same can be applied to me." Ana replied detachedly. "I'm only following you because I want to make sure you hold your part of the contract. No backstabbings."
"That won't happen." Merlin surprisingly speaked back in a more serious and composed tone, being rare of him so far from what the chaldeans have seen. "You shall also get what you want as part of what was dealed."
"You're also looking for something?" Nala looked to the girl at her side. "Mind telling us what is it?"
However, Ana replied in her usual reserved manner. "What I search is not worthy of any significance. It matters little to you."
"Uhm. That's an unusual way of saying that you don't want to tell us." Nala replied, thinking the rogue servant was being a bit too reticent with them.
"Let her be, Nala." Mash told her. "If asking her once won't make her say it, insisting on it will do much less so."
"But it's true you could speak a bit more with us." Peko told to Ana. "You've barely interacted in these two days we've been walking torwards Uruk."
Conscious that the fact she wasn't socializing much with them could make the group have a bit of a bad perception of her, Ana tried to justify herself. "Sorry if I do not look like the type of person who wants to talk much. It's that I was adviced to avoid people and stay in segregation throughout my life." She said, hoping it was enough for the chaldeans to not bother her.
And it seemed it was, as the team from Chaldea remained a bit silent with that information, wondering if the life she had previously before becoming a servant was awful.
"I see...It's a delicate subject then." Peko responded, rubbing tha back of his head a bit in shame. "Sorry."
"It's okay. There was no way for you to know." Ana replied. Going back to be quiet, the rogue servant however pondered about speaking. They didn't look bad people with bad intentions, genuinely just wanting to talk with her. So, Ana decided to engage with the chaldeans for a bit, seeing no problem with it. "By the way, what are your intentions on this place exactly? To save humanity?"
"That's the pure truth!" Ritsuka smiled to her. "By helping to resolve this conflict that is going on between the Three Goddess Alliance and King Gilgamesh, we'll be able to get a step closer to it!"
"And we've already went on six type of problems like this one before!" Nala added euphorically, bringing up all of the other previous Singularities they cleared. "So fighting monsters, gods, bad guys in general, ain't news to us! You could consider us as basically experts at this point!"
"It's a bit more complex than that but essentialy at the core, it is that." Mash said, kindly pulling Nala back to her from being too close to Ana.
"Except in this Singularity, we also have this question to go about." Peko took out the ancient document that was in his pocket as he said that, unfolding it, showing to both Ana and Merlin.
The wizard immediatly took interest in it. "Is that a..."
"It's a document. Seemingly a very old and important one." Peko explained, seeing the letters that none of them knew the meaning of it yet. "We are trying to discover what it means and it's context so that we can get a clue about our past. And since the letters in the paper are said to resemble a bit the written languages from Mesopotamia. So we think we might get our answers to it now that we're here. Maybe King Gilgamesh knows what this document means."
"Your past?" Ana replied, addled.
"Me and my brother don't know anything from our past. We can't barely remember it." Nala cleared it up to the rogue servant. "We have no idea where our homeland is like or where it is. See that crown symbol on our backs?" Nala pointed to the insignia badge at the end of the paper. "We have a similar tattoo, or rather magic crest, on our backs. Which means it is related to us. If we figure out what it says, then we probably figure out our home, past, everything about our lifes."
"Ah, so it is that important to you." Ana said, now with the knowledge that Peko and Nala were seemingly lost children away from home, their lifes plunged in mystery. It made her feel a bit sympathetic with them somewhat. "Chaldea isn't your actual home then?"
"It isn't. We are currently theorizing if the nation we do came from is here in Mesopotamia however." Peko said, letting out a bit of a despondent sigh as he looked up to the stars in the sky. "Still, if all of the cities in the region are being destroyed one by one, we might've been too late." He said, afraid deep down that ended up being the truth.
Nala also felt a bit sorrowful hearing that alongside the rest. If that was the case, then their greatest opportunity of discovering who they really were and everything about them would be gone to waste, never having truly been there in the first place.
"..." Compassionate with that expressed fear of the boy, Ritsuka wondered if he should tell him and Nala about the 'dream' he had. If the information and revelation about Musashi's connection with their father would make the twins feel a bit more optimistic that they still had other ways of finding out about their past. Not only that, but something about Man of Sin as well. His brain still couldn't recall what exactly, but he knew it was something important. He had to remember it. Moving his hand, the master of humanity approached it to Peko's shoulder and-
"But before that, master of Chaldea, if thou by any chance ends up surviving, make sure to continue caring for the twins."
"!" And then, Ritsuka hesitated, ending up backing away his hand from Peko. A movement that Merlin's attentive eyes noticed.
"But you know what? I think we will find clues here eitherway." Peko continued to speak, drawing a smile on his face. "Whether our homeland is here or not, I'm sure that one day we will get the answers. If we look hard enough, or walk long enough, we are bound to eventually find our way home, right?" The boy now demonstrated confidence, believing that at the end of this journey, a big reward would be waiting for him and Nala besides the salvation of humanity.
Meanwhile, Ritsuka grabbed the hand he had pulled back close to his chest. He looked undecided, doubtful even.
"You said it well now, Peko." Mash responded, happy to see the boy had opted to think in a better outcome and a more positive perspective.
"Even if we don't get what we're looking for here, I'm sure that it will be an important step torwards it!" Nala added, agreeing with her brother. "Like you said, if we keep looking no matter how much time it takes, I'm also sure we will find our home no matter what!"
"So that's what keeps you pushing forward eh?" Ana murmured, looking to the smile of optimism on Peko. It could almost feel contagious and admirable. "To find your way back home..."
Romani, who was hearing the conversation until now, was unable to contain a slight smile of fondness on the two kids ambition to unravel their past. In his heart, he deeply wished that ended becoming true for both of their sake.
But Ritsuka on the other hand, was still in his own thoughts, unsure if he should actually tell Peko and Nala about his dream. A certain part of him had fear. Fear how both their reactions could be upon hearing it. They still had this Singularity left to do after all. Would telling them now possibly affect their focus and concentration? "Is..Is it right to tell them now?"
"I knew it."
"Uh?" Looking to the side as he heard a whisper, Ritsuka turned his head to see Merlin was staring back at him with a very meticulous and analytical look, as if he was staring to something in Ritsuka. Something beyond the master of humanity's eyes. His mind. "W-What is it, Merlin?" he asked to thw wizard, pondering why he was looking at him like that.
Instead, Merlin simply adverted his gaze from him, not saying a thing and proceeded to stare to Peko, putting on a smile. "Such determination is moving from you, young child! That document...it looks mystifying just by the simple glance of it. You can even tell the years of history it carries with it on the material of the paper. I admit, it does capture my interest. May I see it?"
"Of course." Peko replied, handing the document to Merlin without a problem. "Do...Do you know how to read it, Merlin?" He asked, sounding a bit on the expectation.
"Well, I might can." Merlin responded, now with the document in hands, about to inspect the letters from close. "The mystic aspect of the magic of this world and its secrets may seem small compared to how much I unveiled and discovered during my life so far."
Peko then immediatly stoop up from his seat. "You can actually read it?!" He exclaimed, now in anticipation alongside the rest of the chaldeans. "I mean, of course you would! You're the great mage of King Arthur, Merlin! I'm sure that some funny and unusual letters would be no match to your int-"
"Yeah, sorry. I don't know what these mean exactly." Merlin speaked, much to the comedic shock of Chaldea.
"This must have been the closest to an heart attack I've ever felt." Ritsuka commented, thinking for a quick second that Merlin had indeed figured out the text on the document.
"Don't put our hopes high up only to respond like that, you fiend!" Nala protested.
"While I may not know what this document says, nevertheless I do have some observations I'd like to point it out." Merlin said, having something else to say as he continued to hold the piece of paper. "This language and its letters, it does feel ancient. Perhaps even older than that of the sumerian and akkadian written texts."
"Older? You mean, way older than Mesopotamia itself?" Peko asked to the wizard.
"I do not know. It is just a guess I'm taking." Merlin said, taking a look to the document again. "But the paper, its material feels unique. The softness and smoothness of its sanding. The slight heat that comes from it just by the touch. The ink it was used to write these distinctive letters also feels special, so fluid. For a document of bygone eras, it preserves itself pretty well. Whoever wrote or created this piece of document, did it with the uttermost care, possibly a great scribe." The wizard continued to stare at it, starting to look almost engrossed by its sheer existence. "That and..." Falling into a brief silence, Merlin's hands begun to unexplicably tremble a bit as he was still holding the document. "And..."
Merlin's hands couldn't stop shaking, the words getting stuck on his throat. Or rather, the wizard didn't knew how to express what he was exactly feeling at that moment. The emotions the sight of the document was causing on him. It felt unreal, not even Merlin could understand why he was feeling like this. A thing only the subconscious of his soul could but the mind could not. Everyone around him started to get a bit concern on the fact he looked speechless and his hands were quivering.
"Uh, Merlin? Are you feeling alright?" Ritsuka asked to the servant.
Then...Merlin's hands stopped shaking as he seemed to have composed himself back, staring down to Peko. "This document. I can tell it's very valuable. Make sure to secure it well in your posession." He gave the document back to the boy.
"S-Sure thing." Peko grabbed it back, not having understand well this small episode of Merlin and his reaction to the document.
"Once we arrive to Uruk, the very first thing we're going to do is to have an audience with King Gilgamesh." Merlin said, going back to his usual. "Being native to Mesopotamia, he knows more about the history and cultures of this land then I ever could. If there's someone in this Singularity who most likely can decipher this document, it's him!"
"That's one of the things we're hoping for when reaching Uruk." Nala said. "This King Gilgamesh person must be someone who knows many things to be speak of so highly after all."
"A part of me is afraid that it won't be that simple." Mash responded, opting to be more realistic. "Gilgamesh was a bit of a tyrannical and prideful king in the epic. Having him attend to people's wishes or favours would be nigh to simply impossible. But if the period we're currently in is after the events of the epic, then Gilgamesh must have left those old traits behind."
"In one hand, it's true that King Gilgamesh has indeed become more 'lenient' with his people and less egotistical. But on the other, he still has a pride in him even if controlled now." Merlin replied, warning the group in advance of what to expect when meeting up with the ruler of Uruk. "Still, if you show yourselves worthy of his attention, I'm sure he'll be interested enough to hear whatever you have to say."
"Then we have to impress him." Ritsuka said. "Make him see why we've reached as far as we did."
"Taking the fact that he most likely foresaw our arrival and is waiting for us, perhaps it will be easier to convince him than we think." Peko replied.
"You can never be so sure." Romani told not only to Peko but for the rest of the team. "When arriving to Uruk and meet with him, we have to guarantee to get on Gilgamesh's good side if we want him to help us and vice-versa."
"Noted, doc!" Ritsuka replied. "Tomorrow will be an important one on our campaign here."
As the chaldeans proceeded to talk with one another, Ana seemed slightly reluctant, going near Merlin and speaking with him in particular. "Do we really need to go to the city? Remember of our deal. While I agreed to help you out on the quest of slaying one of the Three Goddess Alliance, I refuse to enter in city settlements."
Despite the reminder, Merlin didn't look to change his mind. "That just won't be possible for you unfortunately. Do mind that if it were just up to the two of us, invading that goddess temple would be impossible. If we want to get in that place and defeat her, we're going to have to gather more people and power as a proper group in order to do so." The arthurian wizard's eyes looked to the chaldeans continuing to speak lively with each other in front of them. "And I think that's just what Chaldea might provide us."
Looking to them as well, Ana saw how united and happy they looked together despite not being an actual family. Even Peko and Nala, children who were left with no remembrance of their land, could smile and almost feel at home by interacting with the other two. To find joy despite that sort of circumnstances. It could almost make the rogue servant feel jealous. "Okay. If it means I get what I want, I'll accept it."
On the following day, right in the middle of it, the party had finally arrived after the period of walking through the mesopotamian plains: Uruk. Or at least, near the city's entrance gates.
"And there we have it!" Merlin exclaimed as he stopped in front of the group, standing some few meters in front of the entrance, with the party being in the middle of the entrance checkpoint of the city, fully guarded and watched by guards and garrison.
"Quite the decorative gate they have in here." Nala commented, staring to the giant blue-bricked entrance gate of Uruk with the ceramic drawing of lions on each side of the entrance.
"To have achieved such a great construction on the earlier ages of humanity. It's truly something else." Peko said, in awe of the gates in front of him.
"There's a reason why Mesopotamia and its nations were known as the first ever great clusters of civilization in recorded history." Mash replied, also looking to incredible building that the people of Uruk were able to achieve. "It feels even greater seeing from up close."
"If you're already amazed by what you're seeing, just wait to see what lies in wait on the other side of these walls." Merlin told them, having taken the small stop to reevaluate the steps. "Are you seeing that guard at the entrance over there? Let me handle him and do the talking."
Doing as he said, the chaldeans and Ana followed behind the mage as he walked them torwards the gates, being halted by the guard that was protecting the entrance.
"Stop right there! If you seek refuge in Uruk, do tell me first where do you come from!"
"Greetings mister soldier! The people I bring with me here behind are but mere poor refuges from the destroyed city of Girsu." Merlin speakes to the guard-soldier, fabricating a story about chaldeans and Ana to him. "So you can already tell how long of a trip it must have been for their legs. All that they want now, is to hopefuly start a new here, under Uruk's roof, protected from the terrors of the Demonic Beasts."
"Hmm. And how can I be sure they're really from there? What proofs do you have for me to believe in you?"
Being met with skepticism from the soldier's part, Merlin already had counted for that with the solution on his clothes pocket. "Hmm, where did I let-aha!" Having picked the item up he showed it to the soldier. It resembled to some kind of insignia. "Does what I have in hand be enough proof to gain your trust in my words?"
"Ah! But that's the insignia of Lady...Sorry for bothering you then! You're free to pass along with the refugees."
Convinced with the evidence shown at him, the soldier stepped out of the way, ordering others to open up the gates for the party.
Merlin turned around to smile at the group. "See? Easy! Now let's go meet with King Gilgamesh."
Having their way to the city open, the party was now about to enter the ancient Uruk.
"Uh? Wait a moment! You there!"
Alas, the soldier called out for Ana once she was about to pass the entrance, looking directly at her.
"Where you think you're going?"
"..." Stopping on her tracks, the rogue servant stood still as the soldier approached her, her eyes conceaped behind the hood.
"Ana..." Ritsuka and the rest looked at her with apprehension. Why did the soldier called her out in specific?
"Don't tell me there's a reason why he's going to barrage Ana from entering with us." Mash speaked up.
"We can't leave her behind, can we?" Peko also said. While having Ana or not wouldn't matter much to meet with Gilgamesh, he thought that it'd be unfair if she was left at thre city gates.
Merlin stared at the situation the rogue servant had found herself in, watching calmly.
"..." Not uttering a word, a single drop of sweat was falling from her face as Ana tried to remain calm. Slowly and sneekily, she was reaching out for the scythe on her back. After all, what if the soldier knew who she was? If the entire Uruk knew what she was? "I knew it. This could only end badly naturaly."
Standing right by her side, the soldier looked down at Ana and...
"Here. Have some of these?"
"Uh?" However, Ana ended up being completly caught off guard as the soldier, much to her total surprise, took out a small bag and gave it to the servant. Looking inside, she saw it were some kind of cookie. "Are these...sweets?"
"My daughter made them for me. She's used to give them everyday before I go to work. And you kinda remind me of her. Having lost your city and walking that long to reach here must've been both tragic and exhausting. So I hope giving you this makes your day a little better."
The soldier told to Ana, his voice and face being of an extremely gentle father.
"Ah..." Ana stared at him a bit baffled. In the end, she got nervous about nothing. That was a relief. "Y-Yes. Thank you for the sweets, mister."
The group also sighed from relief after seeing that the soldier just wanted to give Ana some food.
"Phew! That felt close now." Nala said, glad that they all avoided possible trouble at Uruk's entrance gates.
"Take care in Uruk, will you? It's a big city so you could easily get lost." The soldier adviced to Ana but also to the group as well. "Hope you come to enjoy it! This is a city with many things to offer! See you around!"
With that, the soldier went back to his position, Ana looking as he walked away, deciding to keep the bag of sweets. It was a strange interaction in her eyes, but she didn't mind having the gift. "A human was nice to me...Just because I look like his daughter." She walked back to the group.
"What did he gave you?" Peko asked her.
"Some cookies." Ana responded, showing it to them. "Do you want some? I'm not particularly interested in eating them."
"Why not?" Peko looked at her a bit muddled. "That soldier gave them to you after all. If there's a person who those cookies are meant to be eaten by, is by you. That's what he wanted with that act of kindness, don't you think?"
"Hmm, only I should eat them then?" Ana replied, analyzing Peko's opinion.
"I mean, you can also share. But it would be wrong if you didn't eat a single one if they were meant for you." Peko explained to Ana, smilling to the servant as he softly pushed back the bag of cookies to her. "So for now, just keep them to yours-"
"Don't mind if I eat them all if you don't want it!" Nala suddenly appeared behind Peko's back, startling her brother as she stared to the cookies with huge appetite.
"How about you control those impulses of yours, will you?" Peko rebuked his sister.
"Oh brother, you silly! They're not impulses! They're basic needs!" Nala responded back, her eyes still fixed on the cookies.
"Being a glutton is not a basic need, you idiot!" Peko responded back.
"It is! Otherwise I die of sub-nutrition! Is that what you want? For your precious sister to die of starvation?"
"That's not what I said!"
"That's precisely what you said!"
Ana looked at them a bit weirded out, keeping the bag of sweets for herself. "Perhaps it is for the best I eat them alone."
Ritsuka, Mash and Merlin all stared at the two siblings squabble with joy. By now, it always felt kind of enjoying to see Peko and Nala's chemistry at work.
"Well, now that we can all pass, be prepared for what you're about to see." Merlin got the entire party's attention for the moment, proceeding to walk a few steps ahead as they finally went through the gates.
"The ancient bastion of human civilization." Mash murmured, her own mind being a bit eager to see what the city looked like. All of them were.
Merlin nodded to the shielder. "Behold and witness! The glorious city that displays Mesopotamia's splendour: Uruk!"
Reaching to the other side, the chaldeans and Ana passed through the sunlight at the entrance, now able to fully witness the ancient city they had stepped in.
Gazing at it, Ritsuka's eyes stared in bewilderment as his tongue barely had any words to describe the sight of the place. "Wow..."
Standing on what was now the exit of Uruk, the party was standing on the beggining of the city's main, long and wide avenue. Loads of people walking around, shops and stands placed everywhere on the main street. Adults speaking and trading with one another. The children laughing and playing everywhere. Houses and buildings of clay and bricks at every direction, going alongside the perpendicular streets of the avenue. Squares and green spaces that embelished it more. Uruk was full of people. Full of noise and movement. Uruk was bustling and alive, full of energy. A city that gave hope and protection to its citizens and others all around Mesopotamia.
"It's huge..." Ritsuka said, finally able to find an adjective to describe it.
"Hm? What's that over there on the distance?" Nala asked, pointing torwards a specific tall building in the distance at the end of the long avenue.
"Oh! That's a ziggurat!" Mash exclaimed, answering to Nala's question. "They are temples dedicated to the gods of Mesopotamia. Perceive them as this region's version of Egypt's pyramids, being a sort of prototype for them."
"Is that where King Gilgamesh is supposed to be?" Ritsuka said, taking a guess.
"Precisely!" Merlin confirmed it. "That temple is the residence of the king of this very city. Good thing that it's easily visible from here and we only have to walk straight torwards it. So it's not like we'll easily get lost on our way there. Follow me!"
Doing as they were told, the chaldeans and Ana walked the entire avenue on their way to Uruk's ziggurat. As they were advancing more torwards the city's center, the more they would watch and absorb the city's life, amazed by it.
"The people in here look so relaxed and happy. It's almost hard to believe that Mesopotamia is on the brink of destruction when Uruk looks so lively." Peko commented, pointing out the contrast of the situation on the entire region compared to the city. The smile of the citizens looked like of people who didn't knew or weren't experiencing rough times on their homeland.
"This Uruk has totally surpassed my expectations!" Romani exclaimed, seeing the entire city map from his screen. "The area it reaches is incredibly huge for a civilization of the Bronze Age! It has the capacity of inhabiting at least fifty-thousand people! Perhaps even more!"
"There's a reason why Uruk was known as the first big city of ancient civilization." Mash replied. "But I do get what your saying, doctor. Even for the biggest city of this period, fifty-thousand looks unimaginably high. Even reaching to ten-thousand was a thing only a few cities from Mesopotamia could achieve. So did Uruk got larger or was always like this?"
"The former." Merlin responded. "It's true that at first, Uruk wasn't as big as the one you're walking now. However, this whole conflict with the Three Goddess Alliance, taking down city after city in both the north and south of Mesopotamia, has forced King Gilgamesh to take down Uruk's original walls in order to expand its limits further so that it could shelter more refugees of the destroyed cities." The wizard told them the reason why Uruk appeared bigger than they thought it would be. "Hence why the increase in the population's density that you're witnessing."
"Hum, so this Uruk is just a case of the Singularity itself." Peko responded, seeing now that the original one was never supposed to be this big but King Gilgamesh had no other choice but to make it so. "Also, cities are being taken over and destroyed on the south of Mesopotamia? But according to what the fake Enkidu told us, we thought only the north was being taken over and ravaged."
"Oh if only that were to be the case." Merlin said in a saddening tone. "Unfortunately, one of the three goddess from the alliance is also rumored to have started taking territory on the south near the gulf albeit at a slower pace than the conquests on the north. At the same time, a mysterious jungle appeared over there, not native to Mesopotamia's biome. That part of the south is therefore consider her territory while the Goddess of the Demonic Beasts residence is somewhere up north, her monsters presence symbolizing her domain over the area. The third goddess of the alliance however, seems to be the only one who does not have an exact residence on the region. And of the three, so far we only know the identity of one."
"Uh? Really? Who is it then?" Ritsuka asked, wanting Merlin to share that goddess identity with them.
"I'll tell you later on once we meet with King Gilgamesh." Merlin replied, deciding to save that information for later.
"Hey! It's Merlin! He's back in town, guys!"
"Merlin! You're looking good as always!"
"Thank you for the tip on the other day!"
"Will you return to play that board game with us again?"
"Can we see that trick of yours?"
As they approached the ziggurat, many people begun to surround them, generaly more focused on Merlin than anyone else in the party.
"So this is what society is supposed to look like." Ana whispered, feeling a bit taken aback by the public's disproportionate reaction to their, or in reality, Merlin's arrival.
"You seem to have a good reputation around here." Romani commented on how everyone was greating the famous mage so enthusiastically.
"Makes sense. Being King Gilgamesh's servant, I've got very familiarized with Uruk and its people. Everyone knows me at this point." Merlin then gave a cheeky smirk, looking to the side. "Specially the women of a brothel five streets down the left from here."
"You what?!" Romani exclaimed in shock.
"Useless information. Ignore it." Merlin quickly said, skipping to more important details. "Eitherway, we have yet to know what's the influence Solomon, and Man of Sin to an extent, have on this Singularity. Despite neither being present at the moment, if the Three Goddess Alliancd get their hands on the grail, humanity is extinguished and they achieve their goals without having to step in. Right now, the Babylonia front line is the only thing keeping Uruk away from destruction."
"We've already seen it. The fake Enkidu showed us when we were with them." Ritsuka said, remembering of the sight of the huge stonewall in the distance that was keeping all of the Demonic Beasts at bay. "While it's certainly doing a good job, it's beggining to deteriorate. Enkidu told us that the front is expected to continue standing for just one more month before it finally collapses. We must turn this war around before that can happen!"
"Which is why you're here now. I wager that the situation can become more favourable with Chaldea's help to our forces." Merlin replied, stopping right at the beggining of the long staircase of the ziggurat that would lead them to the top of the temple. "All that you have to do, is to convince King Gilgamesh to join sides with you. His throne room is right there at the top. Are you ready to meet him?"
Climbing the entire staircase, the party had finally reached to the very top of the ziggurat of Uruk, now standing at the entrance of what was Gilgamesh's throne room. The interior was fully decorated and built with bricks and huge columns, the ceilling also having a pattern design, being curved. Alabasters and other ceramic products had been placed geometrically with the columns, flowers and vegetation germinating inside.
Entering, the party's steps echoed as they entered inside. On the other end of the temple, there seemed to be a reunion, a lone, commanding and royal voice speaking solely inside the temple.
"Only two-thousand units of wheat extracted today? That is low! Siduri, verify if Uruk's royal storage is running out of seeds or the farmers are getting stubbornly lazy!"
Sitting on his throne that was placed in front of an arc of the temple that gave way to the sunlight and some greenery, one of history very first heroes, the legendary protagonist of his own epic, royal authority and leader of Uruk was giving commands on his subordinates. His face was covered by a clay tablet in front of him, preventing the chaldeans from seeing his face.
"It's him." Peko murmured, looking what they correctly assumed to be King Gilgamesh.
The king was wearing a white turban hat with two built-in blue horns on his head. He also wore a very short and open dark blue shirt with some red in it that exposed his chest, collar up. His legs were majorily covered by red dhoti pants with some openings in them, revealing a blue skirt and some bandaged underneath. Both his shoulders with simplistic design of purple tattoo, with the right arm containing a golden gauntlent while the left one had a blue bandage around the wrist.
"It really his him." Mash also speaked in low voice, not wanting to make her voice interrupting whatever serious business Gilgamesh was taking care of.
"Lesser yoke compared to the two previous month. Almost a 30% decline rate. Tsk! Siduri, send an expedition of men southeast from here with the task of collecting more wild animals that can be domesticated in order to increase the livestock! Also, more refugees have arrived from Ashur and Mari. Guide them to the refugee camp settlement on the south district and then distribute them on each new house on the recently built neighborhood on the west."
"He looks very concentrated on what he's doing." Nala commented the performance Gilgamesh was having on dealing with the administrative business of Uruk. "It tells me this wasn't really the best moment to walk in."
"Agreed." Ritsuka replied, feeling he wasn't ready yet to speak with Gilgamesh on the sheer presence of the king. "Let's come back at a later hour-"
But Merlin stopped the master of humanity before he could turn back. "No need for it. When I'm here to deliver news, royal chores become secondary on King Gilgamesh's mind. Observe." Confident that the king of Uruk would pay attention to his servant arrival, the mage cleared his throat. "Greetings, my king! Your servant is back from the mission you have bestowed him!"
"We are also experiencing a shortage of minerals due to its usage on building weapons to reinforce the frontline in Babylonia. At that rate, there will be almost no raw materials in Uruk to strenghten our defenses. We're going to start looking for another material to produce the weapons."
"..." Merlin just stood there a bit like a fool as Gilgamesh continued with his eyes fixated on the clay tablet.
"So?" Peko looked at him skeptically.
"What can I say? He can be a bit of an workaholic majority of the times." Merlin smiled sheepishly as he tried to sound louder to get his king's attention. "Oi! King Gilgam-"
"Please be quiet, Merlin! You know it's rude to interrupt King Gilgamesh's duty like that!" Standing a bit to the right of the group, a woman scolded the wizard. She was wearing a long white vail accessory on her head as well as well as a simple but magnificent green dress with golden strip and a rope serving as belt around her waist. The lower part of her face was covered by a soft purple tissue of silk. She looked important.
"Oh! Greetings to you too, Lady Siduri." Merlin replied with chivlarous blw despite the stern gaze the woman was giving him. "I'm sorry for my small behaviour of a disruptor during such fundamental matters of Uruk, but is that I wish to show something important to King Gilgamesh."
"Such as?" Siduri raised an eyebrow torwards Merlin.
"Special guests." Merlin whispered, pointing with his thumb torwards the chaldeans and Ana behind him, all of them greeting Siduri in their own way while the rogue servant just stared to the side.
Sighing, Siduri continued to talk with Merlin. "Okay. But please wait after King Gilgamesh has finished reciting the daily administrative status of Uruk. As King Gilgamesh's aide and advusor, I'm obliged to pay atten-"
*CRASH!*
Suddenly, their small talk came to a stop once they heard the sound of something falling into the ground and shattering to pieces. Being in a awkward silence, all of them stared to Gilgamesh who now was holding just half of the clay tablet, with the other half having simply come off and break into pieces once it hit the floor.
"...Siduri." Still looking at the now half broken clay tablet on his hand, Gilgamesh speaked calmly despite the grip of his hand on the tablet tightening. "Who did we comission to produce and sell us clay tablets this month?"
Hurriedly, the secretary woman was fast to check on some smaller clay tablets she had in her arms. "Let's see. It was an artisan by the name of...'Ea-nasir'." Siduri said with agony, something telling this wasn't the first episode of such occurence happening.
Getting the answer, Gilgamesh immediatly threw the rest of the clay tablet he was holding into the ground. "Dammit! We've been fooled by that shitty fraudster again!" He shouted angrily, finally revealing his red eyes and short blonde hair to the party. "I've had enough! I want that man arrested and brought here at my feet! I swear I'm going to-" Moving his sight down to look at Siduri, he ended up noticing Merlin and the people he had brought with them, all looking at him with dumbfounded faces at how sudden he exploded. Naturally, the great king of Uruk composed himself back. "Oh, it's you Merlin. About time."
"Indeed! Servant Merlin reporting for duty, my glorious king!" Merlin replied happily, having liked to see Gilgamesh's slight showing of anger.
"Cut with the adulation." Gilgamesh responded boredly, adopting a straight sitting posture on the throne. "Just answer me if you have found out the Tablet of Destinies on your hunt for it in the Cedar Forest?"
"Alas I wasn't, my king. Couldn't find the item anywhere in that forest." Merlin responded more seriously now. "Howbeit, Your Highness can see that I did not come back empty-handed." He moved his arm to Ritsuka, gesturing for him and his group to take a step forward and introduce themselves to Gilgamesh. "I have brought some very special guests from afar."
Getting the signal from Merlin to come closer, Ritsuka took a deep breath and stepped up, looking to the mythical king on the eyes. "Salutations, O grandious king of Uruk, Your Highness, Gilgamesh! We're-"
"I know who you are, Chaldea" Gilgamesh interrupted Ritsuka. "Your appearence was long foretold with my Clairvoyance."
"Ah..." Ritsuka stared a bit perplexed torwards the king of Uruk. "It's true. We were already let known by Merlin that Gilgamesh has such ability like that. Him knowing that we'd be here as well as who we are should've been expected."
Lifting his hand, Gilgamesh pointed at Ritsuka with a strict and solemn look that could have only be rivaled by the stoicism of the Lion King. "You are this group's leader as well as the last master of humanity, Ritsuka Fujimaru." He then changed his gaze torwards Mash. "The maiden of the shield there is a demi-servant by the name of Mash Kyrielight."
"Uh? He knows that much about us?" Mash reacted with some surprise.
"And finally, those two children and twins of unknown origin: Peko and Nala Finsternis." Gilgamesh also looked to both Peko and Nala.
"That was a fast way of an introduction." Nala commented on how Gilgamesh himself introduced the group despite this being the very first time they were metting each other.
"So the king was really waiting for our arrival then." Peko added, wondering how long Gilgamesh was waiting for them. However, there was something Peko was noticing on him. "But if that was the case...shouldn't Gilgamesh look more eager and happy?"
"Even the rogue servant over there was meant to be here today." Gilgamesh speaked, not forgetting of Ana who narrowed her gaze at him.
"Yep! Your Highness is right! These are the people of Chaldea who came in seek of the king's aid." Merlin speaked for the group to Gilgamesh. "Thus, while it is a shame that we still aren't able to find the Tablet of Destinies that the king lost after his fatigue, we at least gained more few allies to help against the Three Goddess Alliance."
"Allies, you say?" Gilgamesh's eyes blinked as he heard all of that with no amusement at all before resting his face on his hand, taking a deep exhaling. "Very well then." Without any type of warning, the king of Uruk proceeded to open up a book made of stone and once he opened it, a dozen of golden portals appeared behind him.
"What a..." Ritsuka reacted in shock alongside everyone else.
Even Siduri was appaled. "My king! What is-"
"The administrative reunion is closed for now, Siduri. May you perceive this as a well-rested break." Gilgamesh speaked as he eyed the chaldeans and Ana with an austere gaze. "Now then, chaldeans. The king is currently feeling bored. So how about you try out a test to gladden him?"
"A test?" Peko replied as he took out his sword the moment he saw more golden portals appearing around the party.
"King Gilgamesh must want to see if you're worthy of his help or not!" Merlin responded, standing next to them.
"Correct guess, Merlin. And as it is meant to be a test, I as your king and master, forbid you to help them out during it." Gilgamesh replied, ordering the mage to not aid the chaldeans.
"Hmm, so you really want to make this tough for them, Your Majesty." Merlin ended up smilling, not seeing a problem with it. "That's a fair decision, I must admit. However, may the king not mind if I request the rogue servant to help them out."
"By all means." Gilgamesh responded, not caring if Ana fought alongside the chaldeans.
"You heard that, Ana? You have permission to give your best!" Merlin told to the small servant cheerfully.
"As if I didn't had to fight already!" Ana replied back annoyed, taking out her scythe, close to the chaldeans.
"I detect about eighteen portals full of mana surrounding us!" Mash reported, looking around. "Prepare for battle everyone!"
"If it's a great display he wants to see I'll give him one!" Nala said, ready to cause as much damage on the targets as possible.
Ritsuka closed his hands, putting his mind focused for the fight. "Alright guys! Show how it's done!"
The little trial Gilgamesh put them in officialy begun, with various weapons being fired from the golden portals as if they were projectiles, immediatly making the participants dodge, with Mash giving some cover with her shield, majorily running and blocking the attacks.
"Air Step!"
Nala, in her almost light speed, dodged and sliced the projectiles with incredible ease, teaming up with Peko to take them down.
"Luminary Route!"
Aiding his sister, Peko fired light bullets at each possible direction of the golden portals, hitting every time he fired.
The twins cooperation was nothing short of incredible, being very synthonized with each other as Nala attacked forward and Peko gave her back-up, the girl redirecting the boy's bullets at the targets with her sword. Such details like these caught the interest of Gilgamesh.
Ana was also showing what she was capable of, moving and jumping around with her chained scythe, using it to cling and swing on the columns and then slice the golden portals in surprise.
As all that was happening, Ritsuka was giving instructions to them.
"Peko! Open fire on those three on your left!"
"Nala! Join up with Ana and slice that golden portal in front of you!"
"Mash! Cover and then hurl the shield at them!"
"We have to show Gilgamesh why we've reached so far! I need to show him that there's a reason why I'm the master of humanity othen than sheer luck!" Ritsuka said to himself, hoping that the display they were showing was being to Gilgamesh's liking.
As the test was continuing on, the chaldeans and Ana already thought it would take quite the long while to finish the trial as more portals would appear to fire their weapons and more would be sliced down.
"More?" Peko said a bit in protests as the portals wouldn't stop coming.
"He really isn't giving us the time of day!" Nala responded, her back close with Peko's back. The girl smirked. "Well then, if he really wants to see our true power, we'll-"
"Okay. That was enough."
"Uh?"
As suddenly as he had conjured the golden portals, Gilgamesh called them back, making his weapons and portals fade away in a golden dust. "I was already getting bored again."
"Have we not performed good enough!?"
"Did we failed to impress him?!"
Both Peko and Ritsuka exclaimed inside their own heads, their hearts beating anxiously. Not only them, but Mash and Nala as well.
"It didn't sound very positive but..."
"...you can never know."
Ana confined herself to wait for the results patiently.
"So before I lose my entire interest on you, here is my veredict." Gilgamesh announced, about to share his opinions of what he thought about them overall. "You, Finsternis girl. That speed and precision of yours in your strikes can make you quite the lethal opponent. I see that you are very versitale and capable of bringing multiple enemies down at once with the right slash. I can accept your aid."
"So I passed? Oh yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" Nala exclaimed effusively, her cheeks blushing a bit. "Got even complimented by the king and everything..."
"However, I can tell you also have tendency to be imprudent and hot-headed on bad circumnstances like a stubborn simpleminded brat with lack of discipline." Gilgamesh then pointed out her flaws, putting her ego down. "If you want to serve me, you'll have to make sure that pride of yours equals the size you currently are."
"Oof! Was that humbling talk necessary?" Nala replied, feeling Gilgamesh hit her right in the core.
"At least you impressed him." Peko smiled of happiness for his sister. "Congratulations!"
"Don't think that's everything. You also had my interest, Finsternis boy." Gilgamesh told him, much to Peko's surprise.
"Eh?"
"You have a nice technique to shoot pure concentrated mana out of your hands and fingers. It's a skill that already shows its power but still has potential to be refined." Gilgamesh told honestly to Peko. "You can come in handy as a great support to my forces despite the slight distance your sibling as over you. Both of you, Finsternis twins, have an incredible powerful mana within, basically on the levels of an Heroic Spirit. And I'd be a fool of a king for not taking that to my advantage. So feel honoured, youngling duo! For I, Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, accept you both in my army!"
"...What?" Peko stared at Gilgamesh almost speechless of what he heard. "I passed as well...?" He murmured, his mind almost unable to register the words the king stated to him and about his performance. It was a sentiment, an emotion that was stirring up inside the boy's heart. It felt surreal.
Nala smiled in joy and proudly at him. "Haha! Great job, Peko! You did it too!" She put an arm over his shoulder, laughing.
"I...I did." Peko speaked, the feeling settling in as he smiled back to his sister. "I really did, didn't I?"
"Well done! Both of you!" Ritsuka said, hugging the two, also happy for them.
Mash was also expressing a smile, standing by their side. "Judging by his character, I'd say it isn't everyone that can get King Gilgamesh's appreciation! Congratulations you two!"
From behind the chaldeans, Ana was once again watching them being happy with each other and together. Even seeing the smile on Peko's mind was enough for her to show a small one on her own face. "Hm. Congratulations..." She murmured, adjusting her hood.
But amidst the small moment of comemoration, Peko remembered something. "Ah! But what about you and Ana then? King Gilgamesh still hasn't given his opinion on you yet."
"Oh! You're right!" Ritsuka put a fist on his hand, he and Mash being reminded of that detail.
Therefore, the shielder went to talk with Gilgamesh. "Hmm, excuse me, Your Highness. What about the king's opinion on us? Does Your Highness have anything to say?"
"Oh, yeah. I do." Gilgamesh replied as if he had almost forgot that part. "You are amazingly dissapointing and a waste of my time." He told coldly, eyeing Mash with a stare that could send shivers.
"W-What?" Mash replied in bafflement as the rest of the chaldeans also were a bit perplexed.
"Dissapointing?" Ritsuka repeated what Gilgamesh said, thinking he heard it wrong.
"Figures." Ana said lowly, not having much expectations for start.
"You aren't worthy of my help nor I need yours in my army. That's all I have to say to you." Gilgamesh speaked harshly yet authoritive. "The most I can offer is a residence here in Uruk for you to do whatever mission you have on your own."
Ritsuka tried to get to know why. "But-"
"King Gilgamesh won't give you any explanation." Merlin speaked up, approaching Ritsuka. "If he doesn't deem you worthy of aid, then His Highness will also ignore any questions and requests you might have. That's how it is with the king of Uruk."
"But then...our arrival here..." Frustrated, Ritsuka wanted to demand answers but knew he wouldn't get them since he wasn't deserving of Gilgamesh's attention.
Peko however was. And it was him who made the answer. "Apologies for the question, Your Majesty, but why are you dispersing away part of my group? Didn't King Gilgamesh awaited for our arrival here?"
"I did. As well as I admit I was looking forward to receive you here at my throne room." Gilgamesh responded to Peko. "However, that doesn't exactly translate to me necessarily craving for your help. If Chaldea, as in you, had ended up corresponding to my expectation in its entirety, I would also have accepted your companions. Instead, I found them lacking when compared to you and your sister. That's as simple as it goes. You're accepted, they're not."
"Sorry the behaviour but, do you even know who these two are?" Nala questioned Gilgamesh, a bit more indignated than her brother. "You want servants to help you out against the goddesses, right? If so, then why are you refusing the master who can summon servants and a demi-servant? Even Ana deserves a spot as a servant, don't you think?"
"Ah..." Ana slightly lifted her head as she heard Nala mention, even defending her. A thing that the young servand foun unusual. "Why is she even speaking for me?"
"While that it's true that I do need servants to make up essential numbers in my army in order to push back against the Three Goddess Alliance advance on Mesopotamia, I've already figured out the summoning system Chaldea uses." Gilgamesh answered, with a revelation that shocked the chaldeans.
"King Gilgamesh knows about and uses our summoning system?" Mash said in disbilief.
"Since almost the very beggining of this Singularity that His Highness had learned it." Merlin responded, being a question that he would answer for Gilgamesh. "Once the first signs of trouble from the Three Goddess Alliance begun to appear here in Mesopotamia, King Gilgamesh knew that he alone nor an army composed of normal soldiers would be enough to defeat them. Thus, he decided to leave his pride as a warrior king aside and instead become the wiseful dutiful ruler you're seeing now, preparing and administrating Uruk for the incoming conflict. During that early time of the Singularity, His Highness was able to learn about the same method of Chaldea's summoning system despite being a living hero, using the information of the future experience he would have as an Heroic Spirit to better learn its art, for King Gilgamesh knew he could get something better than Uruk's traditional rituals to summon servants to help him out on the conflict. That's how King Gilgamesh ended up summoning me."
"Then King Gilgamesh really has a justification to not wanting to keep us around..." Ritsuka said, bitter. "We're just useless here."
"..."
"..."
Both Peko and Nala looked to the face of frustration and woe from their friend, feeling bad for Ritsuka. His resignation was entirely palpable to them, as if it was also a part of the two.
Mash also felt a bit down knowing that their aid in Uruk was not wanted or needed, Gilgamesh seeming to have other options to chose from. However, she didn't want the team to feel all bad about it. "It's okay, master. We'll find a way to convince King Gilgamesh otherwise even if it takes some days." She put a comforting hand on Ritsuka's shoulder before looking down to Peko and Nala. "Don't think too much about us. Stay here. We can still cooperate together even if you're now part of Gilgamesh's army."
But, to fight for the same thing altough separetly, was a thing that didn't sit right with neither of them. Peko and Nala couldn't accept this.
"No." Peko said, looking to Ritsuka and Mash before turning around to confront Gilgamesh. "If they aren't joining..."
"...then we won't offer your help as well!" Nala concluded, launching an ultimatum torwards the king of Uruk.
"Hm?" Gilgamesh just raised an eyebrow at the inconvenience.
"Oh, this might be intersting." Merlin chuckled as he rubbed his chin while Siduri was watching the conversation unfould next to him.
"Those two kids are going against King Gilgamesh's will?" She said, slightly bewildered.
"Peko. Nala. Don't be stubborn." Ritsuka told to the twins, having accepted Gilgamesh's decision. "If he doesn't want us, don't-"
"Don't make a fuss about it? Of course we will!" Nala exclaimed, looking to Ritsuka. "I'm not making part of anything we're you and Mash aren't involved!"
"Right! Whether with or without King Gilgamesh's help I know we're still going to find this Singularity's grail to sort things out!" Peko added, sharing the same thoughts as his sister. "Everyone here counts."
"Oh? So it is the Holy Grail you are seeking for in Mesopotamia?" Gilgamesh speaked, an item magically appearing on his hand. One that the chaldeans recognized very well. "Then I'm afraid you'd actually be further from the objective than closer by not siding with me."
"Of course that the king of this whole thing would have the grail here." Nala replied, seeing some semblence of Gilgamesh holding the grail with Ozymandias having the one from the previous Singularity.
"It really doesn't feel surprising at this point." Peko added.
"It shouldn't. After all, as the legendary King of Heroes, every treasure that existed and is bound to exist in the future belongs to me, savely secure in my gates." Gilgamesh told them, whirling the grail in his hand. "You probably know by now that this is what the Three Goddess Alliance wants. In their posession, the entire of humanity collapses. But if you are okay with that due to some sentimental friendship you can't out behind, then be my guest. People who can only function depending solely on others are also useless to me." Gilgamesh criticized the twins stiff sense of companionship for Ritsuka and Mash. "But at least it shows how strong your attitude is. I give you that much."
Knowing that siding with Gilgamesh would mean a step closer to the grail, Ritsuka wanted to avoid another Ozymandias situation. Not only that, but seeing how Peko and Nala were defending him and Mash, it fueled Ritsuka to also stand up for himself. So, he had a proposition for Gilgamesh and moved forward. "What if we defeat the Three Goddess Alliance then?"
"Uh?"
"Ritsuka?"
Nala and Peko stared to him as he walked past the two, now standing in front of the twins while staring at the king of Uruk.
"Hm?" Gilgamesh's eyes slightly widened as he heard Ritsuka say that, thinking he heard it wrong. "Care to repeat what you just said, mongrel?"
"I know that compared to Peko and Nala, we might not have much to offer! However, we still want to show to Your Highness that we aren't just scraps meant to be tossed aside! There's a reason other than luck for why we've reached here so far! And we want to show King Gilgamesh that!" Ritsuka speaked with courage, not letting Gilgamesh's stare to intimidate him. "Your Highness wants to defeat the Three Goddess Alliance, right? Then here's a deal. If we end up helping Your Majesty out on defeating them, King Gilgamesh has to give us the holy grail in exchange!"
"..." Gilgamesh's eyes went from bothered to incredulous.
"Master, that's...You think King Gilgamesh will accept it?" Mash asked to Ritsuka, not sure if that would convince the king of Uruk to let them help him out and vice-versa.
"I don't know myself. But at this point, we have prove him that we can be of essential help." Ritsuka replied, continuing to stare at Gilgamesh, waiting for his response.
"Then let's hope it does. Better than just not trying." Peko replied, having some faith in it.
"At least you're showing him that you're a leader that demands some agency and respect." Nala added, proud that Ritsuka stood for himself.
"You...You think your help will be fundamental in taking down the Three Goddess Alliance?" Gilgamesh asked, still perplexed.
"I do!" Ritsuka speaked, truly sincere on what he said.
With the answer given, Gilgamesh's expression went slowly back to normal. "Hm, then you do believe in that." He said, falling into a silence for some seconds, making the chaldeans and even the others present in the room edging to know what his answer would be to the proposal the master of humanity presented. "...Eh. Ehehehehehe hahahahahahaha! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" A bursting full laughter was the response Gilgamesh had to give them.
"He's...laughing?" Mash commented, not having expected that reaction from Gilgamesh as he continued to laugh.
Ritsuka inhaled from his nostrils, doubtful if it was either a good or bad thing that Gilgamesh was laughing.
"This guy really has a whole Ozymandias vibe." Nala said, now the similarities between Gilgamesh and the great pharoh being more present
"He finds it funny?" Peko said, also confused with Gilgamesh's reaction.
Siduri stood by the side with her eyes close and a neutral expression, letting her king laugh as much as he could. It was a thing that would never erase away from him no matter how much time it passed.
Finally, Gilgamesh was able to calm his laughter down, taking some breathing. "Aaah, that was a good one." He brought a hand to his forehead. "That joke truly made my day better, master of humanity. What some couple of accomplishments does to a simpleton human to already be on his high-horse."
"So that's a no." Ritsuka replied, already seeing that his offer was simply found pathetically laughable to the king of Uruk, much to the rest of the chaldeans dismay. Guess they wouldn't be able to count on Gilgamesh for this.
"Much likely." Gilgamesh responded, a smile still present on his face. "No matter what you propose to me, I've already gave my judgement on you. Your assistance to me would be as valuable as-"
"King Gilgamesh! King Gilgamesh!"
Suddenly interrupting the meeting, a soldier in a hurry came entering inside the temple, rushing torwards them.
Washing off his smile, Gilgamesh stared to the arriving soldier with seriousness. "What is it? Is there a problem?"
"Y-Yes Your Highness! I bring a report from one of our scouts near the Tigris!"
The soldier informed, making Gilgamesh get even more serious.
Siduri proceeded to talk with him. "From the Tigris? Is one of the three goddess from the alliance coming to attack us?"
"Yes, Lady Siduri! It's Ishtar! She's on her way here!"
"Ishtar?" Mash replied, having heard about that goddess before.
"You better prepare yourselves." Merlin said, also sounding more serious. "Smells like trouble nearby."
In the next second, Romani's holgram appeared. "Guys! Watch out!" He exclaimed, worried. "We have detected a signal of high-mana that's travelling at an absurd speed torwards here!"
Ritsuka figured who that could be. "Then Ishtar is about to-"
At that precise moment, Gilgamesh, Merlin, Peko and Nala all felt a presence about to come from above the temple of the ziggurat right as a big hole on the ceilling was bursted open, debris falling into the ground.
"Watch out!"
"Watch out!"
Both Peko and Nala exclaimed as they tried to shove away Ritsuka and Mash from the area of the falling wreckage.
Meanwhile, Ana went to back up Merlin as both destroyed the boulders falling on their direction.
"Siduri!" Looking out for his secretary's safety, Gilgamesh quickly conjured golden portals that immediatly shot down any possibly debries that would fall above her, protecting his advisor and soldier as well.
The entire room was soon filled with smoke and dust from the explosion that occured, now wreckage scattered at the center of the temple.
Coughing a bit, Ritsuka got up from the ground. "Are you all okay?"
Near him, Peko also got up. "That was close!"
"How can one of the Three Goddess Alliance is already here?" Mash speaked in disbilief.
Nala was with her on the side. "Whoever this Ishtar is, we can't let her take the grail!"
From all the rubble and dust, Gilgamesh gazed at her clearly with his still face, not showing any fear in face of a deity. The enemy that showed up to annoy him.
"This was the final straw, you sleazy, arrogant, good-for-nothing king!" Amidst the smoke that was dying down, the goddess Ishtar revealed herself, staring back at him with nothing but contempt, doing a fingergun and pointing at the king of Uruk. The goddess was none other but the young woman the chaldeans had met during the first minutes on Mesopotamia. "I'm going to kill you once and for all here!"
To be continued...
And that was it for chapter 133!
Gilgamesh is in town! And oh man, will I love to write some of the scenes with him here. I personally always preferred the original, archer class, conceited Gilgamesh since he's the more iconic one. But damn if CasGil also doesn't has a superb writting and feels like a natural character development and evolution from that Gilgamesh. Like, can you imagine what Babylonia would be like if instead of Caster Gilgamesh, Chaldea had to team up with Archer Gilgamesh? That would be a very dangerous game of not stepping over the line lol. So yeah, overall we got lucky to be dealing with a more wiser and calmer version of Gilgamesh here.
But Gilgamesh is still Gilgamesh, so of course he still has some bits of his old traits in here as you've seen in this chapter. He may not be as prideful as he once was, but he can still clap back if you annoy him for too long. All in all, perfect for the role that the writers gave him for Babylonia.
Anyways, that's all I wanted to say, and see you next time on chapter 134! Peace!
P.S:
Peko (Taking care of some chicken eggs alongside Voyager): Oh! Hey look, Voyager! The eggs are about to hatch!
Voyager (Holding one of them): Let's see it from close then!
(Both boys watch the egg hatch, a cute yellow chick coming out of it)
Peko: It looks healthy.
Voyager: And very energetic.
(More chicken eggs proceed to hatch, the small chicks making a nest on the two boys hairs)
Voyager (smilling radiantly): Oh, guess they also found a home.
Peko (smilling radiantly as well): They truly did!
(Meanwhile, Nala, Ritsuka, Mash, The Dioscuri and Musashi are all hidden in nearby bushes, taking pictures of the two boys cuteness)
Everyone: THEY'RE SO ADORABLEEEE!