Chapter 326: Main Character Slayer
—
For the people who fear starving to death— always frightened by the possibility that they might not wake up if they fall asleep with an empty stomach— to them, food was more sacred than any other thing.
Salia and her son Rushd were just like that. Beyond anything, food was their priority. Now, they suddenly had all the food they ever desired and more.
Though this couple of mother and son had been hoping to enter the Holy City, though a part of their mind was prepared for luxury, the end they were about to meet was sad. All their delusion was stripped away when the true reality of Camelot presented itself to them.
The kind Salia nearly lost her life as Rushd was left to weep in his mother’s embrace.
As if a miracle, thankfully, the kind white deity saved Salia’s life and brought her to this heavenly place, along with her son. Here, they had all the food they ever hoped to own.
They even had a living quarter, one that was much better than their peers who were brought here along with them. Salia realized that this King was giving her, an absolute nobody, a lot of special treatment.
“Hey, mom!” Rushd yelled with a packet of something unknown in his hand. “See this? They said these are called ‘snacks’! Only the highest-ranked soldiers received these, but they gave them to us too!”
After a brief silence, Salia forced herself to smile and pulled her son into her embrace. “I heard that too. We should be grateful to the King for giving us such treatment.”
Special Treatment…
Now that Rushd couldn’t see her face, Salia couldn’t help but frown.
After her recent experience with Camelot city, Salia had grown paranoid. Why was this almighty King giving her such things?
What did he want from her? It’s not as if she had ever done anything for him. In fact, it was he who gave her and Rushd food when they met for the first time, too…
Salia felt a pang of guilt in her heart for questioning the kindness of her savior. Yet, she couldn’t shake off the ominous feeling either.
“…Alright, Rushd.” Salia patted her son on the back and said. “I will go meet with Mis-… the King Gilgamesh. Mom has something to discuss with him. I might return late, so don’t worry and go to sleep. Alright?”
“Alright. It’s not that I need to worry about you when the King is around!” Rushd chimed back, which put a confused smile on Salia’s face.
* * *
It was yesterday evening when Neji learned about Ryuko and simultaneously hired Ishtar on the other side of the continent.
The Omni-Neji who was with Chaldea and Ishtar, traveled all night long and reached Uruk in early noon. There, they found themselves in the middle of the festival-like situation that the entire country was celebrating.
A minor commotion unfolded amidst the crowd when they found themselves in the presence of their most popular goddess, Ishtar. Neji wasn’t in the mood for such commotions, so he ordered the ration-giving function to be done outside. He had to use telekinesis to lead the heavy bags to a designated spot where the procedure continued with a few issues that Siduri and Sisty took care of.
Finally, clear of any distractive crowd and commotion, the three girls from Chaldea and one Goddess Ishtar were left standing in front of Neji’s throne. The Omni-Neji that were accompanying them had already vanished into thin air after reaching the throne room half an hour ago. Now, it was just the five of them.
“Hah,” Neji heaved a sigh as he looked down at them. “I have been awake for two days. Thankfully, sleep isn’t a necessity for me.”
“Yeah, your other self said the same thing last night when he stayed up all night to look after our camp,” Ishtar said while wearing a frown. “What’s up with that? It’s dangerous, you know, for a part-human like you.”
Gilgamesh did need to sleep. In the canon timeline, in fact, he actually died once because he was too exhausted from not sleeping for a few days. King Gilgamesh of this age was a true leader. He worked all day and night to look after his people, and at last passed on. Not that it was a permanent death as he just climbed his soul out of the Underworld after pleasing Ereshkigal.
“I am not a part human, though.” Neji shrugged his shoulders a little. “King Gilgamesh used the Holy Grail to summon a holy spirit to merge with him. I said that, right? That ‘holy spirit’ just so happened to be a Divine Spirit too, so Gilgamesh ascended his mortality and has become a Full God.”
She hadn’t sensed his divinity yet, surely because of the [Blank] skill, as even Tier 25 Ryuko hadn’t noticed him until he revealed himself.
Ishtar blinked, frowned when she tried to focus on his presence, and realized how she couldn’t feel him at all. She only succeeded in doing so when he released a bit of his divinity to blow cool air into the room. Ishtar gasped.
“Y-you!” She had an incredulous expression as she pointed an accusing finger at him. “You vowed to end the Age of Gods, saying humans don’t need Gods anymore and whatnot—then what the hell is this behavior?”
“What?” Neji looked too uninterested to argue back. “It wasn’t intentional. Also, does that really matter when the world is facing two apocalypses at the same time?”
Ishtar’s previous frown vanished for a brief instant and returned in a fiercer motion. “What do you mean by that? I thought only… mother is the current threat?”
By mother, she meant Tiamat, the Goddess of Creation. As she created everything, she was the mother of every living being. Tiamat was the final villain of the 7th Singularity, the monster who reportedly had enough mana to fly from one Star System to another. Neji wasn’t exactly sure, but that thing may even be stronger than Ryuko.
“I know about her, and yes, I did mean her when I said that. However, there is another, more immediate problem at hand. Let’s make it short.” Neji explained bit by bit, skipping some parts but keeping the important stuff, as Ishtar’s frown deepened while the Chaldea team paled.
[-The Sixth Singularity,] When Neji was nearly done, a voice rang from the wristwatch Fujimaru was wearing. [In that place, who is this you speak of?]
This voice, Neji was sure, belonged to Romani Archaman. He was the real Solomon, but had lost all his powers and was disguised as Romani.
“You must be Romani Archaman,” Neji acknowledged the legendary man with a nod. “I know of your… real story. Just mentioning it to say I am a fan.”
[-Uh….] A confused, suddenly anxious exclamation came from the other side that Neji laughed off.
“Don’t worry, your story is safe with me.” Neji didn’t see any point in antagonizing him.
In fact, Neji planned to get some divine-level spells out of this King of Mages. He planned to do that with Merlin, who actually summoned in the canon timeline in this singularity, but that wasn’t true this time around because Gilgamesh used the Grail to instead ‘summon’ Neji. Neji still planned to summon Merlin though, after plundering the other Grail from the clutches of Ozymandias, to poke some godly spells out of that dude’s pockets.
Neji noticed how confused and suspicious the three Chaldean girls looked, so he quickly changed the subject. “Anyhow, about your question. It’s Artoria Pendragon, her Lancer version, though she looks ‘dark’ like her Alter version. I don’t know if you know what I mean though…”
[-Aha. I see… So the Divine Spirit Origin that was coming from Jerusalem belongs to her? Oh God, shit.] Romani groaned behind the transmitted voice while Neji returned to Ishtar.
“About our mission, now. This changes nothing much, in my book, as Tiamat can be dealt with two months later too. So we first deal with this Artoria, Goddess Rhongomyniad, and then we deal with Tiamat. That’s the simple plan.” Neji’s lips stretched to form a smile. “First thing first, you guys are to go to Ur, the city that is close to here. There, you guys beat up Jungle Goddess Jaguar and bring her here. I will tame her and then she will lead us to the Quetzalcoatl.”
The four girls exchanged glances and then nodded. Da Vinci sighed and asked, “Are you sure we’ll be able to bring this ‘Jaguar’ by ourselves? Why don’t you come with us, since you did accompany us with Ishtar’s case.”
Neji gave her a smile. “Uruk is under attack all the time, even as we speak monsters are attacking the borders. It’s a natural death arena that is suitable for me to cultivate my powers. I went to see Ishtar because she needed convincing, but this one just needs beating. A beating that this Goddess of Venus here,” Neji pointed at Ishtar. “Is strong enough to provide.”
Ishtar tried to hide it, but she couldn’t stop a proud air wrapping her posture and expression. It was her first time hearing praise from him, after all.
“A-alright,” Ishtar cleared her throat. “I will help you out since you asked so nicely. When do we leave?”
“Now?” Neji asked back as if it was obvious. “Now. We don’t have a second to waste.”
“H-huh?” Mash looked up at him nervously. “Um, Your Highness… Can we get a bit of rest? Me and Da Vinci-san would be fine, but for Master… since she is just a human, it’s going to be tiring for her.”
“Ah, Mash. I am fine. I can travel.” Fujimaru Ritsuka protested, even as she looked a little shaken from the continuous journey of yesterday.
For the first time since coming here, Neji gave the girl a proper look.
[Fujimaru Ritsuka – The Main Character – Mid Tier 3]
