"Are you wondering how Gilgash, now acting as an administrative Servant, views that fake Enkidu?"
Shiomi found a quiet mont to pose the question to Mari, the court Magus.
"Is there sothing wrong with asking that?" Artoria, seated beside him, asked.
"No, nothing wrong. I just figured you'd be the kind of person who charges ahead for the sake of your mission, unconcerned with such... petty details," Mari said, dramatically spreading her arms like she'd encountered sothing astonishing.
Shiomi gave her a skeptical look. "What made you think that?"
"Oh? Isn't that how you are?" Mari blinked, feigning surprise.
"Don't you have Clairvoyance like rlin?" Shiomi suddenly asked.
"I do. I just choose to keep it turned off," Mari replied with a calm smile.
Her words even startled Romani, who had maintained constant communication with her whenever she was around. "You turned it off… willingly?"
"I'm not like my brother rlin. I'm not interested in humans," she said, voice kind but words strikingly cold. "I only observe out of curiosity about human evolution. If rlin hadn't been too scared to show up, and if there weren't humans like you standing at a turning point of evolution, I wouldn't have bothered coming to fill in for him."
That attitude made Shiomi feel a little unsettled. "I... don't even know how to respond to that."
"I see... I feel like I understand you a bit more now," Romani said quietly to himself, as though Mari's non-human mindset wasn't sothing that bothered him in the least.
"Oh dear, Roman's such a devoted fan, I might have to consider giving him sothing in return," Mari said cheerfully.
Romani blinked in confusion. "Can I ask what kind of reward you an?"
"Can't you guess? I'm quite good at serving kings. If you need that kind of care, Roman—"
"No way!" Romani shot back imdiately. "Magi☆Mari is everyone's idol! You can't just pamper
alone!"
"Oh? Is that so~" Mari responded, as if she'd expected that answer from the start.
"I can't tell if you're ssing around or just unhinged, Doctor," Shiomi muttered with a sigh, steering the conversation back on track. "Anyway, let's get back to my question, court magus."
But before Mari could respond, Hakuno Kishinami's voice rang out through the garden where the group was chatting.
"Gilgash's reaction to that matter was surprisingly calm. He said, 'It's not impossible.'"
"You've arrived, Moon King," Mari greeted with a bow.
Hakuno gave a slight nod, waving off the formality, and looked to Shiomi.
"Even if he's a fake, the power that fake Enkidu displayed is undeniably that of the Chains of Heaven. And Gilgash once told —his dearest friend was the kind of person who acted without regard for consequences..."
Still, Hakuno could sense that Gilgash's emotions weren't just anger or grief. There was sothing deeper, more complicated.
"I see," Shiomi said quietly, taking it all in.
He suspected Hakuno hadn't co just for conversation—there was sothing serious they were about to be asked to handle.
After returning from the Persian Gulf observation station, Shiomi and the field team hadn't imdiately taken on a new mission.
Even the strongest needed rest—especially in an era as grueling and ancient as this.
So for the past few days, Shiomi and the others had been helping around Uruk—assisting with local tasks and reinforcing the defenses at the northern city walls. Compared to constantly facing overwhelming threats, fighting Demon Pillars and magical beasts was relatively easy.
"But precisely because of that," Hakuno said, "I'd like you to make a trip to the Underworld."
It was an extraordinary request.
"The Underworld?" Artoria repeated, startled.
In contrast, Shiomi didn't look all that surprised.
From a certain perspective, the world was like a layer of cloth wrapped around the planet—and what anchored that fabric to the planet itself were the "Towers at the End."
It was said that these Towers weren't singular. Artoria's Holy Lance was rely the shadow of one such tower.
Before the Age of Gods ca to a close, the heavens, the surface, and the Underworld all existed upon the sa great tapestry—connected and interwoven.
If one knew the path, and the thod, travel between them was possible.
This was one reason Cú Chulainn had been able to reach the Land of Shadows and study under Scáthach during the era of Celtic myth.
"This is a personal request. There's sothing that must be confird once and for all," Hakuno Kishinami said. "After Enkidu died from the curse of the gods, Gilgash buried his remains in the Underworld. I'd like you to go there and verify whether Enkidu's body is still there."
It was clear what Hakuno ant: the appearance of a replica with powers identical to Enkidu's must be linked to his corpse.
"So, if I understand correctly, checking on Enkidu's remains in the Underworld is only a secondary goal. There's a real mission you want us to take on, isn't there?" Shiomi asked.
Hakuno nodded seriously. "Exactly. As you all know, Gilgash possessed Clairvoyance that allowed him to see into the future. Before his death, he inscribed what he saw with that ability onto sothing called the 'Tablet of Destinies.' That tablet contains critical information about the 'Three Goddess Alliance.'"
"...If he saw it with Clairvoyance, why didn't he just tell us directly?" Shiomi frowned. "Even if he beca a Servant, he should've—"
"It's not that simple, Shiomi," Romani interrupted. "If Clairvoyance isn't actively invoked, the information the user sees is actually quite limited. Whether it's Solomon, Gilgash, or rlin, what they perceive—past, present, or future—is usually just the structure, direction, and outcos of events. Not detailed specifics."
He continued, "Gilgash likely saw it during a ditative state and unconsciously wrote it down onto clay. That's why he doesn't fully rember the contents himself."
Romani paused, then added, "It's probably sothing like 'seeing three goddesses, each ruling a domain, joining forces to destroy humanity'—that kind of broad vision. Just a rough outline, nothing more."
"Thanks for the enlightening explanation," Shiomi said with a dry sigh.
"Ahahaha..." Romani gave a sheepish laugh, realizing he may have said too much.
Still, it was thanks to that explanation that Shiomi was able to accept the mission Hakuno Kishinami was entrusting to them as King of Uruk.
...
(100 Chapters Ahead)
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