It had to be said that Ziusudra's approach had actually been correct.
He could not know exactly why Rovi did not want him to "protect" him, but he had not insisted either. Having lived for so long, the immortal understood very well that forcing himself to follow would only breed annoyance.
That would have been counterproductive instead.
Yet finding a way to respect Rovi's wishes while still protecting him seemed rather difficult.
But Ziusudra had found the method best suited to himself.
Namely, what he was doing now—
In Rovi's name, destroy one nation and make all others tremble, panic, and fear.
Dare not make a reckless move!
They truly did not dare move, but was it really okay to strangle all my opportunities without even letting me make a move?
"Lord Rovi, this is the alliance tablet we prepared. Please inspect it—"
A low, aged voice rang out.
Inside the royal palace of a city-state in the northern Mesopotamian Plain.
Standing upon stone slabs under the sunlight, Rovi accepted the clay tablet offered by the trembling king of the small state before him. The corner of his mouth twitched into a smile.
The old man's already weakened knees instantly buckled, and he nearly collapsed to the ground.
Rovi: "..."
This was the fifth and final city-state he had visited.
News that Ziusudra had annihilated a nation's nobility in his name had long since spread throughout the northern states.
Since it was a rumor, there was naturally no lack of embellishment.
But regardless, the fact that a city-state had been wiped out overnight was real.
Thus, whenever Rovi arrived in any nation, he was invariably received with the grandest hospitality and attended to with utmost caution.
They were all small states.
Everyone feared being destroyed by him.
Presenting alliance tablets honoring Uruk as their "suzerain state" was only natural as well.
After all, the reason these nations had followed the Akkadian City-State was that they believed Uruk had no spare strength to deal with them. They had hoped they might be able to share in Akkad's gains.
If they seized the opportunity, it was not impossible for them to leap from minor city-states to hegemons.
But now, Rovi's destruction of a nation proved that Uruk not only still had the strength to deal with them.
It had plenty.
Enough to wipe out countless nobles throughout an entire city-state overnight.
Revering the strong had always been the instinct of living creatures.
Thus, Rovi's journey ended smoothly and perfectly, without any of the setbacks he had imagined.
Walking out of the city-state's palace and onto the streets, he saw low buildings scattered beneath the sun and dust like people prostrating themselves upon the ground. Compared to the Uruk City-State, these small city-states lagged far behind in both scale and prosperity.
But the local customs and scenery were not what Rovi was focused on.
It was the figure waiting for him outside the palace gates...
The old man who had remained at his side ever since the destruction of that nation.
"Your journey seemed to have gone very smoothly." A hoarse, deep voice emerged from the shadows. Ziusudra stepped forth, no longer bearing the demonic guise of an "assassin," but restored to his hunched old-man form.
"Not only those five city-states, even Akkad has submitted an alliance tablet to Uruk. We can return now."
A smile appeared beneath the old man's beard, before he asked in puzzlement, "But you do not seem very happy?"
Should I be smiling?
No, I can't smile. My tears are swirling in my stomach...
Rovi remained expressionless, his face full of joy. "What is there to be happy about?"
"Hahaha, is it because everything went so easily that it does not feel real?" Ziusudra had clearly misunderstood something. "But it does not matter. If you live to my age, what difference does it make whether such a feeling is real or not?"
Having lived too long and seen too much, Ziusudra viewed the world very differently from ordinary people.
"If I may ask, how long have you lived?" Rovi asked curiously.
That world-ending Great Flood from the distant past was a disaster everyone knew of.
Yet its exact date had never been recorded.
"Living in the dark lands of the underworld, there is neither sun nor moon, so this old man does not know the exact time." Beneath his hood, Ziusudra's aged face took on a thoughtful expression. "But perhaps five or six thousand years?"
"..."
"Still, do not think too much about it." Ziusudra glanced at Rovi. "Immortal beings were special products of the age of great disasters. Now, with the gods finding it difficult to enter the world, they have nearly vanished."
"As far as I know, there are only one or two such things across this vast plain. The chance of finding one is infinitesimal."
"Do not covet what was never meant to belong to you—"
Clearly, he had misunderstood Rovi's thoughts.
Forget it.
Rovi did not intend to explain. He merely patted his linen robe, shaking off the dust clinging to it.
Then he turned back and looked into the city-state palace, at the countless local nobles, priests, generals, and king still standing there, trembling and not daring to move before Rovi had truly departed.
He froze for a moment, then smiled.
"Just as Gilgamesh said..."
Rovi waved his hand. "An alliance? Resistance against Uruk? It is nothing but a joke!"
"...A pack of petty vermin, and they dare call themselves exalted?"
His figure receded alongside a contemptuous laugh.
He had arrived beneath the gaze of countless eyes, with tens of thousands gripped by terror. When he left, he appeared even more unrestrained, yet no one dared show the slightest hint of anger.
Because his name could wipe out a nation overnight.
Because he had truly achieved the feat of intimidating the northern states, even this entire plain.
Even commanding thousands upon thousands of troops, who would dare make a move before him?
"Hmph, hahaha! As expected of the man this king values!" Atop the towering steps of Uruk's palace, Gilgamesh, his face bearing a trace of weariness, looked at the five alliance clay tablets protruding from the opened gates of the King's Treasure and burst into hearty laughter.
There was no doubt that Rovi had placed those tablets into the treasury, using the King's Treasure as a relay so Gilgamesh could retrieve them directly.
Besides those tablets, Gilgamesh had also received reports of all Rovi's actions after heading north.
He seemed very pleased.
"Before he left, this king was still wondering what means he would use against that pack of trash... As expected, only such swift decisiveness can display this king's glory!"
"The kingdom ruled by a king should not consist only of fertile soil. It should also possess storms that destroy all who refuse to submit!"
Siduri naturally smiled as well.
To be honest, Rovi had indeed done very well this time.
He had destroyed only one nation as a warning,
while remaining courteous and exceptionally polite toward the others.
With that destruction preceding it, his later politeness would naturally not be taken as weakness, but instead as a display of magnanimity.
He had shown strength while also granting benevolence.
If their positions were reversed and Siduri had been sent as the envoy, she feared she could not have achieved such a result.
Not only because she lacked sufficient strength,
but even more because she lacked the necessary "bearing."
Yet Siduri did not find it strange.
After all, she had long known of Rovi's uniqueness. One who could stand alongside the king should naturally be so.
Before you continue