A Fat Sheep Comes Knocking

"Hey! How dare you touch my body without permission? You..."

"What do you mean, 'you'?! I nearly died just now! I didn't expect Sky Goddess Ishtar to be so unreasonable too!"

Having recovered her senses, the culprit planted one hand on her hip, pointed at the ancient serpent's nose, and shamelessly accused him first.

Before she could finish, however, the man opposite her, his face full of grievance, roughly slapped away Ishtar's finger and retorted angrily.

A fierce blaze of anger reflected in the pupils of the ancient serpent's human disguise.

The Ishtar before him governed nature and harvest throughout Mesopotamia, as well as love, fertility, and war. She was intimately connected to the lives of the Sumerians.

As a proper "Sumerian," he needed to be able to recognize Babylon's great goddess at a glance.

Even if she had descended into a vessel, the unmistakable rhythm of divine majesty should have been perceptible to the people.

Otherwise, there would inevitably be significant flaws in his plan to integrate his new identity into this world.

Of course, in the Sumerians' reverence for the gods, people who dared to confront a goddess face-to-face and accuse her of wrongdoing were exceedingly rare—and would very likely invite disaster upon themselves.

Even so, Samael's questioning carried a measure of genuine anger.

Just now, even with his demonic beast body, his cervical vertebrae had been dislocated after being struck by that reckless goddess, Ishtar.

If it had been an ordinary person with a frailer body, wouldn't the victim's head have split open on the spot?

Whenever gods used their power without restraint, it was no less than a disaster for the human world.

This sudden scolding left Ishtar stunned for a moment, and she could not help freezing where she stood.

But after coming back to herself, the mistress of the sky realized this fellow had offended her and angrily chased after him to demand an explanation.

"Wait! Stop right there! What do you mean, I'm unreasonable?"

"And Mount Epiph is this goddess's territory. Why were you sneaking up here like some thief?"

Samael instinctively paused, and Ishtar caught the slight turn of his shoulders.

"Rip!"

During their struggle, the somewhat damaged bundle on the ancient serpent's shoulder was torn open down the middle.

At once, dazzling starlight flashed everywhere, and all he could see were adorable little spirits in every color.

Gems! So many gems!

Ishtar's right hand stiffened in midair. Her expression went blank, her eyes stared straight ahead, and her throat moved instinctively as she swallowed the saliva gathering in her mouth.

"Looks like I found the wrong person!"

The man who had entered Sacred Mount Epiph staggered a few steps before steadying himself. He turned back with a cold snort, bent down, and began putting the various gems back into half of the bundle cloth.

No! Stop that right now!

For Ishtar, who loved gems madly yet was fated to have none, this cruel sight was like cutting flesh from her heart.

Wait, what had this guy just said? He had found the wrong person?

Could it be that he had come to Mount Epiph looking for me?!

Gems? Tribute!

That was it! These had to be offerings from the adorable humans at the foot of the mountain!

The goddess's eyes brimmed with sparkling colors as her mind, sharper than ever before, instantly unraveled and linked together all the information.

"Ahaha, misunderstanding, misunderstanding. Sky Ark Ma'anna went out of control just now, and before I knew it, I crashed into you..."

"Are you all right? Why not come sit in my temple? I can examine your injuries properly."

Ishtar's eyes narrowed into slits, and the smile on her face shone as brightly as a beckoning cat's. Enthusiastically, she reached out and patted Samael's shoulder as he bent over to gather the gems.

Very good, very good. A fat sheep had finally come knocking!

With the great calamity raging on, most cities beyond the Absolute Demonic Beast Front had been almost completely destroyed. She had not received tribute from humans in a very long time.

Yet both her magecraft and divine power required the consumption of vast quantities of gems.

To maintain her image and cover her expenses, she had already been driven to hunting demonic beast packs and looting gems from the homes of disaster-stricken herders.

But even so, how could those meager reserves possibly be enough?

On top of that, the nearby ranches had heard her name and begun relocating within Babylonia, behind the Absolute Demonic Beast Front.

Now, she could not even scrape together these scattered scraps anymore.

Damn that golden bastard! He had actually cut off all offerings to this goddess from the cities within Uruk and Babylonia's defensive lines! How hateful!

Clearly, I'm the city god here!

A jumble of thoughts flooded her mind as Ishtar, whose finances were stretched thin, cast an ill-intentioned gaze at this fat sheep that had delivered himself to her doorstep.

She could not let this chance slip away! No matter what, she had to bleed this guy dry!

Hearing the great goddess soften her tone, Samael, unaware of the danger, relaxed slightly. He moved his body a little to indicate that he was unharmed, then politely declined Ishtar's invitation.

Still, as both sides lowered their guard, the tense atmosphere from earlier finally eased somewhat.

"By the way, which city are you from?"

The exceptionally kind and approachable goddess crouched down, picked up the high-quality gems scattered around them one by one, and edged closer to their owner as she asked tentatively.

Samael's face was cold as still water. He raised his head and gazed far into the west, only speaking after a long silence in a low, heavy voice.

"Babylon..."

"What? Are there still living people in that hellhole?"

Ishtar looked stunned and deeply surprised, but she quickly realized that she had spoken too rashly. For the sake of the gems, she immediately lowered herself and apologized.

As far as she knew, when the Triple Goddess Alliance had first made its move, Babylon in the northwest had borne the brunt of the savage assault from the demonic beast hordes of the Fir Forest.

Four months ago, the place had fallen completely. Bones covered the ground, and it had become a nest where those monsters gathered.

Ishtar found it hard to imagine how an ordinary person like him had avoided packs of demonic beasts and escaped alive from such a hellish place.

"When Babylon fell, I and a group of people who had been scattered apart didn't follow the main body of refugees toward the North Wall defense established by Uruk."

"These demonic beasts were very different. They were hunting humans with a purpose."

"So the more people there were, the more dangerous it became."

"Taking that into account, we crossed the Tigris from the side, passed through plains with fewer traces of demonic beasts, and barely managed to escape all the way to Mount Epiph."

Noticing the goddess's confusion, Samael calmly gave a rough account of that once harrowing escape, leaving her with endless room for imagination.

"You were very smart to think of that!"

Ishtar reached out and gave this survivor from ruined Babylon a heavy pat on the shoulder. Genuine admiration appeared on her pretty face, and she was greatly surprised by their keen battlefield instincts.