Beast! She's Still So Young!

"Morning, Anna..."

The next day, the ancient serpent pushed open the door and windows and greeted Anna, who had stepped out of the house as well.

"Mm, morning, Samael..."

After spending this short time together, the purple-haired little girl had let down some of her guard. At last, she dared to look her new companion in the eye and softly returned the greeting.

Then, as though she had remembered something, the little girl tangled her fingers together and hesitated.

"Last night..."

"The flatbread was delicious. Thanks..."

The man smiled in understanding and gently stroked Anna's little head. As he leaned close with a grin, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

"As repayment, I'll handle breakfast today. What do you want to eat?"

"Butter cake!"

The purple-haired little girl lifted her face in delight, blurting out her heart's desire.

"The stove hasn't been lit yet, so that might be difficult..."

"Can't I have it?"

The man rubbed his chin, his brow knitting slightly. Anna's spirits immediately sank, and she lowered her little head in disappointment.

"Well, what I meant was that I can't manage everything alone in the kitchen. If you want some, you'll have to come help me."

"And Merlin doesn't get any this time. You can eat as much as you want! I'll make sure you're full!"

However, the troubled look on the ancient serpent's face turned into a teasing smile. He curled his fingers and flicked Anna's smooth forehead.

The purple-haired little girl clutched her forehead in pain and took a small step back.

Once she understood Samael's teasing and promise, Anna's eyes sparkled. She nodded hard and, incidentally, dragged Merlin—the root of all evil—out for another whipping.

"Mm!"

"Merlin doesn't get any!"

An hour and a half later, the two arrived at the Royal Palace Divine Tower at the appointed time.

The white-haired incubus who had been waiting there early saw Samael and Anna walking toward him with their bellies stuck out. His expression turned rather subtle, and he rushed over with exaggerated concern.

"Anna, what happened to you, Anna? Who turned you into this?!"

"Samael did it! It's the result of our hard work together!"

The purple-haired little girl, completely oblivious to the incubus's verbal trap, proudly raised her chin, revealing a little face still smeared with a trace of white cream.

"Beast! She's still so young—how could you lay your hands on her?!"

The Great Sage, ever the dramatic actor, clutched his chest in agony with his left hand and pointed at Anna's round, distended little belly with his right, his face full of grief and indignation.

Samael's face darkened, and his fingers itched. He now understood a certain truth.

This white-haired incubus, who loved stirring up trouble and observing every kind of human emotional reaction, really deserved a beating.

"If you dare keep mouthing off, do you believe I'll have Anna explain exactly what you meant just now?"

The ancient serpent stepped forward and leaned close to Merlin's ear, whispering sinisterly.

It didn't matter if he couldn't beat this immortal incubus. He could just let Anna do it!

If necessary, next time he would add some ale to the butter cake, get this goddess's young vessel into the mood, and have her chop this bastard to death!

Feeling an inexplicable chill along his neck, Merlin gave a dry laugh and edged back. He was rather wary of Hepal, the divine weapon in Anna's hand that could sever immortality.

Getting stabbed to death over a few tasteless jokes would be far too unfair.

"Fine, let's talk business. We'll go meet King Gilgamesh now."

The flower magician, rarely serious, immediately changed the subject and rose to lead the way.

Anna, unaware of the sinister intentions of the two adults just now, dazedly followed Samael's footsteps.

The ancient serpent habitually surveyed his surroundings, taking in the outline of the entire Royal Palace Divine Tower. As he recalled his teacher Shamhat's introduction to Uruk, he fell into thought.

In truth, the power structure of the entire city-state was roughly divided into three parts.

They were the Royal Palace Divine Tower, the sacrificial grounds, and the Shrine Maiden's Office.

First, the Royal Palace Divine Tower represented the supreme divine-right kingship. It was Heroic King Gilgamesh's residence and administrative hall, and most decrees were issued from there.

Second, the Shrine Maiden's Office symbolized divine authority. Those within listened for heaven's will and conveyed divine decrees.

In some cities, the words of these shrine maidens and priests carried even more authority than the law or royal power.

Claiming the authority of the gods gave them enormous power, and over time, that led to corruption and filth.

According to Shamhat's complaints, every temple controlled resources that could be called astronomical. They were filthy rich, yet still unsatisfied, and had repeatedly tried to use divine authority in place of royal authority.

Those shrine maidens and priests who constantly preached "reverence for the gods" were almost all experts at squeezing the people dry.

Of course, when faced with a domineering monarch like Gilgamesh, the shrine maidens and priests who jumped around too much had basically all been dealt with.

Under his forceful and tyrannical rule, even if the Shrine Maiden's Offices in each city had their own schemes, they could only hide them in the shadows and did not dare openly oppose royal authority.

Yet even so, the Third Storm sweeping across Mesopotamia had indirectly exposed the malicious intentions hidden by these shrine maidens and priests.

When the Third Storm had first arisen, the shrine maidens of the Shrine Maiden's Offices and the priests of the temples had lost the gods' protection one after another, and the effects of their divine arts had been greatly weakened.

Rumors began spreading in some regions that King Gilgamesh had angered the gods and brought disaster upon them.

With the support of the Shrine Maiden's Offices, many northern city-states had joined the Three Goddesses' alliance, praying for forgiveness while condemning that "foolish Tyrant."

Unfortunately for them, they encountered Gorgon the Beast Goddess, who simply did not reason with anyone.

Livestock that imagined they could snort and argue reason with a god had only one fate: being slaughtered early.

Thus, all those collaborators who had flocked to the northern cities to "welcome the imperial army" were thrown by Gorgon into the Temple of Blood and reduced to nourishment for creating demonic beasts.

It was said that when Gilgamesh heard this news, he laughed without end and often brought up this example to rub salt into the wounds of those shrine maidens and priests.

Moreover, the Heroic King used this leverage to force temples and Shrine Maiden's Offices across the land to make donations, nearly draining the private coffers of those vampires dry.

Otherwise, where would Gilgamesh have found so much spare money to construct the Absolute Demonic Beast Front and establish the Treasury of Babylon?

But after spending too long as society's elite, these shrine maidens and priests could not accept reality after falling to the bottom, nor could they put themselves in their proper place.

Thus, a group of priests and shrine maidens led by the Uruk Shrine Maiden's Office secretly began conducting summons and spirit descents.

After several rounds of ruinously expensive Great Sacrifices, only a certain money-grubbing goddess responded, drawn by the gems.

That goddess was Uruk's city deity, Mistress of the Sky Ishtar.

The Shrine Maiden's Office had intended to use the descent of a true god to dampen the Heroic King's arrogance.

But their luck was terrible. During the spirit descent, the deity summoned by the Shrine Maiden's Office was actually two goddesses sharing one body.

Namely, Ishtar and Ereshkigal, two sides of the same coin.

After several setbacks, the little sacrificial offering and manpower they had cobbled together could not possibly sustain the descent of two chief goddesses.

As a result, the Head Shrine Maiden presiding over the summoning ritual was directly drained of her life force and died suddenly in utter confusion.

The remaining shrine maidens and priests also fell into weakness and unconsciousness, throwing the scene into chaos.

No one even had time to cast suppressive or binding spells on Ishtar. The goddess, who had independently completed the spirit descent and fusion, refused to acknowledge anything and ran off immediately.

This operation had truly brought disaster upon the Shrine Maiden's Office.

The bodyguard they had emptied their coffers to hire not only could not be restrained, but also cost them their leader's life.

So this became another joke that delighted Gilgamesh, leaving that pleasure-seeker's abs aching from laughter several times.