"Gil, you."
Annanu looked gravely at Gilgamesh, who was already half-reclining on his bed.
He had not noticed it before, merely thinking Gilgamesh's physical decline was due to ordinary exhaustion. But now...
Because of his own severe injuries, Annanu could tell that Gilgamesh's condition was not simple physical weakness, but the result of something else.
The current Gilgamesh, compared to the Gilgamesh from when Annanu and Enkidu had still been alive, was simply...
So frail that he looked as though he might die at any moment.
"Do not concern yourself. It is merely a sacrifice made in order to imitate a magus." Gilgamesh looked at Annanu with a faint smile, utterly unconcerned. "What, did you wish to compare our performance? My apologies, but I have no spare strength at present."
Though he said he was sorry, a trace of amusement remained in his eyes as he looked at Annanu sitting beside his bed.
"You... Simply imitating a magus would not leave you like this." Annanu gritted his teeth, concern evident on his face.
"I told you not to concern yourself." Gilgamesh sat up and raised a brow. "I know my own body. No matter how weakened I may be, I still have plenty of time left to live."
"Rather, why have you become so sentimental after dying once?"
"...You know we care about you." Annanu placed a hand on Gilgamesh's shoulder and looked earnestly into his eyes. "Your condition... is not for your own sake, Gil."
"I understand everything you are saying."
Gilgamesh's expression grew slightly more complicated.
He removed Annanu's hand from his shoulder and held it in his own.
"Since your deaths, I have come to understand that."
"...Though the price of realizing it was rather high."
"...Perhaps this city needed a wise king like you." Annanu smiled