Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

"Coo—" The flame bird beside her cried out, and Flora's thoughts were immediately diverted, and then more things that needed to be done by her appeared in her eyes.

Only then did she notice the footsteps of mortals lingering at the temple entrance, and the commotion of the worshippers should have already been perceived by her when she awoke. However, she hadn't fully grasped the multi-threaded thinking mode brought about by divine wisdom, and subconsciously postponed the matter of the worshippers.

This is a lesson, though it wasn't my wisdom, I must learn how to apply it. However…

[So three days have already passed...]

Three days ago, she made a pact with the inhabitants of Imanitic City. She would provide shelter, and the city's inhabitants would demonstrate values ​​beyond prayer and worship. For the past three days, she had been in the temple, meticulously planning, familiarizing herself with the use of divine power, and analyzing intelligence in the current world. She had deliberately sealed off her senses from outside the temple, allowing only the senses of the autonomous ball lightning guards to prevent the city from being overrun by monster hordes.

Now that three days have passed, it is time to verify the results of our mortal efforts.

"Come in," she said.

Two seconds later, the high priest appointed by Mangotlund at the moment of her arrival respectfully entered the temple, bowed to her, and presented her with a clay tablet filled with records.

“God, the task you entrusted to us has now been completed. Please review it.”

The clay tablet hovered in front of Flora as she browsed it and listened to the high priest's report.

"Currently, the population of Imanitik is 4,070, of which 1,635 are nomads from the surrounding city-states who came to seek refuge after you deployed the protective barrier and defeated the goddess Ishtar. Of these 4,070 people, there are 1,262 adult males, 1,321 adult females, and the rest are children under ten years old and elderly people over sixty years old."

"There are 305 warriors. Each of them has received full combat training and has at least three battles against magical beasts. Three of them have even killed lone magical beasts with their bravery. Their list is here for your perusal."

Flora lowered her gaze, and as she focused on the three Sumerian characters on the clay tablet, she directly perceived the three warriors their names referred to through the connection between the messages—two men and one woman, all robust and powerful Immanite. She could even clearly see their exceptionally active hearts, taut muscles, tattoos that enhanced their strength, and the faint fluctuations of lightning and fire in their breathing, accompanying their heartbeats.

Yes, this is the Age of Gods, and the inhabitants of the Age of Gods are completely different from the mortals of later generations. Living year-round in the environment of True Aether, the inhabitants of the Age of Gods can easily lift objects weighing several tons. They can carry hundreds of kilograms of weight and march for hundreds of miles without exhaustion. The strong can even smash rocks with a single punch and split trees with their bare hands, while the warriors, without exception, possess a certain degree of supernatural power—they can harden their skin, multiply their physical strength, and even throw energy balls equivalent to high-explosive grenades!

This is the city of Imanitik, a city imbued with the grace of Mangotrund. Though its lineage has long been broken, a trace of its bloodline still remains. And when her gaze shifted from the three warriors to the other warriors, she saw the ancient Imanitik bloodline manifest in every single one of them.

Thunder and fire, electricity and heat, the prototype of industry—Flora raised an eyebrow slightly, and a somewhat audacious idea surfaced in her mind. After all, once she obtained the Anchor Grail, all the changes of this era would be rectified. And with those two 'masterpieces' from London and North America already set, could she, Flora, possibly create a Lostbelt by being a little more audacious?

—What's more, she doesn't even know what Lostbelts are yet.

Her thoughts paused, and while revising the plan, she shifted another part of her attention back to the report before her—she quickly made up for the lessons she had learned earlier, and now she had a basic grasp of the multi-threaded thinking ability granted to her by divine wisdom. At that moment, the high priest before her had just finished explaining the city planning.

"...This is the city-state expansion plan devised by the craftsmen. With the surrounding thirty-kilometer forest now cleared, you can now build a fortified city-state as grand as Uruk, capable of housing tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of people. Although timber and stone are still somewhat lacking, with your protection, your people will be able to bring you precious cedar and white stone. God, are you satisfied with the work of your people?"

After finishing his report, the high priest stepped back and bowed deeply to her as a sign of humility.

Flora also happened to see the city expansion plan she had requested three days earlier.

To be fair, this expansion plan wasn't very good. The lines were a mess, and the layout was a complete disaster. From Flora's perspective, its most suitable place right now was the wastebasket. But she also knew very well that this was the Age of Gods, and she couldn't judge these ancient people by the standards of later generations, especially since she had only given them three days. If this were modern times, if she, as the client, dared to ask the designer to produce a complete and reasonable city plan within three days, she'd probably get her head smashed in. The residents of this era were already doing a tremendous effort just to draw a picture.

Moreover, in those three days, all the mortals of Imanitism mobilized. Workers repaired buildings and leveled the land. Farmers harvested crops and tended to livestock. Then the quarries and logging camps resumed operation, achieving a productivity comparable to modern mines and forestry operations with these rudimentary tools from ancient times. Even children and the elderly were not idle; they took charge of logistics and supplies, working alongside others to fully restore the function and order of this city that had been on the verge of collapse!

In this city, there is not a single useless person, not a single superfluous person. And although their efforts are insignificant compared to divine power, their spirit deserves praise.

Flora then responded.

"It's alright," she said. "Although there are still some shortcomings, that's not your responsibility."

The next moment, her voice resounded throughout the entire city.

“I acknowledge the value of Imanitik, and therefore, as agreed, I will protect this city based on that.”

Her voice, like a giant bell, echoed clearly between the streets and houses, and immediately afterward, cheers and shouts resounded throughout the city!

"Praise be to you, great Mangotlund!"

"Praise be to you, wielder of light, darkness, thunder, and fire!"

The sounds converged into a tidal wave, transforming into a vast expanse of prayers that echoed around her. She could sense that the number of her followers was increasing rapidly. In the blink of an eye, it had surpassed three thousand!

Before her, the chosen high priest also bowed deeply to her, thanking her in a slightly choked yet relaxed voice.

"Praise be to you, praise be to you, my mistress, Lord of the sacred and solemn ancient order, may your grace always protect this land."

Flora could clearly sense the high priest's excitement, and even more clearly perceive the subtle fervor rising throughout the city. She knew she now had a basic grasp on the city-state, knew that she could decide the life and death of thousands of people with a single word. And all of this feeling was as intoxicating as fine wine.

This is power, a power that ordinary people rarely have access to—the absolute dominance of those in power over those in power. And the feeling of power is intoxicating.

but……

My purpose is to restore humanity; restoration, and only restoration. Everything else is irrelevant to me.

Flora raised her gaze to the distance, where she had just sensed some movement. She then discovered that two teams were approaching from two different directions and would arrive at the city-state around the same time but at different times.

A group came from the northwest, a little further away, consisting of tens of thousands of magical beasts enhanced with lightning and fire resistance, carrying sharp fangs and claws.

The other group came from the southeast. They were slightly faster and consisted of dozens of Uruk warriors and a powerful general with an aura that did not resemble that of a Sumerian.

The military commander had a very handsome but completely out-of-place samurai outfit and waist-length white hair.

Warcraft.

[Servant...]

Flora tapped her fingers on the armrest of the seat.

"Go," she said to the high priest who awaited her command. "Prepare wine and food, order the citizens who have gone out to return to the city, and close all the northern city gates."

"—A guest has arrived."

Chapter Eleven: The Goddess's Contract

Do you think they might start fighting?

“I don’t know. But I tend to think it will… and Margot Lloyd, isn’t the development of this situation dependent on your will?”

"No, it doesn't depend on me. Although I can influence her blood, her nerves, her hormone secretion, and her external perception, the one thing I can't influence is her heart... What she does is up to her. At least for now, all her decisions are none of my business."

"Your eyes didn't waver... So you're telling the truth. Fine, I'll stick to my original point. If we switched places, I'd basically chop off every single one of these so-called Servants I see. Seriously, even though Hinako isn't even human, how come she has no problems with her at all... Margot Lloyd, do you know something?"

"Yes, it's a very interesting thing."

"Explain yourself, you bastard!"

"That's very interesting."

"You... alright, let's leave that aside for now. Why did you remove a few letters from your name to create this awkward 'Mangotlund'? To deal with the other Reincarnation Squads? This level of disguise is completely insufficient."

"It was just because I did something really interesting."

“Speak like a human being, please… never mind, Chu Xuan, you explain it to me.”

"It is indeed very interesting."

“…Xiao Honglu, you wouldn’t use that kind of excuse to brush me off, would you?”

"Even if you say that... but Brother Zheng Zha, this matter is quite interesting."

"I... Phew, calm down. Miss Sirin, could you help me decipher what these guys are saying? Please!"

"Chewing... The barbecue tastes good... Hmm? This? Let me check my chat history... Eh? Isn't this kind of thing quite interesting?"

"...I...￥%￥＆*（）Ahhhhh! Damn it!"

—An indescribable roar from a gorilla.

....................................

Guests in the world can be divided into two types: hospitable and unwelcome. Hospitable guests require a warm welcome, while unwelcome guests require caution—just like the old saying, "We welcome friends with good wine, but we prepare hunting rifles for wolves." Although this isn't exactly an ancient saying but rather a quote from a modern song, the saying itself still holds some truth.

Flora had prepared a fine wine, extracted from the wisdom of the gods, said to be so exquisite that even beings of extraordinary levels would feel intoxicated by it—she didn't quite understand what 'beings of extraordinary levels' meant, but she felt that if she drank three or five liters more, she would probably be dizzy for a while. This wine was so good that it could probably be served to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, and paired with various delicacies extracted from divine wisdom, it should at least be impeccable in terms of etiquette.

As for hunting rifles… Flora wasn't particularly fond of preparing them. After all, this was the Age of Gods, where both mortals and Servants had a strong affinity for True Aether. If she were to blatantly create a magical trap or a makeshift artifact, it would likely only elicit laughter and be seen as petty, thus disgracing the Old Gods.

So she only did a token amount, using her creative power to gather about a hundred tons of deuterium and tritium beneath the temple. It was nothing special; it was just some mixed and stored heavy and superheavy hydrogen. Although the physical reaction caused by them rolling together could probably blow the land within a radius of hundreds of kilometers into molecules—they weren't even mixed together yet, were they?

Well, actually, these fusion materials have another purpose. She didn't prepare any 'hunting rifles' because she knew very well that a mere non-top-tier Servant wasn't qualified to act recklessly under her nose—while Mangtlund's power didn't belong to her, she at least had control over it for now. And power naturally brings authority, and she believed that the mortal kings of this era wouldn't make any terribly foolish mistakes.

Okay, probably not.

As for why she would waste so much time and make so many preparations for this mere, ordinary meeting with an envoy, enough to occupy a long, essentially useless section in an article... well, that's a matter of opinion.

Thus, when the visitors from Uruk arrived at the foot of Imanityk's city walls before the monsters from the northwest, they were greeted with flowers and a welcoming procession. After proving their identities and purpose, they were allowed to stay in the temporary embassy erected within the city, and half an hour later, they were granted the honor of meeting the gods.

........................

Flora lowered her eyes.

The only person allowed to enter the temple was the white-haired female warrior, who stopped thirteen steps away from the throne and bowed halfway to Flora, who was seated in the center of the temple.

“Archer Zhongyuanba, a subject of King Gilgamesh, has come to pay homage to the god Mangotrend at the behest of my lord.”

Nakahara Tomoe, also known as Tomoe Gozen. The title 'Gozen' is an honorific for a noblewoman, and it's natural that she wouldn't use it when meeting a deity. She was the daughter of Nakahara Kaneto, and a concubine of Minamoto no Yoshinaka, or more specifically, Kiso Yoshinaka. She is remembered for her extraordinary martial prowess, as recorded in unofficial histories, and her final fate remains unclear.

"How interesting," Flora thought, gazing at the white-haired beauty bowing before her. She silently recalled some relevant information brought back by the unseen messenger.

[While it's unknown whether this person truly existed in history, her husband was defeated by Minamoto no Yoshitsune's scheme and died at the hands of Yoshitsune's elder brother, Minamoto no Noriyori. Her husband's children… and whether her own children were among them, also died at the hands of Yoshitsune's other elder brother, Minamoto no Yoritomo. The hatred of her husband's murder and her children's deaths is both related to Minamoto no Yoshitsune. Furthermore, Yoshitsune's childhood name was Ushiwaka, and as far as I know, another defender on the Uruk defense line was none other than Ushiwakamaru.]

[Servants are truly fascinating. They can so easily let go of the hatred for their husbands and children's murder. It's almost like Queen Boudica in the Roman Singularity, whose husband was killed by the Romans, and whose two daughters and she herself were raped and killed by Roman soldiers, yet she still fought alongside the Roman Emperor Nero, who even issued a kill order, for the sake of restoring humanity… I really don't understand you 'things'. You can endure even this kind of thing, yet…]

Why can't they accept me?

A cold smile appeared on her lips. The moment the messenger entered the temple and beheld her face, she clearly sensed an unsuppressed, nameless hostility, yet impossible to conceal under divine perception. Ah… yes, just like Ishtar, who wanted to attack her the moment she saw her, this servant before her shared the same nature as the black-haired goddess.

It's truly hateful, truly despicable, truly... incomprehensible.

She did not try to conceal her expression, and the high priest standing beside the god was able to clearly capture the subtle changes in the god's expression—the god has his own dignity and does not do everything himself. The high priest, who perceived and believed he understood the god's will, consciously went to do his bidding.

"How dare you!" The high priest strode forward, his loud rebuke accompanied by an invisible, oppressive divine force. "Since you have the honor of seeing the gods, why do you not kneel!"

The air visibly rippled, and spiderweb-like cracks immediately appeared beneath the white-haired servant's feet. This was equivalent to the immense pressure of a river bursting its banks, causing even the servant's bowing posture to become slightly distorted!

Since there is hostility, a necessary show of force is needed... Regardless of the King of Uruk's true intentions in sending envoys, his Servants are undoubtedly a crucial fighting force he relies on. And if all his Servants harbor the same hatred for me as before... even if the King of Uruk sincerely intends to form an alliance, there is no need for it.

However, unconditional pressure is unacceptable; leaving some room for maneuver is best. My objective cannot be deviated from; I cannot recklessly provoke unnecessary conflict for the sake of momentary pleasure. But this does not mean I must ignore provocations that are blatantly directed at me. You are the one who has shown hostility towards me within my temple; if I can tolerate even this, I doubt my future allies will heed my will in crucial moments!

Flora's mind raced, and with a silent gesture, she tacitly agreed. Within the semi-intelligent temple, completed just hours earlier, the divine power management system shifted its focus to supporting the high priest. The next instant, the temple floor, cracked by the immense pressure, was repaired and its hardness increased tenfold. The original pressure of a thousand tons surged to hundreds of thousands of tons in a flash!

The pressure of hundreds of thousands of tons was concentrated on the soles of the feet, which were less than a few square decimeters in size. Even if the legs were made of titanium alloy, under this immense pressure, they would only have two options: be pressed into the ground or flattened into a pancake. Even the Servant's mortal body groaned under the sheer force of this overwhelming power. The posture, which had been bent at 135 degrees, was forcibly reduced to 90 degrees, and the once upright knees gradually bent, as if they would suddenly collapse and touch the ground at any moment!

However, she did not kneel down.

Even as blood splattered from her entire body and her bones emitted unpleasant cracking sounds, she still struggled to maintain her posture.

Until the crimson blood splattered on the ground not covered by the weight, blooming like beautiful plum blossoms.

“I am… an envoy of King Gilgamesh.” Then, the female servant uttered words that were difficult but clear: “I have come… to conclude… a covenant… between the King and you!”

The next moment, the immense pressure of hundreds of thousands of tons vanished with a single gesture from Flora. A gentle force replaced the oppressive weight, preventing the man before her from crashing into the temple's dome with excessive force—the high priest beside her silently retreated, disappearing from sight like her shadow. Only then did Flora raise her eyes to the messenger before her.

“You should know why this is. Since you attempted to oppose the gods, you must pay the price. This is a lesson, and I will not pursue it further for the sake of King Gilgamesh. However, I also have doubts about your alliance with Uruk—could it be that you have ended up being opposed by many goddesses because of your disrespectful treatment of the other goddesses? If so, I do not think there is any need to make a covenant with you.”

The servant before her froze, speechless. This was a tricky question; a direct answer could easily anger the deity before her. A roundabout answer would mean abandoning the alliance, but since Flora had spoken, it meant she at least intended to continue the discussion, and perhaps the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Uruk would be decided in the next few words!

However, her momentary speechlessness lasted only a split second; in a split second, the white-haired servant had already prepared her response. But just before she was about to speak—