Or, why don’t you find another savior?

In fact, others could hardly notice it, but Morgan could see at a glance that during the days of rest in Uruk, Artoria took the initiative to follow Shiomi and carried out various tasks at a high frequency.

As a servant, he is too loyal, but as a woman, it makes sense.

"I'm not angry at all..." Shiomi asked tentatively.

"No, I am indeed angry, but there is nothing I can do about it." Morgan sighed meaningfully, "After all, he is your Pure White Knight, and he has never used his weapons against you from the beginning to the end... It is only right that he should give you some reward."

"Huh?" Xijian thought what she said was strange.

But then he seemed to understand and could only bury his face in Morgan's legs as he sat at the table.

"Then let's get back to the topic. We said we want to go to the underworld, but where is the underworld?" Morgan stroked Shiomi's hair as if she were a beloved treasure, and continued the topic calmly.

"Since the Moon King said that it's convenient to go to Kusa City, then the place bordering the underworld in this era must be Kusa City." Scathach added naturally, "Moreover, the Mesopotamian goddess of the underworld, Ereshkigal, is the patron saint of Kusa City."

Therefore, the road leading to the underworld must be inside that city.

Finding the entrance was not a problem for Scathach at all.

"What about the underworld...I'm afraid not even a flower can grow in that kind of place." Morgan teased Scathach.

"No, my castle in the Kingdom of Shadows has become a place that is no less beautiful than Camelot." Scathach said calmly, "Since my beloved disciple left, the forest has expanded naturally. One day, the Kingdom of Shadows will become a place that is no less beautiful than Avalon."

Altria showed an interested look: "If that's the case, I hope to visit your castle in the future."

"At that time, you must bring your beloved disciple back with you."

Scathach looked at him lazily lying on Morgan's thighs, and her voice softened.

Chapter 28: Training is harder than fighting

"It hurts..."

Xijian knelt on the ground and rubbed his waist.

“Everyone! Did you see that?! After training with 500 people! Even this warrior who is comparable to a heroic spirit would be so exhausted!!”

Leonidas I stood beside him and preached loudly to the soldiers who were watching and lying on the ground gasping for breath due to exhaustion.

“When you are exhausted and tired, how can you persevere on the battlefield? You must learn from him!”

“OO ...

The soldiers of Uruk cheered loudly.

Anyway, today's training work ends here.

Although the mission to go to Kusa to investigate the whereabouts of the Destiny Tablet has been confirmed, there are also tasks that require Shiomi to be competent.

Just like now, he accompanied the northern soldiers one by one in endurance combat training with bare hands.

Xi saw that he was quite good at charging into battle. If he was facing an army coming to attack him, he could move freely in the midst of thousands of troops with just a spear.

But the soldiers of Uruk are not enemies, but an important force in maintaining the northern defense line. In addition, we cannot seriously injure these ordinary soldiers who do not have special powers.

One by one, five hundred soldiers were trained and a day had passed.

Of course, these five hundred men were only a part of Uruk's military force. He was only asked by Leonidas I to do this today because he was still in Uruk.

It was not a trivial matter, so Xi Jian readily agreed.

However, he was unable to bring in the kind of training from the Shadow Kingdom that was enough to make one vomit blood, and the burden was much greater than he had expected.

"Master, thank you for your hard work. The task proposed by General Leonidas to accompany 500 soldiers in training has now been successfully completed." Altria helped Shiomi stand up from the training ground, put her hand on his lower back, and helped him walk to the bench outside the field to sit down and rest.

"No...it's okay..." Xijian smiled helplessly.

He just has a little back pain.

But the back pain was not because of accompanying 500 people in training, but because after the sexual pleasure last night, this marathon-like task was added.

After that, the next day, after getting up and having breakfast, Leonidas came over and entrusted me with a training task.

After all this tossing and turning, your waist will at least hurt.

Kallen handed over the sheepskin water bag at this time: "With such a high intensity, I'm afraid I should stay in Uruk to recuperate for a day tomorrow."

"It should be fine. Although I don't exercise day and night like I did in the Shadow Kingdom period, I won't be stumped by this little thing." Xijian moved his sore shoulders and neck and raised the water bag to drink big gulps of water.

At this time, Kallen began to massage his shoulders considerately.

"It's a bit scary. The teacher actually fought 500 people in a row." Olga Marie said with a mixture of admiration and surprise. "Seeing the fallen soldiers all over the ground, it's almost like corpses were everywhere."

"If you really want to talk about corpses everywhere, you should have seen it already." Xijian said.

Although the siege of Camelot was ultimately victorious, a large number of Allied soldiers were killed along the way.

After returning to Chaldea, the girls underwent psychological examinations by Romani one by one, confirming that they did not suffer from severe post-war PTSD.

It was okay for the others. Magicians had to develop a more cruel worldview, so Shiomi could actually feel a lot more at ease.

But Fujimaru Ritsuka was also fine. As the only two youngest personnel among the spirit particle transfer personnel, the girl was also exceptionally strong.

The same is true for the northern defense line now, although the death rate has been reduced to the limit due to the arrival of Chaldea.

However, Shiomi knew that this was just an appearance. Once the attack of the Three Goddesses Alliance began to intensify and the decisive battle began, the death rate would probably increase sharply.

"But if you can't even bear this kind of situation, you will have to face the world outside that is still burning." Olga Marie whispered, "No matter what, we have to get through it. We can't let the teacher face all the problems alone."

"Then please lead us well. The reason we can investigate outside is that Uruk, as our rear base, has enough defensive force to give us peace of mind." Shiomi said to her in an encouraging tone.

“But it’s starting to get dark. Is it time for dinner?” he asked, and then his stomach started to growl.

Several people couldn't help but laugh.

At this time, Tomoe Gozen came to the military camp and reminded Xijian and them that it was time to prepare to return to the city of Uruk.

So Olga Marie and Kallen ran off to prepare the carriage, leaving Altria alone to accompany Shiomi.

"The girls of Chaldea are all very strong," said Altria.

"Are you surprised? If you had seen them with your own eyes, you might have given up the plan earlier." Xijian said while wiping the sweat off his face.

Artoria, who was sitting next to him, shook her head and said, "No, at that time, even if I met these girls, I would only perform an additional 'Holy Pull' to determine whether their souls met the conditions to go to the end."

"I knew it……"

"So my plan failed." Altria smiled indifferently, as if this matter was not worth mentioning.

There is nothing wrong with my behavior, but correct behavior will also be accompanied by a certain degree of sin.

Responding to the call at the seventh singularity like this is also her act of atonement for humanity.

"Let's just look forward now." Shiomi raised the kettle and drank water again.

Altria stared at his profile, and from time to time new beads of sweat flowed down his cheeks, across his sleek jaw and neck.

She unconsciously moved a little closer, startling Shiomi slightly.

"What are you doing……"

"The Master's scent is strong," she whispered.

"...Please don't say such things, Knight King." Xi Jian dodged back, "I only smell of sweat now. If you come so close to smell it, you will look weird..."

Realizing that her behavior was indeed strange, Altria sat up straight again, her face slightly red: "I lost my composure."

"Come to think of it, when we attacked Camelot, several of your Knights of the Round Table said that they couldn't let me see you... saying that someone like me would seduce the king." He said, "They all tried their best to prevent me from reaching your throne."

Altria was stunned for a moment, then she started laughing to herself with her shoulders shaking.

She remembered that at that time, Agegui Wenqing and other people under her command always seemed to have something to say but were afraid to say it during the rest of the time.

Now that I suddenly understand it, I feel both amused and sorry for my loyal subjects.

"Perhaps I have indeed been bewitched by the Master, otherwise I would not be sitting here."

"...Uh, that seems to be true..."

Chapter 29 Reed Plains

On the way to the city of Kusa in the northeast, you will pass several ranches belonging to Uruk.

Therefore, the group of people who went out to investigate had an additional new task.

Just investigate these ranches.

The reason was simple. These pastures had all suffered from Ishtar's raids without exception. These pastures, which were supposed to have fertile and flat grasslands, were now covered with various large pits.

Those were the losses caused by Ishtar's indiscriminate shooting from the sky.

The pastures were destroyed and the fences used to manage the sheep were destroyed, causing great headaches for every herder.

"My family has been worshipping the goddess Ishtar for generations. It's really amazing that they still laughed so hard despite such a huge loss..."

"The sheep were shot and scattered, and she even killed all her own monsters, laughing loudly as she did so!"

"After doing all that, she took all the gems from my house! She laughed and said something like 'Give me all the gems and I'll let you go'!"

The herdsmen successively expressed their dissatisfaction and accusations against the goddess Ishtar.

This not only made Shiomi, Scathach and Morgan speechless, but Sakura was almost unable to hold back and rushed to the Temple of Ishtar on Mount Abif right now.

Although no casualties were caused and no valuable sheep were killed, this act of plundering property is truly unacceptable.

"This is not a goddess, this is already a demon."

That night, while camping on the reed plains between Kusa and Uruk, on the banks of the Tigris River, Shiomi summarized the results of his investigation while eating dinner and expressed his thoughts.

"It's a little different from the image in mythology. Although Ishtar is indeed a goddess who loves gems and treasures...but in the myths that have been passed down, there has never been a story about her directly plundering property from humans." Scathach smiled subtly.

After all, good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels far and wide. If you really did something like this, there will always be more or less content passed down.

"About this point..." Ying suddenly remembered, "Before I set off, Ms. Meili came to see me and told me something about the goddess Ishtar."

"Why don't you just tell us directly." Shiomi was referring to Meili.

However, the magician always has a casual attitude that as long as the overall situation is good, it doesn't matter if the details are a little rough.

The fact that she took the initiative to find Sakura to provide information showed that even Meili felt it was necessary.

Sakura looked at them. "It is said that when the monster appeared in the north, the witch temple in Uruk secretly performed a ritual without the king's knowledge. They tried to summon the city goddess Ishtar, because she is also the city goddess of Uruk. Some evildoers believe that she can protect Uruk."

"But at this point in time, gods no longer exist in this world. If they want to descend, they need a 'possessing object'. Without a container to rely on, they cannot stay in this world." Morgan took over the conversation and revealed a deeper possibility.

Sakura nodded vigorously in affirmation, "So those people prepared a human girl, and eventually, they succeeded in summoning the goddess Ishtar who merged with the girl's self-consciousness."

"In other words, the current Ishtar is most likely different from the image in mythology because of the fusion of personalities?" Xi Jian nodded in understanding.

But Ying covered her forehead and said, "Honestly, Dad, don't you think that Ishtar is very similar to her sister in many ways?"

Was the girl who was used as a vessel Toosaka Rin herself, or her previous life in this distant Age of the Gods?

All in all, Sakura felt that the girl's soul might be almost identical to her sister's.

As sisters related by blood, she felt strange whenever she thought of Ishtar's image, as if it was a family misfortune.

But no matter what the truth is, Ishtar, as a member of the Three Goddesses Alliance, is an issue that cannot be avoided and must be dealt with sooner or later.

"Aren't you sleeping yet?"

When Shiomi was squatting by the river thinking about the future direction of the singularity, Morgan's voice sounded behind him.

"I slept until I woke up naturally today. According to the time now, it's just past nine o'clock in the evening... It's not easy to fall asleep." Xi Jian turned around and smiled at her, "You also know that I don't go to bed until after ten o'clock."

"That's right." Morgan nodded. "So you're thinking about the problem in Kusa City?"

"Well, it is said that the city has lost contact with Uruk since the Three Goddesses Alliance appeared. When the investigation team arrived, the city was completely silent. All the citizens had no wounds on their bodies, and they died quietly as if they were sleeping soundly." Shiomi looked at the flowing river, "We have seen how the goddess Ishtar fights. She is better at attacking with gems or other means-"

Morgan raised his eyebrows slightly: "So what you mean?"

"That kind of death in sleep is very much like the curse of death... No, it's not right to call it a curse. Anyway, this peaceful way of death is not something Ishtar can do at all." Shiomi continued, "Even when Ishtar wanted to take revenge on Enkidu who killed the Bull of Heaven, she relied on other gods to achieve it."

In this case, who was it that killed all the citizens of Kusa City with such gentle means?

He felt that the answer was already within reach, but there was still one final step missing.

"Don't overthink it. For many things, only when they happen can you get more information and think about the next response. Guessing out of thin air will only be futile."

"It's my usual bad habit, because I always feel that if I can't grasp the situation, I will bring everyone into danger." Shiomi stood up, "I... have an obligation to protect others."

"As an adult? Or as a father? A teacher?"

"Both." Shiomi looked into Morgan's eyes, "and as a husband."