At this very moment, Ishtar couldn’t help but ask herself:
Suffering an unfavorable start and a disastrous defeat, at her most powerless moment, she was even carried onto a man’s shoulder nonchalantly and humiliated.
May I ask, is there anything in the world more embarrassing to her than this?
——Yes!
That was seeing this disheveled look witnessed firsthand by her most hated sister, that gloomy goddess Ereshkigal!
“Grimm!” The blonde woman being talked about was greeting Grimm with a smile on her face.
“Yo, Ereshkigal!”
Grimm casually responded.
His foreign companion’s name was too long, so it was shortened to Ereshkigal.
Compared to Ishtar, Ereshkigal was actually more like Tohsaka Rin in his impression, at least their voices were similar.
But her appearance, temperament, and age didn’t match at all.
Ereshkigal had a head of brilliant blonde hair and looked more mature.
(Tohsaka Rin during FSF was several years older than in FSN)
As expected, with different traveled worlds, it was quite difficult to happen to bump into the exact same person.
As for why the people he encountered generally weren’t very high in strength, yet everyone had a huge mouth and named themselves after mythological figures, Grimm didn’t find it strange.
The “Dragon Raja” world originally had the Holy Palace Medical Association, and everyone in this organization was used to using mythological characters as code names.
In addition, some people used the names of Norse mythological Valkyries like Reginleif and Olrun.
He didn’t understand but respected it, considering it a naming feature of this world.
“You’re back, Grimm! Did you encounter anything outside today? You came back a bit later than usual… Ah! Ishtar!?”
Ereshkigal’s expression froze instantly, pointing at the person on Grimm’s shoulder and exclaiming, “Why, why is she here!”
Grimm raised an eyebrow.
“You two know each other?”
“… Far from it.”
It cannot simply be counted as knowing each other; it should rather be said that they glare at each other with hostility.
Ishtar, the Mistress of Heaven, governs harvest and fertility.
Ereshkigal, the Mistress of the Underworld, governs decay and death.
This is more than just a matter of elemental counteraction.
“That’s wonderful! Reuniting here can be considered a rare opportunity. You two should have a good chat later.”
“She probably ended up here inexplicably just like you!”
“Niflheim is like this; sometimes all sorts of people or things stray into it. And as for this newcomer, she ran into Odin right after arriving… Talk about bad luck.”
As Grimm spoke, he smiled and helped Ishtar—whose expression was so gloomy water could practically drip from it—over to a nearby seat, specifically making her face Ereshkigal directly.
Obviously, Grimm had misunderstood something.
At this moment, he didn’t sense the sudden freezing chill in the air at all; he only felt that today was truly joyous——
Having served time in Niflheim for decades, he finally met a new friend to serve time with him and share the pressure.
Oh my!
Shouldn’t they pop a few bottles of champagne to celebrate?
Ereshkigal, not wanting to face Ishtar, directly looked away and muttered softly:
“Bad luck? Hmph… We are the ones who are unlucky for picking her up, okay…”
“You can’t really put it that way. At the time, I was preparing to ‘clear dailies’. After wandering around a few times without encountering any wild monster respawns, luck finally struck—I happened to find them team-building with their boss, Odin, at the highway intersection.”
Grimm’s tone was as light as if he had just returned from a walk outside, “I immediately decided to engage in guerrilla warfare with this bunch of enemies, then look for an opportunity to assassinate the Boss Odin… Saving her was just a byproduct.”
“Wait, you encountered the enemy again? Were you hurt?” Ereshkigal asked with a concerned tone.
Besides, why did he make saving someone sound like picking up an object?
And he even picked up a mortal enemy and brought her back.
The goddess helplessly supported her forehead; surely there wouldn’t be a next time, right?
Hearing this, Ishtar chuckled secretly.
This guy completely risked his life when fighting, maintaining a circuit-overload posture throughout that would kill an ordinary magician ten or even nine times over.
Yet he recovered after resting for just a few minutes—what would such a person have to fear from injuries?
“Injuries and the like don’t matter! Although Odin and his lackeys are numerous and assassinating them isn’t easy, they can at most defeat me tactically, but they cannot completely destroy me strategically!”
“A person is not born to be destroyed; a person can be defeated, but cannot be destroyed!”
“Whatever doesn’t kill me makes me stronger!”
Grimm said.
In fact, during the previous battle, in order to deal with Odin with all his might, he had been sneak-attacked from the side by those lackeys more than once or twice.
They slashed open his body with sharp axes, and they stabbed his flesh and bones with crossbow bolts, but he was utterly without fear.
What of bleeding?
What of fractures?
Decades of guerrilla warfare had long made him understand and get used to the fact that the path to a successful assassination is destined to be filled with thorns.
Just suffering a few injuries—he would use an iron-willed tenacity and unyielding spiritual conviction to forcefully command his body to heal itself!
Anyway, ever since he was pierced through by that dog Odin’s spear on the very first day, he had spent all the days since getting by like this.
If he didn’t have this kind of willpower and awareness, he would have collapsed long ago.
“Oh, oh…” Ereshkigal was momentarily at a loss for words, feeling that it sounded profound even if she didn’t quite understand.
She had no idea what famous quotes Grimm was randomly stitching together this time.
While speaking, Grimm remotely opened the Maybach’s trunk.
“Right, Ereshkigal, there is a new variety of flowers I brought in the car. I had to circle around a huge area while out searching to find them.”
“Hey, hey! You actually still remember this matter!”
Ereshkigal said in pleasant surprise, immediately dropping the matter of entangling with her mortal enemy Ishtar.
She happily took the flower pot from Grimm’s hands, her face radiant.
Previously, she had noticed that this so-called Niflheim world, although seemingly identical in environment and furnishings to a human city, actually had a heaven and earth that were endlessly gloomy and lifeless, as if covered by a layer of gray filter.
Although it was better than the pitch-black and empty Underworld she used to live in, as someone coming to the mortal world for the first time, she inevitably still felt a bit disappointed.
Two days ago during a casual chat, Ereshkigal had mentioned to Grimm that it would be nice if there were flowers to decorate and enrich the colors, and she never expected him to take it to heart.
“Oh right… The’safe house’ you kept muttering about is basically finished. You can think of it as a small token of appreciation returned by a goddess!”
The Underworld goddess carefully held the ornamental flowers in her hands and said affably, “If nothing unexpected happens, we won’t have to worry about enemy attacks here from now on. Later when you have time, you can find one or two enemies to test it out.”
Compared to Ishtar, although Ereshkigal was also suppressed by the rules, she had not been completely weakened into a mortal.
She guessed that perhaps because the environment here was similar to the Underworld she governed, part of her “Territory Creation” ability was still present.
The stronghold established on this basis had all functions such as early warning and reconnaissance, hindering attacks, and intercepting spatial transfer-type intrusions; furthermore, it could enhance her side’s strength.
If Ereshkigal still retained her full strength, she could even use this to summon the Seven Gates, causing the Underworld to materialize and making enemies drop dead on the spot.
As for now, she could only contribute the testing qualification to Grimm.
Upon learning of the effects, Grimm felt overjoyed and expressed deep satisfaction.
“Not bad, great job, even better than that gig at Cassell College!”
What kind of miserable life had he lived in the decades before meeting Ereshkigal!
It could only be described as being homeless and drifting from place to place!
Every moment had to be spent in high tension, guarding against Odin’s pursuing troops suddenly striking, and even more wary of Odin himself launching a surprise attack through the method of “Spatial Cleaving”.
Because he clearly remembered that “Spatial Cleaving” was one of the “Seven Kingdoms”, the supreme realm of Alchemy in the Dragon race lore, capable of interfering with space using Alchemy.
Anjou had been forced offline by Odin’s sneaky trick of Spatial Cleaving.
If his spawn point had been Cassell College, he could have comfortably laid flat.
Because one of the functions of the large alchemical matrix set up by the Watchman in the underground of Cassell College was to block Spatial Cleaving, with other effects including early warning, blocking enemies, amplifying friendly Word Spirit, and so on.
Nowadays, Ereshkigal had directly conjured up a territory with similar effects, looking no different.
It gave him a full sense of security and sharply reduced his pressure.
What else could be said then?
As a partner, Ereshkigal is number one in the world!
As for Ishtar?…
Uh, what kind of trash is that.
“This situation is finally hitting the right spot. You need an attacker, and you need someone to guard the home base… Ereshkigal, with the two of us joining forces, how could there be any enemy that can withstand a single blow?”
Grimm felt inexplicably gratified, only feeling that the future was bright.
And the Underworld goddess, who had unexpectedly reaped a flurry of heavy praise, clearly couldn’t suppress the corners of her mouth.
Her rosy lip line curved upward, and shallow dimples appeared beside her cheeks.
But she still very reservedly maintained her divine airs:
“O-Of course! As the goddess who rules the kingdom of death and guards the mountains, when it comes to defending, I won’t lose to anyone, you know!”
The Underworld goddess, who had always considered herself unloved by people, finally felt vindicated at this moment and let out a soft hmph.
Although she was inexplicably summoned to the mortal world, possessed a human, and then dropped into this ghost place to serve time.
But compared to her lonely Underworld imprisonment during the Age of Gods, here at least someone sincerely treated her as an indispensable companion, and even brought her favorite flowers.
How truly wonderful!
Thank you, fate, for arranging all of this!
——Odin: Look, she even has to thank us!
Ereshkigal’s eyes were sparkling and rolling around with joy, when she suddenly felt something was missing.
Right, she couldn’t forget Ishtar.
She turned her head to glance at a certain trash goddess and began to scold:
“That’s why when teaming up for cooperation, you have to find a reliable candidate. Sigh! Unlike some people who just love to show off outside, stir up trouble, cause disasters and make a mess, and are of no use whatsoever at any other time.”
Ishtar: “…”
You’re courting death!
Are you sick in the head!