Chapter 211: Hint

Night surged in like a tide, swallowing the last lingering glow of twilight whole.

With the final wisp of sunset fading, the earth was shrouded in deep, boundless night, as if tightly wrapped in a huge black curtain.

Above the vault of heaven, stars twinkled, the galaxy spiraling within, silently shining upon this starry sky through billions of years, like a great dragon coiling its body, pouring down endless radiance.

The Royal Capital Londinium, standing beneath the World Tree, appeared even more solemn and mysterious under the night's reflection; starlight and moonlight filtered through the dense canopy, casting mottled light and shadow, making this not-so-ancient royal capital seem veiled in a mysterious shroud.

Even in the night—

Londinium was not silent, falling into deep slumber just like that.

Instead, it displayed the vitality and prosperity only a modern metropolis could possess.

Along the smooth blue stone roads, besides the lush flowers and trees, magic lamps stood like brilliant stars, their light seeming to echo the stars in the sky, illuminating this land and decorating what should have been ancient-style streets to be more modern and full of life.

The great square before the palace district in the city center was even more brilliantly lit, resplendent. Fountains leapt joyfully under the lights, water droplets flashing with crystal radiance in the night sky, and the tall statues around were lit up, as if telling ancient and mysterious stories.

Exquisite houses stood in all directions, each glowing with unique light; myriad lights extended winding from afar, outlining the general shape of Londinium, displaying its clean, orderly, grand, and magnificent cityscape. Under the lights, it seemed the whole city was conversing with the starry sky; at this moment, Londinium was undoubtedly a place full of magic and dreams.

In this regard, it could only be said that Xia Zhi's words were not empty.

Even so, many malcontents dissatisfied with the breaking of the clan system—called the first "Great Unification" since the founding of the Fairy Kingdom—were always scheming to cause trouble, so beneath the surface dark currents surged, with restoration factions attempting to swim against the tide.

But similarly, as the largest city ever to appear in the history of the Fairy Kingdom, Londinium indeed displayed a powerful siphon effect.

The fairies might not like the current social model, but almost all liked this city, because it was the liveliest, most vibrant place; all the newest trends and most popular things originated here and quickly became fashionable, and moreover… there were the most humans here, especially that King Consort who seemed of unknown origin, simply a perfect human.

So, for fairies who by nature loved chasing trends and were infatuated with humans, this city's overall attractiveness was something they could not resist.

—Though this could not win the fairies' support…

—Instead, it gave them even more reason to rebel…

Whether "kill the Queen, seize the King Consort," or "kill the Queen, seize the King City," these were ultimately the fairies' ambition and motivation.

……………………

……………………

"Not bad, not bad, worthy of me."

Standing on the great square before the palace district.

Ishtar stood with hands on her hips, head held high with an air of self-importance, looking at the newly erected giant statue before her, her face full of joy.

At this time, only she and Xia Zhi were on the great square, because of temporary emergency construction, this area had been sealed off to the public.

And right after construction was completed, Xia Zhi invited Goddess Ishtar to the scene to see the finished result… actually it was something that happened in a very short time; from preparing to start work, to ordering the blockade, to sending the invitation, from beginning to end it took less than two minutes, and before that he had still been proposing to Ishtar that she become Londinium's City God.

Of course, this was easy to understand.

After all, judging by the means he now controlled, if such a trivial little matter still needed a long time to build, that would truly be perfunctory.

And at least for now, Miss Ishtar had no questions about it; she did not feel that a quickly completed statue was shoddy work, but subconsciously thought it was a display of the other's sincerity; anyway, as long as the quality was fine.

This newly erected statue took her current image as its prototype, cleverly capturing her expression at the moment of piloting the Heavenly Ship in flight; that dash and heroic spirit were perfectly displayed, like a vivid painting, full of a special beauty.

—Though she could not take the center position.

—And it had to be noticeably smaller than the statues of the Queen and the King Consort.

But Ishtar did not mind; after all, no matter what, the one opposite was the master of this place, and she had no intention of stealing the spotlight… relatively speaking, the most important thing was the meaning this matter symbolized: she herself had become the City God of this city!

This was what made her happiest.

Because for Ishtar, this was not a completely new attempt, but a return to her past identity.

You see, she had once been the City God of Uruk, deeply revered and worshipped by people. It's just that with the end of the Age of Gods and the parting of gods and humans, such an experience had become a long-forgotten memory. Only in Chaldea's Grand Caster designation, within the Seventh Singularity corresponding to Uruk's historical line, at the moment she appeared as a Pseudo-Servant, was she able to briefly relive the old dream.

But that was all.

However now, another unusual opportunity lay before her eyes. So almost as soon as someone just proposed this suggestion, Ishtar eagerly accepted it.

For Ishtar, the identity of City God was not only an honor, but also a field she was familiar with. Since the contract had been signed, then next, she only hoped to be assigned to a familiar and skilled work post, to continue guarding this land and exert her abilities.

"So, Goddess Ishtar is more or less satisfied, right?"

Xia Zhi stood leisurely to one side, a meaningful smile on his face. This was a spur-of-the-moment idea; after casually chatting with Vivian, he decisively erected a new goddess statue here.

But this was nothing; the statue itself had no substantive meaning. If not for the needs of rule, and to subtly strengthen his own legitimate status, Vivian actually had no interest in erecting a statue for herself. Now using this to win over Ishtar was just making full use of things; anyway, this land was here, empty anyway, might as well squeeze out some remaining value while at it…

Xia Zhi thought so too; an easy thing to do, why not?

"Satisfied! Of course satisfied!"

Ishtar's reaction was very enthusiastic; her ruby-like pupils seemed to sparkle, her long hair was black as night, hands on her hips, she nodded repeatedly like a chick pecking at grain, a crescent-moon-like beautiful smile on her face, obviously very happy.

Even a goddess could not avoid vanity, let alone a goddess like her who seemed an incarnation of materialism; her weakness was even more obvious, and Xia Zhi's move just happened to scratch her itch.

"But it just feels like something is not quite right…"

"Oh oh, I think I know; is this place Space?"

She slightly frowned, her gaze wandering around the square, then seemed to suddenly realize something.

The great square before the palace district was extremely spacious, with simple decoration, only fountains and statues adorning it. The fountain layout was harmonious enough; it was mainly the placement of the statues that made her feel something was wrong.

Originally there were only statues of the Queen and the King Consort here; both positions had been carefully chosen, located before the giant steps leading to the palace district, forming a symmetrical beauty with the entire square's layout. Although the square previously seemed empty, it did not make people feel anything was wrong.

But now the situation was different.

The newly added goddess statue was placed to one side, seemingly breaking the original symmetrical beauty, like a discordant note suddenly inserted into a perfect movement, making people immediately notice the discordance in this detail.

Miss Ishtar also keenly noticed this, immediately furrowed her brows, looked at Xia Zhi, feeling this detail was somewhat imperfect.

However—

"It's fine; after all, more statues will be added later, and then arranging them in a circle will look good."

Xia Zhi said indifferently, indicating this was not a problem at all.

When he spoke, he also looked around; he did not feel this place was very empty, after all, in his own unique Multidimensional Vision, those empty places all had a goddess statue, so symmetrical beauty was not a problem…

Huh, wait—

Why are they all goddess statues?

He began to ponder with a deep expression, feeling this phenomenon seemed worthy of deep thought.

"Will there be more statues added?"

At this moment, Ishtar froze for a beat, and immediately her expression turned strange as well. She swiftly scanned her surroundings; although she lacked any high-level "Clairvoyance" or similar time-piercing ability, out of a certain instinctive competitive consciousness she suddenly felt a hint of vigilance and displeasure.

"Hey, the City God of Londinium is only me, right?"

"..."

"..."

"Of course, only you."

Xia Zhi raised his head and spoke in a very official tone.

"Really?"

"Of course. Currently there's no other Goddess, right?" The youth said with a laugh, not guilty in the slightest, his gaze sweeping tracelessly across those future Goddess Statues within his field of vision.

"Currently?" Ishtar couldn't help but frown, seemingly unsatisfied with this answer.

However, just at this moment.

Noisy movement suddenly came from outside, and she also keenly perceived something, instantly freezing slightly.

"Let them in."

Xia Zhi raised an eyebrow, then spoke directly, knowing it was Fujimaru Ritsuka whom he had deliberately sent away on a pretext returning — this speed was probably traveling day and night without stop to manage a same-day round trip.

But this was nothing; he also hadn't planned to keep the two sides from meeting forever.

Now both sides were already paved, and it was just the right opportunity to let them completely persuade themselves.

With no guards blocking the way, Master Lady brought Medusa hurrying to the plaza, found Xia Zhi, and was about to directly speak the major hidden clue she had perceived during this outer duty mission, when her peripheral vision happened to catch the girl's figure beside the youth, and she instantly froze slightly.

— Miss Ishtar?

— Why would she appear here?

At the same time, Ishtar was also somewhat uncertain, seeing Master Lady appear before her eyes.

In her heart, the almost identical question also subconsciously surfaced.

— Ritsuka?

— Why would she appear here?

"..."

"..."

For a moment, the scene fell into a brief silence.

And just at this moment, Xia Zhi spoke at just the right time to break the silence; he looked toward Fujimaru Ritsuka's direction: "Baiye, no need for reservations. Miss Ishtar is the City God I just summoned, a trustworthy person."

A simple sentence, both showing his trust in Ishtar and explaining why Fujimaru Ritsuka would freeze slightly upon seeing Ishtar.

And the most clever part is —

Although on the surface it appears he merely thought so himself and spoke to explain Fujimaru Ritsuka's loss of composure, he actually gave a subtle suggestion tracelessly in both their hearts.

Ishtar's heart stirred, and then she subconsciously relaxed.

Is she called Baiye?

Put that way, she's not Ritsuka, just a coincidence, a similar flower blooming in this era? She subconsciously thought so, and felt the girl opposite freezing upon seeing her could be explained.

Probably just didn't know who she was, and had secret intelligence to report, so was a bit unsure.

Thinking this, Ishtar also reined in her emotions and greeted coolly with the etiquette for a stranger: "Hello."

Then —

"... Hello..."

Fujimaru Ritsuka replied somewhat stiffly, simultaneously unable to help a sense of loss.

Judging by Miss Ishtar's reaction, such a flat and distant manner — as expected, she doesn't recognize me either, no memory of the Seventh Singularity.

She sighed and introduced herself seriously: "I am Baiye... Shiraye Baiye."

(Chapter End)