Perhaps it was only natural for him to be the man Ishtar had fallen for at first sight.
He truly was an extraordinary human.
That was Ereshkigal's first impression of Shirou Amamiya.
When confronted with Ereshkigal's terrifying and regal form, he had not shown the slightest fear.
Not only was he unafraid, he had even tried to grow closer to her.
Ereshkigal was the cleverest and most resourceful goddess in Mesopotamia, according to herself, so she naturally assumed he was flattering her in hopes of escaping the Underworld.
But that did not seem to be the case.
According to the reports brought back by the Gallû Spirits she had sent to observe him, Shirou was diligently constructing his own residence.
It seemed he had already decided to settle permanently in the Underworld... Surely not?
Wait. What was he doing building his home beside a goddess's palace? She had never agreed to that!
"I see. So Father Anu and the other gods demanded that you be sent to the Underworld, and then you were trapped here."
"Honestly, if they wanted a god to rule the Underworld so badly, why didn't they come down and do it themselves?"
During one of their conversations, the red haired boy had heard about Ereshkigal's early life and reacted with open indignation.
It was the first time the goddess had ever experienced such powerful emotions from another person on her behalf.
She thought that a mere human was being terribly presumptuous, yet for some reason, a faint warmth spread through her chest.
Shirou came to visit the goddess every day. As he gazed across the endless Spear Cage Wasteland, he would strike up a conversation almost as though he were talking to himself.
"I heard from a priestess in Uruk that all the gods of this world are beautiful, with golden hair and red eyes. Do you have a second form too, Goddess-sama?"
As he spoke, the red haired boy climbed onto Ereshkigal's enormous skeletal body and felt around, as if searching for some kind of button or switch.
"I-Idiot! What are you doing?! Get off me!"
Mortified and furious, Ereshkigal flung Shirou away.
To be honest, she regretted her decision as well.
She had initially assumed the form of the gigantic Gallû Spirit to establish her dignity as a goddess, but she also wanted to show Shirou her true, adorable appearance.
However, once the right moment had passed, it became difficult to bring up.
If she suddenly admitted that this form was only a disguise, Shirou might think she was a dishonest girl. The mere thought was unbearable.
"You really should pay more attention to your appearance, Goddess-sama."
"I'm not frightened, but several newly arrived human souls have already been so scared by you that they've lost the will to do anything."
"Since you're omnipotent in the Underworld, why not make yourself look a little cuter?"
Today was no different.
Shirou appeared before the terrifying Mistress of the Underworld as though it were perfectly natural, then casually made an outrageously rude remark.
This human seemed completely unaware of how cutting his words could be.
Had Ereshkigal's true form not been that of a beautiful young woman, she would probably have frozen him into an ice sculpture in a fit of rage.
Yet strangely enough, Ereshkigal did not dislike talking with him at all.
In all her tens of thousands of years as a goddess, she had never experienced the simple routine of speaking with a human every day.
Shirou told her about the surface world and the current state of Uruk.
Sometimes, he spoke about the era of his homeland, a world more than three thousand years in the future.
At other times, Shirou told her about a place called the "Fairy Kingdom."
To Ereshkigal, every one of those subjects was fresh and fascinating.
Having been confined underground since the distant past, she often found herself completely absorbed in his stories.
The Mistress of the Underworld realized that she had begun looking forward to Shirou's daily visits after the first half month of forcibly keeping him by her side.
"I think I understand a little better why the goddess Ishtar was drawn to this man."
It was difficult to believe that Ereshkigal would care about a mere living human.
She had always thought that only the souls of the dead could interest her.
But she could no longer deceive herself.
She had become deeply captivated by Shirou.
In human terms, this could probably be called infatuation... Guh!
R-Right! This had to be the influence of her current vessel!
Ereshkigal shared the body of the same girl from the future as Ishtar. That must be why she and the Goddess of Heaven had both been drawn to the same man.
Y-Yes! That had to be it!
...
More than a month had passed since the goddess Ereshkigal detained Shirou in the Underworld.
What were Siduri-san and the others doing now?
Shirou had vanished without a trace after entering the Underworld, and the communication Magecraft they had prepared in advance had failed...
Had they already returned to Uruk?
No. No matter how worried they were about Shirou, they could not abandon Uruk and the front line against the Magical Beasts to remain in Kutha searching for him indefinitely.
How must they have felt when they finally gave up the search?
Tomoe Gozen in particular.
Was she now regretting that she had not followed Shirou even when he went to use the restroom?
"Ugh..."
A chill ran down Shirou's spine when he imagined how Tomoe Gozen's attitude might change once he returned to the surface.
Come to think of it, this was not the first time he had become separated from his companions.
During the pilgrimage through the Fairy Kingdom, Shirou had also been separated from Morgan and the others several times.
There had been strange incidents like being accidentally swallowed by a sentient river, which had actually been a Fairy Domain that had existed for a thousand years.
Totorot had even laughed and said that Shirou must have a natural tendency to get dragged into trouble, so they should just leave him there.
That girl...
If I didn't have a tendency to get dragged into trouble, I never would have washed ashore in Britain to begin with! Shirou thought indignantly.
Although he had been caught up in unexpected situations many times before, this was his first time being trapped in the Underworld.
There were no resources anywhere in this world of the dead, but fortunately, Shirou did not need to eat.
Gallû Spirits that harvested souls wandered everywhere, but fortunately, Her Majesty the Queen was kind.
The goddess Ereshkigal.
She was the first true god Shirou had ever encountered.
Although she seemed to believe she projected tremendous majesty, Shirou found her remarkably gentle.
Her stories were not as famous as the Epic of Gilgamesh, but since arriving in Mesopotamia, Shirou had still learned a little about the Goddess of the Underworld.
Ereshkigal was the daughter of the supreme god Anu.
Unlike Ishtar, who was cherished by their father and ruled the heavens in his place, Ereshkigal governed the Underworld, the realm where the Mesopotamians believed people went after death.
Her kingdom lay beneath the surface of the earth. There was no light there, only silence and darkness.
The souls of all the dead came to her domain, where they were subjected to her judgment and rule.
Within the Underworld, no one could defy Ereshkigal, regardless of how much power or Authority they possessed in life.
This was one of the covenants, the underlying codes, of Mesopotamia's Age of Gods.
Thanks to that System, nothing like Sun Wukong storming the Underworld and erasing names from the Book of Life and Death in Journey to the West had ever occurred.
Even so, the Age of Gods had still produced fools willing to disregard the laws of the Underworld and challenge Ereshkigal...
Those fools could be set aside for now.
The Underworld was simply too boring. It was so monotonous and tedious that words could hardly describe it.
To pass the time, Shirou would use his breaks from Territory Creation to visit Ereshkigal on the Spear Cage Plain and talk with her.
Of course, he also wanted to return to the surface as soon as possible so Siduri-san and the others would not worry too much...
But this was not something he could rush.
Gilgamesh and Merlin, those two useless fools...
One had grown old enough for his eyesight to deteriorate.
The other possessed a useless form of Clairvoyance that could only observe the surface.
Neither of them seemed to have noticed Ereshkigal's presence at all.
Damn it. Shirou knew it was not their fault, but he still decided to punch each of them in the left cheek once he returned.
"Goddess-sama, I'm here."
Shirou called out to the Queen, who sat in the center of a forest formed from countless Spear Cages.
"Y-You... You came again? Visiting every single day without growing tired of it. You truly are persistent."
Ereshkigal sounded somewhat flustered.
At first, she had assumed Shirou's desire to talk with her was nothing more than a passing whim.
She never expected him to continue for more than a month.
Looking down at the tiny human below her, the goddess asked with faint excitement, "What shall we talk about today, Shirou?"
"?"
Noticing the strange look in his eyes, Ereshkigal hurriedly corrected herself.
"I-I mean... What subject have you brought today, human?"
Dignity. She needed dignity!
Ereshkigal took a deep breath.
Shirou sat cross legged on the barren, rocky ground. After thinking for a moment, he spoke.
"Goddess-sama, you have a husband, don't you?"
"Eh? W-Why are you suddenly asking that? How rude, human!"
"Hm? I just want to learn more about Ereshkigal."
The smile Shirou gave her left the goddess feeling dizzy.
How could he say something so embarrassing without the slightest hesitation?
Could this man secretly be a scoundrel who specialized in playing with women's hearts?
"Although we've spent a month and a half together, now that I think about it, I've done most of the talking."
"When I really consider it, I hardly know anything about Ereshkigal."
"...Ugh."
The enormous skeletal spirit let out a troubled groan.
Of course, Shirou was not completely ignorant.
Even if he knew little about a woman's heart, after spending more than a month with Ereshkigal, he understood far more about her than he had at first.
From the moment of her birth, she had been entrusted with the task of governing the Underworld. As a result, she possessed extraordinary power even among the gods.
Although her Authority was limited to the Underworld, if applied properly, she could extend her influence to the surface as well.
However...
Ereshkigal had no desire whatsoever to invade the surface world.
Unlike the gods of the Underworld in other myths who coveted the world above, she seemed to possess no personal ambitions at all.
Shirou saw her as a diligent, hardworking, responsible goddess who appeared cold but was warm at heart.
Ereshkigal was extremely proud, yet for some reason, she also thought very little of herself.
It was probably her earnest dedication as a model student that had allowed Mesopotamia's realm of the dead to continue functioning.
Shirou could not help wondering about something else.
According to the myths, surely the Underworld should not have been ruled by only one god.
What had happened to the other god of the Underworld, Ereshkigal's husband?
"F-Fine... I'll explain everything!"
Ereshkigal shouted in embarrassment.
She could not allow Shirou to misunderstand.
It would be terrible if he thought of her as a married woman, the goddess thought.
"The person you mean must be Nergal, the God of the Underworld, correct?"
Ereshkigal began to explain.
She had never had a partner or entered into a marriage throughout her long existence. The people living on the surface had misunderstood the truth.
"On the surface, Nergal seems to be regarded as the king who rules the Underworld alongside me, but he was originally a god who governed the sun."
"In the resource poor land of Sumer, the sun was a blessing, but it was also feared as a threat that could drive many humans to their deaths."
"In truth, Nergal was indeed a tyrant who rivaled even Gilgamesh. He possessed tremendous power and looked down upon everyone around him."
"He became that way in order to oppose Ishtar, who ruled the heavens however she pleased."
"He sought to seize control of the heavens, and for that purpose, he declared war upon Ishtar's opposing sister goddess."
"In other words, he declared war on me."
"That man probably expected me to cry and submit to him."
"But I answered his challenge openly and without fear."
Ereshkigal recited the words she had spoken in the past without the slightest hesitation.
"On the surface, nothing can compare to the blessings of the sun."
"But within my subterranean Underworld, the sun's blessings cease to exist, and even gods can perish through unexpected misfortune."
"When you enter the Underworld, every form of suffering you deemed unnecessary will torment your body."
"To be specific, suffer a million times and then die!"
Sadistic delight entered the enormous skeletal spirit's voice.
Shirou broke out in a cold sweat.
He felt as though he understood Nergal a little better now.
Nergal had probably assumed she was an introverted recluse he could bully to vent his frustration. Instead, he discovered that she was a courageous goddess who rivaled even Ishtar.
"What happened next?"
"Nergal came to the Underworld, just as you did."
"He intended to conquer the Underworld and claim it for himself before he accidentally got himself killed."
"To that end, he borrowed fourteen demons of disease from the god Ea to serve as his guards."
"Was that man an idiot?" Shirou could not help asking.
Ereshkigal thought gloomily, You're hardly in any position to say that.
The goddess declared proudly, "However, he had already lost the moment he entered the Underworld."
"It could hardly even be called a battle. I shrank him to the size of a locust, and he tearfully prostrated himself to apologize for every arrogant boast he had made."
"As expected of Ereshkigal!" Shirou applauded.
"Hehe... Impressive, wasn't I?"
Hidden in the shadows, Ereshkigal's true body felt herself swelling with pride, and the corners of her lips curled upward.
"What happened after that?"
"After that..."
Ereshkigal explained that she had forgiven the Sun God for his offense and insults.
"Killing him would not have benefited me."
"Besides, if the surface lost the sun, human life would also decline."
"However, as proof of his remorse, I imposed an oath upon Nergal."
"He was required to leave half of his power behind in the Underworld!"
"I see!"
Shirou immediately understood the goddess's intentions. She must have wanted the sun's warmth to reach the Underworld too.
"Nergal reluctantly submitted to the oath, but... Ugh. That was only the beginning of the disaster."
Ereshkigal lowered her skull in dejection.
"I thought that if I obtained Nergal's Authority, I might be able to create a sun in the Underworld..."
"Then I could bring at least a little warmth to all those souls... But!"
"'Ah, I understand, Goddess Ereshkigal. I shall give you half of my Authority.'"
"'However, this Authority is the power of pestilence I borrowed from the god Ea. It is an Authority over disease and calamity!'"
"The instant the oath was established, Nergal abandoned his fourteen guards and fled back to the surface as fast as he could."
"What?!"
Even after more than ten thousand years, recalling the incident still made Ereshkigal clutch her head and scream.
"I was tricked! I wanted warmth, a proper heater, but that man forced a calamity on me instead! Waaaaaaah!"
Shirou finally understood. She had fumbled things at the crucial moment yet again.
Ereshkigal had indeed obtained Nergal's Authority, but most of it concerned pestilence.
The crucial Authority of the sun was completely unusable. As the Goddess of the Underworld, her affinity with darkness had only grown even stronger...
Come to think of it, why did he think "again"?
"And that is the full extent of my dealings with Nergal."
Ereshkigal's skeletal frame sagged as if all her strength had drained away.
"Sorry. I made you remember something painful," Shirou said.
"No, it's fine..."
The Mistress of the Underworld shook her head.
"I spent ten thousand years brooding over it alone, but now that I've finally told someone, I feel much better. Hehe. Hehehehehe."
After that, Ereshkigal told Shirou many more stories from the Age of Gods.
Although the Underworld rarely received visitors, when one lived long enough, a few incidents were bound to occur.
"Very well. Next, I shall tell you the story of a greedy, tyrannical goddess and her unfortunate husband, the shepherd god..."
"Goddess-sama, I should probably be going."
"Huh? O-Oh, I see. It's already that late... Very well. You may leave."
Shirou sensed a lingering reluctance in Ereshkigal's voice, so he added, "I'll come back tomorrow."
"..."
Ereshkigal remained silent for a long moment before lowering her head in embarrassment.
"All right. I'll be waiting here for you tomorrow."
...
Time passed quickly.
In the blink of an eye, another month had passed since Shirou and the goddess began living together in the Underworld.
Ereshkigal did not really understand what love was.
Even so, she had begun to sense that her feelings for Shirou were something special.
Lately, whenever she had a moment to herself, she found herself thinking about that human.
She would recall the joke he had told her the day before.
She would wonder when he would arrive that day.
Whenever she thought about such things, warmth spread through the goddess's chest.
Was Shirou satisfied with his life here?
According to the Gallû Spirits, he had apparently completed his Territory Creation.
Ereshkigal did not want to let Shirou return to the surface.
At first, it had been because she believed the surface was too dangerous. Now, however, only the goddess's selfish desire remained.
At the same time, Ereshkigal felt unbearably sad.
Shirou was still a living human, yet he could never return to the surface.
After thinking about it for a very long time, she finally made up her mind.
She could no longer keep Shirou imprisoned in the name of protecting him.
However...
"There's nothing I want. Or rather, I've already received what I wanted from you, Goddess-sama."
Shirou casually rejected the goddess's offer to grant him one wish.
All he had to say was, "Goddess-sama, please allow me to return to the surface," and Ereshkigal would have granted it.
As long as Shirou could be happy, the goddess was even willing to return his freedom.
Yet Shirou had refused.
I-I see! I was mistaken!
Shirou actually wants to keep living with... with me!
The goddess's heart blossomed with joy, and she could barely contain her happiness.
Yet just as she began looking forward to a wonderful new life with Shirou, Ereshkigal heard a troubling report from the Gallû Spirits.
After completing his residence, Shirou had suspiciously begun another project.
Using a shovel created through Projection Magecraft, he was secretly digging a tunnel from the Underworld back to the surface.
"Ah..."
At that moment, Ereshkigal felt the vivid, colorful world around her suddenly turn gray.
So that was the truth?
Did he actually hate living with her too?
Had he only kept quiet because he did not want to anger her?
"..."
The goddess felt utterly lost.
No. Perhaps he had never belonged to her in the first place.
Shirou's soul was noble and beautiful, burning even brighter than the sun Ereshkigal had once glimpsed.
A soul like his was far too precious for the Underworld.
From the very beginning, it had never been something she had the right to possess. It was not a soul that should be imprisoned beneath the earth.
"Ugh..."
Ereshkigal suddenly wanted to cry.
But if she cried, it would feel as though she had lost.
She could not cry.
After all, Ereshkigal had already decided that at a time like this, at the moment of parting, she ought to smile.
Though separating from Shirou filled her with pain and sorrow, the thought that he would regain his freedom on the surface also made her happy for him.
And so, that day, Ereshkigal visited the tunnel Shirou had been secretly excavating.
"Huh? Goddess-sama... Why are you here?"
Shirou looked astonished.
He probably had not expected Ereshkigal to leave her Spear Cages behind.
The boy showed no fear at having his secret project discovered, even though betraying a god was supposedly a crime worthy of ten thousand deaths.
Ereshkigal poked her head inside and stared blankly at the red haired boy's handiwork, unable to speak.
Shirou could only have been working on the tunnel in secret for two weeks, yet his progress was far greater than she had imagined.
The red haired boy scratched his cheek and smiled sheepishly.
"I was planning to keep it hidden from you, but it looks like you found it sooner than I expected."
She understood that he was highly motivated, but wasn't this far too much?
The goddess was speechless.
The tunnel Shirou had dug was so enormous that it looked like something built in a land of giants.
At more than five meters in diameter, it was not merely large enough for a human to return to the surface. Even her own massive skeletal body could pass through it.
...Huh?
"Wait..."
The Goddess of the Underworld's voice trembled violently.
"Shirou, could it be...?"
Ereshkigal suddenly understood.
She realized the truth behind everything Shirou had secretly been doing.
This tunnel leading to the surface was not meant for Shirou.
He had built it to give Ereshkigal her freedom.