Miracle Summoner

In the first-floor hall of the tavern, Rozen stood at the center, and the others had encircled Ishtar, surrounding her like predators eyeing their prey.

For the first time, the haughty goddess showed fear.

"I-I'm warning you, okay?! It's blasphemy to be disrespectful toward a goddess! You'll be cursed! Even your descendants eighteen generations down will bleed and weep from the torment! So don't you dare try anything!"

Ishtar trembled at the center of the circle, her voice tinged with a faint sob.

For a goddess of her stature, the display was downright humiliating.

But she had no choice. This time, Ishtar was genuinely afraid.

Because of Rozen.

She didn't know why, but Ishtar could feel a terrifying aura emanating from Rozen, an aura that triggered her primal fear and made her want to flee repeatedly.

No—rather than saying it came from Rozen himself, it was more accurate to say that it surrounded him.

Something near him was radiating a presence so dreadful that Ishtar's divine core trembled.

Her godhood, passed down since her birth, was warning her: this human boy carried something utterly terrifying by his side.

Something catastrophic to both gods and the world—an ancient calamity stretching back to prehistoric civilization.

In other words, as long as one was a god, there was no escaping this terror.

That was the only reason Ishtar appeared so pitiful. Otherwise, with her usual arrogance and willfulness, even this more mellow incarnation wouldn't have lost her composure just from being captured.

It wasn't the fact that she had been taken prisoner that frightened her. Nor was it the threat of interrogation.

She was afraid of Rozen.

Had Rozen not been present, Ishtar would've certainly thrown a fit—showing no awareness of being a captive and retaliating against everyone. That was her true nature.

Unfortunately, the faint yet ominous aura emanating from Rozen made it impossible for her to suppress her fear.

That was why she acted so pathetically.

Which, in turn, made everyone else stare at her in fascinated amusement.

"The great goddess beloved by all the gods is actually scared stiff? Thank goodness the King isn't here—he'd laugh until his abs hurt."

Merlin chuckled, clearly enjoying himself.

"She's nothing like the rumors. I thought she'd be far more arrogant."

Anna murmured quietly.

"She's… kind of pitiful, actually..."

Mash, ever kindhearted, couldn't help but feel a tinge of sympathy.

Only Rozen, watching Ishtar's pitiful display, seemed to grasp something. He shrugged with a knowing look.

"Well, let's think this through. How should we deal with this goddess?"

Rozen raised a hand to his chin in contemplation.

At that moment, voices from Chaldea echoed through his communicator.

"Since we managed to capture a living goddess, we should get as much intel as we can about the 'Three Goddess Alliance' out of her!"

Olga Marie wasted no time stating her position.

"This is a rare opportunity to uncover their secrets, after all!"

Da Vinci added with excitement.

"Do your best to squeeze everything she knows out of her!"

Even Roman's tone became unusually energetic.

Unfortunately…

"That goal might be unachievable," Rozen said thoughtfully. "If my guess is right, we won't get much information on the 'Three Goddess Alliance' from her."

Everyone fell silent.

"Why do you say that?" Merlin finally asked.

But Rozen didn't answer.

Because for now, it was only a hypothesis. He needed more observation to confirm.

The only thing Rozen was sure of was this:

"While she's not exactly a threat, this goddess is definitely a handful. If we leave her unchecked, even if Uruk isn't destroyed, the chaos she'd cause would be a nightmare. So it's best we keep her nearby and under close watch."

At that, Ishtar immediately raised her voice in protest.

"Wait! You're not actually planning to keep me locked up forever, are you?! No way! I won't allow it!"

"You allowing it or not really isn't our concern, is it?" Rozen replied with a chuckle and a half-smile.

"We're not the citizen of Uruk, not even Sumerians. We're from a future where the gods have long vanished and faith is dead. We've got no reason to accommodate you, goddess."

"You… You…!" Ishtar was dumbfounded.

"Don't you have any reverence for the divine?! You're just a human!"

"Exactly. I am just a human," Rozen said grandly.

"And while I'm not entirely irreverent—I've had plenty of dealings with gods, being an onmyouji and all—I only have respect for gods I get along with. Arrogant, self-centered ones? Yeah, no thanks."

Rozen had received protection from two divine beings and had used divine powers many times. Yet he'd also raised his weapon against gods more than once.

Take the goddess Rhongomyniad from the Sixth Singularity—Rozen had essentially hunted her down. Or Tokyo's guardian deity Taira no Masakado—Rozen had overwritten his divinity and controlled his very concept, turning him into a servant at his beck and call.

So all things considered…

"Just because you're Uruk's city goddess doesn't mean I'm going to go easy on you. I won't tolerate your arrogance or willfulness. You'd better brace yourself."

Rozen said this almost kindly, but it drained all color from Ishtar's face.

She was furious.

"You're just a human, and yet your arrogance knows no bounds," she snapped.

"Let me tell you something: don't think you've really trapped me! Even that Age of Gods-level magecraft that stupid goldie pulled out of his treasury can't hold me forever. And those stupid paper seals stuck on me? I'll burn through them all by tonight!"

This time, she wasn't bluffing.

After all, Ishtar was a goddess favored by the gods of Mesopotamia and possessed many divine authorities. Even though she couldn't use all of them in this incarnation, just a portion was enough to make her run wild—strong enough to overwhelm even Gilgamesh or other deities.

In that case, permanently imprisoning her was indeed impossible.

Which is why—

"Of course I've arranged a monitor for you. Let's see if you have the guts to act out in front of her, oh 'Goddess.'"

As Rozen said this with a teasing smile, spirit mist began to gather beside him—and from it, a white-haired girl emerged.

"————"

Altera raised her ruby-like eyes and stared directly at Ishtar.

The moment Ishtar saw her, her own eyes widened more than ever before in her life.

"Y-Y… Y-Y-Y-You…!"

And in that instant, Ishtar finally understood.

She understood the fear that had been haunting her since the beginning.

"Why are you hereeeeeeeeeeeeeee?!"

Ishtar's scream of despair rang out once again.