Chapter 113.1: Poison of The Scorpion God
◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki
We returned to Eld Kingdom with Goddess Ishtar’s flying ship.
Reiji, Sahoko, Rino, Nao, Kyouka, Kaya, myself, Ishtar and one of Ishtar’s attendants, were now gathered in Shirone’s room in the Eld royal castle. Everyone was worrying over Shirone as she had suddenly collapsed.
「How’s Shirone’s condition, Goddess Ishtar?」I asked the Goddess of Love and Beauty, Ishtar, one of the pillar Gods of Elios. She ruled over love, dance, and good fortune as such, her believers were mostly dancers, harlots, gamblers, and thieves. She had, for some reason, followed us into Shirone’s room.
「Just call me Ishtar and I shall call you Chiyuki. Anyways, it seems to be the effect of Giltar’s poison. Right, Pistis?」
Ishtar asked the youth beside her.
At a glance, the youth look like a normal human. But, his true identity was that of a divine being who had been living as long as Ishtar.
The young God’s name was Pistis. He was the subordinate God of Goddess Ishtar, and was known as the God of Thievery who had six fingers on each of his limbs. Moreover, God Pistis had quite an amusing myth tied to him.
A long time ago, Ishtar wanted a necklace owned by the God of Blacksmith, Heibos. But, Heibos refused to give that necklace to Ishtar.
Pistis, who knew about that, stole the necklace and gave it to Ishtar.Naturally, Heibos reported the case to the God King, Oudith.
He asked Oudith to use his authority as the God King to return the necklace to him, but Ishtar refused to return the necklace. Ishtar’s remark at that time was the following.
「This beautiful necklace will only show its true worth when worn by someone as beautiful as me. It’s just a useless treasure if Heibos throws it into his treasure vault. Pistis did the right thing, I won’t return the necklace.」
After saying so, Ishtar returned to her own palace.
Heibos and Oudith who heard that remark were astonished for a while.
Due to that myth, Pistis’ followers had a creed that thievery was allowed as long as it was done for Goddess Ishtar. Well, the general practice was offering a certain percentage of the stolen goods in the form of gold to Ishtar’s temple. A minority thought it was also okay to steal from gambling houses to offer to the harlots in Ishtar’s Temple.
「No doubt about it, Ishtar-sama. This big sis seemed to have fought Giltar and didn’t even realize that his poisoned tail grazed her skin.But, since it’s Giltar’s poison, she won’t die.」
「REALLY?!」
Reiji brought his face closer to Pistis.
His face was serious.
Maybe he really was worried about Shirone. I mean, even though Ishtar was right there, he didn’t even spare her a glance. Well naturally, even I might have ended up smacking him right in the face if he had dared to flirt with that BIG breasted Goddess when his comrades’ life was in jeopardy.
「Maybe, I can’t be so sure. I mean, poison isn’t my speciality.」
Pistis scratched his cheek as he replied with a troubled look on his face. Sahoko’s healing also didn’t work on Shirone. In short, her condition wouldn’t improve unless she received special detoxification.
Seeing our troubled faces, Ishtar showed a different expression, as if she realized something, and then called out to Pistis.
「So, do you know a way to save her?」
「U~hm. I think we’ll have to ask big sis Fanacea for this. I might know many things, but she is an expert in this field.」
「Since that’s the case, please contact Fanacea!!」
「Calm down, Reiji. Fana-chan and Totona-chan are already preoccupied. I mean, Thors is suffering from Giltar’s poison too. But, we can ask them to split the antidote.」
All of us heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing Ishtar’s remark. Come to think of it, Thors the War God did participate in that fight too, he was poisoned due to Giltar’s ambush.
「By the way, are you sure we shouldn’t let that person know?」
Kyouka said with a worried look on her face.
「Who is that person you’re referring to, Kyouka-san?」
Rino asked in puzzlement.
I want to know too. Who was “that person” she referred to?
「I’m talking about Kuroki-san of course. He’ll be worried once he finds out that Shirone-san has collapsed.」
We exchanged glances with each other upon hearing Kyouka’s remark.
Shirone’s childhood friend, and the Dark Knight of Nargol, Kuroki.
He seemed to really care about Shirone. That’s why it might be better to inform him of this matter. But, he was on the Demon King’s side right now. So the question was how to convey the current situation to him?
「YOU MUSTN’T, MILADY! THAT PERSON IS DANGEROUS! YOU MUSTN’T GET CLOSE TO HIM!!」
Kaya suddenly interrupted Kyouka.
「Dangerous? Kuroki-san? What do you mean, Kaya? He’s a gentleman you know! It’s not something that I can overlook even if it’s coming from you, Kaya!!」
Kyouka scolded Kaya.
All of us were really surprised upon hearing Kyouka’s remark, because Kyouka very rarely refuted Kaya. Not to mention that this was the first time I saw Kyouka make such an expression in front of Kaya.
「Have you not realized it yet, Milady? That person is hiding a beast in his body. You must not get close to him.」
「Beast? Are you sure? I mean, he’s a gentleman no matter how you look at it though?」
「NOOO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!! MILADY!! HIS EYES WHEN LOOKING AT YOUR CHEST IS DEFINITELY THAT OF A RAVENOUS BEAST!! NO DOUBT ABOUT IT! YOU MUSTN’T GET ANY CLOSER TO HIM!!」
Kaya said so as if scolding a child. Meanwhile, everyone else was really surprised as they heard the conversation between the two.
「W-What happened to Kaya-san? She doesn’t seems like the usual Kaya-san.」
Sahoko was staring in wonder at Kaya.
「I’m really surprised too. To think that the normally calm and composed Kaya-san would ever show this side of herself…」
「Yeah Rino-chan. It’s a shock.」
I agreed with them. The normally calm and collected Kaya rarely showed this side of her.
「W-What’s the matter, Kaya? It’s as if you returned to the old you.」
Kyouka was also looking dumbfoundedly at Kaya as she asked this question.
We had no idea about Kaya’s past.
It seems the old her was completely different from the usual her that we saw, did that mean her current reaction closely resembled her past self?
「YOU MUST AVOID HIM AT ALL COST!! MEN ARE FILTHY BEASTS!! REIJI-SAMA IS THE BEST EXAMPLE FOR THAT!! BUT, I CAN FEEL IT, THAT MAN IS EVEN MORE DANGEROUS!! YOU MUSTN’T GET ANY CLOSER TO HIM AT ALL!!」
Kaya said so while looking at Sahoko.
Sahoko’s stomach had become bigger. Inside her was Reiji’s child. Honestly I wanted to retort “What in the world are you doing?” when we discovered her pregnancy, but Sahoko herself said that this was her own wish.
Nevertheless, Kaya didn’t show any particular reaction during that time. She only reacted this way when she imagined the same thing happening to Kyouka.
Kyouka was equally confused by Kaya’s outburst.
And, what did she mean by “Beast”?
According to Shirone, her childhood friend should be a good child. Or else, could it be that he just acted like that in front of Shirone, but was actually a violent man behind closed doors?
「Kyouka. It’s a different matter if she would never open her eyes again, but all Shirone needs right now is an antidote. There’s no need to tell that guy. We shouldn’t cause unnecessary worry.」
Reiji forced his way between the two and persuaded Kyouka.
「I see… Well I guess it can’t be helped if My Dear Brother said so.」
It seems Kyouka had yet to understand Kaya’s remark but she finally backed down upon hearing Reiji’s persuasion.
「Well that concludes this topic I guess. Ishtar, can I ask for the antidote?」
「Why of course, Chiyuki. I’ll try to contact Fana-chan.」
Ishtar told me so with a charming smile on her face.
◆Goddess of Knowledge and Book; Totona
In the Queen of the Elios Gods Heavenly Palace, in her private room, my mother, sister, Rena, and I gathered together.
「You’ve finally gathered together, my dearest daughters.」
My mother, Faeria spoke as she looked at us.
My sister and me aside, Rena was also raised by my mother. Thus, Rena regarded mother as her mother too.
The Three Heavenly Sisters, that was what they called us.
「Well, it’s a matter concerning Thors. How’s his current condition, Fana?」