“That hurts. Let go of me.” Nataek twisted his arm to reach the back of his head, yanking Medeus’s hand off him. Nataek stared into Medeus’s gray eyes for a while.
“You’re—No, you—you think too lightly of human lives.”
Medeus narrowed his eyes at Nataek’s words. Medeus rested his chin on the table while staring at Nataek.
“You always come up with the strangest of things to say,” Medeus muttered. “You say I think too lightly of human lives, why? What part of me makes you think that?”
“You said you would take me with you! On a dangerous reconnaissance or whatever. Why should my life be worth less than a valuable soldier’s? I don’t even know how to use a sword, let alone a horse.”
Nataek gestured with his hand as if he were mimicking the motions of wielding a sword, frustration clear on his face.
“And you think I’m taking you with me to have you killed?” Medeus smiled and waved his other hand in the air. It was to signal to the tavern keeper behind Nataek. Medeus mouthed to the tavern keeper to bring over a detox drink before continuing his conversation with Nataek.
“It seems there’s a misunderstanding. I’m not taking you because I don’t care if you die.”
“Then why?”
“Well, it’s true that every soldier serving Uruk is valuable, but that’s not the reason I’m taking you with me. I can scout on my own if I wanted.”
“Then go alone.”
Medeus didn’t bother responding to Nataek’s arrogant remarks. It wasn’t worth the effort. He continued calmly, “I’d be fine on my own, but it’d be inconvenient. It would make the journey easier if there was someone around who could take care of the kunga.”
“Just for something like that…”
“And, I’m strong enough to be able to protect one servant.”
The owner came to their table with a drink in hand. Medeus took the glass and held it out to Nataek. “Drink. I brought you here to have a meal, but you’ve only been filling your stomach with alcohol.”
“This isn’t poisoned, is it…?”
“Drink it all before I force it down your throat.”
Nataek pushed his tongue against the inside of one cheek, glaring at Medeus. “I… I don’t trust you.”
A petulant Nataek was only returning the exact words he’d heard from Medeus before.
“That makes two of us. But if you want to keep your head attached to your neck, then drink.”
Nataek reached out for the drink with his arm. Then, using the back of his hand, he pushed the glass toward Medeus. The glass tilted backwards, falling on the table. The detox drink spilled across the surface of the table and onto Medeus’s thighs.
“You unlucky bastard…” Nataek muttered before slumping over on the table with his arms crossed underneath his head. Medeus raised his eyebrows as he looked at Nataek as if he were observing a never-before-seen creature.
“Teresi.”
No response. Medeus grabbed Nataek’s hair as if he were picking radishes from a field. He pulled Nataek’s head as if he were harvesting it.
“Teresi?”
Medeus waved his arm, Nataek’s head following the movement. His face swayed from side-to-side like a pendulum. Only uneven breathing came out from Nataek.
* * *
After the moon set, the next day’s sun rose.
Nataek blinked at the loud noises that could be heard from outside the window. An unfamiliar room came into his blurry vision when he opened his eyes.
“Ugh… What the…”
Nataek slowly got up. He felt a shadow blocking the sunlight from the side. Nataek rubbed his eyes and looked over only to see someone who shouldn’t be there.
“Have you finally come to your senses?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
…What? What happened?
“P… Qts jw P…”
“Po P tjv wbgf atjc bcf jaafcvjca, P kbeiv’nf jigfjvs vgjkc ws rkbgv. Df atjcxoei la vlvc’a mbwf ab atja.”
Ktf ijra wfwbgs Rjajfx mbeiv gfmjii kjr atf wbwfca tf vgjcx j uijrr bo rlxjge lc bcf rtba. Coafg atja, cbatlcu mjwf ab wlcv.
Medeus tilted his head, watching Nataek through his gray eyes. “How long are you going to stay like this?”
Together, on one bed. Medeus, shirtless and his chest exposed. And Nataek, who’d just woken up, sitting by his side.
Only then did Nataek hurriedly stumble out of bed.
“My–My apologies. I don’t know what I did…”
“You crawled in last night, telling me not to be greedy with just one bed.”
“…”
What the… What the hell did he do?
Nataek couldn’t remember, but now he didn’t want to remember. As far as he knew, he only had a habit of falling asleep whenever he drank. Had the shift of time periods as well as the build up of stress caused his drinking habits to change into something strange?
Ignorance breeds anxiety. And Medeus’s voice only amplified that anxiety even more.
“If you have something to say to me, say it now.”
It sounded as if Nataek was about to give his last words before his execution.
A grave mistake… How did something like this happen?
No, it couldn’t end like this. Even though Nataek couldn’t remember what he did, at least one thing was certain: he made a fool of himself.
“I’m sorry. I, really… I’m not normally like this… Something like this, I won’t… I won’t let it happen again. I…”
Nataek began to apologize profusely. However, he couldn’t go into detail about what mistake he made since he had no memory of the events that happened last night.
Medeus, as if seeing through his ruse, asked, “Do you remember what you said to me last night?”
Of course, he didn’t. He couldn’t remember anything. Nataek closed his mouth as if it’d been sewn shut.
However, strangely enough, Medeus didn’t respond after a long anticipating silence. After observing Nataek for some time, Medeus finally opened his mouth.
“At times like this, you’re not different from the others…”
“What?”
What Medeus had quietly uttered didn’t reach Nataek’s ears. There was a deafening silence as Nataek waited for Medeus’s answer.
“…Get ready to leave, we need to make preparations for the journey.” Medeus half-heartedly waved his hand off.
“Are you going to let this go just like that?”
“Would you rather me slit your throat?”
“No!” Nataek scrambled to his feet, giving Medeus a quick bow. As he hurriedly left in case Medeus changed his mind, Nataek couldn’t help but wonder.
Medeus always made these verbal threats, talking like he was going to kill someone right away… but when Nataek thought about it, Medeus had never actually tried to harm him.
At least, he thought Medeus hadn’t, but then he remembered the first time they met. When Medeus suddenly threw a dagger at him to test his reflexes.
…He was out of his mind to think about this…
Nataek shook his head and closed the door behind him.
The task that Medeus gave to Nataek was to buy various goods such as leather shoes, small tools, etc. Medeus had him buy two of each item needed for scouting. Nataek barely managed to memorize the words that Medeus listed off before heading towards the marketplace.
There was someone he had to meet before he left. There was a lot that the fortune teller owed him. For one, Medeus’s seal, which was now stolen property that must be returned. More importantly, there were unresolved matters from their last meeting that they had yet to settle.
As Nataek entered the alleyway, he saw the fortune teller’s shop. He didn’t pay too close attention last time because he’d been too distracted, but now he noticed that the closer he got to the fortune teller’s shop, the more ornately the decorations on the walls of the alley were. The entrance to the fortune teller’s shop was decorated with thin gemstones tied together with thread. Inside, the fortune teller was waiting.
“Business has been slow today. So, when will you be able to finish the tribute payment… Ahh! You scared me!”
Nataek didn’t mean to startle him. The fortune teller’s exclamation made Nataek’s shoulders jump in surprise.
“More like you scared me.”
“When did you get here? And why are you here again?”
“What do you mean why am I here again. You ran off before we could finish talking last time.”
The fortune teller took a step back. If he shouted open sesame to open the portal again, it wouldn’t be just a loss to the fortune teller, but Nataek as well. There was no guarantee that the man would ever return again if he disappeared like that.
Nataek hurriedly added, “I didn’t come to try to take your card away, and I’m not going to grab you by the collar. So first, give me back the seal you took.”
After various twists and turns, a negotiating table was set up. Two modern men, who should’ve been hometown friends, reluctantly sat down face to face with each other.
Nataek crossed his arms and examined the fortune teller with narrowed eyes. He was crossing them as a deterrent in case he got angry and got the strong urge to grab the guy by the collar.
“How many are left? The number of times you can return back.”
“…Twenty times.”
Of the twenty one uses remaining, he used one to escape from Nataek, so now there were only twenty uses left. Each use of the fortune teller’s secret ability allowed him to stay in modern times for twenty four hours, so the fortune teller was able to go back for exactly twenty days. To Nataek, who didn’t know what his hidden skill was, this man’s skill might come in handy someday.
Nataek was the first to lay down his cards.
“Here’s the deal: I’ll find a way to reach the true ending, but you also have to take responsibility for bringing me here in the first place by helping me out. Wouldn’t that be better than wasting your remaining twenty uses trying to bring someone else here?”
“Do you know what the true ending is?”
“Oh, should I know what it is?”
“Does it make any sense that the person who will unify everyone has the status of a slave?”
Nataek also had thought a lot about this. Then, he noticed something. Going through his memories of system messages and the times when he played the game, the question of who should be the one to unify Mesopotamia was never clarified.
The answer was always within the question.
“Who cares about who’s doing it as long as everyone is unified in the end? There was no mention of me specifically having to do it.”
The fortune teller, who’d been giving Nataek a dumbfounded look, clapped his hands.
“…You’re right, there wasn’t.”
Nataek continued to speak his jumbled mind. Sometimes, things become more obvious when thoughts are spoken out loud.
“I came here as a slave, but the family I belong to is Ninurta, who rules over Uruk. In a way, it’s the closest thing there is to the highest power… If someone has the talent to unify the people and become emperor… That person will also be close to the center of power.”
If Nataek stayed here, there was a chance that such a person could come closer to becoming the Ensi by unifying all of Mesopotamia.
The fortune teller rolled his eyes upon hearing Nataek’s words.
“Yes… That’s right… Someone talented enough to become king…”
“Whether we’re trying to unify or if unification happens by chance, we still have to confront Ninurta Kushanna.”
The fortune teller slapped Nataek on the thigh. “Yes, that’s right!”
The fortune teller stretched out his arm and squeezed Nataek’s hand. It was hard to believe this was the same man who abandoned Nataek and pretended like he didn’t know him.
“We should find a king. Find him and help him unify. You have a rough idea of how to conquer, right? You got close to the ending of Sununki, didn’t you?”
Nataek’s failure to conquer one of the last remaining cities always resulted in the bad ending, but he knew how to progress smoothly up until that point. In other words, with the exception that he always skipped through Uruk in the beginning, Nataek knew the strategy for conquering the rest of the cities.
With a glimmer of hope, Nataek asked, “What about you? Have you ever seen the true ending?”
“…No.”
The two heads of modern men dropped in despair. But it was the fortune teller who regained determination first, having been trapped in this civilization for far too long.
“Two heads are better than one. We can do it. We can do it together! If you help me, I’ll also help you find a way out of here!”
The fortune teller vigorously nodded to himself. The experience of having hope of escaping for the first time since arriving here had brought tears to the corner of his eyes.
Nataek stared dryly at the fortune teller.
This shameful bastard…
But Nataek held it in. After all, they were reconciling with each other. It was time to suppress his temper and face reality.
Nataek’s resolve was by no means weak.
Let’s find a way out of here and escape.
I, Inataek, must reach the true ending and finally escape this damn civilization.
Thanks to smooth negotiations, Nataek was able to complete all of Medeus’s errands this time. Before he knew it, the sun had already set.
Nataek followed Medeus, carrying the fruits of his labor on his back. The weight wasn’t insignificant, but it wasn’t that big of a deal either. The lingering hope of two modern men combined was giving Nataek strength.
We’ll capture all the cities. We can do it.
These two phrases were the only things Nataek repeated in his head. So he hadn’t realized how close Medeus got to him until it was too late.
Medeus leaned his face close into Nataek’s shoulder. Nataek flinched, startled. Medeus sniffed, taking in Nataek’s scent.
“I can still smell the sikaru.”
“…”
There wasn’t any other choice. Because he stayed in a room above the tavern, he couldn’t change his clothes or wash himself properly. Nataek, feeling embarrassed, lowered his nose to his shoulder and sniffed himself.
“Sorry.”
“If we stick together, the smell will spread to me, too.”
The fact that Nataek could smell Medeus, whose scent was reminiscent of fragrant flowers, as he was saying those words made Nataek feel even more embarrassed. Nataek remained tight-lipped, but Medeus suddenly turned into a different direction.
“Come this way. We can’t let you stay like this.”
“Huh?”
“Come with me. I’ll give you a bath.”
Medeus was heading in the opposite direction of Ninurta mansion.
“A bath?”
Medeus didn’t say any more than that, walking with long strides. The further Nataek followed Medeus, the farther they got from the center of the city.
What in the… We’re going over there to have what kind of bath?
Edited by An Zheee
T/N: Hey! Surprise update trying to make up for the lost week. Enjoy~
Thank you for the new chapter!!!! ☆:.｡.o(≧▽≦)o.｡.:☆
:>
Thanks for reading!
Yay an update! I wonder what else nataek said in bed…
…hey! hey! DONT GIVE ME ANY IDEAS😭
Hehehehe bathing your wife? That’s a new one 👀
I couldn’t find the next button 🥲. Thanks for the update!💕
Today I stumbled upon this title , and oh boy I didn’t disappoint me.
What an intriguing plot! I was totally captivated by it.
I’m really liking mc here who is not some damsel in distress.
Also the ML , he’s levelheaded.
His past made him wary of his surroundings but I can feel kindness in his actions as well.
It’s going to be splendid journey!
😁
Also your is top notch too 💯
*translation
aww thank you ^^