I Can See Health Bars in Real Life

Chapter 529 22: Well Prepared

"How, how did you know——!!"Ereshkigal, who seemed to have given up entirely, cradled her head and squatted on the ground, asking in a pitifully weak voice.

It was likely that the blow to her spirit was so severe that she was almost about to burst into tears. She had been holding onto a sliver of hope, but when the other party furrowed their brows and clearly stated that she had replaced Ishtar, she felt as if she might faint.

Where did it all go wrong?!

How did they know she had replaced Ishtar's consciousness?! And worse yet... everyone saw it?! No! This kind of thing shouldn't be known!

"This is actually quite obvious, isn't it?" Gu Mo scrutinized her apologetically, "Lady Ishtar has black hair, but Lady Ereshkigal, you have blond hair. The change in hair color was quite noticeable when the consciousness was replaced. Although we were a bit confused at first, it was you, Lady Goddess, who gave us the hint later..."

Feeling somewhat guilty, he laughed awkwardly and prepared to cover up the past incident—

He indicated that they were not able to notice it at the very beginning, and it was only after Lady Goddess herself gave a hint that they realized her true identity... as for her not realizing that she was introducing herself at that time? Well, that was definitely her own problem.

The main goal was to prevent this simple goddess in front of him from realizing she had been tricked.

Emmmmmm, straightforward personality, whenever she gets angry, she'd show it directly. No matter how cute the goddess is, she could also become extremely fierce and foul-tempered, right?

"Heh... Hehe... Turns out I got exposed early on, did I really do something so embarrassing? And everyone saw it too... H-hateful aaaaahhhhh! This wasn't supposed to happen, it wasn't supposed to be like this!" Ereshkigal continued to cradle her head on the ground, her eyes devoid of any light.

Almost identical to Ishtar, except her hair color, aura, and demeanor were different. The blond maiden seemed to have burned out, turning into a shade of gray-white.

Lies! What kind of shameful play is this?! Wasn't I supposed to be hiding well, with no one finding out?!

It turned out that she had been exposed from the very beginning, and everyone had already seen it... When she recalled her former pride and sense of accomplishment, compared with what she now realized about the actual situation at the time, she felt a maddening sense of shame and anger!

—So, it turns out she exposed herself from the get-go, yet still thought she was hiding perfectly, that while pretending to be that foolish sister, everyone actually knew?!

"Uh, so Lady Ereshkigal... was it just an innocent slip? Didn't Lady Ereshkigal mention Ishtar Goddess's name first and then immediately changed it?"

Seeing Lady Goddess in such a state of despair, Gu Mo slightly raised an eyebrow, like he understood something, hesitantly speaking.

"We thought you were giving us a hint, Lady Goddess, making us believe you wanted to talk peacefully, but didn't wish to appear as an open enemy, so you temporarily borrowed Ishtar Goddess's body to convey a message... but we didn't expect it was actually—"

"That's exactly it! Exactly it!"

Suddenly bursting with surprising energy, the Lady Goddess, who had been squatting defensively with her head down, immediately stood up, gritting her teeth as she shouted!

That's definitely what happened, it has to be! It certainly can't be that she foolishly tried to impersonate Ishtar and got caught from the start without realizing it!

People always want to subconsciously avoid their embarrassing past, and the goddess, who had now turned into a pseudo-servant, was no exception. So Gu Mo simply pretended to guess and provided her with a reason. Whether or not it made sense, Ereshkigal could only cling tightly to this explanation.

"...I see." Gu Mo dryly laughed on the surface but internally gave himself a thumbs up.

"That's right! I'm the dread Goddess of Death; naturally, everything was a choice made by my own will!" Ereshkigal proclaimed with strained bravery, trying hard to appear strong.

"Alright, alright, I understand, I understand..." The person across from her nodded repeatedly with ease.

Damn it! This guy...

Biting her lower lip hard, the Lady Goddess still felt as if her face was burning, like it was on fire. The self-deceptive thoughts had an effect, but not entirely effective.

Too embarrassing! It's really too embarrassing!

Resigned to her fate, she tried her best to recall—it seemed that she truly did slip up, mentioning her foolish sister's name in the third person. Although she quickly corrected herself afterward, it was certainly too late. Why did she think her reaction was timely at the time?

And this guy's words afterward, it turns out they weren't sarcastically mocking Ishtar, but actually recognizing she wasn't Ishtar, even making the correct guess, leading to him saying those things... Aaaaaah! Why didn't she realize it at the time!

As she continued to remember, the blond maiden found herself on the verge of crying from frustration.

She realized it seemed exactly as the other had said—she foolishly exposed her identity from the start without knowing it.

Upon careful consideration, there were indeed many problems, but black history, in essence, was one's ongoing tussle with herself, one she was unwilling to recall deeply... Thus, the same was true for Ereshkigal. She remembered a few points that matched what the other had said, and concluded it was that way.

Gu Mo understood this well, and the patches he made were just right, offering the Lady Goddess some room for self-consolation as well—

"Ugh! Any-anyway... you're not allowed to tell anyone about this!"

Clenching her fists tightly, the blond maiden took several deep breaths, shifted her gaze to the ground beside her, and said through gritted teeth.

According to this person's explanation, it seemed that although everyone saw it, they all thought it was a hint she gave them, believing it was something they did after careful consideration to create non-hostile conversation conditions... no, not just thinking, that's exactly what happened!

So, her dignity and reserve as a Goddess had indeed been well preserved!

The most was that she had just lost her composure a moment ago, revealing something to this person. But as long as he doesn't talk, there won't be a problem... Hmm, or better, what if he just doesn't go back and stays in the Netherworld forever?

Huh? Gu Mo blinked, having a not-so-good feeling.

No, got to quickly change the topic to divert the other party's attention.

He raised his fist to his mouth and lightly coughed: "Back to the matter at hand, speaking of which, there seem to be quite a lot of souls in Lady Ereshkigal's Netherworld, which have recently surged in, right..."

"Haha, as long as you know. I am one of the pillars of the Three Goddess Alliance, so it's only natural for me to act against humans! Next, I will imprison the souls of all residents of the City of Kusa in my spear prison, and then look for a chance to attack Uruk and seize the Grail!"

Lady Goddess said "viciously": "So that, this world's humans will be finished, and I will imprison every last one of them in the Netherworld!"

However—

The person across showed no signs of shock or frowning, not frightened by her words, instead nodding thoughtfully and sincerely praising:

"Ah, I see, so you joined the alliance to bring as many souls as possible to this Land of Death for protection? Although this approach is a bit passive, when there's no hope in sight, you indeed have only this choice. It's very kind of you..."

"..."

"..."

The air was silent for a moment.

It seemed like she heard something incomprehensible, and Ereshkigal took a while to react, staring wide-eyed at him in disbelief, shouting loudly: "You... what nonsense are you talking about, I am not... I plan to kill all humans in Mesopotamia and dominate their souls!"

"Do you understand! It's out of a desire for domination that I want to annihilate all of humanity, there's nothing more evil than that, right?"

Inexplicably, the earlier sense of bravado but cowardice reappeared, mostly with stubbornness and guilt.

To be so bluntly pointed out her true intentions and praised for being very kind was completely unexpected. Because of encountering such a situation for the first time, she didn't know how to respond and could only awkwardly try covering with lame lies.

"Oh, that is really very evil..."

Gu Mo nodded in a monotone, cooperating with her.

If serious persuasion were attempted, this Lady Goddess would certainly never admit it. No matter what, she would just be stubborn, but such a response, without arguing but expressing a firm attitude... is the most effective way to break her defense.

"Uwaaah..." The blond maiden let out a wail, then instinctively shrank back, taking a step back. "Don't, don't look at me with those eyes. I am very evil! I'm telling you, even if you say so... say so... I won't hold back..."

"Mm-hmm, that's really impressive, Lady Ereshkigal..."

Gu Mo nodded, casually dismissing her remark, still not intending to argue but instead directly put forward his request while she was emotionally riled—

"I've come here this time hoping to receive help from Lady Ereshkigal..."

"I have nothing to help you with! Didn't I say, I've joined the Three Goddess Alliance, and since I've promised to be a companion, unless there's betrayal or until the end of the fall, I have to stay as a companion." The blond maiden said with frustration, feeling utterly embarrassed today.

And each time, it's because of the person before her.

"The Forest Goddess has already agreed to help us, actually our positions are identical, we're all standing on humanity's side, aren't we?"

"That's her, not me..."

"But you promised you would help us before, and it's because you agreed that I came here." Gu Mo said, frowning.

"Ugh! This, this..." Ereshkigal bit her lower lip tightly, recalling her previous blunders, feeling even more frustrated.

How annoying! What exactly have I done!

"I did say I would help you, but... I never said I couldn't save humanity my way!" She steeled herself, closing her eyes, and said in one breath, "Besides, there's a pact among the Three Goddess Alliance, it's something established before..."

"The pact isn't a concern, and I can make a fake contract for you, replacing the previous terms." Gu Mo said without batting an eye, seemingly prepared for this.