Fate: No One Plays the Villain Like I Do Chapter 30 30: Fat Sheep Comes Knocking

"Hey! How dare you touch my body without permission, you—"

"You what! I almost died just now! I didn't expect the great goddess Ishtar to be so reckless!"

Ishtar, the one who had caused the crash, snapped back to attention. Hands on her hips, she jabbed a finger at the ancient snake's nose, accusing him as if she were the victim.

But before she could finish, her hand was brusquely slapped aside by the man opposite her, his voice rising in anger.

The pupils of the ancient snake, masked under a human guise, flickered with restrained fury.

The goddess before him—Ishtar—was the one who ruled over nature and harvest in sopotamia, as well as love, fertility, and war. Her influence on Surian life was vast.

As a proper "Surian," he needed to be able to recognize the high goddess of Babylon instantly.

Even in spirit form, her divine authority should be impossible to miss—it should naturally resonate with the people.

If not, it would poke holes in his plan to fully integrate his new identity into this world.

Of course, within Surian belief, defying or accusing a goddess outright was almost unheard of—and often ended in divine punishnt.

Still, Samael's protest wasn't just calculated; it carried real frustration.

Even with his Magical Beast body, getting blindsided by Ishtar's reckless dive had dislocated his neck.

If it had been an ordinary human? Their skull would've cracked open on the spot.

Gods wielding power without restraint was nothing short of disaster for the mortal world.

The sudden scolding stunned Ishtar. She froze on the spot for a brief mont.

Then, snapping back to her senses, the goddess of the heavens flared with indignation and stord after him.

"Wait! You stop right there! What do you an I'm reckless!"

"And why are you sneaking around Mount Ebih—this is my domain!"

Samael instinctively paused in his steps, his shoulder just beginning to turn when Ishtar caught hold of him.

Rip!

In their tug-of-war, the worn bundle on his shoulder tore open at the seam.

Imdiately, dazzling starlight scattered into the air, revealing a cascade of brilliant, colorful gems—each one glowing like a playful sprite.

Gems. So many!

Ishtar froze, her hand still in midair, her expression blank. Her eyes went wide, and her throat moved as she swallowed unconsciously.

"...Looks like I mistook you for soone else."

The man who had trespassed on the sacred mountain stumbled a few steps, then regained his footing. With a cold snort, he turned back, crouched down, and began calmly scooping the spilled gems back into the torn bundle.

No! Stop!

To Ishtar—a goddess who adored gems yet constantly found herself starved of them—this was pure torture, like carving flesh from her heart.

Wait—what did he just say?

"Mistook for soone else"?

Don't tell ... he ca up Mount Ebih... to find ?

Gems... Tribute!

Yes! This must be a tribute from the lovely humans down below!

The glint in the goddess's eyes grew radiant. For the first ti in ages, her brain lit up with divine clarity, instantly connecting the dots.

"Ahaha! Just a misunderstanding! My Boat of Heaven Maanna spun out of control and—well, I wasn't paying attention, so I crashed right into you..."

"Are you hurt? Why don't you co back to my temple? I can give you a proper checkup—make sure everything's okay?"

Ishtar's eyes narrowed into crescent moons as she bead like a lucky cat, clapping a friendly hand on Samael's shoulder while he bent down to gather the gems.

Perfect. A fat sheep had finally delivered itself to her door!

With the great disaster raging outside the Absolute Demonic Front, most outer cities were already in ruins. It had been ages since she last received tribute from humans.

But her Magecraft and divine powers guzzled gems like water.

To keep up appearances and cover her expenses, she'd been forced to hunt Magical Beasts—and even raid the hos of devastated herders.

Even so, their ager hoards were barely enough to keep her going.

And now, the nearby herding villages, terrified by her na alone, had fled toward Babylonia's protected interior.

At this point, she couldn't even scrape together gem fragnts.

Damn that Gold-Glitter! He'd cut off all offerings to her from the cities inside Uruk and Babylonia's defenses. Bastard!

She was the city goddess here, damn it!

Flooded with bitter thoughts and budget stress, Ishtar's gaze turned sharp, fixating on this juicy, unsuspecting target.

She couldn't let this chance slip away. No matter what, she had to bleed this guy dry.

Unaware of the growing danger, Samael noticed the goddess softening her tone. His expression relaxed slightly. He stretched and moved his limbs to show he was fine, politely declining her offer.

With both sides easing their stances, the tension in the air finally began to dissipate.

"By the way, which city are you from?"

The goddess, warm and approachable, squatted down to pick up the high-quality gems scattered around her. Gathering them in her hands, she moved closer to their owner and asked tentatively.

Samael's expression remained cold and unreadable. He lifted his head, gazing westward into the distance. After a long pause, he finally spoke, his voice low and restrained.

"Babylon..."

"What? There are still people alive in that hellhole?"

Ishtar looked stunned, visibly shocked. But realizing her words were a bit out of line, she imdiately softened her tone. Considering the value of the gems, she set aside her pride and apologized.

From what she knew, when the Three Goddess Alliance first launched their assault, Babylon in the northwest was the first to suffer the brutal onslaught of Magical Beasts from the Cedar Forest. The city had completely fallen four months ago, its streets littered with bones, now reduced to a nest for those monsters.

Ishtar found it hard to imagine how soone like him—an ordinary person—had managed to avoid the beast hordes and escape such a nightmarish place alive.

"When Babylon fell, I got separated from the rest of the group. I didn't follow the wave of refugees rushing to the northern wall defense line that Uruk had set up."

"These Magical Beasts were different this ti. They were hunting humans deliberately."

"So, the more people there were, the greater the danger."

"Keeping that in mind, we crossed the Tigris River from the side and moved through plains where beast sightings were sparse. By sheer luck, we made it to Mount Ebih."

Seeing the goddess's confusion, Samael explained their harrowing escape in a calm, matter-of-fact tone, leaving plenty of room for her imagination to fill in the terrifying details.

"That was a smart move!"

Ishtar reached out and gave the survivor of ruined Babylon a firm pat on the shoulder, her face lighting up with genuine admiration, clearly impressed by their sharp battlefield instincts.