That protagonist is trash; I could do better!

Chapter 369 This is a Visual Novel Game

Seeing the Servant eating breakfast, Hall realized he had misunderstood Saber. In her human form, Servants typically eat about three times more than normal people to replenish their mana.

Amakusa Shiro Tokisada and Fuma Kotaro finished their breakfast first. The black-haired youth, with a warm smile on his face, politely took his leave: "We still have a mission to complete, so we'll take our leave now. Lord Hall, if there is an opportunity in the future, I hope to continue to spar with you in swordsmanship. Of course, not a life-or-death battle. Last time, I fully realized the gap in our strength."

"If there is that opportunity."

Hall sipped his vegetable soup, nodded in acknowledgment, glanced to the side, and saw that Tomoe Gozen had also finished her food, putting her hands together in gratitude for the meal.

Hall chuckled and shook his head: "I always feel like I don't belong here."

Tomoe Gozen asked curiously, "What?"

"Just now, when Lord Amakusa and Lord Fuma were having breakfast, didn't they put their hands together to express their gratitude for the food, just like you? This is a traditional Japanese etiquette, isn't it?"

“It’s a bit surprising that you, Hall, would notice such details.”

"It feels like I'm the only one being excluded."

“That’s not true. Leonidas was in a similar situation when he was with us. In fact, it should be us who are out of step with the nations of this era.” Tomoe Gozen put down her chopsticks and then said as if remembering something, “I’m almost finished eating. Hall, has the King given you a new mission?”

"That's right, we probably can't go back to the North Wall."

“I know. If you have time, go to the North Wall. Leonidas really wants to see you. If you don’t have time, don’t force yourself. It’s my turn to be on duty at the North Wall in three days.”

Tomoe left in a hurry, leaving only Hall and High Priestess Siduri in the not-so-spacious living room.

After quickly finishing the vegetables on his plate, Hall asked, "High Priestess Siduri, the king has ordered me to investigate the decay curse circulating in Uruk. Do you have any leads?"

“Ah, about this matter, please follow me.” High Priestess Siduri nodded and turned to walk into another room in the living room.

Hall followed her to the servant dormitory, a room used for storing miscellaneous items, where a large number of clay tablets, each the same height as the person, were neatly arranged.

“I brought the clay tablets related to the incident here yesterday so that Your Excellency Hall can review them at any time.”

Hall's lips twitched: "They're really thorough, or rather, the quantity is astonishing."

High Priestess Siduri explained softly, her words revealing a hint of helplessness: "Each clay tablet records information about patients in Uruk suffering from the Curse of Weakness, including their place of residence, identity information, and level of weakness, so that the priestess's office or the sacrificial site can investigate. In reality, we currently have no way to deal with this Curse of Weakness."

“A single stone tablet records the information of a citizen cursed with decay—that’s far too many!” Hall stared in astonishment at the pile of mud tablets before him; there must be hundreds of Uruk citizens in it.

High Priestess Siduli shook her head and walked to the pile of clay tablets to explain: "That's not the case. Some of these clay tablets contain cases that ordinary soldiers cannot handle. This part is a task issued because Uruk City is short of manpower, while this part is a request from the citizens."

That golden thing really knows how to command people...

Hall probably knew the reason and tentatively asked, "This shouldn't be within my scope of responsibility, right?"

High Priestess Siduri covered her mouth and chuckled: "That's right. Your main task is to investigate the Curse of Weakness, but if you have some free time, you can also try to complete these tasks. Lord Hall seems to be quite trusted by the King. Yesterday, the King said this: If that guy is given a normal task, he will definitely complete it ahead of schedule. In that case, let's give him a lot of tasks that he can't complete even if he enters the Underworld."

"..."

Hall's lips twitched, a hint of displeasure rising in his eyes. He said stiffly, "Please tell King Gilgamesh to keep the Great Cup of Uruk safe, lest it be snatched away by a passing goddess."

"Understood." High Priestess Siduli's smile remained unchanged.

After the high priest Siduli left, Hall moved the clay tablets into the living room and examined them one by one.

"They're all cuneiform script. Isn't Gilgamesh worried I won't understand them?"

First, there is the decay curse that is prevalent in Uruk, with about a hundred cases documented. Half of the victims have lost their ability to work, and three people have died as a result of the decay curse. This has become the most pressing problem for Uruk to solve.

It is not difficult to see from the records on the clay tablets that almost all those infected with the Weakness Curse were related to the city of Kusa.

According to the records of the sacrificial site, those who were cursed with weakness were initially treated as patients, and it was only after herbs and blessings failed to cure them that they were classified as a powerful curse.

Hall knew the cause and effect of the Weakness Curse, and after getting a preliminary understanding of the situation, he was not in a hurry and continued to browse through the quests in Uruk.

It offers everything from finding pets and driving away monsters to helping with harvests, transporting goods, and building houses.

"Wow, they've got a lot of tricks up their sleeves." Hall murmured, uninterested in these trivial tasks.

As he put down the clay tablet covered in cuneiform script, he noticed that Olga Marie was coming down the stairs, followed by Joan of Arc.

She yawned gracefully, still sleepy, her silver hair slightly disheveled, clearly indicating she hadn't slept well.

Olga Marie's gaze swept across the customer room, finally settling on the long table, or more precisely, on the fruit platter in front of Hall. Her eyebrows furrowed. "I say, you didn't prepare any food for me, did you?"

Hall shrugged: "Director, it's past breakfast time now."

"Even so, you should leave me a share!" Olga Marie's lips twitched.

"Take out your grievances on King Gilgamesh."

"Ah! Ah! Ah!" Olga Marie rubbed her temples, feeling a terrible headache.

Joan of Arc politely inquired, "Mr. Hall, do you have any food ingredients or the like?"

"I'm not sure, but since it's wartime, food in Uruk should be rationed, or you can buy it with gold coins. Do you have any?"

"I see. Did they have gold coins in this era?"

"It was a concept introduced by King Gilgamesh."

Olga Marie vented her anger at not getting breakfast on Hall, asking in a cold tone, "What are you looking at? These are cuneiform characters, aren't they?"

"My job, by the way, if you want to gather intelligence to understand this era, you might as well start with these."

What is written on these clay tablets?

"The citizens of Uruk have entrusted them with the task of being employed as long as they prove their worth to that king."

Olga Marie bit her thin lips: "Cuneiform... I can't understand it at all, and cuneiform isn't a required course in magic."

As the projection unfolded, Leonardo da Vinci on the Chaldea side was clearly very interested: "Now it's time for the omnipotent genius to make his appearance, ta-da~ Director, if you don't mind, let me see what you're up to."

Olga Marie picked up the stone tablet and placed it in front of the projection. "Like this?"

Leonardo da Vinci stroked his chin as he analyzed the cuneiform script: "Hmm...hmm...I see. The contents of this clay tablet are about a commission for weapon forging. It says that strong men are needed to help, working eight hours a day, and the reward is about one silver coin per day."

“So cheap, can’t you find a better job?” Olga Marie glared at Hall with displeasure.

“I recommend this one.” Hall handed her another clay tablet.

Leonardo da Vinci explained: "The reward for finding the missing sheep is five silver coins."

Olga Marie's face darkened, and she said impatiently, "I said I came here to resolve the singularity! Not to play these childish games."

"So how do you want to resolve this singularity?" Hall countered.

“This…” Olga Marie was speechless for a moment.

Da Vinci nodded firmly: "Director, I agree with Hall's proposed plan. Right now, we should focus on gathering intelligence. In any case, the Holy Grail is likely in the hands of that Hero King. He is undoubtedly the center of the distortion in the Seventh Singularity. We need to gain his recognition, wait to reunite with Ritsuka, and have enough combat power before considering how to resolve this singularity."

A young male voice rang out: "I agree with Leonardo da Vinci and Hall. Long time no see, Hall. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Hall saw Dr. Roman appear next to Leonardo da Vinci. "Hello, Dr. Roman, I'm afraid not."

"That's really discouraging," Dr. Roman said with a disappointed smile.

······

As evening fell, the setting sun painted the open space red, and a gentle evening breeze stirred the dried fabrics.

Several women were busy collecting the fabric into baskets.

Hall found one of them and showed her a gold-plated identification: "Hello, I am an investigator sent by the King to investigate the recent debilitating illness in Uruk. You are Nash's wife, right? May I see your husband?"

The woman bowed to Hall, her gray eyes brightening briefly before quickly turning gloomy and dejected: "Your Excellency, please follow me."

She did not question Hall's identity, but she also held no hope for it.

Even the sacrificial site was helpless against the debilitating disease that was spreading in Uruk, and the priestess who came to investigate offered no hope.

Several people have died from weakness in the past few days.

Hall was led to a house, where he saw a thin-faced man with lifeless eyes lying on a mat. This was Nash, Hall's purpose in coming here, who had contracted a debilitating disease just a few days after returning from Kusa.

The woman burst into tears. “It has been five days since he lost his mobility. Now he can’t even eat. We can only feed him some wheat porridge each day. Looking at his thin body, I don’t know how much longer he can live. I don’t know what to do.”

Hall had already read the information about this man from the mud tablet, and reassured him, "Don't worry, I was sent by the king to treat my weakness."

Hall crouched down, pretending to examine the man's body, but showed no reaction.

The demonic eye observed that the man's body was indeed weak compared to humans of this era, but there were basically no abnormalities. The problem lay in his mental state.

The Demon Eye observed that the "soul's" reaction was extremely weak.

Has Garula, the messenger from the underworld, arrived in Uruk?

The woman, trembling, pleaded, "Your Excellency, how is my husband? Is he still alive? Please, I beg you, save him."

"Don't worry, I already know what the problem is. Your husband will probably start to recover from tomorrow."

"Really?" the woman exclaimed excitedly, her eyes shining.

“I am the messenger sent by the King, and I swear by the King’s glory.”

"Great! Great!"

"I will report this to Wang. Someone will bring nutritious fruits and food tomorrow so that your husband can take good care of his health."

The woman bowed repeatedly, tears streaming down her face, saying gratefully, "Yes! Yes! I understand! Thank you, Your Excellency! Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty!"

After leaving, Hall ceased his investigation into the Curse of Weakness and began analyzing the intelligence gathered so far.

"Of the ten investigations into the Weakness Curse, seven people were weakened by their souls, one was ill, one was caught in a cursed trap targeting magical beasts outside the city, and one was feigning illness due to laziness."

"It should be related to the Curse of Decay of Kusa, the territory of Ereshkigal in Kusa."

"This is Uruk."

"Forget it, instead of going through all that trouble to investigate, we might as well just ask around tonight and find out."

Hall found a quiet place and waited until nightfall.

Most of Uruk is quiet and dark at night, but a few central streets are brightly lit and even more lively than during the day, with dense crowds visible from afar.

Some continued working by the light of lamps, some soldiers patrolled, and some sang and danced around the bonfire, creating a lively scene.

The evening breeze carried playful sounds to Hall's ears. His magic eye gazed at the crowd in the distance, finding it hard to believe that the city nights were so lively in the early stages of civilization, before the advent of electricity.

Lost in thought, Hall suddenly heard a girl's clear voice behind him: "What a noisy city, it never stops even at night."

Hall turned around and saw the blonde girl in the black dress. He asked in surprise, "Where did you come from? Uruk City has a city god protecting it, right?"

"Of course, I will walk in with my head held high. Don't forget that I (Ishtar) am also the one who protects this city."