Chapter 26: You Say You're Lv.1?
"Monster! It's a monster!!!"
Seeing their Lv.2 companion knocked out instantly, the other adventurers were too terrified to make another move against Shirou.
They immediately scattered in panic.
Shirou had no interest in chasing them down. After all, there was no real law enforcement within Orario, and even if he caught criminals, there was no place to judge or punish them.
This was, in some ways, the root cause of the chaos in this dungeon city.
"Thank you so much, Mr. Emiya!"
After Shirou dealt with several of the adventurers, Syr—who had just been harassed by them—let out a sigh of relief and ran up to him with a bright smile.
"That was such a cool move! When I saw you fighting Mr. Bete from the Loki Familia back at the restaurant, I already had a feeling—you're really strong, aren't you?"
"I'm not that strong—just average." Shirou wasn't overly confident in his strength. He was well aware that there were still opponents he couldn't defeat.
"Miss Syr, what was that all about earlier? Why were those people bothering you?"
"I'm not really sure myself. They seemed like they wanted me to buy their alcohol."
"Alcohol?"
That word gave Shirou pause. He instinctively recalled something he had heard about the Soma Familia.
The Soma Familia was said to have risen to prominence through selling alcohol.
The god Soma was rumored to brew a divine liquor with terrifying properties—it would instantly addict those who drank it.
Could those guys have been from the Soma Familia too?
This was the second time in such a short span that Shirou had run into troublemakers from that Familia.
He was beginning to understand why so many people in Orario despised them.
Committing crimes so frequently—it was no wonder they were disliked.
At the same time, Shirou recalled the information Loki had given him: members of the Soma Familia went to such extremes to earn money in order to buy their god's divine liquor.
It was said that Soma's wine had outrageous effects.
One sip and a person would be instantly hooked, unable to free themselves from addiction.
With that in mind, Shirou walked over to the unconscious Lv.2 adventurer, rummaged through his belongings, and found a flask containing some kind of liquid.
He opened it and sniffed—it was definitely alcohol.
However, Shirou noticed that the alcohol seemed to be heavily diluted, far weaker than normal spirits.
He put the flask away—not to drink it, of course. Shirou wouldn't do anything that reckless.
Instead, he planned to take it to a professional for analysis.
He wanted to understand just how unique this wine was and why it could drive people to commit crimes.
After wrapping everything up, Shirou turned to leave.
But Syr quickly stepped in front of him and nervously said, "Thank you again. Can I repay you somehow, Mr. Emiya?"
"That's… not necessary."
Shirou hadn't helped her expecting any kind of reward. His instinct to help others ran deep. Even if he had given up on being a "Hero of Justice," he still couldn't stand by while others suffered.
"Please, I insist! Let me do something to repay you!"
Syr seemed desperate not to let Shirou go. In her anxiety, she suddenly hugged his right arm.
Not expecting this, Shirou showed a helpless expression. He wanted to shake her off, but didn't dare use force, afraid of hurting her.
"…Alright, alright," Shirou sighed. "Just don't repay me with money, that's all."
"Okay!!"
Syr's face lit up with joy, and she asked Shirou to come with her to the Hostess of Fertility (the tavern she worked at).
Seeing how determined she was, Shirou agreed.
To prevent him from running off, Syr held his hand the entire way—much to Shirou's embarrassment.
As they neared the Hostess of Fertility, Shirou finally couldn't take it anymore. He tried to pull his hand away—there was no way he could walk into a tavern holding hands with a girl like this.
But just before he could act, a sharp presence suddenly emerged from the shadows.
A blonde elf in a server's outfit darted out with lightning speed. Without hesitation, she threw a punch straight at Shirou's face.
Bang!
At the last possible second, Shirou dodged the blow and instinctively pulled Syr behind him to protect her.
This move only made the elf girl frown even more.
Seeing the situation about to escalate, Syr quickly shouted, "Ryuu! Don't hurt Mr. Emiya—he saved me!"
"He… saved you?"
Ryuu looked surprised at Syr's words.
Syr then quickly explained everything that had just happened.
After hearing the full story, Ryuu's expression softened. She looked apologetically at Shirou and said, "I'm sorry. I thought you were threatening Syr. I misunderstood."
Apparently, Ryuu had seen Syr leave to buy groceries and was worried when she didn't return for a long time.
She rushed out to find her and happened to see her returning with Shirou. Because it was dark, Ryuu had assumed Syr was being coerced, which is why she attacked without warning.
Now that the misunderstanding had been cleared up, Ryuu looked deeply troubled, as if trying to figure out how to make it up to him.
"It's fine. I wasn't hurt," Shirou replied, though his gaze toward Ryuu was a bit odd.
In that instant, Ryuu had displayed an astonishing level of skill.
While her speed and power weren't quite on par with Bete of the Loki Familia, the sheer pressure she exerted on him was even greater.
This elf girl… she's no ordinary person.
As Shirou pondered this, Ryuu was having similar thoughts.
Even though she hadn't used a weapon and had only thrown a barehanded punch, she hadn't expected Shirou to dodge it so cleanly.
She began to doubt Shirou's stated strength.
"Mr. Emiya, what level are you?" Ryuu, always direct, asked the question on her mind.
"Not really sure, but according to my blessing from the other day, I'm Lv.1."
Shirou reported the level that had appeared when Hestia gave him his Falna the night before.
At the time, Hestia didn't expect to see a level at all—Shirou's status screen had been a complete blur when she first checked.
So when the level actually appeared, she was overjoyed.
Based on Shirou's performance, she thought he might be Lv.3, Lv.4, or even higher.
But in the end, the result that appeared was… Lv.1.
Hestia was completely stunned.
She even began doubting her own ability to bestow the Falna properly.
She re-checked several times, but every time it was still Lv.1. In the end, she had no choice but to accept it.
That's why, in response to Ryuu's question, Shirou simply gave the result that Hestia's blessing had revealed:
He was an adventurer… who was supposedly Lv.1.