"No thanks, Mrs. Somar, I have to go see Laws today."
Shirou used a reasonable excuse to turn down Mrs. Somar's offer.
The young married woman couldn't help but look disappointed when she heard him, and she tried her best to hand him the lunch box she had made.
"My little Somar doesn't like eating what I make. Here, take these extra snacks, Shirou."
"This..."
Seeing that the snacks were clearly carefully made and didn't look like leftovers at all, Shirou didn't know what to say for a moment. He could only accept her kindness with a wry smile.
As he was about to leave, Shirou casually asked, "Mrs. Somar, have you heard any rumors about the Superd people lately?"
"Superd people?" Mrs. Somar's face changed slightly when she heard the name of the dangerous demon race that everyone knew, but she quickly shook her head. "I haven't heard anything. If such dangerous demons appeared, everyone would probably be very scared."
"I see."
Seeing that Mrs. Somar didn't know about the Superd people, Shirou was even more sure of his guess.
"Have you heard the children in the village talking about Superd people?"
"...Oh, now that you mention it, Somar often comes home and says that he defeated the evil Superd people."
"I see..."
From Mrs. Somar's words, Shirou was almost certain that his guess was correct.
So he quickly said goodbye to Mrs. Somar and turned to walk towards the forest near Buena village.
After leaving the village some distance, the treehouse near the forest came into view.
The last time Shirou came here was several years ago. He was injured in the fire and had nowhere to go, so Laws took him in.
Now he came to Laws' house again, and after hesitating for a moment, he knocked on the door.
"Shirou?"
The door opened quickly, and Laws looked at Shirou in surprise, his face full of shock.
"Can I come in and sit for a while?"
"This... of course."
Although Shirou's arrival was surprising, the close friendship between the two made it impossible for Laws to refuse Shirou's request.
Shirou quickly entered Laws' house. He glanced around and muttered, "Where are your wife and Sylphy? Are they not home?"
"My wife took Sylphy out for a walk." Laws seemed to sense Shirou's purpose and looked a little sad. "They probably won't be back until evening."
"I see..."
Shirou nodded, and the atmosphere in the room became strangely cold.
Shirou took the initiative to speak up: "By the way, the children in the village seem to be talking about green-haired Superd people a lot lately."
"..."
Faced with Shirou's almost direct words, Laws couldn't hide anything anymore. He sighed and said, "They're probably talking about Sylphy."
"I thought so... Sylphy is being treated like a demon by her peers because of her hair color?"
"Yes, after all, green hair is very rare in this world, almost a symbol of the Superd people. Even my wife and I had doubts when Sylphy was born, wondering if she was a child of demons. But she's our own child, so we couldn't doubt her. But other people don't necessarily think that way."
Laws said helplessly. He had obviously been troubled by this for a long time, and didn't even have anyone to talk to about it.
"Can't you explain it to the people in the village?" Shirou asked hesitantly. "The symbol of the Superd people isn't just green hair, but also a red gem on their forehead. People probably won't believe that such a small child is a terrible demon."
Although Shirou had never seen a demon, and the only demon he had seen, Roxy, wasn't scary at all, he still went along with the way people in this world thought.
"I have explained it. The adults don't care about it, of course. Although some can't get over it, they won't say anything to a small child. The problem is the other children..." Laws sighed. "I really can't explain to a group of immature children what a real Superd person is. They don't listen to me at all and always show hostility towards Sylphy."
"Children are like that. Their world is too simple, so even a little bit of difference can easily lead to them ganging up and pushing out those who are different."
Shirou had never been bullied, nor had he bullied others, but he had seen similar things before and knew how children acted.
They were not so much immature as they were acting on instinct, a kind of evil.
If they are not guided correctly, children will often do things that adults can't even imagine are bad and what is more worrying is that children often don't even realize that their actions are evil…
Shirou therefore understood Laws' troubles very well. Adults couldn't understand children's thoughts, and it was even more impossible to interfere with their actions.
Even if they knew the behavior was wrong, adults often couldn't get children to stop the wrong behavior and accept the correct understanding.
"..."
Seeing Laws looking bitter and even obviously worn out because of Sylphy, Shirou couldn't help but recall his own words.
When he was young, he had made a promise with Laws, saying that if Sylphy was ever bullied, he would definitely help her.
Now, he realized that it was time to keep his promise.
"Don't worry, Laws, I will help Sylphy."
"Shirou..."
Laws looked at the boy's determined look and didn't know what to say for a moment.
He had actually been hesitant about asking Shirou for help. He didn't know why, but he always felt that this young boy had a more mature heart than many adults, as if no difficulty could defeat him.
Now, hearing Shirou's words, he was both touched and helpless, and slowly opened his mouth: "I know what you're thinking, but what can you do, Shirou? The children are rejecting Sylphy based on pure instinct. They don't even know that what they're doing is wrong, is a terrible evil. How can you get someone who doesn't know they're doing wrong to correct their mistakes?"
"This..."
Shirou could understand Laws's thoughts.
He couldn't think of a good solution right away.
Therefore, after hesitating for a moment, Shirou slowly said, "In that case, how about Sylphy comes to my house? My brother Rudeus and I would definitely not reject Sylphy. As long as Sylphy can make friends, there won't be a problem, right? When the other children in the village grow up a little more, they probably won't do things like rejecting Sylphy just because of her green hair..."
"That... is indeed the case."
Laws thought about it and felt that Shirou's words made sense, so he agreed to let Sylphy go to the Greyrat family.
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