After Shirou gave the Black Key to Ghislaine, he continued to practice the Longsword of Light technique with her. His sword speed was getting faster and faster, and his sword movements were becoming more and more fluid. However, he was still some distance away from the true Longsword of Light, unable to see a direction to break through.
Ghislaine didn't give any advice on Shirou's situation.
In Ghislaine's opinion, the accumulation and breakthrough of swordsmanship needed to be done by the Swordsman himself. Her only role was to guide Shirou to the right path. As for how far he could walk on this path, it all depended on Shirou's own efforts.
However, she believed that Shirou would not disappoint her.
In her view, this young man had the potential to create any miracle.
After practicing swordsmanship for a while, Shirou wanted to rest for a bit before going to find Eris in the afternoon to teach her swordsmanship and magic.
But as he thought this and looked up, he suddenly noticed a strange sense of disharmony in the distance.
Looking towards the distant sky, he saw a red sphere floating in the air, pulsating strangely.
"What is that?"
Because this world had fighting spirit and magic, Shirou had become accustomed to some unusual phenomena.
Most people in this world were probably in a similar situation. They wouldn't be too alarmed by some incomprehensible phenomena, and would assume it was some magician's prank.
Shirou initially wanted to believe that it was just a prank, a creation of some kind of magic.
But the moment he looked away, perhaps because of the light, he felt like the thing inside had moved slightly.
"!!!"
In that instant, Shirou's heart clenched repeatedly.
The fluctuation of that red sphere reminded him of the Greater Grail in Servant Emiya's memories.
The final result of the Fifth Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City was the creation of a dark red void in the sky, from which endless dark mud emerged.
Because the structure of the distant red sphere was too similar to the Greater Grail, Shirou instinctively felt confused and fearful. He almost lost his footing, overwhelmed by an indescribable sense of dread.
"Thump!"
Shirou's backward movement quickly stopped.
Because he suddenly felt a strange sensation from behind, like some overly soft object was supporting his body.
He first tried to understand the source of this sensation. The moment he felt like there were two overly soft things pressing against his back, he was immediately startled and turned around, then found the blonde girl Ariel standing behind him.
"Princess Ariel?! What are you doing here?!"
Shirou was stunned when he saw Ariel.
He thought that Ariel, as the second princess of the Asura Kingdom, coming to the Boreas family's birthday party was already quite presumptuous.
She should have gone back the next morning.
But her appearance in front of him now meant that she had probably done something unexpected.
"Shirou, what was wrong with you just now?"
Ariel saw Shirou's reaction and didn't care about his clumsy behavior just now, covering her mouth and smiling. "It was like you saw some terrifying scene."
"No, I was just startled."
"Startled?"
Seeing Ariel's innocent and pure appearance, Shirou definitely couldn't say that it was because her chest was pressing against him, so he could only change the subject, pointing to the dark red sphere in the distance. "That thing suddenly appeared in the sky, making people feel very uneasy."
"In the sky... Ah, there really is something."
Ariel quickly noticed the sphere that Shirou was looking at, realizing the strange scene in the corner of the sky.
But Ariel didn't think too much about it. She said quite naturally, "Maybe it's a magical creation made by some great sage. These things are rare, but they do exist."
"They do exist?"
"Yes, for example, the floating fortress of the founding hero of the Asura Kingdom, the [Dragon King] Perugius, should appear in that direction around this time... Look!"
Ariel pointed in a certain direction.
Shirou followed the girl's finger and saw a huge cloud. Looking closely at the cloud, he discovered that a castle was floating within it.
The castle was huge and mixed in with the clouds, somewhat vague, but undeniably present.
"That's the floating castle?"
It was the first time that Shirou had seen the floating fortress, reminding him of the floating garden that Servant Emiya had seen as a Servant.
Its owner was the empress of the Assyrian Empire, Semiramis, who rose to fame by poisoning her husband, King Ninus.
Although the structures were completely different, they looked similar from the outside.
As a blacksmith, Shirou only knew how to make swords, but that didn't mean he couldn't do anything else.
Maybe he would have the opportunity to replicate the hanging gardens in this world in the future.
While Shirou was staring at the massive floating fortress, gradually forgetting the confusion caused by the dark red sphere due to the overwhelming scene, Ariel suddenly leaned in next to him, her face almost touching his.
"Whoa!"
Faced with this sense of closeness, which was almost too close, Shirou was startled and quickly retreated.
"What are you doing?"
He looked at Ariel incredulously, unable to understand what was going on with the princess's sense of personal space. It was too inappropriate.
Ariel said calmly, "I was just wondering why you're hiding your strength, Shirou."
"Hiding my strength?"
"I saw your fight with Ghislaine earlier."
Ariel said quite frankly, "From what I know, Ghislaine is ranked fourth in the Holy Land of Swords as a Sword King. Above her are only the current Sword God and two Sword Emperors. You were able to fight her during her training, even with her holding back, your strength is definitely not as simple as it seems on the surface. If you hadn't refused Luke's duel, he probably would have lost a lot of face in public."
"That..."
"You have such great abilities, and you can even forge magical tools like the [Black Key]. Why are you staying in a small place like Boreas?"
Ariel's eyes were fixed on Shirou's face, as if she wanted to see through the red-haired youth completely. "You could have a better future, go to higher places. Why are you wasting your talent and not fully showing your strength?"
"..."
Ariel said everything she wanted to say in one breath.
After listening to Ariel's words, Shirou sighed softly after a long time.
"I understand what you mean, Princess, but the way things are now is enough for me."
"Enough?"
Seeing the confusion on Ariel's face, Shirou said quietly:
"I once thought about making a big difference, becoming a great person, becoming a hero who saves everyone. I did try and work hard for this goal, trying to save everyone I could save."
"However, after reaching that goal, I realized that the justice I hoped for didn't exist. Saving one group of people often meant sacrificing another group of people. Absolute justice doesn't exist in this world, and absolute salvation doesn't exist anywhere."
"But even so, I didn't understand what I did wrong. It wasn't until someone important to me almost disappeared, and someone who saw me as the most important person sacrificed themselves for me, that I realized that instead of the justice for the majority, instead of saving the lives of people who are irrelevant to me, what I really need to do is protect the people I need to protect, and save the people I can save. That's what I should be doing."
"..."
Shirou's words were mixed with Servant Emiya's and his own experiences.
Through the understanding of both, he came to the current conclusion -
Even if he can't save everyone, even if he can't become a hero of justice, he only needs to save the people he can save and realize the justice in front of him. That's enough.
A hero who saves everyone doesn't exist after all, but saving the people who are important to you is something that everyone must do.
Ariel fell silent after hearing Shirou's heartfelt words.
She looked into the distance and said slowly, "I actually understand what you mean, Shirou."
"Huh?"
"Since I was born, I haven't been able to decide what I do. Everything I do is just going with the flow, following the expectations of the people around me, doing things that are completely against my goals. But even so, I've gained recognition from others: Derrick, Luke, and many people in the Asura Kingdom. They all have high hopes for me, thinking that I can become the one who saves everyone, the king of the Asura Kingdom."
"Becoming king..."
Hearing Princess Ariel's words, Shirou was shocked.
After all, as the second princess, Ariel seemed like the person who was least likely to become king.
Did she really have such ambitions in her heart?
"Do you think I can become king?"
Ariel slowly turned her head, revealing a charming smile.
"This, I don't know..."
Shirou couldn't say something against his conscience and could only hesitate.
Ariel smiled when she saw that, "I know it's hard to do. Many people know that too, so most people don't have any hope for me. But I know that this is the only moment in which I can make a choice. For me, for Princess Ariel, the only moment in which my will can make a choice is to become king. And if I want to protect the people I want to protect and save the people I want to save, I have to achieve this goal. So, aren't we alike, Shirou?"
"Indeed..."
Shirou nodded.
Both he and Ariel had walked down paths they didn't want to walk on, without having a choice.
And both were stubbornly moving forward on their paths, even if they knew that the end of the road might be a tragic one.
For a moment, Shirou finally felt a bit of understanding for Ariel and no longer saw her as a treacherous woman with hidden motives.
If he wasn't really uninterested in the battle for the throne, he might have actually planned to help her.
Although he couldn't help directly, he could at least build a friendly relationship with Ariel.
However, just as he was about to speak, he saw Ariel giggle and say mischievously, "Oops, did I trick you just now? Actually, I never thought about inheriting the throne. That kind of thing is too tiring for me, I wouldn't be interested even if I was forced to do it."
"What?"
"Huh? What's with that reaction, Shirou? You don't really think I want to be king, do you?"
Ariel's sudden change in attitude caused Shirou to become dazed.
He looked at the girl in front of him for a while before realizing that she had been deceiving him all along.
In that moment, all sorts of complex and indignant feelings spread through Shirou's heart, making his face darken. He immediately turned around and left!!!
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