About an hour passed after Shirou rescued Sara.
Patrick, as a healing mage, healed Sara's wounds.
The caravan boss Bruno breathed a sigh of relief after rushing back to the wagons.
The Rasta Bears had no interest in the caravan's goods, so even though everyone had abandoned the wagons earlier, the goods on the vehicles were almost undamaged. Only a few wagons were damaged after being hit, but it didn't matter much.
However, the caravan did not leave immediately. Because after Bruno, the clever businessman, discovered the bodies of many Rasta Bears killed by Shirou, he keenly noticed the key to wealth.
He immediately had many adventurers cut off the Rasta Bears' fur and claws, and take away these most valuable parts, planning to bring them back to the Asura Kingdom to resell.
Of course, he didn't keep this wealth to himself. After discussing it with Shirou and many adventurers, they divided it in a ratio of one to one to eight.
Bruno, as the seller, took 10% of the money as a handling fee. The adventurers, as the workers, also took 10%. The remaining 80% of the money would be given to Shirou after the sale.
Shirou originally didn't want to accept this reward, after all, he wasn't that attached to wealth. But both Bruno and the many adventurers insisted that he take it.
After all, if Shirou hadn't stepped in, they probably would have died at the hands of the monsters.
Shirou could only reluctantly agree.
So, the adventurers began the task of skinning the Rasta Bears.
After putting on his heavy armor again, Shirou also stepped forward to help, and worked with the others to deal with the Rasta Bear corpses.
Most adventurers worked in groups of two.
Shirou's partner was Suzanne.
Suzanne's face showed a complicated expression, as if the events that had happened were so sudden that she didn't know what to say.
This was normal.
The junior she thought had no adventure experience was actually a super genius of saint-level in all three sword styles. For Suzanne, it could be said to be a huge shock. But she didn't have any negative emotions because of this, instead, she hid her admiration and gratitude for Shirou in her heart.
"..."
By the time the adventurers finished skinning the bears, gathered the pelts and tails, and then burned the bodies, the sky had already started to darken.
The adventurers didn't waste the opportunity and used the Rasta Bear corpses as dinner.
However, bear meat wasn't very good, and it didn't taste like much.
Faced with this situation, Shirou naturally wouldn't miss the chance to show off his cooking skills.
He decisively took over the job of processing the bear meat, using special methods to treat and process the tough and old meat. In the absence of a proper cooking environment, he made a monster dish with a unique taste.
The camp at night was filled with the smell of grilled meat.
Smelling this smell, all the adventurers breathed a sigh of relief from the bottom of their hearts, and truly felt that the crisis was over.
At this time, Suzanne and other members of the [Counter Arrow] team came to Shirou one after another, expressing their gratitude for his previous help.
Shirou didn't take credit for this, but he accepted everyone's gratitude.
The adventurers hadn't thought about how delicious the bear meat dish would be that night. But the moment the food was put in their mouths, they realized just how unique Shirou's cooking was.
The evening's banquet was more lively than ever, and every adventurer was immersed in the joy of being alive, and being able to taste delicious food.
Shirou smiled as he watched the others enjoy his cooking. He was just about to go and taste a few bites himself, when he noticed a girl walking over from not far away.
"...Um, thanks for everything this time."
Sara, blushing under the night sky, turned her face away shyly after saying this.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine now."
Sara immediately responded to Shirou's change of topic, but there was no further talk.
"..."
The air between the two then became strangely awkward.
The silence lasted for a while.
Shirou helplessly opened his mouth and said: "Um, I just cooked some food, Sara, do you want to eat some?"
"You made it, Shirou?"
Sara had been resting, so she didn't expect Shirou to have cooked.
Shirou thought that she would show a reluctant attitude, but he didn't expect Sara to immediately say happily: "Really? Can I eat some too?"
"Of course, it's for everyone."
"Okay."
Sara nodded forcefully.
"It's so good!"
After tasting the food made by Shirou, Sara didn't act spoiled like before. Instead, she praised Shirou's cooking very seriously.
Because the difference from before was so great, Shirou felt a sense of unreality.
...
The next day, the caravan set off again.
Due to the previous monster attack, this time the adventurers of the caravan were paying extra attention, constantly vigilant about the surrounding environment.
Under such extreme care, the caravan didn't encounter such a terrible event again, and successfully arrived at the destination town.
[Counter Arrow] had mentioned before that they would hold a celebration party after everything was over, so Shirou didn't go to the Ranoa Kingdom immediately, and stayed in the town for the time being.
In the evening.
"Good work, everyone."
"Good work!"
"Good job!"
The adventurers raised their glasses to toast each other and celebrate.
Shirou also celebrated with the adventurers.
Originally, this was just a celebration of victory, and also a farewell ceremony. Shirou's mood was quite calm. But it's worth mentioning that throughout the entire celebration party, Sara stayed by his side, and talked to him very actively.
Shirou didn't care too much, and talked to Sara normally. At first, it was just small talk, but later they also talked about each other's backgrounds.
Shirou also learned that Sara hated nobles so much because her hometown was completely destroyed by the actions of nobles, and that's why she became an adventurer.
In addition to each other's backgrounds, Sara also asked Shirou about his skills, not only archery, but also swordsmanship.
It seemed that the scene of Shirou drawing his sword and killing all the monsters was too shocking, which made Sara also want to learn a little swordsmanship.
If an ordinary person asked him about swordsmanship, Shirou definitely wouldn't teach them.
But Sara was very talented in archery. If she learned some swordsmanship to defend herself, she would probably be able to further strengthen her combat ability.
Therefore, Shirou taught Sara the basics of swordsmanship very seriously. Especially the Water God Style and North God Style, which are both moves that can easily be used in the adventurer industry.
However, Shirou didn't notice that although he was teaching Sara very seriously, Sara's attention didn't seem to be focused on the swordsmanship he was teaching. Instead, it was focused on Shirou, especially Shirou's face.
The surrounding adventurers were also very good at observing people's feelings, and didn't come over to disturb the two of them from beginning to end.
The conversation continued like this.
"Swordsmanship and archery have some things in common."
Shirou told Sara about the way to learn swordsmanship, "As long as you master the use of weapons, you can completely apply the experience you had when learning archery to further movements."
"Is that so? Then Shirou, what weapon do you think is better for me to use?"
"For girls, considering their physical strength, it's best to use weapons like daggers and short swords. Cooperating with the North God Style's skills, they can still be effective."
"Eh? Can't I learn your swordsmanship?"
"You mean the Sword God Style? That's not suitable for you, because the Sword God Style requires countless times of training and talent to master."
Shirou described it to Sara very carefully.
Time gradually passed, and even he noticed that Sara was acting strangely. He felt that the girl's mind didn't seem to be on learning skills from him.
In fact, Sara quickly revealed her purpose, and murmured: "What you said is indeed very good, but it's difficult for me to learn by myself..."
"This..."
Although Sara's words were hidden, anyone could hear what she meant.
She wanted Shirou to stay and teach her swordsmanship.
But this was undoubtedly impossible for Shirou to do.
He was going to the magic university in the Ranoa Kingdom the next day.
"Can you leave two days later? One day, no, just stay a little longer. I'll do anything if you stay!"
Sara saw Shirou's thoughts and showed a pleading expression.
Shirou didn't know what to say about this, and was very helpless.
He wasn't unfamiliar with this kind of situation. In his life, and even in Servant Emiya's life, Shirou had of course encountered similar feelings from others.
But for Shirou, this was undoubtedly an unacceptable feeling.
"I'm sorry."
"Why... Don't I have any chance at all?"
Sara bit her lip.
The petite blonde girl showed a charming attitude at the moment, and unknowingly leaned towards Shirou. Shirou could even clearly feel Sara's body temperature through her clothes.
Shirou showed a troubled expression towards Sara's desperate attempts to keep him. But his trouble wasn't because he was caught in a dilemma, but because he didn't know how to refuse without hurting the girl's heart.
Shirou wasn't a particularly dull person when it came to feelings. Sometimes he could sense the kindness of the people around him.
But he knew even better that he didn't have the ability to accept this kind of thing right now.
So, in order to prevent Sara from having further misunderstandings, he said directly: "I still have things I need to do, so..."
Before Shirou could finish speaking, Sara had already stood up from her seat.
Crystalline tears were constantly flowing from the corners of the girl's eyes, but she didn't seem to notice. She said stubbornly: "I see, I... It's not like... I like you or anything... I wanted to thank you... Yes, I just wanted to repay the favor I owed you before. So, don't get me wrong."
After saying these almost self-comforting words, Sara turned around and left directly.
Shirou sat in place and couldn't help but sigh.
Suzanne and Timothy and the others walked over, patted him on the shoulder, and said nothing.
Shirou wasn't very used to this kind of thing either, and couldn't help but take the glass of wine that an adventurer handed him.
Looking at the liquid in the glass, his eyes reflected not his own face, but Zenith's face.
So, all the emotions were sealed in the glass, and swallowed by Shirou. Shirou's heart became as hard as steel again, no longer shaken by anything external.
---
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