Instead, it was [Noble Cat] Aki, who had been hiding behind Emiya and focusing on sneak attacks the entire time, who ended up the least injured in the whole arena.
At this moment, Riveria walked over with a stern face, her gaze as sharp as a blade, sweeping coldly over the girls in front of her, "You four, how did you end up like this?"
The four girls looked guilty in their own ways, not daring to meet her gaze. Tiona kept her head down, Alicia looked away, Ais bit her lower lip lightly, while Aki turned her eyes to the floor and remained silent.
Although this battle ended with Emiya's loss, they all knew in their hearts that Emiya hadn't used many of his techniques, and they themselves had many issues during the fight.
Tiona was overly excited, thinking only of going head-to-head with Emiya. Early on, she completely neglected teamwork and even triggered her berserk mode at an inappropriate time. Ais's swollen little face was the most direct evidence of that.
Alicia had recently slacked off in sword training; her swordsmanship had clearly regressed, something even Riveria could feel intuitively.
Aki had been timid the whole time, her movements restrained, unable to fully exert herself.
Rather than calling it caution, it was more like fear. In such a state, she couldn't possibly handle Emiya, who far surpassed Lv.4 standards.
On the contrary, Ais had performed relatively the best in this battle. But Riveria could still see that during the duel, she had been trying to test her swordsmanship against Emiya's, rather than using their level and numbers advantage to quickly overwhelm him.
This was obviously influenced by personal obsession and the desire to prove herself to her "master," leading her away from the optimal combat strategy.
And most crucially, it was clear that at the beginning of the battle, they hadn't gone all out.
Subconsciously, the girls had underestimated the fight due to the apparent difference in paper strength. They thought that four against one, three Lv.5s against one Lv.4, would surely be an easy victory.
This attitude made them lax at the start. If they had been serious from the beginning, Emiya wouldn't have had much room to struggle.
"If this were a real battle, you might already be dead," Riveria's voice was cold and heavy.
"W-What?", The girls looked up in shock, disbelief written all over their faces.
"Think carefully. How many times did you let Shirou dictate your movements?"
Riveria continued, "What if those places had been full of traps?"
"Also, Shirou never used a magic sword from beginning to end, don't forget that. And let's not forget that Shirou is currently a Lv.4, a level lower than you. Fighting like this, isn't it embarrassing?"
The girls fell silent and lowered their heads.
"I'll heal you now," Riveria gripped her staff, preparing to cast healing magic, "Rest for fifteen minutes, then go again."
"This time, go all out. Get serious!"
"Yes!"
The girls replied in unison.
Emiya: "…You're raising the intensity again?"
———
In the end, under Riveria's stern supervision, Emiya was completely wrung dry by the girls, referring to his stamina. You Hen-tais.
He was knocked down again and again, then healed, and then thrown back into battle. This cycle repeated endlessly.
Each time he stood up, his body felt even more exhausted, but Emiya still persevered.
Though bruises and wounds could quickly vanish thanks to healing magic, fatigue continued to accumulate. Eventually, when he could no longer hold on, training stopped.
During the breaks between the four-on-one targeted training, Riveria had also arranged another session, a one-on-one rotation battle between Emiya and the girls.
This segment wasn't to train Emiya, but to train Ais and the others.
Aki went first. As a Lv.4, she naturally didn't have the strength to match Emiya and was easily defeated within a minute.
Although she tried her best to stay agile and nimble, under Emiya's powerful offensive, she was still overwhelmed, forced to retreat multiple times.
In the end, Aki was rushed at and closed in on. Emiya held his blade to her pale neck, declaring her defeat.
Next up was Tiona, who lifted her greatsword and engaged Emiya in a fierce frontal clash.
Emiya projected a battle axe to confront her heavy sword. The fight was intense, with the Amazon girl's brute strength and quick footwork causing Emiya considerable trouble. However, after several heavy blows, he still managed to knock her to the ground.
The most embarrassing one was Alicia. Because using [Ice Giant] was forbidden, she tried to rely on agility and finesse to fight.
But in a moment of carelessness, she took a full-powered punch from Emiya in the stomach and couldn't get back up after falling.
Alicia's endurance stats weren't high to begin with. That punch rendered her completely unable to continue fighting.
The only one who wasn't defeated in a one-on-one was Ais. She activated her enchant magic [Ariel], boosting her speed and strength to the maximum.
Even so, she still couldn't suppress Emiya and only barely managed to avoid defeat.
However, Ais also understood that it was thanks to the stat boost from [Ariel] that she held an advantage. In terms of swordsmanship, she was still completely suppressed by her master.
She even felt that if not for Emiya having expended too much stamina in the previous matches, this duel would've ended in her defeat.
After these one-on-one "rotation battles," the four-on-one fight resumed once again.
This time, the girls were especially serious, going all out with improved coordination.
Under their onslaught, Emiya was quickly defeated again.
And after that battle, the next round of duels started right away, this kind of fighting repeated over and over.
Emiya felt that by the end of today's training, his stat growth might very well reach three digits.
———
"Ta-da! Everyone, look at this~", Tiona held up a huge black fish and said proudly.
At this point, Emiya's stamina was completely drained, and it was rest time.
Emiya was resting in the room, with Riveria focused on healing him.
As for the other girls, they had been shooed to the living room by the elf princess.
Sometime earlier, the Amazon girl had disappeared from the living room. A while later, she suddenly returned excitedly.
"What is that?"
Ais looked curiously at the huge black fish in Tiona's hands.
"The scales look like monster scales, but it probably isn't one, so maybe it's a giant black fish?"
Alicia examined it with a puzzled look.
"That's right, it's a giant black fish! And this one should be called a 'Voltimeria!'"
Tiona answered proudly.
This kind of fish had tough, misshapen scales and was often mistaken for a monster.
Many believed that giant black fish evolved this way to protect themselves from monster attacks.
The sea around Melen was very suitable for fish growth. Still, a giant black fish over 1.5 meters long was a rare catch even in the port city.
"If you come to the port city, the one thing you can't miss is definitely fresh seafood," Tiona added excitedly.
Alicia gently touched the fish's scales and found it still flopping energetically, "It's still alive… Where did you get it?"
Tiona beamed, "Yesterday, I made arrangements with the fishermen from the Njord Familia. I asked them to save the biggest fish they caught today for me."
"I see."
Alicia nodded, "Then this fish must be expensive? How much did you pay?"
Tiona tilted her head, "I dunno. I didn't bring money, so I just left our Familia's crest. They'll go find Loki to get paid~"
Alicia smirked slightly, "That's very Tiona-like."
At that moment, Aki also walked in, carrying two wooden crates filled with fresh shrimp, crabs, and other premium seafood.
Her expression was as calm as ever, but the cat tail behind her swayed gently, revealing the girl's cheerful mood.
"As expected, the seafood here is the freshest," Aki placed the crates on the ground and smiled.
In the labyrinth city Orario, you could also get fresh seafood from the port city, but tasting just-caught fish and shrimp by the sea always had a special kind of comfort and satisfaction.
"Also, buying fish here is so much cheaper."
Aki continued, "Compared to Orario, it's at least half the price."
Among everyone present, Aki was actually the richest. She had earned substantial profits from investing in Emiya's forged weapons.
Meanwhile, the first-tier adventurer girls were still carrying debts from buying expensive equipment.
However, Aki had developed a habit of frugality and still felt happy getting high-grade seafood that was both cheap and fresh.
Alicia: "Probably because of transportation costs, taxes, and middlemen markups."
Ais glanced at the seafood in the wooden crates, then looked at the giant black fish in Tiona's hands and said with a hint of regret, "But Shirou needs to rest."
At the mention of Emiya, the girls' mood naturally sank a bit. Emiya was clearly exhausted now and obviously couldn't cook anymore.
Everyone knew that Emiya was the best cook. Not having the best chef prepare such fresh ingredients felt like a waste.
Suddenly—
"Then let's cook for Shirou ourselves!", Tiona proposed.
A glint of excitement flashed in her eyes, "Let's have a cooking contest and let Shirou be the judge!"
———
After resting for an hour, Emiya slowly woke up.
Thanks to his thoroughly tempered strong physique and top-grade recovery potions, his stamina had mostly recovered in a short time.
However, the emptiness in his stomach couldn't be filled by potions. He felt a hollow hunger.
"Time to cook," Emiya muttered to himself.
Seafood in the port city, be it fish, shrimp, crab, or shellfish, was much cheaper than in the labyrinth city, and far fresher and higher in quality.
'With ingredients like these, I can definitely make a superb meal,' Emiya thought as he got up and left the room.
However, when he pushed open the door and entered the living room, he found everyone seemingly waiting for him.
"Ah, Shirou-kun, you're awake!", Tiona's eyes lit up when she saw him, excitedly waving her hand.
Emiya nodded, "Yeah, I'm rested. I was just about to cook. What do you all want to eat? How about fish today?"
Tiona and Ais exchanged glances and smiled. Then Tiona unceremoniously grabbed Emiya's arm and pulled him straight to the dining table.
"Shirou-kun, you came at the perfect time!", Tiona announced cheerfully, "Today, you're not the chef, you're the judge. Come taste our cooking!"
On the table before Emiya were four silver dish covers, each hiding the dishes prepared by Ais and the others.
The girls had each cooked in separate kitchens, so none of them knew what the others had made.
To keep things secret, they even went out individually to buy ingredients.
"These… You made them?", He looked at Tiona and Ais in surprise, then turned to Alicia and Aki standing nearby.
"That's right," Alicia nodded seriously, "Each of us made a dish and want you to try them."
Tiona put her hands on her hips with an eager look, "Be our judge, okay? Tell us who among the four of us is the best cook!"
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