Shirou is going to leave Buena Village.
Even though this was just a last-minute decision, and he had only just confirmed the news with Ghislaine, the people of Buena Village had already gotten wind of it and rushed to the Greyrat house to say goodbye.
Clearly, the villagers of Buena Village had been mentally prepared for this, realizing that someone as talented as Shirou couldn't stay in such a remote place like Buena Village forever. Sooner or later, he would go to a bigger stage to train himself, so they didn't feel sad about it.
Of course, there were some who felt sad, and that was Mrs. Somar.
Originally, after the Red Dragon battle ended, Mrs. Somar's harassment of Shirou had become much worse. She would often find various reasons to visit the Greyrat house and check on Shirou.
Now that she heard Shirou was leaving Buena Village, this single young woman was more upset than when her own husband died, looking like she didn't want Shirou to leave no matter what.
In contrast, Mrs. Somar's only son, Somar, was happier than anyone else to hear that Shirou was leaving.
Because Shirou had caused such a severe mental scar on the children of Buena Village, almost every child in Buena Village would dream of being beaten mercilessly by Shirou during this time.
Now, just thinking about Shirou leaving the village, all the Buena Village children who participated in that event felt like they had been saved, wishing they could just send this plague god away quickly.
Of course, even if Shirou left, they wouldn't dare to bully Sylphy now.
Not to mention that Shirou would come back sooner or later, Sylphy herself is already an excellent intermediate-level mage, and can even use magic without chanting.
Even if all the Buena Village children teamed up now, they wouldn't necessarily be Sylphy's match.
What's more, even though Shirou left, Rudeus is still staying in Buena Village, and he definitely wouldn't ignore anything that happened to Sylphy.
By the way, Rudeus still doesn't know that Sylphy is a girl. He still sees Sylphy as a boy, and no one has reminded him about Sylphy's gender.
"Brother is leaving?"
Sylphy rushed to the Greyrat house as soon as she heard the news.
Her face was incredibly flustered, filled with nervousness, but she had actually always expected this to happen sooner or later, just not so suddenly.
"Yeah, big brother Shirou is going to learn swordsmanship from that Sword King named Ghislaine, so he's definitely leaving Buena Village."
"Then where will he go next?"
"I don't know, maybe to the place where that Ghislaine lady works. I heard she's working as a guard for a big shot in Roa city..."
Rudeus said, talking about the news he had gotten from Paul earlier.
He was obviously also very concerned about Shirou's departure, feeling very sad.
"Can't we, can't we go with him?"
Sylphy couldn't help but ask. She really didn't want to be separated from Shirou and Rudeus, wanting the three of them to be together forever.
"That's impossible."
Rudeus waved his hand. "My dad said I can't leave home until I'm twelve. Sylphy, your dad wouldn't let you run away from home before you're grown up, right?"
"This..."
Sylphy was silent. She was sad to see Shirou go, but she also knew that she couldn't ignore her father Laws' opinion and leave.
Seeing Sylphy's expression, Rudeus also sighed in distress. He also wanted to go to the outside world with Shirou, and he didn't want to be separated from him.
But many things can't be changed by what people want.
The only thing people can change is themselves.
"Sylphy, come and learn magic with me."
Rudeus looked at the silent Sylphy and said to comfort her, "If we can master more powerful magic faster, our parents might let us leave home sooner and go to the outside world like brother Shirou."
"Learn magic?"
"Yeah, brother Shirou has always been saying that he needs to become stronger, only by becoming stronger can he protect his family. It's the same for us, right?"
"Yeah."
Hearing Rudeus's words, Sylphy finally came back to her senses from her disappointment.
The two children went to the open space next to the village, feeling down, and decided to spend the rest of their time studying magic and increasing their strength.
This seems to be the only way for them to get rid of their loneliness and disappointment.
At the same time, Shirou and Paul were standing in a corner of the yard, watching Rudeus and Sylphy's figures gradually disappear into the distance, until they couldn't see them anymore.
"Are you sure you want to leave?"
Paul glanced at Shirou. You could clearly see the sadness in his eyes.
Leaving his important family members and going to an unknown stage alone was obviously something that Shirou couldn't easily accept.
But Shirou's determination wouldn't be shaken by this.
"I'm going to pursue greater power. Only by making myself stronger can I be fearless of any storms in the future."
Shirou's tone was very calm, even cold, as if he was deliberately trying to show indifference.
"Shirou…"
Paul could feel Shirou's determination and sighed. "You're a better and more reliable kid than I thought. Being able to adopt you as my son was the luckiest thing for me. Or rather, I even feel like I'm not good enough to be your father."
"What are you saying? Although you do have a lot of shortcomings, Paul, I always see you as my second father."
"Second? Do you even remember your first father, Shirou?"
Paul thought Shirou's first father was from his memories before he turned five.
But Shirou couldn't explain anything to Paul.
He just recalled the image of Emiya Kiritsugu while muttering to himself: "My first dad, he was actually just my foster father. Unlike you, Paul, he was someone who didn't smile, was very decisive, but also a bit clumsy sometimes. In short, he was very reliable."
"The way you say that, it sounds like I'm not reliable at all…"
"What do you think, Paul?"
"This…"
Paul twitched his mouth, wanting to argue, but he couldn't.
So Shirou smiled and continued, "But to be honest, I always felt like my dad lived a hard life, because his ideal was too big. His dream was to become a hero of justice, to save all the weak people in the world. To that end, he saved me from a fire. He was the one who saved me, but he was so excited that he shed tears, as if he was the one who had been saved."
"…"
"To be honest, that smile was so infectious. I used to deeply admire him, dreaming of inheriting his ideal and becoming a hero of justice."
Shirou's words were describing himself and also Servant Emiya.
Because he had merged with Servant Emiya's soul, many of his own memories had already overlapped with Servant Emiya's memories.
Even so, the Emiya Kiritsugu in their memories was almost no different.
But there were differences.
The Emiya Kiritsugu in Emiya Shirou's own memories was a crazy man who tried his best, until the end of his life, to save the world, even wanting to use Miyu as the Greater Grail.
The Emiya Kiritsugu in Servant Emiya's memories was much softer than the man in his memories. Because he had experienced a failed Holy Grail War, he realized how crazy and terrible it was to make a wish to the Greater Grail, so he had already abandoned that narrow-minded ideal, but he still hadn't given up that feeling in his heart, so in the end, he let Servant Emiya inherit that ideal under the moonlight.
Paul listened to Shirou's words and vaguely felt complicated emotions. He frowned and said:
"As a father, to set up such an unreliable goal for his son, I don't think your dad was a good father."
"Yeah, he might not really be a good father."
Shirou nodded. He didn't mean to speak up for Emiya Kiritsugu, because he himself had once denied Emiya Kiritsugu's ideal because of Miyu.
He even actively destroyed the mental mark that Emiya Kiritsugu had left for him, giving up the action of using Miyu, the child of God, to save the world, and choosing to give Miyu the happiness of an ordinary person.
From that moment on, he had already embarked on a different path from Emiya Kiritsugu.
But in his heart, Shirou still regarded Emiya Kiritsugu as his father, and he never completely gave up the ideal of becoming a hero of justice that he had left for himself.
Although in his heart, the ideal of a hero of justice was now weaker than the desire to protect his family.
But he still had that wish to be a hero of justice that Emiya Kiritsugu had left for him.
Paul saw that Shirou was silent, realizing that he was experiencing a lot of emotions in his heart, so he didn't rush to interrupt, but after a while, he quietly said, "Shirou, you're a kid I'm proud of. I believe that even if you go to Roa, you won't have any trouble. You can handle all the crises on your own, but I also hope you don't forget that Buena Village will always be your support. If you feel tired and lose the will to move forward, this house will always welcome you back. Me, Zenith, Lilia, Rudy, Norn, and Aisha, everyone will welcome you back."
"Yeah, I know, Father."
Shirou once again called Paul "Father."
He had already regarded him as his second father in his heart.
Although Paul had too many unreliable things compared to Emiya Kiritsugu, and his whole body was full of flaws, he had one biggest advantage, which was that he valued his family.
Therefore, Shirou respected Paul and regarded him as his second father.
The road ahead is long and difficult, but as long as his family members are still here waiting for him, Shirou will not lose his goal, he will do everything to become stronger, and protect the people he wants to protect in the future!
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