Emiya Shirou doesn't want to work overtime

Emiya and Arthur could see that the boy in front of them was extremely weak and could barely utter a complete sentence.

"No, we meant no harm. Why were you in Rider's room?"

Emiya began to recall why the boy's face seemed so familiar, and started to calm him down.

"You, cough—! Aren't you here to arrest me?"

The boy still looked at the two people in front of him with extreme vigilance, his eyes revealing a deep distrust.

“If we were to arrest you, you wouldn’t have a chance to speak right now.”

Arthur explained to the boy in front of him in a gentle tone.

He had already vaguely sensed his true identity.

"Are you a servant of the Yggdmillennia clan?"

Emiya asked, unaware that the Yggdrasilian race possessed the technology to create artificial humans, though he found it strange that the people in the castle had remarkably similar faces.

But it wasn't appropriate to ask Danic about them.

But the boy's face reminded him of the servants he had met here who lived in the castle.

"A servant?"

He seemed oblivious to Shirou Emiya and Arthur's malice and began answering Emiya's questions.

"Cough—! No, I am a homunculus of the Yggdmillennia race."

The boy answered Emiya's question in a very weak manner.

Meanwhile, Emiya and Arthur took the opportunity to get closer to the boy.

"Cyborg?"

Emiya looked at Arthur with a questioning gaze.

"Master, I am not omniscient or omnipotent. Don't cast questioning glances at me about things you don't understand."

Arthur stated that although the Holy Grail had given him a lot of knowledge, it was all very basic knowledge, and he knew nothing about the kind of knowledge that only magicians possessed.

Emiya was very puzzled. Shouldn't artificial humans be a matter of technology? How could magic create artificial humans?

"Then why are you here?"

The problem is back to the beginning.

"I want to live!"

The boy gave this nonsensical answer.

This also filled Emiya and Arthur with even more doubts.

What are you doing here?

Just then, a very familiar figure appeared at the door.

Astolfo's expression had lost its previous joy, and he looked at the two people who had appeared in his room with an extremely serious expression.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense.

Chapter 135 The Method to Save the Androids

"We just heard some unusual noises and were afraid of an enemy invasion, so we came to check the situation."

Emiya Shirou offered a flimsy explanation: lying wasn't his forte; rather, it was that Emiya found it difficult to tell a lie.

Even Arthur felt that a fierce battle might break out here.

"Eh, really?"

Astolfo nodded thoughtfully, then walked in.

Well, he couldn't be described using common sense. Arthur covered his face, not knowing what to say.

It's unbelievable that Astolfo believed such a flimsy reason.

"Are you OK!"

Astolfo leaped past Shirou Emiya and Arthur, rushing to the boy's side.

It wasn't that Astolfo believed Arthur and Shirou Emiya's story, although his friends did have some influence.

But the main reason was that Astolfo saw that they had not done anything harmful to the boy.

In fact, in Astolfo's mind, Shirou Emiya and Arthur would not pose any threat to him.

After all, it was Caster who advocated for him to become the vessel for the Noble Phantasm, and the people of the Yggdrasilia clan agreed to this, but Emiya and Arthur were not members of the Yggdrasilia clan.

Furthermore, given Arthur's extremely noble chivalrous aura, Astolfo had no other thoughts about them discovering the secret of his room.

Just as he told Black Archer about it, he didn't intend for as few people as possible to know about it.

"Rider, why are you back so soon?"

"Hmm, it seemed like things had ended badly when I got there, so I slipped away as soon as my Master wasn't looking."

Astolfo made no attempt to evade the issue, directly recounting the scene he had just witnessed.

If it weren't for Lancer and Archer stopping them, their Masters would probably have fought with Saber's Master.

The thought of that scene sent chills down his spine; thankfully, he wasn't there.

Otherwise, it would be a conflict between himself and Black Saber.

"So what's his situation now?"

Astolfo seemed to remember something when he heard Arthur's question, and immediately explained the whole story to them.

"Is that so?"

Emiya nodded in understanding, genuinely approving of Astolfo's actions.

Even if they are artificial beings, they are still living beings and should not be subject to the arbitrary control of others. Even the people who created them cannot arbitrarily control their lives.

At least that's what Emiya thought, so he genuinely believed that what Astolfo did was the right thing.

He could not regard these talking, self-aware androids as objects.

"Please do not tell my Master about this."

Astolfo clasped his hands together and made a request to Shirou Emiya and Arthur.

"No, we won't tell them that, but are you planning to hide here forever? If it's something Caster needs, he'll find it sooner or later."

Arthur and Shirou Emiya nodded, indicating that they would not pass on the message, but hiding it like this was not a solution either.

"I'll find the time to take him away."

Astolfo's eyes were extremely determined; he was determined to save this android with an extremely strong will to survive.

"No, you don't actually need to hide him at all."

Arthur stared at the android boy for a while, then spoke to Astolfo.

“You can ask Lancer to save this android; I’m sure the King of Romania won’t refuse your request.”

"Besides, you can also get the support of me and Archer, and he can basically live in this castle like other homunculus."

Arthur was almost tricked by Astolfo. The one who could completely decide the fate of this android was neither Caster nor the Yggdmillennia, but the king of Romania who was currently ruling the Black Faction.

With his permission, he basically wouldn't need to hide in the Yggdmirene family's castle.

Moreover, Astolfo could also request that he go out and survive on his own.

There is absolutely no problem with that.

Even disregarding his own existence, the joint request from Rider and Archer alone would have been enough to free the boy from Caster's control.

Presumably, as long as Lancer exists, Caster will not do anything to this boy.

"Is it really possible?"

Astolfo couldn't believe things were so simple.

The boy can be given a new lease on life simply by making his request to Lancer.

Arthur nodded.

Keep in mind that Rider is now Lancer's subordinate, and all he wants is a homunculus. How could Lancer possibly refuse such a request?

Lancer will hesitate if Caster also makes the request, but if Archer also stands up to support Rider, then the outcome is basically already set.

The king of Romania was definitely not a king who only thought about how to obtain the Holy Grail.

Moreover, with his own support, the boy's decision has been firmly accepted.

"Then I'll go ask Lancer right now!"

As he spoke, Astolfo immediately stood up and tried to run toward Vlad III's room.

"and many more!"

Arthur called out to Astolfo.

"There's no rush right now. If you achieve some success in the Holy Grail War, your chances of success will increase significantly, and you might not even need to add my name to the list."

If the request were made in this way, the success rate would certainly be high, but with Arthur's name involved, the situation would seem to be forcing Lancer to make a choice.

But if Astolfo performs meritorious deeds, it's a different story; it's his reward, which gives Lancer room to think things through.

"However, it depends on whether you are eager to grant him his freedom. If you are in a hurry, going now wouldn't be too much of a problem."

After all, if they let him go, the one who would be treated differently would be Astolfo, not the boy, and not Arthur.

But Astolfo followed Arthur's gaze.

The boy still looked very weak and was coughing violently.

She doesn't look like someone who can live alone at all.

"Let's go see Lancer later."

Astolfo stopped in his tracks; given his current physical condition, it would be difficult for him to live a normal life.