Emiya Shirou doesn't want to work overtime

Emiya Shirou nodded. He had indeed forgotten that Sakai Yuuji was able to move inside the sealed area because of so many other things.

Fortunately, during this time, Marjorie found the glass urn that Fariagne had left in Misaki City.

She set up a "free law" within it, so that Shana and Margery would be alerted whenever any unit with a large amount of existence power entered Misaki City.

Although the location of the Crimson Denizens would not be known, as long as the sealing range was set to the entire city, Shirou Emiya's clairvoyance would allow him to find their locations almost immediately.

In summary, despite the tireless efforts of Shirou Emiya, Shana, and Margery, no more torches were added to the city.

Emiya Shirou naturally gave a Zero Hour Lost Child to Rami, asking him to help maintain the existence of the torch in the city.

This was something that Emiya Shirou had thought of and was able to do.

At least this will ensure that the torch of Misaki City will not dissipate due to insufficient power of existence before Shirou Emiya completes his research on the Lost Child of Zero.

Shana nodded thoughtfully.

She did not suggest to Shirou Emiya that the Zero Time Child be removed from Yuji Sakai's body.

If you remove the treasure from Mystice's body, Torch will almost certainly die unless you have an extremely strong obsession with it.

Regardless of whether it possesses sufficient power of existence.

Having spent more than half a month with Shirou Emiya, Shana has come to understand some of Shirou Emiya's personality and thoughts.

Alastor held Shirou Emiya in the highest esteem.

Whether it's his thoughts or his actions.

Bathed in the setting sun, Shirou Emiya and Shana cast long shadows, despite their physical abilities being far beyond what ordinary people could match.

But they still walked slowly toward the slightly cramped rental room.

Their daily schedules are usually packed, and although Shirou Emiya and Shana can handle it physically, they often feel mentally exhausted.

Therefore, both Shirou Emiya and Shana cherish this hard-won leisure time.

Taking a stroll through the streets under the warm glow of the setting sun is also a way for them to relax and unwind.

However, this period of time will not last long, as the distance from the neighborhood to the rental house is not far.

A short while later, Shirou Emiya and Shana arrived at the door.

"Squeak—!"

The unusual sound startled Shirou Emiya, and the door was easily pushed open the moment he inserted the key.

Given her meticulous and careful nature, it's impossible that she didn't lock the door when she left home in the morning.

"Is he a thief?"

Before Shirou Emiya could even look into the room, several whooshing sounds came from beneath his feet.

"call out--!"

"call out--!"

"call out--!"

"call out--!"

A white ribbon, writhing like a snake, shot out from the ground and hurtled toward Shirou Emiya's limbs at bullet speed.

Suddenly, Shirou Emiya twisted his body to one side, and a bright green katana appeared out of nowhere in his hand. He then used the force of his twist to slash at the white ribbon.

A very rhythmic breath escaped from Shirou Emiya's mouth, carrying a gust of wind, as the emerald green slash heavily struck the white ribbon.

"Qiang——!"

The sound of metal clashing rang out in front of the rented house, and intense sparks flew from the sword in Shirou Emiya's hand.

"so hard!"

Emiya Shirou was somewhat surprised; these things that looked like white ribbons had suddenly become as hard as steel.

"call out--!"

But the white ribbons did not stop attacking. They suddenly twisted 180 degrees in the air and aimed at Shirou Emiya's limbs once again.

The speed that burst forth became even more ferocious, and the delicate white ribbon was now like a steel spear tearing through the air, shooting towards Shirou Emiya, who was twisting in the air, with a sharp sound.

After his slash, Shirou Emiya lowered his head, and time seemed to slow down considerably. He kept his eyes tightly closed, not needing to look at the white ribbons flying towards him.

As for why, Shirou Emiya's heart has already seen it.

"Tear-!"

A giant sword gleaming with silver light flew over Shirou Emiya's head, swiftly severing the white ribbons.

And Shirou Emiya quickly took over and deflected the force of the blow with a flourish of his sword.

That was a legendary greatsword bathed in dragon's blood; its sharpness and hardness were naturally incomparable to the white satin ribbon that had just been forged into steel.

Those white ribbons, which were as hard as steel, were easily cut off by the greatsword.

Emiya Shirou, holding his greatsword, stood at the doorway, frowning as he spoke.

"It's time to come out."

Following Shirou Emiya's gaze, he saw a woman with shoulder-length, slightly upturned cherry-blossom hair, wine-red hair, and wearing a very standard vintage maid dress.

At this moment, her expression was extremely cold, as if she were looking at an enemy, at Shirou Emiya, who was holding a greatsword.

“Wilmina—”

Shana, somewhat dazed, read out the name of the maid in front of her.

Shana had already guessed it was Wilhelmina the moment she saw those white ribbons.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have remained indifferent when she saw Shirou Emiya fighting those attacks.

However, she still couldn't quite believe it, because after leaving the Heavenly Palace Path, she had never contacted Wilhelmina again. How did Wilhelmina find her?

Moreover, they found their own place directly, rather than coming to meet them.

Chapter 273 The Commission for the Masquerade Ball

"An acquaintance of yours?"

Emiya Shirou spoke up, asking Shana, who was standing beside him in a daze.

He wasn't angry at Wilhelmina's sudden attack on him.

On one hand, Shirou Emiya has a relatively good temper. Under normal circumstances, he does not want to start conflicts with others. If a conflict does occur, Shirou Emiya will first reflect on his own reasons. Only if he has no reasons will he seek out that person to confront him.

On the other hand, Wilhelmina's attacks were not malicious at all, and all of them were aimed at her limbs. Moreover, Shirou Emiya could also sense that she seemed to be trying to bind herself with these white ribbons.

Since she meant no harm, Shirou Emiya naturally wouldn't care about Wilhelmina's probing.

Indeed, Shirou Emiya had already sensed that this was her test.

Although it's unclear why she would test me like this.

"Recently, news came from the [Masquerade Ball] that they have issued a request for the assassination of a human named Emiya Shirou in Misaki City, offering four Noble Phantasms as payment: [Azure], [Possessed by Evil], [Midnight Child], and [Crimson Blood Sword]. [Masquerade Ball]"

Wilhelmina looked at Shirou Emiya, who was holding a greatsword, and spoke slowly.

She appeared in this room because she sensed Shana's presence, but also because of information she had gathered in the city: Shirou Emiya lived in this town.

"Possessed by evil spirits? Crimson Blood Sword?"

What kind of cringey name is that next?

Emiya Shirou thought to himself.

However, he did have some clues. He figured that the Noble Phantasms he possessed back then had probably been taken by that man who was in various beast forms.

After all, he had heard himself cry out that he was possessed by evil spirits, and he knew the name of the short sword with the chain.

As for that crimson blood sword, it should be Mordred's Radiant King's sword.

However, Shirou Emiya can understand being possessed by evil spirits, but can a Crimson Denizen really wield the King of Blades, the Sword of Radiant Brilliance?

For them, it was probably just a sword of relatively good quality.

Emiya Shirou thought to himself.

"【Masquerade Ball】——"

Alastor pondered in his calm voice, after all, Shudnan was a member of the "Masquerade Ball." Although he was often away on assignments, he was indeed a member of the "Masquerade Ball."

He was a general, a figure of extremely high rank.

"How did they know that Shirou Emiya was still alive?"

Alastor asked Wilhelmina, since everyone present believed that Shirou Emiya was dead, and logically, Shudnan should be no exception.

But according to the contents of that request, it was clear that Shirou Emiya was alive.

Actually, at the time of the "Masquerade Ball," it couldn't be confirmed whether Shirou Emiya was really dead, since those were just speculations.

However, some Phosphorus-like creatures were sent to investigate, but they were killed by arrows that appeared out of nowhere. At this moment, Shuten-Nan immediately realized that Emiya Shirou was still alive.

After all, Shudnan had blocked those sword arrows for Fariagni, and before he could even receive his due reward, Fariagni was killed by Emiya Shirou.

Therefore, Shuten-Nan was very clear about these swords and arrows, and immediately confirmed his deduction that Emiya Shirou was still alive.

However, Wilhelmina, being a Flame Haze, naturally had no idea why the Masquerade Ball knew that Shirou Emiya was still alive.

After all, this news was also told to the outside world by those neutral Crimson World Apostles.

She only learned about this when Su from outside contacted her.

Wilhelmina shook her head, indicating that she could not answer Alastair's question.

"but----"

Wilhelmina shifted her gaze from Shirou Emiya to Shana.

"well done."

Wilhelmina did not reprimand Shana, after all, the matter had caused quite a stir outside, and many Flame Haze were involved.

And that human is still alive as before. Wilhelmina, after testing him, does not deny that part of the reason is that Emiya Shirou is quite skilled.