Emiya Shirou doesn't want to work overtime

“The strong make the rules, and the weak follow them. He requires everyone to protect the young, and the weak are required to follow his rules to protect the young.”

"Father protects the weak; there is no conflict between the law of the jungle."

Yes, overall, there is no conflict between protecting the weak and the law of the jungle. Just like Esdeath was extremely kind to her subordinates, basically sharing all the rewards she received with them and her soldiers.

Despite the fact that her subordinates and soldiers were also weak, Esdeath took great care of them.

Just as Shirou Emiya believed Esdeath shouldn't be slaughtered like that, it was because he was a strong person who could find ways to change the rules she set.

The strong protecting the weak is always out of the will of the strong, not the will of the weak.

Emiya Shirou chooses to protect the innocent precisely because he is strong and has the will to help others.

If he didn't have such strength, he would have been killed by Esdeath the first time they met.

It was Emiya who decided to help others, not the other way around.

"Your belief that the strong protect the weak is just wishful thinking. If someone stronger defeats you, how will those weak people you're protecting be treated?"

Esdeath questioned Shirou Emiya, a lesson she had learned from the destruction of her own tribe.

Her father was indeed strong, but an even stronger person could completely disregard the rules he set and utterly destroy Esdeath's home.

From that moment on, Esdeath knew that only by becoming stronger could she escape the constraints of the rules, and only by becoming the strongest could she create her own rules at will.

At this moment, Emiya was unable to refute.

Just as there was no badness in the area where Shirou Emiya lived, the rules there were set by Shirou Emiya, and he destroyed all the bad rules.

This helped maintain order in the area and reduced the suffering of bullying among students.

The reason for this is that Emiya is very strong. If he were not strong, all that awaited him would be endless bullying and beatings.

At this moment, Emiya also knew in his heart that he could not change Esdeath in any way, and this idea was deeply rooted in her mind.

She was even able to use her own experience to refute herself in other ways.

However, one has no power to refute others, and when trying to reason with someone, the first thing one needs is a big enough fist.

If your fist isn't big, no amount of reasoning will work.

"And you? Why are you so twisted?"

Seeing that Shirou Emiya had quieted down and had no objection, Esdeath pressed her advantage and approached him to ask him a question.

If it's understandable that she developed such a personality due to the corrupt environment of the Empire, then Shirou Emiya's actions left Esdeath completely baffled.

She had absolutely no idea what Emiya was thinking.

Even when it's a night raid, sacrificing one's life for others is because those people are more important than one's own.

Or perhaps they would be willing to give their lives for him.

Esdeath could understand these people; she had been through so many battles, and there were quite a few like them.

There were even people who endured Esdeath's inhumane torture and remained secret until their deaths, simply because their beloved was in the northern alien capital.

But Emiya is completely different from these people; he is willing to sacrifice his life for a complete stranger he has just met.

At first, Esdeath thought that Emiya only appeared to stop her because he couldn't stand her killing.

With each subsequent encounter, Esdeath's doubts deepened.

If it's truly just an inability to accept killing, why fight so desperately? There's no intention to kill oneself, yet one fights so fiercely against oneself.

Furthermore, Esdeath never truly understood Shirou Emiya's true motives: Was it to avenge the fallen soldiers? To stop the war? Or, like the revolutionaries, to change the Empire's rule?

Esdeath felt nothing from Emiya's sword.

Swordsmen typically channel their beliefs into their swords, which allows them to wield the sword with unwavering courage.

On the battlefield, he so easily killed those soldiers to save his own life, yet he sacrificed his life to save those soldiers who wanted to kill him.

Those people were complete strangers to Emiya, and some even had previously harbored the idea of ​​killing him.

Even though Esdeath had seen countless people, she had never seen such a twisted person.

Moreover, Esdeath couldn't sense any aura of unfamiliarity or doubt about the unknown emanating from Emiya.

People who come from isolated villages are usually very innocent, like a blank sheet of paper, knowing nothing and having nothing written on them, unlike Emiya who is contradictory and twisted.

It was painted with colors that Esdeath could not understand at all.

Therefore, Esdeath also wants to understand Shirou Emiya's past, what kind of past led to such a twisted person.

"Was it over?"

Shirou Emiya hesitated, wondering whether to tell Esdeath, since she wasn't from this world and his past was all spent living in towns.

The two have completely different values, so even if Esdeath hears her own story, she will not be emotionally affected.

Emiya had originally planned to use his own story to change her mind, but after hearing her rebuttal, he knew there was no way to change her mind.

Therefore, he was very hesitant, but now he was in a difficult situation.

"It was a huge fire."

Emiya Shirou's thoughts drifted back to the very beginning of his life.

Chapter 104 The Final Battle

"It was a huge fire, a fire that destroyed everything."

Emiya Shirou softly recounted his past, a story completely unlike Esdeath's imagined epic tale, filled with bitterness and hatred.

His story is extremely mundane, so mundane that Esdeath cannot believe that this is the most important thing that a boy who defeated her experienced, the thing that drastically changed the trajectory of his life.

There is no war, no slaughter, no hatred, only ordinary life and ordinary stories.

Is it possible for someone to risk their life to save people who have absolutely no connection to them?

Esdeath did not interrupt Shirou Emiya's narration. She knew that no matter how much she disbelieved it, these were the most important things that the boy in front of her had experienced.

Even though she didn't believe it, she knew how profound redemption was for a person, just like when she rescued Liva from prison.

From the moment Shirou Emiya was rescued by Kiritsugu Emiya, he had already changed.

Those were the things that Emiya remembered most vividly; he would never forget that night, no matter what.

Emiya reached out, as if to grasp something, and aimed at the starry sky, grabbing down hard.

"I want to become a champion of justice!"

What naive remarks, what ridiculous behavior, and what an unattainable dream for so many people.

justice?

This is a word that Esdeath is both familiar with and unfamiliar with.

Seleu's fight to protect the empire was just, and his own crushing massacres were also just; justice has long lost its original nature.

Justice is written by the victors, and this is what her father taught her: only by becoming a victor can you have the right to explain your own sense of justice to those people.

But justice is never something that can be written down.

No matter how it is understood or distorted, justice is something that remains constant in everyone's heart.

No one would condemn helping others as a sin.

Emiya smiled; it was a heartfelt affirmation of his dream and a longing for the man who wore that happy smile.

This smile is not innocent; it contains so much: determination, sacrifice, and pursuit.

There were so many that even Esdeath was deeply attracted to them.

Just like watching Shirou Emiya's high jump, I was simply drawn to his noble qualities and kept watching.

The sublime aura emanating from Emiya makes one want to reach out and touch it.

Perhaps this is the kind of person who only exists in the stories her father told her when she was a child—a hero.

She did not develop any other feelings for Emiya Shirou; such a person was destined to be her enemy, and someone she could never become.

"Therefore, there is no reconciliation between us, and we will inevitably become enemies."

Esdeath completely abandoned the idea of ​​recruiting Shirou Emiya as her subordinate. Such a person could not be changed by her, nor could he become her subordinate.

She will forever stand on the opposite side of Shirou Emiya.

"clang--!"

The silver reverse blade and the azure ice sword clashed on the sandy fire under the deep night sky, producing an extremely crisp sound.

I will kill you no matter what!

You won't have another chance to grow!

Shirou Emiya and Esdeath looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

He then put away his weapons.

A delicate fragrance wafted on the sea breeze, gently caressing the faces of Shirou Emiya and Esdeath.

The dangerous creature, roasted over the flames, was ready, emitting a tantalizing sound as it dripped with moisture.

While they were talking, Shirou Emiya finished preparing his special dish: roasted [some kind of strange and dangerous species].

Although he is still in a weak state, he is already able to do some basic things.

At least for the past few days, since Emiya has been able to move around freely, Shirou Emiya has been taking care of most of the food preparation.

Esdeath was the one who provided most of the food.

Every time Emiya stayed inside the tent, he could hear the sound of a magnitude 10 earthquake coming from the forest.

Then she appeared before Shirou Emiya, bringing with her one enormous creature after another.

Simply roasting cannot make these creatures more delicious.

So Shirou Emiya, dragging his broken body, searched for some strange foods under Esdeath's protection, but which offered a variety of flavors.

Emiya didn't know how he did it, but they were living quite comfortably here.

Anyway, Esdeath finished off all the food, and Shirou Emiya hadn't expected her to be such a big eater.