Jobless Reincarnation: Emiya the Great Hero Must Show His True Skills

Although the other person's appearance had changed significantly with age, becoming taller and more like Senis and Paul, Shirou still recognized him at a glance as Rudeus, his younger brother in this world.

However, the other party's current situation is clearly extremely bad.

Not only was he extremely颓废 (颓废 is a difficult word to translate directly, but it implies a state of being listless, dispirited, and lacking motivation), but he also seemed to have been hiding in his room for a long time, not going out to get sunlight or exercise, and his face looked extremely pale.

His emaciated body and dark circles under his eyes made him look like a dried-up corpse.

Anyone can see that the other person is in a bad situation.

"Rudy...who exactly are you?"

Shirou couldn't understand what had happened to the other person and couldn't help but show a confused and complicated look in his eyes.

Upon hearing this familiar address, Rudius finally recovered from the fear of death.

He scrambled to his feet in a panic, then stared dumbfounded at the tall, unfamiliar young man before him. After observing him closely for a moment, he finally seemed to come to his senses, muttering blankly:

"Shirou... Shirou-nii, it's you?"

"it's me."

Shirou nodded when Rudeus recognized him.

He had thought that the other party would have a touching reunion with him, or at least that Rudius would change his previous hostile attitude and show him friendliness.

To everyone's surprise, Rudius recognized him and instead looked even more terrified, his flustered demeanor like that of a child caught doing something wrong by his parents.

Chapter 297 Don't be sad, Rudy, because I'm here!

Rudeus's attitude puzzled Shirou.

He never expected that after recognizing him, the other person would not only not feel the joy of reunion, but would instead show a look of fear.

What exactly is going on?

While he was confused, Rudius was like a lost soul, kneeling on the ground in a disheveled state, avoiding his gaze with a look of fear on his face.

Even when Shirou tried to call out to the other person, there was absolutely no response.

Left with no other option, he could only look at Cliff, trying to find out what had happened from Rudius's classmate.

Cliff gave a complicated look and said, "I'm not entirely sure about the specifics, since I've never been one to get involved in other people's business. But I do pay some attention to Rudius, because I've always considered him a rival."

"An opponent?"

"Yes, although Rudeus has never taken me seriously, I've always considered him a rival. After all, he completely crushes me in magic. At the same age as me, or even younger, he had already reached the Saint level, and he also mastered that cheat-like, chantless magic..."

As Cliff spoke, a strong fighting spirit shone on his face, as if he truly regarded Rudius as his rival.

But Rudius himself is not responding to this at all, and is currently acting as if he is offline, completely out of commission.

Cliff was even more annoyed by this, but he didn't vent his emotions. Instead, he quietly said, "In short, this guy is very good at magic, but otherwise he's pretty useless."

"What do you mean?"

Although Shirou had already figured something out, he still didn't know the specifics and could only wait for Cliff to explain it to him.

Cliff didn't keep anyone in suspense and quickly recounted everything he had observed from his perspective.

According to Cliff, he enrolled at roughly the same time as Rudius, at most a few months later.

When Cliff enrolled, Rudius had already demonstrated that unique talent.

Although the other party tried to restrain themselves and hide their strength, and did not cause a sensation throughout the school, the students in the special class and the same grade were well aware of the other party's strength.

At such a young age, Rudeus already possessed Saint-level strength, and he was undoubtedly treated as a genius at the Magic University.

Even if his peers didn't admire him greatly, they could at least say they respected him quite a bit.

The only person who didn't think highly of Rudius was Cliff, a genius who was equally arrogant.

Although he wasn't as freakish as Rudeus, who became a Saint-level mage at the age of ten, he was still a superior mage in all attributes and was considered a prodigy in his home kingdom of Milis.

In short, Cliff is very concerned about Rudius and regards Rudius as his rival.

But Rudius's attitude was just as Cliff had said; he didn't take him seriously.

Of course, Rudius did not underestimate him; the other man was not the kind of person who was overly arrogant or complacent, but rather indifferent.

Yes, in Cliff's view, Rudius never seemed to care about magic after arriving at the magic university.

The other person values ​​the environment of the magic university more than learning magic.

More specifically, it's the opposite sex at the magic university.

Due to his exceptional talent and good looks, Rudius became quite popular with women after enrolling in the school, often winning the hearts of various girls.

At first, Rudyus would try to restrain himself and keep his distance from women.

But over time, he gradually lost control and began to frequent flower gardens.

Fortunately, he wasn't old enough, otherwise he probably would have already been having affairs with female students his own age, and might even have caused someone's death.

Cliff was undoubtedly quite contemptuous, even unable to accept, that his opponent was so obsessed with women.

He tried several times to persuade Rudeus not to get too caught up in his relationships with other women and to take magic more seriously, but Rudeus ignored him each time.

Rudeus's indifference to magic was less about not caring about it and more about never having considered the purpose of becoming stronger, nor understanding the significance of it.

Even after becoming a Saint-level being, for him, the purpose of Saint-level magic was more to attract the attention of the opposite sex and to establish himself as a genius magician than to improve his strength.

Such a person who doesn't care about magic has reached the Saint level faster than me.

Cliff, a genius, could not accept this and resolved to put in all his efforts to become stronger so that Rudius would no longer look down on him.

Unfortunately, the threshold of Saint-level is not so easy to cross.

Cliff has not mastered any Saint-level magic since he enrolled in school.

Cliff thought that if things continued this way, Rudeus would easily leave him in the dust, but one day, Rudeus suddenly disappeared from everyone's sight.

Because of Rudeus's introverted personality, most students at the magic university didn't pay much attention to him.

As time went by, Rudius completely disappeared from the students' sight.

Cliff was one of the few people who still cared about Rudeus. He tried his best to find out about Rudeus's situation and finally learned that Rudeus had completely fallen into a state of self-isolation. For the next two years, Rudeus did not leave his house. He did not go out to class, and he did not even step out of his room.

What happened in between?

After listening to Cliff's story, Shirou was quite surprised and couldn't understand what had happened to Rudeus that caused such a huge change.

Cliff shook his head silently: "I don't know the specifics, because I was busy learning magic at the time... But I later heard from other people that Rudeus seemed to have made a girlfriend some time before his accident."

"girlfriend?"

Upon hearing Cliff's words, Shirou was slightly taken aback, not expecting such a term to come up.

He didn't understand what the connection was between getting a girlfriend and suddenly becoming withdrawn.

Left with no other choice, he knew that the reason for everything still lay with Rudeus himself.

He then approached Rudius and looked down into his eyes.

Although Rudius's pupils appeared lifeless, as if devoid of a soul, a closer look revealed a clear emotional fluctuation within them. However, the other party was so overwhelmed by the shock that he didn't know how to respond.

Shirou then spoke with a serious expression: "Rudy, although I don't know what happened to you, you're wrong if you think you're the most unfortunate person in the world! I don't know if you've heard anything about the Kingdom of Asura, since the environment here seems so isolated, but compared to the trivial things that happened to you, something truly terrible has happened at home!"

"..."

Upon hearing Shirou's words, Rudeus's expression finally showed a slight change.

But the uproar was less a reaction to Shirou's words and more an anger at Shirou's comment about it being a trivial matter.

He suddenly looked up and saw Shirou's calm and resolute eyes, as sharp as a sword.

That look was all too familiar to him.

Since being transported to this world and becoming a baby, he has grown up little by little under the watchful eyes of these eyes, and has grown into who he is today.

Compared to Paul, Rudius actually regarded Shirou more like a father figure.

That's why he didn't dare to lose his temper with Shirou, and only spoke in a cold tone:

"Something happened at home? What could have happened? It must be that Father has been philandering again and has conceived another illegitimate child..."

Shirou shook his head at Rudeus's words and sighed, "It seems you really don't know what happened in the Fituia territory. Haven't you ever heard of the Great Transfer?"

"The Great Migration?"

Upon hearing Shirou's words, Rudeus's expression finally softened slightly.

Having been at the magic university for so long, it's impossible that he hadn't heard any news from the outside world.

He naturally heard about the great migration disaster in the Kingdom of Asura.

However, during the period when the Great Transfer occurred, Rudius was at the lowest point in his life, so much so that he had no interest in inquiring about the specifics of the disaster.

Or rather, his inner desire to escape led him to deliberately ignore these things that might be related to him.

It wasn't until Shirou brought it up that Rudeus suddenly remembered the Great Transfer of the Kingdom of Asura and how it might be related to his family.

"..."

While Rudeus was stunned and at a loss, Shirou wasted no time and told him everything that had happened during the Great Transfer, including the fact that Senis was still missing.

After hearing this, Rudius's face turned even paler than before.

His legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground, powerless.

Various images flashed through his mind, leaving him with only a helpless expression.

"So, Mother is still missing?"

“That’s right. Many people from the village of Buena have also disappeared without a trace, such as Roltz and Hilfi. No one has been able to find them yet. Paul’s rescue team is still searching for missing persons all over the world. The damage caused by that disaster has not yet left that land.”

"how come……"

Rudius's face finally showed regret. He couldn't believe that such a change would happen in his home when he was feeling down and depressed.

Compared to the disaster of the Great Migration, the difficulties he encountered seemed truly insignificant...

However, people are more likely to rebel and take rebellious actions when they need to understand themselves and reality.

The same goes for Rudius.

In his previous life, he was not affected at all when his parents passed away, and in this life, his nature has not changed much either.

His family's ordeal only had a brief but significant impact on him. Gradually, he reverted to his previous dejected and bewildered state, showing no concern whatsoever for his family's safety.

This scene was too much for Cliff to bear, and he angrily said, "What kind of attitude is this? When you hear about what happened to your family, don't you think about finding your mother right away?"

"How could I possibly do something like that? I couldn't even find Shirou-nii, someone like me..."

Rudeus displayed an extreme lack of confidence, appearing less like a Saint-level mage and more like a useless person who could barely take care of himself.

The more Cliff criticizes and negates him, the more it reinforces his self-awareness and reinforces his belief that he is incapable of accomplishing anything.

Seeing Rudeus like this, Shirou didn't say much. He simply found a stool and sat down, quietly saying, "Don't think too much, Rude. I'll handle Senis's matter later, and we haven't found her whereabouts yet. Rather than that, let's talk about your problem first, shall we?"

"Me...me?"

Rudeus was stunned when Shirou showed concern for him first.

Shirou nodded frankly and said, "Of course, I'm sorry that I said your troubles were insignificant just now in order to provoke you. That was wrong. Troubles are troubles for everyone. No one can easily deny the pain of others. Your pain is the same. Although I can't understand it, I am willing to listen and help you."

Shirou said this because he was recalling his encounter with Paul. (Yu)

Paul and he had a conflict because they couldn't empathize with each other's pain and troubles, and they unjustifiably believed that what the other was doing was meaningless.

After that lesson, Shirou was naturally different from before. He wouldn't reject or blame Rudeus for being so dejected and even neglecting the safety of his family. On the contrary, he felt that Rudeus must have experienced pain of a similar magnitude to that of the Great Transfer Incident to fall into his current state.

Shirou will not ignore the tragedy Rudeus is currently experiencing just because of the pain the Great Transfer has brought to the Grellard family; instead, he will try his best to resolve all the conflicts.

That's what he should do.

To Shirou's surprise, as soon as he finished speaking, Rudeus suddenly burst into tears, which continued to fall.

Rudeus himself felt a little embarrassed to show such a vulnerable attitude in front of Shirou and Cliff, but his tears flowed uncontrollably.

"I...I didn't mean this..."

Rudius tried his best to hide his emotions, but his out-of-control feelings still made him lose control.

"Don't be sad, Rudy, because I'm here."

As before, Shirou silently patted Rudeus on the head.

In an instant, the latter could no longer control her emotions, and tears streamed down her face.