Shirou, who returned from the Fairy Kingdom

In the second year of returning to the Pan-Human History, Shirou gradually got used to the blue sky and found the scenery at dusk quite unusual.

When humans try to understand things, they are often deceived by what they see in front of them, thus losing their concept of the whole.

Let's take the Fairy Kingdom and the history of humankind as examples.

No matter who you are, you will think that the biggest difference between the two worlds is the color of the sky, because that is always the first thing the human eye sees.

But in fact, the biggest difference is the land area.

Compared to this world (Pan-Human History), that world (the Fairy Kingdom) is just an isolated island with only 01% of the size of the latter.

Until a year ago, Shirou thought Britain was the whole world.

The thought that there are 60 billion other people living in the world besides himself fills Shirou with awe and wonder.

"Are you willing to trample on the happiness of 60 billion people just to protect a android who only has a few days left to live?"

The man's question, uttered a few tens of minutes earlier, echoed in the boy's mind once more.

"Emiya Kiritsugu, do you think you're a god?"

This is how Shirou answered him at the time.

Even though this was their first conversation, Shirou felt as if he had already witnessed the life and ideals of Kiritsugu Emiya, the Assassin.

This man's ideal was very simple: he sincerely hoped that everyone in the world could be happy.

That was a childlike dream he had cherished since his youth.

Even after he came to realize the harshness of reality as an adult, he never changed.

In the process of pursuing his ideals, he realized that all "redemption" in this world is accompanied by "sacrifice," and the two are like the two ends of a scale, neither of which can ever be cleared.

From that day on, Kiritsugu Emiya became the ruler of Libra.

To save more people, they would abandon the smaller scales, even if it meant sacrificing just one person.

This is an act of killing off a minority in order to ensure the survival of the majority.

Therefore, the more people a man saves, the more sophisticated his killing skills become.

His hands were stained with streaks of bright red blood, but he never flinched or retreated.

Regardless of whether the means are right or wrong, and regardless of whether the purpose is good or bad, the man demands of himself to be a fair and impartial scale.

With a heart of steel, never underestimate the weight of life.

A life has no distinction of high or low status, young or old; it is simply a quantifiable unit.

The man treated everyone equally when saving lives. Similarly, he killed without distinguishing between good and evil.

Equally valuing all life also means that he doesn't love anyone.

In the end, he never met anyone who loved him or who could save him. At the end of his killing spree, Kiritsugu Emiya's emotions were completely exhausted until his soul was summoned to the Wheel of Restraint.

Kiritsugu Emiya became something like a savior device.

Is it possible to kill fewer people to save more, even if you know they are innocent...?

Shirou simply couldn't do that.

Rather, what he did in his previous life in the Fairy Kingdom was exactly the opposite of what Kiritsugu Emiya did.

To protect a few bullied fairies, he slaughtered the majority of wicked fairies—this is what Fairy Knight Arthur did.

Of course, Shirou did not kill for the sake of the number of "numbers".

For the sake of justice in one's heart... This statement is making a mountain out of a molehill. Shirou doesn't understand what true justice is.

He simply couldn't stand seeing someone being bullied in front of him.

It's not "justice," but "correctness."

Shirou simply followed his own heart and did what he believed was the right thing to do.

If Kiritsugu went to the Fairy Kingdom instead of Shirou, what would he do?

Will he still uphold his principles and kill the minority for the sake of the majority? Shirou couldn't understand.

But one thing he was certain of:

To save the world, Irisviel's life must be sacrificed...

He cannot accept this, nor is he willing to make such a compromise.

"Sacrifice..."

This word brought Shirou's thoughts back to a long time ago.

……

……

That was shortly after Shirou and the fairy of paradise had begun their pilgrimage to save the world.

At that time, the fairies of the paradise had stopped using "Morgan" and started calling themselves "Ash".

The name "Morgan" was the first gift given to her by the fairy's foster mother, the Queen of the Rain Kingdom, and the girl was always proud of it.

However, with all four clans now regarding the Paradise Fairy (Morgan) as a thorn in their side, she has no choice but to abandon her original name and start using a pseudonym.

"I also wanted to make the name Morgan shine even brighter and resound throughout the world, so that all the fairies would know that it was the name of the savior... but it just didn't work out."

The fairy of the paradise said to her knight with a regretful expression.

Even if others don't know, I do.

"Um... um, thank you, Shirou."

The savior smiled shyly.

One day, the two passed by a small fairy village.

Morgan predicted that a calamity would soon befall the area, so the two decided to stay in the village for a while.

The fairies living in the village are not friendly to outsiders.

"Huh? A pilgrimage? A savior for disaster relief? That sounds really suspicious!"

The fairies eyed Morgan and Shirou warily.

Just as the fairies were about to drive away the suspicious person, Shirou pulled a heavy package out of his bag.

"Please allow us to stay in this village for a while. This is a small gift from me. We'll have the other half after we finish our business."

With that, Shirou handed the package to the fairy who seemed to have a lot of authority.

"..."

The fairies gathered around, opened the package, and their tense faces immediately broke into smiles upon seeing its contents.

The fairies led Shirou and Morgan to an empty house on the outskirts of the village.

"Shirou, what did you give them?"

"It was just a small bribe."

Why would you do something like that?

Morgan pouted: "We're clearly acting to eliminate calamities and save the world, so we should be more aboveboard!"

We're clearly trying to help others, but they insist on bribery, making it seem like we're doing something wrong. It's really annoying.

Upon hearing her words, Shirou turned around and asked, "Is Morgan's pilgrimage trip just to gain praise from others?"

The girl whispered angrily, "How could that be! I did all this for the Britain I love! Who cares what other people think!"

"Right? Then don't worry too much about what the fairies think."

Shirou didn't finish his sentence: If you care too much about what the fairies say, you'll only end up hurting yourself.

Unlike Shirou, who had been abused by fairies for years, Morgan had not yet truly understood the nature of fairies.

Morgan was persuaded by Shirou and nodded slightly: "...I understand."

Shirou said, "But... well, it's really disheartening to do good deeds but not get any recognition or praise from anyone."

So let me praise you! Here, have a big red flower.

"Honestly, Shirou is playing tricks on me again."

Morgan pushed Shirou's hand away, bit her lower lip quietly, and followed him into the house.

Soon after, the fairies came and announced that they would be holding a banquet to welcome Shirou and Morgan.

The fairies who had just been cold and indifferent now warmly prepared a sumptuous meal for the two of them, clearly indicating that Shirou's bribe had worked.

The welcoming banquet lasted until sunset.

The next morning, Shirou went out for his morning exercise as usual.

His daily exercise time is two hours from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m.

One hour of magic training and one hour of swordsmanship training are Shirou's uninterrupted compulsory courses.

To survive in the fairy world, a human must achieve this level of skill.

"Waaah... I can't eat anymore~~"

Shirou covered Morgan, who was sleeping in a rather unsightly position, with a blanket, smoothed her hair, and then turned and left the cabin.

We arrived at the open space behind the village.

Just as Shirou was about to activate his magic circuits—

"Hey! Watch out!"

The sounds of fairies clamoring came from the side.

"Damn it! Don't dodge! Who told you to dodge?!"

"They even dared to block with their hands, that's definitely a foul!"

"Haha! I hit it! Serves you right!"

Shirou turned his head and saw several fairies throwing stones at another fairy.

The boy immediately realized that he had encountered a famous product that was common in the fairy kingdom—bullying the weak.

The girl who was being pelted with stones by the other fairies was dressed in rags, with pointed ears and a head of bright red hair as red as flames.

According to the fairies, she seems to be a vampire among fairies.

In the fairy kingdom, fairies who drink human blood are at the very bottom of fairy society.

While the fairies regard the creative humans as role models and imitate them, they also secretly regard humans as livestock.

Fairies who drink human blood are naturally despised by other fairies.

Clearly, the red-haired fairy in front of them was the lowest-ranking villager in the village.

Not only was he of lowly status, but he was also clumsy in his movements, and stones kept falling on the girl's head and body.

If Ash were here, he would definitely rush forward to stop the bullying without hesitation.

But Shirow is not Morgan.

He couldn't stand idly by and watch the bullying happen, but Shirou—

At least in Shirou's mind at this point in time, it has a clear priority.

The pilgrimage is the highest priority, and all actions must serve this supreme purpose.

If Shirou tries to stop the bullying here, he might clash with the villagers, which could ultimately lead to him and Morgan being driven out of the village.

Is it really a good thing to ruin your important business by protecting a fairy you don't even know?

Shirou hesitated.

"Ugh, how boring! This guy doesn't even make a sound when he gets hit on the head!"

"Looks like stones aren't working on her!"

"Huh? Is that so? How terrifying! A creature that sucks human blood is truly terrifying!"

"Hehe, shall we replace the stone with something else?"

"what? What?"