CH 24

After being coaxed into a good mood, Scathach ended the dream, causing Shirou to wake up and find that he was "wet" again.

In the dream, Shirou was killed 56 times by Scathach, and the tension and excitement of life and death caused his adrenaline to surge, leading to his entire bed being soaked with sweat.

Fortunately, Shirou did not sleep with Sakura the previous night, otherwise he would likely have been misunderstood as wetting the bed, which would have been very embarrassing.

On this day, Mr. Fujimaru, who had completed the contract, had to go to the company first to hand over his work to his colleagues before he could take a complete vacation. Mrs. Fujimaru, on the other hand, wanted to consult with Shirou and Sakura about where to go and decided to purchase food for the trip. After all, buying things at tourist attractions can be several times more expensive, and it is a housewife's duty to make the trip as economical as possible.

However, Shirou couldn't get excited about it.

Facing the rapidly approaching Fourth Holy Grail War, Shirou must make an effort to preserve his own life. Yes, he had learned from Scathach that the Fourth Holy Grail War had already started, and only the final two Servants were on their way. So they will be here in two or three days?

Shirou did not know, but this was indeed the last day he could prepare for the Holy Grail War. The three families had prepared for the war for sixty years, and the other participants also prepared for at least half a year, but he, the unlucky one, had less than three days of preparation time.

No.

Had he planned on participating from the start, he would have had at least a month to prepare. But as he had always wanted to avoid it, he was left with only three days to get ready.

Isn't this also a form of unforeseen punishment? The clown, who had hoped to break free from the script written by the goddess of fate, is ultimately punished by the goddess.

While Sakura and Mrs. Fujimaru went to the department store to buy snacks for the trip, Shirou stayed home, drawing up his own battle plans on paper with a pen. In his previous life as one of China's 450 million urban youth, Shirou, like many of his peers, was known for his focus on career planning. Therefore, whenever he set out to do something, he always liked to make a list of his plans first.

Despite this, Shirou didn't rush through the process of writing his plan. Instead, he first took the time to recall the general events of the Fourth Holy Grail War, and then systematically listed and analyzed them one by one. The only uncertainty he faced was not knowing when the timeline had been disrupted, leading to a chain of butterfly effects.

Initially, it was Sakura who had run away from home and then he replaced the role of Caster in place of Gilles de Rais. Since Sakura was not passed down to the Matou family, Matou Kariya was not altered, which in turn prevented him from participating in the war as a combatant. Additionally, Berserker was not Lancelot, but rather Spartacus.

Did the other servants change as well?

Shirou didn't know this, and could only consider the worst-case scenario.

"If both the characters and plot have changed, then I really don't stand a chance of winning at all!"

Shirou sighed, feeling a headache coming on. The only person he could be sure of was Archer Gilgamesh, whom he had seen in person. He had no way of knowing if anyone else had changed. He also had no understanding of how the butterfly effect had come into play. If the Servants and even the Masters had undergone complete transformations, he knew he would be in deep trouble.

Shirou knew he was not as strong as others, and he couldn't outmaneuver them with strategic thinking. His only advantage lay in his familiarity with the plot and character setting. If even that was taken away from him, then his best option would be to enjoy himself by eating and drinking well, and then wash his neck clean and wait to be slaughtered.

Shirou sighed with worry.

...

At night.

With Mrs. Fujimaru's advice, they decided to go on a trip to Hokkaido for fun.

Everyone was very happy, and Shirou didn't want to ruin the mood, so he forced himself to put on a happy smile. As Mr. Fujimaru had said, boys are different from men. Men have things that they must protect. Shirou knew he was a man now too.

Shirou entered the Land of Shadow in his dreams again at night.

While Scathach killed him 57 times, she also brought him a message. The jerk with the chuunibyou syndrome had agreed to Shirou's request and allowed him to send his family away before coming back to fight. Upon hearing this, Shirou finally let out a sigh of relief and praised the guy for showing some humanity.

But when he came back to his senses, Shirou sadly realized that even though he had been oppressed by the guy with chuunibyou syndrome, he still had to praise the other guy's humanity.

Is it really true that reducing some of the oppression would make the oppressed person happy? It seems that Spartacus's classification of him as an oppressed person is not without reason.

However, Shirou also breathed a sigh of relief.

"Misfortune does not extend to one's family" is not necessarily true in the context of a magus' battle, especially for a self-proclaimed hero of justice who will do anything to achieve their idea of justice.

Before dawn, when he was thrown out by Scathach, Shirou hugged Scathach's legs and begged with great emotion: "Shisho, my dear shisho, please materialize and become my servant."

This was the third time that Shirou begged for help from Scathach, and it could be considered akin to making three visits to a temple in the hopes of receiving a blessing. One might wonder if Scathach will finally agree to Shirou's request this time.

Can't materialize?

What a joke! If she can't materialize, how did she appear in FGO? Did she crawl out with her head?

Despite Shirou's persistent pleading, Scathach remained firm and shook her head, smiling. She said, "There is no way. I would love to fight alongside the heroes of that era, but it is simply not possible."

If an ordinary servant were bugged by Shirou's repeated pleading, they might feel a little annoyed, even if they didn't hate him. However, Scathach's tone remained gentle and patient, despite this being the third time Shirou had begged her for help.

But in that gentle tone, there was still a sense of refusal.

"Besides, I haven't abandoned you. Am I not helping you train now?" Scathach smiled, trying to reassure Shirou.

"Is this really helpful?" Shirou asked, raising his head to look at her.

"Of course it is," Scathach replied, nodding. "It has reduced the level of ugliness in your death from extremely ugly to just very ugly. That's definitely progress."

Shirou's face was covered in tears as he realized that Scathach-neesan has changed, she is no longer the understanding and gentle nee-san, but has become sarcastic.

Despite the sarcastic tone, what Scathach said was true. Shirou was just an ordinary person from the 21st century who had never fought or killed anyone. He was a member of the largest group of ordinary people, with no experience in combat.

What is the point of a few days of training when there are mythical murderers who have been stabbing people with knives since they were children?

Furthermore, how many of those mythical murderers are not the embodiment of their legend? How many so-called heroes, especially Western heroes, are not given strength and magical artifacts by gods, dragons, elves, and other unimaginable fantasy creatures?

How much time did these heroes spend training and fighting on the battlefield?

Given this, what chance does an ordinary modern person, who has only trained for a few days and whose body has not even reached puberty yet, stand against murderers who have been killing people since they were young and who possess various superpowers?

Additionally, what is the definition of an ordinary person? Is it the reader who cries while reading someone else's story, or the salaried worker who feels trapped by life? Is it realistic to think that a group of people like this, who have only trained for a few days, could stand a chance against murderers who have been killing people since they were young and who possess various superpowers?

It's a dead end...

Shirou bitterly laughed to himself.

"Don't be so pessimistic," Scathach said with a smile, pointing to Shirou's forehead with her slender fingers. "Haven't you noticed that you have an advantage that is stronger and more advantageous than anyone else, even that smelly guy, or even me?"

Shirou looked bewildered. "I do? Do I have something like that?"

"Yes, I originally wanted you to discover it on your own," Scathach replied, her lips curling slightly to reveal a smile like a ray of winter sunshine. "But you my weakest disciple are too stupid. If I don't remind you, I'm afraid you'll go and die with this kind of self-abasing thought."

"Shisho, what is it?" Shirou asked urgently, staring at Scathach's pretty face.

"Remember this," Scathach said with a smile. "No matter how detailed modern knowledge the Holy Grail gives to Servants, it cannot change the fact that they are ancient people, and their knowledge and cognition cannot be harmoniously unified. However, the Holy Grail War happens in your city, in your time, and the Masters are often conservative magicians."

"In my time..." Shirou repeated those words, his eyes suddenly lighting up as he realized his greatest advantage.

"Thank you, shisho!" he said sincerely.

"You're welcome," Scathach replied with a smile. "As a teacher, it is only natural to give some advice to a troubled disciple."

"But I still want you to materialize as my servant..." Shirou pouted and said.

"Unfortunately, that is not possible," Scathach replied, her smile still gentle. "Alright, the door to the dream world has been opened. You can go out on your own now."

Shirou nodded and turned towards the open door to the dream world.

"Oh, right."

Scathach's voice came from behind him.

Has the young lady changed her mind?

Shirou quickly turned around to look at Scathach and saw that she had a gentle smile on her face. She said, "The way you act spoiled towards me, although embarrassing, I don't hate it."

Spoiled?

"I'm not spoiled!" Shirou said in a fit of embarrassment as he walked out of the dream world. Behind him, he could hear Scathach's gentle laughter.