Chapter 143

"Servant Caster, my name is Abe Haruaki—" At the moment when the snake-like cursed spirit crushed Vivian's unfolded shield, a male Alterego with black hair and green eyes appeared from the summoning array that lit up out of thin air, "I am the world-famous Onmyoji Abe Haruaki. Therefore, the range of techniques I am involved in is very wide... You can tell me any troubles you have, and I will definitely solve these things that trouble you, Master."

——『Evil spirit curse "Akuryou jubaku"』

The white snake was torn into pieces by the black evil spirits released from the Servant's Noble Phantasm - but when Nanami Kento and Haibara Yu were trembling with fear that the evil spirits would target them next, the evil spirits obediently returned to the paper man-made shikigami held between Asaya Michimitsu's fingers, as if they had never appeared in this world so ferociously before.

"Should we say it's our first meeting or something else?" Asaya Michiman smiled and looked at everyone. The dark shadow under his feet even twisted and turned fiercely. "I am a servant of Chaldea. I won't do anything to you - because that would violate the bond between Chaldea and the High School."

"But, I'm here because there are more important things to do." Asaya Doman touched his chin and cast a gentle look at Nanami Kento and Haibara Yu, "Well, there's no need to get kids involved. After all, the troubles caused by the old guys a thousand years ago must be dealt with by us old guys."

"C.AnS: The task of investigating that brain flower is now handed over to you, thank you. It will be much more convenient for you to roam around outside than for us."

"C.AD: I see. What are you investigating while staying in the technical college?"

"C.AG: Ryomen Sukuna——We'll be off duty after we take care of these two."

--In August 2007, the second-level cursed spirit case taken over by Haibara Yu and Nanami Kento turned into a first-level cursed spirit case of Santomi, and the first-level cursed spirit Santomi was exorcised by the servant Ashiya Michiman; at the same time, Ashiya Michiman stayed outside the high school and wandered around, starting to track down the specific location of the noose.

A month later, the top brass of the Jujutsu Supervisory Council appointed Geto Summer Oil to go to a remote mountain village to handle a cursed spirit case - Chaldea sent Shirou Emiya to go with Geto Summer Oil.

"What's in that cage?"

After easily completing the exorcism of the cursed spirit, Kagome Ken and Emiya Shirou noticed a square wooden cage through the gaps between the villagers surrounding them in the dilapidated village. Inside was two skinny and dirty little girls who were hugging each other warily, trembling.

"You mean the cage? They are the monsters that brought disaster to this village!!!"

Xia Yujie subconsciously clenched his fists, and the cursed energy surged restlessly, causing the space behind him to begin to distort strangely, and he was just one step away from releasing the terrifying cursed spirit - but Emiya Shirou, who was standing next to him, interrupted his out-of-control progress, walked past the villagers to the wooden cage, stopped and looked at the two girls inside.

"That's right. Since you want the monsters to leave your village, and I, as a magician, am still short of some shikigami—" Shirou Emiya had already used magic to unlock the cage in front of everyone and carried the two girls out. "Then give them to me. I will make sure they never come back to this village."

——Who would want to return to such a hell, just like Sakura will never miss the dark and dark insect warehouse of the Matou family.

"Let's go, Xia Yu."

Shirou Emiya stuffed the blonde girl into Geto's arms, and after Geto unconsciously hugged the girl tightly, he dragged Geto out of the village.

"You want to kill them." After returning to the modern magic department's academic city and sending the two girls to the infirmary, Shirou Emiya pointed out his inner thoughts to Geto Suguru, who had remained silent all the way. "Well, Geto-kun, let me take advantage of this little time to tell you a story."

In the fire that was big enough to destroy an entire city, there was a man with tears in his eyes, who was sincerely happy that he had finally found survivors. He looked so happy that the boy who was rescued thought that it was not himself who was saved, but the crying and laughing man.

——Still alive…

——Still alive…still alive!

As if he was thanking someone, the man said "thank you" in a tone that made the dying survivors envious.

——It’s great to find you.

——Even if I can only save one person, it will be my own salvation.

"...Do you know what that man's dream is?" Emiya Shirou and Geto Suguru sat side by side on a bench outside the infirmary, their eyes falling on the Chaldea logo on the infirmary door. "I remember you always liked to tell everyone - 'Spellcasters exist to protect non-spellcasters'."

Shirou Emiya knows that people who have studied the characteristics of protagonists in other worlds have criticized him for not being a common type of protagonist, but this may be the characteristic of the world tree they were born in - making them not as good at convincing villains with words as protagonists in other worlds.

Of course, he is not as good at talking to his companions as Ritsuka Fujimaru, who was born in the same world. The members of Chaldea once joked that if Ritsuka Fujimaru also became a Heroic Spirit, then one of his inherent skills would definitely be Night Talk Ex.

But this time, the mission involving Kagome Ken's fate was handed over to Shirou Emiya.

It's not because of anything else, just because when he was young, he took over his father's childhood dream - to become a partner of justice.

"Helping the weak and helping the strong - I thought this was right." Xia Youjie lowered his head, and kept reviewing what happened in that village in his mind, "But..."

"You didn't expect that sorcerers would be persecuted by non-sorcerers, right?" After hearing what Geto Suguru said, Shirou Emiya continued the previous topic very calmly, "Because you are strong enough, you ignore the scenery under your feet - so you put everyone within the scope of your protection."

"To put it in an exaggerated way, you are trying to bring world peace by yourself - because as long as the cursed spirits still exist, non-magicians will regard the magicians who see the cursed spirits as monsters; and the fear of non-magicians will give birth to more cursed spirits." Shirou Emiya paused for a long time, and reluctantly said something, "We heard your conversation with Yuki Kujuku."

——To eliminate the generation of cursed spirits, killing all non-magicians can also achieve the same effect.

"Can you continue to tell the story of that man?" Kagome avoided Emiya Shirou's gaze, "I'm sorry, about this matter--"

"That man's dream was world peace - and when he was a kid, he wanted to be a partner in justice."

Shirou Emiya readily turned the topic back to the previous story, recalling a conversation that took place on a full-moon night.

The man once told his adopted son about his past dreams under the full moon.

——When I was young, I dreamed of becoming a partner of justice.

——However, unfortunately, since heroes have a shelf life, I gave up.

——Because, after growing up, you are no longer a hero.

——I wish I had noticed this fact earlier.

At that time, his adopted son said:

"Ah, there's nothing we can do about it."

"Yeah, there's really nothing we can do about it." After praising his adopted son, the man looked at the full moon that seemed a little too bright in his memory and sighed helplessly, "What a beautiful moon."

After a period of silence, the adopted son took over the man's dream on a moonlit night.

——Well, since there is no other choice, I will take over Dad’s role.

——Dad is an adult, so there is no chance for me to play the role, but I can still be one, right?

——So, leave Dad’s dream to me.

"...Do you still want to stick to your old path, Geto?" Emiya Shirou sighed, remembering the distorted shadow under Geto's feet. "If you want to continue to insist, I can tell you that there is an endless hell ahead - but even if you choose to give up your original path, hell will only greet you."

"Hell?"

"Yes." Shirou Emiya nodded, thinking back to the examples of the Heroic Spirits he knew. "If you embark on that path, you will be hated by all kinds of people and die miserably. If you choose to distort your own beliefs - then, you will abandon yourself and become corrupted, living in this world like a zombie."

"What do you think? It's hell no matter which side you choose, right?" Shirou Emiya smiled like Merlin and tilted his head to Geto. "Because the situations on both sides are equally bad, we hope you can think about it again - ask yourself what it is you want to get."

What exactly is it that Geto Summer Oil has been pursuing throughout his life? Chaldea has discussed this point countless times.

If he wanted to save someone or something like the righteous partner that was a specialty of the Emiya family, then he would have earned his redemption by saving those two little sorcerers or exorcising the various cursed spirits.

But he was never redeemed - until his death at the hands of Gojo Satoru.

But if it was just ordinary recognition, then in his life, Geto Suguru received recognition from many people - from his only best friend Gojo Satoru, who said "We are the strongest"; from his family after he defected; and from non-magicians who came to the Bankei Cult for help.

But he was not satisfied with this.

"So what exactly is he looking for?" Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at Geto's file. As the date on the calendar got closer to the day when the world line would end, she became more and more confused about this unanswered question. "If we take the relationship between the king and Enkidu as a reference..."

"Words are also a kind of curse." Taigong Wang smiled and walked by Fujimaru Ritsuka with Noah, and gave her a hint about the problem that troubled her. "Just like when Lord El-Melloi II said 'all magicians in the world should die', most magicians would directly rebound without noticing; a strong magician can truly put this curse into practice."

"'We are the strongest', 'We are each other's only best friends' - this is the curse that Gojo Satoru left on Geto Suguru."