"Bro... Brother, are you awake?"
Eris seemed to be woken up by Shirou's movement, or maybe she hadn't been able to sleep soundly from the start, so she was quite alert. Even the slightest sound could wake her up.
"Yeah."
Shirou nodded, wanting to comfort her, but found Eris throwing herself into his arms.
The red-haired girl just hugged him tightly, without a word.
Shirou didn't know what to say, so he just gently comforted her, touching her head.
The two hugged each other in silence for a long time.
Soon after, a slight groan came from Ruijerd, who also seemed to have woken up from his coma.
Seeing this, Eris quickly let go of Shirou.
The girl twisted her hair, silently turning her head away to hide the blush on her face.
"Cough... cough..."
Ruijerd woke up from his coma. He nervously looked around, as if he hadn't yet recovered from the extreme fear.
Only after seeing Shirou and Eris did he breathe a sigh of relief, and said with a bitter face, "It seems I was saved by you."
"No, Ruijerd, you saved us."
Shirou shook his head.
If Ruijerd hadn't reacted in time and stood in front of him, he would have been instantly killed by the Dragon God's hand chop.
After all, he hadn't expected the Dragon God to attack him directly, and he couldn't react to the opponent's movements at all.
After that, Shirou told Ruijerd about his coma and his fight with the Dragon God, including how he used the Servant card to perform a fantasy summon, saving Ruijerd and Eris.
Shirou had been trying to hide the Servant card, but this time Eris, the Dragon God, and the girl beside the Dragon God had seen his transformed appearance, so Shirou simply stopped hiding and revealed the truth.
"So, you were the one who saved me from Atofe?"
Ruijerd was undoubtedly very surprised to hear this.
He couldn't understand the principle of fantasy summoning, but he could understand the powerful strength Shirou possessed after using it.
Shirou under fantasy summon was enough to defeat the immortal Demon King Atofe, proving his strength far above the Emperor class, even touching the threshold of the God class.
But even so, he was easily defeated by the Dragon God.
One can imagine what kind of monster Orsted is.
"But I completely lost this time..."
Shirou sighed.
Although he finally escaped with Ruijerd and Eris, it was only escaping from the terrifying Dragon God. He hadn't actually caused any effective damage to the opponent.
And he could clearly feel the gap between himself and the Dragon God. Even if he hadn't escaped after Unlimited Blade Works was activated, but fought desperately in it, he probably wouldn't have been able to win and would have been completely defeated.
The reason for this was the huge difference in strength.
In this world, there are areas that cannot be reached by effort.
Even between geniuses, there are insurmountable gaps.
Shirou couldn't be considered a genius, just a pure hard worker, so there was a limit to where he could reach. The sword he swung could not reach the realm of the Dragon God.
And the Dragon God at that time was in a state of self-limitation, never showing his true strength from beginning to end.
He only used pure techniques, without using the true power of the Dragon race.
This meant that the Dragon God still had a lot of strength left.
Shirou couldn't imagine how strong the Dragon God would be if he showed his real skills.
That would definitely be a despairing difference.
Thinking of the Dragon God, the three fell silent, unable to speak, and could only watch the campfire jumping, like different people's thoughts, constantly passing by.
"Let's go home."
Shirou finally used these words to remind everyone of their original purpose.
No matter how scary the Dragon God was, no matter how terrifying the strongest person in the world was, what they had to do would not change.
That was to go home.
...
Shirou and the others set out on their journey again, and easily crossed the Red Dragon's Lower Jaw, arriving in the territory of the Asura Kingdom.
Although their destination was close, Shirou and the others were in low spirits.
The oppression brought by the Dragon God was like a cloud that couldn't be dispelled, always hanging over their hearts.
This caused many changes.
First, Eris. After experiencing that incident, she became more silent than before. The spoiled and willful nature of a young lady was completely smoothed out, and she became more mature and steady.
Whenever they stopped along the way, Eris used to run around to enjoy the scenery, but now she would stop and start practicing her sword.
Even though it was the most boring and tasteless basic swordsmanship, which went against Eris's personality, she had recently become able to learn patiently.
In addition, Eris had become more clingy to Shirou than before, literally clingy.
Basically, wherever Shirou went, she would follow.
She also changed from calling him by name to calling him brother.
The sense of distance had completely disappeared without them realizing it.
It is worth mentioning that Eris may have lost a lot of her sense of shame after experiencing this incident. She would even change clothes in front of Shirou, or sneak into his bed at night, making him very embarrassed.
But Shirou didn't refuse, because he knew it was all a sign of Eris's lack of security.
It was all his fault that Eris lacked security so much and wanted to stay by his side all the time.
Therefore, Shirou had also begun to practice swordsmanship more diligently recently.
But he didn't just study Sword God Style like he used to.
After witnessing Orsted's fighting style, he realized that if he wanted to catch up with the Dragon God, he had to master enough combat techniques, just like the Dragon God.
Relying only on Sword God Style was not enough, learning another hand of North God Style was also not enough...
Sword God Style, North God Style, Water God Style, and more special styles in this world, he had to learn and master them all.
The reason for this was that the Dragon God seemed to have mastered the God class of the three major swordsmanship styles.
Even now, the scene of Orsted simultaneously using Sword God Style God class, Water God Style God class, North God Style God class, and even God class magic, was still floating in Shirou's eyes.
He certainly couldn't do better than Orsted, but he definitely couldn't be too far behind.
So he recalled the scene of Paul teaching him swordsmanship, combined with the Dragon God's fighting stance, and began to learn Water God Style from the beginner level.
As a result, it was possible that Shirou himself had already mastered high-level swordsmanship, or that he was very talented in Water God Style swordsmanship, his Water God Style quickly reached the intermediate level, and even seemed to be breaking through the advanced level.
In this way, Shirou now mastered Sword God Style Saint class, North God Style advanced level, and Water God Style intermediate level.
But he knew that everything he was doing was not enough, and he had to master more techniques in order to become stronger.
After thinking about it, he simply ran to Ruijerd to learn spear skills.
After all, the Dragon God not only limited his techniques to swordsmanship but could also use magic, so it wasn't a problem for Shirou to learn spear skills.
Ruijerd taught generously when Shirou asked for guidance.
He completely taught Shirou the spear skills of the Superd tribe, and even gave Shirou the Superd tribe's guns to study and imitate.
Due to Ruijerd's meticulous care, Shirou's progress was very rapid. Although it wasn't a thousand miles a day, he quickly grasped the essence of spear skills.
Shirou also told Ruijerd what Hitogami had told him about the Superd tribe's curse, telling him that shaving off the green hair would reduce the curse over time.
It was originally just to pass on a message, but Ruijerd was so excited that he burst into tears after hearing it.
Only then did Shirou realize how deep the cursed treatment suffered by the Superd tribe was, enough to make Ruijerd, such a strong person, shed tears.
After these interludes, the group went deeper into the territory of the Asura Kingdom.
The Fittoa territory gradually came into view.
As Paul said, this territory had become a thing of the past after the teleportation incident. All the places that should have had something in the past were now empty.
The entire wheat field, the Battir flower field, the water mill, and the livestock pens were all gone.
Only the vast grassland, the endless grassland.
Shirou and the others stood in this empty place and were silent for a long time. Then they asked the locals and learned about the only town in the Fittoa territory - the refugee camp.
Thus, they finally arrived at their destination, the former Fittoa territory.
"Well then, it's time for me to leave."
Ruijerd got off the carriage and said goodbye to Shirou and the others.
"Huh?"
Hearing Ruijerd's words, Shirou was surprised, though he had expected it. Eris was obviously very surprised, and she hurriedly asked, "Why? Ruijerd, aren't you going in with us?"
"Because you are home, and I can feel that this place is safe."
"..."
Ruijerd's words made Eris fall silent.
She was both troubled and sad.
Seeing this, Shirou touched Eris's head and comforted her, "There will always be many farewells in life, but it's okay because every separation is for the next reunion."
"Separation is for reunion?"
Hearing Shirou's words, Eris's eyes lit up slightly.
She finally got rid of her sadness, tried to squeeze out a smile, and waved goodbye to Ruijerd.
"Goodbye."
"Yes, see you later."
Ruijerd didn't seem willing to indulge in the sadness of parting. He and Shirou looked at each other, as if they saw each other's beliefs.
Ruijerd got off the carriage and left, heading towards a new journey.
And Shirou and Eris, after several years, finally returned to the Fittoa territory!
---
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