Servant Emiya is like a symbol of chasing what's right.
Even though Servant Emiya himself doesn't agree with this, as someone who made a deal with the force that keeps things in check, he can't escape the chains that hold him.
Over his long life as a guardian, Servant Emiya's idea of what's right has become twisted into a need to kill a few to save many.
To reach the goal of protecting human civilization, he kills anything that could be a threat.
After Shirou got Servant Emiya's power and saved his sister Miyu, he was also strongly influenced by Servant Emiya.
It was a deep-down desire for what's right, planted in his soul.
Even now, he still can't shake off Servant Emiya's influence. Without even knowing it, the influence is getting stronger.
This can be seen in how he can't stop himself from wanting to do what's right and kill the slave traders after seeing what they do.
But Shirou himself can't do that kind of thing. He is here to protect his family and can't let his desire for what's right cause trouble for no reason.
Also, slavery is just something that exists in this world. It's a limit of the time that people can't change.
Even if he caused a big scene at the slave market, it wouldn't change anything. It would just cause problems for everyone.
"Please, be quiet..."
Shirou pressed his chest, begging the restlessness in his soul to calm down.
But Servant Emiya's soul beat even harder, as if saying, "If you see people suffering and do nothing, what kind of hero are you?"
Shirou couldn't answer, so he just tried his best to hold it back.
This made him look like he was getting sick.
"What's wrong with you?"
The slave market worker next to him looked confused, not understanding why this boy was acting so strange as soon as he walked in.
The market even prepared a lot of braziers to keep the slaves from getting a cold. It's a lot warmer inside than outside.
Shirou didn't say much about the worker's reaction. He just tried to control a nearly scary thought from his mind: kill everyone here and free the slaves.
This thought definitely came from the influence of Servant Emiya's soul.
Servant Emiya used to kill some people to keep others safe, as ordered by the force that keeps things in check.
Now, that influence is still in Servant Emiya's soul.
Shirou couldn't possibly do something that crazy. He tried his best to hold back the waves in his heart, put on a normal face, and said, "Nothing. Can I look around by myself?"
"Of course."
The worker didn't pay much attention to Shirou and nodded.
Shirou sighed in relief and started to move around inside the slave market.
The slave market was busy. Many people who looked fancy were there to buy slaves. There were nobles, merchants, townspeople, commoners, and even magic university students.
At least in this northern land, buying slaves was very normal, even common.
Shirou also tried to tell himself to see it all as normal, but Servant Emiya's soul was still burning hot.
After all, the slaves were in a pretty bad state. They didn't even have clothes on, and many of them had whip marks, clearly showing that they had been through some kind of cruel training.
To hold back the restlessness in his heart, Shirou walked to the back of the slave market, looking tired.
Then he saw that the slaves around him had changed from humans to mine people.
In the northern land, mine people slaves are rare.
Because this place is too dangerous, most people want to buy strong, sturdy warriors, but mine people are known for being short but having nimble fingers, which doesn't meet the buyers' needs.
Shirou didn't care about the slaves' identities, or rather, he couldn't even worry about buying slaves right now. His mind was constantly suffering.
He hid his pain and walked to the end of the path.
He just wanted to find a place where no one was around so he could calm down from the recent shock in his heart and not let Servant Emiya's will to do what's right take over him. But he didn't expect to find a huge iron cage there, with a slave locked inside.
Unlike most slaves, who are carefully taken care of to sell for a good price until they are bought,
the slave in this cage was dirty all over and smelled bad.
Shirou looked closer and saw a little girl with empty eyes sitting in the iron cage. She was wearing rags that barely covered her skinny body. Her orange hair was dirty and messy, with a few white strands mixed in.
As a slave, her hands and feet were chained, so she could only sit hugging her knees, staring at the dark walls.
"Are you...?"
Hearing Shirou's voice, the girl looked up.
In her eyes, Shirou saw emptiness.
She was an empty shell that didn't even know the meaning of life and didn't have a soul yet.
Shirou knew this kind of empty shell well, because Miyu was like that when she was a child.
Remembering Miyu, the pain in Shirou's heart slowly disappeared, and the hard-to-control heat slowly started to calm down.
So he looked at the girl in front of him with more concern.
Even though she was just a child, the girl wasn't afraid of him at all. Or rather, she didn't even know what fear was.
The two of them just stared at each other.
After a while, Shirou spoke first, "Do you want to live?"
"..."
"If you want to live, take my hand. Even though living is ten thousand times more painful than dying, it's still something that countless people can only dream of."
As Shirou spoke, he remembered the fire he experienced as a child.
It was in that fire that he realized how easy it was to die, and he also received a one-in-a-million gift: he was saved by Emiya Kiritsugu.
But that was both a rescue and a curse, keeping Shirou on the path of justice for his whole life, never far away.
Servant Emiya even regretted it, thinking that it would have been better if he had died in that fire.
This is a natural way to escape after making the wrong choice in a terrible life.
So now, facing this girl, Shirou instinctively wanted to see her choice.
Even if it meant nothing.
Hearing Shirou's words, the girl's eyes slowly focused on him.
She was confused and scared, unable to trust the future that might happen.
Shirou didn't say much about that. He didn't really want to save this girl, because saving one person doesn't change anything.
To Servant Emiya's desire, only saving all the slaves in this slave market could be considered doing what's right.
But Shirou was destined not to be able to do that kind of thing.
That's why he was in so much pain...
Right now, Shirou was giving her a chance because he hoped she would refuse him, giving him a good reason to give up on the idea of being a hero.
This was also a way for him to escape.
As for Shirou's words, the girl really didn't react at all.
Shirou's hand stayed out for a long time without any response.
"I'm sorry... I was being nosy. Maybe it's happier to die than to live in pain."
Shirou sighed.
He realized that his self-righteous saving might not bring happiness to others, so he wanted to give up.
But just as he was about to pull his hand back, a thin little hand grabbed his.
Shirou looked up in surprise and saw the girl's dry lips slowly opening, begging, "—I don't want to die."
The moment he heard those words, Shirou suddenly froze. Tears even appeared in the corners of his eyes.
He didn't know why he was crying, but he clearly remembered many things.
It was a scene from after that snowy night, almost completely forgotten and thrown into the corner of his memory.
Once, in that sea of fire, a man named Emiya Kiritsugu dug through the ruins, tears in his eyes, joyfully holding Shirou, who still had a breath left, and happily saying, "That's great, you're still alive, that's really great..."
At the time, Shirou couldn't understand why Kiritsugu was more excited and happy than he was, the one being saved.
But now he understood why Emiya Kiritsugu was crying and smiling at the same time as he dug him out of the ruins.
The person being saved is often not the only one who gets saved.
The person saving someone else also gets saved by the person they're saving.
"Thank you... thank you."
At this moment, Shirou was just like Emiya Kiritsugu back then, crying and smiling as he held the girl's hand, as if he was the one being saved.
...
Shirou quickly bought the girl from the slave market.
Although this was kind of like pleasing himself, and nothing really changed, Shirou's heart was somewhat freed.
He stopped thinking about Servant Emiya's idea of what's right and focused on taking care of this poor mine person girl.
As a little girl of about five years old, her development was obviously poor. She was not only very dirty, but also severely malnourished, practically skin and bones.
After Shirou brought her home, he washed her clean right away and then went to the store to buy some children's clothes and supplies.
When he got home, he found the mine person girl he brought back standing at the door waiting for him.
Not only did she not run away, but she waited for him at the door on purpose.
This surprised Shirou a lot. He couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you afraid of me?"
"Because you... are a good person."
"..."
Hearing the girl's words, Shirou fell silent.
He didn't know what to say. He just felt that the many complex thoughts in his heart had disappeared at this moment, leaving only relief and honesty.
Being a hero didn't matter to him at all.
As long as everything he did was clear in his own heart, that was enough.
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