Emiya Shirou doesn't want to work overtime

It was an empire so corrupt that not a single citizen could live a good life.

But, Captain Emiya?

He was somewhat puzzled, but did not refute it.

Because the woman seemed to have seen something terrifying, she began to kowtow even more violently than she had kowtowed to the young man.

Clearly, the woman recognized him.

But he had never appeared so openly in the Empire, not even after his reputation spread after his battle with Esdeath.

He should be a wanted criminal like Night Raid, so how did he become the captain of the Empire?

The captain of the Imperial Guard is no good position; the orange-haired girl Seryu who self-destructed was the captain of the Imperial Guard.

That kind of indiscriminate and extreme justice disgusts Shirou Emiya; it is definitely not justice.

"what are you doing here?"

Shirou Emiya could only suppress the urge to punch the guard and asked a question.

“This lowly commoner has secretly taken resources belonging to the noble XXX. Her crime is unforgivable. I am prepared to execute her right here.”

"Anyway, countless lowly people have died in this alley, and other lowly people probably hope that such things can happen."

As he spoke, the guard glanced around, and Shirou Emiya followed his gaze, looking around at the surrounding area.

Under the blazing sun, in the shadows, there were countless emaciated people with blackened faces, staring intently at the woman's location.

My stomach rumbled with hunger, and made a gurgling sound with almost no saliva.

Their mouths were all slightly open, as if waiting, waiting for what the guard was going to do next.

Are they going to eat this woman?

Emiya Shirou's expression was filled with shock; he couldn't believe that there were beings that could eat people.

“Isn’t that natural? These lowly people have nothing to eat. With the ongoing fighting between the front lines and the revolutionary army, these lowly people have nothing to eat but themselves.”

"We can only tighten our belts now, and we can only afford a bowl of pig's head meat and a bottle of wine for supper every night. Life is getting harder and harder now."

The guard seemed to be feeling that his recent life had been incredibly difficult, and kept shaking his head.

"------"

Emiya Shirou suppressed his anger, his fists clenched tightly together.

The empire is now in a much more difficult situation than when he left it. Back then, the most common people he saw living in the alleys on the streets were robbing food that the nobles didn't want.

And now, they've started eating people.

They had run out of food to survive, and they could find no other way but to eat people.

Right now they are only eating those who were killed by guards and nobles, or those who couldn't withstand the starvation and died.

When he was starving, Shirou Emiya couldn't even imagine what would happen.

The woman in front of him kept saying sorry, and despite her already weak body, she still trembled as she kowtowed.

"When Lady Esdeath returns victorious, our good days will begin!"

The guard looked very excited, as if he greatly admired Esdeath, his eyes gleaming with golden light.

"Get up and get out of here right now! Don't let me ever see you again!"

Shirou Emiya, somewhat awkwardly and in an arrogant tone, stammered out the words that told the woman to get out of there immediately.

He simply couldn't bring himself to say such insulting words, and felt extremely awkward the moment he uttered them.

When the young woman heard that she was to leave, her eyes shone with gratitude as she looked at Shirou Emiya.

"Thank you, sir, thank you, sir."

He quickly clutched the naan bread in his arms and scrambled towards the alleyway exit. The guards tried to stop him, but Shirou Emiya stopped them with one hand.

"Captain Emiya, if this nobleman blames me, I won't take responsibility."

He didn't seem to care about Shirou Emiya's strange attitude. Instead, he retreated in fear, looking at Shirou Emiya with great concern.

The reason he fawned over Shirou Emiya upon meeting him wasn't because the captain's position was so high, but because, like the woman, he was afraid of Shirou Emiya from the bottom of his heart.

Chapter 342 Emiya Number 97

"There's a situation on Street 18. During the cleanup, we discovered the 87th secret tunnel left behind by the Night Raid organization. Guards patrolling this area, please seal it off immediately."

It was an ordinary-looking steel bracelet, without any engravings, just an incredibly black steel bracelet.

However, accompanied by a voice that felt extremely familiar to him, Shirou Emiya could clearly feel the fluctuations of magical power emanating from the bracelet.

Unlike Rin Tohsaka, Shirou Emiya is not as sensitive to the magical energy around him as a normal magician.

If Rin Tohsaka hadn't appeared so directly in front of him, he wouldn't have known that his classmate was actually a magician.

"Roger that, Captain Emiya!"

The guard quickly returned the bracelet to the guard, then looked at Shirou Emiya with extreme humility.

"Captain Emiya, I'll be taking my leave for now!"

He expressed his apologies to Shirou Emiya and then quickly jogged out of the alley.

"Fluctuation of magic power?"

Shirou Emiya rubbed his disbelieving eyes. He had been to this world before, and logically, no one in this world possessed magic circuits, so it was impossible for him to—

No, I'm afraid there are people in this world who could do it.

He recalled the blue-green light that flashed on Esdeath's sword when he fought her; it was a symbol of enhancement magic.

Emiya Shirou doesn't have much of an impression of his time in prison because he was given a large amount of drugs. The intense pain accompanied the drugs, and he only felt that his consciousness was beginning to split apart. If it weren't for the Avalon inside him constantly taking effect...

I fear I would have become a walking corpse of the empire, a person who has lost his own thoughts.

Moreover, even though the guards referred to the person whose voice came from the bracelet as Captain Emiya, they did not seem to have any doubts about their presence there.

Emiya Shirou had a bad feeling.

He left the alley and came to the streets of the empire.

"Come and see! Fresh vegetables! Fresh vegetables!"

"Need to buy hoes or swords? This way, sir! This way!"

"Exquisite jewelry! Exquisite jewelry! Wearing it will make you look ten years younger!"

"Delicious! Freshly baked!"

The shouts and calls echoed from the street, a stark contrast to the narrow alley where Shirou Emiya had been, where you could hear a pin drop.

A sparse crowd moved slowly down the street, heads bowed, as if they hadn't heard the shouts at all.

A closer look reveals that the residents shouting their wares also look tired. The street looks incredibly lively, but it is filled with a heavy atmosphere.

"Huh? What's your number, Emiya? I've never seen you before."

A hand landed on Shirou Emiya's shoulder. It was a voice that Shirou Emiya knew very well, as if he had heard it not long ago.

No, it should be said that Shirou Emiya could hear it almost all the time.

Because that is my own voice.

Emiya Shirou turned his head to look and saw a boy with short, reddish-brown hair, brown eyes, and eyebrows shaped like lightning bolts, wearing what appeared to be ordinary imperial clothing.

"Artificial Humans —"

Emiya Shirou's eyes twitched slightly. In fact, it was the guard's expression and the way he addressed him that made him feel the magical energy fluctuations emanating from the bracelet and the extremely familiar voice.

After all, the ones who provide magical energy to Servants in the Yggdrasilia race are the homunculus, so Shirou Emiya would naturally think of this situation first.

But when he actually met a homunculus that looked exactly like him, Shirou Emiya didn't know how to express his feelings.

Why is your hair red and white?

This android, which looks almost exactly like Shirou Emiya, seems quite unafraid of strangers. It reached out and touched Shirou Emiya's red and white hair.

"Shh-!"

Emiya Shirou tilted his head to avoid the outstretched hand. Although he knew he had a good personality, he still minded being touched on the head like that.

What's more, it's someone I don't know at all.

Even though they are their own androids.

"Hey? Can't I even touch it?"

Clearly, this android's personality is very different from Shirou Emiya's. Looking at his face, which is exactly the same as his own, coupled with his quirky tone, Shirou Emiya was speechless.

Why would someone address me as "this old man"?

"What number are you, Emiya?"

Emiya Shirou reached out and slapped his restless arm down, asking a question.

"Emiya Number Ninety-Seven, this is me!"

Emiya Number 97 waved his hands, striking what he considered a very cool pose, looking at the ground at a 45-degree angle, with his arms outstretched at a 45-degree angle, pointing his thumb at himself.

At that moment, the sunlight shone perfectly through the house, casting a golden glow upon him.

"Too, too shameful!"

Emiya Shirou covered his face, his expression contorted in embarrassment. He couldn't bear to look at himself; just hearing his own voice utter those words was enough to fill him with shame, let alone the act itself.

Okay, Shirou Emiya did watch it, but he couldn't stand it.

"I've already introduced myself. And you, what number are you, Emiya? Are you a brand new product without a number?"

Only then did Shirou Emiya notice a tag hanging on his chest, bearing numbers he couldn't understand.

Okay, Shirou Emiya almost forgot that although the language spoken in this world is Japanese, the written language is from another world and he doesn't understand it at all.

So when I saw this brand, I didn't know what it represented.

"That's right, I just left the factory, I haven't been assigned any tasks, and I don't have a serial number on me!"