I am the protagonist

"I plan to try making an elixir of immortality first."

This statement almost scared Sakura to death. She was absolutely right; a normal magician would never have such thoughts about her senior.

"The elixir of immortality... Senior, do you know how to make it?"

"Of course, I only want to do it if I know how. That kind of medicine isn't very useful to me. You should also know that the materialization of my soul itself makes me immortal, but you and Rin don't have that kind of ability."

The senior did it for me and my sister.

This made Sakura realize that her senior had always cared about her and her sister; otherwise, he wouldn't have thought of creating an elixir of immortality.

Saber is a Heroic Spirit for whom the concept of time does not exist.

Illya is a homunculus, and she lost the concept of time after the Holy Grail War ended.

The biggest problem is actually just her and her sister.

Especially as time passed, while the senior and Saber's time had permanently stopped, her and her sister's time continued.

"So it was for me and my sister that the senior was doing this."

"Isn't what girls care about most about their appearance? It would be quite lonely if I were the only one who never aged or died, and I don't want to see you all grow old and die in front of me."

Sakura happily continued to hug her senior.

My senior doesn't want my sister and me to grow old and die.

So, the senior wants my sister and me to always stay by his side.

The senior's future has lost the concept of time. If she and her sister also abandon the concept of their own time, does that mean they can live with the senior forever?

Thinking this, Sakura felt a little shy. Didn't this mean that the two sisters would marry their senior together?

[...Should my sister and I both marry our senior?]

A sudden thought instantly invaded Sakura's consciousness.

In that instant, many things were on Sakura's mind.

My sister and I are biological sisters who grew up together.

My sister has carried a heavy burden since she was little. Am I supposed to compete with her for a good senior in school now?

This thought has always troubled Sakura.

One reason is that her older sister is the most important person in her life.

But on the other hand, her senior is also someone she has always admired.

She didn't want to give up on either side, but Sakura also didn't want to see her sister and senior get together while she chose someone she didn't like.

What if she and her sister lived with their senior forever?

Sakura's eyes lit up instantly.

[There's no need to let my sister give up my senior, nor do I need my sister to give up my senior to me. Wouldn't it be fine if my sister and I just lived with him?]

Because his soul has become materialized, the senior student neither dies nor ages; time is nothing to him.

[If my sister and I had that much time together, what would be wrong with us living with the senior?]

It is said that time can heal many things.

Time can also fade many relationships.

At this moment, Sakura's consciousness was about to be diluted by the infinite passage of time.

Although it sounded like an excuse, Sakura felt that it was the best and most suitable excuse for the two sisters.

"Senior, let's hurry up and buy the materials."

"By the way, there must be a lot of materials needed to make magic potions, right?"

"There are indeed quite a few, but fortunately, not many of the precious materials are needed; most of them are materials that can be purchased directly."

The materials for making the elixir of immortality are quite complicated and intricate, but Shirou doesn't need to worry about the most crucial element.

Dragon blood!

That is the most important ingredient in the elixir of immortality. In this era, dragons have long since disappeared, and things like dragon blood are only passed down from ancient times, and the amount is definitely not much.

But Shirou has Saber.

She inherited the blood of the red dragon, so her own blood can also replace the rare material that is dragon blood.

Before that, Shirou needs to make some simple magic potions to accumulate some alchemical experience.

Chapter 45 Magician is a profession that costs money.

"Is...is this really necessary?"

The owner of the herbal medicine shop was somewhat alarmed by the number of orders, including many quite precious medicinal herbs.

"That's why we ordered so many. Boss, you're not going to back out of business, are you?"

The boss's expression suddenly changed.

“Sir, what you’re saying is not right. We business owners will do anything as long as it’s not illegal.”

"It's just that you ordered a rather large quantity, sir. Our shop can't prepare all the herbs so quickly in a short time."

Of course, he wanted to do business. How could someone who owns a medicinal herb shop not want to sell medicinal herbs? Besides, it was just a slightly larger quantity; given enough time, he could definitely gather that much. And this was a big business opportunity—something the shop owner certainly didn't want to miss.

"So how long will it take to collect them all?"

“It will take at least half a month. Sir, many of the medicinal herbs you ordered are precious materials, and the quantities are not large to begin with. It will take some time to gather them all. However, I guarantee that I can gather all the common medicinal herbs in three days.”

The trouble lies with the rare materials; even he, the owner of a well-known local herbal medicine shop, couldn't gather them all at once.

If it were just a small amount, he might still have some in stock, but the young man in front of him wanted a very large quantity, which he couldn't possibly gather in a short time.

"so be it."

Shirou knew exactly how many medicinal herbs he had ordered this time, and it would be a miracle if he could gather them all in a short period of time. The longest it would take was a month, which would be just enough time for him to familiarize himself with the making of magic props.

He took a credit card out of his pocket.

"Boss, please swipe your card."

"Thank you for your patronage."

The boss knew this big deal was done, and his face was beaming with smiles.

This is no small business; the amount of medicinal herbs prepared in a month is quite astonishing, but the profits involved are also enormous.

The most crucial aspect of opening a medicinal herb shop is the distribution channels for the herbs.

Without channels, there is naturally no source of medicinal materials.

Without a source of medicinal herbs, it's impossible to do business in medicinal herbs.

Moreover, herbal medicine shops like theirs can buy the vast majority of medicinal herbs; only a few extremely rare herbs are unavailable to them. However, most medicinal herbs can be obtained in large quantities through certain channels, like today's transaction.

After filling in the specific delivery address and agreeing on the delivery time in three days, Shirou left with Sakura.

"Senior, how do you have so much money?"

"Well... that's because I've realized that learning magic is quite expensive."

Yes, in the past month and a half, Shirou realized that magicians' research is quite expensive and resource-intensive, and without certain capital, it's impossible to conduct research in magic.

In the past month and a half, Shirou has come to deeply understand the true meaning of this saying, never imagining that he too would have to bow down for a mere five pecks of rice.

"You and Rin both study gem magic, right? You must spend more money on it than I do as a self-taught magician."

"Well... sometimes we do have some problems with living expenses at home. But my sister also said that there are many magic patents of our Tohsaka family in the Clock Tower, and we can get a considerable amount of money every year. Basically, that money is used for our magic learning and daily expenses."

Sakura once asked her older sister how much the patent fees were each year. Her sister said that with the patent fees, it would definitely be enough for the two sisters to continue to live a good life, but the premise was that they would not overdo the research on magic.

"You must be very nervous."

"...Yes, sometimes if you don't plan where your money goes, you'll run into some trouble."

The family's finances have always been a headache for Sakura.

"My sister and I have magic learning materials, gems that we need to buy every year, and living expenses every year. Actually, my sister and I have always lived a very planned life over the years."

To put it bluntly, it was a life of poverty.

Sakura really wanted to help her sister solve this problem, but financial issues were truly beyond her capabilities as a girl. All she could do was try to be more frugal in their daily spending. She had considered making money, but her sister had vetoed the idea.

"Yeah, I understand."

At this moment, Shirou could fully understand the bleak chill in Sakura's words. In fact, he had also felt how difficult life was when he saw the bank card earlier.

“Now I also need to start learning magic myself, and the cost of food at home is also a considerable expense. It would definitely not work to continue with the previous plan, so I used some means to obtain a large sum of money.”

"Methods... Senior, you're not talking about magic tricks, are you?"

"Sakura, you also know that my projection magic can create the original text of a Noble Phantasm, right?"

Now Sakura knew exactly how her senior had obtained such a large sum of money.

It's unrealistic to create and sell Noble Phantasms using projection magic, since no one would dare to actually accept the sale of Noble Phantasms.

But can projection magic only create Noble Phantasms? Since you can create the original text of a Noble Phantasm, can't you create some very valuable works of art?

"Senior, is it really okay to use projection magic to create that...? Won't it give us away?"

"No, that won't happen. I've already tested the projected things for a while. As long as I don't make the things I create disappear, there won't be any problem with them disappearing. It definitely won't be exposed, otherwise Rin wouldn't have agreed to me doing this after she found out."

"...Senior, you really did team up with my sister."

She knew her sister must have known about this all along. Her senior wouldn't have those kinds of connections; those connections must have come from her sister. However, Sakura could understand this approach, since funding was indeed a huge problem, and normal methods wouldn't work.

Shirou didn't really have any better ideas; the fastest way to make money was through projection magic. Shirou didn't plan to earn a lot, but he definitely needed to manage his daily expenses, magic training costs, and living expenses.

"There was nothing I could do. Rin and I both had some financial problems lately. But those problems are no longer a problem. While we won't be spending money recklessly in the future, we won't be as strapped for cash as we used to be."

"Also, Sakura, here is your credit card."

Chapter 46 A Date with Sakura

"Senior, this..."

"You usually don't have much pocket money. This is 20% that I got by using projection magic. Rin also got 20%. I have 60% left to cover other expenses. You can keep this money with you to buy some things you need."

The matter of giving 20% ​​of it to Sakura had already been discussed with Rin long ago.

Just as Shirou knew before, Rin and Sakura's quality of life was not very good, and their finances were always very tight, so the two sisters could only try their best to save on all kinds of expenses.

We now have a sum of money that can save us at least many years' worth of magic research expenses.

After all, gem magic relies heavily on gems.

Even though Rin and Sakura knew they should be frugal, they still used a considerable amount of gems. In order to maintain their magical research, they even lowered the quality of the gems they purchased time and time again, until they were basically at the lowest possible level.

If funding for magic research were not a concern, then the patent fees from the Clock Tower's magic would be enough to allow the two sisters to live a comfortable life.

Shirou wouldn't be particularly stingy with this.

Since the money was all obtained through the projection magic scam, it wouldn't be a problem to divide it equally between Rin and Sakura.

Of course, Shirou wasn't being greedy by taking 60% of the food; it was just that the food expenses for a girl in his household were quite high, basically enough for seven or eight people.

Shirou himself didn't want to leave too much for himself, but he kept a relatively large amount of funds because he was considering the situation of that big eater. Even he didn't want the people around him to go hungry.

"Ah."

Sakura accepted her senior's feelings.

Girls shouldn't accept other boys' kindness so directly; once they do, they'll pay a heavy price later.

Sakura knew that her senior wasn't that kind of person, and besides, if her senior really wanted to do that... Sakura blushed.

If my senior really does that, then... should I accept it?

Normally, this should be refused.

However, Sakura doesn't think she would choose to refuse when she's in that situation, since liking someone can sometimes break down a girl's reserve.

It seems... there's nothing wrong with choosing to accept it.

Thinking about this made Sakura blush even more. She still needed to maintain her composure as a girl, but sometimes she knew that girls shouldn't be too reserved, otherwise boys wouldn't understand. So, under certain circumstances, Sakura knew she couldn't be reserved and should definitely act on her ideas when she had them.

"Everything for today has been bought."

Shirou noticed the slight disappointment on Sakura's face and immediately changed the subject.