A compilation of memorable moments from Chaldea's girlfriends showing affection in various dime

36. A Fake Life: Lucy and David

night.

Shirou Emiya was conducting his daily training in the warehouse.

Unfortunately, the numbness returned, and the projection magic failed once again.

Artoria arrived at the warehouse with concern, as she was very concerned about the strange state that had appeared on her master. It was abnormal, very abnormal.

For Shirou Emiya, Kiritsugu was the true magician.

Indeed, magicians who idolize magic or consider magic as something else have very limited achievements.

Great magicians use magic as a tool, like a lighter.

“Yes, I understand Shirou’s feelings. I also know a magician who’s still a child at heart,” Artoria said with a smile.

"That guy... that's really strange. Saber would address someone like that." Shirou Emiya looked at Saber curiously.

Who is the magician that Saber cares about and can't help but complain about?

"No, no, he's an exception. He's an extraordinary old man. Although we respect and love him, he's also the source of all the disasters. If he had changed his mischievous ways, he probably would have created a more decent era."

Artoria recalled the last words the lewd magician Merlin said to her: "I'm sorry, I can't come. I'm entangled with a very troublesome woman."

"Wow, judging from your tone, that person must be an absolute villain, right?"

Artoria nodded with a worried expression and said:

"He was indeed a great villain. In addition, he was also a womanizer and a loving person. In the end, his weakness was discovered and he was imprisoned, but an old man is an old man. He must be enjoying his love life without any worries now."

She spoke with a complicated expression, neither resenting Merlin nor liking him.

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Warcraft Battlefront timeline.

"Fou...Fou! [Well said! Merlin, the ultimate villain, must die!]" Fou waved her claws happily, stepping on Merlin's head and jumping around. "Fou—Fou—! [Lend me the Holy Sword!]"

"...Hey!! I've taken care of you for so long, and you really want to kill me!?"

Merlin said with a wronged expression, he never expected to become a super villain, but... he was pretty close, wasn't he? He was definitely not a good person for standing by and doing nothing.

But he's much stronger than Merlin from the other world!

That shameless Mary is carefree, traveling through pan-human history.

If the Knights of the Round Table catch Merry, they'll probably send her straight to the Goblin World.

“Shirou Emiya, this guy is definitely not an ordinary human. If an ordinary human continued to cultivate like this, they would have died long ago. They would be in Ereshkigal’s underworld by now.” Ishtar crossed her arms and looked at Shirou Emiya’s cultivation method.

Emiya Shirou, the most reckless person in the history of humankind.

"This is really strange... Could it be that the place where Shirou Emiya is located is not under the jurisdiction of Ereshkigal, but rather in the underworld or something?"

She sensed a conspiracy. If Emiya Shirou continued training like this, he would definitely die, certain death. It was impossible for him to have trained for over eight years without any problems.

This might be Alaya's doing. After hearing Shirou Emiya's thoughts when he was a child, this guy has already set his sights on Shirou Emiya.

After all, in the long history of humankind, the attempt to deceive Artoria into becoming his employee had failed that time.

Ishtar's divine eyes saw what was happening to Artoria.

"Hmph, what a cunning creature. No wonder the First Emperor hated this kind of battle that makes the dead restless. Even in death, they can't find peace. It's a miracle that Archer hasn't gone mad after being tormented for so long."

Mashu and Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at Archer with heartache; Emiya-mama had really worked so hard...

If Goetia's plan succeeds, then Emiya's mother will be free, since there is no Counter Force Alaya in the new human history.

Fortunately, with Chaldea, Fujimaru Ritsuka can now help Emiya's mother with a lot of work.

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Just as Artoria was worried about Shirou Emiya's paralyzed body.

Archer appeared at the warehouse door. "—Is most of your body numb? Of course, that's to be expected."

"Archer...!" Artoria looked at Archer warily, ready for battle. Now, in her eyes, Archer was an enemy who wanted to kill her master.

"What brings you here, Archer? We should conclude a non-aggression pact. If you still wish to obey Master's orders, please leave immediately," Artoria asked.

Archer ignored Saber and walked towards Shirou Emiya on his own.

"—Stop!" A gust of wind appeared in Saber's hand. "If you continue forward, you should be prepared for the consequences."

"...No, wait, Saber. He has no intention of making a move. Also, we can't fight in the warehouse."

Shirou Emiya asked Archer, "What brings you here?"

The arrogant Archer and the arrogant Shirou Emiya stared at each other.

The atmosphere changed immediately.

Both of them felt very unhappy. They felt unhappy just seeing that face, and unhappy just seeing their own immaturity.

"Let me take a look at your body. Maybe I can help." Archer completely ignored the murderous Artoria beside him and placed his hand on Shirou Emiya's shoulder.

He searched Shirou Emiya's body, and after a few seconds, he got the result, just as he had expected.

He resolved Shirou Emiya's unusual physical condition and informed him of the cause of the illness.

They prepared to leave.

When Archer encountered this situation, he wasn't as lucky as Shirou Emiya; he almost lost an arm.

Shirou Emiya in this world is truly much luckier.

Watching Archer turn and leave, Shirou Emiya finally couldn't hold back any longer. He had been holding back a question in his heart for several days.

"Drowning in your ideals, what does that mean?"

“It means exactly what it says, there’s nothing to explain,” Archer replied earnestly, without a trace of confusion.

This answer made Shirou Emiya's eyes roll back in anger as he glared at Archer's retreating figure: "And what about you, Archer?!"

"You tell others not to have ideals, but what are you fighting for? Servants all have their own purposes, right? So, what is the meaning of your fight? You have no ideals, so what are you fighting for?"

"—That goes without saying. My fighting is entirely for myself. Boring sentiments, grand principles, ideals—those things with no real meaning are just imitations. I fight with my sword solely for my own desires. There is no other reason," Archer said.

"Myself—is it all for myself?" Emiya Shirou was surprised by this way of life, which was so different from his own.

He always felt that the man in front of him was different, a very special being.

"Yes. If your desire is an ideal called 'not harming anyone,' then so be it. Go ahead and save people if you want to. However, if that is truly your own desire, then if you fight according to your own will, the sins and punishments will all be self-inflicted. Even everything you bear will be part of your ideal."

“But if it’s a borrowed idea, then your lofty ideals will degenerate into mere fantasies,” Archer said. “A battle must have a reason. But a reason is not an ideal. If you fight for an ideal, only the ideal itself can be saved.”

"That's right, there's no way to save people in this."

Archer said what he couldn't say to Saber in the past, which was very satisfying, and at the same time told Shirou Emiya his thoughts.

Artoria understood Archer's meaning. In the past, she fought for the ideals of chivalry, but in the end, she gave up chivalry and chose a unique way of chivalry.

As a king, he bears the heavy responsibility of continuing the nation's destiny.

It is impossible to act according to chivalry.

Chivalry is something shown to the enemy and to one's own subjects after a victory.

To ensure the continuation of the nation's destiny, chivalry could be completely disregarded; to ensure Britain's survival, she could unhesitatingly become a traitor.

Obeying rules and regulations, being noble and sacred? That's not something a king should do.

That's what idols should do.

Britain was facing food shortages, the Roman Empire was on the periphery, the Vikings were eyeing it covetously, and internal strife was rampant among the seven great duchies. Could chivalry solve these problems?

"The meaning of battle is the desire to save something. At least that's how it is for you, Shirou Emiya. But relying on others for salvation is not salvation. What can satisfy an individual is only their own desire and the outcome. Relying on others for salvation is exactly the same as currency. Once it's used, it will return to the other person's hands."

Emiya Shirou kept his head down in silence, just like Artoria, unable to refute the man's words.

"So your ideal is meaningless. Your ideal of 'saving others' can indeed be achieved. However, it does not include the desire to save yourself. Holding onto an ideal that is not your own but borrowed will probably lead you to repeat this until you die."

You'll end up like me, fooled by Alaya and turned into a wage earner.

All the dirty work in pan-human history is yours.

Archer didn't know how much longer he could hold on; it was a never-ending task for humanity.

As long as history exists and Alaya exists, Archer's work will not change.

"—That's all I wanted to say. The end result of helping others is nothing. In the end, you can't save others or yourself; it's a false life."

This is the conclusion Archer reached as a guardian.

Those who haven't experienced what Archer went through simply can't understand how desperate this job can be.

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Cyberpunk, a world of fringes.

"My dream is to go to the moon and be with the person I love. It is this dream that has driven me to where I am today."

On the moon, Lucy, dressed in a spacesuit, sat on the lunar surface, gazing at the distant blue planet: "I like people who fight for others. I like people like that."

"Because I met such a person, and was saved by such a person, I was able to fulfill my dream."

Type-Moon FAZO, a parallel world.

"Is he regretting that he has spent his whole life chasing after Kiritsugu Emiya's ideals?" Waver Velvet looked at Archer's pitiful figure with a complicated expression.

His understanding of this sentence was: pursue your ideals, and that kind of life will be more exciting than Archer's.

He saw himself in another world still pursuing Kiritsugu's dream.

Are you afraid that you, in another world, will become a guardian again and experience that repetitive life once more?

"If Shirou Emiya in this world were to follow Archer's path, then his life would be a repetition of everyone else's. A repetitive life feels unreal...?"

"That's one way to understand it. That's one way to think about it. But Shirou Emiya in this world probably won't follow Archer's path. Shirou Emiya is the same, but Rin Tohsaka in different worlds is different."

Alexander the Great saw Rin Tohsaka, who wanted to change Shirou Emiya's mind.

He saw the determination in Rin Tohsaka's eyes; a tragedy was already unfolding before his eyes.

The look in his eyes that seemed to say he didn't want to see another tragedy happen.

Rin Tohsaka will do everything in her power to change the trajectory of Shirou Emiya's life; that's the difference between Shirou Emiya and Archer in this world.

With guidance from another version of himself, Shirou Emiya begins to contemplate life ahead of time, and his insights, gained from experiencing a complete life, will resonate with the Shirou Emiya who is still innocent and naive at this stage.

"Shirou Emiya's life and his ideals as a champion of justice can be viewed as a book. Just as there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes, everyone's understanding and perception are different."

"But everyone must feel sorry for Archer's life. This man has also reached a realm that no human can reach. Endless killing, day after day of torment. The duty of a guardian cannot be entrusted to one person. The Counter Force Alaya is indeed too useless."

One Piece world, the timeline of the heroes of justice.

"The path of saving lives is not without its rewards. By embarking on this path, you have already found redemption, albeit in a different way. Your ideals are not mere fantasies; the ideals of the righteous partners you embody must have resonated with countless human worlds across the myriad realms."

“I believe that the seeds of a champion of justice have been planted in the hearts of those passionate young people. Your life is not a lie.” Admiral Zeff understood Archer’s current feelings.

Everyone goes through a period of self-doubt, but Archer's approach was unique. He only began to doubt himself after experiencing pain.

"It's right to fight for ideals, but very few people can stick to their ideals to the end. They either perish along the way or are defeated by reality."

Grand Carnival World.

“I love humans, I love humans the most. Those who strive in this cruel world with their original aspirations and ideals. Even if their ideals and dreams are borrowed from others, please hold your heads high and live proudly. Those who do not give up on life are dazzling,” Quetzalcoatl said.

"As expected of Emiya's mother, even though she says she wants to kill Emiya Shirou, she still wants her younger self to mature. That feeling of disappointment... I understand, I get it," Parvati smiled.

Kasuga said angrily, "Cough cough... But isn't this kind of education too harsh? If they can't reason with me, they'll just draw their swords or something... Ah Fu, Ah Fu is about to lose it! I'm going to teach Emiya Shirou and Emiya's mother a lesson. Seriously, they're such worrying kids."

"The ideal of saving others used to belong to Kiritsugu. But now it has become Shirou Emiya's ideal. It just needs to be polished a bit more. Right now, Shirou Emiya is just an unpolished gem. Mother Emiya is really too impatient... Forcing growth is not a good thing, is it?"

Parvati was completely stunned when she saw Archer slash Shirou Emiya.

This is like your husband cutting off your son's head... Can't you just take it slow?

Emiya Shirou isn't stupid, nor is he a truly stubborn mule. With proper guidance, he'll definitely improve.

She guessed that Archer mistakenly believed that Shirou Emiya's current act of saving people was out of a sense of obligation to do so.