DanMachi: The Epic of the Heroic Spirits of Emiya Shirou

"Click."

The sound of the door lock being opened could be heard.

"Seele? How did you get a key to my room?"

Ryu was very surprised.

“Borrowed from Mia’s mother.”

Seele said, "You broke the tavern's record for 'how many plates you broke at once' today. Mother Mia is furious and sent me here to catch you."

Seele's round little face tightened into a serious expression: "Suspect Liu Liang, you are under arrest. Surrender immediately!"

Looking at Seele's adorable appearance, Ryu couldn't help but smile.

She felt much better.

Seele chuckled and sat down on the edge of the elven girl's bed: "What are you troubled about, Ryu?"

"Xie'er..."

Ryu blushed: "I don't know how to face Shirou..."

"Rush over there, confess your feelings, start dating, and then get married."

Seele shouted in her heart, "You two, get together right now!"

However, despite being very anxious, Seele maintained a gentle smile and did not actually reveal her true thoughts.

"Just do it the way it used to be."

Xier comforted Liu.

"Can it really be like before...?"

Liu lowered her head, trying her best to hide her flushed face and swaying eyes.

Seele covered her chest.

Ryu: "What's wrong, Seele?"

Seele took a deep breath: "Ryu is so cute right now..."

"Seele, stop teasing me..."

Ryu blushed, hugged her knees, and whispered, "I don't want to cause Shirou any distress..."

In Ryu's view, Emiya's actions were all to save everyone who was in dire straits. Everything he did was a righteous act out of a good heart. Everyone was able to survive because of Shirou's courage and resolve.

Now, Ryu is having inappropriate reactions and thoughts towards Emiya's "righteous" actions, and she feels terrible about herself.

Ryu, who has a strong sense of morality and honor, believes that the noble reputation of the Mori clan has been disgraced because of her.

Besides, the thought that "she was saved by Shirou" also made Ryu feel extremely uneasy.

After ending her revenge against the Dark Faction, Ryu originally planned to end her life. It was the presence of Emiya and Seele that sustained her broken heart and became Ryu's reason to live.

Ryu believes that Shirou is the successor to the "justice" of the Astraea Familia, and that she, who is no longer worthy of bearing the name of "justice," can only use her remaining strength to protect the temporarily weak boy.

However, even this useless, good-for-nothing elf failed to accomplish this task.

She could neither kill Black Goliath alone nor defeat Alicia, who had been upgraded to Lv.5.

"I can't do anything..."

Seeing Ryu curled up in a ball, looking increasingly depressed, Seele sighed helplessly.

As expected of the elves, when it comes to sulking and getting stuck on trivial matters, no race can compare to them.

"Dong dong..."

There was a knock on the room door.

"Ryu, are you alright?"

Emiya, genuinely worried because Ryu hadn't shown up, came looking for her.

"Shirou?!"

Liu panicked, but there was nowhere to hide in the room.

Then Seele saw Ryu lift the blanket and bury his head in it.

However, instead of hiding her buttocks in time, they were sticking out high.

"An ostrich?"

Seele suppressed a smile and got up to open the door for Emiya.

Emiya: "Seele, it's been a long time."

"Shirou, I'm so glad to see you're alright."

The silver-haired girl clasped her hands together in front of her chest, smiling sweetly with genuine joy.

However, Seele immediately changed the subject—

"I still have work to do, so I'll leave Ryu to you."

Seele spoke decisively, then quickly walked behind the boy and pushed Emiya into the room.

Because the girl's movements were so fluid, Emiya didn't have time to object before he was pushed inside.

Seele closed the door from the outside, then took a long iron chain from under her skirt and locked the door.

"It's done!"

The silver-haired girl put her hands on her hips and nodded in satisfaction.

~~~~~

61

Chapter Sixty-One: A Letter to the Goddess Astraea.

"Ryu."

Emiya called out the name of the elven girl.

"Can't see me, can't see me, can't see me..."

Ryu buried her head in the blanket, pretending to be an ostrich, trying to escape in vain.

Emiya tried again, calling out to Ryu several times, but the elven girl didn't respond. She clutched her head tightly, only her small bottom swaying outside.

For a moment, Emiya felt helpless as to what to do with the elf girl hiding in the Wall of the Heart.

"Elves are a stubborn and awkward bunch; you can't reason with them."

Emiya thought of the dwarf boss Mia's evaluation of the elves.

The bold and rugged dwarves and the elegant and proud elves are two races with completely different styles of doing things, so they often can't stand each other.

In a sense, these two "lifelong enemies" might actually have the most accurate understanding of each other.

According to Boss Mia, the elves are a group of "troublesome good people".

Generally speaking, elves tend to have above-average morals and are considered symbols of "purity" and "integrity".

Even Mia, the dwarf boss, admitted that the elves were mostly trustworthy as "comrades-in-arms".

"However, interacting with elves in daily life is really a troublesome thing."

That's what the boss, Mia, said.

Stubborn, obstinate, arrogant, inflexible, and disobedient... these are also common descriptions of elves.

In this respect, if Lefia is an elf who doesn't resemble an elf, then Ryu is the elf among elves.

Her stubbornness was so great that even the experienced and knowledgeable boss, Mia, found it troublesome.

However, having weathered many storms, Mia had already mastered the ultimate trick to deal with the spirits, and she selflessly passed on this secret technique, which she had summarized from her life experience, to Emiya.

The right way to deal with elves is to be tough.

"It's no use trying to reason with stubborn, single-minded elves. Their minds are even more stubborn than orichalcum and they simply won't listen to anyone."

While clenching her fist, Boss Mia revealed a villainous, wicked expression as she told Emiya what she had done.

"The only way to deal with them is to be tough. The more you try to reason with them, the less they will listen. But if you start to be unreasonable, they will listen to you."

"The softer you are, the harder they become; the harder you are, the weaker they become. That's the kind of race the elves are!"

After carefully recalling the lessons taught by Mia, Emiya took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, Ryu."

He whispered to the elven girl in his heart.

Emiya's right hand hung down naturally, and from his shoulder to his fingertips, all his bones, muscles, and joints were completely relaxed.

He closed his eyes and imagined his arms becoming softer and softer, transforming into clear, flowing water.

He swung his right hand, aiming at Ryu's...back.

Snapped--

"ah!"

Liu clutched her back and jumped off the bed.

The elven girl's face flushed red, and she stammered, "Shirou, you, you, you..."

Things have finally made some progress; at least Ryu has acknowledged the other party's existence and can no longer play the ostrich.

Ryu stood with her hands behind her back, her slightly reddened eyes looking at Emiya with a mixture of grievance, surprise, fear, and anticipation.

Taking advantage of Ryu's panic, Emiya strode forward.

He grabbed the girl's hands from both sides and squeezed them tightly.

"Ahhh—" Feeling the warmth of the boy's body, Ryu suddenly lost all her strength.

"Ryu, keep a close eye on me."

Emiya spoke earnestly.

"Yes, it is……"

"Ryu, you are very important to me."

"Yes……"

"I am very grateful to you and regard you as a role model to look up to."

"Yes……"

"Because of Ryu, I was saved."

"Yes……"

In the small room, Emiya looked into the eyes of the elf girl and spoke earnestly, word by word.

Ryu felt she couldn't bear the boy's sincere gaze; she tried to escape, but couldn't break free at all.

Ryu's only way to resist was to use her superior strength to push Emiya away, but she simply couldn't do something like "pushing Shirou away."

The intense heat traveled from the other person's fingers to her own sensitive fingertips, making Ryu weak all over and unable to resist. She could only unconditionally accept everything the boy said.

"Ryu, I hope you can find happiness."

Emiya said softly.

Hearing this, Ryu felt a pang of pain in her heart.

She struggled to "resist": "I don't deserve happiness..."

Emiya opened his mouth, then closed it again. He wanted to tell Ryu that everything she did was right, that she should resolve her inner conflict, and that her fallen comrades wouldn't want her to continue struggling in the shadows of the past...

However, he realized that comforting him was useless.

As Mia said, those bland words are meaningless to a stubborn elf.

Even if it can briefly cheer Ryu up, she will soon start to doubt herself again.

The only correct way to deal with Ryū is to be "unreasonable," "stubborn," "distort the truth," and "make trouble without reason."