radicalducati Page 193
Page 193
The thought of the Dragon God caused all three people present to fall silent, unable to speak, and they could only watch the campfire leap and leap, as if the thoughts of different people were being constantly transmitted.
"We go home."
Shirou concluded by reminding everyone of their original purpose.
No matter how terrifying the Dragon God is, or how horrifying the strongest being in the world is, what they are going to do will ultimately remain unchanged.
That is going home.
……
Shirou and his companions embarked on their journey once more, easily crossing the Red Dragon's jaws and arriving within the territory of the Kingdom of Asura.
Although their destination was within reach, Shirou and the others were in low spirits.
The oppressive aura emanating from the Dragon God was like an inescapable dark cloud, constantly looming over Shirou and the others.
This has caused many changes.
First, there's Alice. After that incident, she became even more taciturn than before. All the spoiled and willful traits that belonged to a young lady were worn away, and she became more mature and composed.
Whenever they stopped on their journey, Alice used to run around admiring the scenery, but now she immediately stopped and began practicing her swordsmanship.
Despite being the most tedious and boring basic swordsmanship, which contradicts Alice's personality, Alice has recently begun to learn it patiently.
In addition, Alice has become even more clingy to Shirou than before, literally clingy.
Basically, she follows Shirou wherever he goes.
The way people address him has changed from calling him by his name to calling him "brother".
The sense of distance has completely disappeared without us even realizing it.
It's worth mentioning that Alice seems to have lost much of her sense of shame after what happened. She would even change clothes in front of Shirou or sneak into his bed at night, making him feel very embarrassed.
But Shirou did not refuse, because he knew that this was all a manifestation of Alice's lack of security.
It was all due to his own incompetence that Alice felt so insecure and wanted to stay by his side forever.
Therefore, Shirou has recently begun to further hone his swordsmanship.
However, he did not simply delve into the Sword God Style as he had in the past.
After witnessing Orsteed's fighting style, he realized that if he wanted to catch up with the Dragon God, he had to master as many fighting techniques as the Dragon God.
Relying solely on the Sword God style is not enough; learning the Northern God style as well is also insufficient...
He must learn and master all the different styles of martial arts, including the Sword God Style, the Northern God Style, the Water God Style, and many more unique styles in the world.
The reason for this is that the Dragon God is suspected to be a god-level master of the three major sword styles.
Even now, the image of Orsteed simultaneously unleashing god-level Sword God Style, god-level Water God Style, god-level North God Style, and even god-level magic still lingers in Shirou's mind.
He certainly couldn't do better than Alsteed, but he definitely couldn't be too far behind.
So he recalled the scene of Paul teaching him swordsmanship, combined with the fighting posture of the Dragon God, and began to learn the Water God Style from the beginner level.
The result may be that Shirou had already mastered a high level of swordsmanship, or he may have a great talent for the Water God Style swordsmanship, and his Water God Style quickly reached the intermediate level, and he was even close to breaking through to the advanced level.
In this way, Shirou now masters the Saint level of the Sword God Style, the Upper level of the Northern God Style, and the Intermediate level of the Water God Style.
But he knew that everything he had done was not enough; he needed to master more skills to become stronger.
After thinking it over, he simply went to learn marksmanship from Rachel Rudd.
After all, even the Dragon God's skills are not limited to swordsmanship; he can also use magic, so it wouldn't be a problem for Shirou to learn spearmanship.
When Shirou asked for advice, Rigdell shared all his knowledge without reservation.
He completely taught Shirou the Spelud's marksmanship, and even gave Shirou the Spelud's sidearms to study and imitate.
Thanks to Ridge Rudd's meticulous care, Shirou made rapid progress. Although it wasn't a meteoric rise, he quickly grasped the essence of marksmanship.
Shirou also told Rigellud about the curse on the Spelud tribe that the god had told him, saying that as long as he shaved off his green hair, the curse would lessen over time.
It was originally just a simple message to pass on, but unexpectedly, after hearing it, Rachel Rudd was so moved that he burst into tears.
Shirou then realized that he had underestimated just how profound the cursed treatment suffered by the Spelud tribe was, enough to bring tears to the eyes of someone as strong as Rigelud.
After these incidents, the group ventured even deeper into the territory of the Kingdom of Asura.
The territory of Fituia gradually came into view without anyone noticing.
Just as Paul said, this territory had become a dead entity after the Great Migration; all the places that should have existed in the past were now empty.
The vast wheat fields, the fields of Battiers flowers, the waterwheel huts, and the livestock sheds have all vanished.
Only vast grasslands, endless grasslands.
Shirou and the others stood silently in the empty scene for a long time. After asking the locals, they learned that the only town in the Fituia territory was a refugee camp.
They finally arrived at their destination, the now-defunct territory of Fituia.
"Then I should leave too."
Ridge Rude stepped down from the carriage and bid farewell to Shirou and the others.
"what?"
Hearing Rigd's words, Shirou had expected it, but Alice was clearly surprised. She hurriedly asked, "Why? Isn't Rigd coming in with us?"
"Because you're already home, and I can feel that it's safe here."
"..."
Rachel Rudd's words silenced Alice.
She was both distressed and very sad.
Seeing this, Shirou patted Alice's head and comforted her, "In life, we will always experience many farewells, but it's okay, because every parting is for the next reunion."
Is parting for the sake of reunion?
Upon hearing Shirou's words, Alice's eyes lit up slightly.
She finally shook off her sadness, forced a smile, and waved goodbye to Rachel Rudd.
"Goodbye."
"Well, see you later."
Rachel Rudd seemed unwilling to dwell on the sadness of parting. He and Shirou exchanged a glance, as if they saw each other's beliefs.
Rachel Rudd then disembarked and embarked on a new journey.
After several years, Shirou and Alice finally returned to the territory of Fituia!
Chapter 260 Departure, the Holy Land of Swords!
Shirou and Alice entered the refugee camp in the territory of Fituia.
After only a few simple observations, Shirou discovered that the town was particularly lacking in vitality, and the whole place was filled with an atmosphere of death.
The people in the territory were generally quite tired, desperate, and even lifeless. Whether walking on the road or working in silence, they gave people a sense of stagnation.
Due to the Great Migration, the remaining population of the Fitoa Territory is quite small, totaling less than the permanent population of an ordinary town.
In addition, the refugee camp was very desolate, with dilapidated houses everywhere and not a single decent house to shelter from the wind and rain.
The campsite was in terrible condition, and there was no sign of anyone managing it.
If it weren't for seeing some familiar things in the central continent, Shirou would have even doubted that he had returned to the Demon Continent.
Because of this squalid environment, Shirou traveled most of the world and only saw it once in the Demon Continent.
"..."
Shirou and Alice observed their surroundings in silence as they made their way to the area under the town's jurisdiction.
The entrance is marked "Refugee Camp Headquarters".
The refugee camp headquarters was the only building in the entire town with a complete structure. Several soldiers from the Kingdom of Asra stood at the entrance of the headquarters, but they were all unfamiliar faces and were clearly not members of the Boreas family.
This made Shirou instinctively wary.
Instead of revealing his identity to Alice directly, he pretended to be a tourist and entered the headquarters of the refugee camp, where he immediately noticed a huge notice board.
The notice board was filled with the names of the missing persons.
At the very bottom of the notice board was a letter from the lord.
However, the lord's name was not Alice's grandfather, Saurosboreas Grellat, but a man named Jamesboreas Grellat.
"James?"
Shirou had some recollection of this name.
He remembered that the other person should be Philip's older brother, the first in line to inherit the Boreas family.
Since the other party has now inherited the Boreas family, it means that Sauros should have resigned from his position as lord. It seems that what Thousand-Mile Eyes witnessed about Sauros being imprisoned was real.
As for James, Shirou had no dealings with the current head of the Boreas family and was unaware of his situation.
But seeing the current state of the Fituia territory, Shirou finds it hard to imagine what kind of responsible and upright person could have managed to turn the territory into such a desolate place.
If someone like that were to take charge of the Boreas family, Alice's future would likely be greatly affected...
As Shirou's heart sank into unease, Alice, who was standing beside him, suddenly showed an excited expression.
After several years, the girl showed a rare display of excitement and exhilaration, rushing towards the headquarters counter and shouting at a woman's voice, "Kirlen, is that you!?"
"??"
Upon hearing Alice's voice, the woman with long silver hair, brown skin, and a longsword at her waist immediately turned around. "Miss Alice?! You're back!?"
Kyrie Irwin was also very excited when he saw Alice's appearance.
The two embraced each other, like sisters reunited.
“Alice…no, Lady Alice, it’s so good that you’re safe and sound…”
"...Oh, please, just call me Alice."
Alice was about to exchange pleasantries with Kyrie Irvine, but the joyful expression on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a shadow.
Upon seeing Shirou's presence, Gilead breathed a sigh of relief, put Alice down, and turned to Shirou, saying, "Come in."
"??"
Kireinu's reaction puzzled Alice.
Shirou, however, had anticipated this.
The scenes he had witnessed with his clairvoyance, along with the information he had gathered about the Boreas family over the years, made him realize the current predicament of Boreas.
That was destined not to be a good topic.
After leading Shirou and Alice into the room, Kyrie Irwin carefully closed the door, then cautiously looked around to make sure no one was there before letting out a sigh of relief.
"Welcome back, Miss Alice. We had already received news of your return, and everyone was eagerly awaiting it..."
“Gilead, you know I’m not interested in that kind of polite talk.”
"No, these polite words still have meaning today."
Kyrie rejected Alice's attitude and spoke seriously, "Because this concerns your situation, Miss Alice, and the current state of the Boreas family."
"What do you mean?"
"It means that although you are still the eldest daughter of the Boreas family, your father is no longer Lord Philip, and the ruler of the Fituia territory and the Boreas family is no longer Lord Sauros, but Lord James. He has now acquired all the power that originally belonged to the Boreas family."
“James…”
Upon hearing the uncle's name, Alice seemed to have already anticipated it.
If it were two years ago, upon hearing all this, she would have definitely shouted in dissatisfaction, or even thrown a tantrum. But after so much time and experience, Alice has matured a lot. Even upon hearing such terrible news, she didn't have much of an emotional reaction, and simply nodded silently.
"Is there anything else?"
"Since Lord James has become the head of the Boreas family, Lord Philip and Lady Hilda are now forced to stay in the capital, in a state similar to isolation and confinement. No one is allowed to contact them without Lord James's permission. Furthermore, Lord James has stated that if he discovers Lady Alice's whereabouts, he must bring her to the capital to reunite with him."
"..."
Although Gilead's words were tactful enough, anyone could tell that James was forcibly taking control of anyone who might threaten his position in order to completely seize power in the Boreas family.
Alice trembled slightly at this, but managed to control her emotions and asked, "What about Grandfather? What did Grandfather say?"
"Because the Boreas family failed to handle the situation properly after the Great Transfer, the Fetoa territory suffered severe damage. Lord Sauros was forced to take responsibility for the Fetoa territory transfer incident and is currently imprisoned, with the possibility of being executed at any time."