Emilia and Aqua / Aqua's Request...

When people are required to shoulder responsibility, will these people who have been domesticated still be able to stand up and take on the responsibility of fighting and protecting their families?

When a kendo student is armed with a wooden sword, the effectiveness they can offer against lawless thugs is extremely limited.

In fact, even the Old Man Yamaishi,

However, at this moment, the Old Man Yamaishi saw traces of true warriors in Shirou and Artoria, something he hadn't done in a long time.

"Grandpa, please don't die!" the silver-haired girl said to the old man with concern.

The old man looked at the girl and burst into laughter, explaining, "Hahaha, just kidding! I'd love to see a few more matches like this. Sorry to have worried you, Emilia."

"Honestly, the old man is the same, saying things like Subaru that are hard to tell if they're true or just a joke," Emilia said, puffing out her cheeks and complaining angrily.

"Hahaha, sorry, sorry." The old man apologized with a laugh. It was he who took in the girls. Although he initially wanted to rely on Artoria's power, after getting to know them, having such lovely girls was like having several granddaughters by his side. They brought him a lot of joy every day.

At this moment, the people inside the dojo also came to their senses and excitedly surrounded the two people on the field.

"Master Pandoragon! The battle of Spalashi!"

"It gets my blood pumping! Please give us more encouragement!"

"I want to reach that level of swordsmanship in my lifetime!"

The disciples started making a ruckus and surrounded Artoria.

"Amazing!!! This is true Dual-wielding!"

"I thought the Dual-wielding swordsmanship used in actual combat had been lost long ago."

"Young man, are you perhaps a successor of an ancient martial arts school?"

Meanwhile, the masters sided with Shirou.

Shirou laughed as he fended off these hot-blooded people, finding himself unable to break free for the time being.

"Huh? It's so noisy! What's going on?" At this moment, a girl with long blue hair rubbed her eyes and lazily walked out of a cubicle.

The Old Man Yamaishi looked at his disciples and smiled. If they still had this much spirit, then there was still hope.

"Alright! Stop crowding around! Is this how I taught you to treat guests? Go back and practice! If you want to become as strong as them, then swing your sword! Start by swinging your sword ten thousand times a day!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!!"

Only after the Old Man Yamaishi, the dojo master, reprimanded him, did order return to the dojo, allowing the instructors to lead their disciples in swordsmanship. Shirou was then able to escape.

Artoria met two friends here: Aqua, an Emilia, an elven-like silver-haired girl.

Because of Artoria, the kendo dojo took them in. Although they didn't know kendo, just standing by and cheering them on gave the boys in the dojo more motivation. Recently, after the dojo advertised, quite a few high school students have signed up.

"Shirou, let me introduce you to two friends I know." Artoria, who had also managed to escape, pulled Shirou to the edge of the dojo.

Opposite them was a pure, elf-like girl with long silver hair, and another girl with long blue hair. Although both were beautiful, they inexplicably exuded a comical aura.

Chapter 1110 Emilia and Aqua

"This is Miss Emilia; she appears to be King candidate of a nation."

The girl with long silver hair and violet-blue eyes possessed a pure and holy beauty coupled with a mysterious and dangerous allure. She performed a gesture of greeting from another world and said:

"Just one of them. Hello, Mr. Shirou, you can just call me Emilia."

"This is Miss Aqua."

"Hello, human. Call me Aqua Goddess-sama with respect! If you're willing to Axist religion, I'll grant you permission to call me Aqua-sama! Come, sign here!" The blue-haired girl tilted her head back, her nose flaring arrogantly, and pulled out a piece of paper, handing it to Shirou.

"Just call her Aqua," Artoria interrupted the blue-haired girl.

"I understand, Miss Emilia, Miss Aqua. I've heard so much about you. Please take care of me." Shirou said with a light laugh to the two girls.

"Yes, please guide me."

"I found them during a night patrol after I came to this world. They seemed quite anxious because they had gotten separated from their companions, so I asked the owner of this place to take them in," Artoria explained.

"I see." Shirou nodded.

"When I first arrived here, I had absolutely no idea what to do. I'm so grateful to Miss Artoria," Emilia said with a grateful smile to the blonde girl.

"Oh, me too. Thank you so much, God will remember the good deeds you've done."

Aqua recalled how she had found her savior, clinging to Artoria's leg and crying her eyes out, and selectively changed the subject.

"Oh right, I haven't had breakfast yet, so I'll be going now..."

"The dojo owner is willing to take you in, so I need to go and thank him," Shirou said. He had brought a bag of sweets with him when he came here, which was still in the changing room of the kendo dojo.

"He's an enlightened old man. It was through his request that I was able to work here as a kendo instructor and guard. I'll introduce you to him later, Shirou," Artoria said, nodding.

"Yes, Grandpa is a good man. Although we don't know kendo, we can only help with cleaning here," Emilia said with a light laugh.

"But I'm really fast at washing clothes and cleaning!" Aqua proudly puffed out her chest, though as a goddess, possessing such a skill seemed rather useless.

However, for a kendo dojo, keeping the clothes clean is indeed an important consideration.

At this moment, a coach walked over and spoke to the group.

"The Grand Master invites you all to the tea room for a chat."

So Shirou went to change his kendo uniform, carried the gift, walked through the corridor of the kendo dojo, and arrived at a house in the mansion.

Inside was a simple tatami room, with no other furniture besides cushions and a charcoal stove for brewing tea. The owner Old Man Yamaishi, was stirring matcha with tea utensils.

Sen no Rikyu, a master of tea, served as tea master for Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He established the principles of harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility in the Japanese Tea Ceremony. He advocated that the tea room should be solitary, quiet, and as simple as possible, allowing people to let go of all distractions and return to a peaceful state of mind.

"Please!" The old man offered the first cup of tea to Shirou, treating him as a Shirou guest.

"Thank you." Shirou accepted the ceramic teacup with both hands, followed etiquette, swirled the teacup three times, took a small sip, and then returned it to the old man.

At this moment, the Old Man Yamaishi finally spoke:

"In recent centuries, Europe and America have risen to prominence, while Asia has remained impoverished and backward. The world has come to regard white people as the superior race. However, even people of other skin colors have come to believe that."

It is precisely because of this lack of self-confidence that Japan has always wanted to spread its culture overseas and gain recognition from foreigners, but has not been able to find a way. In order to be accepted by developed countries in Europe and America, it has completely Westernized and has followed suit by learning Western customs and doctrines.

"But over the decades, what culture has truly been accepted by foreigners? It's the samurai! The Japanese sword! Cherry blossoms! The Yamato spirit! Things that this country possessed a thousand years ago. But now, much of these things have been abandoned by Japan itself."

"I originally thought that Artoria's legacy was over, but I never expected to witness such a wonderful duel today, which is very gratifying. Japan's ancient martial arts, swordsmanship, footwork, mental techniques, and breathing techniques have absorbed the essence of martial arts from ancient countries such as China and India. The strength of the ancient sword saints and sword masters should be like what you have shown, but unfortunately, no one has been able to reproduce it in the last hundred years."

In reality, the number of people practicing martial arts is actually decreasing. To be honest, many styles in Japan are on the verge of being lost.

"Isn't peace good?" Shirou asked the old man. At least in this world there was no war, human lifespan was increasing with technology, and the mortality rate was the lowest he had ever seen.

Japan's declining birthrate isn't that severe. Although the economy remains sluggish and there are many people who stay at home, it's still relatively good compared to other parts of the world.

This elderly person should be a beneficiary too, so what's their complaint?

"Peace is good, of course, but if we are turned into cowards in the name of peace, then I think it's better to have no peace at all." The old man looked at Shirou and shook his head in disappointment, seemingly because of their differing ideologies.

The conversation in the tea room ended there. Shirou had no choice but to hand over the gift and take his leave.

"This is just a small gift, nothing more."

"You're so kind. Come visit often when you have time."

After leaving the tea room, Artoria finally spoke:

"People all over the world yearn for heroes and remember them. But in daily life and in society, people, whether actively or passively, are increasingly ostracizing heroes and shrinking the space for their existence. What people need is not heroes to save them, but to become their own heroes."

"Hmm... Wouldn't it be good to have a world without evil, without the need for heroes, where peace prevails forever?" Shirou gazed at the quiet courtyard of the mansion, asking himself as if talking to himself.

"I've thought that way too, wishing that Britain could continue to exist forever. I even wanted to use the power of the Holy Grail to let someone more suitable than me become King ..." Artoria said softly.

But some knights might be angry. I hope the king won't let down the knights who fought for him and the determination and effort they put in.

"Oh, right, there's something I need your help with. Emilia and Aqua, they hope you can help them find their lost companion," Artoria said, remembering something.

Chapter 1111 Aqua's Request

Shirou learned what had happened from Emilia and Aqua. In their original world, they were with their companions when they were suddenly swept into this world by a white light, but when they came out, they were completely separated from their companions.

After that, Emilia and Aqua found the passage back, but their companions had not yet appeared. It was for this reason that they had not returned, fearing that if they went back, the passage might disappear, and they would be separated from their companions forever.

"Natsuki Subaru and Satou Kazuma, right? They're around eighteen or nineteen years old. I understand! If I find them, I'll bring them to you," Shirou replied.

"Mr. Shirou, the nights seem to be getting a bit rough lately, please be careful. We're not in a hurry, please prioritize your safety." Emilia was grateful for Shirou's kind offer, but she was also worried that she might be causing Shirou trouble, especially since the nights were indeed getting unsafe.

During her night patrols, Artoria had encountered some powerful auras that she was currently unable to contend with. Fortunately, the other party did not intend to attack her and simply passed by.

"Okay, don't worry. Even if we encounter danger, even if we can't win, I still have ways to escape," Shirou said with a smile, touching the Noble Phantasm on the Crimson Realm Demon King in his pocket.

"Yes, then I'll leave it to you. Although there's no rush, I'm still quite worried because of the strange phenomenon of passages disappearing lately," Emilia said.

The girl was also troubled by arriving in this unfamiliar world, after all, she still had an important mission to complete, and she had also lost contact with the great spirit Puck, with whom she had a contract. For the girl, not going back was absolutely out of the question.

Aqua echoed this, nodding repeatedly:

"That's right! I still need to go back to Heaven to be a goddess! What if the passage back is gone?! That idiot Kazuma~!"

"But he can't find me now, he's probably somewhere starving, crying and calling my name. Oh ho ho~! Hahahaha~!" Aqua thought for a moment, then laughed triumphantly again.

"..." Artoria watched coldly, clearly the blue-haired girl had forgotten how she had clung to her trouser leg and cried loudly without any regard for her image.

At this moment, on the same street, inside a Pachinko run by a gang.

"Yay! I won again!"

A young man wearing sunglasses was sitting in front of a Neon Genesis Evangelion-themed Pachinko machine, twisting a control ball to launch steel balls. The balls bounced around inside before landing in the prize area. The screen flashed, and this time a big prize had fallen out!

The large red characters "たり" (big prize) flickered on the screen, and then the steel marbles continued to fall out, and there were already several basins filled with marbles.

"You really have incredible luck, partner!"

"I still have to thank you, my partner, for your deep and resentful face reading. Otherwise, if I were mistaken for a high school student, I wouldn't be able to play these games."

On the other side, a somewhat smug-looking boy smiled smugly and gave a high-five to a boy with spiky hair and a fierce look.

The boy next to him, with a fierce look in his eyes, was playing a Sakura Wars-themed pachinko machine, constantly inserting tokens and watching the vertical screen scroll, hoping to spin out a 777 jackpot.

However, his luck has been much worse; he's losing more than he's winning now. But that's the true probability. For machines that can manipulate probability, it's just like the slot machines in a casino – a complete rip-off. Cheating masters at the gambling table might make mistakes when they're not in good form, but expecting the machine to let you off the hook is absolutely impossible.

Pachinko is a super popular gambling machine in Japan, also known as a pinball machine, which is a game machine where you launch pinballs (small steel balls) to win more pinballs. Pachinko, on the other hand, is similar to a slot machine, where you insert coins to match the same pattern to win more coins.

Gambling is prohibited in Japan in principle, and cash exchange is not allowed in entertainment facilities. However, gambling machine shops always manage to find another way to circumvent the regulations.

While the steel balls players win in the pachinko parlor cannot be directly exchanged for cash, they can be redeemed for special prizes. Players only need to walk around the perimeter of the Pachinko parlor to find a hidden welfare center or small shop where people buy these prizes and convert them into cash.

In reality, those shops are all run by people from Pachinko parlors, so that players can gamble, and the prizes they redeem will return to the Pachinko parlor counters.

If you win the grand prize, there's also gold in a plastic box.

Pachinko parlors, being highly profitable businesses, are actually run by immigrants from Northern Dynasties Korea in cooperation with the Yakuza, a powerful criminal organization. To maximize profits, they have extremely low barriers to entry. While minors are nominally prohibited from playing, the machines can be played simply by inserting money, without needing to show any identification.

To make it even more convenient for guests to visit, they even set up a childcare service in the store.

However, due to lax management, the store is a mixed bag, and there have been many cases of child abduction. There have even been cases of fugitive criminals being arrested here, making it a truly bizarre place.

You might not find McDonald's in Japan, but you'll definitely find Pachinko parlors. The gambling machine industry alone generates 1.3 trillion RMB in revenue annually. No wonder the Japanese are as fond of gambling as the Chinese.

"Time to go! Let's exchange the gold bars and cash, and then we'll call it a day and go have some fun!" The boy, who had won big, stood up and said, looking at the triple payout rate flashing on the screen.

Every time he wins a big prize, this notification appears, but the actual odds are determined by the machine. This is actually a strategy used by the company to keep people playing, preventing winners from leaving until they return all the marbles.

However, the boy was clearly not buying it. Having suffered so many setbacks in the other world, he had become very adept at using his good luck and acquired skills. Now, he could completely thrive in the real world.

"Oh, oh, oh~! And then there's the journey to find Emilia Carbon." The boy with spiky hair and a fierce look stood up and said.

"You really can't forget her, huh? Why don't you just find a hot high school girl to help you forget that girl?"

"Don't joke like that! She's one of the two most important people in my life! And Kazuma, don't you really want to find your own companion at all? That goddess you mentioned?"

"No, no, no, who would want to look for something like that? If she were around, it would only bring bad luck! How could she possibly be as happy as she is now?" Satou Kazuma said disdainfully.

"Achoo~!" Aqua sneezed in the kendo dojo, then laughed and said, "Hehehe, it must be Kazuma missing me~!"

Chapter 1112 Shirou and the Goblins

After parting ways with Artoria, Shirou, as the kendo dojo instructor, still had classes to teach. The girl would be in charge of the morning and afternoon training sessions every day, but she rarely attended the evening classes for working professionals and adults. During this time, she would patrol outside.

However, it was still morning, so Shirou had to travel alone. Even for the sake of efficiency, the two split up.

Shirou accepted Emilia and Aqua's request and now plans to search around during the day, hoping to find clues that are invisible at night.

At this moment, the Old Man Yamaishi, stood at the entrance, seemingly waiting for Shirou.

Shirou had thought that the old man would ignore him in the tea room because of their differing philosophies, but he was surprised that the old man would come out on his own initiative. Thinking this, he walked towards the old man.

"Hmph! Kid, although I don't know what you're up to, your back view is as resolute as a warrior going into battle. You are one of the few true martial artists in the world, don't die so easily." The Old Man Yamaishi scolded.