Shirou's Thirty Million Avatars

Every time a Shirou entered, Celestial Dragon Shirou would enthusiastically go over and shake his hand.

Sakurai Shirou had just stepped in when he was startled by this, quickly stepping back: "What's wrong with you? Didn't we agree yesterday that I can't share everything with you all for now?"

"Is that so? Sorry, I forgot." Celestial Dragon Shirou paused, then explained with a smile: "I just got to taste Red-Legged Zeff's cooking, you know. It was absolutely delicious! I feel like I've touched a higher threshold of culinary skill."

"Oh... is that so?" Sakurai Shirou had no idea what expression to put on, so he just nodded lightly.

Seeing this, Celestial Dragon Shirou leaned in, puzzled: "Aren't you a chef too? Why aren't you the least bit curious?"

Huh...? Sakurai Shirou froze for a moment, quickly realizing he was about to blow his cover.

But honestly, pretending to be interested in Zeff's cooking was way too much to ask of him. For thirteen years, he'd lived a life of disdain toward chefs, casually crushing novice cooks and restaurants whenever he pleased.

"As a chef... isn't it normal to have the confidence that I'm the best chef in the world? That shouldn't be strange, right?"

"Huh... huh...? Is your cooking already the best in the Gourmet Anime world?"

"Yeah."

"Ooh... I'm really curious what your dishes taste like. Can they make people see hallucinations?"

"Yeah."

"So cold! We're all ourselves here—what can't you say? There are no secrets between us."

Just then, Slime Shirou suddenly aimed at Sakurai Shirou, leaped over, and slammed him to the ground. The moment they made contact, a scream rang out.

"Ahh...!!"

Seeing Sakurai Shirou cry out so miserably, the other Shirous exchanged glances, baffled as they stared at him. When they touched, abilities and memories were instantly shared. With that kind of strength, a simple fall was nothing—why was he screaming so painfully? It made even the listeners feel a piercing ache in their hearts.

At that moment, Sakurai Shirou's mind was flooded with that scene from thirteen years ago. That pitiful woman lay weakly on the hospital bed, and anyone could see she didn't have long to live. Yet, even so, she forced herself to cheer up, comforting him without a single word of complaint, resentment, or regret. Though she was about to die, a smile never left her face. Her face was pale, and after lying in bed so long, she wore no makeup, so the smile wasn't particularly pretty—but it inexplicably gave off a very warm feeling.

In that instant, the shattering sensation in his heart seemed to echo endlessly in his mind. With every second, the heartache intensified, as if it would never stop.

A faint pain in his chest startled Slime Shirou, and he involuntarily rolled away. After a long moment, he abruptly shifted back into his King of All Monsters form and said hesitantly: "Sakurai, the dead can't come back. There's no need to keep dwelling on the past. You've already gone down the wrong path."

Sakurai Shirou clutched his chest, looked up at him, and sneered: "What would a sissy like you know? Do I care about that woman? As if!" "I'm not her real son anyway. As a Transmigrator, we were just roommates under the same roof." "Why would I care about her? What's her life or death to me?" "You're a hermaphrodite, a perverted freak who's neither male nor female—what do you know about human emotions?" "The moment you transmigrated into a slime, you stopped being human." "And you're still playing house with a bunch of goblins. I can't believe you came up with that. Disgusting!"

King of All Monsters Shirou's face darkened. He clenched his fists and said through gritted teeth: "Has no one ever told you that you're asking for a beating?"

Chapter 56: And You're Pretty Dumb Too

Section 56, Chapter 56: And You're Pretty Dumb Too

"Hey, hey, what are you doing?" Coachman Shirou quickly pulled King of All Monsters Shirou back. The moment their hands touched, Sakurai Shirou's memories flooded into his mind, making his body tremble involuntarily.

"Sakurai, you—"

"Shut up! I transmigrate into a stable boy, and you just coast along, living off a woman—is that fun? Copying songs and famous quotes, boring, shameless, brainless trash!"

"Sakurai, that's going too far!"

"Mizukage? What a big name. Marrying an underage girl at sixteen—you're a pervert! After all those human experiments, now you're playing the good guy? Who do you think you are?"

"And you, oh great Celestial Dragon. Hah... talking about reform, just a mouthy waste! If it were me, I'd use Transformation Technique plus Clone Technique to swap out every king and Celestial Dragon in the world—revolution in a single day."

"Tsukimi, you freeloading loser, you'll definitely be henpecked..."

"Demon Lord? Pfft! You took over three-quarters of the world, knew the original plot, had that huge advantage, and still lost? And as a king who climbed from the bottom, you only have one loyal subordinate—what's that? You're worse than trash."

"Tohsaka? You're even more garbage. Transmigrated into a kid and actually acted like one? You idiot, moron..."

In just a few minutes, Sakurai Shirou had cursed out every single one of them.

All the Shirous present gathered around him, cracking their knuckles in unison.

"Who goes first?"

"He's already shared our abilities. One-on-one might just be a draw. Should we all jump in?"

"No need. When Rimuru touched him earlier, didn't he let out a scream?"

"Good point! Physical pain often can't match the pain in the heart."

As they spoke, one by one, the Shirous reached out and touched Sakurai Shirou's body.

Screams rang out again!

Past events replayed endlessly in his mind.

If it were just that, it wouldn't have come to this.

But the feelings and personalities of his past self and the other Shirous were completely different from his current self. They clashed together, like a bunch of people who loathed each other arguing nonstop in his head.

In that instant, time seemed to freeze. Sakurai Shirou became utterly calm.

Thirteen years of experience flashed before his eyes.

The day he first transmigrated, the sky was overcast, a fine drizzle falling.

He thought that woman was just a stranger, no need to live with her, so he sneaked out of the house.

After borrowing some money from a few delinquents, he spent hours playing games at the arcade.

At night, looking for a hotel to stay in, he suddenly saw her wandering frantically in the heavy rain, as if searching for him.

He wanted to walk away, but couldn't quite bring himself to, so he followed in secret.

The rain didn't stop that night, and that woman searched all night, finally collapsing from exhaustion by the roadside.

After hesitating, he carried her back to that cramped rental room.

The next morning, when she woke up, she wasn't angry or complaining—just apologizing over and over.

Maybe it was pity, or maybe he couldn't leave her, but after that, they started living together.

As the restaurant business improved, he made a decision—to go to Totsuki for a gilding.

The night before the entrance exam, he confidently talked about his plans after enrollment, about the benefits after graduation.

After failing, he came home dejected. She said nothing, just prepared a lavish dinner.

The day she passed away, a crowd of people blocked the hospital entrance demanding money, forcing him to use Hypnosis Magic in public.

Later, he heard from a nurse that those people had stormed into her room and argued with her many times, only stopped when the nurse on duty arrived in time.

He heard that when she was alone, she always bowed her head, muttering to herself, her words full of apologies to him.

From that day on, his world was left with only money.

'Was I wrong?'

Re-examining his past experiences, Sakurai Shirou finally understood. He wiped the tears from his face, his expression gradually firming:

"I wasn't wrong! But I was wrong too."

"For thirteen years, I've been drifting through life—extortion, framing, dirty competition. Those methods were despicable, but not wrong."

"Where I was wrong was having no concrete goal. I hoarded money desperately, but never realized in time what the goal of hoarding it was."

The pain in his chest slowly faded. Looking at the Shirous around him, all with grim faces, Sakurai Shirou took a deep breath and said slowly:

"Enough! I can apologize for what I said earlier."

"I really don't like you, you bastard." Mizukage Shirou let go and snorted coldly. "But you got one thing wrong—I never tried to play the good guy. What others think of me has nothing to do with me? The Ninja World is full of people who hate me. You're just one of them."

"I've thought about what you said too—revolution in a single day isn't hard." Celestial Dragon Shirou paused, then shook his head slightly. "But what's the point? Breaking the bandits in the mountains is easy; breaking the bandits in the heart is hard. Just overthrowing the World Government is far from real reform."

Sakurai Shirou didn't respond. In that moment of physical contact, the feelings of all the Shirous had surged into his heart.

He didn't like their dawdling methods, but he could fully understand their feelings.

"You guys—want to curse me back?"

"No. Words can't say it all." Demon Lord Shirou shook his head with a smile.

Although their experiences and personalities differed, the moment their hands clasped together, their feelings were one and the same.

So he understood perfectly—Sakurai Shirou had fully grasped him.

Back when he transmigrated as an ordinary demon, witnessing the misery of low-level demons and humans alike, he resolved to become the Demon Lord, unify the continent, and end the world's chaos.

In every speech he gave, his first words were always, "If I ever betray my ideals, any of you may kill me."

Times changed. The continent remained ununified, but with the Demon Lord's rise, humans and the various other races banded together, forming a rival faction.

Under the clash of these two powers, the lives of low-level humans and demons gradually improved.

Even if the continent couldn't be unified, the world was slowly moving toward peace.

In such circumstances, the Demon Lord became a superfluous existence—the world didn't need an eternal, undying ruler.

So, half-pushed and half-willing, the Demon Lord was overthrown, fled in disgrace to Earth, and became a wage earner.

Sakurai Shirou looked directly at Demon Lord Shirou and gave a slight nod:

"I admire you. Being able to let go of a world's authority isn't something just anyone can do. But you're also an idiot—if it were me, I'd have at least a few hundred ways to save the world."

"You just washed your hands of it, leaving a mess behind. The whole continent might spiral out of control."

"That's none of my concern anymore." Demon Lord Shirou laughed heartily. "I've already laid the foundation. Someone else will build the skyscrapers on top of it."

Chapter 57: A Man Being Tsundere Isn't Cute at All

"By the way..." Celestial Dragon Shirou suddenly slapped Sakurai Shirou on the shoulder, grinning. "Since you've been redeemed, how about picking up cooking again?"

"Don't use the word 'redeemed.' I'm still black now—I've never been white."

Sakurai Shirou's face hardened as he spoke in a low voice.