Unworthy of Being Called Father

Watching Shirou's entire arm grow back completely, Touko gave him an odd look. "Really, I'm almost tempted to dissect you and see what you're made of. Growing back a severed arm like that."

"You could try. Setting me aside, you'd have trouble dealing with the old man alone." Shirou said fearlessly. With his abilities, he could go toe-to-toe with the top-tier Servants. There were magi who could face Servants head-on, but Touko wasn't one of them.

"Just kidding! You're my clients. If we fall out, I'd starve!"

Shirou shot Touko a glare. Kidding? Probably not. He could tell she'd genuinely wanted to study him just now.

But Shirou didn't plan to make an issue of it. He still needed her help to solve Illya's lifespan problem, and Touko was one of the rare romanticists among magi. If possible, he didn't want to fall out with her either.

Shirou walked over to where the little girl had been standing. She had already fled, leaving only a wooden plaque behind, inscribed with the characters "Asagami."

Seeing those words, Shirou confirmed the girl's identity—Asagami Fujino, one of the Four Tragic Women of the Nasuverse.

"Ms. Aozaki."

Shirou tossed the plaque to Aozaki Touko. He knew the Asagami Family—one of the Four Demon Hunter Families! And... that was it. That was all he knew.

"Asagami? I recall that family has already fallen." Touko caught the plaque and said.

"What do you mean by 'fallen'?" Kiritsugu asked. He was born in Fuyuki, also from a magical lineage. He'd heard of the Four Demon Hunter Families as a child. He was just curious how such a large family could collapse so suddenly.

"The Asagami Family is rotten through and through. Bad debts, dead accounts, non-performing assets, and staggering liabilities. They're on the verge of bankruptcy."

"Is that so? I'm more interested in that girl's power. My arm was twisted clean off, and I'm confident I can withstand a howitzer!"

Shirou said, picking up the arm that had been twisted into a spiral. It was already a mess of mangled flesh, beyond even hyper-regeneration. Thinking back, his decision to cut it off had been absolutely right.

"So, what do you plan to do?" Touko asked. She didn't know if Shirou could really withstand a howitzer, nor did she care. But as he said, that power was very interesting.

"Let's head back to the inn first. I don't want to stay like this." Since his arm had been twisted off, Shirou was splattered with blood.

Kanbiko City Inn—

"So this is your plan? Go straight to the Asagami Family with your severed hand and demand the girl?" Kiritsugu asked incredulously. His adopted son was usually sharp, so how had he come up with a plan that clearly wouldn't work?

"Yeah. If they won't hand her over, I'll make them pay for the arm." Shirou flashed a pure, sunny smile while delivering a villain's line. "Ms. Aozaki, how much would it cost to make an arm here?"

"Five million as a starting price, no upper limit. Priced based on the arm's performance." Touko answered directly.

This was part of her line of work. Magi were a high-risk profession—plenty of them lost limbs developing magecraft. That was how she'd managed to pay off her massive debts in two years.

"Got it." Shirou nodded to Touko, then continued, "Then I'll tell them that if they're willing to hand her over, we're open to friendly relations. Dad, you can spare another five million, right?"

"Would they really agree? That's no different from forcing them to sell their daughter!" Kiritsugu was still opposed. He was a father himself—his children meant more to him than money, even if not as much as the whole world.

"They probably will. From what I know, the Asakami Family, a branch of the Asagami Family, is willing to take on the Asagami Family's debts. The conditions are that they get all the land under the Asagami name, and the head of the Asagami Family's wife remarries." Touko leaned on the table, eyes closed, speaking with casual ease.

"And the Asagami Family agreed. Next week is that woman's remarriage. Like I said, the Asagami Family is rotten through and through, on every level."

Shirou shrugged at Kiritsugu. "See, Dad? A woman. They've already sold one. If there's a first, the second isn't far off."

Shirou's plan was foolproof. First, he knew that Asagami Fujino was ostracized because of her Mystic Eyes of Distortion.

Second, in The Garden of Sinners, it was Asagami (Asakami) Fujino's father who hired Aozaki Touko, saying, "Kill this monster."

That was her own father! The only one who could control her! Because she was a little different, she ended up with no one caring for her—not her parents, not her relatives. Who else could claim the title of one of the Nasuverse's Four Tragic Women?

Just as Touko said, the Asagami Family was rotten through and through, on every level.

Then, he'd take the arm and go demand compensation. At that point, the Asagami Family probably wouldn't hand her over—it was a matter of pride. But if money was involved, it was different. Even if he went straight to her father and said, "Give me your daughter, and I'll give you five million," her father would happily dress her up and send her over. In the current Asagami Family, anyone offering money was a big shot.

Add in Fujino's peculiarity, it was like having a pile of shit on your hands. Just as you're worrying about how to deal with it, someone suddenly says, "Give me that shit, and I'll give you five million." Would you refuse?

Anyone who refused should see a neurologist, then check into a psychiatric ward.

But while Shirou knew all this, Kiritsugu didn't. To him, trading a wife and child for money was utterly depraved. Could anyone really do that?

So Kiritsugu fell silent.

"..."

"How about we make a bet?" Seeing Kiritsugu still unconvinced, Shirou tempted him.

"What do you want to bet?"

"Whether the Asagami Family will hand over that girl with the strange power to us."

"Fine. What's the stake?"

"If I win, there's a new Barrett M82A1 sniper rifle that came out in the States a few years ago. I want that. If you win, I'll cover all meals—breakfast, lunch, dinner, even morning tea, afternoon tea, and midnight snacks—for a whole year!"

"Deal!"

A sniper rifle was nothing. The Magus Killer had countless ways to get his hands on one. And he didn't believe anyone would sell out their own daughter for money. A father like that didn't deserve to be called one.

As some brother-obsessed person once said, one's knowledge and perception are what they call reality. Reality is a very ambiguous thing. Everyone lives in the life they imagine.