Chapter 159 The Legend of Shirou in Another World
As the golden column of light in the sky gradually dissipated, golden snowflakes began to fall, landing on the surrounding grass. The black mud hidden in the earth steadily shrank.
The dragon's sprawled body on the ground resembled a broken eggshell. Within it appeared a thin, elderly man with a long white beard, who now seemed to have regained his consciousness. He looked at the young girl and boy standing at the forefront.
"Son of Uther My foolish brother, … Artoria… thank you for granting me liberation once more. But my poor niece… you've made such a cruel choice again, haven't you?" Vortigern sighed as he looked toward the boy beside the girl.
"Speak clearly, vile king! Who placed you here?" Artoria, hearing the strange words, looked seriously at the elder and asked.
"Nothing has meaning, just like your efforts to save Britain. We will all die, yet the earth endures. Compared to this land, the forty billion years of life are so fleeting and fragile. Perhaps all that we are is merely a helpless thing called life," Vortigern sighed, turning into luminous light, leaving only the dragon's body behind, and then vanished from this world.
Mordred cursed under her breath, then looked at the boy beside her. "Damn it, it escaped. Shirou, what the hell just happened?"
"As long as this world is healed, that's enough," Shirou said with a small shake of his head and a gentle smile.
Meanwhile, the other knights proudly displayed their battle achievements.
"Hahaha! See that? This is what happens when you oppose King Pellinore! So what if Vortigern was the strongest lord? In death, he became nothing more than my defeated prey."
"Father…" Below, Lamorak covered his face, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
Yet the lords, each looking self-satisfied, were not in any better shape.
"It's over…" Soldiers gazed at the tower of light in awe, finally regaining their senses and sighing in astonishment.
"Ora ora ora~!" The barbarians picked up the dragon wings severed by King Pellinore and ran wildly across the grass, shouting and celebrating.
"Ahhh, Brother Jerry! I've finally avenged you!" A knight who had grabbed a noble phantasm left in the camp yesterday smashed it against the dragon's corpse while shouting in excitement.
"Bastard! Tom! I'm still alive! You died so miserably! Tom~! Teddy~!" A short knight rushed forward, brandishing a thin dagger, repeatedly stabbing the gaps between dragon scales, digging them out as trophies.
These guys… just now they didn't fight as well as the soldiers. Oh, the frying pan and skinner dagger I projected yesterday… they still exist, huh…
"Waaaah! You idiots!" At this moment, the knight named Teddy charged forward carrying a massive Chinese iron wok.
"Shirou, what are you looking at?" Mor-chan followed the boy's gaze and burst into laughter. "Hahaha! No wonder they're Pellinore's underlings. Are they collecting dragon meat to eat?"
Mor-chan paused, eyes shining as she looked at the boy. "Eh! Shirou! Can this meat be eaten?"
Artoria, sensing the moment, also looked at Shirou for guidance.
"No, no. If it were fresh dragon meat, I could try cooking it for you. But this has been infused with black mud, with corpses and grudges as fertilizer—it would give you food poisoning," Shirou waved his hands.
"Ah… I see…" Mor-chan and Artoria lowered their heads in disappointment.
The knights, hearing Mor-chan's laughter, noticed Shirou looking at them and ran over, smiling.
"Hehe, Lord Shirou, these are the things you left behind. We've brought them back for you," the knights said sheepishly, reluctantly handing over the noble phantasms. Being among the weakest knights under King Pellinore, they only managed to grab a few leftover items.
Shirou saw that these were his projected cooking tools. Because they had been brought into the reality marble, they were treated as noble phantasms and supplied with magic, which would probably last another day or two.
Seeing the knights' expressions, Shirou smiled and said, "Uh… it's fine. If you like, keep them for fun, but these are just products of the reality marble—they won't last long."
The knights exchanged glances, then laughed. "Now we somewhat understand the feelings of the soldiers."
"Thank you for your generosity, but by dawn, we too will vanish."
"What a shame. If in life we had met a wise lord like you, we would have sworn loyalty to you without hesitation."
"Eh, you'll leave so soon?" Shirou asked, puzzled.
"Yes. We were summoned by Vortigern as spirits. Now that he's gone, we cannot stay long. But being summoned this time isn't all bad—we got to eat delicious food!" the knights explained, laughing heartily.
"Hahaha, if such good things happened every time, you could summon us anytime," one said.
"Exactly! Hahaha!!"
The three knights laughed freely, then saluted and departed. "We'll take our leave. Since we participated in the dragon-slaying battle, we must boast about it properly."
Shirou waved to them, then looked at the ponytailed girl beside him. "Mor-chan, are you like that too?"
"Yes. Da Vinci teleported me here, using this world as a medium. I'll probably leave with them. Damn it, I wanted to play here a few more days," Mor-chan said, frustrated.
"…." Artoria glanced at her, then handed Mordred a cup with a swirling magic vortex.
"Eh?! Father?!" Mor-chan exclaimed in surprise.
"Take this back to Chaldea. Let Da Vinci figure out a way for you," Artoria instructed.
"Ah… yes!" Mor-chan froze, then happily accepted it, clutching the cup. It was the first time her father had given her something so precious. Trembling, she hugged herself, unable to fully accept it, staring blankly at Shirou. "Shirou… what do I do? Father is being so nice all of a sudden… it feels so… strange…!"
Shirou looked at her helplessly. "Mor-chan… you silly child…"
"Seems like if you come to this world, you need retraining. Immature as you are, back to school for you," Artoria said coldly.
"Eh? Why… school?! Like the one Eiriri went to? I'm already a proper knight! I don't need that kind of study!" Mordred protested.
"Looks like we need to start from primary school," Artoria judged.
"No, that's too cruel! Mor-chan can just do a bit of remedial study, then start from the second year of middle school to catch up," Shirou said, smiling.
"It's okay, Mordred. I'll find time to tutor you, or have Mash help—you know she likes studying too."
"Suddenly, I don't even want to come to this world," Mor-chan muttered sulkily, crouching on the ground.
The dragon Vortigern was slain, and the brave warriors departed this world. This world, independent of Shirou's own, continued on. Among the natives, the legend of the "Holy Pot Warriors" endured: before slaying the dragon, the heroes would eat dishes prepared with legendary cooking tools, gaining divine power, and together defeating the dragon. Since then, this tradition persisted.
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