Even though Laws isn't an adventurer, his years of living in the forest as a half-elf give him a good understanding of how monster societies work.
He saw that Shirou was confused, so he explained further: "Generally, monsters have a fixed ranking system. According to the Adventurers Guild, monsters are ranked from E to S. To deal with monsters of a certain rank, you need an adventurer team of at least the same rank to take on the job. Because of this, the lowest rank F-level teams can't even take monster extermination jobs. They can only start with the simplest chores."
"I see. So, what's the monster level in the great forest?"
"Originally, thanks to Mr. Paul and our regular cleanup efforts, the strongest monsters in the great forest were only E-level slime kings or plant-type monsters that don't attack much. These monsters usually don't attack ordinary people unless you bother them, and they also help the forest's ecosystem, so we deliberately left them alone."
Laws spoke slowly, "Now these monsters have clearly moved around, or even left the forest. If nothing goes wrong, it might be because a stronger monster has invaded the forest."
"A stronger monster?"
"D-level, or even higher. You'd need an adventurer team of that level to deal with it." Seeing Shirou's surprise, Laws said with a deep look, "I'm planning to talk to Mr. Paul about this, and maybe even ask a higher-level lord to handle the crisis."
"That... Paul just happened to go on a trip today."
"What a coincidence?"
Laws was slightly surprised that Paul wasn't home. He then sighed helplessly, "Well, let's put this aside for now. The monster migration has just started, which means it'll be a while before a strong monster arrives. Until then, I'll keep a close eye on the forest."
"Okay, thanks."
"It's my duty."
Shirou and Laws continued to talk about monsters.
Laws described the few monsters he had seen in his life, from giant snakes to magic wolves to demon-like creatures.
Even though Laws hadn't experienced much as a forest ranger, what he said greatly broadened Shirou's view and helped him understand the world better.
Before he knew it, it was time for Shirou to leave. He said goodbye to Laws and went down the tower.
"Are you still here?"
Shirou was surprised to see Sylphy. He didn't expect her to be waiting at the bottom of the tower, hardly moving from that spot.
"Mom isn't home today. I have to stay with Dad."
"...Don't you have any friends to play with?"
"Dad says it's best not to have contact with other kids easily."
"This..."
Shirou could understand Laws's concern. He was probably worried that Sylphy would be bullied because of her hair color if she hung out with other kids.
But even so, he couldn't completely cut her off from socializing.
People can't live their whole lives without talking to others.
Thinking about this, Shirou felt he should help Sylphy in some way, at least keep her from being alone all the time.
But he couldn't think of any good ideas.
After all, his own sister Miyu had completely cut herself off from socializing. She stayed home all the time and didn't even go to school. She taught herself everything.
He couldn't help Miyu make friends back then, so he didn't have any good ideas for Sylphy now.
And Sylphy had the issue of her green hair. If he rushed things and had her hang out with other kids, she might get picked on and bullied. That would be terrible.
He had to think things through carefully.
So Shirou gave Sylphy all the dried fruit he had in his pocket and promised to bring her snacks later. Then he started his way home.
As he passed through the village, he suddenly noticed thick smoke coming from the hill where the Greyrat house was.
He thought someone was burning straw in the fields to fertilize the soil, but then he remembered there were no fields on that hill.
A strange, uneasy feeling arose in his heart, and Shirou started walking faster without thinking.
As he got closer to the Greyrat house, a familiar villager ran over to him in a panic, shouting, "Shirou, something bad happened! Your house is on fire!"
"What?"
He didn't expect to hear something like that. The bad feeling in his heart suddenly became real.
Shirou didn't hesitate. He ran as fast as he could. His young body was pushed to its limit, and he finally reached the Greyrat house on the hill.
All he could see was burning red.
Flames were bursting out of the house. Because the entire house was made of wood, the fire quickly spread everywhere.
Shirou quickly realized that with such a huge fire, it would be almost impossible to put it out without modern firefighting equipment.
He had heard that there were some so-called magicians in this world who could use powerful magic to create floods and put out fires.
But Shirou didn't know where to find a magician, and he didn't have time to hesitate.
He had to decide right away: Should he risk his life to save people from the burning house, or should he go and find help?
"Damn it!"
Images of the fire he experienced as a child in his past life flashed through his mind. The memories and pain came flooding back like some kind of curse.
Without even thinking, Shirou rushed into the burning house.
Whether it was Servant Emiya or Emiya Shirou, they would both make the same choice at this moment!
"Rudy!! Lilia!!!"
As Shirou ran into the burning house, he was surrounded by thick smoke. He quickly covered his mouth and nose with his hand and pulled out the long sword on his back to cut a path through the flames.
He followed his instinct to the living room and immediately saw the maid Lilia, who had passed out from the smoke and was lying on the ground.
Shirou knew that Lilia had been injured in the past and had trouble with her legs, so she couldn't even run.
Faced with the sudden fire, she probably couldn't react and passed out from the smoke.
Even though Shirou could have tried to get Lilia out first, he didn't. Instead, he turned and ran up to the attic.
When he reached the attic door, which was still closed tight like before, he didn't hesitate at all. He kicked the door open and immediately saw Rudeus, who was huddled in the corner of the room, shaking in fear because of the sudden fire.