Shirou, Lilia, and Rudeus were living in the Laws' house.
Because he had suffered serious injuries in the fire, Lilia and Rudeus took turns caring for him these past few days. Both of them showed great concern, not wanting anything to happen to him. They didn't even allow him to get out of bed, taking care of him every step of the way.
Shirou felt warm from their care, but also helpless because they were being too attentive.
After all, Shirou knew his own body well. Because he had merged with the soul of Servant Emiya, his body healed much faster than normal people.
As long as he didn't suffer a fatal wound, he could basically heal himself. It was just a matter of how quickly.
Of course, in order to hide this, Shirou could only pretend that his injuries hadn't healed yet, lying in bed and accepting the care of his younger brother and the maid.
During this time, Shirou also met Laws and Laws' wife.
The couple was very concerned about him, often bringing food. Shirou felt embarrassed and thought that he must repay their kindness after he recovered.
At the same time, Shirou also occasionally saw Laws' daughter, Sylphiette.
Because of her natural green hair, Laws was worried that she would be bullied by children her age, so he kept her at home. This meant she hadn't had contact with outsiders, so she was quite shy.
However, perhaps because Shirou had given her dried fruit before, she was quite friendly to Shirou and often came to see him.
Shirou was naturally very happy about this and often chatted with Sylphy.
But Shirou soon noticed a problem: his younger brother Rudeus seemed to resent his contact with Sylphy and often came to interrupt their conversations.
Shirou couldn't understand why Rudeus would dislike such a well-behaved little girl like Sylphy. Since he couldn't figure it out, he could only ignore it.
Time passed day by day.
Finally, on about the fifth day, Paul and Zenith finished their trip and returned home from the big city of Roa, where they had met with old friends.
…
Paul and Zenith had originally planned to return home in a single day.
But because of a monster attack that happened along the way, the two volunteered to join a nearby group of adventurers to help eliminate the monsters attacking the villages.
They thought it would only be delayed by a few days and nothing would happen.
But when the two returned home and found the Greyrat mansion reduced to ruins, their expressions changed instantly.
"Shirou! Rudeus!"
Paul was shocked to see the charred house, feeling as if the sky had fallen.
Zenith, who was with him, almost fainted on the spot. Paul quickly held her up, preventing her from passing out.
They never expected that their home would be in such chaos after they had only been gone for a few days. They regretted it immensely.
Fortunately, some villagers had been waiting for them. When they saw them return, they immediately came over to explain everything.
The couple finally breathed a sigh of relief after hearing that Shirou, Rudeus, and Lilia were all safe, and quickly went to Laws' house.
"Paul, Zenith, you're here."
Shirou's injuries were almost fully healed. He greeted them with a smile.
"Shirou!" Zenith immediately hugged Shirou when she saw him, tears welling up in her eyes. "It's so good that you're okay, it's really good."
"This…"
Shirou was surprised that Zenith cared about him so much. He paused for a moment, then gave a bitter smile.
In his previous life, he had hardly felt any warmth from a mother. He had experienced the fire from a young age and lived with his adoptive father, Emiya Kiritsugu. He thought he would never experience a mother's love in his life, but he unexpectedly met Zenith, a good mother, in this life. He was filled with emotions.
On the other side, Paul was also filled with emotion, his feelings rising and falling.
But as the head of the family, he had to remain calm. So he immediately found Lilia and asked what had happened.
"A fire?"
Paul and Zenith looked at each other after hearing the situation from Lilia.
They obviously hadn't expected their house to suddenly catch fire, and it happened just when they were away. The chances of this happening were too low. It was as if fate was playing a trick on them.
"I-I'm sorry, it was all my fault." Rudeus raised his hand in a panic. He couldn't possibly avoid admitting his mistake. "I accidentally knocked over the candle when I was reading, and I accidentally fell asleep… It's all my fault."
"This…"
Seeing Rudeus admit his mistake so sincerely, Paul and Zenith naturally couldn't blame him anymore.
Compared to the house burning down, Paul and Zenith were more concerned about something else.
"Rudy, I heard that you used intermediate-level water magic to put out the fire?"
After hearing the situation from Lilia, Zenith came to Rudeus, slowly crouched down, and looked at him gently.
Although her gaze was very gentle, even warm, Rudeus felt a strange sense of nervousness and didn't dare to lie in front of those eyes.
If it had been him in the past, he might have chosen to run away at this time, giving up and doing nothing. But after this incident, he realized that running away didn't solve the problem.
What was needed most at this time was a sincere attitude.
No matter what he was thinking inside, he had to be sincere on the surface, at least.
"Rudy, don't worry, Mom is just asking you about the situation. Did you use water magic?"
"S-Sorry, I've been secretly practicing in the attic."
Rudeus thought she was angry that he had been secretly practicing magic, so he quickly apologized.
"Really? Intermediate-level magic?"
Paul seemed surprised by this answer, but Shirou and Lilia could both vouch for it, leaving him no room to doubt.
"Wow! Dear, did you hear that? Our two children are both geniuses!"
Zenith's shout drowned out Paul's words.
She clasped her hands together and seemed to jump up and down happily, her lively appearance completely gone from the seriousness she had just shown.
Paul was speechless. He couldn't imagine that he, a mere upper-level Swordsman, had two sons who were more and more talented.
How could the pressure on a father be so great?
While Paul was feeling troubled, Zenith excitedly said, "Let's hire a tutor right now! Rudeus will become an excellent magician in the future!"
"Huh? So soon?"
"Learning magic should start from a young age! After all, neither you nor I are magicians!"
Zenith's emotions came and went quickly.
After deciding to hire a tutor to teach Rudeus magic without Paul's agreement, she slowly came to Shirou's side.
"Don't move."
Faced with Shirou's strange expression, Zenith gently lifted his clothes.
When she saw the obvious, ugly scar on Shirou's shoulder and chest, the blonde woman gasped.
Zenith hugged him with a sad face and said, crying, "I'm sorry, Shirou, I'm really sorry. It's all My fault. If I hadn't made the decision to go on a trip with Paul at that time, maybe this wouldn't have happened…"
"It's okay, Zenith, it's okay."
Shirou looked at the tears streaming down the woman's face and hugged her back, gently patting her back as if comforting her.
Just then, he suddenly noticed Paul standing to the side for some reason, saying to him with a serious face, "Shirou, Zenith is my wife!"
"Yeah, so what?"
Completely not knowing what Paul was doing, Shirou gave a strange look.
He sighed helplessly, realizing that improving family relationships was still a long way off.