After the monster hunt ended, time suddenly started to fly by quickly again.
Shirou turned ten years old without problem, and Rudeus turned five.
Because Shirou had lied about his birthday and age at first, his real age wasn't accurate, and he had just given a random birthday.
So, the Greyrat family decided to combine his and Rudeus's birthdays and have a small party for both of them.
The Asura Kingdom didn't have a custom of celebrating birthdays every year, but they always gave blessings and gifts and celebrated important ages like five, ten, and fifteen.
As their father, Paul gave Shirou and Rudeus each a sword.
The sword he gave Shirou was specially made by a blacksmith in Roa. It was very strong and light to swing.
Rudeus's sword wasn't for real fighting since he was only five, so it was just a training sword.
"A man must have a sword in his heart, and it should only be drawn to protect those who are important to him –"
Paul said this line that he had read in some adventure book, and because he was in a good mood, he started telling his old adventure stories.
Even though he was happy and talking a lot, Sylphy stopped him by saying it was too long.
So, Paul stopped with a bitter smile and specially taught Shirou and Rudeus how to take care of their weapons.
After that, Zenith also gave Shirou and Rudeus gifts.
She gave Rudeus a rare plant book, because even though this world had paper making, it didn't seem to have printing technology, so books were all handwritten, making them very valuable.
Rudeus was obviously very happy about this.
Then, Zenith looked at Shirou and took out a book called "A Guide to Cooking in All Continents."
"Even though Shirou, you're a very good cook, the cooking methods and eating habits of people in different places are all very different. I think you'll definitely be able to use this in the future."
"This… thank you."
Shirou was surprised that Zenith would give him a cooking book. He was stunned for a moment, and then gave a happy smile from his heart.
But he also thought it was strange, not understanding why Zenith looked so sad.
In fact, the cooking book that Zenith gave him included knowledge of different dishes from the Central Continent, Begaritt Continent, Millis Continent, Demon Continent, and many other places, as if she thought Shirou would definitely go to those places in the future.
But Shirou himself didn't know what he would do in the future. He might stay with the Greyrat family forever, protecting the small happiness of this family.
While Shirou was thinking, Roxy, as his magic teacher, slowly walked over from the side, also seeming to want to give a gift.
She first went to Rudeus and gave him a magic wand.
The magic wand was very simple, just a stick about thirty centimeters long with a small red stone at the end. It was very plain.
Roxy slowly said, "This is something I made a few days ago. I forgot because Rudy could use magic from the beginning, but as a teacher, I should make a magic wand for a student who can use beginner magic. I'm sorry."
"Okay, teacher, I'll take good care of this magic wand."
Rudeus looked happy, but Roxy smiled bitterly. She obviously didn't want to be called teacher by such a talented student.
Then, Roxy turned to look at Shirou.
When facing Shirou, her reaction became even stronger. Many complicated thoughts surfaced, and she could only awkwardly say:
"I'm sorry, Shirou, I wasn't able to prepare a gift for you."
"It's okay."
Although Shirou was a little disappointed in his heart, he still acted calm on the surface.
Ever since that awkward thing happened that night, the relationship between him and Roxy had become distant, like a puzzle that was always missing a piece, and could never fit together perfectly.
Although Shirou had always been looking for a way to fix their relationship, he didn't have any experience in dealing with this kind of thing in his entire life, including his life as Servant Emiya, so things dragged on and became what they were now.
On the other side, even though Roxy hadn't prepared a gift, she seemed to have something to say.
After hesitating for a while, Roxy slowly said, "Um, Shirou, although I wasn't able to prepare a gift for you, I did prepare some things for you."
As she said this, Roxy took out a thin notebook from her chest.
Although the notebook was thin, it looked very delicate. Especially when Shirou opened it, he could feel the effort that the notebook's creator had put into it. Almost every page was filled with magic-related knowledge and paragraphs, with many notes added. You could see in every line of words how much the writer had thought and revised it day and night.
"This… this is…"
Shirou looked at Roxy in a daze, never expecting that she would give him something so precious.
Many of the magic-related things inside were like a bright light in the darkness for someone like him who lacked magic talent.
And Shirou could see at a glance that this content couldn't be summed up all at once. It must have taken a lot of time and effort to summarize these magic techniques. Even in the world of magicians, it would probably be priceless.
"I'm sorry, Shirou. As a home teacher, I haven't treated you and Rudy equally all along. Although I tried to help you keep up with the pace of magic, I was definitely a little unfair because of the difference in objective factors." Roxy apologized, "If possible, I would like to spend more time personally teaching you and guiding your magic practice, but unfortunately, some things can't be changed by human will."
"Roxy, what do you mean…"
"I'll probably quit my job as a home teacher and leave this place in a few days. Before that, I'll probably give you a graduation exam for the last time."
Roxy slowly said with a sad look, but her expression was extremely firm, as if she had made up her mind and would definitely not change her choice.
Shirou and Rudeus then looked at each other, each seeing a hint of complexity in the other's eyes.
In the end, neither of the brothers said anything to stop her. Instead, they nodded seriously and accepted the trial of this graduation exam.
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