When Shirou thanked her, Eris stubbornly turned her head away, acting like she didn't care. But her red face and the way her hands were moving around, not knowing where to go, showed that she really did care about what Shirou said and was happy from the bottom of her heart.
On the other side, Shirou was thinking about what Ruijerd had said before. He started to think as much as he could about why he and Paul had differences, where their problems were, and what way or method he could use to have a peaceful discussion.
After thinking for a bit.
Shirou realized that the method was actually not hard at all, he just hadn't thought about it that way before.
Many things might seem confusing when they happen, feeling very hard to understand. But actually, as long as you calm down and really think about them, you can easily find the answer.
"Thank you both, thank you so much."
Shirou thanked Ruijerd and Eris again. He was grateful for their help in clearing his head and knowing what he really needed to do.
"..."
Eris was even more shy about this, then she sat in Shirou's lap, acting like she knew what he needed to do.
Shirou smiled at this and didn't hesitate. He reached for a comb and started combing Eris's hair.
The two of them acted like brother and sister while talking. Eris told Shirou about her adventure during the day. She said she met a young priest named Cliff and had an unpleasant experience.
Ruijerd saw this and had a gentle smile on his face.
Everything was understood without words.
...
The next day.
Shirou left early in the morning for the bar where Paul was staying. He left alone, without Eris and Ruijerd.
Since he wanted to explain everything to Paul completely, he naturally had to do it himself.
Also, if there were other people around, many things couldn't be said as clearly.
Of course, Shirou wasn't completely sure that he could convince Paul.
But he knew he had to do it.
For Paul's sake, and for his own.
Because they were family.
The bar was almost empty in the early morning. The members of the search group that he had seen before didn't seem to be awake yet.
But Paul was already up early, sitting at a table in the bar, drinking glass after glass.
Because he was giving off an unhappy feeling, no one dared to get close to him.
"..."
Seeing Paul like this, Shirou took a deep breath to calm himself down, sorted out his words, and then walked over. "Can I have a drink too?"
"?"
Paul looked up in surprise.
When he saw Shirou, he immediately had a complicated look on his face. He seemed surprised that Shirou dared to come find him, and his face was full of annoyance.
But he didn't get angry right away. Instead, he handed over the bottle of alcohol, as if challenging him. "Drink if you can. You're an adult now, drink as much as you want."
"Okay."
Shirou took the bottle and poured himself a drink.
He never used to drink alcohol.
Even before he traveled to this world, he never touched a drop.
Whether it was his own memories or the memories of Servant Emiya, he had nothing to do with alcohol.
But since he was with Paul, he was willing to do things that he wasn't used to doing.
"Glug."
He finished a glass of alcohol.
The spicy taste spread through his throat.
The alcohol in this world was obviously rougher than modern alcohol. At least Shirou vaguely remembered that when he secretly drank Emiya Kiritsugu's beer a long time ago, it didn't taste this muddy at all.
But he didn't care. He just silently drank the alcohol and drank glass after glass, competing with Paul.
"You... you little brat... are you trying to compete with me even with drinking!"
Paul got angry.
He didn't expect Shirou to drink so much at once, and he looked both upset and worried. He looked like a normal father.
Shirou smiled and said, "Yeah, I've always been competitive. It just doesn't show on the outside. Actually, I never give up, especially when it comes to you, Paul..."
"Ha, are you kidding me? You became a Sword Saint at just seventeen years old, you're much stronger than me."
Maybe because of the alcohol, or maybe because Shirou's attitude of drinking with him was like any other drinking buddy in a bar, Paul started talking more.
Shirou shook his head and replied, "No, honestly, I always thought I was not as good as you. Especially this time, it made me realize that you are very strong, much stronger than me. You were able to build a search team all by yourself, and you still tried your best to find our lost family while taking care of Norn. In terms of spirit, I am not as good as you, really..."
Shirou spoke from the bottom of his heart.
He said that he was not as good as Paul.
When Paul heard Shirou's praise, he clicked his tongue and touched his face.
Being praised by his excellent son like this would naturally make a man of his character feel pleased, but he didn't just feel that way. He also felt a strange feeling.
He didn't know what that feeling was. His brain, which was numbed by alcohol, gradually became clearer, and he stopped drinking.
Of course, he wouldn't be persuaded so easily by Shirou. As if trying to provoke him on purpose, he said harshly, "If you think I'm right, you should come with me. We'll go find Zenith and the others together. Then we wouldn't have argued in the first place."
"Wouldn't have argued? Paul, do you really think that's why we argued?"
Shirou took a deep breath.
He had thought about it for a long time last night, remembering every conversation he had with Paul.
At first, he also thought that the reason he and Paul had a conflict was that they disagreed about whether to look for their family right away.
But actually, after thinking carefully, Shirou realized that the situation was not like that at all.
First of all, he and Paul didn't know where Zenith and the others were.
They didn't have any clues about their location at all.
Even if Shirou agreed to go with Paul to look for their family, it would just be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
And even if Shirou just walked back to the Asura Kingdom with Eris, they might still accidentally find clues about Zenith and the others along the way.
So, whether or not to look for someone was not a question of action, but a question of psychology.
The reason they argued was that Paul assumed that Shirou was not trying hard enough to find his family. He felt that Shirou had completely forgotten about finding his family all these years, and instead was traveling around with Eris, a child of the Boreas family. That's why he was so angry.
After Shirou understood this, he also realized what the solution to the problem was.
The method was actually not difficult.
"Paul, you probably haven't asked about information in the Demon Continent, and you don't know anything about the Demon Continent, right?"
Shirou suddenly said something that seemed unrelated.
"Of course not."
Paul answered instinctively.
Shirou said, "I see. Then you must not know that there is a new S-rank adventurer team in the Demon Continent these years, Black Wolf Second."
"S-rank adventurer team? Black Wolf Second?"
When Paul heard Shirou's words, he vaguely remembered something.
He had heard something similar from a demon who came from the Demon Continent.
But because he was in a state of daily drinking at the time, he didn't investigate the matter in detail, and he didn't even notice the strange thing about the name Black Wolf Second.
"Wait? Could it be?"
"Yes, that's the adventurer team that I created."
Shirou nodded.
In the years that he, Eris, and Ruijerd had been adventuring, their adventurer team had successfully reached S-rank. Because Ruijerd's and Shirou's strength was far beyond that of ordinary people, their reputation was quite famous even in the Demon Continent.
After Shirou's adventurer team gained enough fame, he made an agreement with adventurer guilds in various places.
If anyone from the Fitoa region incident came to contact them, they should contact him using his adventurer card.
Unfortunately, he hadn't been contacted yet, which meant that there might not be any clues about his family in the Demon Continent.
The reason why Shirou was bringing up this matter now was to prove to Paul that he had never forgotten his family. It was just that Eris was as important as his family, so he had to do two things at the same time.
"..."
Hearing Shirou's words, Paul also realized that he might have misunderstood him.
But he was a prideful person, and he still didn't want to admit his mistake. He said directly, "Even so, you should be able to do better. You've already become a Sword Saint!"
"Paul, do you think being a Sword Saint is very strong?"
Shirou asked Paul in return, "Although you haven't reached the Saint level in any sword technique, you're actually not weaker than me. It's just that I used some strange methods to beat you."
"Winning is winning, I can afford to lose."
"Heh, if you can afford to lose, why are you so upset?"
"You..."
Paul was asked by Shirou and got a little angry.
Because it was after being defeated by Shirou that he broke down even further.
He never expected that he had been working hard for so many years, but he still hadn't won against Shirou, which made him lose face as a father.
Shirou didn't continue to provoke him. He said silently, "But I lost, Paul. I didn't do better than you. Because of Eris, I was delayed. Besides building an adventurer team, I didn't have time to look for our family in more places, to search for clues about Zenith and the others. When it comes to caring for our family, I'm not as good as you."
Shirou silently admitted that he was not as good as Paul.
Paul felt complicated about what he heard.
Because he wasn't happy at all.
It was only at this moment that he suddenly realized that he had never really seen himself as a father, and he had never let go of his pride.
He had not done what a father should do.
---
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