"No, I'm not interested in becoming king or anything like that."
Shirou immediately turned down the Dragon King's words.
The Dragon King wasn't surprised at all and said calmly, "Of course, I know you're not interested, but in my opinion, you're much more interesting than that girl Ariel and more suitable to be king..."
"This..."
Shirou really couldn't see what qualifications he had to become king.
But he couldn't be bothered to deny it.
So Shirou chose to change the subject and said, "Your Majesty the Dragon King, about helping me control barrier magic, is there any progress?"
"Well, I'm currently preparing for that matter."
The Dragon King looked like he was reliable and said frankly, "It will take some time to complete, so you can take this time to go back to the magic university. If everything is ready, I will have Almanfi find you."
"Thank you."
Hearing the Dragon King's words, Shirou nodded gratefully.
He was planning to go back to the magic university anyway, because he didn't know when his two sisters, Norn and Aisha, would be coming, and he needed to prepare in advance.
As for the money needed to buy a house, Shirou thought about it and still didn't have a good idea, so he simply took this opportunity to ask the Dragon King, thinking that he could borrow some from him. He even made preparations to exchange it for weapons he had made.
Who knew that Perugius was so generous when it came to money? When he heard that Shirou was short of money, he directly gave him several valuable treasures.
Although they were just things that were commonly seen in the aerial fortress, anyone could tell at a glance how valuable they were.
Shirou was very grateful for this and would have to repay Perugius in the future.
...
After leaving Perugius's hall, Shirou prepared to return to the ground.
Before leaving, he went to find Nanahoshi, intending to take her back with him as well.
Nanahoshi immediately agreed after hearing this.
She had only come here to bring Shirou to the aerial fortress, so if Shirou was preparing to return, she certainly wouldn't stay here and would go back to the magic university to further study summoning magic.
After making arrangements with Nanahoshi, Shirou quickly went to find Ariel.
Even though she still hadn't gained the Dragon King's approval, it didn't make sense to keep staying here. It would be better to go back to the magic university first, discuss with others, and think about how to gain the Dragon King's approval.
After asking around with Sylvaril, Shirou quickly learned that Ariel was in the courtyard of the aerial fortress.
He saw Ariel at a glance and found that she didn't look good, and was quite lost.
"..."
Seeing Ariel in such a low mood, Shirou didn't know how to start, so he could only avoid bothering her and sit down next to the girl without making a sound.
"Shirou, what do you think I should do?"
The moment Shirou sat down next to Ariel, she suddenly spoke.
She clearly wasn't ignoring her surroundings and noticed Shirou's arrival right away.
"You're asking me what you should do..."
To be honest, Shirou couldn't think of any good solutions to Ariel's question. He had even directly asked Perugius, but only got some ambiguous answer from him.
However, Perugius's words weren't without meaning.
He said that he was willing to support Shirou becoming king, meaning that he saw the potential in Shirou to become the king of Asura. On the other hand, Ariel didn't currently have that potential.
As long as he figured out what Shirou had that Ariel didn't, and then trained Ariel accordingly, he could get her to be recognized by Perugius.
So Shirou told Ariel his thoughts, simply wanting to encourage her, but he didn't expect Ariel to become even more lost.
"Does Lord Perugius mean that I never had the qualifications to become king from the start?"
"No, how could that be?"
Shirou didn't expect Ariel to think that way, and quickly said, "Since Perugius is willing to give you a chance, it means that he thinks that you have the ability to gain his approval, but you just haven't found the right direction yet."
"The right direction?"
Hearing Shirou's words, the light in Ariel's eyes slightly returned.
However, that light was still dim and shrouded in a layer of darkness.
"Why don't we go back to the magic university first?"
Seeing Ariel like this, Shirou knew that he couldn't leave her alone in this aerial castle. "Returning to a familiar place and talking to close people might give you inspiration about the right direction."
"This..."
Hearing Shirou's words, Ariel was silent for a long time, and finally nodded silently.
Seeing Ariel like this, Shirou felt that it was very rare.
Since he met her, Shirou had never seen this princess so lost and sad, and on the verge of giving up.
It was very similar to the girl named Tohsaka Rin in Servant Emiya's memories, always believing in herself, always sticking to herself, and always walking on the right path...
In the past, no matter what problems she encountered or what difficulties she faced, she would show a confident and tolerant attitude, and wouldn't be burdened by the slightest setback, and would continue to move forward.
To be honest, that stance was very dazzling, and even Shirou was instinctively attracted to her, recognized the path she had chosen, and believed that she could reach where she was supposed to reach.
But now, Ariel had obviously lost her former confidence and even begun to doubt herself.
The reason for this must be because the difficulties in reality were too great, and it was impossible for her to overcome them with her abilities, so she began to give up on herself.
Generally speaking, when ordinary people face insurmountable difficulties, they will start with small things that they can do and gradually make progress. When they accumulate enough, they will cross the difficulties in one go.
However, Ariel had never had the experience of facing setbacks like this in the past.
Because Ariel had high leadership skills, she probably had never experienced the step of getting along well with others, and easily won them over as partners.
Therefore, she would be very troubled when she encountered objects that her leadership skills didn't work on.
Only Shirou, disguised as Muramasa, had given Ariel a problem in the past, but because Shirou's personality wasn't sharp enough, he didn't create too much difficulty for Ariel.
Now that she encountered a figure like Dragon King Perugius, whose personality was sharp to a certain extent, Ariel was probably completely at a loss.
If she wanted to overcome the current difficulties, she needed Ariel to cheer up, not to aim too high, stick to herself, and start with small things.
...
Shirou quickly took Nanahoshi and Ariel back to the magic university.
Nanahoshi's personality was always one that liked to stay at home, so she went straight into a room deep inside the smithy, and had completely made this place her home.
Shirou had intended to send Ariel back to the student council room, but he didn't expect Ariel to refuse to go back.
She seemed to not want familiar people to see her in this terrible state, so she asked to stay in the smithy.
Although Shirou really wanted to refuse, when he saw her pitiful look, he couldn't help but take pity on her and let her stay.
Almost only Shirou and Nanahoshi knew about this. Without them spreading the word, no one knew that Ariel was staying with Shirou.
Although doing so was a bit like keeping a mistress, and Luke and Fitz might even be angry at him if they knew, seeing Ariel's depressed look, he really couldn't leave her alone.
However, Shirou didn't have time to take care of Ariel, because he still needed to prepare for Norn and Aisha's arrival.
He first went to find the house that Rudeus had looked at before, and went through the procedures for the transfer of property with the original owner of the house.
Finally, after formally buying and selling the house, he owned a fairly large house, at least one or two times larger than the house in Buena Village, which would be enough for Paul, Zenith, and Lilia to live in when they came back in the future.
After buying the house, Shirou personally cleaned the house. To him, cleaning of this degree was nothing, and he cleaned the entire house spotlessly in less than half a day.
After finishing everything, he returned to the workshop and found that Ariel was still here, spacing out from time to time, looking at the sky outside.
Shirou originally didn't want to bother her, but he didn't expect Ariel to suddenly say to him, "Hey, Shirou, even if I can't become the king of Asura, it won't be any problem, right?"
"..."
Shirou was suddenly stunned, not expecting Ariel to say such a thing.
He stared blankly at her, and found that there wasn't the slightest hint of a joke on the girl's face, and he didn't know what to say in response for a moment.
On the other side, Ariel was apparently completely disheartened under the great setbacks, and she said with a tired face:
"Actually, I've never been so obsessed with becoming king. The reason why I wanted to become king was simply because I didn't want to disappoint the people around me, and I didn't want the people who believed in me and supported me to look down on me... It's ridiculous, isn't it? My goal of becoming king was never for myself. I didn't take the initiative to move forward, but was pushed to this point bit by bit by invisible hands."
"Those who support me, those who believe in me, everyone thinks that I can meet their expectations, and can easily accomplish things that they can't accomplish, and achieve their ideals. But only I know in my heart that I'm not that strong, and I'm not that great, I'm just a fragile person, I can only make fragile choices, and I can't meet their expectations."
"A long time ago, when I went to Boreas's castle, I met that Master Muramasa. He compared becoming king to forging a sword, and thought that the most important thing I lacked was a reason to become king. Action without a reason is like a person forging a weapon without a blueprint. In the end, they can't create anything, and they can't do anything. In the past, I thought that as time went on, I would be able to find the answer, and I would be able to find that crucial reason for action, but even today, I still haven't found anything, and I haven't been able to obtain anything..."
Ariel clenched the corner of her skirt self-deprecatingly. She had obviously said all the darkness deep in her heart, and turned all her bitterness into words to tell Shirou.
Shirou didn't respond to this, and he really couldn't respond.
Because those were Ariel's own entanglements, Ariel's own worries. Any words spoken by outsiders couldn't change the predicament that the person in the predicament was in.
On the other hand, Ariel herself seemed to have relaxed a lot and become more optimistic after pouring out everything in her heart.
A smile reappeared on her face, but that smile clearly lacked something compared to the past, something important.
Shirou didn't understand what she was missing.
Before he could think of an answer, Ariel suddenly said to him, "Hey, Shirou, if I give up becoming king now, and give up everything, would you be with me?"
"What?"
Shirou suddenly widened his eyes, not expecting to hear such words from Ariel.
He looked at her, and wanted to see an attitude that this was just a joke, but it didn't appear.
What appeared in Ariel's eyes was a seriousness that was greater than anyone's, a real wish and thought from her.
Give up everything, become an ordinary person...
Ariel's heart was yearning for that kind of life without burdens, only a peaceful everyday life.
In fact, if Shirou agreed, he could do that.
He only needed to announce to the outside world that Ariel was missing, and then take Ariel to a country that no one knew about, and they could give up all the disputes and live a peaceful and worry-free life together.
That might indeed be a good future, a pastoral idyll, peaceful and serene, without enemies or worries, creating the future with their own hands...
However, not to mention whether Shirou himself was willing, did Ariel really yearn for that kind of life?
Fate is always fair. When you gain something, you will inevitably lose something.
Stories without worries and without sadness never exist... If you make the wrong choice, you may seem to gain temporary happiness, but you will inevitably feel regret one day.
Not to mention Shirou himself, he didn't want Ariel to make a choice that she would regret.
"Princess Ariel..."
Shirou silently grabbed Ariel's hand.
A blush immediately appeared on the latter's face, but she didn't let go, and instead gripped his hand even harder, expressing the girl's attitude.
Just as Ariel took a deep breath and prepared to make up her mind, Shirou said, "I'm going to show you something."
"Show me something?"
Ariel looked confused, not expecting him to say such a thing.
If it wasn't Shirou in front of her, she would have even thought he was telling some dirty joke.
But Shirou obviously wouldn't say such meaningless words. He said seriously, "Yes, I can understand your idea of giving up everything and running away, but I also want to tell you that running away is definitely not the path to happiness. For this reason, I will show you the consequences of choosing the wrong path, and show you all of me!"
---
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