As a Homunculus, Irisviel von Einzbern had been designed with a lifespan of only nine years.
In the original plan, she was supposed to die the moment the Einzbern family achieved victory. Under no circumstances was she meant to survive beyond the Fourth Holy Grail War.
But during that ritual, Irisviel herself developed the desire to "live on," and in the end, she betrayed her own family.
After the war, Irisviel's life was extended far beyond the limits of her intended lifespan.
Shirou had believed she would live to be a hundred, just like an ordinary human. No, more than that, he had sincerely hoped she would.
At first, Irisviel had simply declared on her own that she was Shirou's "mom," but after fighting and living together for so many years, Shirou had long since come to see her as his real mother.
Irisviel's life ending here... he couldn't accept that!
Shirou wanted Irisviel to stay by his side forever. Even if a short lifespan was the fate of a Homunculus, he wanted her to live at least another ten years. No, thirty years!!
Shirou forced out a smile.
"Hahaha... Irisviel, what are you talking about? Don't scare me like that.
Your lifespan isn't ending. You're just sick, that's all. Rest for a few days, take your treatment properly, and you'll recover."
Irisviel shook her head. "Shirou, you don't have to comfort me. I know my own body better than anyone."
"..."
Shirou furrowed his brow as a nameless, restless frustration flared in his chest.
"I said, stop talking about your lifespan! That's not the problem!
Who decided Homunculi can't live as long as humans?
Irisviel, haven't you already lived for more than fifteen years? So it's not a problem at all!"
As he spoke, the boy reached toward the Homunculus's chest to check Avalon's Mana response.
Tsk... The scabbard is still there, so why hasn't it protected Irisviel? Aren't you supposed to be the strongest guardian in the world?
Shirou poured even more Mana into the scabbard. Watching his futile effort, Irisviel spoke.
"Mm, it's thanks to you, Shirou, that I've been able to live this long... but I've reached my limit now..."
"That won't happen. I'll find a way."
Shirou tightly clasped the silver-haired Homunculus's hand and spoke with a determined expression.
"I'll find a way to keep you alive, Irisviel. Even if I have to use every resource I have, I'll make sure you live."
"Shirou, thank you."
The silver-haired Homunculus stroked the boy's cheek and thanked him softly.
Shirou smiled in relief. "Yeah. So you just rest, Irisviel. Leave everything from here on to me and."
"I feel very happy right now..."
Irisviel gently interrupted Shirou's vow.
"Meeting you... being saved by you... living with you... spending all those years together, a length of time that's almost a whole lifetime for a Homunculus...
I really am an awful woman... From the very beginning, I wanted to use you...
I wanted to use you to fulfill my selfish wish of being a 'mother,' but I never considered how you felt, or whether you would be happy.
All these years... I must have caused you so much trouble. It wouldn't be strange if you hated me..."
"Irisviel is my mother!" Shirou said loudly.
"I've never thought of you as trouble, and I could never hate you... so please, don't think like that anymore."
The silver-haired Homunculus smiled weakly. "Shirou really is such a kind child.
As my son, isn't that a little too good for me?
Hehe... I'm joking, I'm joking. Don't be mad, and don't glare at me..."
Irisviel closed her eyes, and beautiful memories from all these years flashed through her mind.
There were memories of her, Shirou, Sella, and Leysritt, sometimes with Taiga Fujimura and the others as well, going to the park to admire flowers, traveling abroad, and many more.
Every time, it was because Irisviel had suddenly and selfishly said she wanted to go somewhere. Shirou would complain the whole way, but in the end, he always indulged her.
"Shirou, it's because of you that I could be this happy... Thank you, truly, for being willing to love a doll like me."
"I haven't done anything for you yet, Irisviel," the boy said in a low, dispirited voice.
"That's not true. You gave me something I never could have dreamed of. All the happiness in the world..."
Irisviel gently stroked the boy's hair.
"I've already experienced every happiness this world has to offer. I have no regrets... If anything, I feel like I came out far ahead, hehe!"
"So you don't need to blame yourself, Shirou... You should be proud instead. You even managed to save someone as troublesome as me...
So, at the end, Shirou... please say goodbye to me with a smile..."
"..."
Shirou was speechless.
Even if Irisviel said she had lived a deeply fulfilling life with no regrets, he couldn't accept it.
Staying alive was more important than anything else. That was the value Shirou had formed over his long life in the Fairy Kingdom.
Shirou did not believe people should do anything, or throw away everything noble, just to survive. But…
What he could not accept was that Irisviel, who was still so young and still longed for the future deep down, had accepted the fate of death so easily.
I will save Irisviel. Shirou clenched his fists.
His own strength alone probably would not be enough. He had to consult someone first.
The first people Shirou thought of were those women who stood at the pinnacle of modern Magecraft: Aoko, Alice, Touko...
No. Their knowledge and skill in Magecraft might be hundreds or thousands of times greater than his, but the three of them together were not even eighty years old...
There was a far more suitable person to consult right in front of him.
After returning to his room, Shirou took the little yellow toy duck from a cabinet drawer and awakened the intellect of the Necromancer sealed inside it.
Shirou told Makiri about Irisviel. After listening, Makiri fell into a brief silence.
"Is there any way, Makiri?" Shirou pressed anxiously.
"Heh heh heh... Kid, do you know why artificial lifeforms have such short lifespans?"
Shirou thought for a moment before answering, "To cut costs?"
"That girl was created as a Lesser Grail. Do you really think the Einzberns, the richest family in the world, would have skimped on resources for her?"
"No..."
Shirou was restless and impatient, and he pressed him. "Stop talking in circles, Makiri."
Makiri said, "Artificial lifeforms are born in adult form, creatures able to move the moment they are forged. If the process were perfect enough, they would not die simply because their lifespan had run out.
But perhaps because the method of their birth itself goes against the laws of nature, most artificial lifeforms carry some kind of physical defect.
The Einzbern are an exception among exceptions. They possess world-class alchemy and are also the ancient descendants of the Third Magic, a lineage that has existed for more than two thousand years.
But artificial lifeforms outside the Einzbern are not so fortunate. Many are born frail, and some Homunculi do not even possess basic intelligence.
There are even artificial lifeforms created solely to serve as batteries for Mana."
Perhaps because Irisviel was on his mind, Shirou felt anger flare inside him.
They had human forms and human intellects, yet they were lives created only to be taken from, used, and discarded.
Was this really so common in the world of Magus?
"Heh heh heh, don't get angry, don't get angry... I haven't finished yet."
The little yellow duck's thick, unsettling laugh helped Shirou calm down slightly.
Makiri continued, "A Homunculus's lifespan is often tied to its intended function.
Homunculi created as soldiers, Homunculi with first-class Magic Circuits.
Their lifespans are often even shorter than ordinary Homunculi. Two or three months to half a year would be about the limit."
Shirou immediately thought of Leysritt and Sella, but their lifespans were not short, were they?
They seemed to have been born shortly before the Holy Grail War, and they had lived seven or eight years by now.
"That is why I said the Einzbern are an exception among exceptions.
The stronger a Homunculus's performance is in one area, the weaker its lifespan and other functions become.
Even the true Third Magician was no exception."
Was the Magician he was talking about the "Saintess of the Winter"?
Shirou had heard that Irisviel's ancestor, Justeaze, had been frail and sickly from birth, to the point that she could barely walk.
Although she had possessed true Magic, her capabilities as a magus had been extremely poor. That was why she turned her own body into the Greater Grail.
"Ah, right, and there is that 'Dress of Heaven' as well.
It was originally created as a Mystic Code for the 'Lesser Grail,' so it should die together with the 'Lesser Grail' when the latter dies."
"Leysritt too... Then what is the method? Makiri, I didn't call you out here for a lecture. Is there any way to extend a Homunculus's life?"
"No."
Makiri said, "I believe I have already explained this clearly. Even the Einzbern's Homunculus technology, the most advanced in the world, can only extend the 'Lesser Grail's' life to nine years at most.
That is the limit of Magecraft.
In that sense, the young lady of the Einzbern family can indeed be called the ultimate culmination of their work."
"If Magecraft can't do it, then what about Magic?"
"Hmm... If the 'Greater Grail' were still around, perhaps you could try making that wish to it, heh heh heh."
Makiri said it jokingly, and Shirou shot him a fierce glare.
"Magic other than the Third."
"I doubt it would be possible."
"Why can you say that so confidently?"
"Because an old friend of mine was the greatest alchemist in human history. That is why I can say so with certainty."
Shirou said, "Hah? I'm not interested in your past. We're talking about Homunculus lifespans right now."
Makiri said, "So-called artificial lifeforms, Homunculi, are beings 'forged' based on Magic Circuits.
Because they cannot accumulate experience and grow as humans do, their souls are as pure and fragile as infants'.
That is the true reason Homunculi are short-lived. Their souls are incomplete... To put it another way, they are like embryos soaking in flasks.
So even if you implant the scabbard of the King of Knights inside a Homunculus, it will be useless. What ages rapidly is not the body, but the soul.
If you wish to change a Homunculus's lifespan, you must use the Third Magic. You must remodel their souls from The Root."
The room fell silent.
Shirou lowered his head, lost in thought.
Then Makiri spoke.
"Kid, why do you want to save the young lady of the Einzbern family? Is it because of that ridiculous kindness of yours again?"
Shirou answered without hesitation. "No. If she were someone unrelated to me, I would never go this far."
If Shirou met a cancer patient in a hospital, he would simply do whatever he could within his ability to help.
There were more than six billion people in this world. He could not possibly save every single one of them. But…
If Irisviel faced the same thing, then Shirou would conquer cancer for her sake.
By the time his discussion with Makiri ended, it was already late at night.
Shirou spread his futon over the tatami, turned off the light, and lay down.
Staring at the familiar ceiling, the boy murmured.
"How long are you going to keep peeking...? Come out. You're there, aren't you?"
At those words, a peerless beauty wreathed in vibrant flowers appeared in the Japanese-style room in the dead of night.
"Good evening, my Arthur."
The female Magus with long hair shimmering in brilliant rainbow colors, Lady Avalon, sat properly beside the boy's bed and reached toward his forehead.
Shirou took her hand and looked at her pleadingly. "Help me, Professor."
Sure enough, the person he trusted most was still her.
If even Lady Avalon could not save Irisviel, then Shirou could say for certain that no one in this world could.
"Oh my, Shirou actually came to ask me for help on his own... That hasn't happened since the Holy Grail War ended, has it? How nostalgic."
Lady Avalon smiled cheerfully. "Irisviel really is that important and special to Shirou. I'm getting a little jealous myself.
Mm, I'll help. I will help! My hand hurts. You're going to crush it!"
Shirou immediately let go. The silver-haired Sage rubbed the back of her hand with tears in her eyes and said faintly, "Ugh, you know perfectly well I could never refuse you..."
Shirou hurriedly sat up straight on the bed. "Thank you, Professor."
Lady Avalon said, "Don't thank me. I cannot extend her life either.
All I can do is show you the path forward, Arthur."
"Yes."
Shirou nodded respectfully, and Lady Avalon spoke with a serious expression.
"I will tell you one thing. The one method that can truly extend Irisviel's life."
"Let her become a true mother," Lady Avalon said.
"As long as Irisviel becomes pregnant and gives birth to a child... she can continue living as a human."
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