Jobless Reincarnation: Emiya the Great Hero Must Show His True Skills

Page 243

That was Ankylosaurus's test for her.

Despite Ankylosaurus's consistently tolerant attitude towards Ariel, his willingness to have lunch with her, and his apparent willingness to listen to her, Percyus rarely took Ariel's words seriously.

No matter what Ariel said, Percius remained uninterested.

Out of desperation, Ariel even resorted to evil means, trying to win him over with benefits. She explained to King Ankyl the advantages of joining her side, such as granting him a noble title if she became king, or giving him territory within Asura, and special treatment when buying and selling goods. In the end, she even offered the condition of two emperors ruling together...

However, these things were clearly not enough to impress Ankylosaurus.

After all, the fact that the Ankylosaurus King would distance himself from worldly affairs and live in seclusion in this aerial fortress shows that he had long since lost interest in power, wealth, and status.

Only Shirou's Unlimited Blade Works ability could attract his attention.

Ariel could never sway the Ankylosaurus with worldly benefits.

This outcome left Ariel feeling helpless, extremely anxious, and even quite depressed.

Seeing Ariel like this, Shirou naturally wanted to help her.

He went directly to Ankylosaurus to ask Ariel what she needed to do to gain her approval, or at least to get some hints.

Ankylosaurus silently replied, "Well, this is something that can't be described in words. How about this: if you, Shirou, are willing to become the king of the Asura Kingdom, I might be able to help you ascend the throne."

"what?"

Shirou was completely dumbfounded when he heard such a thing.

Chapter 320 Shirou, if I give up becoming king, would you be willing to be with me?

"No, I have no interest in becoming a king or anything like that."

Shirou immediately denied Ankylosaurus's words.

King Ankylosaurus showed no surprise, calmly replying, "Of course I know you're not interested, but in my opinion, you're far more interesting than that girl Ariel, and far more suited to be king..."

"This……"

Shirou truly couldn't see any qualifications he had to become king.

But he was too lazy to deny it.

So Shirou changed the subject, saying, "Lord Komami, has anything been settled regarding helping me master barrier magic?"

"Yes, I'm currently preparing for that."

With an air of confidence that he could handle things, the Ankylosaurus King said frankly, "It will still take some time before it's finished. You can use this time to go back to the Magic University. If everything is ready, I will have Almanfi come to you."

"Thank you."

Upon hearing Ankylosaurus's words, Shirou nodded gratefully.

He did indeed plan to return to the magic university, because he didn't know when his two younger sisters, Norren and Aisha, would arrive, and he needed to prepare in advance.

As for the money needed to buy the house, Shirou thought and thought but still couldn't come up with a good idea, so he simply took this opportunity to ask Ankylosaurus for some money, hoping that the other party could lend him some. He was even prepared to exchange it for a forged weapon.

Who knew that Percius was quite generous with money? When he heard that Shirou was temporarily short of money, he directly gave him several precious treasures.

Although they are just things that can be seen everywhere in the air fortress, anyone can tell at a glance how valuable they are.

Shirou was very grateful for this and would repay Percius in the future.

……

After leaving the hall where Percius was, Shirou prepared to return to the ground.

Before leaving, he undoubtedly made a trip to Qixing, intending to bring the other party back with him.

Qixing immediately agreed upon hearing this.

She came here only to take Shirou to the aerial fortress. If Shirou is going to go back, she will not stay here any longer and will return to the magic university to further study summoning magic.

After making a promise with the Seven Stars, Shirou quickly went to find Ariel.

Although the other party still hasn't gained the approval of the Ankylosaurus King, there's no point in staying here any longer. It would be better to return to the Magic University, discuss with others, and think of a plan to gain the Ankylosaurus King's approval.

After asking around with Shivari, Shirou quickly learned that Ariel was in the courtyard of the aerial fortress.

He spotted Ariel immediately and noticed that she didn't look well; in fact, she seemed quite disappointed.

"..."

Seeing Ariel in such a low mood, Shirou didn't know how to start a conversation, so he simply sat down next to the girl without disturbing her.

"Shirou, what do you think I should do?"

The moment Shirou sat down next to Ariel, she suddenly spoke.

It was clear that the other party was not unaware of their surroundings and noticed Shirou's arrival immediately.

"You asked me what to do..."

To be honest, Shirou couldn't think of a good solution to Ariel's question. He had even asked Percius directly, but only received a vague answer from him.

However, Percius's words were not without meaning.

The fact that the other party expressed their willingness to support Shirou becoming king means that they see the potential in Shirou to become the king of Asura. In contrast, Ariel does not currently possess that potential.

If we figure out what Shirou has that Ariel doesn't, and then train Ariel specifically, we can gain Percival's approval.

Shirou then told Ariel his thoughts, intending only to encourage her, but unexpectedly Ariel became even more disappointed.

"Does Lord Percius mean that I was never qualified to be king from the beginning?"

"No, how could that be?"

Shirou hadn't expected Ariel to think in this direction, so he quickly said, "Since Percius is willing to give you a chance, it means he believes you are capable of gaining his approval; you just haven't found the right direction yet."

"The right direction?"

Upon hearing Shirou's words, Ariel's expression brightened slightly.

However, the light was still not very clear, shrouded in a dark color.

"How about we go back to the Magic University first?"

Seeing Ariel in this state, Shirou knew he couldn't leave her alone in this floating castle. "Go back to a familiar place and talk to someone close to you. Maybe that will give you some inspiration on the right path."

"This……"

Upon hearing Shirou's words, Ariel remained silent for a long time before finally nodding quietly.

Seeing Ariel like this, Shirou undoubtedly felt it was a very rare sight.

Since meeting her, Shirou had never seen the princess so dejected and sad, almost to the point of despair.

She is very much like the girl named Rin Tohsaka in Emiya's memories, who always believes in herself, always stays true to herself, and always walks the right path...

In the past, no matter what difficulties or predicaments the other party encountered, they always showed a confident and tolerant attitude, and were not hindered by the slightest setback, but persisted in moving forward.

That demeanor was truly dazzling. Even Shirou was instinctively drawn to it, acknowledging the path it had chosen and believing that it would reach the place it was meant to reach.

But now, Ariel has clearly lost her former confidence and has even begun to doubt herself.

The reason for this is probably because the real-world difficulties are too great, and the other party is unlikely to overcome them by any means, leading them to give up on themselves.

Generally speaking, when ordinary people face insurmountable difficulties, they start with small things they can do step by step, gradually accumulating experience until they overcome obstacles in one go.

But Ariel had never experienced such a setback before.

Because Ariel has such a strong leadership presence, she probably never went through the process of building a good relationship with someone before, and she easily won them over as a partner.

Therefore, they will be very troubled when they encounter someone whose leadership charisma is ineffective.

It was Shirou, disguised as Muramasa, who once posed a challenge to Ariel, but because Shirou's personality wasn't sharp enough, he didn't create too much difficulty for Ariel.

Now that Ariel has encountered someone with such a sharp and unpredictable personality as Percyus, the Ankylosaurus, she is probably completely helpless.

To overcome the current difficulties, Ariel ultimately needs to pull herself together, avoid being overly ambitious, stay true to herself, and start with small, everyday things.

……

Shirou quickly took Nanaboru and Ariel back to the Magic University.

Qi Xing has always been a homebody, and he immediately went into a room deep inside the forging workshop, completely treating it as his home.

Shirou intended to take Ariel back to the student council room, but to his surprise, Ariel refused to go back.

The other person seemed to want to avoid being seen in such a wretched state by people they knew, so they requested to stay in the forging workshop.

Shirou wanted to refuse, but seeing the other person's pitiful appearance, he eventually took pity on him and let him stay.

This matter was known almost exclusively to Shirou and Nanaboshi. Because they didn't pass the message out, no one else knew that Ariel had stayed with Shirou.

Although doing this was a bit like keeping a mistress hidden away, and if Luke and Fitz found out, they might even be angry with him, he really couldn't just leave Ariel alone when he saw her looking so depressed.

However, Shirou didn't have time to take care of Ariel, because he needed to prepare for the arrival of Norn and Aisha.

He first went to the house that Rudius had previously chosen and completed the property handover procedures with the original owner.

Finally, after the house sale was officially completed, they owned a fairly spacious house, at least one or two times larger than the house in Buena village, which would be enough for Paul, Senis, and Lilia to live in when they returned.

After buying the house, Shirou personally cleaned it. For him, this level of cleaning was nothing, and he cleaned the entire house spotless in less than half a day.

After finishing everything, he returned to the forge and found Ariel still there, occasionally lost in thought, gazing at the sky outside.

Shirou didn't want to interrupt, but Ariel suddenly spoke to him, "Hey, Shirou, even if I don't become the king of the Asura Kingdom, will there be any problems?"

"..."

Shirou was stunned when Ariel suddenly said something like that.

He stared blankly at her, realizing that there was no hint of a joke on her face, and for a moment he didn't know what to say in response.

On the other side, Ariel, clearly exhausted by the immense setback, had completely lost her confidence. She spoke wearily:

"Actually, I have never been so obsessed with becoming king. The reason I wanted to become king was simply because I didn't want to disappoint the people around me, and I didn't want those 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 little by little by a pair of invisible hands."

“Those who support me, those who believe in me, everyone thinks that I can meet their expectations, can easily accomplish what they cannot, and achieve their ideals. But only I know in my heart that I am not that strong, nor that great. I am just a fragile person who can only make fragile choices and cannot meet their expectations.”

“Long ago, when I went to Bereas Castle, I met Master Muramasa. He compared becoming king to forging a sword, believing that the most important thing I lacked was a reason for becoming king. Acting without a reason is like forging a weapon without blueprints; in the end, nothing can be created, and nothing can be accomplished. I once thought that as time passed, I would find the answer, find that crucial reason for my actions. But to this day, I still haven't found anything, and I haven't gained anything…”

Ariel clutched the hem of her skirt in despair, clearly pouring out all the gloom in her heart and turning all her bitterness into words as she poured them out to Shirou.

Shirou did not respond to this, and indeed he had no way to respond.

Because those are Ariel's own entanglements and troubles, nothing an outsider can say can change the predicament that the person in distress is trapped in.

Ariel herself, on the other hand, seemed much more relaxed and optimistic after pouring out everything in her heart.

A smile returned to her face, but it was noticeably missing something compared to the past; something important was missing.

Shirou couldn't understand what the other person was missing.

Before he could come up with an answer, Ariel suddenly spoke to him, "Hey, Shirou, if I were to give up becoming king and abandon everything, would you be willing to be with me?"

"what?"

Shirou's eyes widened in surprise at hearing such words from Ariel.

He looked at the other person, hoping to see that it was just a joke, but it didn't come to pass.

Ariel's eyes revealed a sincerity more earnest than anyone else's, a genuine desire and thought from her own heart.

Give up everything and become an ordinary person...

Ariel's heart yearns for a life free of burdens, filled only with peaceful daily routines.

In fact, Shirou could do that if he agreed.

He could simply announce to the public that Ariel was missing, and then take her to a country no one knew, thus abandoning all conflict and living a peaceful and carefree life with her.

That might indeed be a good future: idyllic pastoral life, peaceful and tranquil, without enemies or worries, where you create your own future...

However, putting aside 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 else.

There is no such thing as a story without worries or sadness... If you make the wrong choice and seem to gain temporary happiness, you will inevitably regret it one day.

Shirou himself didn't want Ariel to make a choice she would regret.

"Your Highness Ariel..."

Shirou silently took Ariel's hand.

A flush of intense red spread across the latter's face, but she did not let go. Instead, she gripped the handle even tighter, expressing the girl's attitude.

Just as Ariel took a deep breath, preparing to make up her mind, Shirou spoke up: "I'm going to show you something."