Shirou was very curious about Gustav's strange reaction, so he asked the beast people further about Ghislaine.
It turned out that Ghislaine Dedoldia was a taboo existence in the beast tribe.
She had been different from others since she was a child.
Simply put, it was a personality called "Returning Beast."
Because beast people are born with a beast-like nature, if their beast nature is greater than their human nature at birth, they will behave no differently from wild animals, even more terrifying than ordinary wild animals.
Ghislaine was born with the "Returning Beast" trait, always emitting a smell of anger and dissatisfaction. Once she met someone's eyes, she would naturally attack.
She was like an extremely strengthened version of Eris, hitting anyone she saw without mercy.
She almost beat several people to death when she was a child.
Even her older brother, Gustav, almost died several times at Ghislaine's hands.
The beast tribe tried everything to heal Ghislaine. They used all kinds of punishments, stripping her naked, pouring cold water on her, and locking her in a warehouse, but they couldn't cure her problem at all.
No punishment could make Ghislaine behave herself. Instead, it would further fuel the anger in her heart, causing her to make a big fuss.
Gustav and Ghislaine's father, the previous tribal chief, finally decided to kill Ghislaine.
Gustav had no opinion on this, and could even be said to be relieved.
The entire beast tribe had had enough of Ghislaine's trouble.
However, Ghislaine ultimately did not die, because when she was thrown into the great forest to face countless monsters alone, she unexpectedly met a human Swordsman who was traveling.
The human Swordsman took a liking to Ghislaine's talent and took her in as a disciple.
At the time, the beast tribe didn't think much of it, thinking it was just the human nature of being helpful.
But long after, when Ghislaine became famous as Sword King Ghislaine, the beast tribe realized that the Swordsman who took Ghislaine away was the current Human Sword God!
Gustav and the beast people of his age could not accept this.
They didn't believe that Sword King Ghislaine was the Ghislaine they knew, thinking it was just some kind of coincidence.
They said these words with a mixture of fear and trembling in their hearts to reassure themselves.
But only today, with the arrival of Shirou and Eris, who both knew Ghislaine, were Gustav and the others' false ideas completely exposed, allowing them to see the truth.
The Ghislaine they once looked down upon, the Ghislaine they regarded as an outsider, had indeed become someone extraordinary.
"Sorry, it's my fault."
Gustav sincerely apologized to Eris.
Eris didn't want to accept it, but she didn't throw any further tantrums.
On the other hand, Shirou had a complicated expression after learning everything.
Because after hearing about Ghislaine's past, he could fully imagine how much of a headache Gustav must have had with his sister back then.
Shirou himself had experienced something similar. When he first met Miyu, facing this Divine Child who was so different from humans, he had also felt a trace of fear and unease in his heart. When they first came into contact, many conflicts occurred that were still hard to let go of.
But he was different from Gustav. He overcame the fear in his heart and the many feelings of rejection that arose when interacting with a non-human, and truly made Miyu his own sister.
But just because he could do it didn't mean everyone could.
So he apologized to Gustav, saying, "Sorry, what I said earlier was a bit presumptuous. I overlooked the trouble you encountered when facing Ghislaine back then."
"No, I'm the one who should apologize."
Gustav shook his head. "Shirou, what you said made me realize what a mistake I made back then. No matter how severe Ghislaine's 'Returning Beast' symptoms were, she was still my sister. As her older brother, not only did I not protect her, but I almost killed her. If it weren't for the Sword God's appearance, I'm afraid I would have been immersed in regret for the rest of my life."
Gustav's words were not a lie.
Although he had always pretended not to see it before, it wasn't until Shirou's arrival that he realized he had never been able to let go of everything that happened back then.
No matter how many conflicts there were between him and Ghislaine, they were still family.
And he had almost killed his own family, which was undoubtedly a sad thing.
Therefore, Gustav asked Shirou and Eris if he could see Ghislaine again and apologize to her in person.
This matter was naturally approved.
…
Because the rainy season was still ongoing, Shirou, Eris, and Ruijerd continued to live in the beast tribe's village.
This lasted for almost a month.
It was then that Shirou heard a strange rumor.
The beast people had captured a demon because he was gambling in the beast tribe's village, cheating little kids out of their pocket money, and even cheating at games. As a result, he was caught and put in prison.
This matter wouldn't have caught Shirou's attention, but a certain piece of information mentioned by the beast people made him react.
According to the beast people, the man who was caught was named Geese. He seemed to have been a famous adventurer in the past, belonging to the S-rank adventurer team [Black Wolf's Fang].
Hearing this name, Shirou couldn't sit still.
He immediately went to the prison to see the criminal and found that he was a monkey-like man with many demon traits.
When he was caught and put in prison, this man named Geese had been constantly mumbling Ghislaine's name. It seemed that his original purpose was to come here to find a former comrade from the Black Wolf's Fang.
"Do you know Paul?"
After learning everything, Shirou asked Geese.
Geese, who had been looking desperate in prison, suddenly showed an excited expression and shouted, "You know Paul? What are you to Paul?"
"I guess you could say I'm his son."
Shirou answered with vague words.
Although he admitted that he was Paul's son, he usually wouldn't admit it to outsiders, because Paul's character was highly questionable. If he casually admitted that he was his son, it would easily draw out resentment for no reason.
"Eh? You're Paul's son? Paul seems to have said that he adopted a child before. He heard that the child surpassed him at a young age. Could it be you, Shirou Greyrat?"
"That's me."
"Ah, this is really like finding something you've been searching everywhere for without success. After accepting Paul's request, I was still wondering where to find you... No, wait, now is not the time for reminiscing! Shirou, little brother Shirou, grandpa Shirou! Please save me, I haven't done anything bad!"
"You haven't done anything bad? Then why were you caught?"
"Uh... it was just an old habit, so I thought about earning some pocket money, but I didn't expect..."
Seeing how flashy Geese was, Shirou inexplicably felt a similar vibe to Hitogami from him, even the tone was similar.
But he could tell that Geese was just an ordinary person with not much fighting spirit.
He wouldn't make too many connections.
In any case, now that he knew that Geese had information about his family, Shirou wouldn't ignore him. But he couldn't let him out directly either.
So Shirou asked the beast people for instructions and learned that Geese hadn't committed a serious crime and would be released after being locked up for a few days.
Shirou told Geese about the situation, and the latter immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's great, I definitely won't do it again."
"You don't look like you're reflecting at all."
"No, no, I've already reflected a lot. You know, it's the rainy season now, and there's no way to escape, so I won't mess around."
"Does that mean you can do whatever you want when it's not the rainy season?"
"This..."
Seeing Geese's reaction, Shirou frowned slightly, feeling that his personality was really bad, but he wasn't exactly a bad person either.
He was also very curious about Paul's situation, so he asked Geese.
Shirou learned that since the great teleportation incident, Paul had been searching for the whereabouts of his family members. He had even been searching wholeheartedly for the villagers of Buena Village as well.
However, Paul was just an ordinary knight with very limited ability and skill.
The Boreas family was also deeply mired in political turmoil and could provide no support.
In the end, he could only rely on his own efforts to form a search and rescue team, searching around the Holy Country of Millis for traces of the people of Buena Village and his family.
"Paul has been working hard, and he's actually in the Holy Country of Millis..."
Recalling the way Paul looked under the brief gaze of Clairvoyance earlier, Shirou couldn't help but show complicated emotions.
After all, Paul was obviously in a bad way right now. His lost appearance reminded him of his father in his previous life, Emiya Kiritsugu.
Especially in Servant Emiya's memories, Emiya Kiritsugu's appearance was almost infinitely close to the current Paul. They were both the type who lost everything and could no longer feel happiness.
Shirou felt anxious and wanted to see Paul as soon as possible.
However, due to the rainy season, he still couldn't cross such a long distance and go directly to the Holy Country of Millis.
Time continued to pass.
The poison in Shirou's body didn't show any signs of weakening over time, which made him realize that he needed to go to the Holy Country of Millis as soon as possible.
Not only to meet Paul, but also to detoxify himself, and even to consider reforging the Sword of Promised Victory and replenishing mana stones for Avalon.
There were really too many things to do.
Another month passed.
Shirou and the others had become very familiar with the beast people.
Especially the white dog named Saint Beast. Ever since Shirou saved it that time, the dog often circled around Shirou.
But because it was a Saint Beast, the beast people cared a lot about it, so that Shirou didn't even have the chance to touch it.
In any case, three months passed in a flash.
Shirou and the others finally made it through the rainy season and were able to continue their journey to the Holy Country of Millis.
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