"You think Eris is your younger sister, so does that mean Norn and Aisha aren't your younger sisters?"
Shirou was speechless at Paul's words.
Even the strength he was using to hold down the other person lessened a bit.
Paul seized this chance, gritted his teeth, directly flipped him over, and after chasing after him, pinned Shirou down and started beating him up.
"I thought you would be working hard these years like me, trying to find clues about our family, but I didn't expect you were just fooling around with that young lady! And what's with the younger sister thing, do you think I'll believe your lies?! What about Zenith and the others, and Lilia and Aisha? They're suffering somewhere right now!!"
"It's not like I haven't done anything..."
"But you could have done better! If it was you, Shirou, you could definitely do better than me, and bring them all back!"
"That's just you, Paul, expecting too much."
Shirou's reply made Paul even angrier.
He was punched several times by Paul.
Finally, out of extreme frustration, he fought back, pushing Paul away, and then hitting Paul back with a few punches.
Paul didn't say anything during the process, just stared at him, seemingly annoyed, as if looking at someone who couldn't understand human words.
Shirou was also very frustrated. He knew his words were too weak and unconvincing.
But Shirou also knew he didn't have a better choice.
He believed he had already done enough. He was just a human, not a god, and couldn't do everything perfectly.
Without realizing it, Shirou even thought back to that guy named Hitogami.
He strangely began to wonder if things would have been different, if things would have been better, if he had listened to the so-called Hitogami's advice back then.
Of course, this cowardly thought only lasted for a moment.
He immediately realized that he shouldn't be led by Paul's thoughts. The other person, drunk and angry, wasn't right either.
"Stop it, pleaseeee!"
Suddenly, a small, sharp voice rang out from the side.
Shirou was taken aback and saw a figure suddenly appear between him and Paul.
It was a young girl with Paul's features and Zenith's blonde hair.
It was obvious at a glance.
She was Norn, Norn Greyrat.
Shirou's real younger sister in the strictest sense.
Come to think of it, Shirou only saw her when she was first born. So many years had passed, and he didn't expect her to be so grown up.
Of course, the main thing was that the current situation was clearly not a harmonious family meeting.
Neither Shirou nor Paul wanted Norn to see them like this.
But Norn still saw it.
"Stop it!"
Norn inserted her small body into the fight and stared at Shirou with wide eyes. "Don't bully Dad!"
"..."
Norn's words made Shirou really confused.
Who's bullying who here?
It was clearly him who was pinned on the ground and beaten up by Paul.
But after all, she's just a little girl, so it's only natural to protect her father.
Shirou didn't get angry.
But he was mentally shocked.
Paul's accusations still pierced his heart like a sharp knife. Shirou had no energy to tell right from wrong.
"I'm sorry."
Shirou sincerely apologized to Norn.
Even if this wasn't only his problem, he knew he shouldn't let his young sister Norn bear all this.
"...Huh?"
Hearing Shirou's honest words, Norn immediately showed a confused expression.
At the same time, Shirou quietly stood up and looked at Paul, and at the members of the search group. He knew that everyone here had done better than him these years, and their efforts were far more effective than his.
So he apologized to them one by one, saying, "Thank you. It's because of your efforts that the impact of the disaster in the Fittoa region has been reduced so much."
"Shirou..."
Paul was confused by Shirou's sudden sincerity, but he still hadn't calmed down, and angrily said, "Since you understand, why don't you look for the others with us? Do you still think that Eris is more important than our family?!"
"I don't think that."
"If that's the case..."
"But at least she's just as important."
Shirou took a deep breath and finally sorted out his thoughts. "I can look for people with you, Paul, but at least after I send Eris home."
"Damn it, you care more about an outsider than your real family!"
"Real family? What do you mean by family, Paul? Is it blood ties? But you and I have never had any blood relation."
"This..."
Shirou's words finally left Paul speechless.
The man's brain, clouded by alcohol, had now calmed down a bit and realized what Shirou might be thinking.
But he still refused to admit reality and looked at Shirou coldly.
Shirou also looked back at him coldly.
Neither of them could convince the other, and because of Norn's appearance, they couldn't continue to fight to decide the outcome.
In this situation, this strange standoff became unavoidable.
"Enough, if you're still so stubborn, then I don't have this son! I never had you as family!!"
Paul said these words, filled with anger, out of extreme anger.
"It's okay. Even if you don't recognize me as family, Paul, I'll still go find Zenith and the others after I'm done."
Shirou quietly responded to Paul's words.
He had gradually sorted out his thoughts and realized the choices he had made.
He would prioritize sending Eris home and then go to find Zenith and the others.
It was certainly possible that this would be a wrong choice.
His family might suffer because of his mistakes, but he couldn't change it because he had already made his decision and had already started the journey.
"Damn it, Shirou, you damn it!"
Paul said anxiously, but because Norn was nearby, he couldn't make a move.
Norn and the members of the search group saw Paul's appearance and Shirou's calm and firm attitude, and they more or less knew who was right and who was wrong.
Therefore, they tried to advise Paul as much as possible.
Shirou knew that it wasn't a good time for him to be there, because it would only make Paul's emotions get even more out of control.
Most importantly, the fight just now made the poison in his body show signs of getting out of control. Now, even taking a step made him feel clearly dizzy.
"Are, are you okay, big brother..."
Among the people present, only Norn noticed Shirou's condition.
Her eyes were very clear. Even though she didn't know that the boy in front of her was her brother, she instinctively gave him a concerned look.
"I'm okay."
Shirou smiled at Norn's attitude, but his heart was pounding.
Paul's accusations still echoed in his ears.
He realized that if he chose Eris, it would be the same as temporarily abandoning Norn and the rest of his family.
This was also hard for him to accept.
After all, Norn was also his younger sister, someone he should protect.
"..."
With complicated thoughts, Shirou walked away with difficulty.
With every step he took, he was further affected by the poison in his body and the guilt in his heart, and his steps became more and more unsteady.
...
After leaving Paul's base, Shirou continued his original goal and headed towards the church in the Holy Kingdom of Millis.
He tried to not let the meeting with his family just now bother him.
Getting rid of those dark thoughts, Shirou dragged his slightly tired body to the front of the cathedral in the Holy Kingdom of Millis.
The headquarters of the church was a striking golden building with onions on the roof.
Millis was a quiet place. Everywhere you looked was white and silver.
In this kind of country, only this building was golden and flashy. The look of it was clownish and tasteless, and it didn't fit in at all.
Shirou was going to go right in, but the guards stopped him and said he needed a permit.
He asked around and learned that this was to keep out random people, and the process of getting a permit usually took several days.
Shirou frowned a little at this very slow service.
But there wasn't anything he could do about it, so he turned in the application and left the cathedral.
But Shirou did not give up.
The Holy Kingdom of Millis was not a beast tribe settlement. There were a lot of priests and mages here. Maybe he could find someone who knew healing magic.
That way, Shirou wouldn't have to find the official priest.
Thinking this, Shirou first went to the adventurer's guild, but found that the adventurer's guild was surprisingly worried. People were talking about a person called God Child.
Shirou asked around and found out that the God Child of the Holy Kingdom of Millis had recently been lost.
The temple knights were looking everywhere, and the adventurers' guild was filled with this request.
Because all the requests were connected to this high priority request, Shirou couldn't post a normal request for healing magic.
Shirou was confused by this sudden event, but it wasn't like he couldn't do anything.
Because he only needed to find the God Child himself to make the adventurer's guild go back to normal and post normal requests.
And maybe he could get help from the Holy Kingdom of Millis by finding the God Child.
With this idea, Shirou took the request and confirmed the appearance of the God Child through the request.
It was said that the God Child was a young girl, about ten years old. She had a knight of the temple knights protecting her, but they had both been lost in the forest near Millishion half a day ago.
After getting the information, Shirou quickly used his Clairvoyance.
Yes, as long as he got the right information and the object wasn't too far away, Clairvoyance would be a great tool to find lost people.
Sure enough, as soon as Shirou used Clairvoyance, he quickly found a pair of figures that matched the description and found that they seemed to be in some kind of danger.
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