After being forcibly sent back to the surface by the goddess Ereshkigal, Shirou spent another full day traveling.
By the time he finally returned to Uruk after such a long absence, evening had already fallen.
"Hm?"
As he approached the magnificent gates of Uruk, Shirou frowned.
He saw neither the guards who should have been stationed at the gates nor the refugees who normally lined up to register before entering the city.
Even before setting foot inside, Shirou could sense that something was seriously wrong.
This should have been the busiest time of day for the fortress city, yet for some reason, all of Uruk was shrouded in an eerie silence.
Even the once-constant clamor of construction had disappeared.
There was no smell of blood, but an ominous feeling rose in the boy's heart.
Shirou hurried into the city.
There was no one on the streets.
The exchange offices and roadside stalls were all closed... What on earth had happened?
Could it be the same thing that had happened to Kutha, the city destroyed overnight...?
After walking for about five minutes, Shirou finally spotted a handful of people.
Curious, he stopped a passing merchant and asked what was going on. Only then did he learn that an extraordinarily grand funeral was being held at Uruk's Divine Tower.
"Huh? King Gilgamesh does look pretty unhealthy, and he always seems like he could drop dead from overwork at any moment... but he shouldn't die that quickly, right?"
Shirou rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
I feel like that guy has at least another ten years in him. Could there be something else going on?
Wait. Could this be an assassination by the Three Goddess Alliance...?
"What are you talking about?"
The merchant rolled his eyes at him disdainfully.
"The funeral being held today is for Shirou Amamiya, the hero who protected Uruk."
Shirou: "......?"
I'm still alive and well! Who gave you permission to hold my funeral!?
...
...
The great hall of Uruk's Divine Tower was now packed with people who had come to mourn Shirou Amamiya.
Among the crowd steeped in grief were not only the King of Uruk and the Head Priestess, but countless ordinary citizens of the city as well.
They had come to the Divine Tower of their own accord to pay their final respects to a hero they had known for only three months.
Without exception, every one of them had received some degree of help or kindness from Shirou.
Some had been saved from the Goddess of Demonic Beasts' attack.
Some had their farms cleared of Magical Beasts.
Some had received guidance in blacksmithing.
Some had been taught the finer points of swordsmanship.
Some had turned failing restaurants into profitable businesses.
Some had gotten their homes and furniture repaired.
Some had finally been able to hold their grandchildren in their arms.
Some had found their lost pet dogs.
...
It had only been three short months, yet Shirou's influence on the city had been enormous. The citizens genuinely felt that the boy's presence had saved them.
Although absolute silence had been requested for the funeral, scattered sobs still escaped from the grieving crowd.
Those cries conveyed just how deeply the people of Uruk missed the red-haired boy.
Another group stood in one corner of the Divine Tower's great hall.
They were Shirou Amamiya's former comrades, the Servants who had fought alongside him to protect this nation.
Now, every one of those heroes who had crossed time and space to reach Uruk wore a solemn, sorrowful expression.
"..."
Merlin gazed silently into the distance and let out a soft sigh.
The frivolous Magus who had been warned on his very first day in Uruk not to go anywhere near the Shrine of the Priestess had completely lost his usual cheerfulness today.
In truth, this was not the first time Merlin had experienced such a feeling.
Long ago...
When he had said his final farewell to Arthur... to Artoria, he seemed to have felt something very much like this.
An Incubus did not possess human emotions.
But if he had to describe this feeling in human terms, it would probably be called loneliness and guilt.
Had he not used Artoria as bait to trick Shirou into coming to this era, none of this would ever have happened...
Because of his interference, Shirou Amamiya's fate had changed.
Haah... Now I really can't face Artoria anymore...
It wasn't quite something he could call guilt, but still...
The Magus thought bitterly, I wish someone would punish me for this.
"..."
The light had completely vanished from Tomoe Gozen's eyes.
Of everyone present, she had probably taken Shirou's death the hardest.
The fact that Tomoe Gozen was even still standing here was entirely thanks to Shirou.
It was Shirou who had stopped her from dying together with the Magical Beast Commander.
It was Shirou who had encouraged her when she felt ashamed of her demon bloodline.
From the moment the boy saved her life, the female warrior had already made her decision.
From that day onward, she would stake everything on protecting him.
Tomoe Gozen had resolved to regard Shirou as her new Lord, and yet...
As the last person to speak with Shirou before his death, she believed she bore an undeniable responsibility for what had happened to him.
Back then, Tomoe Gozen had already sensed that something was wrong with Shirou, yet she had failed to fulfill her duty as his guard.
What if...
What if she had refused to back down and insisted on accompanying him?
Would this tragedy have been avoided?
Tomoe Gozen had always possessed a straightforward view of life and death.
She understood perfectly well that Servants were merely temporary visitors to this era.
Even so...
The female warrior bit deeply into her red lip.
Have I failed to protect my Lord yet again...?
"..."
Ushiwakamaru and Musashibō Benkei were also present at Shirou's funeral.
Even after two and a half months, they still found it difficult to believe that Shirou was truly gone.
Ushiwakamaru and Musashibō Benkei had been the first two to meet Shirou.
The days they had spent fighting and living together had become unforgettable memories.
Ever since Shirou disappeared in Kutha, Ushiwakamaru and Benkei had felt the unbearable changes more keenly than anyone.
The Heroic Spirits' Dormitory had become quieter.
When Ushiwakamaru encountered Tomoe Gozen in the hallway, the two no longer quarreled. They simply passed each other like strangers.
At dinner, there were no longer any master-and-servant comedy routines from Ushiwakamaru and Musashibō Benkei.
And when they returned to the dormitory after an exhausting day of work, no delicious aroma drifted from the kitchen to welcome them home.
Nothing would ever go back to the way it was.
"Benkei."
"What is it?"
"Ever since Shirou-dono came here, every day was so much fun, and even work felt easier to face... Come to think of it, perhaps I had been thinking of Shirou-dono as an older brother all this time."
"I see..."
"Mm."
"Cry if you need to, Ushiwakamaru-sama."
"Is that all right?"
"Just for today."
"Mm."
The girl lowered her head, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably.
"..."
Leonidas I recalled the first time he had met Shirou.
As both a king and a military commander, he had recognized the boy's immense strength at a glance.
Never before had Leonidas I encountered such an astonishing warrior, one so clearly tempered by countless battles.
That was why, after Shirou explained his purpose, Leonidas I had given him his full support, ultimately allowing them to defeat Girtablilu.
What a terrible loss, Shirou-dono...
So young, and yet...
With his talent and ability, he could have grown into a hero who surpassed any legend.
Leonidas I clenched his fists.
Rest assured, Shirou-dono. I will carry on your will and defend the Magical Beast War Front to the very end!
"..."
Standing beside the empty coffin, the Head Priestess wore a solemn expression beneath her black veil.
Over the three months they had spent together, Siduri had come to think of Shirou almost as a younger brother.
It wasn't merely because King Gilgamesh had placed Shirou entirely in her care.
The Servants summoned by the King were all great heroes whose names had been recorded in history.
To Siduri, they were distant, almost unreachable figures.
But Shirou was different.
Perhaps because he was also a living human being, talking to him brought with it an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
That warmth had given Siduri small moments of relief amid her endless official duties.
But precisely because Shirou was a living, breathing human being, his death struck Siduri with the grief of losing family.
And she probably wasn't the only one who felt that way.
The King most likely did as well.
"..."
Gilgamesh stood in silence, his face grim.
At first, he had flatly refused to believe that Shirou could have died in the Underworld.
"Don't spout nonsense, fool!"
The King had flown into a rage.
"That man defeated me at the height of my power! How could he possibly lose his life over such a trivial assignment!?"
Investigating Enkidu's remains.
Had this been the Gilgamesh of the past, he never would have entrusted such a task to another person.
For one thing, he was no longer the tyrannical King of Heroes from his younger days. As the Wise King, protecting Uruk and its people now came before everything else.
For another, Shirou was someone the King trusted.
He could not have entrusted the task to anyone else.
But if it was Shirou...
Gilgamesh had never doubted that he would succeed.
He had believed Shirou would surely recreate the great feat once accomplished by himself and Enkidu, then return from the Underworld bearing good news.
But two and a half months had passed since then.
No matter how exceptional Shirou was, there was no possible way he could have survived for that long in the land of the dead after the Queen of the Underworld had vanished.
There had been no trace of Shirou anywhere on the surface either.
In the end, Gilgamesh had been forced to accept that the human he valued so highly was dead.
Something is wrong...
Halfway through the funeral, Gilgamesh frowned.
I have the feeling that somewhere... I've overlooked something.
Just then, a disturbance broke out near the entrance.
"Hey! What are you lot making such a racket for!? Be silent!"
King Gilgamesh shouted impatiently.
"It's Ishtar-sama!"
"What did you say?"
"Ishtar-sama is here!"
"Damn it! Why now, of all times!?"
"..."
Gilgamesh's eyes widened.
A rather unpleasant memory resurfaced.
At the funeral of his closest friend Enkidu, the one responsible for his death, the goddess Ishtar, had also appeared.
The Heaven-Soaring Goddess had looked down upon them from above and gleefully shouted, "That's what you get for opposing me! Serves you right, you worthless pile of scrap!" while posing like a triumphant victor.
Faced with such extreme provocation and humiliation, Gilgamesh had not said a single word from beginning to end.
He had treated Ishtar as though she did not exist, consumed entirely by the grief of losing his friend.
Gilgamesh was baffled.
Enkidu and Ishtar had hated each other, so he could at least understand why she had come to Enkidu's funeral...
But why was she here at Shirou's funeral!?
The beautiful black-haired goddess, Ishtar, appeared at the entrance of the Divine Tower without a trace of expression on her face.
The crowd slowly parted before her like a sea split by a prophet. Under countless wary gazes, she walked straight toward Shirou's coffin as though no one else existed.
The metal heels of her shoes clicked sharply against the stone floor.
With every step, the citizens felt their hearts tighten.
What is Ishtar-sama planning to do?
Stop her!!
Don't you dare insult our hero!!!
Several young soldiers tried to rush forward and stop whatever outrage the goddess was about to commit, but their comrades hurriedly held them back.
To everyone's surprise, the goddess neither resorted to her usual violence nor uttered any of her usual arrogant remarks.
She quietly approached the coffin, placed a flower and several gemstones beside it, then wrapped her arms around Shirou's coffin and kissed it.
"!?!?!?"
The sight went far beyond anything anyone had imagined.
One of the pillars of the Three Goddess Alliance that ravaged the land.
The most vicious, tyrannical, and willful Mistress of Heaven in all the Sumerian world.
Ishtar had actually come to mourn Shirou Amamiya!?
The goddess gazed reluctantly at Shirou's coffin for a long moment. After gently caressing it, she quietly withdrew to a corner of the hall.
She lowered her head, allowing her black bangs to fall over her face and conceal her expression.
It appeared that Ishtar intended to remain for the rest of the funeral as another mourner, so Gilgamesh stopped paying her any attention.
But a wave of astonished murmurs spread through the crowd.
"...Even she..."
Everyone admired Shirou, but none of them had imagined, could possibly have imagined...
That even Ishtar herself would come to pay her respects to Shirou Amamiya.
It was unbelievable.
The people were stunned.
Shaken.
Just what kind of person have we lost?
They had always known Shirou Amamiya was extraordinary, but...
He was someone capable of earning the heartfelt respect of even the goddess Ishtar!
Could someone like that really be described with shallow words like "great man" or "saint"?
As that realization sank in, fresh grief swept through the citizens.
The scattered sobs grew louder and louder until the entire crowd was on the verge of openly wailing.
...
...
Shirou's funeral came to an end before nightfall.
Still immersed in grief, the citizens quietly and orderly dispersed. With only the King and the Servants remaining, the Divine Tower returned to its usual stillness.
"My King, please leave the rest of the work to me. You should get some proper rest tonight."
Siduri spoke as she looked at King Gilgamesh's exhausted face.
Although Siduri herself had been overwhelmed these past few days preparing Shirou's funeral, she knew that the King was the most exhausted of them all.
"Don't be ridiculous... That fellow's funeral already cost me an entire day. I still have today's official business to finish!"
Gilgamesh snorted dismissively.
He turned and looked down at the Heroic Spirits below.
"What are you lot still standing around for? Go back already. Don't you have work tomorrow?"
However, Gilgamesh suddenly noticed that everyone was staring in the same direction.
Following their gazes, he saw a familiar red-haired boy whom he had not seen in a very long time.
"Hey... Siduri..."
Gilgamesh's voice trembled violently.
"I think I really should go get some rest... I'm actually seeing things now. It seems I've been pushing myself too hard these past few days..."
"...No."
Siduri covered her mouth and shook her head, her voice choking with emotion.
"My King, that is not a hallucination..."
The Head Priestess's shoulders began to tremble, but this time it was not from grief.
They were tears of joy.
"Wh... What!?"
Gilgamesh looked back at the boy.
He blinked several times.
It truly was neither an illusion nor a hallucination.
There stood the red-haired boy, Shirou Amamiya, raising his chin at Gilgamesh with a smug look on his face.
"Yo, Gilgamesh. Long time no see. I'm back from the Underworld."
"......"
A rare look of utter shock appeared on Gilgamesh's face.
But it quickly faded, replaced by a smile.
What was I even so surprised about...?
He isn't the kind of man who would lose his life in some mere Underworld or Abyss. Haven't I known that all along?
"My Lord! You're alive!"
"Shirou-dono!"
Two of the Servants rushed forward and clung to the boy from either side.
Tomoe Gozen gripped Shirou's arm tightly, as though afraid he might disappear again, while Ushiwakamaru threw herself straight into his arms like an excited puppy.
The King of Heroes finally breathed a sigh of relief. He sank back into his throne and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"You took far too long... You really are a man who does nothing but make people worry."