Seeing Amiya looking at him with a puzzled expression, Shirou thought for a moment before asking:
"Did Miss Vina's voice really sound that similar?"
"It really did sound similar. But what I am more curious about is that Miss Saber should have been your enemy, right? So why was your reaction to hearing a voice that possibly belonged to her to search for her instead?"
Seeing that Shirou apparently had not understood the question in her eyes, Amiya decided to ask directly.
After all, Shirou had entrusted her with finding this Miss Saber before, so it was perfectly reasonable for her to want to understand more about the situation, right?
"Well... explaining this is a little troublesome. You mentioned the black mud earlier, right? If I remember correctly, Servants who come into contact with black mud become corrupted. Saber was originally my companion. As for why she became like that, I do not know either, but it definitely has something to do with the black mud that flowed out of the Holy Grail."
"And the black mud's corruption is extremely powerful. That is also the main reason why I have never trusted that Emiya Shirou. Amiya, you also said that you watched me sink into the black mud, right? In that case, that memory might actually belong to that Emiya Kuro instead."
After spending some time organizing his thoughts, Shirou explained some of the hidden truths behind the Holy Grail War to the others.
This was different from the time he had explained things to everyone in Penguin Logistics. Back then, he had only wanted them to roughly understand where he had come from, so he had not gone into much detail and had merely brushed over most topics.
But this situation was different.
Aside from Warfarin, Kal'tsit already had a partial understanding of these matters, while Amiya had now directly come into contact with them herself.
Although, for the three of them, it was still essentially useless knowledge.
While explaining, Shirou also brought up some of his own theories. For example, the memories Amiya saw might not actually have been his, but rather Emiya Kuro's.
After all, the black mud's corruption was extremely potent. If he had truly suffered fatal injuries before being thrown into it, then the current him should not look the way he did now.
At the very least, he should have ended up like Archer, wearing a perpetually world-weary expression.
Shirou did not believe his willpower was strong enough to completely resist the black mud's corruption. Taking several steps back, he was not even a Servant. If he came into contact with the black mud, what awaited him should only have been death. Corruption should not even have been possible.
"..."
After hearing Shirou's explanation, the room fell silent for quite a while.
Mainly because what Shirou had described was simply too shocking.
A substance capable of corrupting a person's mind was genuinely terrifying.
And compared to Amiya's Originium Arts, this type of corruption seemed even more dangerous, especially since it appeared to forcibly pour negative emotions into people.
"So in the end, people who once trusted each other the most are forced to kill one another? What twisted entertainment."
Now that she finally understood the situation somewhat, Warfarin dropped her usual playful attitude and gave her opinion seriously.
"No wonder Nameless looked so disdainful whenever the Holy Grail was mentioned."
While recording everything down, Kal'tsit sincerely hoped that such a thing would never descend upon this land.
If it truly did appear here, it would undoubtedly become a catastrophic disaster.
Especially after she discovered that magical energy and Originium could resonate with one another through Shirou.
Originium alone was already difficult enough to deal with. If a mass of black mud carrying magical energy were added on top of that, the resulting disaster would probably surpass even the dangers she had always guarded against.
And that was without considering the other factors involved.
Just imagining it was enough to give Kal'tsit a headache. She was only thinking about natural disasters so far, not man-made ones.
If both natural and man-made disasters erupted together...
No, it was better not to think about it. Just imagining it already made her head hurt.
"It really is cruel... Shirou, I am sorry."
Now that she understood the full story, Amiya regretted asking the question in the first place.
Digging into another person's scars just to satisfy her own curiosity really was not a very good thing to do.
"It is fine. I do not remember it anyway."
Listening to the others badmouth the Holy Grail, Shirou felt extremely gratified and even found himself in the mood to joke about his own situation.
"Still... a place without Originium is difficult to imagine. And from the sound of it, the direction of development there seems completely different from Terra's? Kal'tsit, did you not look into it further?"
After discussing things for quite a while, Warfarin suddenly thought of this issue and tossed the question toward Kal'tsit.
If she remembered correctly, when they first encountered Nameless, Kal'tsit had indeed intended to investigate this topic further. However, because Nameless only remembered fragmented pieces of information, Kal'tsit eventually gave up on the idea.
But Shirou was different. He looked fairly normal, aside from seeming a little foolish. Surely they could get some useful information out of him, right?
"You can go ask him yourself."
Hearing Warfarin's question, Kal'tsit merely raised her head and glanced at her before continuing Amiya's examination.
Did Warfarin think she had not already tried?
It was because she could not get meaningful answers!
Besides, she had already come to terms with it. The theories and systems from Shirou's world would not necessarily apply to Terra.
Some of the concepts over there were simply... far too fantastical.
Magecraft truly made no sense at all. Even now, she still did not fully understand its principles.
And as for everything else?
The Shirou before them appeared to be only eighteen years old. By Terra's standards, that was roughly the age of a high school student.
How much could someone that age really know?
Frankly, it was already fortunate that Shirou had not become an uncontrollable disaster like an ordinary unstable teenager might have. Otherwise, he would simply have become another humanoid catastrophe.
"The fact that you answered like that definitely means there is a problem. Forget it then."
The moment she saw Kal'tsit's expression, Warfarin knew there was something troublesome involved.
And if there was trouble, then there was no need to waste effort asking.
Besides, the only things she truly wanted to know about were medical topics anyway, and she had never held particularly high hopes regarding those.
"Ahahaha, the truth is that I do not really know that much either. I was not very good at studying..."
Hearing the two of them talking, Shirou laughed awkwardly a few times as he admitted it.
Putting aside whether he had even finished high school, he truly had been somewhat weak academically.
And a large portion of his time had been spent thinking about helping other people.
From repairing club equipment during his free time to fulfilling random requests people occasionally brought him...
Thinking about it carefully, he really had not devoted much time to studying.
If the Holy Grail War had never happened and he had continued living normally, then studying something related to law might actually have been quite difficult for him.
Of course, now it no longer mattered whether the Holy Grail War had happened or not.
Just reading books related to Oripathy already gave him headaches.
Thankfully, Snowsant had helped explain many things to him. Otherwise, he probably would have given up long ago.
Hm... when he returned to Lungmen later, maybe he should cook some extra meals for Snowsant. He wondered whether she had been eating properly lately.
"I really could not tell. Shirou, you are actually bad at academics."
Hearing Shirou's confession, Warfarin immediately returned to her usual troublemaking attitude and began teasing him again.
After all, the experiment was over, the story had been heard, and everyone appeared fine.
That meant she should return to work as well. Her plan to create a new inhibitor using Shirou's blood was still ongoing.
As long as she kept working hard for another three to five years, it might actually succeed!
Technically speaking, this experiment could even be considered a success.
The only condition was that anyone receiving this treatment might need to prepare themselves to see Shirou's memories.
Come to think of it, if people could see Shirou's memories... would they also see strange memory fragments?
For example, scenes of him bathing?
Or certain things people his age tended to do?
Thinking about it that way suddenly seemed somewhat dangerous.
She definitely needed to tell Kal'tsit later and have those risks properly documented.
Although there were not many people who could even receive this treatment in the first place.
The requirement of trust alone eliminated over ninety percent of Rhodes Island's personnel.
As for the remainder, it was not that they could not be trusted, but rather that someone capable of curing Oripathy would be considered an incredibly valuable target by every major faction.
Rhodes Island alone would have difficulty protecting Shirou.
So the best solution was still to completely conceal the existence of this ability.
Although she appeared unserious on the surface, Warfarin was actually thinking about these matters very carefully.
"Well, the academic pressure during the first year of high school was not that intense!"
Faced with Warfarin's teasing, Shirou could only accept it helplessly.
After all, it was true.
Even if he had studied harder back then... it probably would not have mattered much here anyway.
Technology and Originium were deeply intertwined in Terra, and many other fields were fundamentally different as well.
Cooking was probably the only thing that felt somewhat similar.
Even then, he had still spent a great deal of time adapting to it.
"First year of high school? Sarkaz profanity! You were a first-year high school student before this? Are you seventeen? Eighteen!?"
Originally, Warfarin had only wanted to see Shirou look embarrassed.
Instead, she had just heard the most shocking thing she had encountered in a hundred years as a Sarkaz.
Just think about it.
A few days ago, she had heard that Shirou single-handedly wiped out most of a swarm of infected creatures, and he had not even looked like he was using his full strength.
Where was that supposed to leave the dignity of those ancient Sarkaz monsters who had lived for centuries?
The excessive shock caused Warfarin to blurt out a curse before grabbing Shirou by the collar and shaking him violently.
"Stop shaking me! My clothes are about to fall off!"
Faced with Warfarin's sudden attack, Shirou could only desperately clutch the medical examination gown he was wearing, terrified that the situation was about to head somewhere disastrous.
If it were only Kal'tsit and Warfarin present, then perhaps it would not matter much. Both of them were doctors and had certainly seen such things countless times before.
But Amiya was here too!
This was not good for children!
Doctor Warfarin, please calm down already!
At this moment, Shirou looked exceptionally miserable.
If something like this had happened at Penguin Logistics, he probably would already have punched someone.
But the person before him was a doctor.
If he accidentally hit her too hard and damaged her brain, Kal'tsit would definitely hunt him down afterward.
And after spending time around Rhodes Island's doctors and understanding the burdens they carried, he found himself even less willing to strike her.
"Mon3tr. Same as usual."
Noticing the commotion, Kal'tsit merely glanced over calmly before summoning Mon3tr.
"A delighted cry."
Receiving Kal'tsit's command, the black crystalline creature burst out from behind her and let out a loud cry.
"No, Kal'tsit, you cannot do this to me! I helped you conduct the experiment! You cannot tie me up again! I still have experiments to run!"
Upon hearing that familiar sound, Warfarin's body trembled slightly.
After all, having been tied up so many times, just hearing Mon3tr's cry was enough to trigger a reflexive reaction in her body.
At this moment, Shirou had already been let down. Thanks to his efforts, no tragedy had occurred.
"It is just to let you go up and get some fresh air to clear your head, so you do not blow up the lab again."
Kal'tsit continued busying herself with her work without even turning her head, but just from hearing her words, Shirou could tell that this sort of thing seemed quite commonplace.
After all, Amiya beside them was very calm, and Mon3tr's actions were smooth and practiced. Why are all of you so familiar with this!
"Confused sound, happy sound."
Mon3tr looked around but did not find what it was searching for, so it let out a puzzled noise. After scanning the surroundings, it made a rather cheerful sound toward Shirou and moved closer.
It was as if it had found something valuable.
"Um… are you looking for something?"
Looking at Mon3tr, which was much larger than himself, Shirou was not too nervous. After all, he had encountered even more intimidating beings before, and this one did not seem hostile.
It was just a bit overly familiar. One claw stretched out as if asking him for something, while the other hooked onto Warfarin to prevent her from escaping.
"Affirmative sound."
After Mon3tr made its sound, Shirou thought for a moment.
"Trace on, are you looking for this?"
After pondering for quite a while, a silver hook rope appeared in Shirou's hand. It was the one used last time when Emiya Kuro fished him up.
Thinking it over, Shirou guessed that what it wanted was probably a rope.
"Delighted sound."
Mon3tr took the silver hook rope from Shirou's hand and skillfully put it on Warfarin, then led her out of the laboratory.
"I will be back!"
Pushed out, Warfarin declared something like a villain's line before being dragged away by Mon3tr.
"Shirou, being able to understand what Mon3tr is thinking is really impressive!"
After Warfarin was dragged out, the lab suddenly became quiet.
In the end, Amiya was the one who tried to break the silence first.
After all, Dr. Kal'tsit was not going to speak first, since she was still busy.
As for Shirou, he likely did not speak because he was worried about disturbing Kal'tsit. Earlier, it had been Warfarin who started the conversation.
To avoid an awkward atmosphere, Amiya could only take the initiative.
"..."
Shirou wanted to say that it was not like that at all. He did not actually understand Mon3tr's intentions; he had only guessed correctly by chance.
But seeing Amiya's smile, he could not bring himself to shatter her assumption, so he could only respond with an awkward yet polite smile.
Knock, knock, knock, the door was tapped. Then Mon3tr opened the laboratory door, slipped inside, closed it behind, let out a sound toward Dr. Kal'tsit, and returned to her side.
Shirou: "?"
How did such a large Mon3tr even fit through the door? And it was so intelligent, knowing how to knock, open, and close the door?
At that moment, Shirou felt that there was still much about this land that he needed to understand.