Illya did not directly agree, but she did not refuse either. It seemed she was not strongly against the idea of going to school to learn magic. She just had not decided whether to go or not.
Moreover, she was certain that what Ethan meant by learning magic definitely did not involve going to one of the magic academies in this world, because Ethan had specifically mentioned studying magic.
She knew that the magic system Ethan possessed was completely different from what she had learned. She was indeed a little interested in this entirely different system, which was why she had not directly refused.
Time passed quickly, and Illya stayed at Ethan's place until nearly dawn. Then she flopped down, completely taking over Ethan's room, and slept soundly.
Ethan did not necessarily need to sleep, but his own territory was just occupied like that.
He shrugged helplessly at Diana, tidied up the bedding, and left the rest for Diana to handle.
Coming out of the room, Ethan glanced at the faintly lit horizon and simultaneously felt a slight magical fluctuation from the storage shed.
At this time, and practicing magic in that place, it had to be Shirou. Although he had only learned a few basic spells, he had persisted in practicing for many years, never stopping even though his progress was slow.
In this regard, Shirou's ability to grow from an unknown Master to an excellent mage in just a few days during the Fifth Holy Grail War was not simply because Emiya, his future self, had given him a cheat.
Years of persistent work and practice were the reason he could master those abilities in a very short time. Even if Emiya, borrowing the fact that they were the same person and there was a miraculous sense of synchronization between them, could transmit his combat skills and methods of using magic through this connection, Shirou would still not be able to master these abilities without a sufficient foundation.
However, in this world line, the Fifth Holy Grail War did not truly happen, and Shirou did not have the opportunity to receive the full guidance of his future self, so his current magic level remained at the stage of having only learned the basics.
The door to the storage shed was open, and Ethan could see Shirou sitting on the ground, diligently practicing, from the doorway. Although his body's magic was being mobilized, the spell still had not been successfully cast.
This was not Shirou's fault. Although the rules of this world had largely recovered, they had not fully returned to their previous state, so mages still had not regained the ability to cast magic.
But seeing the faint light of magic in Shirou's hand, it was probably only a matter of a day or two before it fully recovered.
"Up so early?"
"Actually, it does not matter whether I sleep or not. I talked with Illya for most of the night, so I just decided not to sleep."
"Ah, is that so?"
Shirou stopped his practice and got up, gently patting his slightly stiff legs. Sitting on the ground in the middle of winter would not be comfortable even for a short while, let alone for as long as he seemed to have been sitting there.
"Um, breakfast might take a little longer. How about I find some snacks for you first?"
"That is too kind. Actually, I am fine even without eating."
After a few simple pleasantries, both fell silent. Shirou did not know how to communicate with Ethan, a true god. He did not even know what kind of words to use to start a conversation.
Ethan, on the other hand, was observing Shirou's talent. Shirou's talent was not bad. In fact, it could be said to be very good. He just needed to find the right path.
In addition, he had to master the correct way to cast magic. Kiritsugu, not wanting Shirou to become a mage, had always tried to brush off teaching him, even teaching him the wrong way to mobilize magic. Every time Shirou mobilized magic, it was painful and prone to failure, hoping to force him to give up on his own, but Shirou persisted.
Originally, in the Fifth Holy Grail War, Shirou would have mastered the correct way to use magic circuits, but none of that happened now, and he was still using the wrong method. And he could still learn magic using the wrong method for magic circuits... should I say he is worthy of being the protagonist?
"Um... Illya... how is she?"
The brief silence was finally broken by Shirou. He was still very concerned about this sister who had suddenly appeared.
"What aspect are you referring to?"
"Physically."
He already understood Illya's situation. When Ethan distorted the world's rules, it also changed Illya.
But was there really no problem with a special life form suddenly becoming a true human? No one could guarantee this. Perhaps only Ethan could make an accurate judgment.
"Are you very worried about her?"
"After all... she is Kiritsugu's biological daughter."
"Do not worry, her body is perfectly fine, even better than an ordinary person's. After all, her physical fitness and magical talent originally surpassed ordinary humans, and when the rules were distorted, it only changed her life form. These qualities were not stripped away, but rather retained."
"That is good."
After tidying up the storage shed, Shirou and Ethan walked toward another room.
The Emiya residence was large, with a main house, a storage shed, and a dojo. Besides the house, Kiritsugu also left Shirou a large inheritance, but Shirou hardly used the inheritance left by his adoptive father, relying more on part-time jobs to earn the money he needed.
After finishing his magic practice, Shirou came to the dojo. Since Saber, or Artoria, moved in, the dojo had become Artoria's territory. When she had nothing to do at the Emiya house, she liked to sit here quietly and meditate.
Of course, it could also be understood as spacing out. Shirou, on the other hand, would take time to learn some basic swordsmanship from Artoria.
Although the Holy Grail War would no longer be fought, Emiya's appearance still made Shirou vaguely understand some things, so he worked even harder to improve himself.
With a powerful Servant who could serve as a Saber by his side, he naturally wanted to ask for guidance.
Of course, with Shirou's current strength, he would only be unilaterally beaten by Artoria. His bamboo sword basically had no chance of touching her.
Ethan watched for a while and found that although this Artoria's usual strength was only average, she would fully utilize her own magic during combat to enhance her various qualities. This allowed her to unleash astonishing power when swinging her sword, strong enough to clash head-on with the Berserker Heracles, and move at terrifying speed.
In fact, several people in Ethan's team also followed this path, especially Mordred and Galahad, who were both practicing these techniques.
In terms of the application of these techniques alone, Artoria far surpassed Mordred and Galahad. She hardly wasted a single bit of magic, using every bit at the most suitable moment. This behavior had become instinct.
"Artoria's combat talent is truly amazing."
Diana also came here and sat on the edge with Ethan, watching the two practice.
"I am not surprised at all. After all, the Arthur we know is also outstanding in combat talent."
"That is true."
Diana also thought of Arthur. When she was a child, she had received guidance from Arthur and had many of her basic movements corrected.
Unfortunately, due to the huge difference in their talent, Diana no longer had many opportunities to spar with Arthur. Perhaps she could spar with this female version in front of her.
Speaking of this, Diana remembered that Ethan was planning to take Artoria to meet Arthur, or rather, let Artoria see that completely different British Empire.
"It is going to be very interesting when those two meet. I do not want to miss that scene."
"You definitely will not miss it."
Diana suddenly seemed to think of something and burst into happy laughter.
"I am also looking forward to Arthur's reaction when he sees you in this state."
"..."
Ethan covered his face. He suddenly realized that Arthur might not be the only one watching the show. Merlin, the instigator, would definitely run over to watch the fun.
"If you keep looking like you are watching a show, I will turn you into a child too. Anyway, your strength has pretty much reached a bottleneck, and you should be considering breaking through the barrier between demigod and god."
"I do not want to use this method. I want to break through this bottleneck purely with my own strength."
Diana was very opinionated and very stubborn. Outsiders could not change her mind, and it was difficult even for close people to change something she had decided.
When she said she wanted to break through that boundary with her own strength, Ethan stopped bringing up the topic. At this time, he would only choose to silently support her and help her think of solutions when she encountered difficult problems.
"Thank you for being willing to understand and support my idea."
"That is fine. But could you please stop patting my head like you are praising a child?"
Diana laughed very happily, her eyes almost disappearing from smiling.
"Is this not good? I do not want to miss this novel experience. Perhaps after this time, there will not be such an opportunity again."
"There are even more novel things. Why are you not willing to try?"
"Hmph."
The hand that was originally patting his head suddenly turned into a fist and heavily struck his head, making Ethan's skull ache. He was dizzy for quite a while before recovering.
At this moment, Illya walked in, yawning. Seeing Shirou and Artoria sparring, she muttered boredly, "Is my idiot brother still practicing these basic things?"
She did not care much about what Shirou practiced diligently every day.
"With this time, he might as well learn more magic knowledge from me... his magic is too weak."
(To be continued.)
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