In the end, Shirou politely declined Arash's offer.
Eat too little and you're still hungry, eat too much and you'll be full.
Might as well just refuse.
More convenient and easier.
But the great hero, perhaps afraid Shirou would stray, still handed over half of the food he had.
While eating the food Arash generously brought, he gazed toward the Holy City surrounded by the chalk wall.
The towering, standing pure-white spires stabbed at the sky like long spears; the stairs spiraled upward as if defying gravity.
The reason it's called the Chalk City is because the whole city was built from luminous chalk-like material. The walls, streets, and buildings all as pure and flawless as ivory.
At first sight, Shirou thought he had seen a pure white sanctuary, abrupt and sacred like a mirage in the desert.
When the sunlight hit it, it refracted wondrous colors, magnificently beautiful.
Exactly like the Holy City that only exists in ideals.
"Excuse me, could you spare a little food?", A weak plea, a hand gently tugging.
Looking down, it was a woman wrapped tightly in a cloak, hiding herself thoroughly, with the typical Middle Eastern skin tone.

Brown hair, pretty face, only slightly pale.
In an extremely humble tone she said, "Just a little, I don't want it for myself, only for the child… he hasn't eaten for five days."
Looking down further, he saw the woman clutching a boy about chest-high.
The boy's skin was dark; he kept his head down and didn't dare speak.
At that moment, Shirou's stomach made a "gurgle gurgle" noise.
The woman clearly froze, shame flashing across her face, and the boy bowed his head even lower, "I'm so sorry, truly sorry!!"
She bowed twice in succession and hurried away with the boy almost as if fleeing.
Shirou called after them just in time, "Please wait a moment."
Hearing this, the woman immediately panicked, positioned the boy behind her, and begged, "Please don't harm the child, we'll do anything, just don't hurt the child…"
If Shirou hadn't been quick, she would have immediately dropped to her knees.
Helping them up, Shirou rubbed his forehead, "Do I really look like a bad person?"
Kneeling at first meeting. Someone who didn't know would think he actually intended to do something bad.
He tore the remaining food apart.
"Here—", The syllable was still half out when the boy behind the woman devoured the food in a wolfish gulp.
"Sorry, sorry!"
The woman, seeing this, apologized repeatedly in a voice barely audible, "He's too hungry."
"It's okay, I understand."
After being hungry for five days, seeing food in someone's hands and not immediately snatching or stealing it already shows remarkable self-control.
Shirou himself might not have been able to manage that.
If he couldn't stand it, he could only console himself with illusions of food.
Looking at the woman's ashen face, Shirou didn't hesitate and handed over the last of the food, "Take it."
"But you—"
The woman's eyes were full of longing for the food; her throat kept bobbing, showing it plainly.
But she understood this might be the last food the kind-looking youth before her had.
"Don't worry."
Shirou said, "I just finished eating and was thinking about what to do with this food; you came at exactly the right time."
No sooner had he finished speaking than his stomach started gurgling again.
"…"
"How strange," Shirou thought seriously, "Why would it thunder in the middle of the day?"
"Thun… der…", The starving woman, utterly weak, really couldn't imagine such a sound being thunder.
And she was so hungry she could barely speak.
Soon she might even lose consciousness.
"You see, you're so hungry you can't even tell the thunder apart, just eat something."
With that serious look, he without thinking shoved the food into her hands.
His calm face showed not the slightest reluctance.
Simply…
"Th-thank you…", Countless words stuck in her throat and couldn't come out.
Only tears kept falling.
"I can't thank you enough, you're practically a saint in the world."
"You flatter me," Shirou looked up and saw the ring spreading across the blue sky.
This was the symbol that every singularity had besides Fuyuki City burning with the Singularity F.
Yet at the beginning of everything, it was merely a king who made a wish for humanity.
A choice that could not be called wrong but was also, to some extent, a mistaken choice.
After returning his gaze he said, "I'm only a mortal as well."
"…"
"A mortal?"
Arash, watching from a distance, smiled knowingly, "Even in an era like this there are still such incredible people… Emiya Shirou."
He'd said his eye for people was right.
"Mom—", the boy's voice.
"I'm fine, Rushd."
The woman wiped her tears and, like the boy, wolfed down the last of the food.
Halfway through eating, she carefully wrapped the remainder.
Facing Shirou's gaze, the woman bashfully said, "Children… get hungry more easily."
'Rushd?'
'That name sounds so familiar; I seems to have heard it somewhere before,' Shirou pondered.
This scene also felt strangely déjà vu.
Suddenly he slapped his forehead and finally remembered.
'Isn't this the plotline of the anime where Fujimaru Ritsuka appears?'
He'd fallen into the same trap.
Because Fujimaru Ritsuka hadn't appeared, Shirou had subconsciously thought they were following the game's plot.
Teleport to the desert first to meet Ramesses, learn about the singularity, information on the Chalk City, get food and car-making materials, and then hurry here.
In short, compared to the anime, the game had many twists.
So here it was already evening, the city gates wide open.
It turned out he was once again getting protagonist treatment.
Isn't that proof Fujimaru Ritsuka's fate was sealed, her seat belonged to him.
And he even got a free meal.
Suddenly, the annoyance stirred by Saber was somewhat eased inside.
Making do with the bitter things, perhaps.
Maybe Saber wasn't as bad as imagined.
———
Time flowed like water.
In the blink of an eye it neared dusk.
The sunset began to burn its last afterglow.
Bathed in crimson clouds, Shirou's red hair looked even more vivid.
Like flames of red-orange blazing.
The woman stood behind Shirou with Rushd and said softly, "Our village was destroyed for angering the gods."
"One day, a brilliant star fell from the sky, and the purifying flame wiped everything away."
"After we left the village, we found that everything around had become desert; we had no way out and came here."
The woman lowered her head, "Thank you for your advice. But the Holy City is our only hope, and the selection is tonight; if we leave, we truly don't know where to go."
"If you trust me."
Shirou's gaze didn't change, "You can wait for me to come back. There's a nearby faction that can take you in. If you want to fill your stomach, exchange appropriate labor."
So many people were fighting tooth and nail to survive, looking around at the ruins and scars. Places not even worthy of being called ruins.
A city forged overnight like a miracle.
Indeed it would become a sacred place of salvation for the desperate, the disheartened, and those who had lost tomorrow.
Those who enter the Holy City would live without worries, their troubles gone.
But this is false, the truth and cruelty hidden inside that falseness are the reality they were about to face.
Yet Shirou couldn't even question it.
Not being one of the Knights of the Round, only just a mortal, how could he question a deity?
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