Otherwise, you can find another savior.

Page 369

"Leave the children to Aoi and me. It's a rare summer festival, so Mr. Shiomi and Miss Witch... no, I should say Mrs. Shiomi, please enjoy the Fuyuki summer festival. As the manager of this land, I would be honored if you two could fully enjoy the local customs and culture."

After saying this, Tokiomi Tohsaka followed his wife to look after the three children, especially the girl who was in a playful mood.

"Why are they being so polite, letting us shop alone?" Morgan asked with a smile. "Or are you worried about them?"

“Of course don’t worry, and we won’t go anywhere else.” tide Jian took Morgan’s hand and pointed in the opposite direction. “To avoid overlapping routes, let’s go this way and then cross the bridge to check out the stalls on the other side?”

"I'll do whatever you say."

Morgan brushed a strand of hair from his side, firmly grasped Shiomi's hand, and followed him down the steps of the riverbank.

　As night fell, the number of visitors to the summer festival increased, and Morgan was sometimes so focused on observing the stalls that she couldn't keep up with the pedestrians.

Fortunately, Shiomi remained attentive throughout, and Morgan gradually relaxed completely, focusing on enjoying the celebration in front of him.

"Is it good?" tide Jian asked her as she ate an apple candy.

“It tastes good.” Morgan winked. “And since it was bought by my husband, it’s even sweeter.”

"That's an exaggeration," tide Jian said. "There's plenty of delicious food waiting for you."

"I know."

As Morgan crossed the road along the riverbank and stepped onto the bridge leading to the stalls on the other side of the river, he glanced downstream at the Weiyuan River.

“I’ve never asked you why my husband wants me to stay?” she asked casually.

Shio was puzzled: "Although it's only been a few days, I've unknowingly fallen for you and hope to love you, which is why I'm asking for more time. Isn't this answer enough for my wife?"

“No—” Morgan looked at Shiomi with a mischievous grin, “Besides this reason, there must be a more pragmatic one, right?”

“Uh…” tide Jian was speechless, but then she didn’t find it strange. “I really didn’t expect you to find out.”

"Let me make this clear from the start: reasons like wanting me to fully guide Sakura's magic studies until she becomes an excellent magician don't count." Morgan blocked Shiomi's escape route once again.

"Now I have no choice but to tell the truth." He couldn't help but smile.

"Tell me about it?" Morgan asked with interest.

“First, of course, I hope that Sakura and Karen can have a mother; as for the second…” Shiomi lowered her voice a little embarrassedly and said in her ear, “It’s still manageable now, but as I get older, as a man, it’s not easy for me to take care of their daily lives, so we need a woman in the house.”

Besides personal emotional reasons, this selfish motive was also one of the reasons he tried to retain Morgan.

"If I reject you and just back off, what are you going to do?" Morgan asked, his mouth hidden behind the apple candy as he stared intently at Shiomi.

He guiltily looked away: "Oh, well..."

"For example, asking your master for help?" Morgan asked sourly.

“How could that be? Master can’t come.” tide Jian said.

"So who are you planning to ask for help?" Morgan pressed on.

Shiomi chuckled sheepishly and touched her nose: "I guess I'll try to find my ex-girlfriend... or something? Although it might not work out..."

"Tell me more about that ex-girlfriend later," Morgan finally agreed.

"Are you angry?" tide Jian asked softly.

“Who knows? I’m not that angry.” Morgan said, secretly tightening her grip on his hand. “Even at this point, you still won’t lie to me. That’s what surprises me the most.”

"..." tide Jian was taken aback, then sighed silently, "Because I don't want to lie to you."

Morgan was surprised: "Why?"

“It’s hard to put into words, but in those dreams about you, I saw a lot of things about you. Although they were very blurry and I couldn’t make out the details, there was one thing I understood very well.” Xi Jian lowered her eyes. “Those dreams all seemed incredibly sad, especially when I saw you smiling so warmly. I kept thinking, what must a person have gone through, how strong must they be... to accept the pain so calmly and then smile from the bottom of their heart.”

Shiomi's fingers caressed the back of her hand as they stood on the bridge gazing at each other.

Beside them, crowds of people thronged the banks of the Weiyuan River, forming a noisy yet silent backdrop.

“I don’t want to hurt you, not at all. I also know better than anyone that a seemingly beautiful lie is more likely to hurt you than the truth.” He told Morgan what was on his mind from the bottom of his heart.

Morgan suddenly laughed, looking into his eyes:

"It's not that I'm particularly strong. I get hurt, I feel pain, and I experience despair and fear. But what's more terrifying than any of that is always being alone. It's because of your presence that I can smile openly."

"Huh?"

tide Jian was a little confused about the logic behind the words.

“I actually know you better than you think. I know the answers to many things, yet I still want to hear you say them again.” Morgan looked into his eyes. “And yet, every word you utter carries unexpected weight.”

"Morgan..."

"Let's go, don't stand on the bridge, you're blocking other people."

Morgan smiled and took Shiomi's hand, leading her towards the other side of the river.

The warmth from my palm, the sweetness lingering in my mouth, the happiness filling my heart—all of these are real things.

This is not a fleeting dream, but a real and tangible experience.

“By the way, my husband.” Morgan turned his head and looked at Shiomi with gentle eyes. “Although I always hear you say that I feel the same way you do.”

"what?"

"I love you more than anyone else in this world. Throughout human history, no one has ever loved you as much as I do. One day, you will fully understand that this is not a lie."

Morgan's clear eyes reflected the lights of the summer festival, swaying gently, the most tender spot in this world of fireworks.

"Yes, I know."

tide Jian nodded deeply, keeping her words in her heart.

Chapter 83 Huh? How come you died again?

For Aozaki Aoko.

Shiomi is in a liminal position, neither trusting nor suspecting.

Because the other party is a mage who inherited the Fifth Law, they are able to travel from the future to this singularity on their own.

In contrast, Chaldea would require a very complex engineering project to achieve.

There are simpler methods, such as having Morgan use a "mirror" and a "coffin" to perform time-space transfer at the same level, but that is Morgan's own ultimate magic.

It cannot be passed down.

Even if she reveals the principles of magic, which Morgan can understand at a glance and then replicate, the magic tricks are as mysterious and enigmatic as a book to other magicians.

Unlike the Fifth Law, which allows the successor to pass on all the magic to the next person once they decide to inherit it.

It doesn't matter if the next administration doesn't fully understand it during the process of using it.

There is a saying—

The magician's research into history.

It is the karmic consequence of human actions, and the destiny of planetary motion.

But magic is the divine truth from beyond the heavens, not belonging to the karma of humans and planets.

This is a clear charge; magic is the enemy of mankind.

Therefore, Shiomi's reason for not believing Aozaki Aoko is quite simple.

That is, even if Aoko uses so-called rocket-pencil-style time travel to replenish herself one by one and come to this singularity to do the work of correcting the distortion of history, she must also have grasped the facts that others do not know in this singularity and launched a covert operation.

Otherwise, there's no way to explain the death of "the first Aoko".

That was not carried out by Shiomi, but it was undoubtedly a murder method employed by Shiomi.

What does Aozaki Aoko know? What has she discovered? And what has she experienced?

Shiomi leaned against the shadows at the corner of the corridor connecting the new and old buildings, concealing her presence like an Assassin, unless one possessed a presence perception like Enkidu.

Even if he were facing a mage, he was confident that he would not be noticed.

That's exactly what happened.

It's early morning now, and there's still some time before dawn.

However, Aozaki Aoko left the room and went alone to the old building's hot spring bath during a time when the hot spring was not open.

His raven caught the action and reported it to Shiomi in a timely relay.

Right now, Shiomi is doing what she sees as stalking.

Aozaki Aoko's footsteps were very light, clearly indicating that she did not want to be discovered.

Shiomi leaned against the wall, concealing her figure, aura, and even magic, blending into the environment, listening to Aozaki Aoko's footsteps echoing in the somewhat complicated old building.

Sounds that ordinary people could never hear, Shiomi could hear.

Therefore, there is no need to get too close. Before the quiet of dawn, Shiomi's five senses extend infinitely, taking in all the sounds and noises of the entire hot spring inn.

My steps stopped.

Shiomi slightly opened her eyes, secretly wondering if Aozaki Aoko had noticed someone watching her from the shadows.

If that's the case...

Just as Shio was pondering what to do next, a hand wrapped in a silk glove reached out from his blind spot. It wasn't until it was right in front of him that Shio realized he hadn't noticed anyone approaching.

His eyes widened, his whole body tense, ready to retaliate.

However, the hand did not aim for vital organs such as the throat or heart, but instead landed firmly, covering his mouth and nose without suffocating him.

Like a secluded orchid in a valley, the familiar fragrance of a woman gradually enveloped him.

As Shio's eyes adjusted to the darkness, his slightly tense hand relaxed again, and he could see clearly who was approaching him.

Scáthach.

She covered Xijian's mouth and nose with one hand to prevent his breathing from getting heavier, while raising a finger to signal him to be quiet.

At this moment, Master was not wearing the bathrobe provided by the hotel, but rather his close-fitting combat attire.

"Master, what's wrong—" tide Jian lowered her voice.

“I came to find you for a tryst in the middle of the night, only to find the room empty.” Scáthach spoke flirtatiously, but her voice and eyes remained calm. “I followed the trail all the way here.”

"...Morgan must be speechless. I left, and my master came to ambush me at night." tide Jian didn't laugh out loud, but her eyes were full of smiles.

Enough of the small talk, the master and apprentice focused their attention on tracking Aozaki Aoko's movements.

However, it was only a few seconds of conversation between the two that caused Shio to lose track of Aoko.

"Disappeared?" Shio's eyes widened. "No, this magical reaction is—"

Realizing something was wrong, he silently followed Scáthach through the connecting corridor, hurrying in the direction where Aozaki Aoko had disappeared.

The location is another hot spring in the old building—a secret hot spring where love is made.

Lifting the curtain, I walked through the changing room and opened the unlocked wooden door, revealing a hot spring under the night sky.

"It disappeared here, didn't it?" Scáthach examined the locker room.

This is the women's changing room; it's more appropriate for her to check it.

She was coming downstairs to see her beloved student, so she didn't notice Aozaki Aoko immediately.

"The last place we could trace it to was here," Shiomi said, standing in the doorway of the changing room. "And then the trail went completely cold—"

“If they sensed you were watching them from the shadows and used magic… no, spells to escape—” Scáthach said, “it’s not impossible.”

“Master is right.” Shio looked indifferently at the hot spring. “The residual magical energy here is too high, exceeding the level of traces left by a magician’s daily activities.”

Aozaki Aoko is no exception. As a magician, she cannot control the loss of magic power in her daily activities, just as humans cannot control their metabolism.

Even if one can use special methods to store the magic power generated by magic circuits, this natural phenomenon cannot be avoided.

In other words—

“The magical reaction just now was almost exactly the same as the magical reaction that happened in the forest before I and Orange met Aozaki Aoko when we went up the mountain the day before yesterday,” Shiomi said. “Aozaki Aoko activated her fifth spell here and jumped to another point in time.”

"Why would she come here before dawn to perform magic?" Scáthach leaned against the locker in the dressing room and asked Shiomi the question that was on her mind.

"We'll have to ask Aozaki Aoko herself." Shiomi stepped aside slightly, allowing Scáthach to see what was happening inside the hot spring. "That is, provided she can still speak."

"this is--"

Scáthach was startled.

On the side facing the mountain and forest, a strange tree stands by the pond.