Chapter 22: Shattering of a Realistic Hope
After a lot of effort, kiritsugu was able to remove the blades from Shirou's flesh leaving behind clean-cut wounds bleeding like fountains. After cleaning the wound and applying the medicine it immediately hardened like a coating when it came in contact with the blood.
After leaving shirou in a clean bed kiritsugu called the school and applied for a week of leave on behalf of his son.
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Shirou woke up by late noon and was dazed till he remembered the dream from last night and started shivering. He released a scream as he felt phantom pain in his limbs making him check them repeatedly.
Kiritsugu rushed into the room alerted by the scream. Looking at the scene he grasped shirou into a tight hug and began consoling him.
After a lot of consoling shirou finally calmed down and understood it was just a vision. Looking at a now calm Shirou, Kiritsugu asked
"What happened? Did you have a vision?"
Nodding his head shirou said
"Yes!"
Then he explained the content of the dream and added his personal feelings, kiritsugu`s expression went paler the more he heard.
Goin over his shock the magus killer went into analysis and threat estimation zone as he searched for clues in the story
He then asked multiple questions to the shirou as he confirmed and reconfirmed numerous points.
The pair sat in heavy silence as the ex-master contemplated a lot and reached a conclusion, he said.
"Shirou pack your bags, we are going to Europe."
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After the repeated insistence of the boy kiritsugu allowed him to cook the meal for them and they ate lunch. Kiritsugu informed Raiga about their urgent impending trip and requested him to take care of the emiya residence.
They took a flight to Frankfurt Airport, dressed in thick coats shirou followed a similarly dressed kiritsugu as they met a bald man with pale white skin and a shaggy greying beard.
Following the man with a slight limp they sat in a car and left the airport. Kiritsugu said in German
"Thank you for picking us up at short notice Frederick."
The man focused on driving answered
"You paid the money and I did the job, it's standard to get the job done within 12 hours."
Then kiritsugu asked
"Did you do the rest of the things I asked you for?"
The man turned his head and looked him in the eyes as he said
"Yes, I have prepared weapons for you and arranged transport for you to react the town under Miller lineage."
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Shirou and kiritsugu moved out of the car and took in the view of the small but cozy-looking town, reading a map the older emiya pulled the younger one towards their arranged accommodation.
The Miller family is a family of 3rd generation magus. The primogenitor of this lineage was born from a prostitute and some unknown magus.
Later clock tower enforcers chasing a rogue dead apostle arrived at this remote town and found out about the latent magic circuits of the 1st miller when he resisted the mental suggestion.
So the 1st generation was admitted into the clock tower and established and the lineage came into being.
When competitors attacked the 3rd generation head, he hired kiritsugu and Maya as assassins to deal with them.
This is the confrontation where kiritsugu used 2 origin bullets and destroyed the magic circuit as well as damaged the crest of a 2nd generation and 4th generation family. Kiritsugu came to this place as the Miller family specialised in minor healing with their regeneration-boosting magecraft.
Kiritsugu thought
(A/N: to clarify things here, normally healing magecraft has effects of different scales depending on the potential of the recipient, as shown in the case files where Waver`s injury took a lot of time to heal. So these people will think of the increased minor regen that shirou has due to the presence of the wellspring of mystery Avalon as shirou having potential.)
Shirou and kiritsugu went to the hotel room they had booked and shirou fell asleep due to jet lag, while kiritsugu prepared the weapons and ammunition he had brought.
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As shirou woke up he found kiritsugu fully prepared with a black suit and multiple guns present on his body which he covered by the blazer. Handing shirou 2 pistols he said
"Shirou keep these with you for protection as going to meet Magus territory unarmed is a recipe for disaster."
Nodding his head shirou put the guns in the underarm holster that kiritsugu gave him. Then the magus killer handed him a black under armour and 5 clips of bullets.
Experiencing the feeling of being armoured and armed for the 1st time shirou stoked the knife on his necklace that calmed him down.
They left the hotel in a taxi and came to a small mansion made of moss-covered stone. As they reached the mansion gate shirou felt a bunded field being triggered.
They waited for the owner of the field to come outside, and they waited for 10 minutes before a cat with its fur covered in writing came out and a voice echoed out of it
"What are you people here?"
Kiritsugu replied calmly
"Sophia go and tell your father that the magus killer is here for the meeting booked last night."
The cat stretched itself and just jumped back inside. After half an hour a middle-aged man with short pale blond hair and deep black circles under his eyes came out and raised his hand forward as he said
"Nice to see you again Mr.emiya."
Shaking the man`s outstretched hands kiritsugu said
"Nice to meet you too Mr. Jacob Miller"
The man talks with kiritsugu for some time and says
"As you can see I am very tired and busy due to a certain project so let's quickly discuss the matter you made an appointment with me for."
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Some time later the 3 are seated in a room with white walls covered in runes and sigils. The adults were drinking water from 2 glasses on the table and as soon as they kept them down the paper on the table that they called a "geis" lit up with their names.
Then the sigils on the room started glowing as the room was separated from outside by a strong bounded field. After this arrangement, Jacob nodded and kiritsugu opened the bag and brought out a box.
Opening the box and pointing at shirou he said
"This is Shirou emiya, my son, last night when he was experiencing a nightmare these things grew out of his flesh."
Hearing this Jacob picked up the blades in the box and looked at shirou and kiritsugu and then asked
"Give me the details of this, exotic effects like these are the speciality of witches. So he might have been cursed."
Kiritsugu vividly explained the circumstances of shirou but excluded all the critical details flawlessly. Learning this Jacob asked
"So he was sleeping and had a nightmare of death by mutilation when his body started growing swords."
"There are a lot of possibilities from him being cursed to that being a self-defensive mechanism of a sorcery trait or some form of esp."
"For now I would need to observe the process and then we can narrow down the cause."