Danmachi- The Heroic Legend of Emiya!

Chapter 15: The Scar Left by the Sword of Rupture

The Azure Apothecary was located in a rather secluded alley of the Alchemist Street.

The shop stood alone in a dimly lit and somewhat damp location.

A crest resembling a humanoid [familiar] with all four limbs intact was mounted on the building like a signboard. It looked extremely simple—so much so that rather than a shop, it resembled an ordinary storage warehouse.

Seeing such an environment, Shirou immediately understood why Naaza had taken the initiative to come out and promote the place.

With such a remote location, it was highly unlikely that any ordinary customer would even be able to find this place, let alone walk in to buy potions.

"Sorry about this—"

Naaza seemed to have noticed Shirou's reaction and appeared a bit embarrassed about the condition of her own shop.

She immediately opened the door and went in, walking toward a cabinet and rummaging through it. "This shop doesn't get many customers, so feel free to sit wherever you like."

Hearing Naaza's words, Shirou and Hestia tried to find a place to sit, but the entire shop was so messy and dirty that they couldn't even find a clean spot to step on, let alone sit.

Faced with such an environment, Hestia couldn't help but reveal a doubtful expression. She looked at Shirou with concern in her eyes, as if saying, "Shouldn't we just go find Airmid instead?"

Clearly, she had begun to doubt Naaza's medical skills due to the poor condition of the shop.

However, Shirou didn't have any doubts about Naaza.

He had noticed that while the shop was in disarray, it was stocked with an abundance of medicinal supplies. He could see all kinds of rare herbs placed around the room, as well as numerous potion-filled test tubes piled up everywhere.

From the environment, Shirou could already sense that this so-called Azure Apothecary indeed had its unique strengths.

So he did his best to calm Hestia down and patiently waited for Naaza to begin treatment.

After searching through the cabinet for a while, Naaza neatly placed test tubes filled with various colored liquids into a box and then set the box on the table.

"Alright then, Lord Emiya, can I ask you to describe your condition first?"

Naaza asked about Shirou's symptoms.

Shirou didn't bother explaining in detail.

He simply took off his coat, revealing the dense injuries across his body—so many and so severe that it looked as if he had walked out from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

"Hiss—"

Even though Naaza had mentally prepared herself and knew that if Shirou had considered going to Airmid for treatment, then his condition must be serious—she was still utterly shocked by what she saw.

Just by looking, she could already count numerous wounds of all sizes, and she noticed one particularly alarming crack in his chest that nearly pierced straight through his torso.

That gash emitted a strange crimson glow, as though it had been inflicted by an unprecedented weapon, leaving an indelible mark on Shirou's body.

When Naaza saw that wound, she even felt a strange, soul-piercing pain.

This meant that the wound was absolutely not caused by an ordinary attack. In fact, it didn't even seem like something a human could inflict.

It faintly gave her the impression that it was caused by divine power...

"How is it? Can Shirou's wounds be healed?"

Hestia asked Naaza with concern. She cared deeply about Shirou's well-being and naturally hoped his injuries could be cured.

Naaza wanted to say that she could do it, but after seeing Shirou's body, she couldn't bring herself to say anything with confidence.

After all, Shirou's injuries were far too severe. Naaza couldn't even imagine how someone with wounds this bad could still walk around like nothing had happened. He didn't seem human at all.

"Are my wounds incurable?"

Seeing Naaza freeze up, Shirou couldn't help but ask.

Naaza quickly shook her head. "No, it's difficult, but I'm confident I can heal them."

"How do you plan to treat him? Using healing magic?"

Hestia asked.

Naaza replied awkwardly, "Sorry, I lied earlier. I actually can't use healing magic. As an adventurer, the only skill I have is potion brewing."

"Eh?"

"But the potions I make are extremely effective—some can even cure rare and unusual illnesses."

As she spoke, Naaza wore a self-satisfied expression and pulled out a vial of high-purity healing potion from the box, then poured it over one of Shirou's wounds.

After using Naaza's potion, Shirou's injuries began healing at a visibly fast rate. The scars on his chest, arms, and thighs disappeared rapidly.

"The effect is really that good?"

Hestia had some basic knowledge of healing potions.

She knew that most healing potions not only worked slowly but also had mediocre effects. Naaza's potion, on the other hand, was clearly far more potent than standard ones, and its effect was obvious.

"This is a high-grade elixir I personally concocted. While it's more expensive than regular healing potions, it's still far cheaper than receiving healing magic from Dian Cecht Familia."

Naaza quietly introduced her own product.

Upon learning that each vial only cost ten to twenty thousand valis, Shirou and Hestia immediately showed approving expressions.

Although this kind of healing potion was much pricier than the usual few-thousand-valis options on the market, its effects were far beyond its price.

Next, Naaza continued using various potions to treat Shirou.

Not only were her potions relatively affordable, but their healing effect was also on par with that of high-level Familia healers. They rapidly healed most of Shirou's injuries.

By the end, only the 'sword wound' on Shirou's chest remained. The strange crimson wound seemed as if it was etched into his skin—it even gave off a faintly wriggling illusion.

"What exactly is this wound?"

Naaza tried several times but couldn't treat it, a helpless expression appearing on her face.

Shirou didn't seem to mind at all.

That wound on his chest wasn't inflicted after he came to this world—it was from before he arrived, during a battle against Angelica, who had used the Gilgamesh card.

Back then, Angelica had used the power of the Heroic Spirit Gilgamesh to unleash a barrage of terrifying Noble Phantasms upon Shirou, most of which he managed to block.

But in the end, Angelica summoned the most powerful Noble Phantasm—the Sword of Rupture.

Its devastating strike completely shattered Shirou's Reality Marble, Unlimited Blade Works, and left behind the unerasable wound on his chest.

Because of this wound, Shirou found that he could no longer use the power of his Reality Marble.

This was why his battle against the Dungeon Boss had been so difficult, and why his injuries accumulated through repeated fights.

In the end, just defeating a single level 2 Minotaur caused him to collapse into unconsciousness.

If it weren't for the divine wound left by the Sword of Rupture, Shirou would still be able to use Unlimited Blade Works.

It's likely he could have cleared all the Dungeon Boss he encountered without a single scratch and wouldn't have ended up in such a desperate state.

However, strangely enough, this sword wound hadn't affected Shirou's overall strength in any way.

Because of that, Shirou didn't worry too much about the wound. Even without his Reality Marble, his power was still enough to deal with most enemies and defeat powerful foes!