Emiya Shirou Doesn't Want to Work Overtime [240]

“Do you have an Unrestricted Spell that can track Friagne?”

After weaving through various streets across the city, Shirou Emiya returned to the rooftop, asking Shana, who’d been surveying the surroundings all this time. Wandering aimlessly like this was no solution. Searching for a Crimson Lord hiding among a sprawling sea of humans was impossible.

Not to mention, Friagne was renowned among Crimson Lords for his cunning and intelligence. Trying to locate him under such circumstances was no different from searching for a needle in the ocean.

But at this moment, Shana didn’t answer Shirou’s question. Her youthful, delicate face was tense, brows knitted tightly as she stared intently down at the streets below.

“Shana, you must have noticed by now the abnormality in this city,” Alastor, who’d been silent until now, suddenly spoke up.

“The number of Torches here…is unnaturally high.”

Shana hadn’t noticed when she’d first arrived. It was only now, standing atop this building and overlooking the streets, that she became acutely aware.

There were far too many Torches in this city—so many that they seemed to make up nearly a tenth of the entire population.

Torches were created specifically to prevent large-scale distortions in the world caused by the abrupt disappearance of vast amounts of Power of Existence.

But that was a problem only Flame Hazes worried about. Crimson Denizens never concerned themselves with whether devouring Power of Existence would distort the world.

Why would they ever care about human survival?

The only reason Crimson Denizens bothered to form the leftover scraps of Power of Existence into Torches was to avoid attracting Flame Hazes due to distortions in reality.

Both Flame Hazes and Crimson Denizens would use residual scraps of Power of Existence to create Torches after devouring a human. But after that, neither side cared what became of them.

After all, a human reduced to a Torch—holding only a tiny residual fragment of their original Power of Existence—was essentially already dead.

Then why had Friagne created so many Torches?

Was he afraid of attracting Flame Hazes?

But Friagne had already slaughtered countless Flame Hazes who had come hunting for him. As a powerful Crimson Lord, he had no reason whatsoever to fear Flame Hazes.

From any perspective, Friagne setting up so many Torches was unreasonable. Crimson Lords rarely stayed in a single location for long. Usually, they’d devour Power of Existence and then quickly leave.

Lingering in one place would only make them a target for Flame Hazes banding together. Friagne was surely not so arrogant as to think he could take on multiple Flame Hazes simultaneously.

Yet quietly establishing so many Torches clearly indicated he didn’t want Flame Hazes to notice his activities.

Why else would a Crimson Lord—one who disturbed reality—be kind enough to maintain stability in the human world by planting so many Torches?

But Shana couldn’t figure it out—no matter how she thought about it. Her instincts screamed at her: Friagne was plotting something massive.

Seeing Shana struggling in confusion, Alastor finally spoke:

“Long ago, on the western frontier, a powerful Crimson Lord recklessly devoured humans, leaving behind a large number of Torches, each implanted with a certain mechanism.”

These words weren’t just for Shana. They were meant for Shirou Emiya as well, who stood beside her.

Alastor, with his vast knowledge, had already guessed Friagne’s true intention.

Had Shirou Emiya not suggested seeking Friagne, had Shana not come up here to search from a high vantage point, Alastor might not have realized Friagne had set up such a sinister scheme.

Down among the bustling crowds, they would never have noticed anything unusual. Only from this elevated perspective, seeing this dense mass of Torches scattered across the city, did a distant memory resurface clearly in Alastor’s mind.

Normally, Flame Hazes never paid attention to Torches.

“That mechanism had the function to disassemble all the Torches at once under the user’s command—turning these replacements back into their original state, releasing all the residual Power of Existence simultaneously.”

“All of the Torches?”

Shirou Emiya didn’t entirely grasp what this implied, but Shana, intimately familiar with Power of Existence, immediately realized its horrifying implications.

“If that happens, the human world would be severely distorted…”

The purpose of a Torch was to cushion the distortions in reality caused by sudden losses of Power of Existence. If all of them vanished simultaneously, not only would humans’ memories suffer severe damage, but an enormous amount of Power of Existence would flood out all at once.

A single Torch contained only a tiny fragment of residual Power of Existence. But with so many Torches present, the resulting quantity of power released would be staggering.

With that massive surge of Power of Existence suddenly erupting in a densely populated city, the existence held within normal humans would also become a part of it.

Just as liquid naturally flowed from areas of higher concentration to lower, human bodies wouldn’t be able to contain such immense power.

They’d instantly burst from the overwhelming surge—and the released Power of Existence from those deaths would further intensify the distortion, forming a vicious cycle.

Flame Hazes, Torches, Crimson Lords, and humans—each handled Power of Existence differently.

Flame Hazes mostly drew power directly from their contracted Crimson Lords, whose Power of Existence replenished gradually, allowing Flame Hazes to fight without worrying about depletion.

Torches, however, were just containers holding residual power—like water in a cup. After enough evaporation and use, once the water vanished, so did the Torch.

Crimson Lords were collectors—they had no upper limit to the amount of Power of Existence they could store. It only depended on how much they managed to accumulate.

But humans were unique. Their Power of Existence was solid—losing it meant literally cutting away a piece of their being. Once consumed, it could never replenish.

In simpler terms, humans losing their Power of Existence wasn’t just emptying their reserves—it was permanently lowering their maximum capacity. Whether injecting or devouring Power of Existence, humans inevitably died from it.

That was why humans couldn’t use their own Power of Existence to perform Unrestricted Spells. Only contracted Flame Hazes or special Torches who retained their sense of self could wield it in battle.

For a human, fighting with their own Power of Existence was akin to fighting using their own lifeforce—a resource that could never be replenished. Once used, it meant death.

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This is a fan translation of 卫宫士郎不想加班 by 此世无存. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!