บท 31: Chapter 31:Babylon

Witnessing his father`s arrival shirou pulled him inside and insisted they had breakfast. Finally, after having breakfast, they picked up the luggage shirou had packed and went to fuyuki airport.

From the airport, they were inside the plane headed to Najaf airport in Iraq.

After 20 hours of flight, shirou quietly followed his father out of the airport. Reaching the road kiritsugu booked a taxi and they checked into a hotel room. inside the room, the older emiya opened the suitcase revealing two pistols of the same model as the ones that shirou used.

Pointing at the guns the magus killer said with a firm voice

"Shirou we are tracking a human trafficker who was last seen with Melvin Weins, so the bullets are metal ones instead of rubber. You might have to see blood for the 1st time in this attempt so I am giving you 2 choices"

"1st stay here, it is not the ideal choice simply because if I start tracking the target they will also start tracking me hence putting you in constant danger."

"Or you can come with me as we track the rouge magus, it would be dangerous for sure but would be able to protect you." completing these choices he thought

Pulling kiritsugu out of his thoughts shirou replied

"I will go with you father."

Looking at the lack of signs of fear or hesitation on the child`s face, kiritsugu lamented internally

As self-deprecating laughter rang in the magus killer`s mind his already precarious mind state was pushed further into the abyss. Choices like this have constantly ground his desire to live to nothing. The man was just living out of a sense of duty to his children.

….

A figure was standing atop a highland overlooking the ruins of Babylon in Iraq. The sandy wind blew making the white oversized hoodie worn by the figure flutter. The stilt house wore knee-length cargo pants filled with pockets and long black socks covering scrawny legs as well as outdoor boots.

The black backpack on the figure`s shoulder looked extremely oversized compared to him as it covered his back from his nape to the end of his spine. A masculine voice sounded from beneath the hood which said

"This is …..babylon"

As the words fell wind changed direction as it removed the hood revealing shoulder-length black hair fluttering alongside the gust. The man held a tattered red cloth in his right hand and looking after touching the cloth with his left hand the man walked towards the city as his ponytail swayed in the wind. He muttered while leaving

"This is the city built by one of the 1st kings, Gilgamesh and also the resting place of Iskandar…the conqueror of the world."

The man now walked through a slum-like city, with broken buildings and people struggling to survive. The man looked at the fully covered people who were identified as malnourished even from just the visible portion of their covered face.

The man saw a teenage boy kicking the Kickstarter with panic as he shouted

"Dammit!… move! I have to go to the doctor!"

Perhaps curious of the boy`s plight the man moved closer to him and asked

"What`s wrong?"

"This piece of scrap won't start up!" replied the boy while continuing his kicking. Then he said

"I was told this was Japanese-made." motioning to the Honda printed on the scooter.

Hearing this the man pushed the boy aside gently as he said

"Let me take a look."

Under the boy`s protest, the man started fiddling with the engine and pulling out the sparkplug he said

"As I suspected, the spark plug is dead."

Putting the plug down and while looking at the boy asked

"You just need this to get to the doctor, right?"

After the boy`s affirmation the man put his palm on the hole and closed his eyes, the mana flowed from his hands and made a small spark inside the engine starting the scooter. He asked

"Is this good enough?"

"No way!" exclaimed the boy and then said "Yes".

Looking at the boy jumping on the scooter the magus cautioned him by saying

"Listen whatever you do, don't turn off the engine. This is a temporary fix."

"You might as well ask the doctor to have that spark plug replaced."

The teen replied while speeding on the bumpy road

"Thank you, foreign bro."

As the magus was smiling at the child`s antics a sudden deep voice came from behind him.

"Hey, you are a mage. Huh?"

"That's right." replied the mage as he turned around to see a man removing his sunglasses. the man wearing sunglasses had red pupils and short brown hair and was wearing a unicolour shirt and pant combo looking like an explorer. He said

"Thought so."

The magus saw the red pupils of the man and was about to take a step back when he felt a squeezing force on him that bound his body stiff. Felling this and looking at the glowing eyes he exclaimed with a struggling breath.

"These are suspension-type mystic eyes."

The owner of Mystic Eyes said with a victorious smirk on his face and narcissism dripping off his face

"I was at Clock Tower too. I may not look like it but I am well known in these areas as Barzan the returnee from London. You know?"

"I don't know you. I was just looking for an inn." said the scrawny-looking mage and continued with a strained smile

"If you want a class reunion then go somewhere else."

Ignoring the man barzan while walking towards him and putting a hand on the man`s shoulder said

"It is a combination of mystic eyes with conditioned magecraft. Kinda impressive, huh, junior?"

"I doubt that." said the magus with a sharp remark.

Continued Barzan as if he hears only selective things

"If you need a place to crash somewhere, why don't you come to my place? yeah"

Under the fearful and disdainful gaze of the magus, Barzan took him towards the ruins of Babylon.

….

Kiritsugu and shirou sat inside a dusty van moving on the sandy desert road. They didn't need to commit any bloodshed to find out about their target. Once they sneaked inside the room of the man running the human trafficking racket and kiritsugu put a suggestion on him, the man spilled all the beans.

Kiritsugu again confirmed the information gained with his son to teach him and said

"So shirou summarise our findings about the target."

Nodding his head shirou said

"The man with whom Malvin Weins was last seen is called Barzan. He is famous in the local area for buying slaves after returning from London."

"We suspect that he is a magus either expelled or a runaway member of the clock tower. As he is still alive and people know about him it points to the fact that he is not important enough for the clock tower to promptly send enforcers."

"He is suspected of kidnapping the tuner we are searching for and also a target for elimination."

"Good, you have summarized the information passably." said kiritsugu.

The rest of the journey passed in silence as Kiritsugu Emiya cleaned his guns and the younger one meditated with his mystic code. They reached the outskirts of the town which looked more like a slum.

The driver promptly speeded off after dropping them off. The father and son pair cautiously walked into the town and observed the people as the people observed them.

They found out about the location of their target simply by asking around and sneaked into the ruins of the ancient city and went towards the pit famed as the burial ground of Iskandar the conqueror of the world.

The name stirred mixed feelings within kiritsugu, he remembered facing the man as a servant of rider class. He remembered how he had put the master of the rider as the lowest threat and never considered eliminating him.