"Finally found one." Shirou mumbled to himself as Firo pulled the overladen wagon up to a waterfall, a popup opening in the corning of his vision.
[Waypoint Discovered – Arrow Falls]
Ever since they had started heading into the more mountainous regions near where the boarders of Melromarc, Shildfrieden and Siltvelt met, Shirou had been looking for a waypoint where he would be able to teleport to. It was important for his plan to getting the children across the border.
"Alright everyone. We are going to be setting down now!" Shirou told them all. The kids were perplexed, as it was barely noon, and in the last four days they had traveled together, they had never set up camp before sunset.
"Sensei, shouldn't we be going a little farther today?" Rita asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"No, we are going to be setting up camp here. It's part of my plan for getting everyone across the border safely." Shirou told her as he got off the wagon and started to undo Firo's reigns, so that the Filolial could go and get a drink of water.
"What do you mean?" Rita asked, though she was already getting down as well. Several of the children had dismounted and were going to gather firewood or set up the tents.
"Moving straight across the border in any normal location would be dangerous. It will be guarded from both sides of the border, since the relationship between the nations is so strained. Us trying to force our way across could even spark a larger scale conflict. So, I am planning a different means of getting into Shildfrieden." Shirou explained.
"You… you aren't planning on pushing through the mountains are you!?" Rita yelped in surprise. "There is no way we could go through there. It's Griffin territory! Even if you were strong enough to fight them, it would be too dangerous for us to go through there!"
"That is why I'm going to be going through alone." Shirou said, pulling out Jian and slashing a rune mark onto the ground. "One of the abilities allowed to me by this weapon is the power to teleport myself and four other people with me to any location I have marked like this, though it only works in certain locations." He pointed to the rune he had just made. It was actually just a rune that would glow when he guided mana into it, but Rita didn't need to know that. If he said that he could teleport to any place he had been, then it would beg the question as to why a world traveler like himself couldn't have just teleported them all out in the first place. This way he could claim that he didn't have any marks outside of Melromarc. "I'll leave you all here with enough protections and food to last you until I can get back. Once I make a waypoint on the other side of the mountain, I can teleport everyone across in groups of four. I can only use the ability once every hour, so it would take ten hours to get the whole group across, but it will be safe."
"Safe for us, but what about you, Sensei! There are Griffins in those mountains, and even a few dragons! I know you are strong, but you aren't nearly a high enough level to fight them!" Rita protested.
"I don't have to fight them, just get past them. If anything goes wrong and things look hairy, I will just teleport myself back here and we will find another way around."Shirou assured her. He wasn't exactly relishing the idea of going toe to toe with such monsters either, but this was the safest option he had. He just had to hope that none of the Phantasmal Beasts inside those mountains thought him as worth the bother to attack. It was one of the reasons he wasn't too worried about dealing with the notoriously lazy dragons. Territorial as they might be, they only guarded their territory from things that they saw as their equals or competitors. Humans didn't qualify, at least, not without numbers. It was the Griffins that actually worried him. If he was lucky then he would be able to squeeze past them without incident… but that wasn't how life as a hero usually worked, so he was just hoping that they would be few enough in number for him to overpower them with his reinforcements and Jian.
If not, he would have to teleport out and find another way, just like he said.
"I'll leave tomorrow morning, after a long rest. In the meantime, help me set up the bounded field and we can continue your training. I think it is about time you've started with a real sword." Hoping to distract the girl.
Rita stared at Shirou for a few moments before finally just sighing. "Just be careful. I don't want to lose you too." She said sadly, her eyes falling.
Shirou reached up a hand and patted the girl on the head. "Don't worry. I'm rather obnoxiously hard to kill." Shirou said with a slightly cocky smile.
Rita flushed with embarrassment and swatted Shirou's hand away from her head. "St…stop that! I'm not a kid anymore!" She said indignantly.
"Not a kid anymore, are you? Let them have a sword and suddenly they think…"Shirou started to chuckle before he actually did look at Rita, really look at her, and nearly choked. He suddenly remembered the fact that Demihumans physically grew older as they leveled up, though more gradually than monsters did.
So while Firo's growth had been obvious, as she had gone from a chick to an eight-foot-tall giant in just twelve hours, Rita's growth over the last few days had been just slow enough for Shirou to have not noticed it at all. Though if he actually looked, the fact of her growth was obvious.
When they had met, Rita appeared to be just turning fifteen, was only around five-foot-three and had long golden hair that reached down to her waist. She had been petit with a face that still had a young look about it, even if it had been often filled with sadness.
In the past four days she seemed to have put on two whole years and grown another three inches. Her her body became more curvy as it developed. The village clothes she had worn, which had once been a little loose on her, were now tight around her growing chest. Her face had become more attractive as she had matured and had gained the determined, unyielding expression that Shirou often associated with women.
Shirou kicked himself for not noticing it earlier. Her eating habits changing after she had joined his party should have been enough of a hint.
"Sensei, is something wrong?" Rita asked with a tilt of her hand.
"Hm… Oh, it's nothing. Let's get started setting up that bounded field, okay?" Shirou said, shaking off his shock.
"Sure." Rita nodded before going to get the tools they would need for the process, her chest noticeably bouncing as she jogged to get them.
The girl had really just aged two years in a few short days. Shirou started to think about the implications of such a thing. Luckily, she had been fifteen instead of something younger, like ten. Else she would have suddenly just jumped through all of puberty in one go and have had to deal with the sudden onslaught of hormones all at once. She would have been having her first period and as the only adult around, Shirou would have had to deal with that talk.
Thank goodness he had only added Rita to his party. He'd hate to imagine what would have happened if all of those kids had suddenly gone through puberty in less than a week.
From personal experience dealing with Illya, Shirou knew how influential the physical body was on the mind. How confusing was it going to be for Rita to have suddenly matured two whole years? Or maybe it wouldn't be a big deal at all. It wasn't like she was human. Maybe this was just so natural for Demihumans that they aren't affected by it the same way humans would have been.
Well, on the bright side, she'll be more capable of looking after the other children once Shirou was gone.
[Emiya Shirou: Lv 33]
[Firo: Lv 29]
[Rita Aselia: Lv 21]
She really was growing strong. She didn't even need the special properties of the spear he gave her in order to kill the monsters they were coming across, and she could fight them without Shirou crippling them first. Companion Grow Up (small) and changed her rate of growth from being 3.5% increase per level to 4% increase per level and when it had been changed to Companion Grow Up (medium) it had gone up again to 4.5%. With both medium and large growth, Firo's growth rate was 6% per level, an absolutely insane rate of growth.
Shirou had considered taking more of the children into his party just so that they could gain strength as well, but Jian had talked him, or info dumped him, out of it.
Apparently, the Companion Sword's buffs only effected people who Shirou shared a bond with. While Shirou carried about the other children as people, he hadn't had a heart to heart with any of them like he had with Rita. He didn't value the other children's lives any more than he would any other stranger he ran into, where as Rita had already became someone he felt a connection with, even if he couldn't be completely honest with her.
Also, EXP seemed to be divided among members of the party, so for each individual added, the amount gained per person would decrease. While this wouldn't be a problem if it meant they could fight larger groups, they only ever fought what they came across and any fight Shirou would willingly let them participate in, Shirou didn't need the help.
Better to have 1 powerful level 21 than 19 mediocre level 5s.
Shirou felt a bit of pride, knowing that Rita would be able to take care of the others when they were done settling down in Shildfrieden. All he had to do was get them there.
Shirou checked through everything, making sure that the children would have enough food to last them until he got back and that the bounded field as running at full power. He'd have about 4 days to make in across the 150 miles of mountainous, monster-filled terrain into Shildfrieden territory. It should only take 10 hours, at most, if things went well. Meaning he would have 3 days to wander aimlessly looking for a landmark or city he could teleport to. It would take another day to ferry everyone across, leaving Shirou with 15 days to find homes for the children before the Wave hit.
"It'll just be you and me this time, Firo." Shirou said, patting the bird on the neck as he checked the harness. He still didn't have any kind of saddle for her, so the ride was probably going to be hell, but it would beat hiking it. He'd just have to hope that the boost the Rider's Sword gave him to his skills would make a big enough difference to let him ride her bareback as she ran around on the side of the mountain for more than a few minutes without being thrown off. "Your speed is going to be our best defense against trouble. You think you can handle it?"
"Guee~!" Firo cheerfully proclaimed, rubbing her head into Shirou's palm.
"Sensei." Rita said from behind Shirou.
Shirou didn't even have to turn around, he already knew exactly what was going on. It's exactly what he would have done if he had even known what Kiritsugu was doing when he went off on his trip. "You aren't coming."
"But Sensei, I might be able to help!" Rita protested, clutching her spear to her chest.
"No. I need you to stay here and watched the other children." Shirou told her.
"But Sensei…!"
"I'm not going to discuss this with you. Travel will be faster and safer if it is just me and Firo." Shirou said sharply, hoping that there was still a bit of child in her, which would back down was meet with such a stern rejection.
Rita went quite for a few moments, long enough for guilt's long nails to start sinking in. But when she finally did speak, it shocked Shirou. "If… if this is because you don't want to have to hold back anymore, then you don't have to worry. I… I already know you are the Hero of the Sword."
Shirou froze before looked over at Rita in shock. Some of the other children who had been listening all gasped and started to whisper to each other. "How… How do you..?"Shirou started, but then noticed the surprise on the girl's own face. Then he realized his mistake. "You didn't know. You just suspected and took a shot in the dark." Shirou said in a sigh. "What gave me away?"
"It… was a lot of small things." Rita admitted, shifting her feet a bit. "You said you were from Q'ten Lo, but Q'ten Lo is a mostly Demihuman country and you don't have the look of someone from there. You also never swore to the Holy Emperor, like people from Q'ten Lo tend to do. You didn't seem to know much about the world at all, yet you were supposed to be a world traveler. Then there was the strange pace that I was leveling, and how you were a lower level than someone who fights as well as you do should be. And there is Firo. She's clearly a Royal Filolial, a God Bird. According to legends, the original Queen Filolial was raised by the original set of Legendary Heroes. And… and the way you talked about heroes… and the things you did. I thought you just had to be a hero."
"Ah, I see." Shirou said. He had thought he was being clever in his disguise and cover story, but this young girl had seen right through him in just five days. Perhaps he wasn't giving her enough credit, his cover story was good enough to fool any casual observer, she was just smart.
Shirou always did seem to end up around the most competent of women.
"Sensei, why did you hide that you were the Sword Hero from us?" Rita asked Shirou, a little more nervous than she had been before. She was still recovering from discovering he was basically a deity in this country's culture.
"…Rita, what is the difference between a hero and a villain?" Shirou asked the girl.
Rita looked surprised but still did her best to answer the question. "Well… a hero is good and a villain is evil." She said, though she looked as though she knew that this wasn't the answer that Shirou was looking for.
"I see, and who decides what is good and what is evil?" Shirou asked her with the smile an adult often gives a child after asking them a difficult question. Rita screwed up her face, not looking puzzled but upset. She seemed to know where this was going. "During the wars between Melromarc and Siltvelt, did Melromarc not have war heroes? Individuals who the people of Melromarc admired and would gather behind, people who were seen as heroes. But those same people would be villains in Siltvelt, people who the good citizens would feel motivated to gather together in order to stand again them? So which were they, heroes or villains?"
"You aren't a villain." Rita said a little forcefully.
"To be the hero to one often means being the villain to another. Someone who has been recognized as a hero can't do anything without drawing a line in the sand. By rescuing you from the slavers, I might have earned the admiration of those who oppose slavery and they might have gathered behind me as a symbol, but those like the Marque who see slavery as part of this nation's livelihood would see me as a dangerous outsider who was trying to undermine their way of life, and an influential one at that." Shirou explained. "Tensions would rise between the two groups. There would probably be conflicts and violent demonstrations that would cost hundreds, if not thousands, of people, both innocent and guilty alike, their lives, and the country's unity would be shaken in a time when it must stand together. All of it because the Hero of the Sword choose to save a few orphan children from greedy men. I told you before that it is easy to be a hero when you have nothing to lose. That includes a reputation. Ironically, I am more free to be a hero as a no name mercenary than I would be as the 'Legendary Holy Hero of the Sword'."
"'It is easy to be a hero when you have nothing to lose'." Rita repeated sadly, looking up at Shirou with eyes that were beginning to fill with tears. "You're going to leave me behind, aren't you?"
"…Rita."
"You're planning to just leave me behind like all the others once we get to Shildfrieden." Rita said accusingly, shaking her head. "I promise that I will find a way to be helpful. I train as hard as I need to, so please don't leave me behind."
Shirou couldn't say anything. He had been planning on leaving her with the other children in Shildfrieden. He had wanted her to be away from all of the fighting if possible. To have a chance at a normal life. The same way that Kiritsugu had for him.
…But that hadn't been what Shirou wanted at all. What he had wanted from his father was guidance, but Kiritsugu provided none at all. In truth, Shirou hadn't known the first think about his adoptive father until after the Grail War. The closest thing that Shirou ever had to a heart to heart with the man was the guilty ramblings he spoke when the two of them were watching fireworks together. Kiritsugu had tried his best to shield Shirou from the ugly truth of what had happened and what the world was. If it hadn't been for pure dumb luck and Avalon's passive healing effects, Shirou's lack of guidance would have gotten him killed several times over before he had ever reached the Grail War.
Shirou wanted Rita to have a chance at a normal life, but was that just his own selfishness? Was he about the make the same mistake that Kiritsugu had? Wouldn't Rita just seek to find justification for her own life the same way Shirou had, with or without his help? Shirou should have understood better than anyone what survivor's guilt could do to a person. "You made me promise that I wouldn't live alone. So please don't force me to go away." Rita begged him.
Shirou dropped Firo's reigns and walked over to Rita, reaching up to pat her on the head, flattening her fox's ears. It was a little more awkward than before, she had grown just another inch or two over the course of the previous night. She looked up at him with pleading eyes.
"If you really are set on following me, I won't abandon you. Just know that there will be times when you cannot follow me, as much for my safety as your own, and this is one of them." Shirou said as he patted the girl's head.
Rita's lip trembled and she grabbed him in a hug. "Thank you, Sensei." Rita whispered as she let the tears fall. Shirou just stood there, letting her cry it out into his chest until Firo brushed her head into Shirou's shoulder.
"Guee…" Firo prodded him, reminding Shirou that if he wanted to be through the mountains before sundown, then he really did need to get a move on it.
"Hold down the fort until I get back, would you?" Shirou said to Rita.
"Alright Sensei, be careful." Rita said wiping the tears from her eyes and smiling up at him. It was the first real smile he had ever seen her give. It was so genuine and real that he couldn't help but feel uplifted, even as he turned and climbed up onto Firo's back.
"Let's go Firo!" Shirou said, causing the Filolial to give an excited cry and go bolting out of the camp and into the intimidating mountains.
Let's see if Shirou's luck would hold up for once.
Requirements met: [Companion's Sword III (0/40) Unlocked – Base Power: 8 – Equip Bonus: Companion's Growth Up (medium) (unmastered) – Proficiency: (0%)]
Skill Points – SP
Mana Points – MP
Od Points – OP (seems appropriate.)
Just for that joke I am going to leave MP and Od being different things.
There seems to be two groups out there, those who love the concept of Jian the Yandere sword who both hobbles and blesses Shirou, and those who absolutely hate it. There is no middle ground. Honestly people, if Shirou actually did somehow get rid of her, that would cause a lot of complications in the story. Stop asking me to do it.
Also, yes Jian is becoming more human like as she interacts with Shirou more, but she is learning human social interaction from Shirou. Meaning that merciless teasing lies in Shirou's future.
He really is a horrible role model.
In canon, because buffs to their growth, Raph and Firo were both stronger than level 60 adventurers, when they were level 40 (pre-class up) There stats were supposed to be 4 times that of an adventurer of equal level when they were level 75. Which was why everyone was accusing Naofumi of hacking, because his party members were overpowered as hell.
Someone asked for a better explanation of what the Awakening/Upgrading thing was. So here we go.
- Awakening has a 100% chance of working and only boosts the Equip Bonuses.
- Upgrading has only a percent chance of working at each attempt and provides a 20% bonus to the base power of the weapon only and increases the 'Quality' of the weapon. While you can try as many times as you like, you only get 5 successes.
Shirou can also enhance a weapon by spending the energy he gathered from the monster corpses he absorbs.
- Enhancing can be done any number of times, with each time having a lower chance of success than the previous time, and for each success the weapon gains +15% damage versus *insert enemy type here* (or in the case of the Shield +3% damage reduction from *insert enemy type here*). Based on appearances, it seems that damage calculation is done by ((attack damage * (1+modifiers)) – target defense) So a damage-versus-*blank* increase of 15% does more than just an extra 15% damage.
In canon, enhancement levels could get up to around 15 if people were willing to spend the resources for it. Meaning +225% damage boost.
This is why Ren could kill a pureblooded dragon at level 50ish. He had a sword with ridiculous buffs against dragons. And even then it took him more than an hour and it was the world's weakest pureblooded dragon.
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