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Wandering of a Sword Hero by A Dyslexic Writer
 Fate/stay night & Rising of the Shield Hero/盾の勇者の成り上がり Xover Rated: M, English, Shirō E., Firo, Words: 221k+, Favs: 7k+, Follows: 8k+, Published: Jan 27, 2019 Updated: Sep 22, 2019 8,517Chapter 12
"Firo, gets some clothes on. We're leaving." Shirou said flatly, getting out of bed, his hands going towards where Jian was at his side. They must have been unable to separate him from her, thus proving that he was indeed the Sword Hero. What a drag.
"Wha? But Firo is hungry!" The little girl said stubbornly.
"We'll be out of here just as soon as you get dressed. Then I will personally make you breakfast, alright?" Shirou told the girl.
"Master is going to cook? Yeah!" Firo said, jumping up and down before stopping. "Oh, but Firo doesn't have any clothes."
"Trace on." Shirou quickly projected a plain white dress and throat it over to Firo. "There, now get dress."
"'kay." Firo said happily as she pulled the dress over her head.
"Wait, please! I know it is a strange request but my research is very important! It could end up saving the lives of hundreds of thousands! Please hero, at least hear me out! I'll do anything you ask! Please!" The fat Demi-human bird-man said in a panic and he ran over to Shirou, trying to grab onto him with his taloned hands, which Shirou know saw hand nails stained black with ink. He must not have been able to hold a quill and just stuck his nail in the ink pots instead.
The words 'saving the lives' and 'I'll do anything you ask' jumped out at Shirou, who paused, after having grabbed the man's limbs to stop him from sinking his talons into his shoulders.
Shirou had been attempting to get into Shildfrieden, but because of increasingly unlikely circumstances, he had not only failed in his original objected, but been transported more than two hundred miles further south into Siltvelt and into the territory of a noble would was despair for his seed. Perhaps desperate enough to help Shirou with his original objective. Got to give Luck one thing, it makes you fail in the most spectacular of ways.
"…I'll be back in one hour. We'll talk then." Shirou finally said. He needed to check on the children as soon as possible. While trusting them to a man as dubious as this one felt worrying, he could still transport them all to this town and then find a way into Shildfrieden from Siltvelt. The border guard was probably more relaxed as the two countries were not really enemies.
"Yes. Yes of course. But, where are you going?" The man asked, but Shirou didn't respond. He just activated Jian's [Transport Sword] Skill, which actually worked for once.
Shirou didn't know what he expected when he teleported into the middle of the camp where he had left Rita and the children, but it certainly wasn't an arrow trained on his chest. "Who are you? Where did you come from?" Rita demanded of Shirou with bow drawn. The children and scattered when Shirou and Firo had appeared.
"Easy there Rita, no need to be jumpy." Shirou said, waving the girl down. He dismissed the trace of the arrow though to make sure she didn't lose her grip and shoot him on accident. The shot probably wouldn't have killed him, but it would have been another hassle to add to the list, and holding onto an arrow at even half draw was very difficult to do for an extended period of time. Shirou would have to teach the girl proper safety protocol.
Rita blinked in surprise as the arrow in her hand disappeared. "Sensei?" She said as she lowered the bow. "What happened to your hair?"
"My hair?" Shirou repeated, before realizing that the wig was gone. "Oh, I had been wearing a wig before so that no one would recognize me. I most have lost it without noticing." Shirou explained as he ran a hand through his hair. "Do I really look that much different without it?"
"Well… you do look a lot… younger with a bit of color." Rita said, flushing with embarrassment. She must have felt bad about drawing an arrow on him.
"At least I know that the disguise works." Shirou said with a smile. He didn't really care about what he looked like, as long as he wouldn't be recognized. He projected another copy of the wig, so he wouldn't forget to later. He was still trying to keep a low profile.
"Master, you promised Firo that we would eat when we got back." Firo said, pulling on Shirou's arm in order to get his attention.
"Firo?" Rita said, looking down at the small blond girl.
"Yeah… apparently." Shirou said then sighed. "I'll start breakfast for everyone."
"Yeah~!" Firo shouted, jumping up and down in excitement.
Firo proved her identity by eating as much as all the other children combined, before proving it again by jumping into the river and returning to her bird form, causing the clothes Shirou gave her to rip into pieces and return to being just specs of prana. Luckily Shirou could always just project more simple clothes, but if she was going to be transforming in public, the was going to eventually be a problem. But now, even in bird form, Firo continued to speak normally. Shirou had no idea if she had this ability before and just hid it, or if was triggered by the transformation.
She claimed to have had the power to transform for a while now, but just hadn't had a reason to. Not until they took Shirou into the house while he was injured and she couldn't fit through the door.
Shirou explained to the children that he failed his mission to get into Shildfrieden, by getting into Siltvelt instead, but that a Lord there might be willing to assist in exchange for a very unusual favor. Not that Shirou explained to them what the favor was.
[Transport Sword: Ready!]
Jian informed Shirou after the hour had passed.
"Alright, I'm ready to use the teleportation ability again. Since I passed level 40, I can transport 5 people at a time. Rita, Firo, I'm going to leave the two of you here to watch things while I'm…" Shirou started but Firo stopped him.
"No~!" Firo shouted, shaking her head rapidly. "I'm going to go with Master!"
"Firo, I'm just going to be gone for an hour. Even if you came with me during this first trip, I'd have to leave you there when…"
"No~!" Firo shouted again. "Firo stays with Master!"
Shirou sighed at the Filolial's childish nature. She was less than a week old after all. Shirou walked up to the tantrumming bird and started to pat her head. "Firo, I know you want to come with me, but I need you to help protect the other children. What if something happened while we were away? I have to leave, but I'm sure that if you were here, then everything would be okay, because you're so big and strong." Shirou said as he calmed the girl down. "Can you do this for me, Firo?"
"…Okay." Firo finally said, though she didn't seem happy about it. "Firo will keep her followers safe, but hurry back."
Followers?
A problem for another time.
"Rita, I'll leave extra food and clothes for Firo, try to make sure she doesn't run off too far." Shirou told the fox girl.
"Understood. Good luck, Sensei." Rita said, bowing to Shirou with a large smile.
"Hero-sama, you're back!" The fat chicken-man said as Shirou ported in with the five children he had picked to accompany him. There was a maid with him the time. A demihuman woman with both bunny ears and some kind of green scales growing on the side of her neck. Her jaw seemed to be a little misshapen, a birth defect? "Oh, you brought children with you?"
"Refugees orphaned by the Wave in Melromarc. I'm hoping I can arrange to find homes for them away from slavers who would take advantage of the Wave to make money." Shirou explained. "There are eighteen of them in total in need of homes, I can only transport five at a time and only once an hour. So you have one hour to convince me that you are someone I can work with."
"Well, finding homes in my town for orphans shouldn't be too hard. My citizens are often looking to adopt." The man assured Shirou. "Marica, would you please take care of the children while I speak to the Hero-sama?"
"Of course." The woman said, her voice that was a mixture of shrill and horse, but not unkind.
"Could you not call me that. I'd prefer to keep a low profile." Shirou said, looking at the Lord. "I'm just a mercenary. You can call me Shirou."
"As you wish, Shirou-sama. I am Nico Götz Wachtel, the noble of this humble town. I am at your service." Nico said with a bow of his head, completely missing the point of not drawing attention to Shirou.
"You say that you can find the children homes here? How sure are you of that?" Shirou asked the man, trying to get to business as soon as possible. Not that Nico seemed to mind. The man had a timer on convincing Shirou to stay.
"It won't be a problem at all. As I said, adoption is extremely common in our town, mostly because 25% of our population is sterile." Nico explained with a slight wave of a talon.
"…Sorry, what?" Shirou said, his eyes widening. Was the town built on a radiative dump or something? Was there something wrong with the water?
"Yes, you see, I founded this town in order to be a sanctuary for people and parents of Mixed Blood fleeing persecution in Siltvelt. This is related to my… unusual request." Nico explained as he gestured Shirou to follow him into a cramped study filled with books and loose papers. "Tell me, how much do you know about genetics? It's an old science studied in secret at the universities in Faubley, rumored to have been brought to this world by a summoned hero such as… well you know."
"I'm familiar with the concept, though I haven't delved too much into it." Shirou said with a nod. As Illya was a child born from a homunculus and a human, Shirou and the girls had poked around in the subject of genetics to see if there were any solutions to be found there, though they came up with nothing of value.
"Ah, that will save me time explaining. You see, while it is entirely possible for demihumans of different subraces to breed together, or even for them to have children with humans, there are often… complications involved. Religions declared that the reason for these unfortunate complications is because the gods despise children of mixed blood and that the love between people of different races is unnatural. However, the truth is that it isn't a result of angry gods, it is because of genetics. More specifically, many of the different races possess different numbers of chromosomes." Nico told Shirou, who immediately nodded in understanding.
"Down syndrome caused by hybridization of similar species. That explains the infertility rates." Shirou said. It was the same thing as what happened when you breed a horse and a donkey. As for the religion bit, that was the same for incest back in his world. The byproduct was bad, so it was an act of evil.
"Exactly. Though depending on what races the parents were, there could be even more serious health problems. Bones not developing properly, frayed nerves, missing limbs, brain damage, skin decease, the list goes on." Nico said. Shirou thought back to the maid from before. It explained a lot. "People say that falling in love with someone of another race is unnatural, and that would be better if everyone just stuck to marrying within their own clans, but who can control who they fall in love with?
"I have dedicated half my life to finding a mean to counteract the negative effects of mixed breeding, though with very little luck. Our knowledge of genetics is just too rudimentary, coming entirely for records left by heroes hundreds of years ago. Nor has anyone discovered any kind of magical healing capable of solving genetic problems. Alchemy has had better luck, but even Yggdrasil, the supposed miracle medicine can't solve this problem by itself, and even if it could, it is far too expensive to be relied upon.
"However, there is one hope. You see, there are two entities that are capable of producing offspring with any species in the world without the children ever having any sort of health issues. The first is Pureblooded Dragons, and the second is Legendary Heroes. Not only are the children always health, but so are the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Though it doesn't protect against the effects of inbreeding, as the monarchs of Faubley have learned all too well."
"…Thus your desire for my sperm. You think you can find some kind of miracle cure for mixed breeding." Shirou said uncomfortably. Was there really something about Legendary Heroes that lead to them having healthy children? Was that provided by their weapons or was that a requirement in order to be summoned as one?
"Yes, so please, consider give me a sample of your sperm." Nico said with a deep bow towards Shirou.
"…And how exactly would you precede if you had it? What kind of experiments are we looking at here?" Shirou inquired. Rin and Rider would laugh their heads off if they knew about this.
"Well, the first step would be confirming the legends. For that, I have some monster eggs that I would…" The man started to say, causing Shirou to immediately pale. Monster eggs? The man was planning on fertilizing monster eggs with Shirou's sperm!?
No. Just no.
"As interesting as your proposal is, I have a counter offer." Shirou said, cutting off the man's explanation of the experiences one he had gotten to the point of mentioning volunteers from the local women to bare his children. "Trace on."
Shirou traced a sword, another one of the crystal creations which he and Rin had worked together to make, so that Shirou could produce them as needed. The blade carried inside of it a very special form of healing magic. One that Shirou had went through a lot of trouble in order to get.
It's a good thing that Atlas pays for its missions in IOUs that can be cashed in for information.
"This might take some explaining. You see, in my world there exists an organization of alchemists referred to as Atlas. These people decided to seclude themselves from the outside world, with no one allowed to enter or exit for over 2000 years. This sword carries the magic they used to counteract the negative effects of over 2000 years of inbreeding with a gene pool that started with just a dozen individuals, who were all already related. While everyone in Atlas was... arguably human and the exact nature of the genetic problems might be different, it is still magic that was made in order to combat genetic problems. Might be of use." Shirou said, as he held the sword for the man to inspect.
After Shirou's hollowing mission to contain the biological monstrosity that escaped from Atlas, he had requested to be paid in the form of the most powerful form of healing magecraft that Atlas had concerning unstable magic circuits. As it turned out, one of the consequences of Atlas's inbreeding was damaged magic circuits, and they just included the treatment in their general gene therapy.
Rin was furious with Shirou afterwards, as he had asked for the wrong thing. He needed to ask for how to make artificial circuits not reject the host. While the formula they had got did have some positive effects on Illya's condition, it was something that had to be redone every couple of days, as it healed the damage, but couldn't fix the underlining problem.
The demihuman lord's eyes widened as Shirou explained just what he had, and the hungry look entered his eyes. But as he looked closer at the blade, his expression became frustrated. "Otherworld magic. Not only is it unlikely that I can use it properly, I can't read it. Reverse engineering it would be difficult… but it certainly is a promising lead."
"This blade was designed so that even someone with no magical talent can use them. The trigger word is 'Läßt'. Though it was also made to be a disposable, one time use tool." Shirou said before creating a second one. "I will give you thirty of these blades in exchange for your word that you will make sure that the children are alright."
"Yes. Yes, of course. You have my word." Nico said excitedly, his eyes still locked on the weapons.
"I want you to swear with a magical contract." Shirou said flatly. This was enough to get Nico's attention as the man blinked in shock.
"You really do not trust me, do you?" Nico said slowly. Shirou couldn't really blame the man. The consequence for breaking a geass was usually death. Not that Shirou would use that powerful of a geass unless completely necessary… or if he was just psyching the people out and was going to use Rule Breaker on it as soon as their backs were turned.
"I have a rule about trusting researchers. Especially those who work with live subjects." Shirou explained. "It will be a geass from my world, a low power one that will only knock you out if you break the contract and inform me of the violation. You don't have to fear for your life over an accidental violation."
"I suppose you have a point. I've met some alchemists in Faubley who make my feathers stand on end." Nico said with a shiver at the memories. "The things that woman was doing with monsters gives me nightmares. She actually inserted a giant eyeball right into the middle of the monster's chest, just because she could, and those tentacles…"
'Fucking Alchemists.' Shirou thought on impulse. Shirou closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again, only to notice someone standing in the doorway, a small figure, just a child, and they were staring right at him. Shirou turned his head to look at them, but they darted out of the way, giving Shirou only the slightest glimpse of bright blue hair as they disappeared.
It hadn't been one of the children that Shirou had brought with him. The lord's child or grandchild perhaps?
"I'm more than willing to enter your contract. As you are an honorable man, I will trust that you won't take advantage of my inability to understand the language in order to force unreasonable tasks onto me." Nico said, regaining Shirou's attention. "Now, is there anything else I can do for you while you are here?"
"If you have any entry level books on this world's magic that I could look that, that would be nice. Otherwise, I'm going to be spending the rest of the morning getting the children out of Melromarc, and I'll be out of your hair before nightfall." Shirou said with a shake of his head.
"Ah… I see. I suppose you would be too busy to stay, what with the Wave here in Siltvelt happening in just a few days. But if you ever need something don't hesitate to…"
"Wave in Siltvelt? What are you talking about?" Shirou asked, cutting the man off.
"You know, the Wave of Calamity. The one that the legendary heroes were summoned to fight." Nico said, confused by Shirou's outburst. "I haven't been getting regular updates, but last I heard Siltvelt's hourglass said it would be happening within the week. I've already prepared bunkers throughout the town in case the Wave happens to hit us."
Siltvelt's hourglass? There was more than one?
"I was told that the Waves of Calamity were only centralized around Melromarc and its Dragon Hourglass. Are you telling me that there is more than one hourglass?" Shirou said, his eyes widening at the implications.
"What? Who told you that only Melromarc was to be hit by the calamities? Almost every country has their own Hourglass of the Dragon's Era, and each one has its own Wave to deal with." Nico told him, as if it was common knowledge. Probably because it was.
Shirou's confusion turned to tired resignation. Yes, he had assumed that the King had been lying to him, but that didn't mean he had wanted to be proven right.
"If there is an Hourglass of the Dragon's Era in Siltvelt, then I am going to have to synchronize with it in order to be teleported to the Wave, right?" Shirou asked the man, though it was really more of a statement. "I don't suppose you can arrange for me to see it, can you?"
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