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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 13
Shirou found it hard to concentrate. Rin would be disappointed/smug with him.
He had already moved the entire group of children, as well as Firo and Rita into Siltvelt, and was in a spare room at the Lord's manor. Nico was already hard at work trying to fulfill his promise to Shirou and find families to take the children in, as well as making arrangements for him to escort Shirou and his party to the capital to synchronize with the country's hourglass. Firo was playing with the children, while Rita worked on her weapon forms. There was nothing that Shirou needed to do urgently, so he took the time to read through the books that Nico had on the magical alphabet in order to help prepare himself for the journey.
The only problem was that he kept thinking back to all the things he had learned from Nico, particularly about Aultcray Melromarc, or as he was better known, the Victorious King of Wisdom. The man was a crafty bastard by all means, with a huge bone to pick with just about all of the other countries, if even half the things that the Demihumans said about him were true. Which painted a very grim picture of what was going on in Melromarc.
According to Nico, the four heroes weren't supposed to all be summoned in a single country. They were supposed to have been spread out in order to not cause any one country to gain too much power and to help defend as many nations as possible. Melromarc was also not supposed to have been allowed to even attempt to summon a hero first. They were supposed to have been fourth in line for summoning a hero. Nico had been shocked when Shirou had informed him that all four heroes were summoned all at once inside of Melromarc, saying that such a thing shouldn't have been possible. But even if it shouldn't have been possible, Aultcray seemed to have found a way of doing it.
The King had summoned the four heroes while the more moderate Queen was gone, and then purposely misled the heroes so that they would only work to defend Melromarc, surrounding the heroes with spies in order to maintain the misinformation and winning the Hero's loyalty for Melromarc.
The end results being that without the hero's ability to teleport right to the Wave, and the power granted by the Legendary Weapons, the other nations' ability to contain the Waves would be drastically decreased, resulting in massive casualties and tipping the balance of power in favor of Melromarc. Then, once the calamities were over, Melromarc would be in the perfect position to expand and take down the neighbors it had been warring with for generations. And as none of the countries could spare the military forces at the moment to attack Melromarc, and even if they did, Melromarc had the legendary heroes on their side. It seemed like a pretty safe bet, even if all of the other nations wished to unite against them.
Question was, what would Shirou do about it? What could he do about it?
The other three heroes were constantly surrounded by spies and letting them know about what was going on could easily land them a sword in their guts during the night. Even if he did tell them, would they even care? Itsuki and Motoyasu were both just trying to get money and perks out of Melromarc. Not exactly the poster boys for charitable heroes. Perhaps he could talk to Naofumi, as the Shielder only had that single spy with him. Though openly doing it as the Sword Hero might land Shirou in trouble with Melromarc.
It would take too long to find them anyways. Until the Wave happened in Melromarc in another 17 days, Shirou wouldn't have a clue where those guys were. With the Wave in Siltvelt coming up so soon, and the chance of the same being the case in the other nations, there wasn't any time.
It seemed as though Shirou would have to just fight whatever Wave he could by himself, with just Firo and Rita to back him up. But this made him uneasy. The Waves were bad enough to make entire countries willing to risk summoning heroes in order to deal with them. Could he really handle them by himself, hobbled as he was? If anything like that Mutant Griffin showed up, then they would be screwed, unless the Bird God decided to make another appearance. But it was always best not to depend on divine intervention for help.
"I don't suppose you'd be willing to let me off the leash a little just for the Wave, would you?" Shirou asked Jian.
[A Hero can't fight with anything other than the legendary weapon in his possession.]
The now familiar response came.
"Come on. You're a Divine Construct. Why in the world do you feel threatened by me using other weapons?" Shirou said with a sigh. "It's not like I'm seriously going to set you aside for a kitchen knife so why punish me for it?"
[A Legendary Weapon is not threatened! The Legendary Weapon Rules are absolute!]
Jian said coldly, not appreciating Shirou's hint towards her own insecurities.
Shirou raised an eyebrow at this bit of information. Was it really not Jian who decided whether or not to punish him? No, she definitely could trigger the punishment herself, but that didn't mean that there weren't rules that Shirou was supposed to be following that would trigger the punishment with or without her approval.
Shirou himself had assumed that the strictness of the rules, punishing him for even low-level violations, was because it was supposed to act in the same way as shocking a rat. After one or two zaps the rat quickly learns not to touch the metal plate anymore. Any normal human would normally pick it up just as quick.
It was only because Shirou was constantly pushing the boundaries as to what was allowed that he was being zapped over and over again. He wouldn't be surprised if the other heroes hadn't been shocked more than two or three times. Shirou was just stubborn, testing everything in search of loopholes. Every time he was zapped, he would make a bitter comment about it, and every time he successfully managed to find a loophole, he was rather smug about it. Looking at it that way, it was easy to see why Jian would be frustrated with his shenanigans. He might even be hurting her feelings, not just her pride.
"Alright, I get it. But if I can't use other weapons, then I'll simply have to maximize the effectiveness of what I've got until you reach your full power." Shirou said as he opened the menu and looked at the [Griffin Sword IV], his eyes going to the '(0/55)'. "Jian, could you tell me what this 0 out of 55 is about?"
[Information not found.]
"'Information not found'? What do you mean by that?" Shirou asked.
[The Hero Status Interface is limited by the wielder's perception. This hero can tell that there is something missing but does not comprehend what it is. Understanding and faith are needed to unlock new functions.]
"I'm only allowed to use functions that I can understand?" Shirou said, thinking about what Jian was telling him.
It was true that all of the abilities that Jian possessed were concepts that Shirou was familiar with, even if how Jian did it left Shirou baffled.
Monster's killed by a hero providing useful items was a concept in many legends. Even if killing a monstrous dog and getting a top hat was a bit nutty.
Weapons Awakening and Upgrading from Proficiency was the concept of synchronizing with the weapon through use in order to get access to its true potential and make the best use of its enchantments. Something that Shirou did all the time when he sympathized with his traced weapons.
Weapon Enhancing by feeding the lifeforce of the monsters to it in order to teach the weapon to hunger for them. How many Noble Phantasms had that exact same driving concept?
Weapon Copying? Shirou did it all the time.
The only functions this didn't match up with were the ability to absorb random materials and the infinitely helpful 'auto-cooking' function. He supposed that absorbing materials was just so essential to Jian's growth that it didn't require his own knowledge to unlock, and his cooking knowledge might have unlocked the auto-cooking function.
"I don't suppose randomly guessing until I stumble upon the answer is a valid method of finding out new function?" Shirou asked the weapon.
[You could try.]
"I suppose I should." Shirou said… only he had no idea what to even try. His knowledge gained from Noble Phantasms had unlocked some functionality, but what about the rest? He had no idea were to even start. How does one pursue research when they had no idea what they are even researching?
He grunted, thinking about how Itsuki and Motoyasu had both said that the world's rules functioned a lot like games that they played in their own worlds. If those games were based off of this world, like Shirou suspected, then it was likely that the two of them knew quite a bit about the hidden abilities of the weapons. After all, they had known about the sand from the hourglass, which had provided an infinitely useful skill. What other features did they know about that Shirou didn't?
He was at an even greater disadvantage than he thought, and if any of it was something similar to Awakening, which provided him with the Monster and Companion Growth increases, then it would have been nice to have it early. This lack of information could cripple him in the long term.
Shit.
Shirou might have really screwed himself over when he had decided that learning how to read that first night was more important than squeezing every last drop of information he could out of the other three heroes. Even if they were unlikely to share anything.
Taking a deep breath, Shirou focused on Jian. He could feel the openings she was talking about. He had always noticed them. He searched them for any kind of hint as to what was supposed to be in them but could find nothing. Whatever was needed to fill the gaps, it was conceptually foreign to him.
Shirou wondered what Rin would say at a time like this.
'Have you tried throwing money at the problem?'
"Jian could you… I don't know, try to fill in the gaps with money?" Shirou said awkwardly.
[…Seriously?]
"I can't think of anything else to try." Shirou admitted with a bit of embarrassment. "Do it with one of the lower rank forms, so if it screws something up, we won't lose anything of value."
[There is no way this is going to work.]
*Ping*
[…Reinforcement successful.]
[Steel Blade Shield (0/10) → (1/10) – Rarity: Uncommon – Base Attack Power: 8 →8.5 – Base Defense Power: 13 → 14 – Proficiency: (77%)]
Shirou couldn't help but to face palm. "Oh god, Rin is right. Everything about magecraft always comes down to money and resources, doesn't it?" Shirou said as a new option appeared in his status menu; 'Reinforce'.
Reinforce Weapons
Weapon forms can be reinforced within certain limits by absorbing wealth in the form of money, minerals and jewels. Rarer equipment may have certain material requirements that must be met in order for reinforcement to be performed.
Shirou tested how reinforcement worked a little more by reinforcing the Steel Blade Shield a little more. It seemed to have minor increases towards the base stats of the weapon, at least when compared to Upgrading, but could be performed more times, and didn't have a chance of failure. That said, cost was a serious concern. Just getting the low-level weapon up to (3/10) he spent 6 gold coins, most of his allowance from when he had left the castle in Melromarc. While money appearing when Shirou absorbed monsters wasn't too uncommon, it took quite a few before those few copper drops stacked up into gold. After all the monsters he had hunted, he had only made around 5 gold pieces from them.
If he was going to use reinforcement, he would need to either earn a lot more money or figure out a more efficient material to use. Prani Ore came suggested by the interface as an inexpensive gem that was good for reinforcing, but Shirou wasn't entirely sure what that even was. It wasn't an item that existed in his world. Looks like he'll have to ask about for this too. Maybe he could find a mining town or something.
With a tired sigh and a silent oath never to tell Rin about this, Shirou looked out the window to see the sun perched low over the tops of the mountains. It was getting late and he needed to start thinking about making dinner before Firo got too hungry. Else he would have to deal with her drooling into his pot the entire time he was cooking. So placing a marker in the book, he got up and went for the door. Nico wouldn't mind him using his kitchen, right?
But no sooner had Shirou opened the door than he found his path blocked by a tiny eight-year-old demihuman girl in a white dress. The child stared up at Shirou with large golden eyes with cat-like pupils. Her long aqua-blue hair falling down to her shoulders, a pair of two-pronged ivory horns grew out from just above her ears and Shirou could just see a few white scales peeking out from underneath her hair around her neck. She didn't do anything, just stood there staring up at Shirou with those wide eyes.
"Um… can I help you?" Shirou asked nervously. She didn't respond, just kept staring at him. He started to wonder if he should just close the door and try the window instead.
"Master! Is it time to eat yet!? Firo is getting hungry!" Firo shouted as she came barreling around a corner in her human form…
"Firo, clothes." Shirou said, diverting his eyes away from the blond bird girl. But Firo didn't seem to be listening to Shirou, she just locked eyes with the demihuman girl and started to have a stare off, the cheerful smile slowly disappearing from Firo's face.
Just as Shirou started to wonder what was going on, the teal haired child reached out and grabbed onto Shirou's arm. "Mine." The child said, her voice soft, but full of challenge.
"Huh!?" Firo shouted before Shirou even had time to respond himself, her feathers brisling. "No way! Master belongs to Firo!" The angelic girl jumped onto Shirou's other arm and latched on hard. Both small children started to pull on Shirou's arms, with Firo's monstrous strength feeling like she was trying to pull his arm out of its socket.
"He's mine."
"Firo won't lose to you!"
"Both of you stop it!" Shirou tried to protest. The two children were glaring at each other.
"Firo, you need to put clothes on if you are going to transform." Rita said coming in after Firo with a set of clothes in hand for the girl. She stopped after seeing the scene before her. "Sensei, what's going on?"
Firo looked at Rita before puffing out her cheeks. "Firo won't lose to Rita-nee-chan either!"
"Huh!?" Rita stammered, she dropped the clothes she had been carrying as a strong blush colored her face.
"Master is Firo's daddy, so Firo is his favorite!" Firo declared, pulling Shirou especially hard, causing him to topple over, barely twisting to the side so that he wouldn't land on top of Firo. But since neither Firo or the nameless child let go, they were both dragged down on top of Shirou as he fell, landing on his back with the two small girls at around waist level.
"Sensei, are you alri… ah!" Rita was going to go check on them, but slipped on the clothes she had dropped and tumbled, landing on top of Shirou with the other two.
"How did this happen?" Shirou grumbled to himself as he lay on the ground under the three struggling girls.
Requirements met: [Harem Series unlocked – Sword of the Ero Protagonist]
Jian teased. Shirou knew that it was just a tease… god it had better just be a tease, otherwise he was going to Rule Breaker his way out of this. He didn't care if it stranded him in this world, he'd find his own way back home. "How do you even know what that is?"
[Do you wish to add the child to your party?]
"What? No!" Shirou protested, but Jian ignored his protests and added the girl anyways. Perhaps she took offense to Shirou considering Rule Breaker and wanted to punish him. He'd already proven he could shrug off electrocution and so was trying humiliation instead.
[Mystery Girl: Lv 5 – Class: Dragon Hybrid]
Dragon hybrid?
"Ah, Shirou-sama, I see you've met my granddaughter." Nico said with a smile, seeming to not find anything strange about the situation at all. "It's good to see Azu playing with others again."
"Your… granddaughter?" Shirou said, his mind slowly trying to connect the dots. Why was the man's granddaughter part dragon?
…He didn't.
Shirou sat down to meal with Azu on one side of him and Firo on the other, Firo periodically stop in her meal to thrown angry glances at Azu. It was startling to find her so fixated on something to the point where she would interrupt her eating for it, especially if it had been something Shirou cooked himself, and she had never minded any of the other children before. It seemed that Firo could instinctively tell that the girl was part dragon and was very unhappy about it.
"Nico, why is your granddaughter part dragon?" Shirou asked the man.
"Hm? Well, because her father was a dragon. My daughter was a very special girl and won the eye of Tyr, the pureblooded dragon who once held claim to the mountains to the north of here. She was the only demihuman that Tyr ever took to be a part of his harem in the six hundred years he had lived here." Nico said happily… Why was he so happy that his daughter was dragged away by a dragon in order to… Wasn't this the kind of thing that knights in shining armor were supposed to save princesses from in the stories? "I see you're confused, but you have to understand that both my wife and daughter took after the Aotatsu Clan and followed the Faith of the Dragon. To them, being chosen to be the lover of a Dragon is as great an honor as it is for most Demihumans to be chosen by the Shield Hero."
"I see… so you didn't force her into it for your research." Shirou said. He still found it strange, but it was another world. He didn't really have the right to judge. If the girl wanted to willingly give herself to a Dragon, then it was her right to do so.
…It was still weird.
"No, I did not. My daughter was in love and I gave her my blessings. Unfortunately, other women of the Aotatsu Clan didn't like that a girl of mixed blood had been chosen over them. They took my daughter when she was visiting the town with Azu and they… they…" Nico tried to find the words to explain but couldn't. "Tyr rampaged after he found out. He destroyed a good deal of land throughout our country, but he spared our town and villages. In the end, four of the seven Star Heroes from Faubley were called on to kill him." Azu's head dropped at the story. How long ago did this happen? Did the child remember losing her parents?
Shirou wanted to ask more about these Star Heroes, but it didn't seem like a good time. Such questions could wait.
Azu leaned over in her chair onto Shirou and seemed to breath in his scent. "You feel like papa did. So warm and vast, like a big mound of treasure."
...What?
"No! Master is Firo's daddy, not yours!" Firo said, jumping onto Shirou from the other side, knocking him backwards in his seat.
"Sensei!? Are you alright!?" Rita asked, this time keeping her distance.
"I'm fine…" Shirou grumbled from underneath the two girls, Firo sprawled across his head and Azu in his lap.
He had the sinking feeling that this was going to be a repeating theme.
Shirou still hasn't unlocked all the features for Jian, but this will probably be the last one for a while. The others aren't really things he could stumble across, and would require him to interrogate his fellow heroes in order to get. Even stumbling across 'throw money at it' is a stretch, only possible because he spent too much time with Rin.
I find it fun, writing Shirou to believe that the other three are actually incredibly powerful warriors/mages and have an edge on him in every form, shape and way. Believing them all to possibly be psychopaths who would kill him for god/gold/glory if asked.
All the time not knowing that if he ever faced them in a straight fight he would curb stomp them into the dirt.
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