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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 17
'This is why I am a cat person.' Shirou thought as he struggled to resist the urge to punch the demihuman husky who was currently snarling at him. The two of their faces were so close that Shirou had to deal with the bastard's disgusting breath, and the guy looked like he seriously wanted to try to bite Shirou's face off.
"I already told you, my companies and I are mercenaries. We were heading towards the capital in order to try to get a job working for whichever Hero was summoned when we stumbled across the Wave and decided to help. That is when the Filolial Queen appeared and dealt with the wave herself, as evidenced by the fog and the foot prints she left behind." Shirou said, keeping his tone neutral. "I fail to see what we have done to have earned this kind of treatment."
"And I keep telling you that I don't believe a word you say!" The Demihuman shouted at Shirou, grabbing onto his coat and shaking him for what must have been the fifteenth time.
They had been at this for almost an hour, and even Rita was starting to look less concerned and more bored. Firo and Azu had fallen asleep a while ago and where now leaving up against each other. The fact that the two girls were now around the same height, and that Azu's long dress only reached her knees was tipping Shirou off to the fact that the girl was starting to grow as well. He'd need to find new clothes for the girl. Perhaps he had something in his list of drops that would be the right size.
Problem was that the dropped items weren't always one size fits all and he hadn't seen any underwear go by. He supposed he could project a pair of panties and a bra for the girl but going through the mental exercise needed to do so would make Shirou feel like a disgusting bastard.
"Hey, are you listening!?" The military captain shouted, spit flying into Shirou's face.
"No. Not really." Shirou admitted. Might as well. Wasn't like he would be able to get the guy to stop hating him anyways.
Despite all of the dog related things that Shirou was often called, mainly bloodhound and lapdog, Shirou actually had a very bad affinity for the supposable domesticated creatures.
It was shortly after the Holy Grail War that Shirou started to notice that dogs, especially Irish wolf hounds, had started to seriously dislike him, with even the most docile and well trained of the species giving it their all to bite off Shirou's leg at first sighting of him.
The root of the problem seemed obvious enough to him. Lancer, or Cu Chulann, was basically a patron god of war hounds, and the two of them hadn't exactly gotten along. In fact, Shirou was pretty sure there was never a single instance of the two of them getting along in the entirety of the multiverse. Rin joked that Lancer had been jealous that Shirou had all the luck when it came to women and placed a curse on him. Shirou didn't doubt it. Over the last five years, Shirou had learned to loathe his meetings with dogs, and the feeling was mutual. Luckily all of his housemates were in the cat person camp as well, especially Illya who hadn't forgotten being nearly eaten alive by a pack of wolves. She hated the creatures even more than Shirou did.
Now faced with someone who was part dog and part man, Shirou could say with certainty that the curse carried over to demihumans of the mutt variety.
"What kind of mercenary walks around with nothing but a treasure trove of unmarked enchanted weaponry?" The dog 'asked' Shirou. "We had our smiths look at your equipment. Those weapons the girl was carrying, the spear, sword, knife and bow, they are worth thirty thousand gold coins. While you were holding nothing but a plain set of short swords. None of it had any indication of what blacksmith created it, which stinks of illegal activity."
"Thirty thousand gold?" Rita repeated, giving Shirou a startled look. "Sensei, was it really worth…"
"Of course not. He's low balling it. The spear alone is worth more than that. I wouldn't allow my student to walk around with inferior gear." Shirou said with a shrug. "By the way, we will be wanting all that back when this is over." The dog glared at his response.
Shirou didn't really need any of it back. They hadn't taken anything away from them that Shirou couldn't trace a new copy of or didn't need to be replaced anyways. Such as Rita's old clothes, which were now too small for her. When they had come to take Shirou's equipment, he had managed to give them a traced copy of the original daggers, while storing Jian in her 'Sword Belt' form around his waist.
They could have teleported out of there at any moment, however that would likely cause serious problems for Nico and his township. Shirou had been waiting for the man's superior to show up and kick the idiot out, but whoever it was in charge was taking his sweet ass time getting there.
"Sir please, I don't understand what we did wrong. Surely there is no need to…" Nico tried to be diplomatic about it, but the military man wasn't having any of it.
"Quiet you. Don't think that just because you are from noble linage means you can squeeze your way out of this one. I know exactly who you are." The dog said, giving the old bird a look of distain. "You are the beggar lord of that town of filthy mongrels."
Nico's pleading expression momentarily broken, as rage entered his eyes. Mongrel was a horrible racial slur for someone of mixed blood, and hearing the word was a trigger for the old man.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, it was also a trigger word for Shirou. Shirou barely even registered the moment of his own hand grabbed the man's throat, casually lifted him up. "Sorry, what was that you called me?" Shirou said, with a cold smile. The dog's eyes widened as the three other men in the room drew weapons, but Shirou wasn't worried. He could easily take all of them, the whole army garrison, by himself if need be, as the entire army didn't seem to have anyone over level fifty. This was if he didn't just decide to teleport out. He wasn't about to let some dog call him mongrel.
He hadn't been paying enough attention to realize that he hadn't been called mongrel.
Luckily for the Siltvelt army, the situation didn't escalate any further. "Put your swords away! Captain Ratica, what is going on?" A red-haired man with the same demihuman features as Nico asked as he entered the little integration tent. Shirou let go of the dog's neck so that he could speak.
"This… this man is dangerous! He attacked me!" The still nameless dog said, pointing at Shirou as he backed away in fear.
"If he wanted to, he would have simply killed you, you damned fool. I told you to watch them and take care of there needs until I was through with the damage evaluations. Yet I come back here to see that you have antagonized them." The superior said, glaring at the dog.
"But Commander Kistler..."
"I don't want to hear your excuses. Just be quiet and watch." The Shusaku Demihuman said, before turning to face Nico. "It has been a long time, Nico. Never imagined I would see you anywhere close to a battle field. You were always more of a lover than a fighter."
"Representative." Nico said, bowing his balding head. 'Representative' was something akin to an elder, and a station of honor among demihumans. Though it was rarely given to the oldest individuals within the clans, but instead to the strongest and most charismatic. The average clan would have as many as forty representatives to represent them in political matters.
This was Shirou's understanding of things from the brief explanation that Nico had given him about Clan politics and who not to piss off. The man and Nico might have been from the same race, but he looked like he was only thirty or so years old, so he might have been born just before Nico was removed from the clan. As Shirou thought about it, the man was probably younger than he looked, as he would have aged by leveling.
"Well, are you not going to introduce me to your companions?" The man said with a small smile.
"Of course. This is David Fröhlich Feuchtwanger Karl Kistler, one of the representatives of the Shusaku clan." Nico said, gesturing towards the man. Shirou had to stop himself from snorting. That was some name the guy had. "David, this is Shirou, a mercenary from Shildfrieden who has recently assisted me in gathering materials for my research. The two with him are Rita Aselia, a freed slave from Melromarc who he has taken as his apprentice, and Firo, a Royal Filolial."
"A half-blooded Hakuko mercenary, a freed Melromarc slave, and a Royal Filolial that can take on demihuman form. Such an interesting group, and one capable of driving back an entire Wave by themselves, even if it was truly the Legendary Fitoria that defeated it. I'm impressed." David said as he took a seat across from the party. "Let's cut straight to the point. I want to hire you for a job."
Shirou raised an eyebrow. "I'm listening."
"Recently, the Four Legendary Heroes were summoned in Melromarc and from our reports, the Shield Hero has been convicted there under allegations of raping his only party member." David said, shocking the members of the party who were actually paying attention.
"…What was the evidence like?" Shirou asked. While even an idiot could tell that something wasn't quite right, Shirou couldn't completely dismiss the possibility that the man had really done it.
"Rumors are mixed, which leads us to believe that there was none at all." David said with a shake of the head. "Not that it matters. With the allegations alone, the entire country seems to have jumped at the opportunity to make his life hell. He was thrown out into the streets, penniless and without any allies, still expected to fight in the Waves. From what I gather, he hasn't been able to level properly, as he lacks a means of doing damage. Siltvelt and Shildfrieden have sent assistance to try and help him, but the Shield Hero has become so paranoid that he wasn't accept help from anyone. Which makes sense, since some of the people approaching him really are out to get him."
"I see. Just to make sure we are understanding you properly, what do you want us to do?" Shirou asked.
"I want you to help the Shield Hero, even if he doesn't want your help. Stick him in a sack and carry him to the dungeon if you have to. Just make sure he is ready to survive when the Waves come." David said clearly. "I can tell that you aren't the kind to be taken lightly, even if Melromarc did try to snuff you out or stop you. You don't need to stick with the Shield Hero forever, or ever mention that someone sent you. Just getting him on his feet will be good enough."
So, they didn't want Shirou to kidnap the man and bring him back to their country, or work to create a lasting connection between them. Shirou figured as much after the conversation with Nico before. While David was completely aware of just how important the Shield Hero is for fighting the Waves and not getting the faithful common people of his country stirred up for a war, he didn't want the Hero butting in on local politics. A strong hero was good, so long as they stuck to killing monsters.
Still, Shirou smiled. "I think we can work something out, on two conditions. First, I want my equipment returned to us. Second, these three girls have reached level 40, and are in need of undergoing Class Up. If you can arrange those two things, then we will take care of this problem with the Shield Hero."
Jian had explained to Shirou that level 40 was a sort of cap level which you couldn't level up past until after you do something called 'Class Up' which was some kind of class system similar to the one used in the Holy Grail War's hero summoning which would determine what kind of class bonuses the girls would get. As a Legendary Hero, Shirou had no such restriction on his leveling, but he also wouldn't get the bonuses from Class Up either.
Since Class Up had to be done at the Dragon Hourglass, Shirou could kill two birds with one stone.
"…It might take a day or two to get permission to visit the Dragon's Hourglass." David said, glancing at Azu. "She's reached level 40 as well?"
"She forced herself into our party before the battle began and grew levels faster than you would believe. Dragon's blood, I suppose." Shirou said with a shrug. Trying to explain away just how someone could possibly grow levels so fast.
"I suppose so. I'll make the arrangements for you to get your things and send word so that you can see the Hourglass tomorrow. We will also have to gather supplies for your trip. If you leave tomorrow night, you should be able to reach the Melromarc capital in four days, if you hurry. That will leave fifteen days until the Wave in Melromarc hits. Will that be enough time for you to bring the Shield Hero up to snuff?" David asked.
"I could do it in two."
"I'm sorry, but in order to fulfill my word to Fitoria, Azu is going to have to travel with us. I promise I will do my best to keep her safe." Shirou said to Nico as the man was preparing to go back to his town, all of the soon-to-be former slaves they had saved standing with him.
The dog had been pale when he had returned to David and Shirou to report that Shirou's party's weaponry had all gone missing. David had quickly offered to compensate for their lose and then choked when he had heard just how much the weapons had been estimated to be worth.
Shirou, being the gracious man that he was, said that he would forgive the loss, if they had paid to have ownership of the slaves transferred to him, along with some wagons and Filolial in order to transport them all. Shirou was going to send the slaves, along with the small payment of one hundred gold coins he had received for protecting the town, back to Nico's home where they would be released, given enough money to get on their feet and either left to leave the town or make a life there. When he had told them this, the slaves had been slack jawed.
"Yes, I know. Thank you for taking care of her." Nico said, trying to keep the worry from his voice.
"Since we have the ability to teleport into your house, you don't have to worry about not being able to see her every now and then. You'll get regular check in." Shirou said with a smile.
"Well, that does set an old man's heart at ease." Nico chuckled he then urged the Filolial pulling his wagon forward. "Take care, Hero-sama."
Shirou sighed and shook his head before returning to the tent supplied to him and his party, as it was getting late. While decency would normally require Shirou to have a separate tent from the girls, paranoid demanded that he not leave them alone in such surroundings.
The tent was rather large, as they were being treated as VIPs after the whole dog incident was taken care of, so there was no problem in all of them fitting inside of the tent together.
Shirou pushed through the opening and looked inside to see Azu laying on her back, arms spread eagle with a pained look on her face. Her clothes had been removed, as they were becoming far too small for her, and a blanket was spread over her body. Rita and even Firo were trying to comfort her in her misery.
*Growl*
"So hungry." The girl whimpered. Shirou quickly brought more of Jian's meat out from his sword 'utility belt' and handed it over to Rita who started to feed it to Azu.
"She's already ate everything you left with us earlier, but she's still hungry. The poor thing has grown over a foot in the last two hours alone." Rita said as she put the meat to the girl's mouth. While Rita's aging had been relatively slow, growing by about a year every other day, the eight-year-old girl now looked to be fourteen after just five hours. Her growth had been slowly accelerating over the last few hours and was starting to get out of hand. "Her dragon's blood along with the leveling is causing her to grow faster than even demihumans are supposed to. Her entire body seems to be having mild growing pains."
"Hey Azu, how you feeling?" Shirou asked as he lowered himself to the ground next to her.
"Bad." Azu answered simply.
"Her growth will probably end in another two or three hours, but even after that, it won't be a very good night for her." Shirou said sympathetically. They would also need to think about what to do about clothing her, that thin blanket wasn't going to stop her from getting a cold and Shirou didn't know if this accelerated growth thing would make her prone to sickness or not. "Jian, what kind of clothes do we have that won't cause problems with Azu's growth?"
[Lion Plushy: Very High Quality: Defense Up (Large), Impact Resistance (Small), Slash Resistance (Large), Thrusting Resistance (Medium), Dark Resistance (Small), HP Restoration (Medium), Magic Amplify (Small), Autonomous Repair, Size Correction, Skill Correction (Small), Race Change – Lion Monster]
"Lion Plushy?" Shirou said with a raised eyebrow. Out of Jian's crystal came a large lion costume with a hole where the mouth was that would reveal the wearer's face. The stats on the thing were insanely high. If Shirou used his reinforcement magic to boost its properties, it would far outstrip even his own equipment when it came to stopping nonmagical attacks. Shirou lifted the costume up and stared at the thing. "Well, it does have the size correction trait." He admitted. She wouldn't be able to go outside wearing it without drawing attention, but it could still cover her.
"Wow!" Firo said when she saw the costume. "So cool! Firo wants one too!"
"Ah…" Shirou said looking into Firo's sparking eyes. "Sure. Trace. On." Shirou quickly made a copy of the clothes and handed it over to Firo, before handing the original over to Rita. "This thing will change size as Azu does, so it will be something warm for her to wear tonight. I'm going to go outside for a moment, so could you help her put it on?"
"Alright." Rita said as she took the unusual thing from Shirou, leaving the man to make himself scarce.
Shirou sighed as he stood guard outside of the tent, his eyes moving over every single soldier that came within thirty feet of his position. Most were just passing by and didn't give Shirou a second glance, and those who did and recognized him from the rumors hurried along even faster.
With little else to do, he was left to thinking over the resent bit of information he had been given about the Shield Hero's dilemma. No one could say that he hadn't warned the others about the dangers of backstabbing governments, extremist religious cults and traitorous women. The behavior of the king, the way none of the adventurers would go with Naofumi immediately, and how the woman was acting, all of them were clear signs of something being slightly off.
Still, there was always the chance that Naofumi was actually guilty. After all, Shirou hadn't believed that Shinji had it in him to hurt his little sister, adoptive or otherwise. How wrong he had been.
Not that it would really matter if he was guilty or wasn't. Shirou wouldn't leave the man to dead in the Waves, even if he was a vile bastard. At the end of the day, saints and sinner, all men pray for salvation. If it was within Shirou's power to give it, who was he to decide who was deserving?
He'd give the guy a good hard kick in the dick though if he really had raped that woman.
"Alright Sensei, it's safe to come back inside." Rita said from within the tent.
"Alright, I'm coming in." Shirou said, turning around and slipping into the tent.
"Gaoooo, Firo is a lion! Give Firo meat!" Firo said, holding up her arms and grinning toothily. The lion costume seemed to have changed itself to allow for Firo's wings to stick out the back and she really did look adorable. Shirou couldn't help but chuckle at the sight.
Though for some reason the entire thing reminded him of Saber. Perhaps because he had always equated Saber with lions and because Firo had the same blond hair.
"You look really cute, Firo." Shirou said, patting the girl on the head and bringing some food out for her, which Firo happily took.
"Yeah, Firo really likes it!" Firo said, nodding her head and causing the mane to shake around. "But for some reason, Firo feels a lot weaker while she's wearing it."
Shirou frowned and glanced over at Firo's stats list. Sure enough, Firo's stats had all dropped by almost 40%. It seems as though the stat boosts she gained from the Filolial series weapons weren't affecting her anymore. Her race had been changed from Filolial Queen to Lion Monster.
"Firo will just use it as pajamas then." The little girl declared, before shoving a fistful of dried meat into her mouth.
"Sounds good." Shirou said before moving on to Azu. "How is it for you?"
"Really comfortable. Body doesn't hurt so much anymore." Azu said as she stretched herself out like a cat inside of the costume. Her race had also changed to being Lion Monster instead of Dragon Hybrid. Shirou wondered if it was the race change or the HP regeneration that was making the process easier on her body. Didn't really matter, so long as she was comfortable.
"Alright you three, it's getting late. You all get some sleep. I'll be keeping watch for tonight." Shirou told them, waving them off to bed.
"Keep watch?" Rita repeated, not understanding Shirou.
"We are in unfamiliar territory surrounded by people who we don't know and with unknown intentions. Of course I am going to keep watch." Shirou said with a sly smile.
"Sensei, exhaustion is the enemy. You shouldn't stay up all night. We can take shifts." Rita insisted.
Shirou blinked at her for a moment before breaking into snorts of laughter. "You are learning quickly, my apprentice." She hadn't even argued with him about paranoid and merely tried to take on some of the burden of their precautions. "I'll wake you in four hours." Shirou said calmly.
"…Will you really?" Rita asked, her voice full of suspicion.
"Yes, really." Shirou chuckled. "Just get some sleep."
"Alright Sensei." Rita said before going to lay down on the mats they had been provided, cuddling up between Firo and Azu.
Shirou removed Jian and preceded to copy more weapons into her arsenal late into the night.
Four hours passed, and he didn't wake Rita up.
People are asking how Fitoria can possible know about Beast of Gaia and are complaining about how this is breaking their immersion.
Seriously? That is what breaks you suspension of disbelief? A thousands of years old God knowing that the World is a conscious entity is unrealistic. Or that a race that can speak and read every language in their world from the moment they are born could know that Shirou uses the term Beast of Gaia to describe these creatures.
Come on people, some suspension of disbelief would be appreciated.
How am I suppose to write if you nitpick about everything?
People have also been complaining that I haven't had enough Naofumi in the story. The same people who bitched before I had Shirou go off saying that I was just following the canon.
Fine, I sped up Shirou going back. Are you happy now?
Of course not. Nothing would please you people.
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