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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 18
"Pivoted your body more. Don't plant your feet, stay on your toes." Shirou instructed Firo as they sparred at the training grounds of the Siltvelt National Army. They had arrived early in the capital early in the afternoon, and while Rita and Azu went to shop for new clothes, Shirou stocked up on some needed supplies before taking the opportunity to teach Firo a little more about fighting in both her human and bird forms.
He had been doing his best to impart onto her his knowledge of how to take advantage of momentum tricks and air flow techniques. Though he honestly didn't know how much of what he said she understood. In the end, she was someone who learned from doing rather than having it explained to her, so Shirou introduced her to the more gentle version of Saber's School of Touch Love.
The rate she was improving was impressive. Still, Shirou worried that instinct, even unnaturally sharp instinct like Firo's, could only carry her so far and that her overly aggressive fighting style might get her hurt. Her stats were higher than his were by a small margin, but she still couldn't lay a hit on him, even while he was unarmed.
Shirou stepped out of the way of one of Firo's jabs, grabbing the punch and using her own forward momentum to toss her up into the air. Firo then had to recover by spreading out her arms and wings and controlling the air flow around her, leaving her open. Shirou closed the gap while Firo was still trying to regain her balance and gave her a flick to the forehead. Concentration disrupted, her own wind knocked her off balance and sent her tumbling to the ground.
"Don't follow through with a punch unless your other arm is ready for a follow up, and next time you need to recover in the air, either don't use your hands to balance or use your feet to guard yourself instead. You can't just dangle there with your entire body wide open." Shirou scolded her as she got up.
"Firo will try." Firo said before jumping up into the air above Shirou, transforming into her bird form and dropping a huge kick down onto him.
The set up was large, and Shirou got out of the way, but when he went for the counterattack, Firo's body shank in order to dodge his hit. She then lunged at him at full speed. Shirou side stepped the punch and brought his arm around for a light hit to the girl's side, only for Firo to twist herself in the air by shaping her wings and spun out of range of the attack. She hadn't gotten the balance quite right and didn't land on her feet, but it had been a creative dodge none-the-less.
"Not bad." Shirou admitted with a smile, though Firo didn't see it. She was rushing away from Shirou as fast as her legs would carry her. Then after gaining the distance of a soccer field, she turned around, transformed back into her bird form again, and rushed at Shirou and full speed. Her wings were spread out, with wind being manipulated over them in order to push her down, allowing her more traction and more speed. The air was ripped apart as with a few dozen feet, Firo had breached the sound barrier.
Shirou waited until the last moment before shifting out of the way, ducking under her outstretched wing and pushing up on it with a good deal of force.
The wind current was punctured, Firo's balanced was thrown off, and her own speed sent her sailing through the air until she transformed back into her human form, where her more limited weight made it easier to burn off her extra momentum and regain control.
Shirou was impressed. She even landed on her feet. Shirou though she would be prepared for more, but sadly it wasn't to be. "Master, all this transforming is making Firo hungry! Can we eat now?" The girl said, putting her hands to her stomach.
Shirou just chuckled as he lowered his own arms. "Fine. You've earned a break. Let's go find the mess hall."
"Yeah!" Firo cheered in excitement. The two of them walked towards the mess, ignoring the shocked and frightened looks of the soldiers they passed along the way.
If they were frightened now, just wait until she started eating.
Firo had eat her normal fifty-pound snack and was starting to get comfortable when Rita and Azu arrived.
"I thought we would find you two here." Rita chuckled as she saw the plates stacked to either side of Firo.
"Welcome back, how did it go?" Shirou asked.
"Well, why don't you tell me?" Rita said, putting her arms behind her back and standing there for Shirou to judge her new casual wear.
While Siltvelt was further to the south, it bordered the ocean, making the temperature relatively pleasant year-round. Because of this, their clothes weren't necessarily meant to deal with extreme heat or cold. The thinner material looked soft and cool. While Shirou wouldn't dare allow them to wear such things on the battlefield, there was no harm in letting them be comfortable during their everyday activities. Though Shirou had been forced to make this point clear to Rita before they left, as she was planning to buy leather armor for the two.
Not that there was anything wrong with leathers, but they weren't exactly comfortable and wore through a lot faster than linen cloth. They were also a greater pain to clean. Besides, no one would expect normal clothes to carry enchantments, giving you the element of surprise. Shirou could turn just about any cloth into something that could stop bullets.
That said, there was one thing Shirou was a little uncomfortable with. "They look very nice on you but… they are rather mature." Shirou said, choosing his words carefully. He'd been asked the question of 'how do I look' by some of the most powerful women in his world and had gained an appropriate level of caution for how he responded.
While she did have something equivalent to sweat shorts and a short black top on underneath the other clothes for decency, the rest of the clothes seemed meant to be rather attention grabbing. The frilly red outfit brought to mind the kind of things that idols wore on stage and was definitely attention grabbing, with the shirt revealing the girl's midriff and the skirt made in such a way so that it left one of the legs mostly uncovered.
"You don't like it?" Rita said, her face dropping in disappointment as she wrapped her arms around herself… dangerous.
"N…not at all. You're very cute. I'm just worried that other people might not be able to control themselves." Shirou said, trying to recover. "Well, I suppose you are strong enough to defend yourself if that happens."
Which was true. From what Shirou could gather from the histories of the weapons around him, hardly anyone ever reached level 40 and underwent Class Up. Considering the number of monsters required to grow 40 levels, it was only natural that few would have reached that milestone. The entirety of the army station had no more than twenty Class Upped individuals. Only three of them were above level 60, and even they were barely Rita's equal in terms of raw stats, even without her undergoing Class Up. The effects of Jian's stat and experience boosts were more than just impressive, they were downright cheating.
Azu was the one that Shirou should have been worrying about. After she had finished growing the previous night, she resembled a twenty-three-year-old woman, looking even more mature than Rita whose ageing had stopped at around nineteen. But she still had the same mind she had before, and she hadn't been all there to begin with. Strong as she was, she wouldn't know to defense herself, and while the light blue dress she had gotten was more tame, but it left the white scales on her shoulders and upper back exposed, and the dress had a lower cut than Shirou would approve of for a girl her age. With her shoulder length hair framing her face and her far out expression, she looked as though she belonged on the end of a misty peer. If you ignored the horns.
"I'd say so. I'm glad I haven't made enemies off you." David said as he approached, followed by three younger individuals of the same race. "Was that display in the training ground meant to be some kind of warning to us?"
"Maybe a little." Shirou admitted with a shrug. "Mercenaries are used to people trying to take advantage of them. No offense meant."
"None taken." David said with a laugh. "I thought I was strong, but clearly I have a long way to go. It makes me feel embarrassed to be called a Representative."
"Master is really strong! He killed this HUGE griffin in just one hit!" Firo said with cheer, stretching out her arms to show just how large the griffin was.
"Did he now?" David said nervously. Being level 52, David wasn't weak by any stretch of the imagination. But compared to Firo's insane power, he was practically a child, and in their spar, Shirou had been treating Firo like the child she was. It looked like the message he had sent was read loud and clear. 'Betray me, and you won't like what happens.' Such an atmosphere stopped them from asking questions that Shirou couldn't answer. "Now than, while it has been on a short notice, we have completed the preparations for your Class Up. If you would all be willing to follow me, I will take you to the Dragon's Hourglass and we can begin."
"Of course." Shirou said with a smile.
Shirou had expected the building housing the Dragon's Hourglass to be exactly the same as the one in Melromarc, or at least of similar architectural styles. So it had been a surprise to him when rather then a massive stone cathedral, similar to those built by the Christian Church, there was a more Egyptian style building carved out of the face of a mountain, which served as the house for the Siltvelt Hourglass.
It even had the statures and carvings of individuals who were part man and part animal… though they might have just been artists depictions of historical figures.
Shirou and company were led deep into the inner chambers, with the girls looking all around in amazement. "I never imagined I would ever get to Class Up." Rita whispered. Class Upped individuals were the top 1% of fighters. To go from a level 1 to one of the elite in just a week must have seemed like a dream.
[42:13:53]
The timer for the next Siltvelt Wave appeared as soon as Shirou caught sight of the massive Hourglass.
Forty-two days, thirteen hours, fifty-three minutes. So, they had almost a month and a half before the next wave started, and the Wave would begin in the middle of the night. That would be a pain in the ass when it came to making sure that none of the monsters got away to wreak havoc on the people. Even Shirou's eagle eyes could only see so far in the dead of night. He supposed it would depend on moonlight, but he couldn't for the life of him remember how full the moon was the previous night. Not that he knew the moon's cycle in this world anyways.
"Who will go first?" One of the temple workers asked, an elderly woman sporting a turtle shell on her back.
"Firo! Firo wants to go!" Firo said, jumping up and down with excitement. The old woman chuckled and led Firo forward to the Hourglass, which was in the center of a large magic circle made from grooves carved into the floor. The other workers then proceeded to pour some kind of liquid into the grooves.
"Alright child, all you need to do is touch the Hourglass and focus your will upon it." The old woman explained before leaving Firo alone in the circle.
Firo closed her eyes and concentrated her energy on the Hourglass until the liquid in the magic circle began to glow. "Ah, something popped up!" Firo said, though her eyes were still closed. She must have gotten a window in her Status Menu.
A moment later, Shirou got a pop up of his own, with a picture of Firo and a bunch of items connected to it.
Shirou was confused until Jian explained to him what was going on.
[As a Hero is the Monster's owner, a Hero can decide what path to choose for her Class Up. If a Hero wishes not to decide, then they may simply pass the right back to the Monster.]
"Hm… I see." Shirou muttered as he glanced over the list of items. He honestly didn't have a clue what he was doing, so he just sent the privilege of choosing back to Firo. "Firo, choose whatever you want."
"Alright!" Firo said happily. "Now, which one to pick."
"Are you sure that is wise?" David said.
"Firo's instincts as a Filolial Queen are better than you would believe. I trust that whatever decision she makes will be better for her than anything I could pick." Shirou said in order to justify his actions. Really, he was just clueless.
After a few moments, Firo made her next declaration. "Alright, Firo will pick the one that spits poison!"
"…I have made error." Shirou mumbled to himself. He had forgotten that while Firo had strong instincts, she also had the mind of a child, and like Illya would pick something that just seemed cool to her, if given a choice. As the circle began to glow with a golden light, the lock of hair planted by Fitoria glowed with it.
When the light died, Firo stood there, looking much the same as before. Maybe her stray lock of hair was a bit more shiny, but beyond that, Shirou couldn't tell.
"The Class Up was successful." The woman said with a nod.
Shirou glanced over at Firo's stats to see that the star was indeed go… and that all of Firo's stats had nearly doubled. Shirou nearly choked.
While before Firo was muscling her way into the E-rank territory for strength, endurance and speed, with almost a D-rank in magic, now she was a sold D-rank combatant with a mid C-rank in magic. Was this normal?
"Firo didn't get to pick." Firo said, seeming a little disappointed when she returned. "Firo wanted to be able to spit poison."
[A Class Up normally grants 20%~30% increase in Class related stats, with lesser bonuses offered to other stats. However, there do exist items and magics that can cause unusual Class Ups, depending on the strength of the item/magic.]
Shirou nodded his head in understanding. Fitoria had done something in order to change Firo's Class Up and make her even stronger. "It's alright Firo. You still did great." He said, patting the girl on the head, trying to cheer her up. "We'll find a way to celebrate everyone's Class Ups later. While that cheer you up?"
"Food?" Firo asked, her expression immediately lightening.
"Sure." Shirou chuckled.
While he had been distracted, Azu had walked up to the Hourglass and was preforming her own Class Up. The same glow occurred and Azu's horns shone bright in the center of the room, after which it was over.
Again the star next to her name disappeared and again the stats nearly doubled.
Huh?
Azu's white horns had turned a golden color and her hair was a bit more glossy when she stepped out of the circle. "Azu, what did you pick?" Rita asked the girl curiously.
"I didn't. Papa picked for me." Azu said in her simple way.
The Blessing of a Bird God and a Fragment of a Beast of Gaia. How frightening.
Shirou wasn't looking forward to telling Rita about this. She was already feeling a little overwhelmed by Firo and Azu's natural talents.
Rita walked up to the alter herself and placed her hand on the Hourglass. This time, as the magic circle glowed, both Firo's hair and Azu's horns began to give off light.
The light from the magic circle grew brighter and brighter and brighter still, until even closing one's eyes wasn't enough. Eventually, the liquid even started to crackle and steam.
"What's going on!?" "This has never happened before!" "Someone, stop the process!"
The workers panicked as the amount of energy grew. Both Firo and Azu were radiating power, which was mixing and fighting one another. The two opposing energy each seeming to wish to impart their own blessing. The golden light even started to turn red.
Then, with one final flash, the Class Up was over.
"Rita, are you alright!?" Shirou called through the steam.
"Yes, I'm fine. I'm… oh wow." Rita said as the steam finally dissipated, leaving her standing there in front of them. Shirou sighed, glad that she was alright.
He looked her over, wanting to make sure that she wasn't hurt in any way. The blond hair on her head and tails had changed to a soft red color, and her skin was a bit more healthy than before, but she didn't have any signs of burns from the energy being thrown around.
…Wait, tails?
Shirou blinked to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but the two fox tails remained. Then, Shirou took a glance at the girl's stats and nearly started laughing. While Firo and Azu's stats had almost doubled, Rita's had come close to tripling.
Of course, Shirou was cursed to forever be surrounded by grossly overpowered women.
After the Class Ups were over, David gave the Hakuko Mongrel the supplies he would need for the journey and sent him on his way. Hopefully now his headache could go away.
It had really seemed like a good idea at the time, using a small party of mercenaries with no political connection to any Guild, Clan or Country in order to deal with the problem of how to help the Shield Hero without disrupting the balance of power between the Clans or allowing those capitalist bastards in Shildfrieden get their mitts on him. He had seen the halfblooded Hakuko with his obviously human eyes and known that no matter what he did, he would never gain any standing in Siltvelt society.
The man hadn't even demanded money for the job, just wished for his party members to receive Class Ups. Which made sense, in a way. Each country strictly regulated who was and wasn't allowed to Class Up, as many Class Upped individuals were more powerful than normal people could handle. If you wanted to be allowed to Class Up, you needed connections, the kind of connections that mercenaries didn't have. For a mercenary, being given the chance to Class Up was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
It wasn't until later that the Representative realized he might have bitten off more than he could comfortably chew.
When David heard just want kind of quality of weapons the man had given his apprentice, without any concern for his own equipment, he hadn't been able to believe it. All of the weapon experts they had brought to manage their equipment had sworn up and down that the quality of the weapons was beyond anything they had ever seen before, and that they must have been an experimental series from Zeltoble and worth as much as a small castle. It was no wonder the things were stolen. He had considered killing the Hakuko then and there just so they wouldn't have to pay for the things. Luckily, the fool seemed willing to let the thing go in exchange for a mere three hundred golds' worth of slaves, wagons and Filolials.
Still, what kind of insane person could afford to just let such weapons go? David had men searching everywhere trying to find those weapons, hoping to retrieve them for his own Clan, because of the kind of difference such weapons could make in his standings. Then again, this mercenary didn't seem to be right in the head, as he was going to be freeing the slaves that he got out of the deal anyways. It was like the man had no idea what mercenary even was and thought it was another name for a saint.
Then came his first displays of power, and David was left wondering just how high of a level this Shirou fellow was. Some of his confidants who had watched his training section with the rare Royal Filolial claimed that the man must have been at the very least a level 90, and since he was one of the Hakuko race, he could have been as high as level 120. This meant that he could possibly overpower the entire country's army by himself if he so chose.
Where the hell did this guy even come from? Sure David had heard that there were a few unknown and powerful hermits in the world who started to move as the Waves began, but this seemed like a bit much.
Even the Bird would have been difficult for them to handle. No one had believed him when he told them that the Bird was only level 40, or that it was really a Filolial. The shockwaves from the bird's movement alone were enough to cause nearby windows to shatter.
Then there was the Dragon Child, with her unnatural rate of leveling up. David hadn't originally believed them when they had told him she was level 40, but in the course of a single night she had grown into an adult woman. If she could go from being a low level to reaching Class Up in a single battle, how long would it be until she reached level 100? Would she try to take revenge for what happened to her mother and father? The Representative was just glad that it wasn't his Clan that would be first in the line of fire if she did.
And David had just allowed these two monstrosities to Class Up. Was he insane?
Well, it wasn't like he could have backed out. You don't back out of deals with someone like that Shirou fellow. He had made it perfectly clear that he expected David to honor his word. David could only laugh, as he had thought that he had been the one working from the position of power in their agreement.
Then came the surprise, the one individual in the party that he had barely noticed, the Kitsune girl. He had written her off as a slave that the man saved who he had taken in out of pity. He hadn't expected her to grow a second tail. It was almost surely a sign of the nine-tails beast transformation that had once made the Kitsune race known as the seventh most powerful species in the world.
David hoped that the Kitsune Clan never found out about her and her connection to these monstrous individuals. The balance of power in Siltvelt wouldn't survive it.
For anyone curious as to where these names come from, I use a random name generator and pick the one that is easiest for me to read. This is why the names I choose tend to be a bit on the shorter side.
I didn't explicitly say it, because I thought it was obvious, but Shirou dismissed the weapons and that was why they disappeared. That's the joke, they are running around trying to find weapons that don't even exist.
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