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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 19
The beginning of the newest leg of their journey was painfully slow.
In order to smuggle them into Melromarc, they were 'hired' as escorts to a merchant who had an international license with each country. The problem was, this man really was a merchant, with a wagon full of merchandise that he didn't want broken by Firo breaking the sound barrier while pulling the cart. He also didn't see the possible end of the world as a good enough reason to get his hurry on and stop visiting with people along the way.
Because of this, and the random monster attacks, it took three whole days just to get into Melromarc.
Normally, Shirou would have just teleported the party across the border, and ignored the merchant, but their name was still connected to Nico, and discarding the script might come back to bite the poor old bird. It wasn't until the escort was over and they took a quick trip back to visit Nico and spend the night that Shirou started to relax and no longer worry for the old man's safety.
They woke up on the fourth day since the Siltvelt Wave, ready to face the day and finally make some progress.
Shirou had woken up early, as usual, and prepared everyone breakfast before sitting down to analyze the magic pendent he had been given by David for getting into Melromarc without fuss.
Hakuko apparently had a harder time in Melromarc than even normal Demihumans. In order to avoid making a scene, Shirou was given a magical item that would hide his Demihuman traits. Rita had broken down into giggles when the merchant commented that if he didn't know better, he would have said that Shirou really was a human. He hadn't even used to pendent, just changed his wig out again.
Still, it was an interesting piece and Shirou wondered if he could reverse engineer it and create something to hide Rita's second tail, as the girl was getting some wide eyed looks for it.
As he fiddled with the thing, trying to decipher its magic script, the door to the kitchen slowly opened and Azu entered, as silent as usual. "Good morning Azu. Feel free to take a seat and eat." Shirou told the girl.
"Sword hero." Azu said, her voice more forceful than usual, causing Shirou to pause. She didn't usually call him that. He gave the girl a quick glance to see if everything was alright.
Azu was still dressed in one of the lion plushies that she and Firo had taken to using as pajamas. In order to be able to distinguish whose was whose, Azu's had been dyed a bright blue color, while Firo kept her golden. Other than that, she seemed normal, until Shirou noticed that her eyes were a different color than normal. The golden of her eyes had changed to a deep rose color.
"Azu, are you feeling alright?" Shirou asked the girl, putting the magic item down on the table and turning to look at her.
"Sword Hero, you protected Azu from Fitoria's wrath, and for that, I wish to thank you." Azu… not-Azu, said as the girl's body slow walked forward, corning Shirou in his chair and starting to climb onto him.
"What are you doing!?" Shirou shouted in shock. Not sure what to do, and not wanting to jolt the girl in her dazed state out of fear of hurting her.
"Please, accept this part of my body as a father's thanks." The remains of the Dragon said, speaking through Azu's mouth as she reached towards Jian, a small orb appearing in her hand which Jian greedily absorbed.
[Dragon Series Unlocked]
[Replica Dragon Fragment: stored]
A set of weapon forms, identical to the Filolial Series unlocked by Fitoria's feather appeared in Shirou's weapon selection menu. Including the race bonuses, meaning a 60% boost to all of Azu's stats once they were mastered and awakened.
This done, Azu's eyes closed and she rested against Shirou's chest, her soft breasts pressed up against him… Shirou swallowed hard before lifting Azu off of him and placing her in a chair next to him. After that, he left the house.
…He needed some air.
Shirou dumped his head a bucket of cold water over and over again, trying to will himself back to a more normal state of body and mind.
It was encounters like that which reminded Shirou that he hadn't had sex in over two weeks, pushing three, and for a man that was used to being milked dry by a trio of extremely intense women, this was like an eternity. He felt like an alcoholic going through withdraw, while surrounded by unopened bottles of wine.
That said, he wasn't so weak willed that he would touch any of the girls… Shirou could almost see the next year of his life stretched out in front of him. How long would he last?
The fact that Azu's father apparently was still in some way alive inside of her barely even registered. That wasn't a good sign. It wasn't like it was all too shocking though. Shirou had suspected when Azu had stated that her father had been the one to pick her Class Up for her. Fitoria probably knew as well, and considering she hadn't been overly concerned, as she allowed Shirou to watch over the girl, it probably wasn't anything to worry about.
"Sensei, are you alright?" Rita called out from the door to the house as Shirou pulled his head from the water.
"Ah… yes, its nothing. Just trying to clear my head a little." Shirou said, shaking the water from his hair. He'd retrace his clothes to get rid of the water the moment he was along and the wig once his hair was dry. "Is there something you need?"
"Yes Sensei. I was wondering if there would be time to make a stop by the village where we meet before going on to the capital." Rita asked Shirou. "I want to tell them that everyone made it to safety, and that they don't have to worry."
"Well sure. I don't see why not. It would probably be better to teleport to a place away from the capital anyways, and the village is only around a two-hour ride with Firo pulling the carriage." Shirou said, gesturing towards the carriage that he had spent the night before carving runes into to help withstand Firo's boosted speed. It had been one of the carriages they had gotten for transporting the freed slaves, the one that was in the best condition.
"Thank you, Sensei." Rita said, bowing to Shirou. "I know that your mission is important and that we have already wasted time, but… I…"
"You know you don't have to be so formal with me, right? If you feel like you need to do this, then we will make the time." Shirou told her. "I might be a hypocrite for saying this, but you could stand to be a little more selfish."
"What are you talking about? I'm always getting in your way." Rita mumbled. "When you should have been taking care of yourself, you've been teaching me how to use weapons, or how to read magic script."
"Which you only want to know how to do so that you can help." Shirou said giving the girl a pat on the head. "Regret is the enemy. One that I have seen it break the strongest of heroes. So if you need to do something to put your heart at ease, just do it."
"My… my hear… heart." Rita stammered, a shiver going up her spin, her cheeks starting to flush.
"Are you cold? The morning air is a bit chilly. We should probably go inside." Shirou said walking past her. "After everyone's done eating, we'll transport out of here and back to Melromarc."
"Ah… yes Sensei." Rita said before following after Shirou. Shirou reached the kitchen and found that all the food he had prepared was already gone, and that Firo was asleep on the table, still in her lion pajamas.
"Gaooo. So tastily." She mumbled in her sleep as she turned over and fell of the table and onto the floor, laying spread eagle on the ground.
"…I'll make more."
"Shirou-sama?" The village head said with shock as Shirou and company rode into town. Several other people stopped their repairs to gather around asking for news.
"Shirou-sama, please tell us, what happened to the children?" "What took you so long?" "Are the Demihuman kids safe?" "Why aren't the children with you?"
"Everyone, it's fine. Sensei rescued us and brought everyone safely to Siltvelt." Rita said, trying to calm the crowd down.
This caused even more disbelief when the village head's wife recognized Rita's voice. "Rita? Is that you child? Good heavens, what happened? You look so… so different."
"Ah… It had been an eventful two weeks." Rita admitted weakly, scratching the back of her head.
Shirou was working to repair the damage to one of the sheds as Rita caught up with her old neighbors and assured them that everything was alright, telling them an abridged version of their adventures that didn't contain the fact that Shirou was the Hero of the Sword. Even so, with all the things that happened, the villagers were shell shocked by the end of it.
Shirou, not one to be comfortable around crowds, left it to Rita, while he just helped out around the village in any small way he could. Firo had returned to her more human form and she and Azu were playing with the other children.
"There we go. That should hold up." Shirou said as he tested the new boards of the barn's wall. He discreetly lowered the oddly sword shaped hammer out of sight before letting Jian return to her usual hiding form in his two scabbards.
"Sensei." Rita said, as she approached. "I'm done now and ready to go."
Shirou watched her for a moment before raising an eyebrow. "Don't try to keep it bottled up. Tell me what happened." Shirou said. He could see the way her expression was struggling to figure out what it wanted to do, leaving her entire body tense. The classic signs of someone consciously wanting to mask their feelings but lacking the knowledge of how.
Rita opened her mouth, probably prepared to deny that anything was wrong before sighing. "For someone so dense, Sensei is awfully perceptive." She said before talking a deep breath. "Patrick, the man who told the slavers where to find us, he killed himself."
"Ah. I see." Shirou said with an awkward nod. He thought that this might happen, and he had figured that this would be the girl's response.
Rita had ever reason in the world to hate the man. If she had wanted him dead, no one would have blamed her. However, the villagers had been confused when she was genuinely saddened by the man's death. But even if they didn't understand, Shirou did. The desire to not allow anyone to die, even those who had wronged you and the people you loved horrible. Shirou had lost sleep over Shinji, even after everything that the bastard did to deceive his fate.
It wasn't because of the friendship that had once existed between them. It had only been because Shinji had been a living person, and that he died because Shirou didn't know what was going on. Because he was too much of a fool to read between the lines and hear Sakura's cry for help.
It had taken a few good hits from Rin and a talking to by Rider to get Shirou out of his funk.
"Maybe if I had comeback sooner, then…" Rita started, but then stopped as Shirou started to pat her head.
"Take my advice Rita, and don't dwell on it." Shirou said, trying to calm her down. "You need to understand that no one, not even beings as powerful as Fitoria, can save everyone. People will die, and when it happens, the only thing we can do is try to accept it and move on."
"…I'll try, Sensei." Rita said, try to shake herself before looking up at Shirou. "Alright, we should keep moving."
Shirou smiled. "That's the spirits."
"No, I mean we really need to get moving. It's already midafternoon." Rita said.
Shirou blinked and looked at the clock in his Status Menu. "Huh, time flies when you're at work." He mumbled. "Let's grab Firo and Azu and will head out."
Shirou sat and the front of the carriage with Rita and Azu on either side of him as Firo pulled them along. They had only been going for an hour and a half, but they were making good time and with Firo's speed and the lack of monster encounters, Shirou suspected they would reach the city in just another half hour.
"Listen up you three. While we are supposed to be helping the Shield Hero level up, I'm not going to be able to help. The Legendary Weapons compete with one and other for the help of the World, so if we are too close together, we no long gain the bonus experience that helps us quickly level up. So I'm going to be counting on you three for this." Shirou explained to them.
"What, but Firo wants to stay with Master." Firo complained as she dragged them along. Azu also grabbed onto Shirou's arm and made a face, saying that she didn't want to separate either.
"It will only be for one day. I promise that I'll make it up to you." Shirou said with a smile. "I'll be sure to by lots of yummy ingredients to make you food with."
"Yeah!" Firo cheered. Azu also looked a bit thoughtful about it before letting go of Shirou's arm.
"Fighting without Sensei… Are you sure we will be alright?" Rita asked.
"The dungeon we've been pointed too is supposed to be for adventuring parties above level 30. Each of you has higher stats than I do, so the monsters there shouldn't be any threat at all." Shirou told them. Really, Shirou was more concerned about the Shield Hero himself.
"Sensei, you met the Shield Hero, right? What was he like?" Rita asked, sounding a little embarrassed about it. Made sense. Demihumans seemed to have a sort of worship for the Shield Hero. Wouldn't surprise Shirou if the name was semantic with Prince Charming to them.
"To be honest, I have no idea. I only met him for a short period of time, when we were all summoned. He seemed like a normal guy, but I have no idea if that was an act or not. I certainly didn't tell anyone the truth about me while we were there, and I kind of assumed that the other heroes did the same, though I don't know." Shirou admitted. "To be honest, I have no idea what he is capable of. I still find the news that he is lagging behind in levels to be a bit of a surprise."
"But, with the Shield Hero being a low level, and unable to wield any damaging weapons, isn't it only natural that he have a hard time with leveling up?" Rita asked.
"Normal logic would say so, but we are dealing with a hero here. Not someone of this world. You can't use your normal common sense." Shirou said giving Rita a look. "For example, in a fight between you as you are right now, and me when I was level one and without the Legendary Holy Sword, who do you think would win?"
"Ah! Sensei, that would hardly be a far fight." Rita said with wide eyes.
"You're right. I would have destroyed you." Shirou said, shocking Rita. "Strong as you have become, I have fought stronger in my previous world. My most regular sparring partner has double your current strength and more than triple your speed."
"That's… wow." Rita said, her hands shifting along the recreated spear that Shirou had given her.
"Don't get me wrong. In thirty or so levels you will reach a point were even I would have lost simply because of the sheer gap in strength, but the skills and abilities I had in my previous world weren't anything to laugh at." Shirou said with a reassuring smile. "I doubt I was picked to be the Sword Hero completely at random, and I would assume that the other Heroes are the same way. Which is why hearing that the Shield Hero is having a hard time perplexes me. It could be that, just like me, he is finding his old skills are conflicting with the Legendary Weapons' rules."
"You think that he's faking it?" Rita asked.
"If he is, I should be able to know at first sight. But if he isn't, then we should help him." Shirou said, before he straightened up in his seat. "Speak of the devil."
If it hadn't been for the Legendary Shield, Shirou wouldn't have been able to recognize Naofumi as he walked along the side of the road. His shirt and pants were little more than torn rags, with the only half decent people of clothing on him being a mossy green cloak. Even when placed next to your average peasant, he would be a sorry sight. While Shirou couldn't read deep into the Legendary Shield, beyond the current form it was using, he could still make out Naofumi's level. The man had only grown to level 7.
Standing at his side was a demihuman girl, a child with a raccoon's tail and ears. The child was dressed in second hand padded armor, though they were still far nicer than what Naofumi himself had on. Even from a distance, Shirou could see the knife at her belt. It was freshly block, and its history told Shirou that the girl was a level 8 and that her name was Raphtalia. It also told him that she was a slave.
The knife had been meant for skinning, but the girl had been using it to kill monsters. Even if it was of a good make, three days of being driven into leathery hides and bones had caused it to snap. But in those three days, the girl had not sustained an attack by a monster even once.
As they approached, Shirou signaled to Firo to slow down.
Hearing their carriage, Naofumi tensed and turned his head to look at them with a pair of eyes that made Rita gasp. Even Shirou grimaced at the sight. Before the young man had looked like a clueless every man, now he radiated pure hatred. Still, as Shirou's eyes were drawn once again the girl, who merely seemed confused and a little uneasy, hugging a toy leather ball to her chest.
Naofumi seemed to recognize what Shirou was looking at. He stepped in front of girl, trying to block her from sight, at the same time dropping the bundle of monster pelts he had been carrying and lifting up his cloak to reveal a balloon looking monsters with very angry looking faces that were biting at his body. He reached for one of them as he glared at Shirou's party, as if to say that they should keep walking, or he would throw it at them.
Shirou only watched the young man, reading his eyes, his expression, his entire body language. He had seen this kind of behavior before, in the eyes of the truly desperate.
Shirou wanted to help this man.
The tension of the situations diminished when the small girl's stomach started to rumble. Earning a glance from Naofumi. "Again?" The man mumbled, though there was no heat or aggression of any kind in his voice.
"I… I'm sorry." Raphtalia flinched slightly, though Naofumi only sighed in response.
Then Firo's stomach growled, much louder and drawing everyone's attention. "Firo is hungry too. Master, can we eat now?" Firo asked, turning her head around to look at Shirou.
"It talks!?" Raphtalia said in amazement, though Naofumi raised his shield and looked at Firo with suspicion.
"Sure. I don't see why not." Shirou said before looking back and Naofumi. "Would you like to join us? We've got plenty of food to go around, even with hour much Firo here eats." Shirou invited them. Naofumi still looked suspicious, but as the child's stomach growled again, he ended up relenting.
"I'll be watching you. So don't try anything."
"Here you go." The white-haired man said as he handed a pair of plates to Naofumi and Raphtalia filled with skewers that he had prepared over a massive fire. The man had seemed to be under the impression that he was cooking for a hundred people, though since the massive bird creature of his turned into a little blond-haired girl had started to scarf the things down like popcorn, maybe that much was actually needed.
And he had thought that Raphtalia was becoming a big eater.
Saving the money it would cost to fill the girl up was the only reason Naofumi had agreed to eat with these people. Even though he didn't trust them one bit. They needed to save time and money where they could, if they were going to grow enough levels and buy enough equipment to survive the Wave.
Even so, Naofumi glared down at the meal when it was presented to him, unsure whether he trusted it or not. Raphtalia was watching him nervously. Experience told him that she wouldn't start eating her own food until after he started or gave her permission.
"It isn't poisoned, if that is what you are worried about, Mr. Shield Hero." The white-haired man said with a shake of the head, as if he was mocking Naofumi for his caution. He also revealed that he had known that Naofumi was the Shield Hero all along.
"Yeah, and why should I believe you on that?" Naofumi asked in an accusing tone.
Then, a heavy presence hit Naofumi and he flinched backwards, the monsters that had been trying their damnedest to bite him to death all fell away from his body, and by the looks of it, they didn't seem to be breathing. A dangerous glow was being admitted by the man's body as he looked at Naofumi with a smug expression.
The man had killed the monsters with nothing more than flexing his power. What kind of Dragon Orb X nonsense was that?
"If I wanted you dead, I wouldn't waste good food on it." He said.
Naofumi got the message. This guy wasn't some random street merchant with no experience with monsters. He was a veteran fighter, and strong enough to kill Naofumi at any time if he so chose.
At least the food was safe to eat.
"Go ahead and eat." Naofumi said to Raphtalia as he took his first bite. The girl nodded and started to eat herself.
"SO GOOD!" Raphtalia half squealed as she ate, she then turned to Naofumi with a smile. "Doesn't it taste amazing, Naofumi-sama?"
"…Does it?" Naofumi mumbled as he disinterestedly chewed. Like everything else he had eaten in the last two weeks, the thing tasted like sand and felt heavy in his throat.
"Naofumi-sama?" Raphtalia mumbled, her tail wilting a little.
"I think that has got to be the saddest reaction I've ever seen out of someone eating my cooking. Even if it was something as improvised as this." The white-haired man said. "I suppose introductions are in order. My name is Shirou, and these are Rita, Azu and Firo. We're a group of traveling mercenaries." The man said, introducing himself and the woman who were with him. Beyond mild amusement that the white-haired man's name meant white in his tongue, Naofumi didn't care. Nor did he make any effort to introduce himself.
"I… I'm Raphtilia, and this is my Master, Naofumi." Since Naofumi wasn't going to introduce himself, Raphtilia introduced him instead. The girl was always doing things like that, not that he understood why.
"Master? Then you're…?" The fox girl, Rita or something, started to say, before her eyes went to Raphtilia's chest, seeing the slave seal peeking out from underneath her shirt. "A slave?" The woman gasped, before she turned on Naofumi with a look of horror. "Aren't you supposed to be the Shield Hero? How could you force a child to fight for you?"
Naofumi just scoffed, turning his head away. What did he care if this woman condemned him? So what if he used a slave to fight for him? Slavery was part of this disgusting world, so it wasn't him who was evil for using it, it was the world that was evil.
Seeing his dismissive attitude, the girl bristled, but before she could say anything more, Shirou interrupted her. "Rita, that's enough." The man said with a shake of his head.
"But Sensei, how can you just sit there when he is putting this girl's life in danger like this?" Rita said looking shocked at the man's calm tones.
"Desperation makes men do harsh things in order to survive." Shirou said with something like pity in his voice. "Besides, I don't think he would willingly let anything harm the girl. You could see it in his eyes when we first road up." Shirou then looked straight at Naofumi and gave a knowing smile. "I have seen that look before. Naofumi here knows that if something happens to this girl, he's as good as dead when the wave comes."
Naofumi couldn't help but to glare at Shirou, not that he could deny the truth in those words. He had leveled up more in the past three days with Raphtalia than in the previous two weeks, and he had spent nearly all the money he had on the girl. He wouldn't be able to replace her.
If anything happened to the girl, Naofumi really was as good as dead.
"But if you really are so worried about the girl, how about we help them out a little." Shirou said, giving Naofumi a smile. "Naofumi, would you mind adding Rita here to your party temporarily?"
Naofumi glared at the man with suspicion, but after he confused the girl to request entry into his party, Naofumi didn't turn the girl away. His eyes widened in shock as he saw that the girl was level 41 and the list of her stats. They trumped even the level 75 werewolf that the Slave Trader had shown him.
"The three girls here are all actually extreme talents. Even as level 41s their stats aren't inferior to people up in their 80s." Shirou said, sounding smug. "So how about this. I have some business to take care of in the capital, but it only really requires me to be there. While I am taking care of this business, how about you take these three with you to gain some levels?"
Naofumi didn't know what to say. It was good. Way too good to be true. "What's in it for you?"
"Well, for starters, the Adventurers Guild strictly regulates the best hunting grounds. Without special permission, you can't hunt there. We mercenaries would never be allowed, meaning rather than fighting monsters that are weak compared to the amount of experience they give, we have to actually fight for our lives to get our levels. But if we are in the company of a Hero, international law would stop them from turning us away." Shirou explained. "On top of that is the experience bonuses. It is said that a Hero and their companions gain ten times more experience than a normal adventurer. Meaning that you get ten days' worth of benefit to a single day's effort."
Naofumi's eyes widened. This was the first he had heard of any of this, though he supposed it did make sense.
"If you want more of an incentive, I think I can provide it." Shirou said before getting up and going to his carriage, digging through the back, as if looking for something. Moments later, he came back with a vile of black ink and a leather back. "Here. This ink is something we got off of a group of black-market slavers we had to deal with a little while back. Try letting your shield absorb it."
Naofumi looked at the bit of ink, considering whether he should do it or not, before shrugging and putting it on the crystal in the center of his shield.
Requirement met: [Slave User's Shield Unlocked – Base Defense: 5 – Equip Bonus: Slave Growth Up (small) (unmastered)]
[Slave Growth Up (small) – Provides small bonus to stat gain with each level up.]
Holy shit! Depending on how big the numbers, this could be something insane! And since Raphtalia is still relatively low level, she can still receive the full benefit from it.
"That's an interesting expression. Let's see how you like this one." Shirou said, before handing over the bag.
Naofumi looked inside of the bag and saw that it contained some kind of red sand. He didn't even hesitate this time. He just poured the stuff onto his shield.
Requirement met: [Dragon's Era Sand Shield Unlocked – Base Defense: 1 – Unique Ability: Portal Shield]
"Portal! As in teleport!" Naofumi couldn't help but to say out loud. He glanced over the description and found that he would be able to teleport himself and a few teammates to a location he had already visited. Even with the hour cooldown, it was still incredibly useful. This was a late game mechanic that was just being suddenly handed to him by a guy he randomly met on the road. "How? How do you know so much about the Legendary Shield?"
"How indeed?" Shirou said with a cocky smile. "Take my kids leveling in a dungeon all day tomorrow, and I'll share with you everything I know. How does that sound?"
Naofumi hesitated. He didn't want to trust this guy, but he didn't see what choice he had. With the Spear and Bow Heroes being assholes, and the rightfully paranoid Sword guy fucking off to who knows where, Naofumi had no choice but to take any information he could get, no matter how suspiciously convenient the source.
Besides, even if he was being led into a trap, he could just teleport away.
"You'd better be ready with that information." Naofumi grumbled.
"Of course." Shirou said, holding up a plate full of meat skewers. "Seconds?"
…Well it was free.
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