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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 20
Shirou had given Raphtalia a new short sword, and Rita had spent hours into the night helping to teach Raphtalia how to wield it properly.
By Shirou's standards, the blade was nothing amazing. Just a normal masterwork piece created using a chunk of meteorite, with not special enchantments to it. But, like all meteorite-based weapons, it would act as the natural enemy to most phantasmal beings. Once reinforced to its fullest, it would easily allow the child to cut down a Monster twenty levels over her.
It was actually amusing, watching Naofumi's expression as they trained. Like a worried but proud mother watching her child taking their first steps will threating over whether or not they would fall and hurt themselves.
They all camped in the forest, Shirou providing the excuse that it was difficult to find inns in Melromarc cities that would give rooms to Demihumans. Naofumi had no idea whether he was speaking the truth or not. Apparently, he had been sleeping outside for days, in order to save money. Only a single inn in town let him enter but that was because he was the Shield Hero.
Then, the next morning, Shirou saw them off, after packing them all lunches for the trip. He watched as they all loaded themselves into the carriage and went sprinting along. "How does someone with such unnatural charisma end up in so much shit?" Shirou wondered after they were gone.
Firo and Azu had both immediately taken a liking to Naofumi, even more than they did with Raphtalia. And when Shirou spoke with Rita alone, she grudgingly admitted that even though Naofumi was using a slave, that she felt like he could be trusted as well, though she knew that it was illogical.
The Shield Hero had been nothing like the way he had been before. His level of paranoid had surpassed even that of a Magus. Shirou had been forced to take on Archer's personality just to get through to the guy, as he didn't trust anyone who was being even slightly nice to him. Only the 'you are only alive because it is convenient for me' act would set the man at ease. As backward as that seemed.
The guy was twitchy, and everything about his body language and manners was meant to ward people off. But even though he was as huggable as a cactus plant, the girls still didn't have much of a problem with him or his behavior.
It was weird.
"Well, I'll figure it out later." Shirou said, stretching his arms above his head. "Looks like its just you and me now!"
Then, moving as fast as his speed stats would allow, Shirou dashed toward a nearby tree, summoned up an ax/sword, and slashed the tree's base, causing it to fall. As it fell, something jumped out of the branches and started to speed away, Shirou giving pursuit.
It was one of the Shadows, this world's equivalent of ninja. The person was dressed from head to toe in a black robe, preventing Shirou from seeing any exposed skin while their back was turned to him. On their belt was a very interesting magic tool that could be used to blend into their surrounds while in the forest or change their appearance in order to mingle with a crowd.
Finding that it couldn't outrun him, the Shadow turned, trying to fight. Or at least pretending too as they reach for there flash bomb. "[Shadow Binding]." Shirou said as Jian took on the form of four separate Blade Knife and was thrown at the Shadow with enough force to pop the sound barrier. The Shadow's body froze as the knife barely missed it and dug themselves into their shadow. They didn't even so much as twitch. "Level 73, not bad." Shirou said, as he glanced at the ninja's dagger. It was the highest-level humanoid that Shirou had confirmed so far. Though their strength and speed still didn't match Firo's. "Tell me, who are you working for and why are you spying on the Shield Hero?"
The Shadow didn't respond.
"I see. Not going to talk. Well, you're luck I'm not the torture time." Shirou said before reaching out a hand and tracing a sword. The blade wasn't attached to a hilt, but rather a strange black orb that glowed with magical power, which hovered above Shirou's open palm. The Shadow tensed and Jian gave Shirou a prodding inside of his head, warning him not to use another weapon besides her. "Don't worry. I don't plan on cutting anyone with this tool." Shirou said, more to Jian than the ninja.
He pointed the blade at the ninja's neck. "Freagróidh tú." As the spell took effect, Shirou allowed Jian's Black Keys to disappear. They weren't needed anymore. "Now let's try this again. Who do you work for, and why are you spying on the Shield Hero?"
"I work for the Queen of Melromarc, degojaru. Her royal highness charged me with watching over the Shield Hero to make sure that no more harm comes to him, and to report false information to the King to prevent him from taking further act against the Shield Hero, degojaru." The Shadow said, before stiffening. "How?"
"You seem surprised. Why?" Shirou asked.
"We Shadows have seals placed on us so that we cannot divulge such information, degojaru… I shouldn't have been able to say that either, degojaru." The Shadow said before swallowing.
Fragarach, or the Answerer, was a very interesting sword, one wielded by those of the Fraga bloodline as a Noble Phantasm. However, even the Fraga couldn't use all of its tricks. In their hands it had been lowered from a Divine Construct down to a mere D-rank Noble Phantasm, which could preform on the level of an A-rank under the absolute best conditions. Still a powerful enough weapon to make the family feared across the globe, but weak compared to its original power.
The most useful of these lost abilities was the reason for why it gained the name, the Answerer, as it bound anyone who was caught at the edge of its blade and forced them to answer any question asked, regardless of the target's will or what magics might bind them to do otherwise. They couldn't even get away with only telling half-truths or vague answers. It was the means in which the God of the Sea and Underworld, Manannan Mac Lir, forced the people whose souls he was judging to tell the truth about their lives. No one could deceive it, not even other gods.
Before coming to this world, tracing such a weapon's full powers would have been difficult, but in a World that didn't give two shits about his magecraft and with the massive boost to his Od, he could trace of dozen such weapons before overexerting himself.
"I see, so you are supposed to die, rather than talk?" Shirou said, making sure to add inflections to make the statement a question.
"The opposite, degojaru. Since torture would be pointless until the seal is removed, it buys time for the Shadow to escape or be rescued, degojaru. Our Queen values our service and loyalty over our secrecy, degojaru. Otherwise she would have merely used a seal to kill us if we are captured, degojaru." The Shadow said miserably. "Forgive me, degojaru." That was probably meant for the Queen and not Shirou.
"So. Is the Shield Hero guilty of rape?" Shirou asked the Shadow.
"No. The First Princess is a liar and dangerous, degojaru. The Queen has known this for years, however, as the First Princess is part of the royal family, she could not do anything without harming Melromarc's reputation, degojaru. This is why the Second Princess is the heir to the throne and has never been allowed near either her sister or her father, degojaru." The Shadow helpfully provided.
"I see." Shirou said. He hadn't known that it was a Princess who brought up the allegations of rape against Naofumi. He had been told that it was just an adventurer. If it was the Princess pretending to be an adventurer, this just opened up a whole new set of questions. "For what reason did the Princess accuse the Shield of rape?"
"The First Princess wants the throne, degojaru. She is trying to use a Heretical Church which has deep roots in this country, the Church of the Three Heroes, in an attempt to seize control, degojaru. She also used it to appear weak and defenseless in a rues to seduce the Spear Hero, degojaru." The Shadow informed Shirou.
Religious extremists and royal bastards making a powerplay during an end of the world scenario. Fucking typical.
"So this is a coup of some kind. What is the King's involvement in this? Does he support the Princess's coup?" Shirou asked, wanting to know just how deep the corruption goes.
"Not exactly, degojaru. The King has been wrapped around his eldest daughter's finger for years, but the man is oblivious to the girl's true motives, degojaru. He just personally hates the Shield Hero due to the Shield's significance to Demihumans, degojaru. He might even actually believe her about the rape, degojaru. The King no longer has any of the wisdom or power he once held, degojaru." The Shadow swallowed hard again. "I REALLY wasn't supposed to have said that, degojaru."
"You weren't supposed to say that, huh? Is Melromarc trying to keep the state of their King under wraps?" Shirou asked.
"That is correct, degojaru. As a former Star Hero of the Cane, his reputation helps defend the kingdom… I was not supposed to say former either, degojaru." The Shadow was almost crying at this point. "Please stop, degojaru."
"Just two more questions. What is the Queen planning on doing about all of this?" Shirou asked, feeling kind of sorry for the poor guy… girl… person? Even their weapon history didn't tell Shirou what gender they were, nor was a name given. He could ask, forcing them to say under a magic binding would feel kind of wrong.
"The Queen wishes to use this opportunity to lure out the scum of our nation in order to purge the Church of the Three Heroes once and for all, degojaru. She is just waiting for the best moment, degojaru. This is the only reason the other nations have yet to declare war on Melromarc over the treatment of the Shield Hero, because the Queen has them believing it is part of an elaborate scheme to get rid of the religious extremist who have so long pushed the idea of human supremacy, degojaru." The Shadow said, their voice going hollow. "You cannot tell anyone, degojaru! If word gets out and the Queen's plan fails, then not only is Melromarc doomed, but it will drag the rest of the world down with it, degojaru!"
"You're probably right about that one." Shirou said with a sigh. "I'll keep my lips sealed. You don't need to worry. Now for my final question. Where are the other three heroes?"
The Shadow practically gave a sigh of relief. Probably thinking that there were far worse questions that Shirou could have asked. "The Spear and Bow Heroes have headed south, into Zeltoble, where all the best equipment in the world is made, degojaru. They appear to be trying to outfit themselves with the best gear they can buy with the money they got from the King, degojaru. Though considering the price of said gear, the few hundred silvers they received won't go terribly far, degojaru."
So, they were going to Zeltoble. They were probably planning on copying the various weapons without telling the shop keepers what they are doing. Not that Shirou was judging. He did the same thing just by walking by the store window, whether he wanted to or not.
"As for the Sword Hero, he vanished without a trace right after leaving the Castle, degojaru. He even managed to elude the Shadows that the Church of the Three Heroes had employed to follow and guard him, degojaru." The Shadow informed him.
Those were the Church's Shadows? Good to know. If he could track them down, he could get a nice pair of magical disguise belts.
"However, the Church of the Four Saints detected the Sword Hero using a vast amount of his holy power in Siltvelt, during the Wave of Calamity, degojaru. However, by the time Siltvelt forces arrived on the scene, he had already moved on and became untraceable again, degojaru. This fact is currently being withheld from the people of Melromarc, degojaru." The Shadow finished her report before mumbling. "I wasn't supposed to say that either, degojaru."
…Shit. So the Legendary Weapons have a unique energy signature, probably released whenever they use up large amounts of SP at once.
Shirou dismissed his interrogation tool, letting the Shadow fall to their knees. "That wasn't fair at all, DEGOJARU!" The Shadow actually started to cry. "My Queen, please forgive this Shadow who couldn't keep your secrets, degojaru." Then the Shadow started to draw her knife.
"Wow, hold on now!" Shirou shouted, grabbing the person's arm before they could thrust the dagger into themselves.
"Don't stop me, degojaru! This Shadow has disgraced itself and needs to die, degojaru!" The Shadow cried, their voice showing more of a female quality to it.
"Think about it! Who's going to report all this to the Queen if you die here like this!" She said, trying to reason with the Shadow. The Shadow stopped struggling and nodded silently. Shirou let go and they wilted to the ground, still whimpering.
"I was hired by someone to help the Shield Hero recover from what happened. Once I am done, my next destination will be Zeltoble." Shirou said with an apologetic look. The Shadow looked like a kicked puppy. "Tell your Queen that if she wants to hire a mercenary, I might be available. Though I don't do assassinations, I'm pretty open minded about other things." Shirou then turned and started to walk away into the shadows of the trees. "Take care of yourself, Shadow."
He then hid Jian from sight as she took on the shade of Carnwennan, the dagger Artoria had used to strike down the Black Hag. Normally its level requirement would have been too high, but by using Alteration to remove the [barrier cutting] property from it, Shirou degraded the weapon down to the point where it only had a level requirement of 47.
His experiments with lowering level requirements was met with success, but the degraded forms were so bad that he might as well have just been using a none degraded weapon at the same level. He also couldn't duplicate equip weapon bonuses, as whatever bonuses the degraded version gave would be taken out of the higher quality version. Still, it let him use things with helpful passive effects, such as Carnwennan.
Shirou activated its [Presence Concealment] effect and the shadows around him quickly hid his form from sight, making it look like he had been swallowed by the darkness and made to disappear.
"What… where… how…!?" The Shadow mumbled in shock before tilting up its head and shouting. "I hate you! You… You jerk! Degojaru!"
[Level Up: Lv 25]
Naofumi's level had more than tripled in just two hours of wondering around the dungeon. He was feeling the full effects of being carried hard in the backpacks of higher-level players. It was almost enough to make the guy laugh.
The dragon woman and the bird child were casually brushed aside the various monsters with powerful spells and physical strikes, sometimes before the things could even recognize what was going on. Meanwhile the fox girl, Rita, had taken Raphtalia aside and was assisting the girl in killing the monsters herself, by drawing the attention of the creatures and crippling them with strikes to their joints before letting Raphtalia get the kill. Giving the younger girl words of encouragement and advice as they went along.
The only thing Naofumi had to do was walk around behind them, dismantling and absorbing the slain monsters.
In that manner, two hours went by and the high-level girls didn't seem to tire one bit. The only one who needed breaks was Raphtalia, the others just got kind of bored, saying that the monsters weren't strong enough. However, when the young girl did need a break, she was forced to take it, with Rita telling her that 'exhaustion is the enemy' and that 'a warrior needs to know their limits and rest whenever they have the opportunity'. Apparently, she learned it all from that Shirou guy, who she called Sensei. Guy sounded like a serious Spartan, convinced that every aspect of life is like fighting an enemy.
Naofumi might have been paranoid enough to see enemies and liars in just about everyone he met, but he could honestly say he had never considered a lack of appropriate clothing to be an enemy.
"Rita-nee-chan, we're out of monsters." The bird, Firo reported after they cleared out what they believed to be the last tunnel.
"Already? I thought there would be more." Rita said. Naofumi only looked around at all the bodies. They had killed somewhere in the seven or eight hundreds. Just how many monsters had they been expecting? "I suppose they were a bit stronger than what we usually deal with, but this was only around twice as many monsters as we normally see every day just by traveling on the roads."
…WHAT THE HELL!? What kind of psychotic roads do this people take!?
"Shirou-sama attracts monsters." The dragon woman said. "Shirou-sama's magic rejects the World. The disruption that causes alerts monsters. No Shirou-sama. Less monsters."
"Really? I always thought we ran into an awful lot of monsters, but I didn't realize it was because of Sensei." Rita said thoughtfully.
So, Shirou was some kind of extremely powerful mage who causing monsters to act up? Having felt the man's presence the previous night, Naofumi could actually believe that.
"Well, Master is also just really lucky with those kinds of things." Firo said happily.
That's lucky!? …Actually, Naofumi supposed that it kind of was, if you were only concerned about the EXP.
"There are still a few more hours to go before we are supposed to meet back with Sensei." Rita said. "I guess, if there are no more monsters here, we will just have to leave and find more somewhere else."
"Sounds good. Just let me finish absorbing this lizard thing and we'll get out of this dungeon." Naofumi said as he carefully cut away the skin and removed the bones, absorbing them into his Shield.
Requirement met: [Blue Dungeon Lizard Shield Unlocked – Base Defense: 6 – Equip Bonus: Defense +3 (unmastered)]
Requirement met: [Blue Dungeon Lizard Leather Shield Unlocked – Base Defense: 5 – Equip Bonus: Dexterity +2 (unmastered)]
Requirement met: [Blue Dungeon Lizard Fang Shield Unlocked – Base Defense: 4 – Equip Bonus: Speed +2 (unmastered)]
Requirement met: [Blue Dungeon Lizard Bones Shield Unlocked – Base Defense: 5 – Equip Bonus: Defense +2 (unmastered)]
Requirement met: [Blue Dungeon Lizard Meat Shield Unlocked – Base Defense: 3 – Equip Bonus: Cooking +2 (unmastered)]
He had unlocked one hundred different weapon forms from the monsters in the dungeons, and there were enough repeats for him to have already mastered half of them. Quite a few of the new Shields involved stat bonuses, however, there still won't any to increase his attack damage, and all of them still had a base attack power of zero.
He had made more progress in that single day than he had made in the last 16 days, since he had first been summoned, but he still had no way of dealing damage.
They retraced their steps and left the dungeon, carrying the extra pelts that Naofumi didn't need to absorb. He'd sell them off later.
The dungeon wouldn't be empty for long. Apparently dungeons were places where monsters just grew out of the walls like mildew, but the fact that they had basically exterminated it in a couple hours was still weird.
The others were cheerful all the way until they got outside. That was when the bird gave a scream of horror. "What are you doing to Firo's carriage!"
The guards who had been standing in front of the dungeon when they first went in looked up in surprise from their trip of digging through the mercenary's stuff. "What, they are alive?" The guard said in surprise. Naofumi's eye twitched. He didn't enjoy being killed off.
"Get away from Firo's carriage!" The angel winged girl screeched. In a moment she had expanded into her gigantic bird form and rushed the guards.
Naofumi couldn't help but to laugh as each and every one of the guards received a kick between the legs that was strong enough to knock them several feet into the air. The sight of the bastards that had been sneering at him down on the ground, clutching their ruined manhood, had made Naofumi's day.
"I've never seen Naofumi-sama so happy." Raphtalia said, smiling herself as she watched her master.
Damn straight he was happy. Today had been a good day.
Guard duty at the front gate was always tough. You had to stand at attention for hours, checking everyone who comes through, getting glared at by nobles for the inconvenience and having shit thrown at you by kids. It was a real drag. At least it was still early in the day and had yet to get really hot.
Normally, nothing of real interest even happened. But that day, the guards at the front gate all tensed as a man with short red and white hair walked up towards them, dressed in bronze and gold scale-armor barring the likeness of a griffin on the front. On the man's back was a claymore style sword on his back, with a wing like pattern for the guard and the head of an eagle on its pummel.
"Halt." A guard said, bringing up his spear. Though the man paled when the stranger drew his sword, which morphed in front of their eyes into a beautiful white and golden sword with a large blue stone in its hilt.
The Legendary Holy Sword.
"Tell his Highness that the Sword Hero is here and requests a meeting with him at once." The Hero of the Sword said in a commanding voice. "With the Wave coming, time is precious, I can't afford to waste it."
"Of… of course, Hero-sama!" The guard shouted, dropping his spear before running full speed into the castle in order to get someone of the appropriate rank to deal with this.
People nearby pointed and whispered, and somewhere in the crowd, an informant ran off to tell the Church of the missing hero's sudden return.
Shirou smiled. The bait had been set.
Shirou is starting to get into the RPG spirit. (Western RPGs at least.)
"My enemies have ninjas with magical disguise belts? ...I want."
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