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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 25
War is were old men talk and young men die.
These people disgusted him.
"Hahaha, so the mysterious Mercenary Saints of the Holy Bird was really the party of the illusive Rogue Hero. I tip my hat to you, Sword-sama. No one would have expected a Hakuko of being a pawn of the Melromarc Queen." An Elderly Representative Gemnu, or turtle subspecies of Demihumans, said with a laugh as he stroked his overly long beard. The man was supposable retired, though he was retired in that curious way of not really being retired at all. He just didn't officially have any position, so no one could take his position away from him, or try to blackmail or bribe him in regards to his career.
There were six representatives from Siltvelt, two of them were from the Gemnu clan, two were from the Shusaku clan, while the other two were from lesser clans. It seemed as though the Aotatsu were boycotting the meetings entirely. It was just as well. Whenever they passed by a member of the Aotatsu clan while in Siltvelt, Azu would freeze up a little.
"Mercenary Saints of the Holy Bird? Rogue Hero? What flattering nicknames people have been thinking up." Shirou said, not acknowledging the accusations that he was a pawn. "It is true that I have been rather illusive, but that was only out of necessity. Unlike the other three heroes, I recognized the 'adventurers' that the Cult of the Three Heroes attempted to arrange for us for what they were. Spies, each one meant to control the flow of information around us and make us easy to control. It was only with the help of the Queen's agents that I managed to slip away from them and gained the time to make my own judgments about this world, unhampered. She also advised that I visit Siltvelt in order to synchronize with their Hourglass before the wave it. I'm embarrassed to admit that I got sidetracked on the way there and was mere hours too late to get to the hourglass in time. But as luck would have it, I was mere minutes away from the center of the wave when it hit."
"I see. But if you were an agent of the Melromarc Queen all along, then why was it that you needed to take a job from a member of my Clan before you would go and assist the Shield Hero?" One of the Shusaku Clan members, the younger one, asked. Shirou was pretty sure this man was the one called Marcus, though his full name was a jumbled mess that Shirou couldn't bring himself to memorize. And when you consider how used memorize things a magus was, that is quiet the long and tedious name.
While the Shusaku Clan as a whole was supposed to be moderate on the topic of the Summoned heroes, Marcus was one of the extremists who believed that Siltvelt should go to war to rescue their Holy Hero.
"The plan had always been for me to return to Melromarc to assist the Shield Hero. Her Majesty had wanted me to do so as soon as word reached me about the plot against him. However, I convinced her that the Siltvelt Wave should take priority. Even if I was only in the right place by chance, if I hadn't been there, not only would have the entire town been wiped out, but by the time your army finally got into place, hundreds of thousands of monsters would have already spread throughout the surrounding area." Shirou easily lied again, implying that the Queen had placed the Shield Hero as the highest priority, while Shirou himself had placed the higher priority on the Waves. It also allowed him to remind everyone just how quickly a Wave could snowball out of control, without calling them out about not taking it seriously. "The truth is, I merely used David's proposal as an easy way of gaining access to Siltvelt's Hourglass without having to cause a political scene that might reach Melromarc's ears. The fact that the Sword Hero even knows of the existence of the other Hourglasses is supposed to be a secret. It also allowed me to Class Up my companions without having to use the Hourglass in Melromarc, as the Cult of the Three Heroes is monitoring it. I'd rather keep them from ever finding out any information about them."
"Sword-sama. We've heard rumors from those men of Siltvelt about your combat experts, and while they seem to have been embellished a little, tell us, what is your professional opinion on the Shield Hero." A demihuman with a lion-like mane of hair around his throat. He was the foreign relations adviser of Shildfrieden, and another worshiper of the Shield Hero. Though the man was less extreme than some.
"It is currently Siltvelt's time for questions. I would ask that the Shildfrieden diplomates refrain from interjecting until their turn has come." The Speaker said, giving the lion man a look.
"No, it is a good question. Please Sword-sama, what is your opinion on the matter of the Shield Hero?" The Gemnu man said with a smile, waving for Shirou to answer.
"Well, they probably won't embellish. While our levels aren't as high as they might have expected, the Legendary Holy Weapons aren't just for show. As for your question. The Shield Hero is not as experienced as I am with combat, however he seems to have a natural talent for using his shield. He's also an intelligent and hardworking individual, as well as a fast learner. The man has become paranoid and because of it acts as approachable as a rabid dog, but for some reason he still has a sort of charisma about him that I can't really explain. It causes my companions to feel as though they could trust him, regardless his personality quirks. His leveling was slow at first, but now that he has a means of attacking and a well-equipped partner, there shouldn't be any more trouble." Shirou said, thinking over his experience with Naofumi. "If you want to know how he is going to do in the Wave, assuming that the monsters of this next Wave won't be too much tougher than the ones I faced in Siltvelt, then he will be fine. I don't know if there will even be any monster there strong enough to touch him. His battle instincts are likely enough to keep him safe against most monsters. However, I am not so sure about how he would fair against more human opponents. Instinct can act as a trap and create vulnerabilities that a truly skilled fighter can take advantage of. His foot work in particular needs work, though I suppose being able to take an attack, rather than avoiding it, is what it means to be a Shield Hero."
"So your opinion is that his life is not in immediate danger and that he isn't currently hampered?" The Gemnu rep asked.
"That is correct." Shirou said with a nod.
"Good. Good. Now for my next question, could you please explain to me why you are here? From my understanding, you have done your utmost to hide yourself, so why have you revealed yourself to everyone here?" The turtle man asked Shirou, being remarkably blunt.
"I would think that would be obvious. While your political games and power struggles mean little to me, I have an invested interest in making sure a war does not happen, as it would hinder our efforts to properly deal with the Waves." Shirou explained, to the irritation of many at the gathering. "To such an end, Her Majesty has requested that I offer your countries my assistance in combating the Waves. I will agree to do so, on the condition that you give up your grievances until the Waves are dealt with. Otherwise, the best way for me to prevent you from going to war is to ignore your nation's Waves. Without heroes to assist in your defense, you won't have as many troops to spare on pointless wars. Even if the active Star Heroes spread out to defense all of your countries, they can't synchronize with the Hourglasses the way a Legendary Hero can. How many people do you think will die between when the Wave hits and when you can finally get word to them?"
"That is quite the ultimatum." The Turtle man nodded slowly. "But could we not simply go to the other three heroes?"
"The Bow and the Spear Heroes are constantly being fed miss information. If you attacked Melromarc in a way that looks unprovoked to them, they might very well man the lines against you. As for the Shield Hero, while he will be capable of defending himself and might even be able to handle a Wave Boss, if the circumstances are right, he lacks the area-of-effect abilities needed for dealing with the kinds of numbers that come during a Wave. That's if he even agrees to help you at all. He has no reason to trust any of you." Shirou reasoned, putting the cards on the table. "In the end, its either accept my proposal or deal with the fallout yourself. I have already proven that I can deal with a Wave quickly and effectively. The choice is yours. If you can call it a choice."
There were several unhappy faces from the surrounding politicians as Shirou proceeded to strong arm them, though the old turtle didn't seem terribly perturbed. "Tell me, Hero-sama, are you planning on keeping your involvement in fighting the Waves secret?"
"That is correct." Shirou said with a short nod.
"Well then, since you have already fought off one Wave and synchronized with our country's Hourglass, it would be wrong for us to pursue this matter any further at present. Even if those who were directly involved in broking international treaty will need to face proper justice eventually, we can expect Melromarc to deal with that matter themselves. I expect the Queen of Melromarc will keep us informed on all progress made, within reason of course." The old turtle said, earning some looks from his peers and a nod of assurance from the Queen, though none of them said anything. "The Representatives of Siltvelt pass the Sword Hero's questioning to the Merchant Princes of Zeltbull."
"Recognized. Merchant Princes, you have fifteen minutes for questioning." The Speaker announced with a nod towards a set of three men who were dressed like Italian mafiosos.
"Oh, I don't think we will need the whole fifteen minutes." A man who could only be described as a literal mustache twirling villain said in a high-pitched chuckle of a voice. "When evaluating a product, there are only three things that matter. Ease of use, effectiveness and price. He has already declared himself to be willing and explained how easy it is to use him. All you have to do is let him see your Hourglass and he takes care of the rest. As for effectiveness, he's already dealt with one Wave at Siltvelt. So the only remaining determinant is price. So Mercenary Saint-sama, how much will your services cost us?"
Shirou frowned. "You will agree to not pursue reconciliation from Melromarc until after the Waves of Calamity are over. That is the only price I demand. Beyond that, pay me whatever you feel like."
"Oh, so Saint-sama is willing to work for free than." The man laughed, and his brethren began to giggle as well. "Now that is much cheaper than how we had planned to deal with the Waves. I was actually worried about how much it would cost us to send all those gladiator slaves to fight it off for us."
Shirou froze at the man's words.
'Gladiator slaves?'
"For a man who claims to hate politics, he sure knows how to deal with politicians." Mirellia said with a sigh as she sat down in her chair. The foreign threat had been temporarily mitigated. Now she just had to retrain all her resources into dealing with the domestic one, preparing for the moment she would take down the entirety of the Cult of the Three Heroes in a single stroke. Everything had turned out better than she had hoped.
Originally, she had been resigned to the fact that she would have to negotiate with Faubley for the distribution of the Star Heroes as well as the support of their nation's army to discourage the other countries from attacking Melromarc. This would have required her to do something that made her sick to her stomach just thinking about, selling Malty's body to their pig of a king and allowing him to rape her to death.
Even after all the unforgivable crimes that Mirellia knew that Malty had committed, and the even longer list of crimes she had suspected the girl of committing, she didn't want that fate for her daughter. Even if Malty was far beyond redemption, death was preferable to being given to that… thing.
Now with nearly every nation pacified, by Emiya strong arming them into submission, such an extreme measure would be unnecessary. Mirellia had seen the disappointment on the Faubley man's face when he realized he wasn't going to be able to deliver his king's long-awaited plaything to him.
"Your Majesty, we may have a problem." One of the Queen's Shadows said as he entered the room through the secret passageway. "After the visit to Zeltbull's Hourglass, the Sword Hero disappeared."
"Is that so. I suppose it was bound to happen." Mirellia said with a sigh. "Now that the threat of war is over, he and his companions are probable off to further their training or visit the other nations within the agreed upon time limit." The Queen had more or less seen this coming. It was unfortunate that he didn't leave a way of remaining in contact, but he isn't exactly hard to find if you know what to look for.
"Your Majesty, he hasn't left the city. He left both the Holy Bird and the Dragon's Daughter with Princess Melty. He's somewhere in the city with the Two-Tailed Kitsune, we just don't know where or why he decided to hide himself from us." The Shadow reported.
"What? But why would he… Oh no." Mirellia thought as realization struck her. How did she not realize it sooner? She should have tried to prevent Emiya from ever visiting Zeltbull's capital at all costs!
Zeltbull was a nation with a powerful black market, one which nearly ran the country, as well as one that dealt heavily in slavery. In fact, nearly sixty percent of the capital's population was enslaved, more than half of them through what other countries would consider illegal channels. Emiya had already been reported to having freed nearly every slave he came across. He had even made the offer to the Shield Hero's slave, though the child for some reason had turned him down.
When a country that thrives on black market slavery meets a Saint Hero who has displayed a distaste for slavery in general… Emiya might soon tear the entire country to pieces, along with any chance of peace between nations.
"We need to find him at once!" Mirellia shouted at the Shadow, who didn't move.
"Your Majesty, even if we by some miracle did find him… how do you suggest we stop him?" The Shadow asked, carefully choosing his words.
The Queen's mouth opened, but no words came out. True enough, they wouldn't be able to do anything without causing a scene that would undermine their image of being somewhat in control of the Rogue Hero.
"Do everything you can to distract Zeltbull's assassins. Maybe we can somehow get whatever is about to happen to go unnoticed." The Queen ordered, and this time the Shadow immediately moved to obey.
Rogue Hero. The young man sure did live up to the name.
While being alone with Shirou was awkward for Rita after the events of the previous night, it was at least a break from dealing with Firo.
The young bird had immediately sensed that something had changed in Rita and had been pestering her none stop to try to find out what had happened. Nothing she said could deter the girl, as she seemed to immediately see through any lie told to her. Rita didn't have the heart to tell her that someday, Shirou would leave them. Wasn't like Shirou's response was any better. He just didn't say anything until Firo started to get depressed as well.
Rita kempt trying to tell herself that her Sensei's leaving was an event for the distant future. The Hero of the Sword can't leave, so long as the Waves of Calamity continued. The Waves would likely last another year at the very least, possibly as many as three years. But even with a long time ahead of them, the knowledge that the day would come weighed heavy on Rita's heart, along with the guilt of having said something so cruel to her Sensei.
Something seemed to have broken inside of Shirou after their talk the night before. He had put on a face when dealing with the World Leaders, but after it was over all the life seemed to drain back out of him.
"So, they really do have them." Shirou said, his voice the same miserable tone it had been since she had basically forced him to recount the Holy Grail War. Rita looked up to see one of the famous Colosseums that Zeltbull was famous for. The loud roar of a crowd echoing from within.
Sensei hadn't told her where they were going. While they were at the Hourglass, he suddenly teleported them both away and then told Rita to disguise herself completely, avoiding the line of spies the various nations had following them. At least, Rita assumed the spies were there. Unlike her Sensei, she couldn't pick them out of the crowd.
Rita had used the Shadow's disguise belt to hide her demihuman features, as well as shorten her hair and turn it green. She also changed her clothes from a dress to a more tomboy appearance that wouldn't draw attention. She could have also changed her visible height too, but that took more focus to maintain.
Shirou had also changed, using his 'reinforcement' magic on his own hair, he increased the effectiveness of the pigment until the red and white both turned to shades of black and grey. He had changed his clothes from the iconic red and black light armor to a leather armor top and worn-down pants, copied from a passing mercenary, with a bandanna around his head. Jian, once again, hid herself away as a simple belt, with an unseen and flexible blade within the leather. His new attire seemed to more closely match his depressing mood.
"I need to see this for myself." Shirou said, heading into the intimidating building. Rita paused for a second before heading in after him.
What had happened to her Sensei?
"It's worse than I suspected." Shirou said as he watched the fighting, if it could be called that.
"This…" Rita's mumbling was drowned out by the shouts and cheers of the people around her as two men fought to the death for their amusement. The girl had seen death before, she had even seen Shirou kill a group of slavers. But this. This was different.
The girl turned pale as a ghost and nearly lost his disguise when one of the two men stabbed the other in an artery, sending out a torrent of blood.
"First time at the arenas, little lady?" A man smelling of alcohol asked Rita, seeing her reaction. "Ah, you picked the wrong time of day to get your feet wet. The mercenary battles be the deathless ones, usually. But whenever two slaves are set up in the pit, somebody's going to die."
"Slaves?" Rita said, shocked.
"Aye, lots of gladiators be slaves. They are cheap, easy to get to fight, and easy to replace. While you might be a bit squeamish, blood brings in the crowds. This colosseum, why it has a round twenty thousand deaths a year, not including the captured monsters." The man said, lifting a glass to his mouth.
Rita's eyes widened and Shirou could almost see the girl's mind spinning. Twenty thousand people died in this place every year? How could that be possible? That was like sacrificing an entire large town every year, and this was only one colosseum. Zeltbull had three such places.
'And you have just promised to defend such a place.' Archer's voice played in the back of Shirou's mind. 'Don't act as though this is a surprise. You know better than anyone human nature, how they hunger for the thrill of violence. Honestly, you should just let the Wave consume this country. Why should you bother to protect such a place?'
Shirou couldn't even argue. This country was filled with scum. It was a like disease. The world would be better off without it.
Then again, the rest of the world was little better. In Melromarc, the knights had ignored their own people during a Wave. In Siltvelt, they had ordered the slaves to die for them, without caring at all. Hatred, bigotry, corruption, it festered within this world. And Shirou was expected to save it?
Why? Why should he even bother? If all that is required for the Waves of Calamity to come to an end is for enough people to die, then the fastest way for him to get back to the ones he loved would be to just sit back and watch as the world burned around him. For them all to dead for their own stupidity. There was no reason for why he should fight.
This world was simply not worth fighting for.
"Girly, you might want to leave now." The drunkard said as a fat man in a black suit came out in front of the crowd. "If you can't stomach death, then you don't want to be here for this."
"Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you have been enjoying yourselves so far because it is time for tonight's main attractions, yes. Before we switch over to our monster fights, we have one more special event, the Griffin Run!" The man shouted. A stone trap door opened in the center of the room and two massive griffins slowly rose up on a platform from below. The creatures gave ear splitting screams as they struggled with chains around their necks that held them to a large pedestal in the center of the platform. The doors along the outside of the walls opened and what looked to be a hundred gladiators entered the arena, all of them without weapons or armor. Without the layers of clothing, the slave seals were easy to spot. "For those of you who don't know, the rules are simple, yes. Once these two griffins are realized our gladiators will have to survive for five whole minutes without weapons or armor. You, the audience my bet on who will live and who will die, yes indeed."
"What!?" Rita shouted, not that anyone even five feet away.
"Yep. More than half of those people down there are probably going to die today, and some more are going to lose their limbs and die later. Shame, some familiar faces among them." The man said with a sad shake of his head. "I was once a gladiator too. They give you the chance to win your freedom. Win enough fight, get a little money for each one and you might be able to buy your way out. Motivates the slaves and postpones their suicides. Though only one in every ten thousand live that long."
Shirou could hear it in the man's voice, the self-loathing. How many had this man killed in order to gain his own freedom? The fact that he would return and watch other suffering the same fate was a sure sign of masochism.
"There's a child down there!" Rita shouted. Shirou followed her gaze and saw a small boy, only around twelve-year-old with white hair with black strips in it. It was his first time seeing a real one, but he could tell that the boy was a Hakuko.
"Damn, not him too. That would be Fohl. He's a bit of a crowd favorite. He's been fighting for the last year now." The man said with a sympathetic face. "While the other gladiators are trying to win their freedom, Fohl's deal is a bit different. So long as he keeps winning his fights, the colosseum owners keep getting him medicine for his terminally ill little sister."
Shirou stiffened at the man's words.
"How do you know that?" He asked the drunkard.
"Because they tell everyone. Stories like that draw in the crowd." The man replied in disgust.
Shirou stared at the boy, his enhanced eyes letting him see every single line of determination on the boy's face. He didn't care for his own life. He just wished to save his sister. Just like Shirou had wished to save Illya.
But why should Shirou care. It had nothing to do with…
NO! That wasn't right! None of this was right! Just because it didn't have anything to do with him doesn't mean that he shouldn't help! These people didn't deserve to die! He had the power to help! He WOULD HELP!
He had been running. Ever since he had come to the world he had been running from the thoughts of the people back home, of the family he was letting down. He had tried to focus entirely on the world he was in, on the children he had taken under his wing. Then Rita made him realize that when it was all over, he would have to make a choice, and rather than facing that choice, he had ran away again. Tried to deny that the world around him even existed.
This was not him. Emiya Shirou was many things, but an apathetic coward was not one of them. He was a man who was stubborn as a mule, made his decisions and stuck to them even as reality itself tried to stop him. If the world would not let him have what he wanted, he wouldn't run away. He would bash his thick head into that wall as many times as he needed to and see which one broke first.
"As always, volunteers from the audience can join if they wish, yes! However, these two monsters are no ordinary griffins! A life in the colosseum and a diet of unfortunate gladiators has seen them grow! They are each level 93 super-monsters! YES IN~DEED!" The showman said throwing up his arms. "So, do we have any volunteers!"
""I volunteer!"" Both Shirou and the old drunkard shouted, their voices managing to cut through the crowd.
The two blinked and looked at each other as the volume around them once again increased.
"Young man, if you want to kill yourself, there are cleaner ways of doing it." The former gladiator said.
"I have no intention of dying." Shirou replied, reaching down to his belt and pulling out a large bag of coins, which he then handed to Rita with a small smile. "Rita, I want you to place a bet for me. Bet that no one will die today."
"…Yes Sensei." The girl said with a bit of wonder in her eyes as both Shirou and the drunk moved down towards the arena.
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