With this, they both parted ways. Shirou ran towards Mystile, being tempted multiple times to use the time manipulation magecraft to get to his destination quickly, and he woulddo it if it were not because, every time he used it, he ended up suffering the rebound. He arrived at the main building of the Tower. He did not care about the multiple looks theywere giving him, full of emotions from hatred to astonishment, and headed towards the Queen's office.
"Excuse me, I'm..."
"Emiya Shirou. The Queen is waiting for you, enter quickly," said the secretary.
Shirou nodded, "Thank you."
The redhead entered the office and really couldn't believe his eyes: The size of the room had increased with the use of magecraft, and it was filled with bookshelves, artifacts he couldn't understand, and expensive furniture. In the background, behind an elegant desk, was the deputy director of the Tower. She was wearing an outfit similar to the one she was wearing when he first saw her.
"Emiya."
"Lord Barthomeloi."
She narrowed her eyes, analyzing him, and for a moment, her gaze lingered on Caliburn, "Is that the sword you used to wound the Princess of the Eclipse?"
The redhead nodded.
"Show me it."
Shirou unsheathed it and showed it to her, hiding the side of the sheet that contained the scriptures.
"Hmm... what's the sword's name?"
"That is a secret, Lord."
She looked at him like an eagle looks at a mouse, "You know it's up to me if the Emiya crest is returned to you, right?"
He nodded, "I know, but magi have to protect their mysteries. Otherwise, they lose their value. Don't you think so too, Lord Barthomeloi?"
"Hmm…" Lorelei crossed her arms, "at least you think like a true magus, unlike your father's heretic."
"Due to my limitations, I will never be a decent magus, but I do what I can."
She nodded, "As you may know, a meeting was held a few days ago to decide various matters. Among these was whether we will return Emiya's Crest to you."
"Yes, I know."
"Surprisingly, there were several Lords in your favor: Lady Valualeta, Lord Trambellio, and, surprisingly, Lord El-Melloi. Although, of course, there were also Lords against you, like Lord Sophia-Ri, who accused your father of being a heretic."
Shirou nodded, "I expected it. My father killed his daughter, as I understand it."
She nodded, "Although she died in the middle of a pre-arranged war between magi, he shouldn't have the right to complain. Although, if I were you, I'd be careful," as she spoke, she also sorted out some documents, "of course, some Lords refrained from voting for or against."
"Considering you called me here, rather than just sending someone, may I assume you have the final vote, Lord?"
The Queen smiled, "Of course, my decisions can only be countered if the other two factions act together."
"So, what is your verdict?"
"Half of the crest," she said as she finished organizing the documents, then stared at him, "thanks to your grandfather, Emiya's crest is very dangerous. So you will receive half of it now, and depending on your achievements, and if you meet my expectations, maybe you'll get the other half when the year is over."
"I greatly appreciate your vote in favor," he said, leaning down.
"You are an interesting experiment, Emiya..."
"Experiment?"
"Although your grandfather was a genius and received a Sealing Designation to honor him, we both know what he really was. Your father, on the other hand, is directly a heretic. So, through you, I am testing whether a family of heretics can become a decent family as long as they have the right heir," Lorelei smiled, "I am the head of the Policy Department, for me, this is an interesting experiment. Don't let me down, Emiya. The day after tomorrow, in the afternoon, you will be able to recover half of the crest."
"I understand. Thank you very much, Lord Barthomeloi," he said, bowing once more.
"Now, you can retreat."
The redhead nodded and proceeded to leave her office, he walked through the corridors, and again, the boy ignored the stares, along with the whispers, and proceeded to leave until he reached the outer part of the main Tower facilities.
Walking through the streets of the university city, there he saw her.
Luvia
He thought as he watched the Edelfelt heiress head toward a limousine. He thought about getting her attention, but he knew she was likely to ignore him. So he walked quickly towards the girl, trying to make as little noise as possible. Her butler saw him, but the boy begged him with his eyes to let him reach her.
The butler seemed to understand what he was begging for, and, fortunately, he was understanding enough not to inform the girl.
He held her hand.
"Hmm?" the girl exclaimed when she felt that someone had grabbed her hand. She turned, and, seeing who the person was holding her, she narrowed her eyes at him, "Emiya, please let go of my hand."
Seeing her harsh tone of voice, as well as her way of calling him Emiya instead of Shero, he could easily see that what he had believed turned out to be true.
"Forgive me, Lady Edelfelt," the boy said, withdrawing his hand.
"I have nothing to talk to you about, Emiya."
"I understand... But I do have something I need to tell you, Lady Edelfelt."
She looked at him confused, "If you're talking about how you hid your lineage, I have nothing to say about it except that it was a good move."
"I am flattered, my Lady, but I hope that what I am about to propose seems like a better move."
"What do you mean?" she said, being cautious.
"I propose an alliance, Lady Edelfelt."
"Excuse me?" she was surprised and confused.
He tried to explain to her, "I know that our families have had friction in the past due to our mutual field of work. But, after knowing her for a year, I have decided to end this, so I propose an alliance."
She stared at him, "That are great statements, but are exactly just that, mere words, Muramasa."
"I never lied to you about my lineage, Lady Edelfelt. I just couldn't reveal my other lineage back then. Since, unlike you, I did not have the capabilities to protect myself if someone tried to assassinate me."
She narrowed her eyes, "Rumors about your performance at Aylesbury say otherwise."
"You overestimate me. Rumors always exaggerate things, my father was by my side, and I barely got out of that hell alive. I was lucky and was only able to achieve everything I did thanks to, in part, to the year I studied alongside you and the others," to demonstrate his intentions, he even went further, "and if you still doubt my intentions, I'm willing to sign a Geis."
"A Geis?" Luvia thought about it for a few moments. Finally, she sighed when she saw the boy's determined look, "Well since you seem to want to be serious about this, I am willing to negotiate and give you a chance. I will inform you of the date when we will meet to discuss the clauses later." Before retiring, she said goodbye, "See you tomorrow, Muramasa."
He smiled slightly, "It will be a long time before you can call me Shero one more time, won't it?"
Before closing the door of her limousine, Luvia replied, with a slight and fleeting smile, "Do your best."
With that said, she departed.
"Well, that turned out better than you expected," his ancestor spoke to him.
The redhead nodded, "I have to thank Rin... again..."
His ancestor laughed, "If you keep piling up debt, then you will end up becoming her butler or something."
"I'd rather not think about what she would make me do if that's the case," Shirou sighed.
"Are you tired?"
He nodded, "I've lived here for a year and still can't get used to this whole thing about the different Lords or the manners I have to maintain. And all these kinds of things..."
"I understand. I moved to a remote area of Ise because of that. And, in the end, I ended my life living on a mountain quietly."
"Sounds good."
With that said, the two smiths set off back to their bedroom. And, what they found there, although, in a way they expected it, they did not expect it to be so soon.
"Fou, I'm here."
"It took you quite a while, you know?" there, sitting on one of his furniture, was the Princess of the Eclipse, along with Fou on her lap.
"A-Altrouge? Did you really come?"
She looked at him like he was saying incongruities, "I told you that I would help you, didn't I? How will I do it if I'm not by your side?"
"B-But how did you come here? The barriers? The bounded fields!? How did you manage to sneak around and get through all that without making a fuss!?"
She cracked a smile, "I repeat myself. I told you, didn't I? I just had to talk to old Kaleido."
This surprised Shirou, "Kaleidoscope? How did you convince him? No, more importantly, how is Barthomeloi not trying to cut off your head or something?"
"Don't you see something different, Shirou?"
"Yes, of course, you've changed quite a bit, haven't you?" the reason why Shirou was so surprised was not only because she had appeared out of nowhere, but also because she had changed her appearance. She seemed much older than he had known her, in fact, maybe a little older than he. Her change in appearance was big enough that he doubted if she was the same person he had met, and in his eyes, she had become much more beautiful, she was a high-class beauty.
She smiled mischievously, "Well, how do I look? Or has my beauty left you speechless?"
For a moment, he was speechless, what should he say? Should he tell her that she looked beautiful, and attractive, or just that she looked good? He couldn't make up his mind, so in the end, lest his mind short-circuits, he simply said, "You look amazing, but…that dress…Might make you easy to recognize."
She smiled, "Jackpot. It's not the best compliment, but I'll give you one point. I changed my appearance to avoid being recognized, although I kept the base intact, I've never liked to change it that much. As for the dress, everyone here thinks we're still in the victorian era, so actually, I think you look more out of place than I do in your current clothes."
"I-I guess, you really like that phrase, don't you?"
Altrouge nodded, "I've heard it a lot from Enhance."
"Another of the 27?"
"Yep, although he may be demoted soon, there are rumors that he is hunting down other dead apostles. He is a dead apostle with white hair, and he is quite young in appearance, also he has a large sword with a skull and a pistol, and he wears a red coat. He's quite fun to be around compared to the others."
The apprentice magus nodded, "I see, but you haven't told me yet: How did you get here?"
"Well, they can't easily identify me, they're not able to perceive me like they do the other dead apostles, thanks to the other half of me, it's like when you tried to smell me. And, besides, the only thing known about me in recent decades is that I had the appearance of a 14-year-old girl, which, with my change in appearance, doesn't matter anymore, "Altrouge took her dress and turned around to show the boy her new style.
"Can you change your appearance at will?" the curious boy asked.
She shook her head, "Not, unlike the other apostles, I cannot recreate my body at will. But, as long as I keep the base of my appearance, I can modify it at will," seeing that they had strayed from the topic, Altrouge returned to the main topic, "on how I convinced Kaleido, well… I didn't need it," she said, smiling.
"What do you mean? He's one of the Marshall magi, just like the Queen, no way would he let you stay inside the Tower."
"Yes, he is, but he is also a dead apostle over a thousand years old, so at the moment I told him that I wanted him to help me get around here because I'm interested in a human, he said something like: 'Sure, it looks interesting.'."
Shirou couldn't believe it, was magician Marshall was so irresponsible?
"So, from today, I am Crimson Rouge, the magus' 'apprentice' Emiya Shirou, who was able to bring me thanks to the patronage and recommendation of Lady Valualeta."
Oh God, I think I'm starting to understand what the professor feels when he has to deal with Flat.
The redhead thought with a slight headache, "By the way, you told me that you would help me create the ultimate sword, but... how will you do it?"
"I will help you develop your reality marble."
He looked at her confused, "You said I had one, but I've never been aware of this. Also, in reality marbles are the taboos of taboos, so to have one is directly to get a ticket to sealing Designation."
"Well, just don't get caught."
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AN: So, I noticed that a lot of people have a p atreon open while writing fanfics, should I open one too? I don't know what you guys think. Even if I open it, I'm still going to post daily chapters + powerstones chapters.