Shirou had known that other worlds existed. Zelretch's existence was no great secret, and the old vampire had occasionally given Rin and Shirou interesting little experiences by allowing them to see the world through the eyes of themselves in alternate realities. There was the temptation to write this entire thing off as his doing, but Zelretch wasn't such an asshole as to do something like this so close to Illya's big day. His sense of morality might have been a little twisted from essentially living in a million different cultures at the same time though his connection with his parallel universe selves, but some things were universally accepted as 'not okay'.
Besides, Shirou could see the various magus around him, as well as the circle and catalyst that they used in their summons. This was a ritual performed knowingly by people from this world. Which lead to the ever-important question, 'Are these people insane?'
Shirou didn't sense any kind of binding magecraft nearby. No command seals or memory altering magic. He still was in fool possession of his free will. Did these people honestly summon heroes to their world to fight for them without any means to control them what-so-ever?
"You must have many questions, but time is short. You are the chosen Heroes, summoned here by an ancient ritual." One of the robed man said bowing his head as if in worship of the 'heroes'.
"Summoned…?" One of the other three summoned individuals said as he stepped forward in a noticeably aggressive manner, a spear, one of a quality equal to the sword Shirou now held, was tapping against his shoulder. Though the glee in his voice didn't match his body language. "Don't you guys have any shame at all, suddenly dragging us here without our permission?"
"Even if you send us home when the job is done, that's basically just using us as slave labor, you know?" A second added, a younger individual who was probably still in high school and carried a bow. Just like the spear wielder, he seemed to be getting some kind of kick out of this. What was it about Lancers and Archers being assholes?
"Huh?" The final member of their party said dumbly. The young man with the shield seemed like the only person there who was genuinely surprised to having been summoned.
However, as the bow and spearman did exactly what one would expect a summoned hero to do if they found out that their summoner had neglected to prepare command seals, asking such important questions as 'what's in if for me' and 'give me one good reason why I shouldn't just kill you', Shirou noticed something strange in his peripheral vision. Some kind of circle in the corner of his eyes that moved with him as he turned his head, almost as if he had a smudge on a pair of glasses.
Curious about what he could only describe as being an icon at the edge of his sight, Shirou focused his attention on the small button.
Immediately a sort of… menu filled his vision, startling Shirou a good deal.
[Status Magic Main Menu]
Status magic? What the hell was status magic? While the grail system has just a thing like statuses Shirou never really had access to it. Rin had, but she had never described what it looked like. Shirou's eyes looked over the menu and tried to figure out what he was looking at.
'Class: Sword Hero Lv. 1', was printed in English characters in one of the boxes, right under Shirou's name, along with a list of things such as 'attack', 'defense', 'speed', and 'magic', each with numbers going with them that must have been a measurement of how Shirou was in each of those categories. The stat labeled 'cooking' had an especially large number next to it.
Lv… that stood for level, right? Shirou was never much for games but he was fairly sure he had seen that before. So Lv 1 must have meant he was pretty low down then. Perhaps they weren't so stupid as to summon their heroes at full power right off the bat.
Shirou did a quick check of his magic circuits and the condition of his body, but everything came up clean. Nothing was interfering with him as far as he could tell. Maybe there was a system in place that would allow for them to gain greater power then?
"P-Please, at least have an audience with the king before you do anything rash. You can discuss the details of your compensation there." The priest stammered after receiving a string of threats from the all too cheerful spear and bow holders.
"Well, I guess that is that." "Still, talk is talk, even if it is with a king." The two trouble-makers said as they followed the priest out of the secluded room they were summoned in. Shirou followed behind along with the shield guy, with one eye watching for anything that looked like an enemy attack with his other continued to look at the Status screen in front of him.
[Weapon Tree]
That particular option was the first thing to jump out at Shirou as he looked over the screen. He focused on it with his one eye, willing it to expose its contents to him. It opened and his screen was filled with some kind of graph, with one colored bubble in the center and several other bubbles connecting to it and one and other filling the screen all around it, passing past the edge of his vision.
[Legendary Holy Sword – Base Form (0/10) – Quality: Very Low Quality – Base Power: 1 – Proficiency: (0%)]
It didn't take Shirou long to realize what the tree meant. Each bubble represented one of the seals that had been placed on the Legendary Holy Sword's power. Apparently, there was an order in which they needed to be unlocked in, and several paths that unlocking could take. It still didn't explain how exactly Shirou was supposed to do the unlocking.
Perhaps Shirou was being too distracted by this, as he didn't really care that the Archer and Lancer of this group would probably be getting them all killed pretty soon if they kept this up, but seeing such a powerful Divine Construct basically nerfed into the ground felt like a tragedy.
Had those two not noticed that the weapons they were holding weren't sharp enough to cut cheese with?
The group went through a long corridor, with windows looking out of the castle over the expansive medieval city below. The other summoned individuals seemed interested in the view, acting something like kids in an aquarium. Perhaps they were wondering whether or not they should try conquering it or if its pleasures could best be experienced without the hassle of rulership. Honestly, you can never tell with heroes.
Out of the Servants that had participated in the Fifth Holy Grail War, only Saber wouldn't have considered blowing off a task like saving the world. Rider and Lancer certainly wouldn't have cared enough to do it. Gilgamesh would have told the 'mongrels' that if they couldn't save their damn selves then they deserved to die. Caster, Berserker? As if. Archer and Assassin…? Good question. Even Shirou didn't really understand Archer's train of thought and they didn't know Assassin well enough to know if he was a prick or if it was just Caster making him do dishonorable things.
The point is, it wasn't surprising at all that two of the four people summoned were completely self-centered about everything. That's just how most heroes are. The word hero only refers to someone who achieves personal glory, not a good person.
If things go south, Shirou might have to kill these two in order to protect this world from them.
Strangely enough, despite being summoned to become heroes, they looked rather ordinary.
The man with the spear was just your typical college pretty boy, with long golden hair done in a ponytail, honey colored eyes, and smooth jawline. The kind of guy that even other guys would have to grudgingly admit was handsome. But unless he was using some kind of technique to hide his muscular physique, he only had the kind of body one can achieve from simply eating right and taking a monthly trip to the gym.
The kid with the bow was even less impressive. Sandy brown hair, green eyes, and the kind of school blazer and tie worn in the more snobby of high schools. The boy wasn't just lean, he was scrawny and a little pale. Despite his high and mighty act, he was walking with his head slightly down and his eyes slightly averted so that he only made fake eye contact, as if out of habit. Not so much as to be noticeable by a casual observer, but Shirou was used to looking for even the smallest of signals. It was the sort of thing one sees in people who have been seriously abused in the past… or in a magus who suspects some sort of mental based attack if they make too much eye contact.
Finally, the young man with the shield was constantly looking around with an expression as if he wanted to reach out and touch everything to make sure it was really but was also hesitating because he didn't want to look like an idiot. With his black hair, dark eyes and white hoody, he could have been a guy you would see on any street corner. Shirou half wondered if the guy was high, so he supposed given their situation, that level of dumbfoundedness was understandable… if he had been a normal guy.
Not only was it their physical appearances, Shirou couldn't detect a single drop of prana from any of these guys, save for what came from their weapons. Were they simply hiding their attributes? They seemed to be playing the part of ordinary, if annoying, people in order to get others to drop their guard. Magus were known for playing such games, and since the weapons they were holding seemed to have just been generated during the summons, Shirou couldn't pull anything on these guys.
There was nothing about any of them that would give them away, meaning that Shirou was already at a disadvantage when it came to the information war. With his unique appearance, there was no chance in hell that he could have passed for an ordinary person. Any magus would take one look at him and would instantly know that he was a spellcaster who had pushed the boundary of what his body could handle one too many times. These people might have already been able to conclude who Shirou was already. He hadn't exactly kept a low profile over the last five years.
He was starting behind and not knowing anything… Just like old times.
The entrance to the audience chambers was the stereotypical and needlessly large double doors that took three people on each side just to open. Shirou scanned over the guards and their weapons and was fairly confident in his ability to make his escape from them if things went south. He was less confident when he noticed a smell of mana being manipulated coming from multiple individuals in the room. Though not especially powerful, one does not usually wish to fight multiple magi on their home turf without first doing proper recon.
He half-considered making a break for it, but he couldn't leave yet. He needed to know what the conditions of his summoning was and how he could possibly get back home, preferably before his little sister woke up.
Shirou sniffed at the air, trying to parse out what types of magecraft were present and identify the users. They would be the first targets to take out if someone started to try to place some kind of mind control on him.
"Oh? So these are the heroes of old?" The elderly man wearing a crown said as he looked over the four of them. His eyes were calculative, but in a much more detached way than Rin's. Not that Shirou really cared, he had seen eyes like those a thousand times since he entered the Moonlight World. Though a man has to be pretty confident about his own abilities to look at a group of four summoned heroes with that kind of expression.
He wasn't holding any kind of weapon or artifact, so Shirou felt pretty confident that at his current distance of just over forty feet, he could take the man down before he had time to cast a spell.
Still, best not to antagonize the king of the country, so Shirou bent his head and averted his eyes… though he was the only one that did so.
"I am the king of this country, Aultcray Melromarc the 32nd. Raise your heads, Heroes." King Aultcray said, seeming to have overlooked the fact that the other had not lowered their heads. "Now, I shall explain the current situation. This country… nay, the very world is on the path to ruin. You see great heroes…" The man was about to go into his speech but stopped when Shirou took a few steps forward past the others and dropped to one knee.
"Your Grace. I understand that your world and its people must be desperate for help, however I need to ask that you return me to my world." Shirou said before anyone could stop him. "My younger sister is sick and in three days she is going to be going through an operation that will decide if she lives or dies." Shirou paused and risked a glance up at the king. The man's jaw had dropped slightly, and his eyes were not so distant as before. He stared at Shirou as if seeing him for the first time. "I am the only family she has left. I have to be there for her. If you need me to comeback after that, then fine, I would gladly fight and die for your people, but give me just one week. Please."
"…I'm sorry to hear such. If it was within my power to grant you your request, I would do so gladly. However, only means for which you all can be returned to your own world requires the calamity that threatens this world to be brought to an end… and I am afraid that will take months, if not years." The king said solemnly.
Shirou's heart sank. Months, or maybe years. He had disappeared without a word, just before Illya's operation. He wouldn't be there for her.
What would she think? Would she believe that he had abandoned her? He remembered how she had been when they had first might. How she had been led to believe that her own father had simply turned his back on her, that he had abandoned her and her mother. That belief had traumatized her, and its effects were still present long after she had found out the truth. Now Shirou himself will have disappeared into thin air. The was nothing he could do to reach her.
Requirements met: [Cursed Series Unlocked – Sword of Sloth]
Everyone just stared as Shirou remained kneeling on the ground in front of the king.
"Just tell me what you need me to do." Shirou said, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice. "The sooner I save this world, the sooner I can get back to my sister."
"…Very well then." Aultcray said before returning to his speech about what disaster was so great as to warrant the summoning of four heroes.
The King told them all a story of a prophesy. One that spoke of Wave after Wave of calamities which would befall the country of Melromarc. If nothing was done, the world itself would fall into ruin.
And after hundreds of years the prophecy was starting to come true. The sands of the ancient 'Hourglass of the Dragon's Era' had begun to run once more. According to legend, the Hourglass of the Dragon's Era was supposed to serve as a monthly warning system for the Wave of Calamity.
At first the people had written it off as mere superstition. However, disaster struck the instant the final grain of sand fell, just as the legend said.
A dimensional fissure appeared over Melromarc, and a vast horde of monsters spilled out from within. Though the country's knights and adventurers just barely managed to subdue them, the next Wave was expected to be even stronger. There was no way they would be able to stop the calamity a second time. And so, the leaders of the country decided to enact the ancient summoning of Heroes, in hopes that they might be saved.
Shirou didn't believe a word that came out of the king's mouth. He had learned from dealing with magi to not be so trusting. He already knew that this was a speech designed to appeal to the heroes in an attempt to control them. Also, experience had taught him to never trust anyone who dealt in politics. That and religion. Especially if they were magi, and the King smelled strongly of some kind of unusual prana. Shirou would have to find a way to get the real story later.
The strange thing was, this story the King told about Waves and the Hourglass of the Dragon's Era sounded familiar, though Shirou couldn't put his finger on where he had heard those terms before.
"Uh huh. So, you expect us to just work for free, then? That's sure convenient for you." The boy with the bow said, crossing his arms in defiance.
"…It really is selfish, you know. Dragging us into a problem that doesn't have anything to do with us." The spearmen agreed.
"Would you two be quiet already." Shirou had had enough of their mouthing off. If there four of them were going to be in the same boat, Shirou would prefer if that boat didn't sink. "It is only common sense that they will compensate us for our efforts, but if you keep acting so difficult, they might start wondering if we aren't too uncontrollable and if they might be better off just killing the four of us and summoning a new batch instead." Shirou scolded the other two 'heroes'.
"In case you hadn't noticed, we are at a disadvantage here." Shirou added, lifting his sword and tapping its blade heavily against his free hand to demonstrate just how dull its edge was. "Legendary and indestructible these weapons maybe, but they have so many seals on them that they are useless at the moment. You'd have a better chance killing someone with a twig than these things. So if these fine guardsmen, with their weapons and magic, decide to take us down, we might not be making it out of here alive."
"Uh… yeah, let's not antagonize anybody." The Shielder said with a nod, one hand going towards the small shield attached to his other arm. Lancer and Archer paled as the Lancer gingerly checked the point of his Legendary Holy Spear to find out that it wouldn't be capable of drawling blood, then looked at just how many guards there were in that room.
"The heroes needn't worry. As you have already surmised, you will be richly compensated for your efforts." The king said, waving down at the four heroes in an attempt to ease their worry. "Besides that, we could also prepare discretionary funds to support you all on your journeys. It's a small price to pay to ensure your cooperation in saving our world."
Hearing this made the other three heroes considerably happier, though they now didn't speak up, either in thanks or to mouth off. They were now much more aware of the situation.
"Now then, Heroes. Tell me your names." The King requested of them.
"Ah… The name's Kitamura Motoyasu, I'm 21 and a college student." The Lancer, Motoyasu, said, not sounding too confident anymore.
"My name is Kawasumi Itsuki. I'm a 17-year-old high-school student." Itsuki, the bowman said from his position next to Motoyasu.
Shirou was next in line, but rather than giving his real name, age and occupation, he lied. "Fugimaru Issei, age 28, I work as a repairman." As a magus, you don't give out any information for free. He had no way of knowing how magecraft worked in this world. Giving away one's real name might be magical suicide here for all he knew. However, openly denying them his identity could cause problems. Best to just lie to them about it.
"A repairman?" Motoyasu repeated, raising an eyebrow and half smirking. It was unlikely that the man believed Shirou, but it didn't matter. Even if he knew who Shirou really was, he had no proof that Shirou… or rather Issei was lying.
"I guess that just leaves me. The name's Iwatani Naofumi, and I'm a 20-year-old college student." The Shielder said, scratching the back of his head nervously.
The King stared at Naofumi as the guy introduced himself, and Shirou was surprised to see the obvious hate in his aura. How in the world could he already hate the guy so much when Naofumi had only been in this world for a few minutes? He'd even been the quietest one so far.
"Hmm. Motoyasu, Itsuki, and Issei, eh?" The king repeated their names, seeming to purposely neglect to say Naofumi's.
"…Uh, Your Majesty? What about me?" The Shield asked a little nervously.
"Oh, my. My sincerest apologies… Naofumi." The king replied… this was getting weird. Just like it wasn't smart for the heroes to antagonize the locals so early, when they weren't at full strength, it was perhaps even dumber for the locals to be antagonizing one of the summoned heroes. What was the king thinking?
Next the group was instructed on how to check their statuses, causing another round of nervous shifting when Motoyasu and Itsuki saw that they were only level 1. Much of the confidence they had before disappeared.
Shirou was more surprised to find out that everyone in this world seemed to have access to Status Magic, and it wasn't simply part of the summoning ritual. It wasn't the weirdest quirk for a world to have, that would be the world where people could fly by making chirping sounds and waving their arms and where hair could talk, but it was rather odd all the same.
When he pulled his own menu back up, Shirou noticed the Help Menu, and opened it up, scanning through the list of items on it, he found that it was basically the owner's manual for having a Legendary Holy Weapon. …Oh boy, he was going to have some reading to do over the next few days.
"Being such a low level is making me uneasy." Itsuki said, biting one of his fingers as he stared at something in front of him that Shirou couldn't see, likely his own Status Menu.
"Ah, about that. We would like you to go on a journey to polish your skills and strengthen your legendary weapons." The king explained to them.
"Do you know how we are supposed to unseal our weapon's power?" Shirou asked the king. Hoping to get a hint as to what to do to restore the Divine Construct to its full glory.
"No. I am simply relating the contents of the legend. It is written that 'the summoned Heroes will grow and strengthen their legendary weapons.'" The king explained.
"Again with the legends. So can we at least use something else until these things are strong enough to be useful?" Motoyasu mumbled. He was twirling his spear absentmindedly, showing a familiarity with its weight. "We can worry about that later. For now, we should just focus on getting stronger like they asked."
All four summoned heroes nodded their heads in agreement at this.
"Well then, should the four of us party up?" Naofumi said looking over at the other three.
Shirou froze. Joining forces with three completely unknown to him individuals who were summoned to be heroes, all of whom he suspected of hiding their true nature, just like he was. It went against all the common sense that Rin had beat into him and which had saved his life on multiple occasions when dealing with the Church's Executioners. However, he didn't see a way out of it without showing how much he distrusted the others. His life would be easier if they didn't suspect that he suspected them. The fact that the Shield Hero was the one to suggest it boosted him from the bottom of Shirou suspicious persons list all the way up to the top.
"Wait just a moment, Heroes." The minister who had been standing next to the king stopped them as they were talking about the possibility of teaming up. "The four of you are to gather companions individually, then set off on your own separate journeys."
"Oh? And why is that?" Itsuki asked.
"It's quite simple. According to legend, the weapons you carry naturally repel each other. Should you operate together as a group, you will do nothing but impede each other's growth." The minister clarified for them.
"So you're saying we can't get strong unless we work alone?" Shirou said, raising an eyebrow. Why would four Divine Constructs born for the same purpose by the same world interfere with one and other? It didn't make much sense. However, the mans story seemed to check out as it seemed the weapons themselves had been listening in on the conversation.
Caution!
Working together with your fellow legendary weapon holders will be detrimental to your progress. Please try to operate separately as much as possible.
"Looks like it's the real deal…" Motoyasu said. He must have gotten the same message as Shirou.
Well, that was alright. Shirou didn't want to be grouped with these people anyways.
"So then, we need to gather companions, I guess?" Naofumi said, sounding a bit dejected by the idea.
"On the contrary, we will gather companions for you. Have no worries, they will be the best of the best. However, the day grows late. For now, rest yourselves and gather your strength. Your journey begins tomorrow." The minister said politely, giving a short bow.
"Thank you." Itsuki said.
"Yeah, thanks." Motoyasu nodded in agreement. The three other heroes seemed to think that it was wonderful that they wouldn't have to go through the trouble of finding allies before starting their journeys. Only Shirou's opinion was different.
Letting himself be followed around everywhere he went by a group of soldiers handpicked by the government/church to keep an eye on him and probably execute him in his sleep if they thought he was becoming a hassle. That didn't seem like a good idea.
No.
The second everyone's backs were turned, Shirou would just disappear and then he would save this world his own way. These people should know that you can't control a hero that easily.
…But he should probably wait until after they give him his money first…
He'd really been around Rin too much.
Shirou sat in the guest quarters that the Kingdom had provided for the four heroes as they waited for dinner time. He ignored the talk of the other three for the most part, choosing instead to focus on reading as much of the help menu as humanly possible.
This had less to do with not wanting to interact with the other heroes, and more to do with the fact that there were at three people with their ears up against the door in order to spy on them at the moment. The government was going to try to control him. He was too dangerous to them for them not to, but he didn't know the first thing about them. They could be benevolent, or they could be a bunch of psychopaths. He might be helping the save the world, like they say, or he could be assisting in them conquering it. Until he knew everything about what was going on, he had to take everything they told him with a large fistful of salt. Even commoners couldn't be trusted to tell him the truth if they knew he was the 'Hero of the Sword'.
Digging through the help menu turned up quiet a few useful things… some of which were a little hard to swallow.
Apparently, he could gain 'EXP' and grow levels by killing things, and this would make him stronger. Likewise, if he had a party and one member of the party killed something, all of them gained the same EXP.
His sword could absorb just about anything from metals and stones to plants and animals into the blue jewel in its hilt, and some of these things would be used by the sword in order to unlock seals and allow the blade to take on many different forms. Monster corpses absorb in such a way would have their bodies converted into 'drop items' and 'Demon Soul Points'. The DSP could be spent in order to empower one of the swords individual forms.
Each form that the sword could take also had a 'proficiency' gage with it. Once it reached 100% proficiency, the sword's proficiency gage could be drained back down to 0% in order to gain some kind of energy that could also be used to empower one of the blade's forms by awakening it, which in practice means unlocking the seal again.
Shirou couldn't really follow the logic behind all of it, why the physical manifestation of the world's idea of a sword would choose to take on properties of a shrub, but perhaps he just needed to experiment with it a little.
So far, the only form he had unlocked besides the base for was the 'Sword of Sloth', which was part of the 'Cursed Series'. Though the amount that the help menu had to say on the subject was rather underwhelming, if ominous.
Curse Series
A weapon that grants power and consumes the user. Hero! Do not use it.
Not that Shirou would have used it anyways. With the weapon unsealed, Shirou could grasp this forms existence, and the things he learned were definite turn offs.
While the Sword of Sloth was the equal to a D rank Noble Phantasm and could lead to unlocking even more powerful forms of itself, the cost was simply too great to pay. Using the Sword of Sloth drained the wielder and everyone around them of their will to keep going. As the weapon was directly connected to his soul, no amount of magic resist would help him avoid its effect. He might be able to resist through sheer thick headedness, but that would be too much of a gamble to experiment with.
Best to avoid the thing all together. Wasn't like he didn't have better options anyways inside of his Unlimited Blade Works. In truth, he had yet to see a good reason to use the Legendary Holy Sword at all, besides the promise of what it might become if he unlocked enough of its seals.
A much more convenient feature of the weapon was the ability to translate any and all languages that exist in this world. Sadly that didn't include written languages. If Shirou wanted to find anything out from history books or old religious works, then he would need to learn how to read the local language.
That shouldn't be that hard. He had already learned eight different languages in the last four years in order to continue his studies into magecraft. Learning them has become easier and easier with each one he had learned. Perhaps he could find someone to teach it to him before he left the castle. Besides just teaching him incorrectly, they couldn't really give him any false information there.
"Hey Issei!" Motoyasu shouted. It took Shirou a moment to realize that the spear holder was talking to him. "Tell this kid that I'm right and that this world is Dimension Wave!" The college age man said, pointing at Itsuki.
"No it isn't, it's Emerald Online. You call yourself a gamer and you've never even heard of Emerald Online." Itsuki spat back.
"To be far, I call myself a gamer and I haven't heard of either of these things." Naofumi said, scratching the back of his head as he looked in puzzlement at the two arguing heroes.
"Hm… sorry, I wasn't listing. What's this about?" Shirou admitted, blinking at the two.
"They are both saying that all the mechanics for how the weapons work and the story about the Dragon Hourglass come from a video game they played, but they can't agree on what game it was." Naofumi summarized for Shirou.
"…Oh." Shirou said dumbly. That had been why the story of the Hourglass of the Dragon's Era had sounded so familiar, it had been from that video game that Illya had played all the time. The one on the VR helmet… which had appeared out of nowhere in a very suspicious fashion… "Now that you mention it, I remember a game like that too. My little sister played it all the time. I think it was called… Bravestar Online or something like that."
"What, not another one!?" Motoyasu said, shaking his head. "Why is it that we are all remembering different things?"
"…I'd guess it would be because we aren't from the same timelines." Shirou said with a slight shrug. After all, there were timelines were King Arthur was a girl. Just about everything was true somewhere in the multiverse. Almost all magi knew about parallel worlds and string theory to some extent.
"Different timelines?" Itsuki said, seeming to be considering the idea. "I suppose that is possible. It would explain why they hadn't heard of a game as popular as Emerald Online. It's been the most popular online game for the last 30 years."
"…30 years." Naofumi said with a hard swallow. "That's a long time to be at the top of the market."
"Let me guess, the game came out with no known publisher and was decades ahead of its time." Shirou said, Itsuki paused for a moment before nodded. "Same goes for in my world, though the game and the VR technology it runs on appeared just three years ago."
"I guess if you assume that other worlds exist, different Japans isn't that much of a stretch." Motoyasu said with a nod. "Also, there was the same kind of questions about the makers of Dimension Wave as well. Though I had thought it was just a story made up to boost sales at the time."
"Then, how about a question based on common knowledge?" Naofumi suggested and begun to start of listing topics. Needless to say, they all concluded that they had come from different worlds.
"It looks like we're all from totally different Japans, huh?" Motoyasu said, collapsing onto the bench with an exhausted sigh.
"Yeah. No matter how you look at it there's no way we all came from the same world." Naofumi said with a shrug.
"Still, fantasy worlds are one thing, but who'd have thought that alternate Japans exist too?" Motoyasu laughed in response.
"Well, there's still the possibility that we came from the same world but different eras, but with so many inconsistencies it's seeming less and less likely." Itsuki pointed out. Shirou stayed out of the conversation. Best not to let them know just how experienced he was with alternate timelines.
"Based on the way things have been going, I'd wager we all ended up here under different circumstances, too." Motoyasu said after a few moments of digesting what had been said.
"Probably." Itsuki said his head falling a little as he said it. "I was on my way to school when a garbage truck took a corner too fast and hit me… next thing I knew I was in that chamber with the rest of you."
"Ouch." Naofumi said with a wince and Motoyasu nodded in agreement. Shirou only blinked in surprise. Someone with the qualifications to be summoned… died from being hit by a car. Was he telling the truth, or was this a lie to seem sympathetic?
"I'll go next." Motoyasu said, lightheartedly gesturing toward himself. "Before I came here, I had a lot of girlfriends, you know?"
"I figured as much." Naofumi said.
Motoyasu ignored him and just kept going. "And so, because of that..."
"...you were two or three-timing them and got stabbed, right?" Itsuki said, finishing off for the guy. It seemed like his comment was supposed to be sarcastic, but Motoyasu just blinked his eyes in surprise and nodded.
"...Women are scary." Motoyasu said nervously. Naofumi looked at the guy with disgust, but Shirou could only snort with contained laughter.
"That proves it, you really are a hero." Shirou said through his chuckles.
"Hey, its not funny." Motoyasu said, a little defensively.
"I don't mean it to be." Shirou said before holding up one finger to signal being quiet. He then stood up and walked over to the door, startling the other three when he slammed his hand against it, causing the whole door to raddle. He then opened the door to reveal two people, one a maid and the other a guard, who had fallen to the ground after being startled by Shirou's unexpected action. "Hello there. No need to listen from the doorway like this." Shirou said, mixing a killer intent into his magical energy and allowing it to leak out, producing a terrifying aura that he washed over the two. "Please, join us." He said with a too big smile.
The two spies paled before running away as fast as they could. Shirou shook his head before closing the door.
"Damned spies everywhere in this castle." He said as he returned to the other. "As for my comment earlier, well, if you took a tally of reasons for why heroes end up dying, I'm pretty sure that jealous women would be the number four killer of all heroes. Number three be receiving an impossible task from an asshole god. Number two would be fighting other heroes, and the number one killer of heroes would have to be politics." Shirou sat back down and staring over at the other three. "As heroes, we are symbols more than we are people. Everyone is going to try to use us for their own ends, even if it is by making martyrs out of us. So take my advice, don't trust anyone from the government or the church… or the merchants union… or the wizards either. Especially the wizards."
"…You're a paranoid nutjob." Motoyasu said in disbelief.
"Call me whatever you went, but when you wake up with a knife in your back, remember that I told you so." Shirou said with a shrug.
"Yeah, whatever." Motoyasu said brushing off Shirou's warning. Well, you can't say he didn't try. "So how about you two, what were you doing before you found yourselves here."
"Ah… Actually I was just reading a light novel in the library about the four heroes stuff and then I blacked out and found myself here." Naofumi said awkwardly.
"Huh… how dull." "What do you expect from the Shielder class?" Itsuki and Motoyasu said looking at Naofumi with disappointment. Before the Shield Hero could ask what was the big deal about having a shield they turned to Shirou. "So what about you Mr. Paranoia, did something cause you to kick the bucket?"
Shirou shook his head, his heart sinking as his thought about what he was doing before he was drawn away. "No. I was tucking my little sister to bed for the night… Telling her that everything was going to be alright… That I would always be there for her." Shirou said, his head falling as he spoke. "She told me that even if she died… she was happy that we could spend her last days together as a family."
God, Shirou felt like shit. The knowledge that there was no way he would make it back in time without some kind of time-space shenanigans turning the months he would be forced to stay in this world into just a few hours. Thinking about it, he couldn't even trust that the people of this world really did have a method for sending him back to his old world. In the end, they might just tell him to stand on a magic circle that turns him to ash, after he had solved all their problems. It seemed more likely than their promise being real.
Even without it being activated, Shirou could feel the effects of the Sword of Sloth. It was only stubbornness that allowed him to shrug the draining feeling away.
Even if the King was a liar, he still would need to restore order to this world if he wanted to go home. Zelretch was probably his only sure way of getting back home in one piece, but the old vampire wouldn't do anything that would possibly cause the destruction of a timeline, not even to help a friend or student. Besides, even if he was truly doomed to let down everyone he cared about, it wasn't wrong to help the people of this world.
"…Suddenly being hit by a truck don't seem so bad." Itsuki said sadly, nervously fingering his bowstring. The other two barely even nodded in agreement.
Shirou swallowed hard and stood up. "I'm… going to go get some air. Clear my head a bit." He said before walking out the door, caring his sword with him.
Wasn't like he was capable of putting the thing down.
"Those meat pies better be the best in this land or I will have cleaning the pantry floors with our tongue, you here me!" The head chef shouted at one of his cooking staff. "We are cooking for the Three Legendary Saint Heroes! Everything has to be perfect!"
"Um… excuse me." Someone behind the chef said, trying to get the man's attention. Several people in the kitchen stopped and were staring at the person who had just entered the room.
"What is it!? Can't you see that we are…!" The chef started to shout, but when he turned around he stopped shout… and breathing. Standing right there in front of him, with his sword in hand, was the Hero of the Sword himself. "H…H…Hero-sama! W…What is it that we can do for you!? If you have a request, regardless what it is, I will see it made for you at once!"
"Ah, no, that alright." Shirou said waving the man down. "I was just wondering if I could barrow part of your kitchen." Shirou said, shocking the old chef. "Cooking is something of a hobby of mine, and I could use something to help me relax… It's been a long day."
"Of course. Whatever it is that you desire, it shall be yours." The man quickly nodded shouting at several of his men to clear a place for the hero and get whatever ingredients he requested. Shirou inspected the floor, meat and vegies placed in front of him, and determined that they were all of acceptable quality. He wasn't about to make anything complex, since spices didn't seem to be in high supply, so he would need to make do with just peppers.
Once satisfied, Shirou grabbed one of the green peppers and a kitchen knife and started to cut away.
*CRACK!*
Searing pain shot through Shirou's entire body, forcing him to let go of the knife as the muscles in his hand started to spasm in protest. The knife skipped along the table top as it was propelled by an invisible force out of Shirou's hand.
"What the hell?" Shirou said as he flexed his hand in confusion.
That was went the message popped up.
Legendary Weapon Rule Violation: Contact With Unauthorized Weapon
A Hero can't fight with anything other than the legendary weapon in his possession.
Shirou's eyes went over the message twice, and then his heart seemed to stop beating as he realized the implications.
Shirou could not use anything sort of weapon other than the Legendary Holy Sword. All of the blades that he had stored inside of his Unlimited Blade Works were… unusable. The foundation of Shirou's power was gone.
At that moment, Shirou felt more vulnerable than he had in years. The prospect of killing all of these waves of monsters now seemed like a much more uphill battle for him.
But as he felt himself starting to go into a panic, another window appeared.
[Weapon Copy – Complete: Basic Kitchen Knife (0/1) – Quality: Low Quality– Base Power: .1 – Equip Bonus: +1 cooking (unmastered) – Proficiency: (0%)]
Shirou blinked in confusion before looking to the help menu.
Weapon Copy
The Legendary Weapons can copy weapons of the same category for the hero's use, so long as they meet level requirements.
Equip Bonus
Equip Bonus refers to the special abilities conferred by equipping different weapons.
For example, when a weapon with the Equip Bonus "Air Strike Bash" is equipped, the skill "Air Strike Bash" can be used.
Likewise, a weapon with the Equip Bonus "Attack +3" will have three points added onto its attack score.
Equip Bonuses start unmastered, but by using the weapon it can unlock mastery, giving the hero the Equip Bonus even when the weapon is not equip.
Shirou blinked before going to his weapon select menu and selecting the Basic Kitchen Knife. The Legendary Holy Sword transformed into an exact replica of the knife he had just been holding, only with the small blue stone that had been present in the sword's hilt still present on the knife.
Shirou looked from the knife to the cutting board and then back to the knife.
"Am I really going to use a Divine Construct to cut vegetables?" Shirou said to himself before shrugging and getting back to his cooking. "The girls back home would get a real kick out of this."
[Stuffed Dumplings – Quality : Heavenly]
Celia sat alone in the library, skimming through some of the old records and committing the general ideas in it to memory. It wasn't like anyone expected her to memorize the entire contents of the books that she read. She was just supposed to have a good idea of what was in the library and be capable of pointing people towards the books on any subject they requested. That was the job of a royal librarian. Right now, Celia's mother was the royal librarian and Celia was the assistant, but she was being raised to someday take her mother's place.
Not that she wanted to.
Honestly, who wanted to spend their entire lives in a stuffy library with a bunch of boring books. Celia wanted to go out into the world, to see things for herself, and to find a nice guy. How as she ever supposed to get married when she was stuck in the library dead after day? So few guys ever visited the library, it was always just old geezers. Her mother kept saying that it was just a phase and that all girls were rebellious when they were eighteen. Celia would argue that it was probably only the unmarried girls. The married maids seemed perfectly content.
Celia just wanted to meet a nice guy.
"Excuse me, Miss." Celia looked up from her book and nearly choked as she saw the man standing before her. Tall, with lightly tanned skin, exotic red and white hair, and golden eyes. The Hero of the Sword, an individual who was considered almost a literal god in her country, was smiling down at her with the softest expression she had ever seen. "Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you, but if you are not so busy, I would like your help with something."
Celia couldn't help herself, looking up at his gentle smile, a bright flush came to her face. "O…of course. Anything that Hero-sama requires. This one lives to serve."
"Thank you. I was hoping that you could teach me the written language of this country." The hero asked her.
"You… want me to teach you how to read?" Celia stammered, an image of the two of them huddled around a book entering her mind, causing her to heat up even further.
"While my summoning has given me the ability to speak your tongue, it doesn't offer any knowledge of the written language. I know that we might not be able to get a good grasp of the language since I will be leaving on my journey tomorrow. Still, I would like to try to learn as much as I can." The Sword Hero explained. "If you would like compensation, I am sure that I can speak to the minister about paying you for your efforts."
"N… no, that's alright. Anything that I can do to help the Hero of the Sword I will do gladly. Anything for the savior of our world." Celia declared, quickly moving to gather paper and ink so that they could get started.
Maybe being the royal librarian wasn't so bad.
Celia stared in wonder as 'Fugimaru-sama', as he requested not to be called a hero before he had achieved something in this world, worked through reading a page in the book she had given him.
In just three hours he had gained a grasp of the Melromarcian alphabet and was already beginning to read, quickly adapting to the grammar and special cases in common words. His reading speed was still rather low, but the fact that he could read at all was a tribute to just how amazing the heroes really were.
Getting to the bottom of the page, he nodded his approval. "That should be good for now. I just need more practice." He said with confidence as he closed the book.
Celia felt a twinge of worry, not wanting him to leave yet. "Sh…should we start on the magical alphabet then?"
"Magical alphabet?" Fugimaru-sama said in surprise. It seemed like he had never heard of it before.
"Yes, in order to learn magic, one needs to first learn the magical alphabet so that they can decipher the symbols within magic books. As the symbols appear different to everyone who reads the books, you can't just have someone else read it for you. The only way to learn magic is to first learn the magical alphabet." Celia explained quickly. "Oh… though you could also use basic magic through crystal balls. That way is much more expensive, so most can't afford them, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Kingdom would be willing to acquire some for you."
"Hm… is that so." Fugimaru said, scratching his chin in thought. "While I would like to learn the magical alphabet of this world, it will have to wait for another time. Perhaps I will have another chance to rest at the castle after the next Wave and we can look at it then." Celia held her breath, hearing that her Hero-sama was planning to comeback again. "Right now more basic information would be of more use. Is there a map of the country and of the surrounding lands that I could have? If I am to represent this country as a hero, I would like to know a little more about this country and its political relations with its neighbors before I go out."
"Of course, I'll get you a copy of the map right away, and some history books that you can use later to practice your reading." Celia said, scrabbling from her seat and rushing over to the corner of the library where they kept the maps and history books. They had several large maps evaluable, as they were commonly marked up and tossed during war times or when a noble's land was redistributed.
The hero's eyes scanned over the map, taking in the roads and towns. She could see him mouthing the words of the different nations as he struggled to read them. "Thank you. Now, would you mind telling me a little about these nations that board Melromarc, what kind of governments they have and their relationship status with this land?"
"Of course, let's start with Faubley." Celia said, pointing to a country to the north of Melromarc on the map. "Despite its long history of internal strife, it is still the largest and most influence country in the world. This is due to its tendency to marry heroes and the descendants of heroes into the royal family, allowing them to monopolize of the power and knowledge left behind by the heroes after they passed on. Right now Melromarc has a stable relationship with them, as our King is the younger brother of Faubley's current monarch."
"The King married into the royal family of Melromarc?" Fugimaru asked in surprise. "But how could he be "Aultcray Melromarc the 32nd" if he wasn't born to Melromarc?"
"It is tradition in Melromarc for the Queen to choose her husband's name after they get married." Celia explained.
"Does the nation simply accept having a ruler not born to their royal family?" Fugimaru asked her.
"Actually, he's Majesty is only a proxy, it is the Queen who rules in Melromarc."
"Then why was it that the King met us after we were summoned rather than the Queen?"
"With the Waves coming there are a lot of things that need to be done internationally, so the Queen has not been in the Country for a while as she has been busy working with other nations. I'm not entirely sure where she is at the moment. However, as the threat of the Waves was too immediate to wait for her instruction, the King decided to summon the Legendary Heroes without her permission."
"I see…" Fugimaru muttered before signaling Celia to proceed.
"Alright, next would be Zeltbull, the nation to our south west." Celia said, point to the corresponding countries. "It's a nation made up almost merchants and mercenaries and is considered an almost lawless and godless land. There are no nobles, and the country is ruled by a counsel of merchants. Despite this, Melromarc still maintains a mostly friendly relationship with the nation, as their trade is important for the growth of the country. In almost all political matters, Zeltbull is aggressively neutral." The Sword Hero nodded his understanding, inviting the young woman to continue.
"Next there is Shildfrieden and Siltvelt, the countries that are ruled by Demihuman tribes." Celia said, uncomfortably. "It would be best if Fugimaru-sama never visits these countries."
"Demihumans?" Fugimaru repeated, showing his unfamiliarity with the term.
"Does Fugimaru-sama's world not have Demihumans in it?" Celia asked in surprise. "Then it must be a better world for it. Demihumans are a race of people who are part human and part beast, though they are more like monsters than people themselves. You can tell by the way that they age whenever they grow levels, just like a monster."
"Really, monsters and demihumans age as they grow level?" Fugimaru said, sounding a little interested in the idea. "I suppose that Melromarc doesn't have good relations with these countries then."
"No we don't. While we have had peace for the last twenty years, there has been a long history of war between us and Siltvelt going back hundreds of years, and the relationship between our Kingdom and Shildfrieden could best be described as strained. Only our Queen's constant efforts to maintain the peace as to not waste precious human life in war against them has kept things as peaceful as they have been… But maybe now that Melromarc has the backing of the Legendary Heroes, we might end the centuries long stalemate."
"…Perhaps, but dealing with the Waves must take priority. Best not to waste resources that could be used to protect the people from the Waves on settling old rivalries." The Hero of the Sword said before changing the subject. "Now, what other countries are there?"
Celia moved on and continued describing the different countries, the Hero then been to ask questions about the individual territories within Melromarc and what areas were most effect by the previous wave. An hour past and her Hero left, bidding Celia goodnight. He would have a long day tomorrow.
Perhaps she could sneak out and see him off in the morning.
Shirou closed the door to his private room and let out a sigh. He had gathered quite a bit of information that day, but he would need time to confirm if any of it had any meaning. One thing was for sure, Melromarc was a country with a long history of bad blood when it came to Demihumans.
Shirou didn't buy the claim that Demihumans were monsters for a second. Monsters don't set up nations and practice commerce with their neighbors. Dehumanizing the enemy was common when two peoples war for so long, and Shirou wouldn't say that both sides hadn't probably committed war crimes in the past, but a Hero of Justice did not see race or circumstance. Everyone deserved to be saved. Still, the library girl's racism made Shirou feel more than a little uncomfortable.
…He just realized that she never actually introduced herself and that he had no idea what her name was. That would be awkward later.
Glancing at his status menu, he saw that it was only around midnight, though he hadn't slept in nearly thirty hours. He would need to go to sleep soon, but first he would have to test his magecraft, as well as the Legendary Holy Sword.
Sitting down on his bed, Shirou preformed a simple projection, not using the principles of his tracing magic, in order to shape his prana into a marble in his palm. Then he stopped feeding prana into it and watched.
Back in his old world, the marble would have been erased in an instant, as Gaia would immediately see it as a distortion in its order. However even after a whole minute had passed, the marble remained. "Looks like Gaia has no influence here or is simply not concerned about low level magecraft." Shirou said as he dispelled the marble.
This would be useful.
Next Shirou projected out a Black Key and began to swing it.
Just like with the knife in the kitchen, an electric charge surged through Shirou's body. This time he struggled to hold onto the blade, seeing just how much punishment he would be able to take. Shirou grit his teeth and endured for a whole fifteen seconds before he couldn't take it anymore. The blade broke into fragments of blue light as it left his hand.
"Damn that hurt." Shirou hissed as he awkwardly fell to his knees, his body freezing up.
He then traced another Black Key, leaving it on the table. He waited for a few seconds, but the same pain didn't come. Hesitantly, he began to trace a third Black Key, suspending it in the air above him. The pain came once again, and Shirou let the sword drop down onto his bed. Once he stopped exerting his will over it, the pain disappeared. Perhaps he could do some kind of fire and forget strategy with the blades.
Next was to see if the Legendary Holy Sword could create copies of his copies, or if it would be able to tell that they weren't real. It shouldn't be, after all, Gaia could hardly tell the difference between Shirou's traced blades and the real thing.
Taking one of the Black Keys, Shirou placed it onto of the blue jewel in the center of the hilt and willed the Legendary Holy Sword to copy the blade.
[Weapon Copy – Complete: Black Key (0/50) – Quality: Extremely High Quality– Base Power: 38 – Equip Bonus: +18 attack, +9 speed, +20% damage-to-unholy (unmastered) – Unique Ability: [Shadow Binding], [Purge Undead] – Proficiency: (0%) – Level Requirement: 52]
Shirou flinched as he saw the level requirement. Black Keys were handy things, so Shirou had suspected that the requirement might be a little high, but it was higher than he had expected. If this was the requirements for a Black Key…
Shirou projected his fall back weapons, Kanshou and Bakuya, and placed them over the jewel.
[Weapon Copy – Complete: Kanshou and Bakuya (0/85) – Quality: Heavenly – Base Power: 143 – Equip Bonus: +38 attack, +39 speed, +24 defense, +21 stamina, +50% damage-to-beasts, [Dual Wielder+++] (unmastered) – Unique Ability: [Attraction], [Splitting Heaven and Earth], [Change Form] – Proficiency: (0%) – Level Requirement: 87]
"…*sigh* Maybe I should start with simpler blades." Shirou said after a long sigh.
He spent the next hour tracing and copying blade after blade into the Legendary Holy Sword from his Unlimited Blade Works. Some of the weapons were low enough quality for him to use at level 1 and offered such equip bonuses as +1 attack or speed. Not much but master a few hundred such blades and the stats add up. It seemed as though if two blades were of similar makes, the Legendary Holy Sword would not store both of them, so the weapons needed to be distinct enough in material or shape. He was glad to find out that dual blades counted as a single form, even if he couldn't have Kanshou and Bakuya. He had a long way to go before he would be wielding any of his Noble Phantasms.
This damned holy sword wasn't making things easy on him.
Skill Unlocked: [Hundred Swords]
Skill Unlocked: [Hundred Swords] → [Sword Change]
Skill Unlocked: [Hundred Swords] → [Thousand Swords]