Is it going to hurt?" The twelve-year-old boy who kind of looked like a mole asked as he was pushed forward by two other kids.
"It will hurt less than a splinter." Shirou told him, giving the boy a reassuring smile as he reached for the boy's hand. Taking the large and callus paw, with its long fingers, in his own left hand he picked a particularly thick spot and bright his right hand gently up toward it. "Rule Breaker." Shirou whispered as the smell bit of metal growing out from underneath his own sick lightly pricked the boy's hand.
The mole boy blinked in surprise as it was over and the slave seal on his chest began to disappear. "That didn't hurt at all." He said with a smile, patting at his chest where the mark used to be.
"See, I told you." Shirou chuckled as he glanced over the group of kids. The kids were either watching him in wonder, laying on the ground to recover from their death march, or gathered around Firo, petting the other sized bird, who was enjoying the attention. All of them were pointedly not looking at the bodies of the men that were on the ground around them.
Shirou had tested the 'Body of Steel' method for tracing weapons in order to see how Jian would react to weapons that were physically, spiritual and conceptually part of Shirou's being. He found that so long as he didn't fully manifest the weapon outside of his body, Jian would not punish him. It wasn't useful in combat, as using a blade that is growing out of your arm does horrible damage to your body, but after using Rule Breaker and dismissing it, only the smallest of wounds was left, which was quickly patched up by the natural healing factor that Heroes apparently had in this world.
Still, while Jian didn't punish him for his clever trick, he could still feel her radiating disapproval. He wasn't breaking the rules, but she was still upset with him for his relationships with other weapons.
"You saved us." The Kitsune girl from the village said, bowing to Shirou. The girl was trembling from relief. She had probably known exactly what fate awaited her at the end of this road. "Thank you, Shirou-sama."
Shirou looked at the girl, and his forced smile slowly slide off of his face. "I haven't saved you. Not yet." Shirou said, admitting what he already knew to be the truth. The children all looked at him in puzzlement. "I released you from your slave seals and killed these men, but that isn't the end of it. So long as you remain in these lands, more could come for you. Not only that, there is no way you can go back to the village. If you are caught there again, it wouldn't just mean your slavery, the other villagers would be punished for helping you."
The children fell silent after hearing what Shirou had said. Their relief disappearing as they were told that their troubles weren't over yet. "Then what are we going to do now?"
"We need to find a place where slavers wouldn't follow. I heard that the Duke who used to rule this land was fair towards Demihumans. Do you know any other territories that have nobles that might be sympathetic?" Shirou asked the children. The kids looked at each other. They didn't know about any other territories like that. They seemed sure that they existed, but they didn't know any of them by name, or where to find them. "Alright, looking around in Melromarc trying to find sympathizers is dangerous. What about other countries?"
"Well, my parents were from Siltvelt." A boy with squirrel like features said. "Demihumans don't get kidnapped into slavery in Siltvelt… but it isn't a very nice place."Several other children nodded in agreement having heard similar things from their own parents.
"My mother told me the same. She said that Siltvelt is ruled by the clans, and that if you aren't a part of any clan then the country is unbearable. That's why she left with grandpa when she was young." The Kitsune girl added. Shirou nodded his understanding. He had visited places like that in his own world, where entire cities were owned by a few tight nit family groups, and everyone else lived in poverty with no hope of ever escaping it. Still, the situations must have really been bleak if they were fleeing to a place like Melromarc for asylum. From what Shirou gathered from the children's stories, most of the different races of Demihumans each had their own clans within Siltvelt, and in order to survive you needed to be a part of one. Entering a clan was impossible, not through marriage or adoption. You had to be born into one. A group of orphans in such a place would likely find no sympathy, and humans were treated the same in Siltvelt as the Demihumans were in Melromarc, so Shirou wouldn't be able to escort them freely without changing his disguise again.
Zeltbull was a cut throat place where most of the slavers made their home base. Trying to find refuge there was laughable. Faubley had a very strict immigration policy, violators punished with death, as they didn't wish to share the marvels left behind by past heroes. Q'ten Lo was a possibility for refuge, as while they were elitists, they weren't violently elitist, but the fact that it would take more than a month, going through possibly hostile territory, just to travel all the way there meant that Shirou couldn't escort them there. Not without being teleported away to deal with the Wave half way there. One by one the options were rejected until only one remained.
Shildfrieden.
Shildfrieden was a Demihuman nation, but not so radical as Siltvelt in its views of Humans, though slavery of both Humans and Demihumans was practiced. It was a republic in that curious form where only the rich were allowed to vote but everyone was counted in representation. It was an ideal nation for runaways… save for the high cost of living. Even those who weren't slaves in the literal sense were often worked to death in order to provide for themselves and their families. If Shirou wanted to find the children refuge there, he would have to buy it.
'All problems come with a price tag. The only question was whether or not you are willing to pay it or if you are willing to just suffer through.' Rin had once told him that. At the time Shirou thought that was just her own little quirk, thinking that everything boiled down to money. But when faced with the realities of Illya's illness, Shirou found out that you really did just have to throw money that some problems to make them go away. Millions of dollars from what he had gained in working for the Clock Tower went into funding materials and research to help find a cure, allowing him to achieve far more than he would have been able to himself.
There was little doubt that they would be able to find help in Shildfrieden, for the right price. It just meant he would have to sell a few things in order to make the required money.
"Alright then, we'll have to start heading for Shildfrieden then." Shirou said turning to look at Firo who had stopped playing with the children and seemed to be trying to hug the wagon that the slavers had been using. "I'll glad you like that wagon so much, because you're going to be pulling it for us."
"Guee!" Firo gave a delighted squeal, to which Shirou could only chuckle. He had found it hard to believe that Filolials had truly loved pulling carts when he had first read about it, but it seemed that it really was the case.
"Do any of you kids now anything about harnesses?" Shirou asked, to which three of the children responded by raising their hands. "See what you can do about strapping Firo in. While you do that, I'll hide the bodies. It would be better if anyone trying to find us didn't find them immediately."
"Do you want us to help?" The Kitsune girl asked Shirou.
Shirou shook his head. "No, this isn't a job for children. I killed these men, I will clean it up."
Shirou removed the valuables from each of the bodies before he started to carry them out into the forest, out of sight of the children.
[Some items can help unlock new forms for the Legendary Weapons. Try to give your weapon a sample of everything.]
"You have got to be kidding me." Shirou said as the familiar message appeared before him. His was already a little grossed out from the fact that killing those men had give him EXP, and now his sword was saying that it wanted to eat the corpses.
[A Hero will have enemies, both human and inhuman. There are weapon forms that will help with both types.]
Shirou frowned, thinking about the kind of properties a blade created by absorbing the essence of a human would be. There were many types of Noble Phantasms that specialized in dealing with human targets. Jian was right, he couldn't assume that monsters were the only evil in this world, or even that they would be the most dangerous.
The fact that he didn't immediately dismiss the idea made Shirou worry a little bit about himself. Perhaps he wasn't as much of a third-rate magus as he once hoped. The thought made him depressed.
"…Their already dead anyways, and it's probably better than leaving them for the monsters." Shirou mumbled, as if trying to convince himself that it didn't matter. Like he wasn't about to cross a line that shouldn't be crossed. Shirou glanced and took in a deep breath, before drawing out part of Jian and holding her crystal next to the human body. "Just make it fast."
Requirements met: [Manslayer's Sword (0/20) Unlocked – Base Power: 6 – Equip Bonus: +8% Damage-to-Humanlike, +1% Defense-against-Humanlike, +15% EXP-from-Humanlike (unmastered) – Proficiency: (0%)]
Shirou grimaced as he read over the sword's stats and hoped that there wouldn't be any reason for him to use such a blade anytime soon. Then he noticed that the human meat had been added to his inventory. "Jian, destroy the human meat. I don't care how unrecognizable it would be after you process it, just… just get rid of it." Shirou hissed to the sword before sighing. He thought back to the other six corpses back at the road with the kids, as well as what was left of the dragon horse corpse. "In for a penny, in for a pound."
[Manslayer's Sword II (0/30) Unlocked – Base Power: 11 – Equip Bonus: +12% Damage-to-Humanlike, +1% Defense-against-Humanlike, +20% EXP-from-Humanlike (unmastered) – Proficiency: (0%)]
[Lesser Dragon Sword (0/20) Unlocked – Base Power: 6 – Equip Bonus: +10% Damage-to-Dragonlike, +1 Defense (unmastered) – Proficiency: (0%)]
[Rider's Sword (0/15) Unlocked – Base Power: 3 – Equip Bonus: Riding Skill Up (small) (unmastered) – Proficiency: (0%)]
Shirou completed his unpleasant task just as the children finished hooking the excited Firo up to the wagon.
The children pilled up into the wagon squeezing in quite comfortably with a lot of space left over. Shirou stacked the chains that they had been bound with in the center of the wagon along with the useful items that he had grabbed off of the men's bodies, and the camping supplies that the men had with them. The chains were made of lead, the swords bronze, and they had iron chainmail on. These were good ingredients to have on hand for any magus.
The children were instructed to put on the shackles if they saw anyone approaching along the road, in order to make it appear as if they were only slaves being transported.
Even weighed down as it was, Firo had no problems pulling the wagon along. Actually, Shirou had to convince the bird to slow down, as to not make the trip too unpleasant for the children, and not cause the wooden wagon to fall to pieces. He would have to reinforce it the next time they rested.
"Thank you again for saving us." The Kitsune girl said to Shirou as they road along the road. She had lay claim to the spot next to Shirou on the wagon. The other children in the back were looking out at their surroundings and doing their best to keep themselves distracted from the harsh reality with any game that came to mind. "I don't think I ever introduced myself to you before. I'm Rita Aselia."
"It's a pleasure, Aselia-chan. I am Shirou Emiya, and you don't have to thank me. I just did what anyone would do if they were in my situation." Shirou said simply.
"If that is so, then why did you have to do it alone?" Rita asked in a quiet voice, her eyes were downcast and she was fiddling with her nails. "Where were the others from the village?"
"My situation is different than there's. I have strength and nothing to lose." Shirou explained. "It is remarkably easy to play hero when you have nothing to lose."
"Is that so." Rita said, though it didn't seem like she was really absorbing it. The night before the girl had been forcibly optimistic, now she was in shock.
"You are wondering why that man told the slavers you were there, aren't you?"Shirou guessed. Rita stiffened a little before nodding. "Don't think too badly of him. He seemed like a good man."
"If he was such a good man, then why did he do this to us?" Rita asked. "Why did he treat us like cattle that can be bought and sold?"
"Good men can be made to do horrible things if they believe that it is for a good cause. Entire nations full of perfectly normal people can be coerced into murdering the innocent if they can be made to believe that it would lead to some kind of brighter future." Shirou said his voice full of sympathy. The Nazis hadn't all been psychopaths. They had been normal people who had been led to believe that they could improve the world by committing horrible atrocities. "You might not have realized this, but that village you were in was on the road to ruin. It simple didn't have the resources required to feed everyone. That man willed himself to believe that if he gave you to the slavers, that the money could be used to save the rest of the village, and that you would all have a better chance at survival as slaves. He made himself believe that it was for a good reason, and because of that, a good man was able to do something horribly evil. He didn't hate you, nor did he believe that what he was doing was good, he had just been convinced that he had no choice."
Shirou couldn't judge the man. He himself was no different. When faced with those children dying, he had chosen to bloody his own hands. While some might say that Shirou's actions were justified, the families of those he killed probably would disagree. Killing and justice didn't mixed well.
"…They didn't hate us?" Rita said, sounding hopeful. She must have thought that no one in the village had wanted to save them, rather than them not having the power to.
"No, they didn't. They were all extremely broken up about you being taken away. They were just too afraid to do anything because they didn't want to bring the lord's vengeance down on their own families." Shirou replied with a sad smile. "Like I said, it is easiest to be a hero when you have nothing to lose."
"You make it sound like being a hero is so sad." Rita said looking up at Shirou with a curious expression.
"Some of the greatest heroes in history died wishing they were never born." Shirou admitted, thinking of Saber and Archer. They had been undeniably heroes, but they had had so many regrets that they each had wished to erase their own existences.
"Are you unhappy with your life?" Rita asked Shirou.
"No. I am not." Shirou said, thinking of the people who had give his life meaning beyond an empty string of selfless deeds.
Rita leaned into Shirou's side and placed her head against his arm, startling the young man. "Then being a hero can't be that bad."
The monstrous bear was brought to the ground a blade bared in the back of its neck.
Shirou let out a deep breath before looking up at the wagon full of children, who were all clapping at his little display. "Alright kids, it's time to make camp for the night." Shirou told them all.
"Okay!" The children shouted as they started to unload from the wagon.
"Some of you are going to need to help set up the tent, the rest of you gather firewood from nearby, I'm going to find some water. Firo, you keep an eye out from trouble until I get back." Shirou said.
"Guee!" Firo said, to show that she understood, before returning to eating the giant bear.
Shirou grabbed the seven waterskins he had taken off the slavers and went off into the forest to find any kind of stream. It didn't take long to find water and after filling up the skins he returned to children to find that they had set up the slaver's tent and gathered the fire wood, but there was a problem.
"Shirou-sama, the slavers didn't have that many blankets with them, and we've already gone through almost all of the food that they had." Rita reported when Shirou got back to the camp. He handed the waterskins to some of the children and they all gathered around eager for a drink. He would need to make enough trip before long. The slavers really hadn't brought enough supplies for everyone. Most likely they had only planned on dropping the slaves of at some nearby town rather than making for the boarder and avoiding settlements like Shirou had been doing.
It seemed like hiding his abilities wasn't to be an option. "Don't worry. I can help with that." He said with a smile as he reached out and grabbed on of the blankets. "Trace on."
He analyzed the blanket and produced ten exact copy of it. The children gasped in amazement at Shirou's little display. "You can use magic?" Rita asked with wide eyes.
"Something like that, though I'm not very good with it." Shirou admitted. Shirou projected a frying pan before reaching for Jian's crystal and removing a large piece of meat from her storage space. "Now let's see if I can't take care of our food situation as well."
They built six separate fires big enough to cook with and Shirou spent a good long while preparing food for the children and Firo… mostly Firo. Each of the kids ate their fill and were soon asleep with happy expressions on their faces. Shirou chuckled, seeing nearly half of the kids huddled around Firo, using her body as a pillow. The Filolial seemed happy to have so many people cuddled up against it. She was a herd animal after all.
"Aren't you going to go to sleep?" Rita asked him as she sat down beside him in front of one of the dying fire pits.
"No. After all the cooking we did, it wouldn't be surprising to have monsters visiting us. I'll need to keep watch tonight. Tomorrow I'll have a mean of protecting us ready so we can sleep more easily." Shirou said as he gestured to the various metal items he was working with.
"More magic?" Rita asked him.
"Yes. I'm preparing materials that I'll be able to use to create bounded fields. They are like spells that you attach to an area which can be used to enforce rules on that area. They are extremely versatile, if you know how to use them properly, though I only really know how to create a bounded field to keep out aggressors and random mana." Shirou explained.
"It still sounds amazing to me." Rita said, resting her head on her knees. "Shirou-sama, can I ask you something?"
"Of course." Shirou said simply.
"Can you teach me how to fight?" Shirou stopped what he was doing but didn't look up.
"…Explain." Shirou said, hoping that he wasn't about to hear what he thought he was about to hear.
"When my village was being destroyed in the Wave… I… I hide away in a small hole near my house. I was in there for hours, but it felt like an eternity, listening to the sounds of the monsters attacking our village. I could hear people screaming. I was so scared I couldn't move. I listened to them dying all around me. My parents. My brother. My neighbors. Everyone I knew died." Tears were coming to her eyes as she described hell, a hell that Shirou was all too familiar with. She was trembling uncontrollably. "When it was over, those of us orphaned by the Wave were picked up by the leader of a neighboring village. I tried to forget what happened, but I couldn't. I can still hear their screams at night. Then the slavers came, and… and… I couldn't do anything again. I don't want to be like this. I don't want to be stuck powerless and afraid. I don't want to have to stand by and watch others suffer."
Shirou sighed before reaching out and patting the girl on the head. "I understand."He said before beginning his own story. "When I was around eight years old, there was a horrible fire in the city I was in, five hundred lives lost in the blink of an eye and more lives lost to the flames. I can't remember anything that from before that, but what I do remember was trying to escape that fire, listening to all of the people begging for help and ignoring them as I forced everything, I had into just surviving another moment." Rita stopped crying and looked up at Shirou with wide eyes. "I understand how you feel. You want to justify why you were allowed to live when other died, don't you?" The girl nodded.
Shirou wanted to tell her that wasn't how the world worked and that she should just live on and forget those who died, but he knew damn well that wouldn't work. For the sake of her psyche, the girl needed to have the power necessary to never have to live through something like that again.
"Alright, what weapon would you like to learn?" Shirou asked the girl. Her face brightened.
"You'll teach me?" Rita asked him, her fox's tail wagging behind her like a dog's.
"Yes I will, on one condition." Shirou said, holding up one finger. "You have to promise me that you won't live your life alone. Find someone who you can care for and dedicate your life to being there for them. Let yourself be happy for their sake if not your own."
"Yes, I promise." Rita agreed without a second thought.
"Alright then, I suppose now is a good enough time to start. Even if you are wiped out for tomorrow you can still sleep on the wagon." Shirou said was he traced various wooden weapons. "Pick whatever you like, and we will get to work."
Rita Aselia: Lv 1
Requirements met: [Companion's Sword (0/20) Unlocked – Base Power: 5 – Equip Bonus: Companion Grow Up (small) (unmastered) – Proficiency: (0%)]
Shirou backed up, drawling the monster rabbit's attack before slashing down into its left shoulder, hobbling it. "Rita." Shirou signaled to the girl to make her move.
The Kitsune girl pushed forward, thrusting the enchanted short spear Shirou had made for her into the monster's chest from the side, its blade sinking easily into the monster's side regardless of its defenses. The creature continued to struggle for a few moments longer, refusing to go quietly, but soon the blood drained away and its slumped to the ground dead. Rita pulled the spear head out, stumbling back as she did so, her eyes locked on the dog sized rabbit.
"Good, you hesitated less that time." Shirou said, giving her a little praise.
"I'm still not the one actually fighting them." Rita said in response to his praise, seeming to not think he was being genuine.
"You only started practicing yesterday, expecting to already be fighting monsters is unreasonable. Besides, the most difficult thing to do for a fighter is to overcome that moment of hesitation. You're doing great. You just need more training and a few levels to help with your strength. You've already grown a few. You might be able to draw the bowstring now." Shirou said, giving her a pat on the head.
The Demihuman girl blushed a bright red. Perhaps she was remembering her near disastrous test runs of the various weapons that Shirou had offered her.
If those had been real swords, she would have cut off her own feet. She hadn't had the physical strength to use a bow and her attempts with throwing knives made Shirou wince just remembering them. She didn't have a strong sense of her own body, making wielding any weapon difficult for her. In the end he had given her a spear, simply because it was the weapon she was least likely to hurt herself with while still being capable of delivering a killing blow.
The problem was that the spear, while easy to just pick up and use, was perhaps the hardest to master and an unmastered spearman leaves several holes that can easily be exploited. It was why the spear sometimes had the reputation of being a grunt weapon, wielded by those who simply don't have time to master any sort of style.
It would take time, but as she fought more and gained an understanding of her own momentum, she would be ready for more complex weapon styles than a simple spear thrust. "We'll continue your hand-to-hand and knife training tonight and see if we can't start you with a bow."
"Alright." Rita said with a nod of her head. The other kids congratulated her as they climbed back up into the wagon. As they road along, Shirou noticed that the girl's eyes seemed blurred and wondered if the fighting was exhausting her.
"If you're tired you can just sleep." Shirou told her. Rita shot up and looked over at him, surprised by his suggestion. "Exhaustion is the enemy, one must deal with it when you have the chance if you wish to fight at your fullest."
"No, I'm not tired. I was just looking at my status." Rita said with a shake of her head. "It's really strange. I heard that it was supposed to take entire days of grinding monsters in order to grow a single level, but in just a few hours I have already grown 5."
"Well, we have encountered a few monsters along this road." Shirou admitted, glancing at his own status menu. He hadn't noticed anything odd about her rate of growth.
Emiya Shirou: Lv 26
Firo: Lv 22
Rita Aselia: Lv 6
"Maybe, and I suppose they are stronger than a low-level person like me is supposed to fight against, but it still feels like I am leveling up really fast." Rita said as she went back to staring at her status.
[Wielders of the Legendary Weapons and their allies receive the blessings of the Earth, increasing their rate of growth. This benefit is weakened whenever two or more Heroes are close together, as the ground they stand on has to supply both. Best to keep distance.]
"Is that so." Shirou said as he read the message from Jian. It explained why heroes had to act independently, as they wouldn't receive their bonus EXP if they didn't. He wondered just how much bonus EXP there was, and Jian provided the answer.
[Bonus EXP ≈ +900%]
Shirou raised an eyebrow. 10 times normal growth rates. He did a little bit of an estimate based on the number of monsters he had fought and found that if he hadn't had those bonuses, then he would only be a Lv 8 instead of a Lv 26. Getting 10 days of benefit for just a single day of work, joining a hero's company really was the fast lane to success. Maybe those adventurers back at the castle won't spies after all. Maybe they were just lazy bastards who wanted a spot in Shirou's backpack.
"I'm actually surprised that I'm able to harm these monsters at all. They should be too high of a level for me." She said as she looked down at her spear. "This must be a really incredible weapon."
"That is a copy of a masterwork spear which carries the blessings of a water god, allowing it to cut through monsters and demons that would otherwise be invulnerable to normal steel." Shirou told the girl.
It was a good spear, one that would have left many an Exorcist turning green with envy. Unlike most Noble Phantasms which would only allow their chosen wielders to use their true power, the magic spear was just a blessed item and could be used by anyone, partly because their true wielder had been a no name freelancer without a single drop of magical abilities. Even the water god had only chosen them because they were the only person nearby at the time when its foe was descending upon it in the god's moment of weakness.
If it had been a sword and Shirou had copied it with Jian at its full power, the level requirement would have been around Lv 70. Shirou had far better weapons, as its penetrating and anti-immortal attributes were too weak to deal with actual immortals or well-armored targets and it was more suited to be dealing with demons than monsters, but the short spear made a good match for the young girl who needed a little extra something to deal with her enemies' unfair defenses.
There was no need to tell Rita that the blade would control the water in the air when it rained and allow her to breath underwater. Though surprises could be left for later.
"Is it really something so amazing?" Rita asked, her eyes wide as she looked at the rather simple spear. The original wielder had been a mercenary after all, a flashy weapon would have only gotten them in trouble. Rita frowned. "But if you have such an amazing weapon, they why are you using those plain swords?"
[PLAIN!]
Jian was outraged at the allegation that she was just a plain weapon. Shirou couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction. "Actually, these blades are anything but plain." Shirou said, patting the hilt of the sword in order to calm her down… before he drove in the knife. "They're actually cursed."
*ZAP*
Electricity jumped from the hilt into Shirou's hand, causing him to recoil and hiss. Rita blinked at the bright blue light, her jaw hanging open.
"I'm not able to wield any other weapon, nor can I get rid of these ones. A rather ironic curse to be placed on a collector of weapons like me." Shirou said, smiling at Jian's seething furry.
"Maybe you should go to the church and see if they can remove the curse. It seems dangerous." Rita suggested, earning a snort of laugher out of Shirou and more rage from Jian.
"Something makes me doubt that the church would help me escape this one. But you don't need to worry. She doesn't want me dead, she just gets jealous when she sees me with other weapons." Shirou said after he was finished laughing.
[A Legendary Weapon is not jealous! A Hero needs no other weapon!]
"If you say so. I still think you should get them looked at." Rita said, glaring at the twin-blades at Shirou's belt. If Jian had eyes, she would have been glaring right back.
Shirou just chuckled and kept his eyes on the road. Still, he couldn't help but think that having to hide his weapon's true nature from the kids was inconvenient, as it was stopping him from mastering more of Jian's forms, and spending each night copying different weapons into her own arsenal. It was something that was making Jian increasingly agitated with Shirou as time went on.
Still, a transforming sword was the number one thing people seemed to associate with the Sword Hero, and the Sword Hero helping undesirables flee the country would likely turn Melromarc's aristocratic against him. While he could always change his appearance while running around, it might lead to people trying to arrest him during the middle of a Wave. That would be a disaster and a half, especially if the other heroes got involved. Motoyasu and Itsuki seemed to be willing to put up with things for more perks, and Shirou couldn't say anything with certainty about Naofumi. He knew nothing about those three, and without access to his more powerful weaponry, Shirou didn't think he could take on any of them, let alone all of them. And while the three would be hunting Shirou, the Wave would be allowed to grow out of control again.
He wished to truly save these children, to take them to a place where they would be both safe and happy, but for the sake of fighting the Waves unimpeded, he couldn't let his identity be leaked while he was doing so. After he left them in the hands of whatever individual he could convince to take care of them, would they keep quite if they knew who he was? From his memories of Archer's life, Shirou knew all too well how quickly people forgot about the person who helped them after they move on.
Why was he even bothering? Even if he got these children across the border, did he really think that their lives would change? The moment he was gone, whoever he put in charge of them would probably throw them aside, pocketing the money meant to help them. The world will still be a miserable place. Shirou had better things to do than trying to save a few orphaned children.
'No! It isn't wrong to want to help people!' Shirou shouted in his own mind, his fingers tightening on the grip on the reigns. 'I won't turn my back on people suffering right in front of me.'
This time, the Sword of Sloth spoke in Shirou's mind, using Archer's voice. 'That's hell you're walking into.'
'I. Don't. Care.'
"There. That should do it." Shirou said as he finished incasing the metal runes he had created into the ground in order to form a magic square. He projected six copies of the Azoth Sword Rin had once given him. The crystal blades all hummed with magical energy that closely resembled Rin's, making them much more useful for Shirou when activating a runecraft formula than his own Od. After embedding them at keep points in the magic square before speaking the key word to activate them. "Läßt."
The large rubies in the blades' pummels all glowed and their energy traveled into the formula, powering it up. Shirou could immediately feel the change in the air around him as the Bounded Field fell into place.
"Alright, it's working." Shirou said as he stood up and dusted himself off. "Until the power in those blades is drained, we should be safe from any creature with hostile intentions, within reason."
"Within reason?" Rita asked with a slight tilt of her head.
"I don't think it would more than slow down a dragon or anything of that nature, but all the monsters we have so far along the road wouldn't be able to penetrate it." Shirou explained. "It will also warn me if anything tries, preventing an ambush."
"If it's so powerful, then why not put it on the wagon?" Rita asked as she looked at the assortment of complex symbols.
"Doesn't work that way. Bounded Fields by nature can't be attached to movable objects. The only exceptions being objects that contain their own realities." Shirou said.
"Such things exist?" Rita seemed skeptical of Shirou's words.
"I've only seen two, but they aren't the kinds of things one forgets easily." Shirou said, he could help but to have a knowing grin. He himself was one such object. The Reality Marble contained within his soul was, in essence, a portable bounded field. The possibilities opened up by a portable bounded field was one of the main reasons that Magi went foaming at the mouth whenever they started to suspect Shirou of having a Reality Marble. Shirou found it strange how they could barely glance as Medusa, a heroic spirit, walked around in front of them, but his oddness sent them into a rage.
"…Sensei sure has seen a lot of strange things." Rita deadpanned.
"You don't know the half of it." Shirou agreed before quirking an eyebrow. "Speaking of which, it is time to resume your training." Shirou traced a wooden knife and handed it to her.
"Right." Rita said, taking the weapon and adopting the knife fighter stance that he had shown her the night before.
"Keep your free hand out of the way, you don't want to be cutting it off yourself. And your legs need to be shoulder width apart, otherwise it is too easily to knock you over."Shirou pushed on her shoulder and the girl wobbled slightly before regaining her balance.
After fixing her balance issues, Shirou walked her through some steps on how to maneuver around without giving up her strong footing. Then they switched weapons to a long sword and practiced the same, then with a spear, and then an ax. Shirou was trying to get her used to simply moving around as much as possible, all the while explaining the various strengths and weaknesses of each weapon and stance. Familiarity with all kinds of weapons and fighting styles would be handy for her, even if she wasn't choosing to pursue those weapons.
After two hours, Rita collapsed to the ground with sore legs. "Sensei, I don't know if I can do this anymore." Rita whimpered as she rubbed at her tired legs.
"That's fine, we can stop that kind of work for tonight. But remember, mobility is one of the most important aspects of combat. If you can't keep your footing while moving…"
"…You'll just get knocked over. I know." Rita said bitterly.
"You're doing better than you know." Shirou told her, grinning down at her pouting expression. "Now, if you are too tired to keep dancing around, perhaps you would like to give the bow another try?"
Before she hadn't had the physical strength needed to properly use a bow, but over the course of that day she had grown 8 levels, and her strength had increased quite a bit because of it. A gap in strength that would have taken months to close in his old world had been done in a single day of 'leveling'.
"Alright." Rita mumbled, pushing herself up on unsteady feet before regaining her balance and following Shirou. Shirou projected a bow and a few arrows, handing them over to the girl. "Um… sensei, this doesn't seem like the normal practice set." Rita commented as she took the bow and quiver. The recurved bow was made of Yew, but the wood had turned bright green through alchemic processes and Celtic runes had been edged into its surface. The arrows were also strange, the metal arrowheads having an odd discoloration, being a mixture of orange and blade, with starch white shafts.
"They are just a few enchanted items. Just a little something to make the drawling of the bow easier and stop the bow from weakening if left strung. Now let's get you into position." Shirou said, dismissing her questions about the weapon for now. No need to tell her about Robin Hood's Yew Bow, or the arrows which had come from an Indian Hero who had been suspected of being an Avatar of Durga, whose arrows would fly true regardless of the winds and could piece through any evil.
Rita would lack the ability to activate their more exotic functions as Noble Phantasms, but the passive effects would be helpful for her getting started, and they were weapons of the highest quality.
Once Shirou had corrected the girl's form and given her the okay, she notched an arrow, took aim at a log and let it fly.
She missed of course. Doesn't matter how straight the arrow flies if the aim was off to begin with, but that was to be expected. The arrow it a tree behind the target and became logged inside. Still, the girl was determined and continued at it until her arms ached as well as her legs. Shirou decided to call it a night. She was still far from perfect, but towards the end she was consistently hitting somewhere on her target at 12 meters. It was better than Shirou expected.
Actually, she was improving in all aspects of fighter faster than Shirou expected. This kind of thing was supposed to take weeks, not hours. "You're improving quickly." Shirou complemented her.
"You're just saying that." Rita replied with a sigh.
"No, I'm not. I wasn't expecting you to be this good for at least another week."Shirou assured her with a smile.
"…Does that mean you'll let me have my own knife now?" Rita asked hopefully.
"No. But you can keep the bow." Shirou said flatly. He still wasn't confident enough in the girl's balance and technique to give her a weapon that could cause her serious harm if she messed up. Any knife that would allow her to cut through the defense stat of her enemies would be an extreme danger to herself if she tripped at any point.
"You aren't afraid I might accidently shoot you with it?" Rita commented while pouting about how he wouldn't let her wield a real knife or sword yet.
"I'm more than used to having to dodge projectiles. I don't think you would be able to land a killing shot on me if you tried." Shirou admitted.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Rita said with a sigh. Then her stomach grumbled. Her mouth shut tight and she began to blush.
Shirou grinned a bit at the sound. "No need to be embarrassed. Hunger is the enemy, a fighter must eat whenever possible if they expect to maintain their full strength." Shirou chuckled at the young girl's embarrassment. "Don't worry. I'll make you something to eat."
"Guee…?" Firo perked up at the mention of food, looking over at Shirou with her big round eyes. The bird couldn't move, as she was being used as a pillow by half the children in their little company, but she did her best to convey the fact that she would also like a late night snack.
"I'll get something for you too." Shirou assured her before going to prepare them something to eat.
The amount of food these children ate. Well, it was a good thing that Jian let Shirou carry so much with him.
Requirements met: [Companion's Sword II (0/30) Unlocked – Base Power: 7 – Equip Bonus: Companion's Status Up (small) (unmastered) – Proficiency: (0%)]
"Did you just take one of the girl's hairs?" Shirou mumbled, willing himself to speak in Japanese so that no one would understand him, as Jian unlocked a new form by absorbing one of Rita's hairs that had clung to Shirou's hand after he had given her a pat on the head.
Well, wasn't like it mattered. So long as Rita didn't notice.
All the children in the camp were finally asleep and Shirou was the last one awake, looking up at the stars and thinking about the world. After getting the Tent Sword, he didn't need as much sleep as everyone else, though with people so close by, he couldn't just start copying swords into Jian again.
Not that Jian agreed with that sentiment.
Weapon Copy
The Legendary Weapons can copy weapons of the same category for the hero's use, so long as they meet level requirements.
"I can't do that. I don't want the kids to realize what you are." Shirou told the sword. He could tell that Jian was not happy about it one bit. But rather than arguing with Shirou, she presented an alternative.
Weapon Energy
The Legendary Weapons can convert the EXP gathered within the weapon (weapon proficiency) into Energy. This energy can be spent to Awaken and Upgrade weapon forms.
"I was planning to save that Energy for when I am going to be using a weapon form I plan on keeping. No sense using it to enhance a form I am just going to be throwing away anyways." Shirou pointed out with a shrug of the shoulder.
Weapon Awakening
The Legendary Weapons can use Energy to Awaken individual forms. Awakened weapons gain large boosts to their equipment bonuses. Weapons can then have more Energy spent on them in order to improve the quality of the weapon up to 5 successful times. Each success resulting in an increase in power of 20%.
"Really? Even the Noble Phantasms I have copied?" Shirou said, his eyes widening in surprise. If enhanced fully, that would mean that the base stats of the weapon would be doubled. Kanshou and Bakuya would become equal to an A-rank Noble Phantasm. If he enhanced a weapon like Caliburn… holy shit.
[Expensive, but possible. The higher the quality of the weapon, the greater the chance of failure.]
As to be expected, but the fact that it was doable was still frightening.
But that would be a topic for later. Right now the more useful bit would be the improvements to the weapon's Equip Bonuses caused by Awakening.
He had already been converting his weapon proficiencies into Energy, so he had plenty in the bank to do a little experimentation. He choose his iron twin-swords as a test dumbie to see what would happen.
[Iron Twin-swords (0/15) Unlocked – Rarity: Very Common – base power: 6 – Equip Bonus: +1 Speed, [Dual Wielder] (mastered)]
[Do you wish to Awaken this form?]
Yes.
[Iron Twin-swords (0/15) Awakened – Rarity: Very Common – base power: 6 – Equip Bonus: +2 Speed, [Dual Wielder+] (mastered)]
[Dual Wielder+] – Wielder can manifest up to four blades at once. Maximum distance between wielder and blade extended. 1 meter → 15 meters. Cost effectiveness increased from [Dual Wielder].
It worked. Both the raw stats and the skill provided by the weapon were improved by the awakening. This could further increase the edge Shirou was receiving from his Equip Bonuses. Shirou decided to experiment some more with it, Awakening his medicine swords, increasing the effectiveness of his medicines and giving them a larger area of effect… however that work. He improved the passive poison resistances he gained for him bug based swords and decreased the cost of [Air Strike Slash].
But it wasn't until he reached the Beastmaster Series that he was truly glad he found this function early.
[Beastmaster's Sword (0/20) Awakened – Base Power: 5 – Equip Bonus: Monster Growth Up (medium) (mastered)]
[Beastmaster's Sword II (0/30) Awakened – Base Power: 7 – Equip Bonus: Monster Status Up (medium) (mastered)]
[Beastmaster's Sword III (0/40) Awakened – Base Power: 8 – Equip Bonus: Monster Growth Up (large) (mastered)]
Even larger buffs for Firo's growth rate and base stats. The bird's rate of growth was already high enough to keep up with Shirou despite Shirou receiving Equip Bonuses. Now she would be getting even stronger still.
He quickly did the same for the Companion Sword, though he would need to gain mastery in the Companion Sword II before he could do the same there. He would do it that night while the children were all asleep. Getting up, Shirou left the camp, heading towards the sounds of monster dogs howling in the night.
As he left, he felt a smug sense of satisfaction coming from Jian. He had to admit, while she was dragging him down at the moment, with him being unable to use any Noble Phantasms, she promised to be an overwhelming powerhouse in the long run.
[I am the only weapon you will ever need.]