Chapter 2
Beta: Worldbringer of Joseun
Shirou wandered Akihabara. He turned street corners, went down alleyways, and followed the sound of players… Players that were either screaming in rage or wallowing in defeat.
There was despair everywhere. People just lying on the sidewalks, against trees, even lazily in the center of the road. It's like they didn't have a reason to go on.
Such a sight of despair… It rubbed him the wrong way.
If there was something he could do to help them, he would. However, as it stands now, he was the weakest among them all. His level was one, the absolute bottom. Whatever he could do was not going to aid these people, whose levels all ranged from Illya's to the hypothetical maximum, ninety.
His level would not be able to deal with the beasts that Illya said lurked within the dungeons, whose power required several groups of warriors to be defeated. Even if he could throw Noble Phantasms until those beasts died, he would not be able to keep it up.
If tracing a single regular sword cost a single point of mana, then breaking it to deal damage to these beasts, would require a whole lot more of his prana– mana. A whole lot more mana too if he used noble phantasms. He needed to get stronger, that was a given, but the forest outside these city walls was too dangerous to deal with as he was now.
Until Illya had Rin and Sakura trained up to an okay level, he would do as Illya said. Explore Akihabara and get a good idea of the surroundings.
"Hey… isn't that guy level one?"
"Yeah, he is… Oh man. Sucks to be him."
"He's gonna die. Definitely going to die."
They were talking about him, and as of now, he could do nothing to refute that. He was reminded of his first days in the Holy Grail War a year ago… the feeling of helplessness…
He hated that feeling.
His stomach suddenly grumbled, an odd feeling seeing as this was not his own body. He turned to the nearest vendor stall, which had cabbages lined up. It was owned by someone with ginger hair and alabaster skin, odd but fantastical in a sense. It fits with the world he supposed.
"Excuse me, do you know where I can find a cheap meal?" Shirou asked as he approached the stall.
The person blinked and sent him a surprised look. Despite the reaction, he replied, "If you're looking for something to eat, then I suppose the adventurer tavern is where you'll want to go…" He regarded Shirou with another look. "You aren't acting like I thought you adventurers would…"
"Really?" Shirou asked, "How would an… adventurer react?"
"Most of them nowadays just ignore us and sit around on the road." He grumbled and snorted, "I remember the day when they used to go around and help us with our jobs. I'm low on beetroot cabbages and the monsters that keep them are too strong for me to beat."
"So… adventurers used to do that for you?"
"If I paid them yeah." He replied, but then sent a slightly fearful yet annoyed look at the adventurer that walked passed the stall, "… I don't know what happened to you lot but seeing someone who isn't walking like they're dead is a welcome change."
Shirou turned and looked at everyone, once more seeing the despair. "I suppose…"
"Hey man, why are you talking to the NPC?" Someone asked him, he had a full set of black plate-mail armor. He also had red hair and a great sword by his side. Horribly proportioned, but it was a fantasy weapon made in a fantasy world, Shirou could live with it.
Shirou furrowed his brow, "NPC? What's that?"
The stranger's eyes widened. "You don't know…?" He looked upwards and widened his eyes further. "You're level one! You must be a newbie, right?"
Shirou sent a look to the shopkeep, who had backed away slightly and directed his own gaze elsewhere. Finding it odd, Shirou replied with a yes.
"Damn man… you're so dead. Here, you know how to open the trade menu right?"
Shirou nodded, tapping on the screen before him and manually searching for the figure. When he found it, he tapped it and found a request sent from 'Isaac'.
"Since you're a swashbuckler, these potions should do the trick." He tapped his screen, and Shirou found the menu to show a potion icon under the name Isaac, "They're simple Haste potions so you don't have to pay me anything for these, just survive for now man."
"You don't have to give me these, Isaac-san–"
"I'm not cruel enough to let someone – whose level is basically a death sentence – die on my watch. The other players who're at least level twenty have at least some chance of survival – you on the other hand, have absolutely zero." He cut in, unknowingly making Shirou annoyed at being called weak, even if it was true at the present moment. "These potions were just gathering dust anyway, you need them a hell lot more than me."
The screen showed big READY text on Isaac's side, which probably meant that this was the final trade. Shirou tapped his ready button and found the menu disappear completely.
"The potions should be in your inventory," He said, "I'd invite you to my guild if I could, but I have a level limit restriction. I'd remove it if I could but with the NPC's acting weird, I'm not sure I can do that."
"… Thanks for the potions, I guess." Shirou trailed his reply, "You still didn't tell me what an NPC is."
"Simple, it means Non-Player Character." He replied, "Basically AI programs when they were in the game." His eyes widened and turned to his side, he frowned at the metaphysical message he received. "Damn it, it's already that time? If you ever need some help, just call. These low-level brats will never survive out here for long…"
With that grim reminder, Isaac left down the street.
"So that's what NPC meant…" The shopkeeper muttered as a frown took hold, "I don't know what he meant by 'game' or 'AI' but I know slander when I hear one…"
Shirou smiled wryly, "Don't hold it over them, mister…?"
"Egburd, that's the name my old man gave me." He added, "Not an NPC like those adventurers call us. I'm a proud citizen of Eastal and nothing is going to change that."
"Mister Egburd," Shirou continued as he committed the name to memory. "Don't hold it over them, they're just… confused and afraid."
He huffed, "Whatever. The only good adventurer I've met since yesterday is you. Nice, polite, and not demanding a discount on everything I sell…"
Shirou gave him a smile and waved, "I suppose I'll see you later?"
"Don't get yourself killed laddie, not that you adventurers can die anyway…"
What?
His thoughts on what Egburd had said faded when he received a message from Illya. He tapped the screen and read the message…
Was it already time for him to go? That was surprising. Time had somehow flown away when he wasn't looking.
He said his goodbye's to Egburd and walked away. He had a vague idea where the training grounds were, luckily Illya provided directions in her message so he knew where to go.
The odd stares he was getting from simply talking with Egburd were off-putting though.
"Why is this so damn hard!?"
Illya sighed for what was like the fifth time this morning. In addition to tripping every few minutes due to her new height – which made Rin snicker each and every time – the self-proclaimed genius magus was failing to so much as use a single spell.
In light of her failure to do so, the training dummy before them rocked side to side with the wind as if mocking her. Illya would have laughed at Rin's suffering in the training grounds, but she had run out of laughter ages ago.
Now? It was just sad.
"It's not working!" Rin complained, again. "I can shoot a Gandr just fine, but an 'Fire Bolt'? Bullshit!"
"C-Calm down Nee-san!"
"Easy for you to say, Sakura! You mastered that absurdly simple healing skill easily!"
"It isn't absurd and it isn't simple, Rin." Illya chided.
Even though the twin-tailed magus had all the affinities, she found it hard to even use the basic spell that came with those affinities. Apparently, she said that it wasn't like her magecraft at all and that it was unfair that Sakura could use it instantly.
"Shut up!" Rin cried, raising a hand and focusing once more. "Come on… burn already!"
"Yelling isn't going to help, Nee-san."
"Then how did you do it?!"
"Calm down and maybe I'll tell you."
After Rin gave her sister a glare, it lightened and she slumped. "Fine. Oh all mighty Sakura~, what is it that I'm doing wrong?"
"Well… I'm not a mage," Sakura started, "but I think that you shouldn't just create a fire in your hands for starters."
"Why not? All spells start with the creation of the mystery before the manipulation of the element." Rin said as she rolled her eyes, "Any magus worth their salt knows that. Otherwise the spell goes wrong and you could lose a limb."
"But you're forgetting something, Rin." Illya reminded with a somewhat mocking smile.
"And what exactly am I forgetting?" Rin asked heatedly.
"This is a game."
A few moments of silence passed. Rin twitched slowly and faced the albino magus.
"I hate you sometimes," Rin complained.
"I love you too, Rin!"
Sakura could not help herself and laughed out loud at the antics that the two of them shared. Rin sent her a glare too before facing the training dummy once more.
"So instead of imagining the entire process – like any normal magus with a brain would – I should just skip all that and shoot the thing?" Rin asked for clarification.
Illya nodded. "Yep."
Rin nodded this time and pointed her hands – in a similar posture to when she'd use Gandr – at the training dummy. "Firebolt!"
Instead of nothing happening, Rin felt the prana – Or as Illya kept saying nowadays 'mana' – escape from her body and into her fingertips, generating a flame and blasting it from her fingers.
It was weak, as expected of a spell given to starting mages, but from what Rin could see…
"This is stupid." She concluded. She watched as the spell traveled slowly – half the speed of her more efficient Gandr – and hit the training dummy, not even setting it on fire. It was made of straw damn it! "Not only did this mockery of a spell skip the cardinal processes – making the spell casting linear and flimsy as all hell – it was so weak that it can't even burn dried straw."
"What do you expect?" Illya chided as she shuffled on her rock seat. "This is a game, Rin. The starting spells are weak as heck."
Rin shot out a Firebolt again, once more hitting the straw dummy for almost no damage. She shot it again, and again, and again, and again–
"Okay, I'll ask – Rin, what in the hell are you doing?" Illya asked at seeing the magus fire another Firebolt for the seventh time in a row. "Have you finally lost your marbles?"
Rin looked at her mana, which was just under half, and nodded to herself.
"Yup, Gandr is far more efficient."
"A blind crow could have told you that, Rin."
Rin shrugged and prepared to fire once more–
The fire curled in on itself, being wrapped in foreign energy and expanding before blasting itself forward as fast as a Finn Shot. Once it impacted the straw dummy, it blasted to smithereens.
Rin smirked to herself. "Yup, that's more like it."
"WHAT THE HECK, RIN?!" Illya screamed, "That doesn't make any damn sense! How did you do that?!"
"What? You didn't realize?" Rin rose an eyebrow as she smirked. "It wasn't that hard to reverse engineer the spell after using it several times. It was inefficient as hell, it didn't even loop the fire for a more explosive finish, even the prana gathering method was amateur. By the way, totally naming that last spell Finn Fire."
"You just… made a spell?" Illya muttered, "That shouldn't be… that shouldn't be possible. Did Novasphere Pioneers change that much? Is it a new mechanic…?"
"Midget?" Rin called, waving a hand so that the albino magus could see her, "Midget? You there? Nope, she's gone."
"Are you sure you should still call Illya, a 'midget'?" Sakura asked wryly as she looked over Illya's new… body.
Despite the fact that neither of the sisters wanted to remember how Illya exactly obtained that body, none of them could deny that her new body suited her more than her child-like body ever did.
Actually, she was acting somewhat less childish at the moment. Maybe her body was just influencing her to act like a child?
"Even if the midget changes her body, she's still the same midget to me." Rin huffed as she ignored the fact that Illya had made her bust size substantially bigger than hers.
At least it wasn't as big as Sakura's, cheers for the small victories.
"I'd advise against using Finn Fire in public, Nee-san." Sakura chided.
"Of course I'm not using my magecraft in front of civilians Sakura," Rin replied as if it was common knowledge, forgetting the fact that magic is standard in this game world. "I already saw Illya's reaction to it, I don't want to see how others would react."
Sakura checked the time, a handy feature that the menu gave her without the use of a wristwatch. "Hmm… it's almost time. Shirou should be coming back by now."
Rin looked at her own magical floating clock, "You're right about that. Hey, midget! Send a message to Shirou for us!"
Rin would have honestly done it herself, but she didn't know how to use the messaging function just yet. One day, but for now she was focusing on the spells she was casting.
Illya snapped from her reverie and obliged. "I'll send him directions, for now, you should work on your other elements– Don't make new spells yet! If you use up all your mana then we're going to have to wait for it to regenerate!"
"What was that? Sorry, wasn't listening." Rin said… as her hand was held out toward where a wind-infused Gandr was shot, shredding through another training dummy. "Naming that one Finn Gale, totally."
Rin furrowed her brow and shook her wrist when Finn Gale wasn't being shot out, "Hey midget, why isn't the spells being shot?"
Illya's brow twitched. She couldn't hold it in, with one last twitch she bellowed "YOU RAN OUT OF MANA! DAMN IT RIN!"
Rin held her hands up to cover her ears. "Damn it midget! Save the screeching for when you pop your cherry!"
"NEE-SAN!"
"What? It's true!" Rin exclaimed, "Illya seems more like a squealer–"
"We literally have to wait until your mana regenerates now!" Illya chided,
"It didn't feel like I ran out of prana," Rin replied, "My circuits still feel fine."
"If this were a real battle, you would have been left helpless by now!" Illya pressed.
Rin snorted, "Does it matter? I've learned how to use the weak spells now. By the way, mixing Gandr into the weak elemental attacks doesn't change the spell cost at all."
Illya sighed and chose to ignore that overpowered piece of information, again. The lesson about mana conservation wasn't really being driven home just yet, but Illya did know that in a real battle, Rin would be cautious.
Although… It was like Illya was the only one who had no overpowered ability. Even though she was the one who made their characters as weak as they could, specifically Rin's character.
–But as it turns out, RIN WAS THE MOST BROKEN OF THEM ALL!
Illya pouted as she mentally complained about an overpowered Ritian, but she widened her eyes as she received a message asking for a voice chat… and it wasn't from Shirou.
The name highlighted above the message indicated it was from a player named 'Woodstock W'.
The Guild Master of her old guild, Grandeur.
Her eyes widened further.
The weight of the message she was sent was… burdening, to say the least.
"Sorry girls, I'll need to take a private call." Illya apologized, which was uncharacteristic of her, both Sakura and Rin knew that, but let her walk away to start a voice chat. Sakura and Rin both stared at her oddly, which Illya supposed was granted.
She didn't go too far, just out of ear shot. Once she seated herself under a big oak tree, she initiated the call with a slightly heavy breath.
"… Hello? Is this Illyasviel?"
She remembered that voice, it was nostalgic, to say the least.
"Yes, it's me, Woodstock-san."
She normally wouldn't be calling someone with an honorific, but this man was respectable in Illya's eyes. He had once been apart of a high-level raid guild, but he left due to the elitist practices that it had. He ran a small guild that welcomed players from all-round.
This included herself.
"That's wonderful, you are alright yes?" He asked, "It's not safe to be alone in this world now. Come to the guild, we can help you out. Some of them are worried about you."
"I'm not a member anymore, Woodstock-san," Illya reminded, "Besides, I'm not alone. I have my family here with me."
Even though she fought with one of them every single day, Illya was still proud to call them family. They stuck with her and put up with some of her selfish wishes. Calling them any less was a disservice.
"You do?" He said in surprise. "That's terrific! They can help keep you safe then…What level are they?"
"… Level one?"
Illya was less proud to admit that.
"I retract my statement– bring them with you! They'll die if you aren't careful!" He said in a panic, "Do you know what a low level means Illyasviel?!– Especially a level that low! They can't even farm slimes without being close to death!"
"We're fine," Illya concluded, "I'm not letting them out of Akihabara until I find a safe way for them to grind. I'm not an idiot Woodstock-san!"
"It is still dangerous!" He replied, "Being in a guild is safer for you and your family, you have to join us here. If not for yourself, then for your family."
Illya fell silent, "Is that all you wanted to call me for, Woodstock-san?"
"Illyasviel, I know that tone." He warned. "Please, for the love of god don't hang up the call–"
Illya was an atheist, she had no love for god.
Edgy statements aside, she was also a very stubborn girl.
They'd be fine.
All they need to was each other. She wasn't going to let anyone harm them. She may trust Woodstock, but she didn't really trust the other members.
Gamers were petty, she didn't want to risk one of those members doing… unsavory things to them because of their extra abilities. Illya didn't particularly want to see the mages harass Rin on her new spells, or Druids harass Sakura for tips, or harass Shirou for his ass–
She just didn't want their abilities to be found out! Gamers are a damn desperate bunch!
That, and she didn't want to risk sexual harassment.
–Harassment on Shirou, because he's got a great ass.
Huzzah~ for peepholes!
"So, what was that call about, midget?" Rin called upon seeing Illya walk back to them, miraculously stumbling only once. "Sounded intense."
"It was just an old acquaintance in the game," Illya replied, "He wanted to make sure I was fine."
"That's nice of him," Sakura commented.
"By the way, my mana is taking a while to regenerate. Does it always take this long?" Rin asked.
Illya nodded as she placed the thoughts of her conversation behind her for a bit. "It takes that long because you don't have any items equipped that help, most mage classes have some that do. I'll be buying some starter gear for you all later, for now, we have to wait for Shirou to arrive."
"Well looks like we aren't waiting long," Rin commented, "I see his sweet ass over there."
"Nee-san!"
"You know it's sweet too, Sakura~"
Rin began to descend into a teasing frenzy on her poor younger sister. It allowed Illya some reprieve to smile Shirou's way and wave.
"So, how was the trip?" Illya asked, "Familiar with the town yet?"
"I'll need to explore more, but I have a general idea of the area…" Shirou replied. He looked over to the two sisters struggling before them in a grapple. "… I take it that I missed something?"
"Just ignore it," Illya waved it off, "Okay girls! I have our next plan of action!"
"And what would that be, midget?"
While she had ignored Woodstock's offer, she was taking certain other parts of their conversation into consideration. It was something that would help Illya protect her family and allow them to train away from prying eyes…
Guilds.
"We're going to make a guild!"
Rin frowned as she gazed around. "I don't like how these guys are looking at us, midget."
"It's because of your equipment and level that they're staring," Illya replied offhandedly. "They're just pitying you guys."
"I still don't like it…" Rin huffed as she crossed her arms. Shirou smiled at her wryly, which made the twin-tailed magus look away in stubborn contempt.
The group had left the training area and was now down the street. Just like with Shirou, the people around them had sent varying degrees of stifling and annoying worried looks, which didn't sit well with Tohsaka.
Illya and Sakura had taken to it rather calmly and ignored the looks completely.
"Why do we need to make a… Guild, again?" Rin asked.
"Having a guild gives us a free guild room," Illya explained, "It's safe and cannot be accessed by other players unless the guild master or someone with the guild master's permission allows them to. This way we won't have to worry about people sneaking into our camp."
"If you say so," Rin muttered.
"We also get to freely customize the interior, which we can upgrade to have both great beds or a warm shower. Some guild bases have hot springs if I'm remembering it right."
"What are we waiting for!?" Rin exclaimed, "Move your midget ass!"
The trio of level one players quickly followed Illya down a couple open streets as they ignored the despair that flooded the streets. Well, the girls did, Shirou had a hard time in doing so.
Soon Illya came to a brief stop before a large building, which prompted the others to do so as well.
The building itself was as high as a common skyscraper, but what made it so interesting was the structural details it had. There were numerous windows, all of which were overshadowed by the gold trimmings that the exterior of the building had. It had the usual overgrowth of trees and vines that the other ruined buildings shared, although it didn't make it any less majestic.
"Eh, I've seen better."
The rest ignored Rin as they followed Illya into the building. Not many people were actually hanging out in the reception hall, the majority of them either still despairing outside or within one of the many guild rooms that the Guild Hall had.
From there, Illya walked up to the reception, stationed with People of the Land, and promptly tapped on the reception bell.
Numerous times.
The bell was dragged from her by a female receptionist, which prompted Illya to pout a bit. Sakura stood behind Illya to give her company while Rin – who had dragged Shirou off with her – inspected the architecture. Illya had no idea why, but she didn't question it.
"Yes," The receptionist started, "What is it that you require?"
Professional, that was what Illya noticed. That or the woman before her had a naturally stoic face. Then again, all the Kunie clan members looked the same, except the females because they had breasts.
"I'd like to start a guild." Illya declared, puffing her chest up in pride at the declaration.
The receptionist didn't care to notice that and simply nodded. She reached under the desk and dragged out a form. "Here. Sign this and you'll be free to create your own guild. You need a minimum of four player signatures before it will be accepted. If you fail to return the form within twelve hours then further requests will be denied until a twenty-four hour period has passed."
Okay…?
Illya thought that was odd. The time restriction wasn't there before. Was it due to the update? Also, the NPC was far less welcoming than when Illya last met her in the game, maybe something to do with the players harassing them?
The four-player restriction was still there though, just like it was in Elder Tale.
"Thanks!" Illya said as she grabbed the form. She was also given a feathered quill, archaic compared to the modern pen, and an ink bottle.
Illya quickly wrote on the form her signature and so did Sakura. After a few moments of looking around, Illya spotted Rin looking up at a pillar with an exasperated Shirou being held by his collar.
"Rin! We need you and Shirou to sign this!"
"Coming, midget!"
Rin stomped on over and grabbed the quill pen from Illya. She wrote her signature quickly and elegantly – like all the females of the group did – as opposed to Shirou, who did it quickly but somewhat roughly in comparison. He was probably unused to the quill pen.
Illya had also asked them if they were okay with her being the guild master, which they weren't opposed to. Rin complained, but she begrudgingly accepted when she remembered that Illya was the one with the knowledge of the game and therefore would be best to represent them.
At least she was the guild master in a guild with three inevitably overpowered players. That was something.
Illya smiled and moved to ring the bell again but the lady was still there, her hand over the bell in an open palm. Illya quickly frowned and handed over the form to the receptionist, who nodded as she inspected it.
"Everything seems to be in order," She concluded. She handed back the form to Illya. "Very well, all you have to do now is decide the name of your guild–"
"Shirou's/Onii-chan's Harem." Rin and Illya blurted out in unison.
"Illya! Nee-san!"
Shirou only responded with awkward sputtering and a palm across his face. "Please don't call our guild that."
"Fine~" Illya replied, then she rose a finger to her chin as she carefully thought of the guild name. "What about Fuyuki Four?"
"I don't like it," Rin denied, "What about Holy Grail Winners?"
Sakura frowned, "I'd… rather not be reminded of the war every time we say our guild name."
"Three hot babes and Shirou?" Illya suggested.
"No."
"What about something general…" Rin mused, "Like Tempest?"
"What does that even mean?" Illya asked as she shuffled in her armor.
"I don't know, something!" Rin whined in exasperation.
While the four of them had fought against and with beings that surpassed their imaginations, that didn't stop them from taking several minutes on deliberating the guild name. Even weirder suggestions had been thrown around like 'Berserker is King' or 'Carnival Phantasm'.
None of the names seemed to click with them at all though.
"It's not like we actually need a name right? We just need the guild for the free beds…" Rin huffed, already tired at the time they spent debating. "I don't have any ideas. What about you, Sakura?"
The plum-haired Foxtail mused quietly for a while but gave a suggestion. "What about… this?" She took the quill and form from Illya and wrote across the back of it. "What do you think?"
Shirou read it, Illya looked at it, and Rin studied it for about one second.
Rin shrugged. "Looks fine to me, not like we have any other choices."
"There's still Onii-chan's Harem."
"No means no, Illya." Shirou berated, although he had a soft smile while overlooking the name.
The albino sighed and nodded, although with a smile as she looked at the name. "Fine, I'm alright with this name anyway."
She grabbed the form and wrote the name on the correct side of the form. As she handed it in, the receptionist rose a brow. "Are you certain that this is the name you want? You cannot change the name once it has been finalized."
Illya sent a glance to Sakura and nodded. "Yeah, it's fine. We don't particularly care about the name anyway."
They just needed it for both a safe place to eat and sleep in.
The name was secondary.
The receptionist nodded. "I see, well then I suppose a congratulation is in order. Congratulations on making a guild, your accompanying room is on the fifth floor in room 503."
"There are more than FIVE HUNDRED rooms!? How!? There's not even enough space in this building for that!"
Illya ignored the Rin's surprised rant and focused on the receptionist, who handed her the key. It was an intricate design, with brass vines wrapping the head of the key and several ridges accompanying the tail of it.
"The Kunie clan welcomes 'The Emiya Family' to the guild hall."
The name was secondary, but that didn't stop the grin forming on their faces as they walked away.
"Please do not forget to pay the guild creation fee, miss adventurer."
Illya winced.
After using up around half of her gold, Illya raised their key and unlocked the door. A series of clicks occurred and the door opened. As it swung open, Illya saw how simple the room within was.
There were four wooden beds with dirty white mattresses – without blankets – and a simple and somewhat ruined rug under a rickety table. There was a window which let them see into the outside, which wasn't that exciting since the view only allowed them to see the despairing crowd of adventurers. Finally, there was a painting of a flower… which was upside down.
Starting guild rooms always looked like a dump, but Illya couldn't help but think that they drew a bad hand, even for that.
Not really a great start for 'The Emiya Family'…
"This place is a dump," Rin commented.
"It's not very clean." Sakura also commented.
Shirou sighed and walked past Illya as he entered the room. "I'll get to work cleaning it."
"That can wait, Onii-chan," Illya interrupted. "I need to bring you all with me to the market so we can buy some gear for you."
"Do you need all of us?" Rin asked as she entered the room too, taking a leisure seat on the mattress, "Because if not, then I'm staying."
Illya felt her brow twitch, "And why, pray tell, do you want to stay in this room…?"
Rin snorted, "The players outside are annoying. At least here I won't be bothered."
Sakura giggled as she wiggled her ears, unknowingly dragging Shirou's attention. "In other words, Nee-san just want to catch up on some sleep."
Considering that Rin was lethargic upon waking up, it was far more believable.
Rin ignored her sister's subtle jab at her and dropped onto the bed.
Illya sighed and opened her inventory. After scrolling around for a while, Illya found what she was looking for and tap on it.
Rin soon found it was unpleasant to be hit in the head by a book.
"What in the hell was that for midget!?" She screamed in outrage.
"That wasn't nice, Illya." Shirou berated, a stern look in his eyes.
"Rather than wasting time sleeping, why don't you read that book for a while?" Illya smugly replied despite the disapproving stare she was receiving. "It's the starting book that all mage classes are given. It might help, then again in the game, it was just a book that told you the hotkeys for the game."
Rin narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "Why do you – a non-mage class – have a mage class guidebook?"
Illya didn't answer her. She already slammed the door and dragged Shirou and Sakura along with her. Rin would have screamed and run after her, but she was admittedly too tired to do that.
She was going to come back in an hour or so anyway, so why bother? Instead, Rin opted to open the book and start reading.
"Okay okay…" She muttered, "Chapter one, elemental affinities and the phenomena they relate to… Pffft– Who wrote this? An amateur?"
"Was it alright to leave Nee-san in the guild room?" Sakura asked with slight concern.
The three of them were now outside, specifically in the marketplace. Shirou had been here earlier, but he definitely didn't expect to return this soon though.
"It's fine!" Illya replied, "Like I said, no one is getting in that room without Rin wanting them to. That tsundere won't let anyone but us in."
Shirou sighed at that.
What? It mostly because it was true. Rin had grown distrusting of others, the only exceptions were her sister, lover, and Illya herself. If Rin trusted everyone she met then she'd be a failure of a Magus!
"So, where do we buy equipment?" Shirou asked, "I didn't see a blacksmith or Armorer anywhere here."
"They're further into the district," Illya replied, "The best beginner shop should be a just around this corner."
Once they turned that corner – again, avoiding the players – they were met with a small but well-maintained stall. There were a few pieces of armor placed on the stall, a few low-level weapons hanging in the back, and standing within it was a young woman wearing a dirtied apron. She had pale blond hair and a nervous look in her emerald eyes.
"The NPC has changed…" Illya muttered, "There used to be a burly old man here."
The young woman overheard her.
"Oh, you must mean my father." She replied, which somehow surprised Illya, much to Shirou and Sakura's confusion. "I'm sorry but he went on a trip to Maihama to restock on ingots just yesterday. I-I'm standing in for him. My name is Melhia, what are you looking for?"
Illya simply stared at the girl, muttering something about the new update under her breath.
Shirou sighed and replied instead. "We're looking for some starting armor and weaponry for a swashbuckler and some starting robes for a mage and a druid."
The young woman blinked and then nodded. "We have some of those… not sure where father placed the robes… If you'll give me a moment I'll be right back with them."
When the young woman turned and walked further into the stall, away from prying eyes, Shirou turned to Illya. "Okay, what's wrong?"
Illya stared at him for a second before rubbing her forehead. "Sorry, I keep forgetting that this world isn't a game anymore. The NPC's must have lives I never knew about…"
"They didn't have families in the game?" Sakura asked as her ears twitched.
"No…" Illya muttered, "I'm actually sure that they did, but the flavor of the NPC's doesn't usually include that. These guys usually only exist to give us food or weapons whenever we needed them, provided we had the gold."
"I think you should refrain from using the term NPC," Shirou advised, "Some of these 'NPC's' are taking it as slander."
Illya tilted her head as a confused expression took hold. "… but isn't that what they are?"
"I spoke with one of them earlier this morning, Illya." Shirou said, "They act like any regular human being with a personality, they have lives and families too. Treating them like they aren't real isn't right. Someday they'll outright refuse to sell to you."
If that happened, all the NPC's having decided to collectively refuse adventurers as customers, then it would be a big deal. A really big deal. They'd lose access to commodities such as the inns, the Arcadia, and even the few quests that still existed.
"Fine. If you say so…" Illya muttered, "Let's just buy the equipment and go. I think I can still afford it."
The young woman came back out, she held two robes and a leather vest in one arm and held two scimitars in the other. "I-I'm not sure that swashbucklers have armor sir," She said nervously, "The only armor we have are for guardians, samurai, and monks. We only have light armor for swashbucklers…"
Those were the Warrior classes if Shirou recalled correctly. "That's fine, how much is it in total?"
"All of this together? I'd say around ten gold for the vest and robes each, maybe fifteen gold each for the scimitars." She said.
"Huh," Illya muttered as she opened her menu to draw out the coins. "That's like… sixty gold? Honestly lower than I was expecting. Has it been that long since I was a beginner…?"
Shirou grabbed the equipment once Illya handed over the coins… which were ridiculously oversized in width. You could forge a bracelet just by using a single coin. It was impractical in every sense of the word.
"T-Thank you for your patronage!" She stuttered out.
Illya didn't even acknowledge her and walked away. Shirou did the opposite and smiled her way. Sakura did so as well when they went to follow Illya down the street.
"You should probably equip the robes Sakura, you too Shirou," Illya informed. "They'll give a nice boost. Not too big of one though, like a twenty percent total increase in stats or something. Not too sure on the stats of lower levels."
Shirou nodded and opened his menu. It took a while to navigate, but he found the vest along with the two scimitars. He tapped on them and then tapped on the equip symbol.
In a flash of light – and a slight sense of discomfort as he felt like he was stripped – the weapons appeared buckled to his belt and a brown leather vest appeared on him, under which was a long sleeved white cloth, which Shirou was sure he had never worn before.
A brief structural grasp told Shirou that it was just a regular pair of scimitars, forged as best as the smith could. Nevertheless, they found their way into his reality marble.
In Sakura's case, her robe was pink with a flower design in the center. There was a hole in the back which let out her fluffy tail. It wasn't there in the original robe, but perhaps the 'equipping' process modified it to fit the race and gender? It did the same thing to Illya's hulking armor.
"Eh, not too bad," Illya commented. She turned and continued down the street. "Come on, we have to get to the Arcadia for Sakura and Rin's staffs. They'll probably have a beginners version available."
"Will Nee-san need a staff though…?" Sakura muttered in thought as she followed.
"She should want one," Illya replied, "It gives her more stats, meaning more spells cast. Staffs often increase spell damage and wands decrease cast time. Rin will probably want a wand though… A staff is optimal for healing so we're getting you a staff Sakura. You okay with that?"
Sakura dumbly nodded, not too sure. She wasn't really going to argue, Illya was the most knowledgeable so it was best to trust her. Sakura wouldn't actually mind either way.
Within a few minutes of walking, they arrived before a somewhat nice-looking building. It reminded Shirou of the guild hall but on a far smaller scale, with there being hardly any vines or overgrowth.
The door swung open automatically, which surprised Shirou and Sakura, but Illya moved on as if nothing odd had occurred. They entered and found it to be very well maintained. Books were stacked neatly on shelves, chairs off to the side with a few display cases holding a staff or two, but they had text saying 'do not touch' so they were just for display.
A young woman in a stereotypical wizard's hat, something that Rin would be irritated about, stood behind a counter reading a book. Upon closer inspection, the book seemed to be the same one that Illya had thrown to Rin earlier.
Illya simply walked up to the counter. "I need a beginner staff for a druid and a beginner wand for a sorcerer!" Shirou sent her a look and Illya frowned. "… please?"
Shirou nodded satisfied. The gesture seemed to be appreciated by the woman, who nodded to Illya. "Just wait a moment, I'll be right back." She made her way to the back, presumably the stockroom of the store.
"So this is the Arcadia?" Sakura muttered, "It looks very tidy."
"Don't try to steal anything," Illya added, "I'm not sure how it works after the update, but these used to be just for decoration. Not anymore though, I recognize some of these books."
Shirou walked up to a bookshelf and traced its cover, "Advanced mana application: Enchanter's edition? Elements for you and me, by Aurelio the Wizard? The Kannagi Basics?"
"All of them used to be skill books, consumable items that can be used to increase your stats." Illya said, "Since coming to this world, most of the consumable books must have become actual books with text in them. You can still use the books for the stat increase though…"
Illya had trailed off once she looked over one of the books. "Oh look, it even has history books. Not too sure if we'll need them, but it can't hurt to buy one right?" Illya asked, looking to Shirou for confirmation.
He simply shrugged, "I trust your judgment here, Illya. I wouldn't mind learning the history."
"Couldn't Illya-chan just tell us though?" Sakura asked. Illya snorted in response.
"I played Elder Tale for fun, not for a history lesson." She retorted, "I know a basic overview, but nothing detailed. If this world has changed to accommodate NPC's by giving them backstories, then it isn't unreasonable to assume that the events in these previously just-for-flavor history books, actually did occur. Who knows? Maybe we could find some lost Alven artifacts if we looked hard enough."
"Alven? Don't you mean Elven, like for elves?" Sakura asked.
Illya shook her head, "Nope, the Alv was an ancient race in the Elder Tale lore. They went extinct after intermingling with humans to recover from a war against Elves, Dwarves, and Humans. Only their descendants, the Half-Alv's, exist today. I'm pretty sure that they get storyline bonuses for dungeons and events."
"History lesson aside…" Shirou muttered, "I think it's best we paid for the items. The store clerk has been waiting for a while now."
Illya blinked and sent a glance to the young mage, holding a wand and a staff out to her with an irritated expression.
"… Oops?"
"Here are the beginner druid staff and the beginner sorcerer wand." She said, "Thank you for your patronage… or something."
Or something?
"… Right…?" Illya muttered, seeing the woman had placed the equipment on the counter and began reading her book. "… Is she ignoring me?"
Sakura stifled a giggle as she nodded. "It certainly seems that way."
"Let's just pay for the dumb stuff and go…" Illya pouted.
After swiftly paying for the equipment, Illya promptly urged Sakura to equip her staff as they walked back to the guild hall. Sakura did so and after a flash of light, a simple wooden and gnarled staff appeared on her right palm. There was nothing exceptionally notable about it whatsoever.
"Now you look less like a complete newbie." Illya commented, "Come on guys, if we make it back in time then we can have lunch. Hopefully, Rin didn't burn down our room."
Shirou frowned, "I'm not looking forward to lunch."
Blasphemous words coming from his mouth, but considering the odd laws of the world they were in, the two girls understood and nodded in empathy.
"I heard ingredients still tasted the same," Illya supplied, "We could eat raw fish with rice maybe? I think I have some sauce in my inventory."
"Wouldn't that still count as cooking though?" Sakura reminded her as she thought back to the disastrous attempt at barbecuing the sausages.
Illya frowned at the memory and rubbed her chin. "I guess eating plain bread is fine right?"
None of them wanted to acknowledge the fact – especially the two home cooks –but at least they all knew that it was better than the soggy trash that they had eaten beforehand.
"Hey look, a fight."
"Idiots, the Royal guards still work."
Shirou, Sakura, and Illya directed their gaze forward only to see two players, one a Wolf Fang warrior and the other an Elf Samurai, crashing heads at each other as others watch in exasperation.
"That's the third one today."
"Just ignore it, it'll stop eventually."
Shirou glanced upward as a flash of lightning took hold, in its place was a heavy set of bulwark armor. Dark blue in shade with fluorescent lights traveling around the body. It held a giant blue axe with a fluorescent tint to the blade.
Illya sighed, "Some people just don't know what to do."
Sakura laughed nervously, "Can you blame them?"
"Yes, I can. You can't control your circumstances but you can control your reactions to it." Illya retorted, "Isn't that right, Onii-chan?"
Upon receiving no reply, she turned her view to her elder brother, only to find him simply standing and staring at the Royal Guard who quickly smacked both players into the ground.
"Is something wrong, Shirou?" Sakura asked concerned.
His only reply was a blink as the Royal Guard disappeared. "Well, that's… interesting."
"What's interesting?" Illya asked.
"That armor has a person inside, it's completely augmenting his physical abilities to be higher than even a level ninety player. By being linked with the local ley lines, the armor can instantaneously transport itself anywhere within the city limits. Although it isn't limitless, the armor has to be recharged after each deployment." He informed. "They were also forged by the now extinct Alv's that you told us about."
Illya blinked. Then she sent a careful gaze around them and felt relieved that there was nobody still there, save for the two unconscious players.
"That's… interesting?" Sakura muttered.
"I can also trace them."
Illya simply froze. "I must be going crazy… but I think I just heard you say that you can trace a Royal Guard's armor. Which I might add, can set you to the max level as long as you are wearing it."
Shirou nodded. "I can do it, but since they're not swords it'll take half of my mana. They are still weapons in an odd way."
Illya opened her mouth to say something, but shut it and rubbed her forehead.
"I'm surrounded by game-breaking abilities…"
No other words were said as Illya walked back to the guild hall with a noticeable slump in her step.
Illya somberly turned the key and entered their guild room.
Finally. Illya could relax after a day of– Why was there a bounded field in their guild room?
"It's about time you guys got back!" Rin shouted, "I was getting bored. The book you gave me was a piece of shit by the way. It didn't tell me anything I didn't already know and used an archaic form of prana gathering for almost all of its spells. The writer could have lowered the cost of everything by at least thirty percent, filthy amateur."
A few moments of silence quickly recovered by Illya closing the door for privacy and simply staring at Rin. "What."
"Don't sweat it midget, I'll teach you all the spells later if you want." She said with a smug smirk.
However, Illya wasn't actually caring about learning those spells, what she was focusing on, was the elemental orb in her grasp.
In her palm was an orb of fire, surrounded by a gale of wind, covered by a veil of steaming water, and littered with floating clots of dirt.
There were no spells that did that.
"What is that?" Illya asked.
Rin raised a brow. "What? This thing? For now, it's just a blob of elements. Not perfect or stable at all and it doesn't even do anything, but I can probably do something with it later after some experimenting."
"How did you…" Illya muttered but shook her head and rubbed her temple, "You know what? Nope, not even going to acknowledge that thing. How did you make a bounded field Rin?"
"Oh, the bounded field?" Rin mused, "That was easy. Since I reverse engineered the first spell, I figured out how to tap into the measly reserves that this body has. From there I just used the energy to create a standard bounded field. It's easier than before, probably has something to do with the fact that this is a game world, as much as it pains me to admit. Oh yeah, did you know that I now have a skill that can create a miniature Bounded Field but it will constantly use half of my mana? Weird right?"
… Illya was going to save this discussion for another day.
Right now? She walked over to her bed as she ignored the calls she was getting from the others. Illya unequipped her armor, dropped face down onto the bed and tuned everything out.
She might as well just forget that rules and mechanics existed in the first place.
A/N: A tad bit shorter than the first chapter by around 1-2k words, but it gets the job done.
As you can already tell with this fic, it will chronicle the journey of The Emiya Family across the world of Elder Tale... or was it Yamato? Meh, basically I thought this was a nice idea for a crossover and went with it. Hopefully, people could see the potential in fics like these, probably not but I can hope for miracles.
I should post another chapter of this next month or the month after. This isn't a big priority when compared to My Ideal Academia, but it comes close.
You can already tell that these characters are going to break the system. Not now or anytime soon, but later when they get a higher level (however long that will take).
I don't really know what else to leave in this A/N... but I suppose I can safely say that this story won't affect the upload times of My Ideal Academia.
Leave a review on things I missed or errors I've made about the world. I'm not fully knowledgeable of Log Horizon as much I am to Fate Stay Night, but because no one else is writing a fanfic for this, I might as well do it. It was the same thought process that made me write My Ideal Academia when all I found were less than acceptable pieces of literature.
Basically, point out all errors.
Kappa.
A/N 2: Fixed some minor errors as well as a major one.
It has come to my attention (Courtesy of 'ptl') that the Royal Guard armor is not a golem, but has a person inside, meaning controlled by Landers. This is a welcome piece of information that had slipped my initial viewing. It definitely helps me in the future of the story don't get me wrong, but it is off-putting to realize that I didn't realize it in the first place. I saw the anime (both seasons) and I'm just baffled how I forgot. Maybe it's been too long since I watched it, I'll probably binge-watch it again at a later date.