346So yeah, I'm alive and so it's this story that totally didn't need a shovel to unearth, of course not! Jokes aside, the story is not abandoned nor is it on hiatus, and hopefully *checks the last update date* it won't take another 7 months for the next chapter. The worst is that I didn't even have writer's block, just busy and having problems finding the time and motivation to sit up and write.
Having said that here's a new chapter. And an omake that it's totally not to compensate, I swear. On pinkie promise. Not minding my dumbass ass, hope you enjoy the clusterfuck of thoughts Shirou has in this chapter, he certainly doesn't.
Warning: Slight spoilers or references to content from LN 16 onwards in this chapter and omake. Read under your own responsibility.
Shirou's forge
Shirou was in the forge he started renting just a day ago, his eyes wandering over the tools that came with it. After checking them, and finding out that most of them were in good condition, he started opening boxes, including the ones that belonged to the previous tenant.
Inside them, he found a variety of both weapons and materials. He looked around, wondering if there would be enough space if he were to take everything out of the boxes. Taking into account the limited space he already had, he decided to only take out some of the ingots he found in them. He'd also seen some raw materials, but he would have to make time to work with them in the future.
He brought some of the ingots to a small table nearby, which fortunately was devoid of any obstructions. A glance was enough to identify the majority of them as iron and steel ingots, while another material, adamantite, had only two small ingots out of the dozen there.
He took one of the iron ingots and made the preparations to start the smithing process, igniting the forge. He dragged a stool in front of the forge and positioned the slack tub near it, just far enough so that it wouldn't be affected by the temperature. The tongs brought the ingot to the center of the fire. As he was observing the metal acquire a yellowish color, he started to ponder the situation and his eventual objective.
Great blades like Noble Phantasms were all except ordinary, great mystery and power were imbued in each of them, and he was searching for something that not even one of the blades on Unlimited Blade Works had, so the mystery he had to create through the forging process had to come from him, no history of the creation of weapons in his world could help him in his objective.
That was only the first part, not only did he not have a similar history from which to imitate the process to create such a blade, he wasn't capable of creating that type of thaumaturgy himself. A lot of Noble Phantoms were engraved with intricate spells and great curses that gave powers to those weapons, but that method was obviously off the table for him.
Others, like Divine Constructs, were made from the hands of non-human creatures, their techniques and mystery gave the blades their powers. Obviously, that was off the table too. Another common method and the only one he would be capable of using was creating weapons made of magical materials or using the corpses of magical beings, their mysteries would be the conduit to give the weapons magical properties. One of the examples of this would be Gae Bolg, which was made from the cranium of a water demon.
However, that method implied that the properties of the blade would be aligned with the ones owned by the material. Finding a beast, because he was quite sure that no metal would ever have that capability, capable of manipulating time and space wouldn't be an easy deal, more so when he had to kill it first.
Another disadvantage was that in his original world, the corpse would remain, but here the corpse would eventually disappear if the magic stone was removed, and every part of the monster would become ash when doing so. Trying to maintain a part of the monster while the magic stone remained inside them would probably be unsuccessful too, when the connexión to the "core", the magical stone, would be broken, the part or any sword made with it would likely crumble away.
Those facts made all the processes a gamble. First, he had to find and kill that hypothetical beast, after that, he would have to be lucky enough for a drop item to be left behind, and then, he would have to make the blade in probably one try, and that blade would have to have inherited the powers of the slain monster. Just thinking of all the processes and the low chances of it made him feel tired.
He retired the heated ingot and walked towards the anvil, a hammer identical to the one hanging on the wall appeared in his hand. He closed his eyes, his mind passing from blade to blade of his vast repertoire, giving brief looks at the history of how they were made. He finally opened his eyes, having found a history that satisfied him with the shape and quality he wanted, information that would take hours to learn was processed in mere seconds thanks to his Reality Marble.
The hammer descended, and strike after strike, the metal changed its shape. The process continued, the blade would be put on the slack tub, steam raising each time the heated metal met water, before returning to the heart of the forge, repeating the process until the blade took form.
The chances to make that blade as he was now were an absolute zero. For starters, this was the first time he ever grabbed a hammer to make a sword with his own hands, but it didn't mean that it had to stay like that. Apart from improving his skills as a smith, there was another factor that would help with creating that blade, his divine blessing, the Falna.
Loki taught him all that was needed to know about one, and so, he knew about skills and development skills. His objective was the Blacksmith development skill. It was not only a skill that would improve his smithing skills but that would make it possible to engrave special properties in his blades and most important of all, give him the capacity to create magical swords.
Technically he could already do that with his magecraft, but that was replicating, not creating something for zero. That skill would give him a chance to stumble upon a way to make a blade that fulfilled his needs, so it was his priority.
Of course, all of that would be for nothing if he couldn't forge the blade, so he would practice his smithing technique and experiment with his magecraft, as little as he knew, to increase the chances as much as possible.
That was in part why he simply started forging a blade even though he didn't have any purpose for it, he was just replicating the movements and knowledge of an actual smith. He would engrave in his body the movements and knowledge necessary to create that unachievable blade, refining his technique through the experience of thousands of smiths, discarding the misinformation, and combining the techniques known throughout human history. He would become the best smith that humanity had seen, to achieve something humans would never be able to. Or at least, that was the plan.
He looked at the long sword in his hands with a deep frown. Even though he was using the experience of a smith, his eyes were untrained. He couldn't copy the exact process to make the same blade if he didn't know exact things like the temperature, or when was the appropriate moment to take out the blade and give it shape, he tried to mimic what the man originally did to the best of his capacity, trying to replicate the same conditions, but without modern machinery, it wasn't possible to exactly replicate the process, that was where experience had to compensate, the experience he lacked.
He sighed and started to polish and sharpen the blade. He wasn't sure how much time it took to finish it, but his growling stomach made him think that returning to the Manor would be a good option. He took another look at the sword, everything except the handle was finished, but without a proper one using this sword would only be asking for problems. His gaze landed on the blade once more, its internal structure clear to him, and started pouring his magical energy into it.
Reinforcement was a beginner spell, yet a complicated one with a lot of room for mastery. If one were to simply use it in its most basic form, it would bring the reinforced object to a more perfect or "whole" version of itself, enhancing its basic properties. However, if one were to use the spell at its maximum potential, reinforcement could achieve results that most people would associate with alteration.
By focusing on only reinforcing part of an object, or to be more accurate, a concept within it, one would be even able to change the shape of that object. This is how Archer was capable of turning a sword into an arrow, by reinforcing specific concepts such as "Aerodynamic" he achieved to change the shape of the sword so that it would fit his needs. What's more, this use of reinforcement had a permanent effect, as in contraposition with the normal use of reinforcement, the shape of the object changed and so the effect became permanent.
Sadly, this only affected the shape of the object, and for it to have the normal benefits of a reinforced object the spell had to be cast once again in the new form.
However, that was enough for him right now. By reinforcing concepts like weight balance and elasticity, he was capable of correcting some of the mistakes he made from his inexperience and obtained an overall better blade. He sighed as he closed his magical circuits, and left the blade on the same table where the other ingots were placed. It wasn't perfect but it was at least on par with the work of a somewhat seasoned smith, although it wouldn't have reached that point without using his magecraft on it.
Now that the task had been finished, he regained some awareness of his surroundings and of his form drenched in sweat.
'Better return to the Manor and take a shower before lunchtime.'
And so, Emiya Shirou left the building, the first blade he crafted staying inside both the forge and his soul.
After having lunch, Shirou went to the library to continue his studies with Riveria. He opened the door being careful not to be overly loud and searched for his teacher.
Soon enough, he found her talking with Lefiya over a pair of books. He approached them, being instantly noticed by their superior senses. Riviera looked at the sun from one of the windows before turning towards him.
"It's a little early for your lesson, but I guess that we could start now." Said the green-haired elf, before looking at her other apprentice "Do you have any other questions for the moment Lefiya?"
Lefiya shook her head, her eyes not meeting his as she grabbed the book she was reading, moving to a nearby table either to not disturb his studies or for them to not disturb hers.
"Well, let's start then." Riveria said, taking the book 'Koine for Kids' from one of the bookshelves. Shirou could only nod, not truly prepared for another study session with her.
They stayed like that for hours, before Riveria had to leave to deal with something else, though she made it clear that he should memorize most of the words she taught him before the next lesson.
Not even half an hour later, another set of footsteps went towards the exit of the library. His eyes rose, meeting with Lefiya's who froze in her position. Her gaze deviated towards the door before going back to him and while standing there awkwardly, she said "Do you need any help?"
Shirou pondered her words, it did seem she was saying them more out of politeness than anything else. But looking at the notes he had, which missed some of the words he had to learn, he questioned if he should take the offer.
After a little bit of internal deliberation, he finally said "Yes, it would come in handy. But only as long as it isn't much of a problem to you, I wouldn't want to disturb your day."
Lefiya hesitated a little bit, before nodding and taking a seat at his side, asking about the doubts he had. It was only after a few minutes of helping with his doubts that she changed the topic. "Sorry about my behavior yesterday, that was disgraceful on my part and rude towards you."
He raised an eyebrow, surprised that she still had that in mind, before dismissing her concerns. "It's okay, I'm not mad or anything. You don't have to worry so much about it, this type of quarrel can happen from time to time, I already forgave you so don't reprimand yourself too much over it."
From his perspective, he didn't have to forgive anything, because he was not offended to start with. His words were aimed to reassure her more than anything. After all, what she said was far from being on the level of one of Shinji's usual tantrums.
She nodded, still looking a little bit unsure on whether or not to take his words at face value, before shaking her head and going back to point out some of the mistakes he made in his notes.
Thankfully, Riveria decided to be pragmatic and most of the vocabulary list was made out of words that he would frequently encounter as an adventurer. Other, more circumstantial words, could come later down the line. They were not aiming for full fluency yet, just enough to go by for the moment.
Koine still sounded like Japanese to him, but if he made an effort to listen beyond the sounds of the words, the results were interesting. If he truly focused, the words would lose meaning and become unintelligible, not only that of the others but his too. So, he was in fact speaking in Koine, he just didn't know how. He wished Tohsaka was here, she would probably find the answer immediately, but his sorry ass could only deduce that it was a byproduct of how he was brought here or even something more simple as saying that it was due to magecraft.
To be fair, it probably was, he just didn't know how, and taking into account his much-to-be-desired magical education he wouldn't be getting answers soon, or ever actually.
His studies continued for another half an hour, with Lefiya trying to give him some pointers to remember some of the more complicated words, and eventually his notes were completed, he still needed to properly study and memorize them, but at least now he had the means to doing so. Lefiya was polite enough to don't ask about his illiteracy during the whole ordeal, simply accepting it and helping him with it.
After a brief farewell, Lefiya left the library. Shirou himself was rather tired and looking at the window he saw that at much there was only an hour or two of sunlight left. It was rather late to go Dungeon delving right now, but he didn't deal with lazying around all that well, so he either could go back to his forge or he could train magecraft, or both.
After a little internal back and forth he decided to go back to the forge and work on a handle for the sword he had made. Luckily the making of that part also was registered by his reality marble, so he shouldn't have more difficulties than in the forging process. Not necessarily easier, but not harder either.
Whether the previous tenant was an amateur or not, he wasn't sure, his swords weren't bad so he may have been selling them or he may not, but what he knew is that he certainly had his forge well equipped. Finding the wood and the tools to make the handle took a bit of time, opening most of the boxes and taking out their contents, but he finally found them and started his work, putting a cloth on the floor he started to take measurements for the handle.
The next morning, Shirou would be awoken in that same forge by the intrusive rays of sunlight.
Twilight Manor
Riveria walked toward Loki's room, her bored gaze wandering to the other Familia members near her walking path. She exchanged pleasantries with some of them, keeping the conversation short in an educated manner. She was coming from teaching Shirou, and seeing that night wasn't that far away, she decided that it was time to talk to Loki.
She traversed the manor, walking through its many hallways and stairs, and she reached Loki's room.
She knocked three times at the Goddess's door and waited until Loki herself opened the door. With a single "Hello" she invited herself into the room, raising an eyebrow when her eyes landed on the pair of dresses laying on the bed.
"I thought you didn't want to go to Ganesha's party?" The elf asked the Goddess.
"You're right. I didn't intend to go, but a little birdy told me that the pipsqueak will be there, and I won't lose the chance to bully her a bit" Riveria could only sigh after hearing the words of her troublesome goddess. With some luck, this "pipsqueak" wouldn't escalate things with Loki, and the night would end without problems.
"Riveria-tan, which suits me better" Ignoring the annoying nickname, she looked at both the red dress and the black dress and shrugged.
"Oh come on, you are a princess, you should at least have an opinion!" Riveria rolled her eyes before pointing at the black dress. Even if she was in fact a princess, the type of clothing was too different from what elves would use and she wasn't one to follow the trends or anything of the style.
"Hm, I guess it will do" The goddess nodded to herself before putting the red dress back in her wardrobe.
"So" Loki started. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" The redhead asked in a jovial tone.
"You told Finn to apply for a dungeon advisor for Shirou, why?" The elven princess asked.
"This is why you came? And I thought that you were coming to give me a goodbye hug." Riveria sent Loki a severe glance, dampening the mood of the goddess.
"Okay, okay, you don't need to kill me with that look." Loki's gaze wandered around the room, perhaps seeking excitement and distraction for what she perceived as a boring conversation.
"It isn't that difficult really, you're not gonna have time to teach him about the Dungeon and the kiddo will go there regardless of whether you teach him or not" Riveria opened her mouth but Loki kept talking, depriving her of the chance to intervene.
"We're in red after this expedition, and I doubt you will be around all day to teach the kid not only to read but about the dungeon too. You won't have time, pretty sure that at least Tiona will try to drag everyone with her to go to the dungeon, Urga doesn't pay itself after all."
Riveria could not contradict her words. Between teaching Lefiya and Shirou, she wasn't sure she would have much time to teach him about the dungeon too and the possibility of diving herself to collect money wasn't exactly small either.
"We could still assign someone to teach him about the dungeon instead, Raul, Anakkity, or Alicia would do just fine as teachers. They don't need to teach him about that many floors after all." Riveria replied after composing her thoughts.
"Now, that wouldn't be a bad idea in normal circumstances, but these aren't normal circumstances. Shirou still doesn't know much about this world, if they start asking questions he may slip, and if we're gonna act with the same secrecy that we do with Aiz's secret, that can't happen." Loki's gaze returned to Riveria, a serious demeanor on her face.
"The guild knows how to hold a secret, they won't go revealing anything nor will they bury too deep in whatever things Shirou may say. If you can't be the one teaching him, then the Guild is the next safest option. Moreover, he can be a bait for the old geezer." Riveria frowned, her thoughts directed to the patron god from the guild.
"Ouranos? Do you think he knows something?"
"It's worth the try. If someone knows something about how Shirou appeared it has to be him, maybe he felt something strange in the dungeon or something? I don't know. Whatever the case, with some luck we may lure him out and ask him about that and these new monsters, and if not, well…Shirou needed someone to teach him about the Dungeon anyways." Loki finished with a satisfied grin.
Riveria thought about it for a moment, agreeing with Loki's words. Now if only Loki would show more of her cunning side more often instead of the perverted or the childish one, maybe they would have fewer problems.
With a nod, Riveria walked toward the door, gazing back at Loki before leaving. "So be it, enjoy the party Loki."
"Oh don't worry Riveria-tan, I will." Loki said with a mischievous grin.
Riveria only shook her head, leaving her goddess to change before the party.
After going to the party and being told some hurtful words by Hestia and other deities about her chest size, Loki did in fact, not enjoy the party at all.
Shirou's Forge
Shirou woke up, the sunlight filling the small forge in which he slept. He raised from the ground, his body no longer laying atop the cloth he laid the previous night. He stretched a bit, the harsh surface doing little to give his body a good rest, or comfort for the matter. Yet, despite that, Shirou felt more relaxed than he had ever been since landing in this world.
The space filled with junk, its robust walls, and the privacy it provided once one closed the little wood window gave him a nostalgic feeling. He couldn't stop himself from comparing it to the shed back to the Emiya Estate. He didn't know if it was because it reminded him of home, or a place that was more of a room for him than his actual bedroom ever was, but despite the soreness of his body, he felt somewhat content and relaxed.
Probably having his little project finished helped too, he even got some time to practice his magecraft before falling asleep. His reinforcement wasn't there yet in terms of speed but he had plenty of patience and was seeing some results unlike all those years practicing back in his shed.
He finished his stretches and glanced back at his first own made sword. It was now polished and sharpened, its surface reflecting the light from the window. Its handle was rather simple, no carving or special shapes distinguished it from any normal handle, but that was more than enough.
Although he could appreciate the beauty in swords, probably to an excessive degree compared to normal people, he just needed this sword to be simple and functional, any extra flair wouldn't add anything to the blade and would only make him lose time.
He walked to the center of the forge and did some practice swings, testing how it felt in his hands. Although it wasn't as good as the blade of Damascus steel he projected on his last dive to the Dungeon, it still was an improvement to the sword provided by the guild, not that it would be particularly difficult to make a better blade than that for any seasoned smith. But he wasn't a seasoned smith, so the results were better than expected and far beyond any beginner that just picked swordsmithing.
Also, the materials weren't the best, so he couldn't exactly expect to make a better blade than this without much more practice on the craft. That was something he noticed while going through the smithing information in Unlimited Blade Works.
A bad blade from a good one was like night and day, but a good one from an exceptional one wasn't as far as people imagined. The differences were little, a little bit more sturdy, the weight distribution being slightly better, and the handle feeling just right in its wielder's hands, among other things. All little improvements, but when piled together they would make a notable difference worth the investment in the blade.
That was of course with normal blades, once one looked at magical ones, or worse, Noble Phantoms all sense of logic was thrown overboard. Fragile and brittle blades became powerful and resistant after multiple enhancements from magi, a dull sword became extremely sharp due to the runes embedded onto the blade's surface, those were only some of the examples, but he started to see a pattern.
A lot of older magical blades weren't all that well made, but the enhancements of a time when magecraft was far more powerful carried them to impossible heights compared to nowadays. To compete with the mystery of old, in the modern era, the manufacturing of the blade became exceptional to compensate for the lack of strong magecraft and mystery to attach to it, being that those weapons were generally speaking more well made, more so with the introduction of machines which made easier all the processes and precise measurements became available.
Of course, even then existed outliers, those being exceptional weapons that would go down in history. Noble Phantoms were the peak of the craft of its respective period, the skill of its making almost impossible to emulate nowadays. Of course, they weren't completely exempt from the problems of older blades, but they weren't as common, at least not in the more well-known ones, those regarded as true masterpieces.
A D-rank Noble Phantom had some range of improvement, but an A-rank? Almost impossible to improve if you weren't the original maker, that's how intricate and elaborate they got. And he eventually would have to make something of similar or higher quality.
In all honesty, it was quite a reality check. His Reality Marble did the heavy lifting when it came to recreating weapons with his magecraft. But doing it from zero? It was just after forging his first sword that he truly understood how difficult the path in front of him was, he could easily stay decades here before achieving any substantial progress.
He was sure that in a year he could create a Mystic Code with enough strength to rival some E-Ranked Noble Phantom, maybe even more depending on how much of an improvement the Blacksmith development ability was, but his problem wouldn't be solved by sheer strength sadly.
The more he thought of it the more complicated the situation seemed. Not only the hypothetical sword has to be able to manipulate reality to the extent to be able to travel between worlds, but it also needed something akin to a targeting function to be able to land on his world in specific. There was also the issue that he didn't have any idea how he could find which one was his world between the countless that he may find.
The situation was dire and with his newfound perspective, he was conscious enough of his capabilities to label it as practically impossible, no matter how much time passes. That being said, he didn't lose anything for keeping trying. If he ultimately failed, at least he would have lots of new swords for use in his arsenal, and if he somehow succeeded that would be perfect.
Shirou frowned at the thought, it would be perfect? Naive. What if he took twenty years to make the sword and when he came back everyone already moved on and had new lives? Wouldn't he just become a disruptive element? Or what if time worked differently, and he came back to the world with plenty more years than he should have or came as an adult to see all his loved ones in graves without ever knowing he was alive?
These thoughts made Shirou frown, reaching the same realizations that Archer did long ago. He didn't care about the world, or more specifically he didn't care about the world as a whole. Earth's history was fascinating as well as its myths, technology was amazing and so wore modern-day commodities, but he could discard them in the blink of an eye. What he cared about were the people, his close ones, and those he could save, not the country or the world they were in.
So, couldn't he just try to be a hero here? As long as it was saving people who cared if they were from his world or another? They shared the same characteristics, their griefs, and joys, even the different species were human-like in their behavior, for good and bad.
It was an uncomfortable train of thought. Just accepting it and staying here, wouldn't that be the same as ditching all those close to him? To sever the relationships he had with his loved ones? To leave them to think he had died? To grieve on his behalf without ever knowing he is alive?
These kinds of depressing thoughts kept going for a while, dampening the good mood in which he woke up. Finally, he decided to clear his mind and projected an adequate sheath for his sword, bringing the now-sheathed sword to his waist belt, and adjusting it to fit properly.
With a light sigh, he stepped out of his rented forge and walked towards the backyard of the Benevolent Mistress.
Carts were coming to the Twilight Manor to resupply this morning, so seeing that he didn't need to buy ingredients his walk would be cut short, although, with his current mental state he didn't care all that much.
His walk there passed in a flash, his mind occupied with his previous thought process.
There was little hesitation to open the fence, seeing that his elven sparring partner was already doing her warm-ups. After a brief exchange of greetings, both raised their guards. Shirou opted for using his newly forged sword as a test run for the weapon.
Barely one minute later his body ached in multiple places. The result of the fierce strikes of Ryuu's wooden sword that managed to shred his guard as if it was made of thin paper.
"You are distracted." Ryuu said with pursed lips and an intense gaze.
"You're just too fast, I can't follow your rhythm" Ryuu's gaze didn't leave him at any moment, and she shook her head, telling him that he was mistaken.
"I'm not good at holding back, I always go too far, but this time I wasn't going faster than on our last match." There was a brief silence before she continued. "The Dungeon will prey on your moments of weakness. It doesn't matter how afflicted you are, the Dungeon will not care about it and will exploit it to kill you. Part of being an adventurer is holding that grief until you are back on the surface."
Her words sounded cold and her face was as stoic as ever, but there was care behind her eyes. Shirou wasn't arrogant enough to think that it was because it was him. Ryuu cared because she was a good person who didn't want to watch others suffer, more so when it was avoidable suffering.
Her strikes were unforgiving and her face was stoic, but her kindness still showed through her words. It almost seemed that as the stronger and more experienced of the two, she was trying to teach him to some degree, whether she was aware or not.
Shirou sighed, internally admitting that he was far too concerned with his previous train of thought. He barely put up a fight in comparison to their previous matches. She was right, if this were to happen in the Dungeon he could be at real risk. It only took a surprise attack and a lucky strike to change the course of a battle after all.
Shirou breathed deeply and recited the steps of kyudo in his mind, borrowing the clarity of mind he felt every time he was to shoot a bow. Whatever the real situation in his world-hoping problem was, he currently couldn't do anything to solve it other than working to improve in what he already deemed the only path available.
Worrying now when he didn't even have the possibility to do anything wouldn't get him anywhere, especially if he was distracted enough to actually get killed.
His eyes met Ryuu's, and he entered his guard again only to slightly wince from the pain of the previous strikes. Ryuu noticed and approached him while murmuring something, her hand rested in the air mere inches from his chest as she said "Noah Heal" in a calm voice, green light erupting from her palm and surrounding his chest area.
Shirou left a content sigh as the healing magic did wonders for his pained body and gave Ryuu a grateful smile which she somewhat returned with an almost imperceptible curvature on her own lips.
Ryuu went back a few steps creating some distance before rising her wooden sword and nodding to him, the fight resuming seconds later.
This time Shirou did much better, but as he wanted to keep the combat to his newer blade instead of relying on his magecraft he still lost quite badly, albeit this time he put in much more of a fight. Ryuu was kind enough to heal him again once they finished their training.
Shirou projected two towels, giving one to his elven companion, and looked at the sun. It wasn't exactly late by any means, but if he was to make breakfast, as he planned to, he should get going.
His gaze returned to Ryuu but before he could say anything both looked at the creaking door that opened, from where a gray-blue-haired waitress with matching eyes stepped out.
"Ryuu, Mama Mia said to call you before it's late." Said the waitress in a cheerful tone to her co-worker, before slightly turning to look at him.
Both warriors could only blink in surprise as she practically jumped back while shielding her eyes.
"Syr?" The concerned voice of the elf called her friend's name.
"Ahahaha, sorry Ryuu, it's nothing. I accidentally looked at the sun. I'll go back inside, see you there." And as soon as she appeared, the waitress disappeared back inside, leaving a surprised Ryuu and Shirou who briefly looked at each other in silence.
"See you tomorrow?" The redhead asked, obtaining a nod from the green-haired elf who entered the Benevolent Mistress.
Shirou looked back at the sun with a quizzing look.
"It's not like it was behind me."
Shirou returned to the Twilight Manor, not for the first time surprised by the peculiarities of the Benevolent Mistress waitresses.
After breakfast and a morning study session with Riveria, Shirou went back to the Dungeon, staying on the 6th floor for some hours killing monsters until his pouch and backpack were filled to the brim.
He avoided going to the 7th floor until knowing why those Killer Ants acted strange if only to avoid swarming other adventurers with monsters.
He wanted to ask Riveria, but he forgot after hours of knowledge being drilled into his brain.
Checking the weight of the backpack he started to make his way back to the surface. The Dungeon floors were mostly unchanging, so making maps was extremely useful not only to not get lost but to save time by identifying shorter routes to the other floors. That being said he didn't have time to get one and even less to properly learn it, so he was purely going back by memory.
After messing with the path a couple of times and finally finding himself back on the main route, Shirou left the Dungeon following the trail of a big familia, looking curiously by the side of a white-haired boy how some big boxes were transported out of the Dungeon. They looked at each other before simultaneously shrugging their shoulders and climbing the stairs. This time Shirou remembered to properly wash from the gore of the Dungeon before going to the Guild.
Luckily this time he didn't receive any reaction other than the brown-haired half-elf that was attending him telling him not to be impulsive on his descent of the dungeon.
With a small nod and a few words to alleviate her worries, he prepared to depart before stopping after his name was called. Slightly turning he saw a well-endowed werewolf with long red hair and golden eyes looking at him.
"Emiya Shirou, right? I'm Rose Fannet your assigned Dungeon adviser, would you have some time now?" The beautiful werewolf said with a professional tone.
Shirou nodded and followed Rose. He didn't remember anything about an adviser, but it was probably something that Finn arranged so he decided to follow along as she directed them to a separate room.
She closed the door behind him and made a gesture to sit down on the couch in front of the table, which he did.
"Okay, first I will confirm that the information in your registration sheet is alright. Would you mind answering some questions?" After he nodded she started to ask him, confirming the info he already gave.
"That is out of the way then. Now to the actual dungeon advice. First of all, do you have experience fighting? And if so, how much time?"
"Yes, and a couple of years" He couldn't exactly tell her that he gained the experiences from his future self, but this answer should be enough.
"Have you been formally trained in some martial art?" Again a difficult question for him to answer without lying.
"I was formally taught Archery and a family member taught me swordsmanship." If one were to count his spars with Fuji-nee as a teaching experience that is.
"Lowest floor you visited?" Another protocol question, maybe because of that is that he didn't properly think his answer.
"Seventh." The air stilled and Rose's eyes seemed much fiercer than before.
"Do say, how many days have you been an adventurer?" The tone didn't change much, but his interactions with Tohsaka taught him enough to know he fucked up.
"T-Three" He couldn't help but stutter as a chill traveled down his back.
"Guessed so. You can leave now if you want." Her tone was now filled with absolute disdain.
"Eh? Already?" He couldn't mask his surprise.
"If you don't care for your life neither will I. If you have some questions about the Dungeon ask away now, if not, leave. To begin with, you don't really need an advisor with you being part of Loki Familia. Pretty sure they can teach you better than I can." She organized the papers in one tidy mount and he had the sensation that if she didn't leave is because he had to be the one to leave first.
"Did…Did I offend you in some way?" He couldn't help but ask.
"Your imprudence will get you killed sooner than later. If you decide to throw your life away anyways, I would prefer to talk to someone who at least will try to not die. The only way the guild can help new adventurers is by providing information. While a lot of new adventurers are arrogant enough to never ask for an adviser, there are a lot that do. If you will suffer a fool's dead anyway better leave your adviser spot so someone can at least delay their eventual death."
Rose's words may be outright cruel, but what she said wasn't least true by it. In any normal circumstance going to the 7th floor after three days total of dungeon delving would be akin to suicide. Even with magic, skills, and experience, there was a gap that couldn't be so easily closed. For most, entering the dungeon would be their first time fighting monsters. If it was only a question of raw skills there were people that could survive the 7th floor, but fighting in the dungeon was not a race but a marathon.
Overconfidence was the number one adventurer killer. Wrongly judging one own strength and how tired they were, the strength of an enemy, or even disregarding resource management, all those would kill adventurers regardless of raw skills.
What Rose was seeing wasn't a young warrior who cleared the first floors with relative ease and was being prudent, but a fool who was throwing himself head first at insurmountable odds. And without knowledge of his magecraft or of his origin as an outworlder, she didn't have any reason to think otherwise.
"I...I'm being prudent. This isn't my first time fighting monsters and I have enhancement magic. I encountered a strange situation on the 7th floor and today decided to not go there without knowing more about it. I know it may seem fast but I promise I will not die and I will not waste your time. So please, teach me."
Rose looked at Shirou, not convinced at all, but it would probably be faster to just answer the fool's question rather than trying to make him see how much of an idiot he was being. If anything, someone from his familia would eventually notice his craziness and give him a good smack and with some hope, fix that head of his.
So deciding on the path of less resistance Rose said "Okey, one session a week, half an hour. Deal?" That was not much time and if Shirou would write a complaint he could probably get more, but he didn't know that and wasn't willing to push her buttons either way.
"That's more than enough, thanks." After that, he explained the strange situation with the killer ants to her. She looked at him quizzly, as if trying to solve a puzzle before answering.
"I see. Killer Ants have the capacity to secrete pheromones that attract other members of the species. Although they usually do it after receiving a fatal blow if the adventurer can't finish them with that strike. What happened to you may have been bad luck" She paused for a second. "Or the Ants felt threatened enough to immediately use it."
Shirou blinked, before nodding. He should kill Killer Ants as soon as they enter eye sight then.
Shirou kept asking questions for the remaining time about monsters on lower floors and Rose let him take a look at some of the Guild's official maps.
Finally, the session time limit was reached and both went their way after a not-so-subtle line of Rose about him better not waste her time.
As she saw her fellow red-hair abandon the Guild Hall the voice of one of her co-workers, Misha, reached her.
"So, how did it go?"
"He's an absolute idiot, a reckless fool"
"And his chances are?"
"He'll either die in a pair of weeks or will survive to become part of the top pack" Misha whistled at her words, looking impressed.
"He must have impressed you then."
"He didn't in the least. He is reckless, but he was not arrogant. All adventurers are fools, but those that know that they are fools manage to live longer than those than not,"
"Jeez girl, way to bring down the mood." There was a small silence before Misha continued.
"Sooooo, want to gamble on him too?" Rose discreetly looked at Misha before walking back to her stall. Leaving a final sentence.
"Longer than the Rabbit."
"That's it? Come on, at least give a specific bet."
If the Guild wasn't as devoid of people as it was at that hour, the image of the perfect girls of the Guild that many people had in their minds would have been absolutely crushed. Who would know, interacting regularly with soon-to-be dead people made them quite used to morbid things…
Omake: A different skill (Non-Canon)
Shirou slowly woke up, the room barely illuminated by the sun rays that managed to pass through the curtain. He caught himself yawning and tried to not make any noise to don't disturb the other figure under the bed sheets.
He wasn't sure which time it was, but seeing that he still felt pretty tired it seemed that his body decided to wake him up as if it was a normal day and not as the day after a party and a night where his partner barely let him sleep.
He could feel her slightly move, her face nuzzling against his chest as her long hair fell upon her back. One of her slender hands rested by his side, hiding the strength of one if not the strongest adventurer in all the world.
Looking back, it had been two years since his coming to this world, and sometimes he still felt strange to the absolute degree to which his life changed, more so of how he ended up dating his current partner. Unusual would be an understatement. He didn't remember doing anything special to gain her heart, it sorta just happened and by the time she decided to be upfront about them, things just kinda fell into place.
He sometimes felt a little guilty to have accepted the situation without getting things clear with Tohsaka first, but seeing that they were literally worlds apart that guilt was becoming smaller with each passing day. She would probably want him to be happy, right?
He looked at his partner, her skin was warm and there was a relaxed, content smile on her face. Her friends usually told him that she used to be much more closed and looking back, it was true. The weights that she carried for years were slowly lifted after meeting him, and after a year and a half, she managed to shed her burdens.
And all of that progress and the happiness they both managed to achieve were for some simple words inscribed on his back. When he first received the Falna he thought that this was the universe, Alaya or maybe even Archer messing with him, but after all this time he couldn't be happier that this was the skill he received.
Heavenly Cook
-Enhances the nutritional value of food cooked by the user.
-Improves the metabolism and offers minor healing to those who eat food cooked by the user.
-Temporarily improves the excelia gain rate after eating food cooked by the user.
He and Loki were completely dumbfounded by it, but it didn't last long as the next day she declared him the official cook of Loki Familia. Loki told the other Familia members about his skill or to be more precise the first two effects of it to justify it to the Familia and after trying his food no one was against the decision.
She told him that for the moment the third effect of his skill, which in her words was ridiculously broken depending on the improvement rate, should be concealed from everyone. If other Familias knew they would either try to kidnap him to use him themselves or kill him to maintain the status quo.
After understanding how serious this may be he agreed with her and did his absolute best to conceal it. The secret was found barely a week later.
To be fair it was only found by one person and no one else noticed until months later when the growth rate of all the Familia members was taking so many leaps that everyone acknowledged that something was going on.
And yet she, who was always concerned with her growth and strength noticed almost immediately and confronted him about it. Back then he didn't really talk all that much with Loki about what to do if someone found out, both of them agreed that he first had to integrate a little bit before diving more into that topic. Who could find out about it so soon after all? His partner found out in a week.
So seeing that she already knew more or less he decided to tell her the truth. She patiently listened and after he told her everything she thanked him and hugged him. That was the beginning of their strange relationship.
After that moment she started to visit him from time to time. Sometimes she would just stand around near him while others she would train with him or try to start a conversation with her lacking social skills. After the first weeks, he decided to talk head-on and assured her that even if she was grateful she didn't need to force herself to try to be his friend.
She rapidly debunked his words. Saying that she liked being near him because he felt warm, like the ones in her memories, whatever that meant. So seeing that he didn't have any other reasons to deny her of his friendship he let her do whatever she wanted.
Although at the time he was blind enough to not see the signs, their relationship slowly progressed. First was that she started grabbing him by the wrist when she was guiding him, then the hand. After that came the hugs when one of them seemed in distress. In those moments she would give him long hugs. Being used by her constant presence near him he just accepted them, basking in the warmth of her hugs.
Honestly, after obtaining the Blacksmith development skill and improving her weapon he noticed that something was going on and he couldn't deny it anymore. The sheer appreciation in her eyes and the smile on her face when he gave her the new weapon couldn't be hidden.
Of course, he still thought that it was mostly happiness for improving her weapons. She said to him before that she couldn't repay him in any way for helping her to gain strength and improving her weapon was just another part of it. She once called him a hero, yet it felt wrong for her to call him that when she was so much stronger than him and was one of the main fighters against the Evilus Remnant.
Then, after months of knowing each other, she opened up to him and told him of her past. How her father told her that one day she would have a hero of her own that would rescue her. How she awaited him but he never came, making her pick up the sword by herself, to try to rescue her last family member and to slay the black dragon in a quest for vengeance.
And then she called him her Unorthodox Hero. He didn't save her by any means, and yet he helped her gain strength and was a source of comfort for her tormented heart. He did see those words for what they were, practically a confession, and then and there was when doubt and guilt struck him.
He didn't know if he would stay in this world, and he would feel guilty if he entered a relationship when he still liked Tohsaka. Seeing his troubled face she hugged him and told him she didn't need an answer, that it wouldn't change what he already did for her. She tried to comfort him after essentially rejecting her with his lack of an answer. He felt like utter trash.
For the next two weeks, they barely saw each other. He wasn't sure if she was avoiding him or if it was he who was doing so subconsciously or if it was a combination of the two, but those weeks gave him time to think and process his own feelings.
Not having her around felt weird, since coming to this world she became a stable part of his life, always being near enough to share some words with her. For the first time since coming to this world, he felt genuinely lonely. He missed her so much.
Thanks to his skill he was immediately incorporated into the Familia expeditions despite his initially low level, which didn't stay long but that was beside the point. Those two weeks were one if not the longest time without being near each other and it made him think and understand his feelings.
After months of knowing each other and being there to constantly see her endearing side, Emiya Shirou fell in love with Aiz Wallenstein. The guilt was still there, but after acknowledging his own feelings he decided to at least be upfront about his lack of response.
He tracked her down and after getting some privacy he told her everything. Him being an Outlander, his eventual objective, and his past. She stood there and listened to all, nodding along as he was explaining. He had been expecting her to say something but after some tense moments of silence, the thing she told him of all the things she could ask him was if he wanted to train.
Seeing it as her way to repair the gap between their friendship, acknowledging the difficulty of a relationship between the two, he accepted. He was mistaken about her intentions, but he didn't know that until Aiz knocked him on his back and kissed him in front of a lot of Loki Familia members in the middle of their backyard.
Apparently, Aiz decided that what was in front of her was a battle to make him stay, and Aiz Wallenstein wasn't one to give up. Honestly, after the second kiss, he couldn't find in himself the strength to not return the kiss even if it was embarrassing doing so in front of everyone.
From that moment onwards Aiz made it her mission to make him fall so in love with her that he wouldn't ever think again of leaving, and after a year of showering him with all her affection she succeeded.
And so when Orario confronted the One-Eyed Black Dragon with her as the vanguard, Shirou already decided to stay in this world. She wielded the sword he made for her, one made of the same scales as the dragon they wanted to slay. It wasn't easy to convince the villagers of Edas Village to give them one of the scales, but after extensive negotiations they got one of them to make the weapon Aiz was wielding.
The only sword ever made with materials of the Black Dragon, it ironically enough was imbued with greater dragon slaying properties than even Balmung. It was only possible to make thanks to his ridiculous level of Blacksmithing and thanks to the guidance of Hephaiostos combined with Aiz's Spirit Blood.
Aiz marched to battle with the black sword. The sword became the catalyst for all of Aiz's remaining hate, being surrounded by a typhoon of black wind. And yet the Ariel enveloping Aiz was of a pure white. While her weapon struck with hate her body was protected by the love she felt.
That battle, later dubbed The Conquest of the Last Frontier, was the one to finish the last of the Three Great Quests. Surprisingly enough, while there were a lot of fallen, not even one of the Familia involved where near to being wiped. And so with great effort, Loki Familia, with the combined members of the former Freya Familia along with members of the Ganesha and Hestia Familia, slayed the dragon and saved Aiz's mother, Aria.
He could still recall the face of pure happiness Aiz made upon meeting her mother and introducing her to him.
The party lasted for days all around Orario and probably the world too as the news traveled through merchants and messengers.
Days after, the efforts of the post-battle took place. All the fallen were properly buried and their names were engraved in the mural of heroes in the adventurer's graveyard.
The bridge with 31 statues of heroes finally was completed, as a statue of Aiz Wallenstein was made and positioned in the vacant spot in the bridge, the one in front of her father's statue.
Meanwhile, Shirou traveled to the village that lent the dragon scale, Edas Village, and returned it as a sword, so its ominous aura would still keep the monsters away from the village. After being stabbed through a stone in the forest near the village in a position where it could cover the village with its aura, Shirou left.
He wasn't much concerned about anyone trying to take the sword. As a weapon he made for Aiz Wallenstein, she and only she could wield the weapon, the magical properties he imbued in it ensured it.
Weeks later a rumor of a legendary sword that no one could wield would start to appear.
Finally, Aria passed the following six months under the care of Dea Saint, who acted as both her doctor and therapist. Aria was a High Spirit and while she didn't have the same needs as a mundane mortal, she still passed a thousand years imprisoned by the One-Eyed Black Dragon. There was a lot of baggage to unpack.
Yesterday's party was to celebrate the progress the mother of his soon-to-be wife was having with her therapy. Aiz was happy, happy enough to almost crush his pelvis after the party was dismissed. He was eternally grateful for both his level 7 endurance and reinforcement for having survived that love-making session. No one wanted to mess with a too eager to give love level 10 adventurer.
As he caressed his lover's hands with one of his a stray thought appeared in his mind.
'Wait, did I just create the equivalent of Caliburn in this world?'
Yes, yes he did.
So yeah, that's the chapter hope you enjoyed it. Poor Syr got essentially flash-banged, those who know, know.
And yeah, the Guild girls gambling on how long it will take for someone to die is canon. The reason why Eina became Bell's advisor is that she got fed up with the others saying he would die in no time and accepted the position despite already being overworked.
About the omake, it's as said above, not canon to this story. It's more of a what-if, to be honest, and overlooks a lot of events. I tried to not mention the name of Aiz, or describe much of her until I found it necessary to keep a little mystery on who was the lover, but I'm sure a lot of you found out instantly, kudos to you.
In that timeline, Bell would eventually accept Aiz's feelings for Shirou and move on. He would probably end with either Ryuu or Haruhime.
And no, this doesn't make Shirou x Aiz the canon pairing on this story, treat it as a separate one-shot if you want.
Hoping you liked both the chapter and the omake and until next time.