ACT X - Investigation
Shirou stood outside the infirmary leaning against the stone wall with Sir Lancelot, Sir Galahad, and Merlin. The man he'd found running up the path to the castle was inside being questioned by Sir Bedivere and King Arthur himself who insisted on talking to the man personally. Sir Galahad had returned from the barracks and helped Shirou escort the injured scout inside the castle and to the infirmary.
"I thank you for assisting him. Dietrich is my best man." Sir Galahad turned to Shirou and bowed.
"Don't worry about it. I hope he'll be all right." Shirou motioned for Galahad to stand back up.
"If you were not there then he would not have made it to the gate." Galahad thanked him again.
The door to the infirmary opened and Arthur and Bedivere stepped out into the hall where the others were waiting with Shirou. Arthur seemed to have a bit of blood on his armor.
"How is he?" Shirou asked concerned.
Arthur shook his head. "I am afraid his wounds were too severe."
"Did he die well my Lord? Was he able to fulfill his duty?" Galahad stepped forward towards Arthur.
Arthur nodded. "Yes. He was able to give a report before he died just as I asked him. He fulfilled his duty well." Galahad looked satisfied at Arthur's answer.
Lancelot raised his head. "So, did you learn anything?"
"I do not think we should speak of such things here." Bedivere suggested.
"To the throne room then?" Merlin asked.
"Yes, we will meet there." Arthur nodded again.
The lot of them were escorted away from the infirmary by a couple of guards. Shirou took a look back at the door. It seemed the man that he and Sir Galahad had carried in had died. After everything he did he ended up dying anyway and Shirou was unable to save him. Shirou couldn't help but feel a little sad. Hopefully it wasn't meaningless.
They arrived at the throne room and the guards took their posts around the room. Arthur took his seat on the throne and Shirou and the others knelt in front of it.
"It seems my scout was ambushed by archers in the forest. However that was not all." Arthur said ominously.
"It seemed he found something. Some kind of barrier that would not let him proceed any further through the forest." Bedivere explained.
"Do we know who it was that attacked Dietrich?" Sir Galahad asked.
"We do not. However we can only assume it was part of the force that attacked Shirou Emiya and myself." Bedivere answered.
"Your Majesty I believe that Morgana Le Fay is behind this barrier that your scout saw." Merlin spoke directly to Arthur.
"Yes, I believe so too. However I do not think we should attack just yet. She is obviously planning something, perhaps amassing a force with which to attack Camelot." Arthur leaned forward.
"I believe an excursion into the forest is in order. Perhaps the boy has a way take down the barrier and allow us to enter." Lancelot said without much emotion.
"Can you do something like that Shirou?" Arthur asked.
Shirou nodded. "Probably. If it's something like a magic barrier, then this sword should be able to cut through it." Out of the corner of his eye he saw Merlin crack a smile.
"Very well. We shall investigate what is on the other side of this barrier. Sir Lancelot and Sir Bedivere with both accompany Shirou into the forest." Arthur ordered.
"My King." Sir Galahad stood up. "I respect your judgment however I would like to be in the party to accompany the party into the forest as well." He bowed respectively.
"I do not think that wise. I know you want to avenge the death of Dietrich, I know that he was a good friend of yours. That is precisely why I can not allow you to go."
Galahad's head drooped a little. "As you command." He bowed again.
"I am uneasy, there is a foul smell in the air. Tomorrow I shall temporarily halt the search for the Holy Grail and call the remaining knights to the Round Table." Arthur heaved a sigh. He looked tired.
"Call the knights-? My King even if they do return it shall take weeks for them all to assemble. Do you think it wise to halt your Holy Quest? We do not even know what will transpire in the forest." Merlin spoke up.
"The Grail shall wait until this matter is dealt with. I will feel better if this turns out to be just an organized group of bandits." Arthur said almost hopefully, though Shirou could tell he was worried. "You will leave in the morning, I would suggest that you get some rest between now and then. That will be all." Arthur stood up, and as he did so did everyone else. Arthur left the throne room through a back door while the others left from the front.
The three knights went their own ways while Shirou was left with Merlin. The sun had set and the moon would soon take it's place. Shirou had planned to go straight home but since that incident with the scout he'd been requested to stay at the castle. It seemed he was free now though. He bid Merlin farewell and watched him head to his tower while Shirou once again headed towards the dirt path leading into the castle town.
The scout named Dietrich seemed to be friends with Sir Galahad. Galahad seemed to have a sense of honor as seen by his wish for his friend to fulfill his duty before he died. Shirou couldn't help but admire that, all the knights seemed to have a profound sense of honor and justice just as the stories were told. It also seemed as they all held an oath to the King that they would not dare break.
It seemed that the reason the other knights weren't around was because they were searching for the Holy Grail while Arthur ran the country from Camelot, though now they were going to be called back. Shirou wondered what kind of development something like that would have on the people. All the knights gathering in one place had to be a major event. Did Arthur understand what that could do? What exactly did he think they would find in the forest? Many things would happen in the future, that was certain. It would also be likely that Shirou would have to raise his blade at an enemy again. When that time came he would have to recall what Lancelot and Guinevere told him.
Shirou entered the town. It hadn't quite gotten dark yet so maybe the girls were home. They did say that they wanted to hear some stories so maybe it would be a good idea to talk to them and unwind. Elise's father may not be too keen on letting her out so late, but as far as he knew Lina lived alone. He wasn't sure of the circumstances on why Lina was by herself since Shirou had never asked but maybe now was the time.
Luckily they lived across the road from Shirou. The girls lived right next door to each other so other than when Elise was helping out with her father's bakery the two of them were always seen together. They were practically sisters. Shirou walked up to Lina's house and knocked on the wooden door a couple of times.
"I will be right there!" Lina's voice called from within her small house. Shirou heard footsteps inside and a couple of seconds later the door opened.
"Evening, Lina." Shirou waved at her in greeting.
"Hello Shirou. It's rare for you to drop by here." Lina said with a warm smile.
Shirou scratched the back of his head. "Well, I owe you and Elise a story don't I?"
Lina clapped her hands together with excitement. "Fantastic! Let us go and retrieve her." She said and stepped outside into the evening air with Shirou.
Elise's house was right next door. Shirou noticed there was a lit candle in one of the windows as he and Lina approached the door.
"Elise! Shirou wants to talk to us. Hurry and come out." Lina said as she rapped on the door with her knuckles.
The door opened to reveal the rather curious looking redhead. "Shirou does?" Elise tilted her head and brushed her shoulder length hair behind her ear.
"Hey Elise. It's alright if you come out right? With your dad I mean." Shirou asked.
"Father, I am going out with Lina!" Elise turned around and called into her house.
"Do not stay out too late Elise. I would like your help in the shop tomorrow." A man's voice, presumably Elise's father called to her from in the house.
Elise walked through the door and closed it behind her. "Does that satisfy your question?" She grinned at Shirou.
"Looks like we are all yours Shirou." Lina winked and nudged Shirou in the ribs.
"Ahaha. I wish you would have said it a different way though." Shirou chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head.
The three of them walked to Lina's house because Shirou insisted that he didn't want a girl to see his house the way it was. He'd never been inside either of their houses before but Lina's home didn't look that much different than Shirou's, albeit a bit more decorated. There were a couple vases of flowers around and a large handwoven basket filled with beautiful wildflowers on a wooden table with four chairs on each side.
"Wow, these flowers are all really nice." Shirou commented as he took a look around after stepping inside.
"Lina makes them all herself. They are very pretty are they not?" Elise said with a smile.
"Do you like them? I have always liked flowers, maybe some day I'll be able to have my own stall and arrange flowers for everyone." Lina smiled faintly as she watered the wildflowers in her window.
"I did not expect you were the type of man who likes flowers Shirou." Elise smirked.
"A-Anyway, you girls wanted to hear a story about my journey with Sir Bedivere didn't you?" Shirou was a bit embarrassed so he avoided Elise's teasing.
Both of the girls nod at the exact same time. "Yes, please tell us!" Sometimes Shirou thought it was strange how in sync with each other they were.
And so Shirou began his story. The girls sat on Lina's bed and listened intently while Shirou pulled up a chair and sat back in it. He embellished it a little to make it more interesting for the girls, and he left the part out about the details of him and Bedivere in the cave. The girls's eyes both went wide when Shirou was talking about how he was dodging archers with Bedivere in the burned out village.
"That was really the first time you have ever killed a person?" Elise asked with concern in her eyes.
Shirou nodded. "Yeah, I wasn't sure I would be able to do it until Sir Bedivere pushed me."
"That must have been horrible for you." Lina almost looked a little sad.
"I hope I don't have to kill anyone next time..." Shirou mumbled.
"Next time?" Elise asked curiously.
Shirou then explained what had happened on his way home and that next time he would be on another mission with Lancelot and Bedivere.
"Sir Lancelot AND Sir Bedivere?" Lina exclaimed.
"I am so jealous Shirou!" Elise squeaked.
"Now you two... it's not going to be all fun and games." Shirou sighed.
"Are you really leaving tomorrow?" Lina looked disappointed.
Shirou nodded again. "Yeah, hopefully I'll be back within a couple of days."
"You had better get some rest then." Elise said with a smile.
"Yeah, that might be a good idea. It was nice talking to you two, it helps me forget everything that's been going on lately." Shirou grinned widely.
"We shall wait for another story of your adventures with the knights when you return." Lina smiled as everyone stood up from their respective seats.
"I should go home then. My father did say not to stay out late." Elise said as she and Shirou were both escorted to the door by Lina.
"I'll see you two later." Shirou waved to the girls and walked across the road to his house.
"Sleep well Shirou!" Lina waved back to him.
"Good night Shirou." Elise nodded to him and then went inside her house.
Shirou left them and returned to his little home away from home. Talking to the girls felt good. He was able to forget his troubles, if only for a moment. In fact those two were probably part of the reason the village didn't see him as an outcast any more. After the first week when Lina and Elise started talking to him the villagers seemed to let their guard down around Shirou.
Shirou grabbed a roll from the basket that sat on his table and fell backwards onto his bed. "I'll have to remember to thank those two sometime." He mumbled as he took a bite. Those two girls were the first people to warm up to him, if they hadn't then Shirou might never have said anything to anyone in the village. On a wider scale everything so far was thanks to Merlin and that liquid he called Babel. It was that stuff that eliminated the language barrier between Shirou and everyone else and as far as he knew the effects were permanent.
He took a long look around the house. The bread on the table, the sword leaning against the wall next to his bed, the vase of flowers on the edge of his window. "It seems I've got a lot of people to thank." Shirou heaved a sigh.
Tomorrow he would leave again, off on another adventure with not one but two knights this time. Shirou didn't know exactly what to expect and he didn't have any idea what he was looking for. The one thing he did know was that he was doing this to prevent another tragedy like that village that was destroyed. If he could do that then he would happily do whatever he needed to.
"You should start thinking about how you are going to live your life here."
Merlin's words rang in his head. If he did have to spend the rest of his life here, he wanted to do some good. Maybe he could become a soldier and help Cardigan guard the castle, though the Captain didn't seem to like him too much. Either way he wanted to protect people, he wanted to stop more people from dying horribly like that.
Shirou rolled over and grabbed the handle of his sword. He jumped out of his bed and withdrew it from the sheath. "If I can't save everyone then..." He took the piece of bread he was eating and tossed it into the air. "I'll dedicate myself to saving whoever I can." His sword cut the air and the bread fell to the floor, cut cleanly in half.
Saving absolutely everyone, that much Shirou realized was impossible. He was unable to save those villagers, he was unable to save that scout. There would no without a doubt be more people he would be unable to save in the future, in that case there was only one thing to do and that was save whoever he could. Shirou Emiya thought that as he returned his sword to it's place by his bed and fell asleep on his bed.