Stories
Shirou struck the anvil, the metal he was forging flattened further.
Today the other craftsmen had given him a different task that what he was used to; defensive equipment, specifically shields.
He was being allowed to create any kind he want to test his skills but it was not in his nature to craft this sort of thing. Instead he was creating a gauntlet. Not merely a gauntlet made to be part of a suit of armour. This was to be an extra piece of equipment. If he did it right, the wearer would be able to catch a weapon that was being swung at them.
Of course that was harder than it looked. He had bought some paper and ink to help structure the piece. He was currently working on the piece that would cover the back of the hand.
After a few hours he had the gauntlet mostly done in terms of metalwork. he took the padding he had been provided and began making the gauntlet more comfortable to wear. He then attached the gauntlet pieces together and stuck his hand inside, it went about half-way down his forearm and he moved his fingers to see if he got the joints working. He then took a tool to the joints on the pinky because that joint was bending backwards.
He passed the complete gauntlet tp a craftsman as he took his leave from the forge. The rumors of his skill had been spreading and so there was a small crowd, maybe thirty people, outside waiting to catch a glimpse of him.
When they realised he was here, most of the crowd left but a few of them stuck around to ask questions. It seemed they more than anyone else wanted to hear his background of how he learned to craft so well, it was his equipment that would protect their lives when they went into combat after all.
He tried to leave after calming most of their worries but one woman stopped him asking "And where do you come from sir?"
Shirou looked at the woman, she wore a uniform without rank like most of the others here so he asked "Why do you ask miss?"
The woman looked surprised but answered "My name is Marge sir, I wanted to know where you came from?"
The woman was a soldier, obviously, but Shirou smiled "You don't need to refer to me by sir. I don't have a command position."
Margaret was seemingly surprised just by that admission but she waited as Shirou pondered and as he answered "From the east. Small place."
The woman looked at him a moment longer before leaving, most of the rest left with her.
Cloaked Blessing mentally swore, of course he would have made a story by now. I can't even challenge it without making him suspect me.
She sat on the ground near the walls. Her disguise was perfect so everyone would assume she had a good reason to be there. As she sat and thought, the setting sun was cut off by a shadow. Soaring Star stood over her, in her hands was a piece of burning paper that Cloaked recognised as orders from Yu-shan.
Cloaked asked the question "So you're done? Were those orders to go back?"
Soaring Star's smile grew "I did do my main task but I have just been given another job to do before I return."
Cloaked sighed "What is it?"
Soaring Star's face became teasing "Not telling."
Cloaked blessing sighed and prayed that she wouldn't have to put up with her for too much longer.
Shirou was once again in the muddy hills of swords. He had a theory this time, from what he could tell any sword he had forged had the grass around it and could be traced. So all he had to do was put a noble phantasm he wanted in the patch of grass instead.
He tried to pull out one of the many swords he had made for the army over the last few days but upon coming out the grass withered. He replanted the sword and the grass grew again.
He sighed and looked around, remembering that his world now held a forge. He wondered down and looked in one of the baskets, haematite.
Haematite was an ore containing Iron. He took a few pieces and began working, he didn't fully understand what his hands were doing. Normally his records of weapons started with them already as metal bars. Purifying ore should not be instinctive for him, and yet within what felt like only a few minutes there was a bar of Iron sitting on his countertop.
He looked back to the baskets of coal and looked at his Iron. Steel was next then.
Again, within only minutes he now had a bar of steel. He was proud of it, base materials for any sword of iron or steel. He glanced around and saw a shelf he hadn't seen before; on it sat his bar of Iron from before using it to make steel.
Did this workshop create new materials for him? He placed the steel on the shelf and went outside.
The grass around the workshop looked to be expanding slowly, it was at least a few millimeters further out than it was the previous time he had visited.
He returned to the workshop, both metal bars were just where he had left them. He took the steel and began bashing on it. This took longer, at least an hour, but he had yet another sword of the same sort he made for the army.
He went outside again and tried to plant the sword into the mud. It went in but no grass grew. He cursed, he was still missing something. He wondered over to a copy of the army's swords that he had made in reality and touched it gently and softly asked "What do you have that this one does not?"
The answer came in a flash, above the sword in the ground appeared text "Forged in the deserts of southen creation / Forged for an army / So that a soldier may fight." The text was all white, quickly Shirou ran towards a nearby noble phantasm. While it had no grass around it, Shirou touched it and asked "What is your story?"
In black text it wrote "Aestus Estus: The Original Flame / a hand-crafted crimson sword / made from meteor metal / the ultimate instrument / Wielded by Nero Claudius / The key of the theater" Only a moment after the text appeared a part of it changed. Instead of reading "made from meteor metal" it became "made from starmetal?".
The weapon shifted in place, as if asking to be taken. Shirou did so and figured out why he couldn't use it. The knowledge was instinctive.
Aestus Estus had no history of being a part of creation. It was foreign.
Shirou also knew how to solve this problem, he carried Aestus Estus down to the forge. As he walked, the weapon hummed stronger as if looking forward to what was to happen.
Shirou sighed, He didn't like breaking swords if he didn't have to. In the forge, he placed the sword onto the anvil, looked for the weakest point and brought the hammer down. Aestus Estus shattered and light burst from it. Shirou had half expected it to take more than one hit but he was more distracted by the balls of light now flitting around the room. Each one contained a line from the information before, now however each line was white.
The fragments of the blade were collected in a bucket, they were meteoric iron so it should be fine for reforging.
He began melting down the scraps but as they began to form a bar, one of the lights flitted down. It was only after the bar was ready that Shirou realised it was no longer Iron. It looks like clean steel and it reflected light in five colours. The missing light was the one that refered to Starmetal so Shirou assumed that was what it now was.
He placed the Starmetal on the shelf before instantly taking it off again. He might have never forged with it before but he was confident he had the ability.
He took the metal and began beating it out like steel. However before he was done, he woke.
End of chapter
More looking in to what his new reality marble can do.