I'm back.

To be honest, after uploading the first three chapters of the story, I didn't know whether I should continue it or not. Not because there were too many criticizing comments, mind you; I really appreciate those comments actually. Rather, it was because those comments made me realize I didn't do my research thoroughly enough. There were still a lot of things I didn't know, or things I knew but forgot to include in what I had written, about the two universes. Even now, even though I have just spent quite some time doing more research, I'm still not sure if I knew enough or not.

But now I think I'm ready. I decided that I will continue with whatever I got, and I will try my best to do more research so that the story would get more in tune with the original lores.

Anyway, this is the first of the two chapters today.

Chapter 3: Trust or Not

It's not like EMIYA wanted to think so negatively about the situation he was in right now.

No, during the time he was in Chaldea, he had mellowed out a lot comparing to the time he served as a Counter Guardian. He had started to regain a trait he had long since forgotten, which was how to believe in other people and work as a team.

But that only applies to people he could actually trust. Since he was summoned to this world, there had been nothing that allowed him to put his trust in. After all, trust is not something you can build on lies and prejudices.

Just like the people sitting in front of him right now. He didn't have any reason to trust them; not after he saw how they treated a fellow Hero of his, and especially not after the king and his lackeys literally dumped them on him without him even having a say in this.

Right now they were sitting in a pub in the city. The pub was pretty crowded; it must be a holiday here today. And finally EMIYA had a chance to look at the people who wanted to follow him closely.

The group had three guys and two girls. All of them seemed to be around the age of twenty or so, and were all seemingly prepared for the incoming adventure. They were all dressed in combat outfits and were all holding weapons. From what he saw, the party consisted of what he could call a generally balanced party in an RPG that he usually saw Blackbeard and Tomoe Gozen playing during their free time: an armored soldier, a magic knight, a cleric, a swordsman and an archer.

And everyone in the group, right now, was staring at him as if he was an alien.

"So?" finally, he said. "If we are going to work together, at least we should know about each other first. Anyone cares to give the class an introduction?"

He's not that heartless, after all. At least he's going to give them a chance to prove themselves. The archer was the one who hesitantly raised his hand first. EMIYA looked at him, waiting.

"Um… my name is Welt, sir. I am 16 years old… I'm from a family of hunters, and my best skill is archery. I… I hope I can be of some assistance to you guys…"

EMIYA raised an eyebrow. "16, huh? Isn't that a little bit young for a person to go on an adventure like this? Is there anything you wish to do in the future?"

The boy stuttered again. "No, sir… I just… I just hope that I can be of use to someone, and make a name for my family in the future… maybe if I can be a Hero's assistant, I can achieve that for myself…"

So basically, a teenager who thinks of a journey to save the world as a chance to become famous, the ex-Guardian thought. I wonder if he even has a say in this whole situation.

"And?" he looked at the boy. "Is it actually your own choice to join this journey? Or is it someone else's decision that you must take part in this possibly dangerous adventure?"

Those words seemingly made the boy shrink even further down. "N-no, sir… It… it was my own choice…"

You're not fooling anyone with that attitude, EMIYA had to try his best to keep himself from rolling his eyes.

"If you've already finished, then step aside and let US introduce ourselves."

That haughty voice startled the ex-Guardian. Did I just hear Shinji?

The two other males at the table stood up at the same time. It took EMIYA just a glance to see that they probably are related in some way. Their faces had many similarities, albeit one of them had a thickset, burly body while the other one was small and thin. They were both dressed in armor and clothing which the ex-Guardian could see immediately to be very expensive; they must come from some noble family. And the most obvious thing was that they shared a similar annoyingly haughty and arrogant expression on their faces.

Oh great, EMIYA groaned in his head. One Shinji was more than enough; now a pair of Shinjis?

"We are from the noble family of Polignac, the great brothers Bakta and Walther!" they boasted loudly, making everyone else in the pub turn their heads in annoyance and fear. "Together we are invincible! With us here, you don't need any other companions! Just send these useless lowlives back to their shacks; we can provide you with anything you need: money, weapons, beautiful women… anything you can think about!"

"Yeah right," the ex-Guardian snorted. "Then take me back to my homeworld, can you?"

That shut the haughty brothers up immediately.

"Geh."

"A… anything but that," the one named Bakta stuttered. "Anything but that we could provide you," he finished lamely.

The newly appointed Hero of the Sword rolled his eyes, unimpressed. On a battlefield, people like these would be killed first, he thought.

He turned to the last two. They were both girls of around 17 or so, meaning the same as Rin and his past self when the Fifth Holy Grail War started. It didn't seem they had experience fighting before, though; the girl wearing a hood and a pair of nerd glasses was gripping tightly some kind of magical rod which disturbingly reminded him of what he usually saw in his homeworld, namely the infamous Magical Ruby made by the Wizard Marshall Zelretch himself, which caused so much trouble to the 10-year-old Illya in Chaldea. The other girl, a brunette who was wearing a breastplate and a pair of short, was somewhat more ready for battle than the other girl, but what confused him the most about her was that she was lugging around a really big sword which didn't suit her slim figure at all. Right now she was shooting a glare at the two noble brothers, who were sheepishly sitting down with a rather pissed off expression on their faces. Obviously they weren't used to being humiliated in public like this before.

"So, how about you stop glaring at them and focus on introducing yourself first?" he offered in a bored tone, and the target of the girl's glare switched immediately from the brothers to him.

"My name is Tersia," she gritted her teeth. "And I don't like you."

"Wow, talk about straightforward," EMIYA drawled sarcastically. "What is it of me that makes you hate me that much? Is it how I look? Or is it how I put every single one of you down like the idiots who you really are? Or is it…?"

"I thought you would be a better person than those two idiots of the Spear and the Bow, or that clueless, useless Shield, but it seems I have put my trust in the wrong person," she spat. "After all, you are just a jerk who thinks that you are better than everyone else."

"Please don't mind her, Sir," the other girl hastily raised her voice. "She… um… she is always like this to anyone she meets for the first time, so… um…"

When the new Hero of the Sword turned his eyes towards her, she blushed and lowered her head. Her two index fingers poked each other in a cute, shy way. "Um… my name is Farrie, Sir. I'm looking forward to becoming a sister in the Church of the Three Heroes, so… I have some basic knowledge in healing magic…"

EMIYA raised an eyebrow. This girl was pretty decent, if not a little bit fangirl-ish. It is pretty clear that she was one of the admirers of the Cardinal Heroes. But…

"Why did you choose to join the Heroes on their journey to fight the Waves, then? You don't seem to be someone who likes fighting. Besides, you are planning to become a nun. It's not a job that usually requires fighting, anyway."

It's not like he hadn't met any church workers who are also fighters, though. Ciel of the Burial Agency, the person who gave him his signature red cloak in the form of a Holy Shroud, was one of the strongest Executors he had ever met in his life, although she's not someone that could be considered a "normal" human. But the girl in front of him definitely wasn't Ciel. She didn't look like she even had any kind of physical training before.

The girl blushed even harder. "Um…"

He kept waiting, but she didn't seem to be able to say anything else. He didn't know what to think anymore; either she was an incredibly skilled spy who could fake her emotions so perfectly he couldn't know it was true or not, or she was so freaking shy she couldn't even say what she was thinking.

And Tersia's glare had just tripled in intensity. Maybe she had been thinking that he was bullying her friend.

For a while, no one said anything. Then, the ex-Guardian spoke up.

"So… is there any place around here that we can have a quick spar?"

Twenty minutes later, the whole team stood in a clearing behind the castle. There was nothing there except for some training equipment such as the targets at the end of the ground or the dummies near the wall; it seemed this was used as the training ground of the castle's soldiers.

"So what do you need this place for?" Bakta, the burly noble asked. EMIYA looked at all the five youths and smirked, going straight to the point.

"Ah, well, if we really are going to work with each other, I guess a test should be conducted. After all, I need to know what you can do first."

It's also a way for me to test the limit of the body I was given, too, he thought.

The younger brother, Walther, the one with a short sword who EMIYA thought was a magic swordsman, smirked and punched his left palm with his right fist. "You want to fight us, eh? So which one do you want first? You should pick those weaklings over there first, because," he glanced at Tersia, Farrie and Welt, "we are not going to be easy preys like them," he boasted loudly.

"No."

The noble boy snorted, reaching for the sword at his waist. "Hah! So it means you want to be humiliated! Very well, then I will…"

"You are mistaken. What I mean is…" EMIYA cut in while shaking his head, "…I want all of you to come at me at once."

Silence. Then…

"WHAAAAAAAAAATTTT?!"

"Who the fuck are you, underestimating us like that!" Bakta, now seemingly very angry, screamed. "What kind of pushover do you think us, the noble Polignac brothers, are?"

"Personally?" the ex-Guardian snorted bluntly. "I think you are a bunch of useless idiots."

"I'll kill you!" snarled Walther in anger. He drew his sword and charged the Sword Hero. The shiny blade drew an arc in the air, aiming to split the white-haired man in half from head to toe…

…and struck the ground in front of him.

"Eh?"

He was sure that his sword had slashed at something. That so-called Hero of the Sword had been full of openings, and he had aimed for the place where he was sure the man wouldn't be able to block. But now, there was a clear fact that he had hit nothing but thin air. How could it…?

Then something hard struck him brutally at his nape. He collapsed on the ground like a sack of rice, his face buried itself into the ground painfully and humiliatingly. And before he could even groan, a foot slammed on his exposed back, choking the hell out of his breath. He couldn't even breathe out a proper word to chant any spell.

"Argh… ahh…"

Unknown to the poor boy, the reason why he could even try to slash at the ex-Counter Guardian was because he let him do that. EMIYA's signature style, created by himself and honed through countless battles, was full of openings, indeed, but all those openings are what he let his opponent see. Naturally, when the enemy sees those easily noticeable openings, they are going to turn their attacks towards those points, and of course, will meet the immediate parry and effective counter of the ex-Guardian. That style caused trouble even to some of the most famous heroes in the history of humankind; what chance did that poor boy who hadn't had any real battle experience even have?

"Brother… help me…" said boy weakly groaned at his brother, who was seemingly too shocked to even move, before losing consciousness. That pathetic begging snapped the brother out of his stupor.

"BASTARD!" he screamed and charged forward, brandishing his spear. He threw stabs after stabs, thrusts after thrusts at the hero in red wildly in anger and vengeance. To a normal person, this should be very dangerous. But EMIYA had gotten a lot of experience fighting spear wielders who were much, much faster than him. Cú Chulainn, Ireland's Child of Light, the legendary wielder of Gae Bolg, the cursed spear which never misses its target, and one of the fastest human beings in history, was one of them, and he was able to keep up with him by sheer experience alone, even though the former was holding back quite a lot.

Which means the attacks from the spear wielder in front of him, even though pretty fast and wild, were not something that could give the red hero much difficulty to read.

And naturally, he answered with something Bakta could not even imagine in his wildest dream. He matched each strike of the spear user with his own.

"What the…?!"

Shocked from seeing his strikes being countered so easily, Bakta's attacks slowed down a bit. And that opening was more than enough for the experienced red warrior. Before he could do anything, Bakta had taken a brutal knee to his torso. Even with the protective armor he was wearing, it felt like breaths were knocked out of his lungs. He staggered backward; now he realized that the new Sword Hero was not simply a weakling as he had thought before at all.

"You…!" he snarled, lowering his stance and grabbing the spear with both hands. He twirled it around a few times, then lowered it down, pointing the tip at his opponent. "If you really want to play, then I'll play for real with you! Spear St—"

"Who said anything about playing?"

Before the skill he was preparing could be launched, the hero in red had appeared right in front of him. The Legendary Sword drew a vicious arc in the air, way different from how Walther had swung his own sword before. And Bakta was startled when the long spear he was gripping with both hands suddenly turned into two useless sticks.

Unknown to him, EMIYA had used Structural Analysis to read the spear he was holding during their short trading of blows, and he knew exactly where the weak points of the weapon were. Therefore, just a normal strike coming from the Legendary Sword was more than enough to render the weapon useless.

From the beginning, he wasn't even serious at all. If he had actually gotten serious, he could have taken all of our heads any time he wanted. Bakta thought when his consciousness started fading from a vicious punch with full force to the face.

"Too many redundant movements," the ex-Guardian said coldly when the body of Bakta hit the ground.

Then he had to lean aside when an arrow flew past his face, almost leaving a scratch on his nose. He turned towards the direction of the shot, and immediately saw the culprit: Welt was holding his bow up in his trembling hands, obviously shocked from what he himself had just done.

Now that's more like it, EMIYA smirked in his head. Kicking the ground, he took off towards the boy who was trembling in terror. The Legendary Sword was swung once again, aiming for the archer's shoulder…

CLANG!

The sound of steel clashing against steel echoed through the air. EMIYA's sword was stopped dead on its way by the humongous sword on Tersia's hands, who had moved in front of Welt to block his attack. His strike couldn't get through, but he could see in amusement that both of the girl's arms were trembling like crazy just from trying to stop his attack.

She has some experience, he thought. But too bad her body is just too weak to handle that sword.

Putting more power into his arms, the ex-Guardian sent a barrage of blows straight to the blade of the big sword with both arms gripping the hilt. Tersia grimaced; the slashes weren't strong enough to damage her weapon, but still had the power to send tremors down her arms. At this rate, she would be disarmed before she could counter his attack. She needs to do something before her arms cannot stand it anymore.

Gripping the hilt of her sword tightly with both of her hands, she roared and swung the weapon upward, intending to meet the slash of EMIYA in midair. But that was the biggest mistake she could ever make. That move, even though she had put all of her power into it, was just too slow. To her surprise and horror, the red hero didn't even let the two blades meet; he simply stopped his strike midway and leaned aside, avoiding her slash completely.

And the flat of the Legendary Sword was brought mercilessly on her wrists. She screamed in pain, dropping her broadsword; the giant sword on her hands fell to the ground with a dry "thud". Not even stopping, the ex-Counter Guardian grabbed the collar of her shirt and threw her at Welt. Not expecting that sudden move, the boy couldn't do anything to avoid it except widening his eyes a bit. He collapsed on the ground painfully with Tersia's body on top of him.

The Sword Hero turned his glare towards Farrie, the last member of the team who was standing afar, gripping on her staff desperately. The poor girl seemed to be scared shitless.

He slowly raised his sword, menacingly. The girl looked like she was pissing herself from his action.

"Stop…" groaned Tersia weakly. She had pushed herself up from Welt's fallen body, and was now struggling to stand up, even though her legs were shivering like crazy, as if they were going to collapse at any time.

"What the hell is that?!" Bakta, having returned from unconsciousness, shrieked at the Hero of the Sword in protest. "You said this is a test! You are not supposed to go all out like that!"

Then he unconsciously took a step back when EMIYA turned his piercing glare at him. "Wha…?!"

"And please, tell me," the ex-Counter Guardian said in a deathly cold voice, "what is the reason for me not to go all out?"

Bakta sputtered. "W-well, b-because… we are not in a war…"

"We are not in a war, you say," the Hero didn't let him finish his sentence. "Then what do you think we are supposed to do? Why did they even bother summoning the Four Heroes and force us to fight for them? If this weren't a war, they would not try as far as to force people who didn't know anything about this world to wield weapons with the potential power to destroy continents! Yes, I already took notice of this sword's ability last night, when we were locked up in that castle," he glanced at the Legendary Sword on his hand when the youngsters took a step back, startled from the information. "And if you think that in a war there would be time for you to show off, to play hero, to bask in glory, then you are wrong. There is nothing glorious about wars at all; the people who are glorified as war heroes are basically just killing machines that murder for the sake of their superiors! And what just happened to you is something you are going to suffer if you continue treating what we are going to do as a game. If you continue thinking like that, you should prepare your necks, because you are going to be the ones who get killed first on the battlefield," he finished coldly.

"You… you are a nutjob!" Bakta pointed at the sword wielder accusingly. Then, he grabbed his brother, who was still lying unconscious on the ground, and ran away from the training field. "Screw you; I'm not going to risk my life following someone like you!"

EMIYA looked at the retreating nobles in disgust until their backs disappeared from his view completely. Then he glanced at the three remaining youngsters.

"What about you three? If you want to run away, now is the time for you to do that."

For a few seconds, no one said anything. Then, suddenly, Tersia raised her voice.

"Sir… just how many wars have you taken part in?"

"How many, huh…" EMIYA chuckled dryly. "Probably more than your age. And there's nothing I regret more than that."

"But… it means you survived through all those wars! You are supposed to be a war hero!" Welt stammered.

"War hero?" the red soldier snorted in disgust at those words. "Those are the words I despise the most in my life. Do you understand what being a hero in a war means? It means you have to kill a lot of people in that war. Sometimes, it isn't even for any purpose, but only to save your own pathetic life. And after that, when those responsible for those wars have no more need for your service, you are going to be tossed aside, forgotten and abandoned. Or even worse," he finished bitterly. The moment when he was betrayed by the people he was supposed to save flashed across his eyes once again. He had made peace with the past, but whenever thinking about that time, he still thought of it as a sour note in his life.

The three teenagers looked at the man in red both in fear and awe. In their eyes now, he was not simply a very powerful soldier anymore. He was a veteran who had gone through everything bad of wars, and thus, understood everything about it.

For the first time in their lives, they understood that being called a hero was not always a good thing.

If this is what wars could turn a person into...

Then suddenly, Tersia did something none of them could expect. She kneeled down on the ground.

"Please, Lord Sword Hero! Please take me as your student!"

To say that EMIYA was shocked was a really big understatement. However, being an experienced fighter he was, he could easily hide his expression. He looked at the girl kneeling below him.

"Why? Didn't you hear what I have just said? War is not your playground."

"I know that," the girl said, still not lifting her head up. "That is why I want you to be my master; I don't like war, but I know that fighting against the Waves is the only way we can do to stop the war we are having to fight! You are the only person who understands how horrible wars are! Even if I have to sacrifice myself, I will still follow you until the end!"

Then she looked back at Farrie and Welt. "Farrie-chan, Welt-kun, if you two don't want to go, just go home; I will not hold it against you. It's not worth it to risk your lives over something you don't want to do."

The other two youths couldn't say anything for a few seconds. Then, it was the archer who opened his mouth first.

"If that's your decision, Tersia-san, I'm always with you, no matter what happens."

It was interesting that he didn't even stutter a bit when he said those words. Even his face showed a grim determination, as if he had decided the way he was going to follow for all of his life.

"M-me too," Farrie also raised her voice, even though it was still a little bit shaky. "If you already made your decision, then I will do everything I can to support you! We are friends, remember?" she finished with a big smile.

Tersia looked at her two friends in gratitude. Then, the three youngsters turned their eyes towards the Sword Hero; all of them shared the same determined look on their faces.

"Sir, we have decided! We will accompany you on your journey, no matter what happens! Please accept us!"

The ex-Counter Guardian swept his eyes across the three teenagers in front of him. Then, his shoulders slumped in defeat.

"I don't have any choice, do I?"

[Add Tersia, Farrie and Welt to your party?]

A transparent pop-up screen suddenly popped up in front of his face. Understanding what that meant, he answered with a single word.

"Yes."

Anyone who paid close attention could see a slight smile flashing across his face in just a blink of an eye.

So yeah, now you understand why I made it so that EMIYA seemed to act like a jerk in the previous chapter. The king and his lackey really didn't do anything that could gain his trust, and if that's the case, I don't think there is any reason for him to act like a nice guy in front of them.

But he is by no mean an apathetic jerk as many people are thinking I'm building his character into. He might be wary of this world, but he is always ready to give it a chance, if he deems the world worthy. As you already noticed, I'm not going to let him go solo from the beginning, like other authors did in their stories. In canon, Ren's companions have no character development at all; all we know about them was that they are dead. If I let EMIYA turn down the companion offer before they even know each other, he would be no different from Ren. So I thought, why not? In this story, the Sword Hero's companions will be developed fully as their own characters, with proper history, personalities and their own roles in the development of EMIYA's character.

And now is a fun thing. I know that in the manga, Ren's party includes four men and a girl who seems to be a martial art type, which is kinda weird, considering Tersia and Farrie are both names of girls in some languages. But I don't remember seeing any description of them in any other adaptations of the story. Therefore, I decided that I'm not going to follow that description, and will develop them in my own way. Really hope you guys wouldn't have any problem with that.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this new chapter. Feel free to give criticisms if there is anything you want to give your opinion on.