Shirou POV

Our story in this new world started like any other 'Isekai' story, as Ilya put it. An experiment gone wrong here, a portal there, and badabing bada boom were in a different world. Not just a parallel world to which Zeltrech could easily rescue us, oh no.

We're in a medieval world completely separate from our own—a world where the Age of Gods is at its peak. The quality and quantity of prana are at least ten times that of Earth and without any of Alaya's influence. The unique environment basically raised our magecraft exponentially. Even Medusa and Medea said that their magic flowed easier compared to their original time, which was at the tail end of the age of gods.

With the contents of Sakura's void space as a resource, we decided to play it safe and copy the behavior of most mages on Earth. We found an abandoned shack in the middle of the woods using familiars. It turned out to be the perfect location since it requires a week of traveling on foot just to reach our nearest neighbor and another week to see a town. This makes our place relatively isolated while allowing us to use the town in just a day of travel using Bellerophon. We just need to make sure to travel only in the dark.

We stayed in that shack for two years. Two fucking years. Even with the convenience of modern amenities and magecraft and upgrading the shack to something more akin to a small mansion, we're still isolated. Seeing the same seven faces all the time would wear down on anyone's psyche, even if we love each other.

Aside from that, our resources were quickly dwindling. Food and water were no problem since the forest could provide us with whatever we need aside from the ridiculous food stock in the Void Space. What we lack are money and gems.

I made some coins by selling some of the animals I hunted and low-quality blades I forged, which helped us figure out the countries convoluted monetary system. I thought I could sell some of the platinum, gold, and silver; I stacked up in case of a situation like this. Still, after only a few days of observing and asking around, it became immediately apparent that it would be a bad idea. Legitimate shops would ask a boatload of questions, while the black market would just lowball or backstab us. Nevertheless, I was able to use small amounts of gold and silver by copying the coins, basically counterfeiting.

As for the gems, Rin has been going through our stock like it's popcorn. She's using the jewels and the Holy Grail in her research into second magic, Kaleidoscope. She's hoping that with her fully mastering Kaleidoscope, she could take us all back.

However, almost everything was stacked against her. First of all, we're not even sure if this world is part of the range of the standard Kaleidoscope or we're in a totally different system. Next, it would take decades at the very least for someone to reach the Root unless she gets very, very, very lucky. Finally, we're actually in no real rush to return since everything that matters got pulled in that blasted hole. The only thing practically working for her is how easy to use magic.

Back to the gems, well, we can't replenish our stocks enough. I first went to Wintertown to buy some, but there's only one shop that sells gems. The place doesn't even specialize in precious rocks. It's a glass shop that moonlights as a jewelry shop. The store also only sells to VIP's and the sales are double-checked by the Starks, the controlling noble of the land we're in, so they could adequately tax them. The same also happened in White Harbor, but there are three shops instead of one. I was only able to buy from the traders themselves while still on the docks. It costs me some serious gold for substandard gems. They don't even want to let go of the better-looking ones since they need to fill up their quotas, and White Harbor is usually their last port of call in Westeros before heading back to Essos. Personally, I think they're just hesitant to sell their stocks to someone unknown.

Rin also suggested we mine the gems ourselves. We would have done it if we even have the slightest idea where and how to mine.

That's why we even thought of working for the Starks. We need someone influential to back us. Of course, we didn't just say we need the Starks. We deliberated which is the best noble for us to approach, and that's where Medea and Sakura's familiars came into play. They sent a venerable army of familiars to every keep we could manage within a month.

We could only reach the northern Riverlands, but it quickly became apparent that we would encounter the same problem mages on Earth discovered early in history, fear and religion. The Faith of the Seven is scared of magic, practically denouncing and killing anything unnatural. Only the Targaryens survived the sevens zeal. The northerners, which most believed in the Old Gods, are more tolerant of anything 'supernatural' and the Starks are on the top of the food chain.

The spying came in after we decided on the Starks. We needed to have a feel on them, and it quickly snowballed to everyone of note. That's how we found out about the spies and the poisoning. That's already a huge bargaining chip. The map I created for convenience would also be a great opener, but we need another one just in case. When Medea saw the magic sword hanging on the wall, I just knew we got another chip. It's not even a real magic sword since only material is magical. I could make magical steel in my sleep. It's only the resources that are the problem.

Ilya also forced us to list things we could introduce from our world to this one. She calls it the 'Uplift Catalog.' Apparently, it's an essential part of any 'Isekai.' We categorized everything we know into two categories, each with three classifications. The first is our ability to recreate the thing with science or magic, classified into can, maybe, and cannot. The second one is if we should introduce it at all, classified into should, maybe, and shouldn't. A little dry and plain but works nonetheless.

An example would be black powder which we classified as both maybes. We know what's the basic composition of black powder, which is charcoal, sulfur, and niter, but no idea of the ratio or how to get niter. Maybe we could recreate it after some testing, but after we figure it out, what then? Should we introduce something which is generally credited as the thing that ended chivalry and made killing easier? We're still on the fence on that one.

Most of what we can and will introduce quickly has something to do with basic hygiene, agriculture, and metalwork. A quarter of the thing we know came from the things we know came from just living in a 'modern' world. Things we learn from school and experience. The rest... Well, the rest came from being the avatars of heroic spirits.

Rin is the avatar of Ishtar, the goddess of beauty, good harvests, war, lust, discord, and fertility. The enemy of the blonde asshole. Parvati chose Sakura as her avatar and she's the Goddess of Power, Energy, Devotion, Marriage, Motherhood, Children, Fertility, Love, and Harmony. Ilya is the chosen avatar of Freya, the Goddess of love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and magic. Everybody immediately noticed the correlation. For Root's sake! A dog would see the pattern! All of the goddesses that chose them to have some relation to fertility.

Of course, I wouldn't escape this avatar nonsense. I don't know if I'm lucky or not, but at least there are no gods back seat driving my body. However, two guys chose me as their avatar: the legendary teacher and student blacksmith duo, Masamune and Muramasa.

Don't get me wrong. It's great to have the knowledge of some legendary individuals, but it's a little disconcerting when they could take over your body anytime they want. I could say that I have the wrong end of the deal since Masamune and Muramasa are rivals that always wanted to outdo each other.

Anyways, the knowledge of the heroic spirits gave us most of the stuff we could do. It also helps that we have some seeds and seedlings I set aside in case we have to go off the grid. We just have to figure out what would work in a semi-arctic climate with an irregular climate cycle. Seriously, how could they have half-decade-long winters?

We have thought hard about how we would play this, and being a 'good' mercenary seems to be the smart route to use. Suddenly showing up and asking to be hired seems only to happen with mercenaries and hedge knights. So behaving the same way but as "wandering mages" would have the highest probability to work. A bold and flashy introduction would hopefully shock and occupy the Starks enough that they would take us on relatively quickly. Besides, we would know quite early if they have any significant aversion to magic.

And that brings us here and now.

"Simple Lord Stark. Gold and gems..." I answered with a slight smile. "If we could help people along the way, that would be just a bonus."

"Then you came to the wrong place. The North isn't a prosperous kingdom. What little we do have we use to prepare for Winter..." Rickard answered. "As I said, if you wanted gold, you're better off going south."

Huh, so that's how he wants to play it. He wants to lower our pay. At least we know he wants us.

"Taking us on wouldn't cost you as much as you think..." I said before taking out a piece of paper and giving it to Rickard. "We only want three things, and none of them is negotiable, as you can see on that paper right there."

"One hundred fifty gold dragons a year on the first five years of service, first in line and a tax cut for sales of any gems, and a quarter of the wealth gain of House Stark related to anything you give..." Rickard read of before staring back at me. "This is too much. We can't pay you over a thousand gold dragons a year."

"You misunderstood, Lord Stark. We know you pay Cassell twenty gold dragons a year as the Head of the Guards. There are seven of us, so 150 gold dragons a year—just a little over twenty gold for each of us." I explained.

Now, we could potentially squeeze more money, but that's not what's important. We still have enough gold to live comfortably. What we need is the clout to use the gold without much repercussion. That's where the second clause comes in. The final clause is just something to make more cash for gems, and we're pretty confident that we would make some hefty profit from the stuff in our 'Uplift Catalog.'

I could see Rickard eying at everyone and occasionally having a silent conversation with his wife, probably deciding what to do next.

"I want to know and see what I'm paying for." He said after a minute of silence.

"Aside from the Valyrian Steel substitute you want me to make?"

"Aside from that."

"Artoria. You want to loosen some muscle?" I asked in Japanese. I could see that the language change threw Rickard and Lyarra off."

"I guess. I haven't done much since we arrived." Artoria replied with a slight smile.

"How about a simple spar Lord Stark..." I suggested. "Artoria using a wooden practice sword versus twenty of your best man using live steel."

"That's twenty-one men, not twenty." I let out.

"Two and twenty..." Rickard interjected as he walked into the yard from behind me, carrying Ice. "I want to know personally what I'm going to pay for." He added, probably seeing my questioning look.

Rickard approached the twenty-one men lined up headed by Brynden Cassell and stared down at everyone, causing them to straighten up. I could give him that, at least. He's well respected by his men and could control them with a simple look.

"Can you see the people behind me?" The men answered with a nod. "One of them said it only takes one of them to beat all of us. I want you to beat down to their arses..." If I were anyone else, I would feel scared, but I faced Rin during our teenage years, so they just look like puppies to me. "The person who brings our opponent down would receive five gold dragons."

Well, that pumped everyone up. This should be more interesting.

"Don't hurt them too much." I reminded Artoria before she went towards the weapons rack.

"How can they be surprised that Artoria is the one they're going to fight?" I rhetorically asked in Japanese.

"We're in a medieval society. Women are especially underestimated in these types of societies." Medea replied.

I can't wait to see Artoria beat everyone with a bonafide stick. That certainly makes me feel nostalgic.

AN

An info overload chapter so we can get a glimpse of the group's life before Shirou visited Winterfell.

Artoria showing up the Stark house guards next chap.