This story just kind of popped into my head and I actually tried writing it with different servants but I decided to stick with Emiya. I don't really know where I want this story to go. I just thought of it randomly while thinking up story ideas on my phone. So this probably seems pretty rough/scuffed which it kind of is. Anyways, tell me what y'all think.

And yes I know my grammar sucks butt.

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Emiya was no stranger to bad or weird situations. He's fought for hundreds of years to defend humanity as a 'fake' and faceless hero. But he couldn't help to feel… contempt right now. After trying to break his 'loop' as an agent of the counter force by killing his past self. He instead ended up helping his past self.

Sure he was still upset he'd have to go back to his job of killing thousands of people to keep humanity alive. But the fact he got to see Rin, Saber, Sakura and even Taiga of all people, did help his state of mind a bit. He spent so long doing missions for the counter force that he couldn't even remember the faces of the people he knew and cared for.

So with a heavy sigh he turned from his place on top of a hill looking at the rising sun of Fuyuki. "Look after me Rin. I'm sure you already know that I'm hopeless. But please be the shoulder for me to lean on" his body was dissolving into blue motes of light.

"Archer…" Rin muttered with tears before shaking her head "I know. "I'll do my best! I'll make sure he doesn't turn into some twisted jerk like you. I'll make sure he learns to appreciate himself. And I hope you do too!"

Emiya could only smile and hold back a chuckle "Don't worry about me. I have my answer already" he couldn't help but give the most genuine smile he's given in years "I'll try my best from now on too".

The last thing he saw as his vision faded was the crying face of Rin. 'Let's just hope I can live up to that promise Rin. I can't change myself to be like I was before all of this… but I'll try to be a bit nicer'.

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Emiya opened his eyes to the familiar site of his reality marble. The sky and ground were both brown and full of sand, creating a dreary desert scape. The two things that separated this from the average desert was the fact that there were literally thousands upon thousands of swords strewn throughout the land. Also can't forget to mention the massive gears looming in the sky that almost seemed to let out a haze of smog. He always did feel like they taunted him.

This was the place he usually found himself waiting until he was thrust into another timeline, or singularity, to prevent the destruction of humanity. His thoughts were currently filled on what his next job could possibly be.

'Am I going to the Middle East again to stop a nuclear war? Kill a politician who's threatening the peace of all life on earth? Could be anything' he chuckled at the last part.

The counter force itself had a strange existence to say the least. It was originally one being known as Gaia which was basically the will of the planet. And Alaya was an extension of Gaia that became its own thing. And that was the collective will of humanity to survive. Emiya made his contract with Alaya back when he was still a normal person and not a heroic spirit.

'Too bad I was executed after stopping a war'.

The counter guardian's thoughts were interrupted by the presence of something within his reality marble. When he looked around, he didn't see the form of energy that Alaya usually took when sending him off to his next mission.

What he did see was the familiar figure of an old man.

"Zelretch" Emiya lowly spoke out as the old man could only smile at him.

He was an older man that had grey hair, grey beard, wrinkled face and a knowing smile. He wore a black cape like clothing overtop a black shirt with black pants and shoes. He currently was leaning on a cane with his white butler like gloves.

"Is that anyway to treat an old friend?"

"Considering the fact you like to mess with me all the time doesn't make us friends"

"Ahh come on now. No need to be hostile" Zelretch waved his hand in the air.

"How and what are you doing here?"

"Straight to the point eh? And here I thought you'd be more nice after your most recent escapade" the old man straightened out a bit before smirking. "How would you like to get out of this?"

Emiya could only raise a brow after crossing his arms "What do you mean this?"

"Come on now, I know you're smarter than that" he received a small glare "I mean to get away from Alaya".

Emiya huffed with a small smirk "I'd love to get out this situation. But you know I can't".

"But what if I found a way?" The clocktower mage could only watch in amusement as Emiya gave him the hardest stare he had ever given him before.

"I find that hard to believe" the agent of Alaya scoffed.

"Just humour me" Zelretch leaned on his cane more.

Emiya closed his eyes in thought for a moment "I would be wary of any answer you gave me".

"Considering my reputation amongst other magi… I can't blame you. But you do know how I wield the second magic correct?"

"I do"

"And as you know I can travel to parallel worlds and timelines to observe them. I've been to alternate worlds where Gaia and Alaya don't have influence. I've been to worlds where beings live that can destroy the universe just by punching each other. Even worlds where gods have abandoned the human race and left them to fight creatures of darkness by themselves".

Emiya chuckled at the one of gods abandoning the humans. He wasn't really a devout believer of god even though he knew gods existed. Considering he's met a few or have experienced their direct interventions.

But one thing did resonate with him "There are worlds that Gaia and Alaya aren't influences?"

"Indeed there are" Zelretch smiled "Gaia and Alaya exist in our world and it's branching timelines. But there's a difference between alternate dimensions, alternate timelines and alternate universes". Emiya motioned for Zelretch to continue. "Both Gaia and Alaya influence our universe and it's timelines. Alternate dimensions can be considered as separate spaces of the current universe. While an alternate universe is something different entirely. There are still a few alternate universes that are so similar to our own where Gaia and the like still exist". Zelretch chuckled "there's even one where I was turned into a vampire when I fought the Crimson Moon".

"Hilarious" Emiya drawled.

"Anyways!" Zelretch clapped his hands "I believe I've discovered a way to bypass Gaia and Alaya's hold on agents of the counter force. Not necessarily breaking the contract, but moving them to another universe where humanity and gods still exist, a place that 'fly's under their radar' so to speak. Not exactly out of their reach but in a spot they can't reach. Like the one spot on your back you can never itch. It's within range, just out of reach if that makes sense".

Emiya widened his eyes at the explanation before narrowing them again "Why tell me all of this?"

"Because your most recent encounter moved me" he joked before shrugging "No real reason. Just needed a test subject who I know didn't have too much to lose and so much to gain".

"And you thought of me first?"

"Well… maybe not the first but pretty close to"

"Humph" Emiya huffed "and how would this all work?"

"It's simple in execution but hard in theory. I am using a complicated magic that I've used for so long it's like a second nature to me".

"As long as I keep my mind, body and abilities with no extreme repercussions. I would think about it".

"Well you don't have much time. Alaya is already suspicious of my actions and could intervene at any moment. Now is the time to choose. Do you wish to continue in fighting to uphold Alaya's will? Or do you move to a new world and live a life free from their influence?"

'When he puts it like that… the choice is almost easy. But the chances I get sent somewhere horrible is also a possibility. I guess the benefits outweigh the risk. I know for a fact I can't and won't be a hero of justice. But maybe I can make a difference somewhere else' these thoughts made him chuckle once more. 'Look at me being optimistic'.

Slowly he looked to the man in front of him and his face became firm as he made up his mind. "Alright then. Send me to a new world away from Alaya's influence".

"I knew you'd accept!" Zelretch barked out "Now let's get this show on the road!"

Zelretch closed his eyes as magic began to flow out of him. He seemed to be using a considerable amount of concentration. The magic around him continued to grow in size until his aura became so large and so bright that Emiya had to shield his eyes. Suddenly the light started to condense and flow off of him until it formed a tall archway. It pulsed rabidly for a moment before it settled down to a hum.

Within the archway was a door. It didn't look like an ordinary door by any means. It was made of literal pure magic and Emiya couldn't even fathom the way it worked. His structural analysis wasn't doing him any favours here.

A light sheen of sweat was on the man's face so he pulled out a handkerchief from one of his pockets and dabbed his forehead. "Whew! Didn't think it'd go that smooth" he turned to Emiya "Now is the time to go. I may be able to visit in the future but I make no promises. I'll try to bring a cake" he joked. "But this is where we part ways. Good luck Shirou Emiya".

Emiya nodded to the man as he disappeared through his magic before approaching the door. "I guess this is it" he sucked in a breath before opening the door to his new life.

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Oddly enough, Emiya didn't really feel any different after entering the door. He thought he would have vertigo or a splitting headache. It felt similar to how he was sent on a mission. He quickly patted himself down and found nothing was different with his clothing. He still had his overcoat around his waist made from the holy shroud and his black armour.

His grey eyes swept the area around him for any sort of threat. A quick sweep of his immediate surroundings only revealed that he was in a small forested area. All of the trees around him were blocking his vision so he'd have to make his way to the edge of the forest or climb a tree to get a better view.

Before he set off in any direction, he first had to check his magic.

"Trace on" he called out with his hands extended in front of him. He felt his circuits light up and the familiar feeling of two short swords in his hands, one white and the other black. These weapons were called Kanshou and Bakuya. While they weren't his strongest weapons, they were his most familiar ones that he could say reflected himself in a way. While he did add wards to them over time, he simply admired the craftsmanship and it also fit his fighting style extremely well.

'Seems all my circuits are available and it seems I haven't lost anything yet. The only thing left to do is find out exactly where I am'.

With those thoughts in mind he looked around and found a reasonably tall tree. Only a simple jump up to a branch and another jump was needed to reach the top. When he reached the top he shielded his eyes from the sun in the bright blue sky.

'Don't seem to be in a war torn land so that's a plus' he dryly thought while looking around. Emiya could see and shoot things with pin point accuracy to about four kilometres, roughly two to three miles, even without being an archer class servant. But the only thing he could see that was worth any note was a road around three kilometres away from his current position. It wasn't paved with stone or anything but it was a road all the same.

With no other decent options available, he hopped down to the ground with a small thud before moving in the direction of the road. As he walked to the road, Emiya couldn't help but feel relatively at peace. As he walked, the time was taken to simply take breaths and enjoy the area.

'If Zelretch really was right… I can finally rest easy for the first time in a while. It's so strange'. With no imminent threat or mission to take care of, Emiya could take his time going from one location to the next. At least so far.

From what Emiya could tell along the way, his body seemed to be partially that of a normal human while part of it was also a heroic spirit. He didn't feel hungry along the way but he couldn't enter his spirit form. But that did beg the question 'Would I need to find a master to keep a physical form? My body does sort of feel like when I was fighting in the grail war so I'm guessing I have access to my independent action skill. I suppose I should consume food and such regularly just to be safe. But then again, I could just not be hungry right now'.

So many thoughts were swirling around in his mind that he barely noticed he was within a few hundred feet of the road he had spotted before. A quick shake of the head cleared his thoughts as he put more attention into his surroundings. His ears perked up at the sound of something falling or breaking in the distance. It was just over a small hill so he casually made his way down the road to see what the sound was coming from. When he reached the area he heard the disturbance from, he could see that the cause of the sound was a wooden cart.

It was your averaged sized wooden cart that you'd see from an old western. A black horse was pulling from the front but it was agitated, considering the fact it was snorting and huffing something fierce. The problem was that one of the carts wheels had slipped off and the person who was driving was lucky it didn't fully tip over.

Emiya then heard the sound of a girl trying to calm the horse "Easy boy easy" he heard the voice speaking calmly.

Once Emiya got closer, he got a better look at the female who he assumed was the driver. It was a young girl who looked barely out of her teens that had red eyes and short red hair. She wore a white long sleeve shirt with a pair black overalls and black boots.

By the time Emiya had reached the cart, the horse had seemingly calmed down to the point that the young girl could move to the side of the cart. She put her hands on her hips and stared at the loose wheel "Uncles going to be mad" she sighed "I should've listened to him and go with a lighter load".

She bent down to pick up the wheel and that's when Emiya chose to introduce himself "Having some trouble?" he said with a smirk and crossed arms.

The girl jerked in surprise but calmed down quickly "Yeah… my wheel came loose when I was coming over the hill".

"Let me help" Emiya walked over "I'm assuming you know how to fix a cart wheel?"

"Of course I do! Couldn't call myself a farmer if I couldn't"

Emiya chuckled "Alright then" he then moved to the back of the cart.

"Wait! The load is pretty hea-" the farm girl tried to warn him but Emiya casually put two hands on the rear of the cart and lifted it. "Wow! You're pretty strong Mr!" she said with a small amount of amazement.

'Even with D rank strength this is easy' Emiya thought to himself "You might want to put the wheel on now"

"Oh! Right" she shook her head while she rolled the wheel to where it needed to go and mounting it. A few good shoulder pushes had managed to get the wheel back in place, so Emiya lowered the cart.

"What are you transporting anyway?" Emiya asked with curiosity as he looked at the tarps covering crates.

"Me and my Uncle are dairy farmers so we mostly move things like milk and cheese" she then seemed to realize something "Oh I forgot to ask your name".

"You can call me Archer" Emiya gave a friendly smile 'While I highly doubt there are servants here, I should keep a relatively low profile just in case'.

"Well thank you Mr. Archer!" she bowed and didn't even flinch at the odd name he gave her "My name's Cow Girl. Thank you for helping me".

Emiya raised a brow at the name 'Cow Girl? I mean she has the… assets. But is she wary of giving me her name too?'. "Sure no problem" he eventually responded verbally.

"I don't have much to offer you though" the now named Cow Girl rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.

"No need for anything like that" Emiya shook his head "Just looking for the next town" he gave a somewhat true answer since it would probably be best to find civilization first.

"Are you not from around here?" she tilted her head.

"No I'm not" he shook his head "I only recently came here so I'm just trying to get my bearings".

"Well Frontier is only an hour or so away from here so I'll take you there!"

"I'll take you up on that offer then" Emiya smiled.

"Alright then! Hop on and we'll be there in no time" Cow Girl exclaimed before climbing up the left side of the cart and grabbing the reigns. Emiya didn't really waste any time and just climbed up beside the girl. He didn't relax fully but made sure to show he looked relaxed.

Cow Girl then cracked the reigns which made the horse start to move at a steady pace. The ride was pretty silent and a little awkward for a good ten minutes until the silence was broken by Cow Girl. "So… what brings you to these parts exactly?"

Emiya thought on his answer for a moment before responding "I was just released from a… guard job and I'm just trying to find what to do next".

"Were you a mercenary?" she asked.

"Yes and no" Emiya shrugged "All I know is that I never want to go back to it".

"Oh I see…" she was silent for a moment before asking "Are you looking to be an adventurer?"

"Adventurer?" Emiya looked to her questioningly.

"Yea. Frontier has an adventures guild and I even know someone who's a silver rank".

"Is that a high rank?"

"I think it is" she mused with a hand to her chin "He tells me about it sometimes. But I don't really know all too much. All I know is that it's the third highest".

"Your friend must be pretty strong then" Emiya continued the conversation trying to learn as much as he could.

"I've only ever seen him train a few times. Never saw him fight. But he's pretty strong in his own way" she seemed to be lost in thought while thinking of this friend.

'She must care for this guy deeply' Emiya recognized the expression she made while looking ahead. 'Becoming an adventurer would be a good way to access information. But then again… I don't really know too much about adventurers. I think I remember something about them in fantasy books'. At least he could get that information soon.

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The rest of the ride was spent in relative silence, only a few passing comments about the area were made between the two, they were strangers to each other after all.

Shortly after an hour, the pair had arrived to the city Frontier. Emiya did find it odd that the city was literally named Frontier. But his current company called herself Cow Girl, so he had heard more weird things in the literal few hours he'd been here. The little information that he gathered as they approached Frontier was that this new world was likely within the Middle Ages era. Guards were positioned at different areas on the edge of the city and the main mode of transport seemed to be either walking or horse and carriage.

Emiya glanced at all the weapons the guards were holding and used structural analysis on them to confirm his theory. When Emiya used this on bladed weapons specifically, he could see the history of the blade among other things, such as how it was forged. This could be used visually on anything that fell under the 'sword' category. Anything outside of that he could only get a small grasp, so he'd have to be holding it to get a proper 'look'. And everything he saw fell in line with the theory that this world was in the Middle Ages. The guards recognized Cow Girl so they just checked a few things and let them in. They were curious about Emiya but Cow Girl said he was helping her.

Once they were past the gates, Cow Girl spoke up "I do make some deliveries to the guild and places around it so I can bring you there".

"That would be much appreciated" Emiya nodded.

"You think you'll join it?"

"I'll have to speak with someone to gain more information"

"Yea that makes sense" Cow Girl agreed as she pulled up to a stone building. "Well this is my first stop of the day. The guild is that one with the big doors just over there" she pointed to a building up the street.

"Thanks for the lift" Emiya hopped off.

"And thank you for helping with my cart" she called out to Emiya as he was walking towards the building.

He reached the supposed guild within no time at all. It was similar to all the other buildings in the city, the only real difference was the sign that said 'Adventurers Guild' and had larger doors. With a sigh, the former counter guardian pushed open the doors to the guild. He was immediately met with the sounds of chatter, drink and food. A few people looked up from their mugs of ale to glance in his direction out of curiosity. None of them looked for longer than a few seconds, seemingly losing interest fairly quickly.

It didn't matter much to Emiya on what people thought of him, so he shrugged off the looks and looked around. To his right was a quest board filled with papers that had a small crowd around it. To his left was a dining area/bar with stairs leading up to what he assumed to be rooms. And finally, just ahead of him were two lineups leading to a front desk being manned by two women. They both wore the same uniform which consisted of a yellow jabot, white dress shirt covered by a blue vest, a long black skirt and a black belt. Both of the lines were the same size so he stood in the line on the right. The receptionist was a young girl in her early twenties with yellow eyes and light brown hair woven into a braid. Emiya couldn't really see how tall she was since she was sitting behind a desk, but she did seem to be quite short while the lady next to her was a bit taller.

She spoke to all of the adventurers with a kind smile as she wrote down whatever they were telling her. She even sold a few potions to a few of the adventurers. It took a good twenty minutes of waiting before he was finally at the front of the line.

"Hi! How can I help you today?" she smiled at Emiya.

"I was hoping to get some information on becoming an adventurer"

"And what would you like to know?" She continued with a smile.

"How does one become an adventurer?"

"Well for starters" she shuffled some papers around and pulled out a specific sheet. "We have you fill out a form where you put down your title, height and a few other things so we can have your information on file. Then you'll be given an adventurer tag so you can be identified" Emiya raised a brow at the mention of a title but didn't ask anything.

"I see" Emiya grabbed the sheet and looked it over. It was a weird composite language that he was having trouble reading. It was a mix of English, Japanese and something else. He could read it but barely. "And what is the starting rank?" It was a good thing he'd picked up multiple languages from his time as a counter guardian.

"All adventurers start off at porcelain, then if you complete a certain amount of quests and you prove yourself to the guild. You can rise to obsidian, followed by steel, sapphire, emerald, ruby, bronze, silver, gold and then finally platinum".

"Are certain quests unavailable to lower ranks?"

"Yes" she nodded "porcelain rank quests usually include goblin hunts, sewer monster clearing and other lower difficulty quests".

'So creatures like goblins exist here. I know they did exist on earth but they were almost sealed away in a different realm like how gods were'.

"You can fill out this form just over to the side here and I can take it for you when you're done" the lady continued.

"Thank you Ms.?"

"Guild Girl" she smiled.

Again Emiya was confused 'Does anyone use their real names here? Maybe it's a privacy thing?'. That didn't really matter for now so Emiya stepped to the side and looked at his form.

'There's no spot for a real name. Just a title and date of birth. I don't think I can use the year I was born and I don't think I can tell them I'm technically over a thousand years old or something from my time as a counter guardian. I'll just put Archer as my name and my age at twenty five, height is… six foot one and a half inches. Fighting style is that of an Archer with close range training…' Emiya continued to fill out the form for the next few minutes. When he was done, he looked back to the Guild Girl who didn't have anyone in line at the moment. He approached her and handed her the form.

"Let's take a look here" she said while glancing around the form. When she was done, she pulled out a stamp and stamped the paper with a smile "Welcome to the adventurers guild Archer. I'll go retrieve a porcelain tag for you and we can get you all set up with your first quest".

'Is it really that easy?' Emiya mused while waiting. Guild Girl returned a minute later with a white tag on a chain. She handed it to Emiya and he placed it around his neck so it hung a little below the clasp on his arm coats.

As Emiya finished putting the tag on he asked "Where is there a place in town I can get supplies?"

"In the guild here we sell discounted potions to adventurers and we can make meals for you in the dining area or at the bar. If you need a place to sleep, we offer rooms at a decent price. Or you can go a few blocks down to the inn". She sat back down in her chair "The quest board is to your right. Once you find a quest, you can bring it to me and we'll get you started".

"Alright then" Emiya bowed his head lightly in thanks then moved to the board.

'I should get a quest with a decent reward so I can get myself situated. So what do we have here?… There's the goblins and sewer clearing quest she mentioned. The monetary rewards seem to be copper, silver or gold. This is gonna be a little hard to do. I'm assuming copper is the lowest and gold is the highest… but I don't know what each is worth compared to the other' Emiya put a hand to his chin. 'I also don't know the areas around here so I'll have to ask for a map of the area. If I have to buy it, then I'll just ask to see one so I can get a general idea of where to go. This is all going way to fast' Emiya sighed and rubbed his temple before grabbing a porcelain quest off the board. There weren't many lower ranked quests to choose from so he grabbed a goblin slaying quest and bringing it to the Guild Girl. Coincidentally it was the only Goblin quest left on the board.

"I'd like to take on this quest. Could I also request to see a map of the area?"

"I can get you a map to look at" she said while grabbing the sheet from him. Her smile faltered for a moment "I highly recommend you form a part Mr. Archer. Goblin quests are really dangerous to do alone".

"Don't worry about it. I've hunted worse things than Goblins"

She then gave a smile that looked strained "If you say so… just please be careful"

Emiya nodded before trying to give a reassuring smile "You can trust that I'm a lot tougher than I look".

Her smile seemed a little more genuine as she shuffled under her desk. She pulled out a map and opened it over the desk. "The quest is a little ways out towards the east" she pointed to a spot on the map a few miles away from Frontier. "The Goblins are in cave somewhere nearby so you'll have to talk to someone in the village nearby" she pointed to a settlement on the map. "And if you find any captured women. You can probably bring them back there".

"Captured women?" Emiya questioned.

She nodded solemnly "The village leader said that three of their young women were taken" she looked very worried and the former counter guardian could guess what was being done to them.

Emiya frowned 'So spare no sympathy for them'. "Alright. I should be back by tomorrow if all goes right".

"I look forward to seeing you come back" she let out a smile while waving goodbye to the red archer as he left the building. But what Emiya didn't see was the women sigh heavily before seating herself back down. "Hopefully we don't lose another one to Goblins…" she muttered before shaking her head and putting on a more professional attitude.

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I didn't want to wright any further than this if people don't like it. I've recently gone into a Goblin Slayer kick after I fully read and caught up with the manga. I'm not as invested into the lore as I am with Fates so it is going to be pretty rough for a chapter or two until I get the 'style' down. So tell me what y'all think. And yes I know my grammar sucks butt.