Already over 150+ follows and 30+ reviews within 24 hours! Honestly didn't think there'd be as many supporters of this story so quickly. There's not too much to go over before this chapter starts. There were reviews regarding how strong Emiya is compared to the people of Goblin Slayer. And I'm not going to nerf him to the point he can't fight a goblin champion. But I'm also not saying he can walk up to an Ogre and poke it to death with a stick. For bigger enemies he'll need to use more of his Arsenal, but nothing like Excalibur to solely fight a single ogre or dragon. That's pretty much all I wanted to go over for now.
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Time almost seemed to fly by for the red archer. Less than a day ago he was fighting a grail war, got sent to an alternate universe and then joined an adventurer's guild in said universe. The way that Emiya saw it, was that 'I have to speed up before I can slow down'.
Information was key at the moment. He didn't know the world's history, he didn't know how the law system worked and he surely didn't know why people referred to themselves by titles instead of names.
'I'm one to talk. I called myself Archer for the grail war'.
These thoughts were some of the many things that swirled through his mind when he left Frontier. He was going to stop at a store to get supplies for his quest but he didn't have any money. So the only way that he could get more information about this world was to make money. While he could've just gotten a job, that would've gotten boring really quick. Plus it would benefit him to familiarize himself with this world's monsters and threats so that he could better defend himself in the future if the situation arose. It also didn't help that he didn't really know how strong he was at the moment, at least compared to the threats of this world.
Archer would figure this stuff out soon enough. Because after half a day of travelling, he was approaching the general area of the village that sent the request. It was a good thing they were relatively close to Frontier. On approach to the village, he was met with a handful of farmers working the fields. They all glanced at him and tilted their heads at his weird outfit, but didn't say anything. They were in a fenced off area so Emiya continued his way into the village. He could feel the tension in the air when he got near it.
The village wasn't walled so he just continued to walk until he saw someone on the street. Emiya could immediately notice the small amounts of damage to the housing, he could even smell burnt wood on the wind.
'Can already tell these people don't have too much. The houses certainly look to be a lower quality than the buildings in Frontier. That could be due to the attack though'.
After a minute or two, he decided to approach a random civilian. It was a man in his late thirty's with dark hair and was wearing a simple brown shirt, pants and shoes.
"Excuse me" Emiya called to the man.
"Hm? What is it?" the response came out a little harsh.
"I've been sent by the guild to help with your Goblin problem. Can I speak to the leader of your village?"
"Finally someone showed up" the farmer huffed "Ain't no one these days that want to fight Goblins but a bunch of teenagers. Village Leader is a few houses down from here".
Emiya lowered his head slightly to thank the man before making his way towards Village Leader's house, not even questioning whether his real name was Village Leader or not. Upon arriving to the house, he knocked on the door.
"Just a moment!" Emiya had heard some shuffling before the door opened to reveal a man in his late forty's with greying hair and brown eyes. The man looked at Emiya and soon saw the porcelain tag around his neck. "Only a single porcelain?"
Emiya brushed off the comment before introducing himself "I'm Archer from the adventurers guild. I need any information you could give me about what happened and where the Goblins may have run off to".
"Ain't much I can tell that you don't already know just from looking around. It happened a week or so ago. Roughly ten of the bastards came at night and ransacked the place" Village leader rubbed his head. "We managed to kill maybe two or three of them before they made off with three of our own women and a cart or two of supplies".
"Was there anything of note about the goblins themselves?"
"Not really no" Village leader shook his head "Was just a bunch of the little guys". He then put a hand to his chin "But I do remember hearing that someone saw a big goblin with them. Don't know if that'll help much".
"It'll have to do" Archer sighed before leaving after he lowered his head in thanks.
'It's not much to go off of. I don't even know for sure what he means by 'just the little guys'. Could be that there's different species'? Or maybe they evolve and the little ones are weaker, or at least not evolved goblins?'. Either way it was shaping up to be a potentially dangerous situation if he didn't play this right.
With a steel resolve to bring any women back safely, Emiya made his way to where the goblin hideout was supposed to be. It was a little ways from the village so it did take him a fair amount of time to get there. Or to at least the general area. It was a good thing for him that he picked up the ability to track over the years. Even from before he became a counter guardian. Tracking took time, which showed itself through the setting sun.
'Storm clouds on the horizon and I can smell rain in the air. Tracks are decently old already and if it rains, it will be a lot more difficult to find their hideout' this was now becoming an issue of time.
With a possible rain storm approaching, Emiya decided to use reinforcement on his nose, eyes and ears to aid his efforts. His mana circuits lit up as his eyes glowed, giving him enhanced perception. The tracks became much easier to follow and he couldn't feel as much of a drain on his mana which was a huge plus. 'Something I'll have to look into later'. At this point the red archer was forgoing any sense of quality in his tracking and was just trying to cover as much ground as possible.
After a speedy tracking, he finally stumbled onto a cave just as it began to rain. It was a light rain at the moment but it was sure to pick up.
Not wanting to just rush in the cave, Emiya hid behind some bushes and peered into the cave. Just in front of the cave were two little green creatures with pointy ears and nasty green bumps on their bodies. He heard the grumble something that was completely foreign to him.
"Giiii ga gorb" a goblin with a small gut looked to his left and the other one nodded.
Emiya couldn't tell exactly what they were saying. But he could guess that it was something to do with the rain. But this was a chance he wasn't going to miss.
With ease, Archer extended his hand as he was about to do what his namesake suggested. A black bow appeared in his hand in a flash of blue light as an arrow materialized into the other. The arrow was quickly notched back and fired at the goblin on the left before it even stepped foot into the cave. His shot rang true as within a blink of an eye, the arrow he fired flew just to the left of the goblin before taking a sharp turn and killing both the goblins with a double headshot.
'Certainly useful I picked that skill up' it was hard to pin point when he acquired the ability to use his magic to have an arrow take out two targets next to each other, but he was damn grateful he had it.
A few moments passed before Emiya decided to move close. On approach, nothing seemed to jump out at him. Quickly dragging the bodies out of sight, Emiya walked back to the entrance of the cave. Nothing was too out of place, other than a small totem placed outside.
'Is this a god of theirs?' Emiya inspected it further but there was no mana coming off of it so he left it be. Just made sure to keep it in the back of his mind for later. A bow wasn't going to be useful in these narrow caves. His bow dematerialized in blue motes of light, only to be replaced by Kanshou and Bakuya. Slowly but surely Emiya advanced into the cave. Nothing stood out to him immediately which sort of worried him. It certainly did not smell great in here either.
While Archer couldn't see in the dark per se, his reinforced eyes allowed him to see enough. Enough to show that a few feet ahead of him was a small slit in the wall. Just enough for one of those goblins to fit through.
Archer strained his ears but could hear the sound of breathing from this crack. As he got closer to the crack, he heard a sniffing sound before it screeched really loud.
'Damn it. There's no way nothing else heard that. Thing must've smelled me'. Archer was then forced to back step as a small goblin leaped at him from the crack in the wall. It had a crazed look in its eye as it looked to him. It almost seemed to taunt Emiya with a laugh while pointing a dagger dripping with some sort of liquid.
'Poison?' Emiya observed as the goblin jumped at him again. With the upmost ease, it's throat was slashed open with Bakuya. It's body slumped to the floor in a gurgling mess before it died.
No rest was awarded to Emiya as he was forced to sidestep another goblin as it seemingly burst out from the darkness. Before Emiya could attack back, a small spear whizzed past his head. A quick duck avoided the spear and a slash from Kanshou killed the goblin that jumped at him.
The patter of feet alerted him to at least five goblins running down the cave towards him. Not wanting to risk anything, Emiya threw Kanshou at the running goblins. It sliced cleanly through the head of two goblins before he used one of the effects on the blade to have it boomerang back to him, killing another goblin in the process. Two goblins of the batch remained and could tell that this human was a threat. With a shriek they retreated further into the cave. Archer sprinted after them and cut them down before they made it far.
'These things are much weaker than the goblins I've fought before. But I shouldn't get ahead of myself'
Upon walking further down into the cave, Archer had come across an opening. It was fairly large and lit up by a dozen or so torches along the walls. There were carts of supplies around the room that carried food and other living necessities. Immediately he was met with shouting as at least twelve goblins were waiting with a variety of weapons. They were all cruelly made swords, spears and daggers. The biggest thing that caught his attention was a goblin at the back of the room sitting on a throne. It was small like the others but it wore a headdress made of feathers, skulls and a bunch of other bones. Two poorly made wooden doors were to the right and left of the throne respectively. The goblin tapped its staff on the ground as it screeched something aloud.
What followed was the sound of large thudding steps. The door to the left of the throne opened up as a large goblin emerged from it. It towered over the others but wasn't absurdly tall. 'This seems more familiar… while the ones I fought before as a counter guardian, or even an enforcer, didn't have such large stomachs. I think this is a hobgoblin'.
The large goblin slowly walked over towards the rest. As it left the doorway, Emiya got a quick glance in the room. He saw a hand, a human hand and a set of eyes looking directly at him. This caused Archer to snarl slightly but he managed to keep his cool. 'No use getting angry now'.
The priest like goblin raised its staff and let out another set of screeches before a bolt of lightning shot out of it and raced towards Emiya. He momentarily widened his eyes before hopping to the other side of the room to avoid the blast.
'There's my priority target for right now' Emiya quickly dismissed his two swords and traced a bow. Without missing a beat, he shot an arrow right between the eyes of the goblin. Emiya was given no rest as the other goblins were already on him. With practiced ease he traced his usual blades and rushed into battle.
Three goblins were up first, one with a spear and the other two with daggers. Swift and deadly were the only way to describe how Emiya dealt with them. The spear goblin thrust forward, Archer sidestepped the thrust and kicked the spear causing it to shatter. This stunned the goblin and gave Emiya the opening to slash through its head. Both of the other goblins were dispatched similarly.
Next up was a group of five and the hobgoblin. Archer slashed through one, sidestepped and kicked another with enough force to cave its head in then jumped back as the hobgoblin's fist impacted where he was. Archer threw Bakuya in an arc that took out two more goblins before he mentally called the blade back before jumping at the hobgoblin and doing a X shaped slash on its face, turning it into a mess of flesh.
'Only four left'
The remaining goblins were scared to death as the man in red turned his steel eyes towards them. Immediately they dropped their weapons and tried to run but the last thing they saw and heard was two blades. One white and one black whistling through the air and cutting all four of them as the swords moved towards each other like a magnet.
'That should be all of them'
Not wanting to take any risks, Emiya re traced his blades and ran into the room where he saw a person. And while he had seen and done horrible things himself. This made him angry. Because the sight before him was something no real person should ever have to go through.
On the ground were three women, all in their late teens. One girl had short brown hair and the two other two had black hair, the last two seemingly being related. They were all without clothes and in compromising positions on the ground. The one with the brown hair was passed out while the other two were huddled in the corner staring at him with hope and fear.
While the two black haired girls had certainly seen better days, the brown haired girl needed medical attention fast. Archer quickly went over and placed two fingers on her neck to check for a pulse. Only to feel nothing. Her skin was cold to the touch.
He clenched his fists before taking a breath. 'I know everyone can't be saved. But there's still two people here who need help'.
Archer did his best to put on a welcoming face before approaching the two possible siblings. One was shorter than the other and had more youthful features. She clung to her sister as if she was the only thing keeping her alive.
He knelt down and smiled to put them at ease "It's alright now. I'm here to take you girls home".
Archer took a quick glance around the room and saw some sheets lying around which were probably some of the things stolen from the village. He only needed three so he picked up three of the sheets lying around and offered two of them to the sisters. They looked as if they couldn't believe they were being rescued so Emiya had to wrap the two up.
"I'm going to see if I can find a cart or a way to get you all out of here okay?" They nodded "Take this for right now just in case" he traced a simple dagger which the older of the two took with shaky hands.
With that, Archer stood up and took the other sheet to cover up the girl who was dead 'Probably died from the stress and trauma…'
Archer left the current room and went inside the other room that was on the other side of the makeshift throne. When he entered, he could immediately tell this was a store room. Piles of things like clothes, food and even a few weapons were strewn about. His attention was brought to a small push cart on the other end of the room.
'Probably what the hobgoblin was for. At least partially for'
It wasn't like he was going to load the cart with anything other than people, so he quickly traced a few metal polls to act as pins and threw a tarp over top the cart. It was likely still raining outside so it would be best to have the girls somewhat protected from the elements. The only part that would suck is that he'd have to push the cart from the little push bar at the front. But it shouldn't be too much of a problem considering he still had the strength of his servant self.
After his makeshift cover was complete, he fought the cart out into the middle of the large cave opening and to the front of the door that the girls were in. When he entered the room again, he saw that the two sisters were staring at one end of the room in fear.
Archer looked to where they were looking and saw a stone which looked to be covering an opening behind it. 'Did they see more?' He thought while approaching the stone and pushing it out of the way.
What Emiya saw in the cave made his eyes narrow.
"Goblin children…" he muttered while looking at three snivelling and whimpering goblin children.
'But there weren't any female goblins. How did they get here-' Emiya widened his eyes in realization 'The goblins were breading these women!'.
The goblin children looked at him for a bit longer. When they thought he wasn't going to move, one of them jumped at him while holding a rock. This shook Emiya out of his daze and he easily caught the tiny goblin. 'Do I kill them? They could grow up and seek revenge for what I did here. But they're just children…' these thought weighed heavily on the red archer. 'I can't take the risk' Emiya made up his mind.
With a hard gaze, he traced Kanshou and cut the three children down. It wasn't the hardest thing Emiya had ever done. But it was never easy killing something so young.
After the deed was done, he sighed before getting up and going over to the two women. He bent down to look at them "Don't worry. All of them are gone. Can you two stand?"
They looked to each other before nodding and slowly beginning to stand. Before they could fully stand, they almost fell over but were quickly caught by Emiya who helped them stand. Archer acted as a crutch for the two as he led them to the cart that was left just outside the door. When they passed the door, they couldn't help but shut their eyes and move closer towards their saviour.
'Even when they're dead they can still put fear in them'.
After getting the two situated in the cart he told them "I'm going to grab the other girl okay?" They nodded so he went to retrieve the body and made sure it was covered to protect what little decency the girl had left even in death. After he placed the body in the cart, he went to the front and began to push. And when he reached outside the cave, he was glad to see that his makeshift cover was holding.
It was raining a lot at the moment, to the point where Archer could only see a few feet in front of him with reinforced eyes. But he needed to get these girls back home.
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By the time Archer made it back to the village, the rain started to subside. It was still raining but nowhere near as heavy as it was before. To say he was soaked was an understatement. His hair wasn't spiked up as it usually was. And by the time he was approaching the village, he did feel slightly tired, more mental than physical. But that didn't matter right now.
What did matter was that someone managed to spot him from a window as he approached the main entrance to the village. The villager burst out of there house and shouted out "Hey! The adventurer is back! And he's got something!"
The villager quickly ran over to Emiya "Did you find the girls!?"
Emiya nodded, actually recognizing this villager as the one he approached when he first entered the village. "Two are alive and are in the cart along with one who passed".
He got a wince in response as more people rushed from their homes and over to them. They quickly ushered Emiya to a roofed off area near a barn that was probably used for work. A select few people pushed their way through the small crowd of people. There was two pairs of people. One looked similar to the black haired girls while one set looked similar to the brown haired girl.
The black haired girl's parents hugged their daughters and shared a tearful reunion while the brown haired girl's parents wailed in agony.
It was a hard sight to watch, so Emiya decided to slowly inch away from the group when he was suddenly pulled aside.
It was Village Leader "Thank you for bringing the girls back" he bowed "I can't thank you enough".
Archer waved him off "It was nothing. Just make sure to make some sort of defence system so something like this doesn't happen again. Even something simple as a thick sturdy fence can make all the difference".
"I understand" Village leader acknowledged his words "Please come with me. I have a spare room at my place. You can dry off and spend the night before going back to Frontier".
Archer was going to decline the offer and just head back, but it could be a decent opportunity to get more information about this world. Not to mention the fact that he didn't want to push his body too far, considering the fact it seems like a composite body.
"That would be greatly appreciated"
Village Leader lead Archer back to his house. After entering the house, he gave Emiya a towel so that he could dry himself off, which he accepted with a thanks. He also took off his arm coats and waist coat so they could dry off.
The two sat down at a table in the middle of the room. Village Leader had brought Archer a bowl of stew and some bread which Emiya also accepted. It wasn't even half bad.
"What happened there?" Village leader asked Emiya as he slowly ate.
"There were about twenty or so goblins, a magic casting one and a hobgoblin. After disposing of them I found the girls in a room and I'm guess you can guess what happened after that".
"To think there were that many of them" Village Leader sighed "As long as we know they're gone for now. We can all rest easy".
Both of the two talked for some time. It was mostly Emiya asking questions about the world in a way that didn't make him look like an idiot. But after a time, the Village Leader did head off to bed and showed Emiya a spare room where he could sleep. Archer laid on the bed dressed in a simple brown shirt and pants so his other clothes could dry.
'This is one hell of a world you sent me to Zelretch' Emiya thought to himself as he slowly went to sleep.
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Little bit of a shorter chapter but that's because I had this partially written for a different fate character in this scenario. That's also why this is out so quick. But that's what I got for now so let me know what you all think. And before anyone mentions the double headshot, Emiya has done that before. In one of the UBW flashbacks to his counter guardian missions, he was able to kill two people with one arrow in a similar fashion.