Even though he hadn't gone to sleep until after midnight, Shirou was still the first of the heroes to wake up, and as such he took the time to do a morning workout routine involving a bit of running in place, stretches and lifted some weights that he projected.
As he started his third set of reps for his left hand with the 35-pound dumbbell, he wondered about the plausibility of bludgeoning something with them. This immediately earned him a minor shock from the Legendary Holy Sword. He could practically fell its disapproval. It was like a jealous girlfriend. No, not that. A girlfriend would imply that he was a willing participant in this relationship. It was more like one of those psychotic stalker girls. What were they called again? Yanderes?
That thought was met with a much more painful shock than before, which nearly made Shirou drop the dumbbell on his foot.
His reinforced hearing picked up sounds of movement coming towards his room, so he dismissed the training weights and got up, prepared to face the world.
"Hero of the Sword-sama, the King has requested your presence." A maid said through the door. "You and the other heroes are to eat breakfast in the guest's common room and then come down to the castles front gate to meet your chosen companions."
"Right, chosen companions." Shirou said with a sigh as he stood up from his bed and went for the door. "Let's see the damage."
It was just about as bad as Shirou expected it to be.
Shirou looked over the group of twelve men and women who they had gathered. Each was dressed in the kind of clothes one sees adventurers wearing in children's television shows, some dressed in the armor of knights. All of it made to look very fancy, though Shirou's expert eye could only look on in disgust at the number of weak points left in the defenses in the name of artistry. Even the room available for enchantments was wasted on things like perspiration guards, self polishing, and making it so that blood doesn't stick. The swords at the men and women's sides were no better, having barely been used by the people holding them and many of them not weighted right for the wielder's size.
Each and every person standing in front of them was likely the second or third son of some noble, or a daughter hoping to catch the eye of a potential hero, each looking to boost their social standing and not knowing much about combat. Shirou didn't doubt that they were picked more for their loyalty to some kind of political group rather than their personal achievements in combat.
Every last one of them was a spy.
"As promised, we have gathered companions to follow you on your journey. They are all eager to make your acquaintance." The King announced waving his hand towards the twelve hopefuls. "Now, future heroes of this country. Choose the one you wish to serve unde…"
"Excuse me, Your Highness." Shirou said, interrupting the king, who stopped and looked down at him with a puzzled expression. "Forgive me, but for personal reasons, I'm afraid I must decline the offers of assistance from these adventurers."
The adventurers themselves staggered slightly from their stern postures at Shirou's declaration. The King himself frowned. "I do not know the personal matters that you speak of. However, as the fate of our entire world rest on the shoulders of you heroes, I cannot in good conscious send you out into the world without assistance."
"Don't tell me your planning on playing this whole thing solo just because of your stupid paranoia." Motoyasu said, giving Shirou an amused look. Shirou nearly spat a curse at the man as the King noticed the word 'paranoia'. If Shirou wasn't careful, the kingdom would realize just how little he trusted it, and that would lead to all kinds of problems for him.
Shirou let out a long sigh as he quickly made a change of plans. "When I said it was because of personal reasons, I only said so because I wanted to avoid any unnecessary insult, but if you insist, I will be blunt. The adventurers you have gathered here are far too weak to be of any use to me. They would only weigh me down."
"What!?" One of the men who was dressed in particularly shiny full body armor shouted in indignation. He was a big guy with a large mustache and seemed to have more of a presence than the others.
He would make a good example.
"I see a demonstration is in order. With His Highness's permission, I would like to fight these three individuals." Shirou said, pointing to three of the 'adventurers' including the armored man, a less armored spearman and a woman with a staff.
"…Very well, if you truly are as skilled as you say, then there should be no problems. However, if you lose, then I expect you to accept their assistance graciously." The King said calmly. He was probably sure that Shirou would not be able to win. According to their weapons, the three he had picked were each level 10 or 11, and their physical strength was roughly 50% higher than that of a normal person their size. Even so, Shirou wouldn't need to use his magecraft in order to handle them.
"Thank you, Your Highness." Shirou said with a confident smirk as he lifted his sword and started to walk forward. "Then let us begin."
The attacks were uncoordinated, since these people were not used to fighting together, making the three on one advantage they had absolutely pointless. The armored man rushed forward with reckless abandon, as if he was used to only fighting creatures that weren't capable of putting up much of a fight. Something that Shirou knew to be true from the history of his weapon. As the large man swung down at Shirou with a two-handed swing, Shirou struck the blade with his pummel, changing its path so it moved straight past him, carried forward by momentum. The man had no defense at all. Shirou struck his outstretched arms hard, causing him to drop his sword and then performed a follow up strike into the man's chest.
If it wasn't for the bluntness of the Legendary Holy Sword's base form, then man would have had his arm chopped off and his stomach cut open.
"Dead." Shirou pronounced as he moved on to the next target.
The spear was no better. He thrust forward at Shirou the moment he was in range of the spear, but he wielded the spear like a grunt who had been trained only how to fight as part of a line. Shirou easily deflected the spear with a free hand, grabbing it below the head and pulling the man forward when he pushed his weigh into the attack. As the spearman stumbled, Shirou thrusted at him, getting the man in his legs and knocking him to the ground.
He stabbed down at the fallen man as he passed, resting the point of his sword over the man's heart. "Dead."
Shirou walked towards the magic user who was still in the process of finishing their spell. Shirou wasn't worried, the amount of magic power they had managed to gather wasn't anything impressive. "Faust Fire Strike!" The woman shouted at the end of her chant. The ball of fire flew from her staff and came for Shirou. Shirou batted it out of the air with his sword, not slowing in his walk as he moved towards the caster. "I… I surrender." The woman said, as she backed away from the Sword Hero.
Shirou stopped his advance and nodded. "I accept your surrender." He said before turning to the King. "Have I made my point understood? Or should I fight the rest of them as well?"
"That is unnecessary. You have already proven yourself." The King said with a nod, and perhaps a smile. "I had known that these adventurers that we had brought before you were not the highest of level, instead choosing individuals we believed to have potential. Our intentions being that they not leave you heroes with no need to fight for themselves, but I didn't expect you to be able the defeat them so effortlessly. You heroes are skilled beyond your levels. I see now that you are not the sort of man who would sit back and allow others to fight your battles for you. As agreed I will not force you to take any of these adventurers with you. However, you will need to find individuals who can fight alongside you yourself. I will provide you with some extra funds to help with the hiring of persons to assist you."
"Thank you, Your Highness." Shirou said with a bow before returning to the other three heroes. The Spear and Bow heroes looked rather annoyed with Shirou while the Shield looked surprised by the whole display. They were probably disappointed that Shirou got away with that stunt without having to show them any of what he could really do.
The Legendary Holy Sword however felt giddy with excitement. Happy that its wielder was able to show off in front of its rivals.
"Would any of the rest of you wish to prove yourself against our chosen adventurers?"The King asked, gesturing towards the group.
"Ah, no thanks." Naofumi said immediately. "Kind of hard to fight when you only have a shield."
The other two seemed to consider it for a moment before shaking their heads. "Nah, I'm more than happy to accept these guys' help. It would be a pain to have to make a party from scratch and we can always change party members later on if it turns out that some people can't keep up." Motoyasu said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Agreed." Itsuki said with a nod of his head.
It seemed like these three didn't feel like it was worth revealing their skills just to not seem weak. Pity, Shirou would have liked to see what they could really do, since if things turned sour, they might become enemies, but it didn't look like he would have much of a chance to outside of the Waves.
They probably thought the same of him.
"Very well then. Adventurers, choose which hero you wish to follow!" The King ordered.
What happened next was bizarre, as the false adventurers all split up to follow their chosen hero. With Shirou out of the running it should have been a simple matter of each having four followers. Instead seven people lined up in front of Motoyasu, while the other five choose Itsuki, leaving Naofumi all alone.
Shirou frowned at the sight of it, expecting foul play. While they claimed that the reason no one wished to be in his party was because the people listing in on the conversations spread the rumors that the Shield Hero was the least knowledgeable about the world and thus the least reliable, Shirou didn't buy it. The King had very clearly not liked the Shield Hero from the very start, even though he was downright polite when compared to Motoyasu and Itsuki. Shirou hadn't been able to figure out what about the Shield Hero had gained him such a treatment. Regardless, Naofumi was left panicking as he tried to convince Motoyasu and Itsuki to give him one of their adventurers, the two other heroes blowing him off.
In the end, a woman from Motoyasu group ended up volunteering to join Naofumi's party. The girl was around twenty, with shoulder length red hair that was tied up in the back and a slim figure. Shirou supposed that she would be considered rather pretty when compared to some of the other girls in the group, but when compared to people like Sakura, Rin, Rider and Saber, Shirou would label her a 6 out of 10.
As she didn't have any weapon on her person at the moment, she was either a spellcaster or had simply left her weapon somewhere else. Either way, she was the person Shirou knew the least about.
If forced to take a guess, Shirou would say that she noticed that Motoyasu's party already had four other girls in it, decreasing her chances of nailing a hero for a husband and decided to go where there was less competition. She was already starting to shamelessly flirt with Naofumi, putting her arms behind her back and pushing out her chest as much as she could. Even so, Naofumi seemed extremely grateful to at least have someone to help him.
Shirou wasn't sure why, he'd already proven that these people were just incompetent spies.
The King called it to a close and distributed funds amongst the heroes. Motoyasu and Itsuki both got 600 silver while Shirou and Naofumi got 800 silver a piece, in order to help with hiring more adventurers.
Shirou had no intention to hire anyone though. He new from experience how mercenaries were, being a mercenary himself. He couldn't trust the castles adventurers, or mercenaries, and anyone else would be too inexperienced to be of any use. Shirou had already decided to go it alone. For now at least.
As Shirou left the castle, he immediately noticed that he was being trailed. The 'Shadows' might have been able to disguise themselves as normal individuals and blend into the crowd, but the Kingdom's specialized spies were still holding weapons, and the concealed daggers told Shirou who, or more precisely, what these people really were. Didn't matter though, he already assumed that he would be followed and had planned accordingly.
His first destination on his journey was the Hourglass of the Dragon's Era. Supposedly, the Legends about the heroes said that he would have to synchronize his weapon with the Hourglass, and that after he did that, he would be teleported to wherever the Wave was once the battle started. Though he would need to resync himself with it after each Wave.
Shirou took the scenic route to get there, making sure that Motoyasu and Itsuki would arrive there before him, but keeping close enough so that he would be able to listen in on their conversations. The two of them seemed to have more in depth knowledge of the world when compared to him and Naofumi, but they were reluctant to share. It was one of the reasons Shirou still suspected that they might be magi even though they acted so ordinary.
Shirou arrived at the tower that housed the Hourglass and stepped inside, pretending to marvel in wonder at the large ornately carved item as the Heroes talked to one of the sisters in charge of the area, asking her to bring them a small amount of the sand from the hourglass. Apparently, it was a very important ingredient for the Legendary Holy Weapons.
Only after they had left did Shirou approach the woman himself. "Excuse me." He said, gaining her attention.
"Ah, Hero of the Sword-sama, how can this one be of serves to your lordship?" The nun asked, bowing deeply towards Shirou in the same manner she had done for the spear and bow.
"I was wondering if you wouldn't might giving me a small bag of the sand from the hourglass. It's important in unlocking the power of the Legendary Holy Sword." Shirou said.
"Of course, give me one moment." The sister said, bowing again and running off to fulfill Shirou's request. She was not gone for long and returned with a small bag of magically charged sand.
"Thank you very much." Shirou said, taking some of the sand from the pouch and putting it onto the jewel in the center of the sword, watching as the jewel sucked everything into it.
Requirements met: [Dragon's Passage Sword (0/10) Unlocked – Quality: Normal – base power: 1 – Unique Ability: [Transport Sword]]
Transport Sword: Teleport yourself and up to 3 + (your level/20) party members to a location you have already visited. Cooldown 1 hour.
Shirou's eyes almost boggled out of his head. Teleportation!
Teleportation was one of those forms of magecraft that pushed up on the boundary of a True Magic. While not impossible, it was powerful stuff, and it had been lost for centuries. It was something that could only be done with either a massive amount of power, such as with a command seal, or by Caster class servants who possessed long forgotten knowledge.
The weapon itself was just as unusable in combat as his base weapon had been, but it was no wonder that Motoyasu and Itsuki had made acquiring it their number one priority.
Shirou put the rest of the sand away in his backpack, incase he had a use for it later. Perhaps he would run into Naofumi and would be able to provide him with some. As the guy didn't seem to know any more about this world than Shirou himself did, it wouldn't be unlikely for him to not find out about the Hourglass's sand.
"Is there anything else I can help you with, Hero-sama?" The nun asked him as he put the sand away.
"Actually, yes." Shirou admitted. "Is there a back door out of here?"
The moment Shirou was out of sight, he dismissed the projected copy of his original clothes, which he had left underneath the bed in his room at the castle. He then projected his black combat gear and a copy of his Holy Shroud. On top of that he projected a wig of long white hair, similar to the one Illya had made him where when he took her to that one anime convention, only this one lacking dog ears. He would have preferred something less attention grabbing, like black, but that would have required him to dye his eyebrows if he wanted it to hold up to scrutiny.
He also changed the Legendary Holy Sword into a pair of iron twin-blades and projected sheaths in order to carry them in. As people would be looking for a man openly carrying a large very odd looking sword, the plain blades that now rested at his belt wouldn't draw any attention.
Shirou left that cathedral a changed man, and no one was the wiser. He managed to ditch his pursuers and was free to do as he pleased. Though as he pleased simply meant shopping for whatever food he would need for his journey and getting on his way.
At the market, he picked up basic foods that would last him a while. They weren't going to be tasty, but Shirou understood when taste had to take a back seat to efficiency, and he managed to get a good two weeks' worth of rations for just 2 silver. Though he also bought a tent incase it rained while he was out on the road for another 30 coppers. Still at this rate he could survive on the 800 silver coins until he was finished with his duties in this world. He had no need for buying weapons or armor, and didn't have any intention of hiring mercenaries… what would he spend him money on?
The answer came to him as he was walking towards the city gate with his partly full backpack. It was barely reaching noon and he only wanted to be half way to the next town before he pitched camp that night, so he wasn't in much of a rush, when he passed by a large tent and saw a man leading out what looked like an oversize purple ostrich like creature cheerfully pulling a cart.
They were called Filolial. Shirou remembered Illya making him get her a giant stuffed toy of one. Illya had always like birds of all kinds. He remembered that she had named the toy Firo, because it had sparked a round of teasing from Rin as to how unimaginative and childish the name was. The two of them had fought for hours over it until Sakura teamed up with Illya to tease Rin into submission. The memory of it weighed heavy on Shirou's heart.
Shirou looked over at the sign next to the tent. Rather than any kind of name for the establishment, the sign merely stated, 'We Sell Monsters'.
This gave Shirou pause. These Filolial seemed to be this world's equivalent of a horse, so it might not have been a bad idea to get one to help him get around the country faster. And if he managed to keep the thing alive until the very end and found a way to bring it home with him, a real Filolial would make a good apology gift for Illya. It would be difficult to find a place to keep it, and keeping Rin front trying to study it, but that would be a worry for later.
"Well hello, Adventurer-san. How may I be of service to you today?" A rather fat man in a trench coat and top hat said as Shirou entered the tent. His appearance didn't seem to fit the cultural setting of the rest of the castle town, but it would take something much weirder than out of place clothes to get Shirou to raise an eyebrow, no matter how shady the man looked.
"I'm not an adventurer, just a traveling mercenary." Shirou said as he glanced around the shop. Adventurers by definition were people who were registered with the Adventurers' Guild, an organization to regulates the work and priorities of the adventurers.
While Shirou hadn't yet dealt with the Guild, he could take a stab as to how things worked. That is to say that money talks and those who can't pay don't get any protection. To join the Adventurers' Guild, Shirou would basically have to swear that he would never work for free.
That wasn't going to happen.
Best to not have his appearance and name connected with the Adventurers' Guild, even if his appearance was currently a lie and he had no obligation to give his real name to anyone. Adventurers were actually told to adventure under fake names, in order to avoid enemies/stalkers in the future.
"I'm looking to buy a Filolial, do you have any?" Shirou asked the man.
"Yessir we do. Would Mercenary-san prefer an adult or an egg? Either way it will be 200 silver coins." Monster Merchant said as he twirled his mustache.
"If it is 200 silver either way, then why would someone want an egg?" Shirou asked the man.
"Well, that would be because Filolial's imprint themselves on whoever is closest to the egg whenever it hatches, so while the Monster Seal that they are branded with will insure obedience, they will be far more loyal and willing to fight for you if you were the one that hatched the egg. That is why most knights, adventurers, and mercenaries like yourself, would choose to hatch the Filolial they plan to have in their parties, rather than buying a full grown one." Monster Merchant explained.
"Really? Are Filolials good in a fight?" Shirou asked.
The man began to laugh. "Are Filolials good in a fight, he asks!? Sir, Filolials are considered to share the position of top of the food chain in the wilds alongside the dragon races. Legends say that the Filolial Queens are a match for even the most powerful of pureblooded dragon. Though no one has seen a Filolial Queen for hundreds of years. So yes, Filolials are very good in a fight. And as they reach maturity by level 20, it doesn't take long for them to become combat ready."
"Interesting. Alright, you've sold me on it. I'll take an egg." Shirou said, trying to maintain his calm as he digested what the fat man had said. Either the guy was bullshitting him, or those birds were a lot more dangerous than he had original thought… now that he was paying more attention, he could sense an abnormally large amount of mana coming from the one in a nearby cage. Around a low E-rank… on the scale used to measure servants… Was that strong or just average for their race? It couldn't have been weak, right? What in the world were these things doing pulling carts!?
The man took Shirou to were he kept the eggs and showed him the Beast Seals that were attached to the eggs themselves. In order to register Shirou with the seal so that he would become the proper owner, the man had to mix Shirou's blood with a little bottle of strange ink and trace over the Seal with it. Shirou bought the bottle of ink once the man was done with it, for another 1 silver. Partly because he was interested in the ink, and partly because he didn't want to leave anything containing his blood with the fat man.
Can't be too careful around a guy who knows subjugation magic.
After he left, he fed the ink into his sword and immediately became glad that he didn't leave it behind.
Requirement met: [Beastmaster's Sword (0/20) Unlocked – Base Power: 5 – Equip Bonus: Monster Growth Up (small) (unmastered) – Proficiency: (0%)]
Requirement met: [Slaver's Sword (0/20) Unlocked – Base Power: 5 – Equip Bonus: Slave Growth Up (small) (unmastered) – Proficiency: (0%)]
It seemed the magic ink used to bind beasts was also used to bind slaves. Shirou could have probably used Rule Breaker to free himself from the slave contract, but there was always the chance he would have been ordered to kill himself because he could remove it.
On the bright side, he seemed to have gotten something that would increase the effectiveness of raising his new sidekick.
Shirou was given the egg in an incubator like contraption that had magic to protect against damage to the egg from movement. He also had to buy a few bags of seed paste, which would be what he would have to feed the Filolial after it had hatched, until it was old enough to start eating more solid foods. Apparently an adult Filolial was capable of eating just about anything, though their favorite food was said to be the flesh of freshly killed dragons… neat.
With a backpack full of supplies, a monster egg, and a book of history, Shirou left the city gates and headed out into the world.
Time to see just how this leveling thing went.
OP bird is OP. And ******Spoiler Block***** had hundreds of these things. How had he not conquered the world? I guess he just wasn't interested… the creeper.
Stats and Reinforce don't go together. So if Shirou's stats increase by 50% that doesn't change much in the early levels, since his reinforcements bring his strength up to around E rank (10 times normal human strength) (Archer is only D rank so Shirou shouldn't be about E). So level 1 Shirou is roughly level 50 in terms of strength if he reinforces himself to his fullest. (once you include class up bonuses) But once Shirou is a level 50, the reinforcement is only worth 17 or so levels. At level 100, he would be about a level 102. Barely any difference at all. So once the spirit turtle is dealt with and everyone is level 80+ and can preform their own buff magic that does scale with level, the difference is negligible. Especially once you start counting equipment bonuses.
So early on Shirou has a huge advantage over the other heroes, but it falls off late game. (Not that he is aware of the advantage. He is still convinced that the other three are powerful individuals who are just hiding their strength.)
He also can't reinforce/break the Legendary Holy Sword, as he can't properly grasp its existence.