"Is it going to hurt?" The twelve-year-old boy who kind of looked like a mole asked as he was pushed forward by two other kids.

"It will hurt less than a splinter." Shirou told him, giving the boy a reassuring smile as he reached for the boy's hand. Taking the large and callus paw, with its long fingers, in his own left hand he picked a particularly thick spot and bright his right hand gently up toward it. "Rule Breaker." Shirou whispered as the smell bit of metal growing out from underneath his own sick lightly pricked the boy's hand.

The mole boy blinked in surprise as it was over and the slave seal on his chest began to disappear. "That didn't hurt at all." He said with a smile, patting at his chest where the mark used to be.

"See, I told you." Shirou chuckled as he glanced over the group of kids. The kids were either watching him in wonder, laying on the ground to recover from their death march, or gathered around Firo, petting the other sized bird, who was enjoying the attention. All of them were pointedly not looking at the bodies of the men that were on the ground around them.

Shirou had tested the 'Body of Steel' method for tracing weapons in order to see how Jian would react to weapons that were physically, spiritual and conceptually part of Shirou's being. He found that so long as he didn't fully manifest the weapon outside of his body, Jian would not punish him. It wasn't useful in combat, as using a blade that is growing out of your arm does horrible damage to your body, but after using Rule Breaker and dismissing it, only the smallest of wounds was left, which was quickly patched up by the natural healing factor that Heroes apparently had in this world.

Still, while Jian didn't punish him for his clever trick, he could still feel her radiating disapproval. He wasn't breaking the rules, but she was still upset with him for his relationships with other weapons.

"You saved us." The Kitsune girl from the village said, bowing to Shirou. The girl was trembling from relief. She had probably known exactly what fate awaited her at the end of this road. "Thank you, Shirou-sama."

Shirou looked at the girl, and his forced smile slowly slide off of his face. "I haven't saved you. Not yet." Shirou said, admitting what he already knew to be the truth. The children all looked at him in puzzlement. "I released you from your slave seals and killed these men, but that isn't the end of it. So long as you remain in these lands, more could come for you. Not only that, there is no way you can go back to the village. If you are caught there again, it wouldn't just mean your slavery, the other villagers would be punished for helping you."

The children fell silent after hearing what Shirou had said. Their relief disappearing as they were told that their troubles weren't over yet. "Then what are we going to do now?"

"We need to find a place where slavers wouldn't follow. I heard that the Duke who used to rule this land was fair towards Demihumans. Do you know any other territories that have nobles that might be sympathetic?" Shirou asked the children. The kids looked at each other. They didn't know about any other territories like that. They seemed sure that they existed, but they didn't know any of them by name, or where to find them. "Alright, looking around in Melromarc trying to find sympathizers is dangerous. What about other countries?"

"Well, my parents were from Siltvelt." A boy with squirrel like features said. "Demihumans don't get kidnapped into slavery in Siltvelt… but it isn't a very nice place."Several other children nodded in agreement having heard similar things from their own parents.

"My mother told me the same. She said that Siltvelt is ruled by the clans, and that if you aren't a part of any clan then the country is unbearable. That's why she left with grandpa when she was young." The Kitsune girl added. Shirou nodded his understanding. He had visited places like that in his own world, where entire cities were owned by a few tight nit family groups, and everyone else lived in poverty with no hope of ever escaping it. Still, the situations must have really been bleak if they were fleeing to a place like Melromarc for asylum. From what Shirou gathered from the children's stories, most of the different races of Demihumans each had their own clans within Siltvelt, and in order to survive you needed to be a part of one. Entering a clan was impossible, not through marriage or adoption. You had to be born into one. A group of orphans in such a place would likely find no sympathy, and humans were treated the same in Siltvelt as the Demihumans were in Melromarc, so Shirou wouldn't be able to escort them freely without changing his disguise again.

Zeltbull was a cut throat place where most of the slavers made their home base. Trying to find refuge there was laughable. Faubley had a very strict immigration policy, violators punished with death, as they didn't wish to share the marvels left behind by past heroes. Q'ten Lo was a possibility for refuge, as while they were elitists, they weren't violently elitist, but the fact that it would take more than a month, going through possibly hostile territory, just to travel all the way there meant that Shirou couldn't escort them there. Not without being teleported away to deal with the Wave half way there. One by one the options were rejected until only one remained.

Shildfrieden.

Shildfrieden was a Demihuman nation, but not so radical as Siltvelt in its views of Humans, though slavery of both Humans and Demihumans was practiced. It was a republic in that curious form where only the rich were allowed to vote but everyone was counted in representation. It was an ideal nation for runaways… save for the high cost of living. Even those who weren't slaves in the literal sense were often worked to death in order to provide for themselves and their families. If Shirou wanted to find the children refuge there, he would have to buy it.

'All problems come with a price tag. The only question was whether or not you are willing to pay it or if you are willing to just suffer through.' Rin had once told him that. At the time Shirou thought that was just her own little quirk, thinking that everything boiled down to money. But when faced with the realities of Illya's illness, Shirou found out that you really did just have to throw money that some problems to make them go away. Millions of dollars from what he had gained in working for the Clock Tower went into funding materials and research to help find a cure, allowing him to achieve far more than he would have been able to himself.

There was little doubt that they would be able to find help in Shildfrieden, for the right price. It just meant he would have to sell a few things in order to make the required money.

"Alright then, we'll have to start heading for Shildfrieden then." Shirou said turning to look at Firo who had stopped playing with the children and seemed to be trying to hug the wagon that the slavers had been using. "I'll glad you like that wagon so much, because you're going to be pulling it for us."

"Guee!" Firo gave a delighted squeal, to which Shirou could only chuckle. He had found it hard to believe that Filolials had truly loved pulling carts when he had first read about it, but it seemed that it really was the case.

"Do any of you kids now anything about harnesses?" Shirou asked, to which three of the children responded by raising their hands. "See what you can do about strapping Firo in. While you do that, I'll hide the bodies. It would be better if anyone trying to find us didn't find them immediately."

"Do you want us to help?" The Kitsune girl asked Shirou.

Shirou shook his head. "No, this isn't a job for children. I killed these men, I will clean it up."

Shirou removed the valuables from each of the bodies before he started to carry them out into the forest, out of sight of the children.

[Some items can help unlock new forms for the Legendary Weapons. Try to give your weapon a sample of everything.]

"You have got to be kidding me." Shirou said as the familiar message appeared before him. His was already a little grossed out from the fact that killing those men had give him EXP, and now his sword was saying that it wanted to eat the corpses.

[A Hero will have enemies, both human and inhuman. There are weapon forms that will help with both types.]

Shirou frowned, thinking about the kind of properties a blade created by absorbing the essence of a human would be. There were many types of Noble Phantasms that specialized in dealing with human targets. Jian was right, he couldn't assume that monsters were the only evil in this world, or even that they would be the most dangerous.

The fact that he didn't immediately dismiss the idea made Shirou worry a little bit about himself. Perhaps he wasn't as much of a third-rate magus as he once hoped. The thought made him depressed.

"…Their already dead anyways, and it's probably better than leaving them for the monsters." Shirou mumbled, as if trying to convince himself that it didn't matter. Like he wasn't about to cross a line that shouldn't be crossed. Shirou glanced and took in a deep breath, before drawing out part of Jian and holding her crystal next to the human body. "Just make it fast."

Requirements met: [Manslayer's Sword (0/20) Unlocked – Base Power: 6 – Equip Bonus: +8% Damage-to-Humanlike, +1% Defense-against-Humanlike, +15% EXP-from-Humanlike (unmastered) – Proficiency: (0%)]

Shirou grimaced as he read over the sword's stats and hoped that there wouldn't be any reason for him to use such a blade anytime soon. Then he noticed that the human meat had been added to his inventory. "Jian, destroy the human meat. I don't care how unrecognizable it would be after you process it, just… just get rid of it." Shirou hissed to the sword before sighing. He thought back to the other six corpses back at the road with the kids, as well as what was left of the dragon horse corpse. "In for a penny, in for a pound."

[Manslayer's Sword II (0/30) Unlocked – Base Power: 11 – Equip Bonus: +12% Damage-to-Humanlike, +1% Defense-against-Humanlike, +20% EXP-from-Humanlike (unmastered) – Proficiency: (0%)]

[Lesser Dragon Sword (0/20) Unlocked – Base Power: 6 – Equip Bonus: +10% Damage-to-Dragonlike, +1 Defense (unmastered) – Proficiency: (0%)]

[Rider's Sword (0/15) Unlocked – Base Power: 3 – Equip Bonus: Riding Skill Up (small) (unmastered) – Proficiency: (0%)]

Shirou completed his unpleasant task just as the children finished hooking the excited Firo up to the wagon.

The children pilled up into the wagon squeezing in quite comfortably with a lot of space left over. Shirou stacked the chains that they had been bound with in the center of the wagon along with the useful items that he had grabbed off of the men's bodies, and the camping supplies that the men had with them. The chains were made of lead, the swords bronze, and they had iron chainmail on. These were good ingredients to have on hand for any magus.

The children were instructed to put on the shackles if they saw anyone approaching along the road, in order to make it appear as if they were only slaves being transported.

Even weighed down as it was, Firo had no problems pulling the wagon along. Actually, Shirou had to convince the bird to slow down, as to not make the trip too unpleasant for the children, and not cause the wooden wagon to fall to pieces. He would have to reinforce it the next time they rested.

"Thank you again for saving us." The Kitsune girl said to Shirou as they road along the road. She had lay claim to the spot next to Shirou on the wagon. The other children in the back were looking out at their surroundings and doing their best to keep themselves distracted from the harsh reality with any game that came to mind. "I don't think I ever introduced myself to you before. I'm Rita Aselia."

"It's a pleasure, Aselia-chan. I am Shirou Emiya, and you don't have to thank me. I just did what anyone would do if they were in my situation." Shirou said simply.

"If that is so, then why did you have to do it alone?" Rita asked in a quiet voice, her eyes were downcast and she was fiddling with her nails. "Where were the others from the village?"

"My situation is different than there's. I have strength and nothing to lose." Shirou explained. "It is remarkably easy to play hero when you have nothing to lose."

"Is that so." Rita said, though it didn't seem like she was really absorbing it. The night before the girl had been forcibly optimistic, now she was in shock.

"You are wondering why that man told the slavers you were there, aren't you?"Shirou guessed. Rita stiffened a little before nodding. "Don't think too badly of him. He seemed like a good man."

"If he was such a good man, then why did he do this to us?" Rita asked. "Why did he treat us like cattle that can be bought and sold?"

"Good men can be made to do horrible things if they believe that it is for a good cause. Entire nations full of perfectly normal people can be coerced into murdering the innocent if they can be made to believe that it would lead to some kind of brighter future." Shirou said his voice full of sympathy. The Nazis hadn't all been psychopaths. They had been normal people who had been led to believe that they could improve the world by committing horrible atrocities. "You might not have realized this, but that village you were in was on the road to ruin. It simple didn't have the resources required to feed everyone. That man willed himself to believe that if he gave you to the slavers, that the money could be used to save the rest of the village, and that you would all have a better chance at survival as slaves. He made himself believe that it was for a good reason, and because of that, a good man was able to do something horribly evil. He didn't hate you, nor did he believe that what he was doing was good, he had just been convinced that he had no choice."

Shirou couldn't judge the man. He himself was no different. When faced with those children dying, he had chosen to bloody his own hands. While some might say that Shirou's actions were justified, the families of those he killed probably would disagree. Killing and justice didn't mixed well.

"…They didn't hate us?" Rita said, sounding hopeful. She must have thought that no one in the village had wanted to save them, rather than them not having the power to.

"No, they didn't. They were all extremely broken up about you being taken away. They were just too afraid to do anything because they didn't want to bring the lord's vengeance down on their own families." Shirou replied with a sad smile. "Like I said, it is easiest to be a hero when you have nothing to lose."

"You make it sound like being a hero is so sad." Rita said looking up at Shirou with a curious expression.

"Some of the greatest heroes in history died wishing they were never born." Shirou admitted, thinking of Saber and Archer. They had been undeniably heroes, but they had had so many regrets that they each had wished to erase their own existences.

"Are you unhappy with your life?" Rita asked Shirou.

"No. I am not." Shirou said, thinking of the people who had give his life meaning beyond an empty string of selfless deeds.

Rita leaned into Shirou's side and placed her head against his arm, startling the young man. "Then being a hero can't be that bad."

The monstrous bear was brought to the ground a blade bared in the back of its neck.

Shirou let out a deep breath before looking up at the wagon full of children, who were all clapping at his little display. "Alright kids, it's time to make camp for the night." Shirou told them all.

"Okay!" The children shouted as they started to unload from the wagon.

"Some of you are going to need to help set up the tent, the rest of you gather firewood from nearby, I'm going to find some water. Firo, you keep an eye out from trouble until I get back." Shirou said.

"Guee!" Firo said, to show that she understood, before returning to eating the giant bear.

Shirou grabbed the seven waterskins he had taken off the slavers and went off into the forest to find any kind of stream. It didn't take long to find water and after filling up the skins he returned to children to find that they had set up the slaver's tent and gathered the fire wood, but there was a problem.

"Shirou-sama, the slavers didn't have that many blankets with them, and we've already gone through almost all of the food that they had." Rita reported when Shirou got back to the camp. He handed the waterskins to some of the children and they all gathered around eager for a drink. He would need to make enough trip before long. The slavers really hadn't brought enough supplies for everyone. Most likely they had only planned on dropping the slaves of at some nearby town rather than making for the boarder and avoiding settlements like Shirou had been doing.

It seemed like hiding his abilities wasn't to be an option. "Don't worry. I can help with that." He said with a smile as he reached out and grabbed on of the blankets. "Trace on."

He analyzed the blanket and produced ten exact copy of it. The children gasped in amazement at Shirou's little display. "You can use magic?" Rita asked with wide eyes.

"Something like that, though I'm not very good with it." Shirou admitted. Shirou projected a frying pan before reaching for Jian's crystal and removing a large piece of meat from her storage space. "Now let's see if I can't take care of our food situation as well."

They built six separate fires big enough to cook with and Shirou spent a good long while preparing food for the children and Firo… mostly Firo. Each of the kids ate their fill and were soon asleep with happy expressions on their faces. Shirou chuckled, seeing nearly half of the kids huddled around Firo, using her body as a pillow. The Filolial seemed happy to have so many people cuddled up against it. She was a herd animal after all.

"Aren't you going to go to sleep?" Rita asked him as she sat down beside him in front of one of the dying fire pits.

"No. After all the cooking we did, it wouldn't be surprising to have monsters visiting us. I'll need to keep watch tonight. Tomorrow I'll have a mean of protecting us ready so we can sleep more easily." Shirou said as he gestured to the various metal items he was working with.

"More magic?" Rita asked him.

"Yes. I'm preparing materials that I'll be able to use to create bounded fields. They are like spells that you attach to an area which can be used to enforce rules on that area. They are extremely versatile, if you know how to use them properly, though I only really know how to create a bounded field to keep out aggressors and random mana." Shirou explained.

"It still sounds amazing to me." Rita said, resting her head on her knees. "Shirou-sama, can I ask you something?"

"Of course." Shirou said simply.

"Can you teach me how to fight?" Shirou stopped what he was doing but didn't look up.

"…Explain." Shirou said, hoping that he wasn't about to hear what he thought he was about to hear.

"When my village was being destroyed in the Wave… I… I hide away in a small hole near my house. I was in there for hours, but it felt like an eternity, listening to the sounds of the monsters attacking our village. I could hear people screaming. I was so scared I couldn't move. I listened to them dying all around me. My parents. My brother. My neighbors. Everyone I knew died." Tears were coming to her eyes as she described hell, a hell that Shirou was all too familiar with. She was trembling uncontrollably. "When it was over, those of us orphaned by the Wave were picked up by the leader of a neighboring village. I tried to forget what happened, but I couldn't. I can still hear their screams at night. Then the slavers came, and… and… I couldn't do anything again. I don't want to be like this. I don't want to be stuck powerless and afraid. I don't want to have to stand by and watch others suffer."

Shirou sighed before reaching out and patting the girl on the head. "I understand."He said before beginning his own story. "When I was around eight years old, there was a horrible fire in the city I was in, five hundred lives lost in the blink of an eye and more lives lost to the flames. I can't remember anything that from before that, but what I do remember was trying to escape that fire, listening to all of the people begging for help and ignoring them as I forced everything, I had into just surviving another moment." Rita stopped crying and looked up at Shirou with wide eyes. "I understand how you feel. You want to justify why you were allowed to live when other died, don't you?" The girl nodded.

Shirou wanted to tell her that wasn't how the world worked and that she should just live on and forget those who died, but he knew damn well that wouldn't work. For the sake of her psyche, the girl needed to have the power necessary to never have to live through something like that again.

"Alright, what weapon would you like to learn?" Shirou asked the girl. Her face brightened.

"You'll teach me?" Rita asked him, her fox's tail wagging behind her like a dog's.

"Yes I will, on one condition." Shirou said, holding up one finger. "You have to promise me that you won't live your life alone. Find someone who you can care for and dedicate your life to being there for them. Let yourself be happy for their sake if not your own."

"Yes, I promise." Rita agreed without a second thought.

"Alright then, I suppose now is a good enough time to start. Even if you are wiped out for tomorrow you can still sleep on the wagon." Shirou said was he traced various wooden weapons. "Pick whatever you like, and we will get to work."

Rita Aselia: Lv 1

Requirements met: [Companion's Sword (0/20) Unlocked – Base Power: 5 – Equip Bonus: Companion Grow Up (small) (unmastered) – Proficiency: (0%)]

Shirou's second ally, if I keep her around for a long period of time.

Haven't really decided what kind of weapon Rita should use, but not really worried about it either. Can always fall back on sword or bow, though I am thinking spear and then later magic.

Of course, Shirou's current job won't be as easy as it has been so far, since he needs to find away past border patrol.

Companion Grow and Monster Growth don't stack.