Shirou backed up, drawling the monster rabbit's attack before slashing down into its left shoulder, hobbling it. "Rita." Shirou signaled to the girl to make her move.

The Kitsune girl pushed forward, thrusting the enchanted short spear Shirou had made for her into the monster's chest from the side, its blade sinking easily into the monster's side regardless of its defenses. The creature continued to struggle for a few moments longer, refusing to go quietly, but soon the blood drained away and its slumped to the ground dead. Rita pulled the spear head out, stumbling back as she did so, her eyes locked on the dog sized rabbit.

"Good, you hesitated less that time." Shirou said, giving her a little praise.

"I'm still not the one actually fighting them." Rita said in response to his praise, seeming to not think he was being genuine.

"You only started practicing yesterday, expecting to already be fighting monsters is unreasonable. Besides, the most difficult thing to do for a fighter is to overcome that moment of hesitation. You're doing great. You just need more training and a few levels to help with your strength. You've already grown a few. You might be able to draw the bowstring now." Shirou said, giving her a pat on the head.

The Demihuman girl blushed a bright red. Perhaps she was remembering her near disastrous test runs of the various weapons that Shirou had offered her.

If those had been real swords, she would have cut off her own feet. She hadn't had the physical strength to use a bow and her attempts with throwing knives made Shirou wince just remembering them. She didn't have a strong sense of her own body, making wielding any weapon difficult for her. In the end he had given her a spear, simply because it was the weapon she was least likely to hurt herself with while still being capable of delivering a killing blow.

The problem was that the spear, while easy to just pick up and use, was perhaps the hardest to master and an unmastered spearman leaves several holes that can easily be exploited. It was why the spear sometimes had the reputation of being a grunt weapon, wielded by those who simply don't have time to master any sort of style.

It would take time, but as she fought more and gained an understanding of her own momentum, she would be ready for more complex weapon styles than a simple spear thrust. "We'll continue your hand-to-hand and knife training tonight and see if we can't start you with a bow."

"Alright." Rita said with a nod of her head. The other kids congratulated her as they climbed back up into the wagon. As they road along, Shirou noticed that the girl's eyes seemed blurred and wondered if the fighting was exhausting her.

"If you're tired you can just sleep." Shirou told her. Rita shot up and looked over at him, surprised by his suggestion. "Exhaustion is the enemy, one must deal with it when you have the chance if you wish to fight at your fullest."

"No, I'm not tired. I was just looking at my status." Rita said with a shake of her head. "It's really strange. I heard that it was supposed to take entire days of grinding monsters in order to grow a single level, but in just a few hours I have already grown 5."

"Well, we have encountered a few monsters along this road." Shirou admitted, glancing at his own status menu. He hadn't noticed anything odd about her rate of growth.

Emiya Shirou: Lv 26

Firo: Lv 22

Rita Aselia: Lv 6

"Maybe, and I suppose they are stronger than a low-level person like me is supposed to fight against, but it still feels like I am leveling up really fast." Rita said as she went back to staring at her status.

[Wielders of the Legendary Weapons and their allies receive the blessings of the Earth, increasing their rate of growth. This benefit is weakened whenever two or more Heroes are close together, as the ground they stand on has to supply both. Best to keep distance.]

"Is that so." Shirou said as he read the message from Jian. It explained why heroes had to act independently, as they wouldn't receive their bonus EXP if they didn't. He wondered just how much bonus EXP there was, and Jian provided the answer.

[Bonus EXP ≈ +900%]

Shirou raised an eyebrow. 10 times normal growth rates. He did a little bit of an estimate based on the number of monsters he had fought and found that if he hadn't had those bonuses, then he would only be a Lv 8 instead of a Lv 26. Getting 10 days of benefit for just a single day of work, joining a hero's company really was the fast lane to success. Maybe those adventurers back at the castle won't spies after all. Maybe they were just lazy bastards who wanted a spot in Shirou's backpack.

"I'm actually surprised that I'm able to harm these monsters at all. They should be too high of a level for me." She said as she looked down at her spear. "This must be a really incredible weapon."

"That is a copy of a masterwork spear which carries the blessings of a water god, allowing it to cut through monsters and demons that would otherwise be invulnerable to normal steel." Shirou told the girl.

It was a good spear, one that would have left many an Exorcist turning green with envy. Unlike most Noble Phantasms which would only allow their chosen wielders to use their true power, the magic spear was just a blessed item and could be used by anyone, partly because their true wielder had been a no name freelancer without a single drop of magical abilities. Even the water god had only chosen them because they were the only person nearby at the time when its foe was descending upon it in the god's moment of weakness.

If it had been a sword and Shirou had copied it with Jian at its full power, the level requirement would have been around Lv 70. Shirou had far better weapons, as its penetrating and anti-immortal attributes were too weak to deal with actual immortals or well-armored targets and it was more suited to be dealing with demons than monsters, but the short spear made a good match for the young girl who needed a little extra something to deal with her enemies' unfair defenses.

There was no need to tell Rita that the blade would control the water in the air when it rained and allow her to breath underwater. Though surprises could be left for later.

"Is it really something so amazing?" Rita asked, her eyes wide as she looked at the rather simple spear. The original wielder had been a mercenary after all, a flashy weapon would have only gotten them in trouble. Rita frowned. "But if you have such an amazing weapon, they why are you using those plain swords?"

[PLAIN!]

Jian was outraged at the allegation that she was just a plain weapon. Shirou couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction. "Actually, these blades are anything but plain." Shirou said, patting the hilt of the sword in order to calm her down… before he drove in the knife. "They're actually cursed."

*ZAP*

Electricity jumped from the hilt into Shirou's hand, causing him to recoil and hiss. Rita blinked at the bright blue light, her jaw hanging open.

"I'm not able to wield any other weapon, nor can I get rid of these ones. A rather ironic curse to be placed on a collector of weapons like me." Shirou said, smiling at Jian's seething furry.

"Maybe you should go to the church and see if they can remove the curse. It seems dangerous." Rita suggested, earning a snort of laugher out of Shirou and more rage from Jian.

"Something makes me doubt that the church would help me escape this one. But you don't need to worry. She doesn't want me dead, she just gets jealous when she sees me with other weapons." Shirou said after he was finished laughing.

[A Legendary Weapon is not jealous! A Hero needs no other weapon!]

"If you say so. I still think you should get them looked at." Rita said, glaring at the twin-blades at Shirou's belt. If Jian had eyes, she would have been glaring right back.

Shirou just chuckled and kept his eyes on the road. Still, he couldn't help but think that having to hide his weapon's true nature from the kids was inconvenient, as it was stopping him from mastering more of Jian's forms, and spending each night copying different weapons into her own arsenal. It was something that was making Jian increasingly agitated with Shirou as time went on.

Still, a transforming sword was the number one thing people seemed to associate with the Sword Hero, and the Sword Hero helping undesirables flee the country would likely turn Melromarc's aristocratic against him. While he could always change his appearance while running around, it might lead to people trying to arrest him during the middle of a Wave. That would be a disaster and a half, especially if the other heroes got involved. Motoyasu and Itsuki seemed to be willing to put up with things for more perks, and Shirou couldn't say anything with certainty about Naofumi. He knew nothing about those three, and without access to his more powerful weaponry, Shirou didn't think he could take on any of them, let alone all of them. And while the three would be hunting Shirou, the Wave would be allowed to grow out of control again.

He wished to truly save these children, to take them to a place where they would be both safe and happy, but for the sake of fighting the Waves unimpeded, he couldn't let his identity be leaked while he was doing so. After he left them in the hands of whatever individual he could convince to take care of them, would they keep quite if they knew who he was? From his memories of Archer's life, Shirou knew all too well how quickly people forgot about the person who helped them after they move on.

Why was he even bothering? Even if he got these children across the border, did he really think that their lives would change? The moment he was gone, whoever he put in charge of them would probably throw them aside, pocketing the money meant to help them. The world will still be a miserable place. Shirou had better things to do than trying to save a few orphaned children.

'No! It isn't wrong to want to help people!' Shirou shouted in his own mind, his fingers tightening on the grip on the reigns. 'I won't turn my back on people suffering right in front of me.'

This time, the Sword of Sloth spoke in Shirou's mind, using Archer's voice. 'That's hell you're walking into.'

'I. Don't. Care.'

"There. That should do it." Shirou said as he finished incasing the metal runes he had created into the ground in order to form a magic square. He projected six copies of the Azoth Sword Rin had once given him. The crystal blades all hummed with magical energy that closely resembled Rin's, making them much more useful for Shirou when activating a runecraft formula than his own Od. After embedding them at keep points in the magic square before speaking the key word to activate them. "Läßt."

The large rubies in the blades' pummels all glowed and their energy traveled into the formula, powering it up. Shirou could immediately feel the change in the air around him as the Bounded Field fell into place.

"Alright, it's working." Shirou said as he stood up and dusted himself off. "Until the power in those blades is drained, we should be safe from any creature with hostile intentions, within reason."

"Within reason?" Rita asked with a slight tilt of her head.

"I don't think it would more than slow down a dragon or anything of that nature, but all the monsters we have so far along the road wouldn't be able to penetrate it." Shirou explained. "It will also warn me if anything tries, preventing an ambush."

"If it's so powerful, then why not put it on the wagon?" Rita asked as she looked at the assortment of complex symbols.

"Doesn't work that way. Bounded Fields by nature can't be attached to movable objects. The only exceptions being objects that contain their own realities." Shirou said.

"Such things exist?" Rita seemed skeptical of Shirou's words.

"I've only seen two, but they aren't the kinds of things one forgets easily." Shirou said, he could help but to have a knowing grin. He himself was one such object. The Reality Marble contained within his soul was, in essence, a portable bounded field. The possibilities opened up by a portable bounded field was one of the main reasons that Magi went foaming at the mouth whenever they started to suspect Shirou of having a Reality Marble. Shirou found it strange how they could barely glance as Medusa, a heroic spirit, walked around in front of them, but his oddness sent them into a rage.

"…Sensei sure has seen a lot of strange things." Rita deadpanned.

"You don't know the half of it." Shirou agreed before quirking an eyebrow. "Speaking of which, it is time to resume your training." Shirou traced a wooden knife and handed it to her.

"Right." Rita said, taking the weapon and adopting the knife fighter stance that he had shown her the night before.

"Keep your free hand out of the way, you don't want to be cutting it off yourself. And your legs need to be shoulder width apart, otherwise it is too easily to knock you over."Shirou pushed on her shoulder and the girl wobbled slightly before regaining her balance.

After fixing her balance issues, Shirou walked her through some steps on how to maneuver around without giving up her strong footing. Then they switched weapons to a long sword and practiced the same, then with a spear, and then an ax. Shirou was trying to get her used to simply moving around as much as possible, all the while explaining the various strengths and weaknesses of each weapon and stance. Familiarity with all kinds of weapons and fighting styles would be handy for her, even if she wasn't choosing to pursue those weapons.

After two hours, Rita collapsed to the ground with sore legs. "Sensei, I don't know if I can do this anymore." Rita whimpered as she rubbed at her tired legs.

"That's fine, we can stop that kind of work for tonight. But remember, mobility is one of the most important aspects of combat. If you can't keep your footing while moving…"

"…You'll just get knocked over. I know." Rita said bitterly.

"You're doing better than you know." Shirou told her, grinning down at her pouting expression. "Now, if you are too tired to keep dancing around, perhaps you would like to give the bow another try?"

Before she hadn't had the physical strength needed to properly use a bow, but over the course of that day she had grown 8 levels, and her strength had increased quite a bit because of it. A gap in strength that would have taken months to close in his old world had been done in a single day of 'leveling'.

"Alright." Rita mumbled, pushing herself up on unsteady feet before regaining her balance and following Shirou. Shirou projected a bow and a few arrows, handing them over to the girl. "Um… sensei, this doesn't seem like the normal practice set." Rita commented as she took the bow and quiver. The recurved bow was made of Yew, but the wood had turned bright green through alchemic processes and Celtic runes had been edged into its surface. The arrows were also strange, the metal arrowheads having an odd discoloration, being a mixture of orange and blade, with starch white shafts.

"They are just a few enchanted items. Just a little something to make the drawling of the bow easier and stop the bow from weakening if left strung. Now let's get you into position." Shirou said, dismissing her questions about the weapon for now. No need to tell her about Robin Hood's Yew Bow, or the arrows which had come from an Indian Hero who had been suspected of being an Avatar of Durga, whose arrows would fly true regardless of the winds and could piece through any evil.

Rita would lack the ability to activate their more exotic functions as Noble Phantasms, but the passive effects would be helpful for her getting started, and they were weapons of the highest quality.

Once Shirou had corrected the girl's form and given her the okay, she notched an arrow, took aim at a log and let it fly.

She missed of course. Doesn't matter how straight the arrow flies if the aim was off to begin with, but that was to be expected. The arrow it a tree behind the target and became logged inside. Still, the girl was determined and continued at it until her arms ached as well as her legs. Shirou decided to call it a night. She was still far from perfect, but towards the end she was consistently hitting somewhere on her target at 12 meters. It was better than Shirou expected.

Actually, she was improving in all aspects of fighter faster than Shirou expected. This kind of thing was supposed to take weeks, not hours. "You're improving quickly." Shirou complemented her.

"You're just saying that." Rita replied with a sigh.

"No, I'm not. I wasn't expecting you to be this good for at least another week."Shirou assured her with a smile.

"…Does that mean you'll let me have my own knife now?" Rita asked hopefully.

"No. But you can keep the bow." Shirou said flatly. He still wasn't confident enough in the girl's balance and technique to give her a weapon that could cause her serious harm if she messed up. Any knife that would allow her to cut through the defense stat of her enemies would be an extreme danger to herself if she tripped at any point.

"You aren't afraid I might accidently shoot you with it?" Rita commented while pouting about how he wouldn't let her wield a real knife or sword yet.

"I'm more than used to having to dodge projectiles. I don't think you would be able to land a killing shot on me if you tried." Shirou admitted.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Rita said with a sigh. Then her stomach grumbled. Her mouth shut tight and she began to blush.

Shirou grinned a bit at the sound. "No need to be embarrassed. Hunger is the enemy, a fighter must eat whenever possible if they expect to maintain their full strength." Shirou chuckled at the young girl's embarrassment. "Don't worry. I'll make you something to eat."

"Guee…?" Firo perked up at the mention of food, looking over at Shirou with her big round eyes. The bird couldn't move, as she was being used as a pillow by half the children in their little company, but she did her best to convey the fact that she would also like a late night snack.

"I'll get something for you too." Shirou assured her before going to prepare them something to eat.

The amount of food these children ate. Well, it was a good thing that Jian let Shirou carry so much with him.

Requirements met: [Companion's Sword II (0/30) Unlocked – Base Power: 7 – Equip Bonus: Companion's Status Up (small) (unmastered) – Proficiency: (0%)]

"Did you just take one of the girl's hairs?" Shirou mumbled, willing himself to speak in Japanese so that no one would understand him, as Jian unlocked a new form by absorbing one of Rita's hairs that had clung to Shirou's hand after he had given her a pat on the head.

Well, wasn't like it mattered. So long as Rita didn't notice.

All the children in the camp were finally asleep and Shirou was the last one awake, looking up at the stars and thinking about the world. After getting the Tent Sword, he didn't need as much sleep as everyone else, though with people so close by, he couldn't just start copying swords into Jian again.

Not that Jian agreed with that sentiment.

Weapon Copy

The Legendary Weapons can copy weapons of the same category for the hero's use, so long as they meet level requirements.

"I can't do that. I don't want the kids to realize what you are." Shirou told the sword. He could tell that Jian was not happy about it one bit. But rather than arguing with Shirou, she presented an alternative.

Weapon Energy

The Legendary Weapons can convert the EXP gathered within the weapon (weapon proficiency) into Energy. This energy can be spent to Awaken and Upgrade weapon forms.

"I was planning to save that Energy for when I am going to be using a weapon form I plan on keeping. No sense using it to enhance a form I am just going to be throwing away anyways." Shirou pointed out with a shrug of the shoulder.

Weapon Awakening

The Legendary Weapons can use Energy to Awaken individual forms. Awakened weapons gain large boosts to their equipment bonuses. Weapons can then have more Energy spent on them in order to improve the quality of the weapon up to 5 successful times. Each success resulting in an increase in power of 20%.

"Really? Even the Noble Phantasms I have copied?" Shirou said, his eyes widening in surprise. If enhanced fully, that would mean that the base stats of the weapon would be doubled. Kanshou and Bakuya would become equal to an A-rank Noble Phantasm. If he enhanced a weapon like Caliburn… holy shit.

[Expensive, but possible. The higher the quality of the weapon, the greater the chance of failure.]

As to be expected, but the fact that it was doable was still frightening.

But that would be a topic for later. Right now the more useful bit would be the improvements to the weapon's Equip Bonuses caused by Awakening.

He had already been converting his weapon proficiencies into Energy, so he had plenty in the bank to do a little experimentation. He choose his iron twin-swords as a test dumbie to see what would happen.

[Iron Twin-swords (0/15) Unlocked – Rarity: Very Common – base power: 6 – Equip Bonus: +1 Speed, [Dual Wielder] (mastered)]

[Do you wish to Awaken this form?]

Yes.

[Iron Twin-swords (0/15) Awakened – Rarity: Very Common – base power: 6 – Equip Bonus: +2 Speed, [Dual Wielder+] (mastered)]

[Dual Wielder+] – Wielder can manifest up to four blades at once. Maximum distance between wielder and blade extended. 1 meter → 15 meters. Cost effectiveness increased from [Dual Wielder].

It worked. Both the raw stats and the skill provided by the weapon were improved by the awakening. This could further increase the edge Shirou was receiving from his Equip Bonuses. Shirou decided to experiment some more with it, Awakening his medicine swords, increasing the effectiveness of his medicines and giving them a larger area of effect… however that work. He improved the passive poison resistances he gained for him bug based swords and decreased the cost of [Air Strike Slash].

But it wasn't until he reached the Beastmaster Series that he was truly glad he found this function early.

[Beastmaster's Sword (0/20) Awakened – Base Power: 5 – Equip Bonus: Monster Growth Up (medium) (mastered)]

[Beastmaster's Sword II (0/30) Awakened – Base Power: 7 – Equip Bonus: Monster Status Up (medium) (mastered)]

[Beastmaster's Sword III (0/40) Awakened – Base Power: 8 – Equip Bonus: Monster Growth Up (large) (mastered)]

Even larger buffs for Firo's growth rate and base stats. The bird's rate of growth was already high enough to keep up with Shirou despite Shirou receiving Equip Bonuses. Now she would be getting even stronger still.

He quickly did the same for the Companion Sword, though he would need to gain mastery in the Companion Sword II before he could do the same there. He would do it that night while the children were all asleep. Getting up, Shirou left the camp, heading towards the sounds of monster dogs howling in the night.

As he left, he felt a smug sense of satisfaction coming from Jian. He had to admit, while she was dragging him down at the moment, with him being unable to use any Noble Phantasms, she promised to be an overwhelming powerhouse in the long run.

[I am the only weapon you will ever need.]

Stat-per-Level buffs too OP.

I'm planning a bit for the plot revolving around taboos involving children of Mixed Blood. Not just between Humans and Demihumans, but between two different races of Demihumans. (Perhaps even more taboo than between Demihuman and Human)

It is implied in canon when Naofumi first goes to see the Slaver that mixed Demihuman bloods are less valuable than pure bloods, and the rabbit demihuman of mixed blood that was there is suffering from a physical defect.

This would actually make sense, since it would be like mating between donkeys and horses. It produces children, but there are repercussions to the animal's health.

Just like with inbreeding, there would become a taboo against it because of the strong possibility for bad results.

It is also implied in canon that children of Heroes (and Pureblooded Dragons) never suffer from such illnesses and can pretty much mate with anything and produce a healthy baby… ANYTHING.