I own nothing.
Shirou's eyes snapped open and he took in a sharp intake of breath.
The pain that had been surging through his body from the flames and his use of Magecraft vanished in an instant, leaving not so much as a phantom behind. The shift was so jarring that his mind went momentarily blank. He went through the last few minutes, trying to figure out what had happened, trying to piece together what was going on.
He had been on a school trip with the rest of the students of his grade level when a large oil truck driving next to the school bus in front of them suddenly just exploded out of nowhere. The explosion didn't just cover the bus in flaming oil, but also causing the driver to turn straight into a lamp post, crashing into the metal beam at high speeds and injuring everyone inside. When the bus Shirou was on pulled over, Shirou had rushed towards the burning bus, climbing into the flaming wreck with hardly a second thought as people shouted at him.
While several people had died instantly in the crash, he remembered grabbing the first living people he could and using his reinforcement magecraft to carry them out before going straight back in again. He must have made four trips and saved eight people before… before what? Before he had died? He wouldn't have been surprised to have died there, either from the flames or his own amateur attempts at body reinforcement destroying his body from the inside out. But if he had died, then why was he...
"Had it all been a dream?" Shirou asked no one as he lifted his arm to see his undamaged body, free of burns, and his still whole clothes.
While his dreams had always been eerily real, he'd never had a dream about anything but swords and battle before.
"I'm afraid it wasn't a dream. You really did die." A woman's voice cut through the darkness, startling Shirou.
Off to his side, a shaft of light came down on him, revealing that he had been leaning up against the wall of a narrow tunnel, and standing in the light, with a bustling city behind her, was a woman with sapphire blue hair done up in ringlets. She appeared to be around the same age as Fuji-nee and had a pleasant smile.
"Congratulations on your reincarnation and welcome to Labyrinth city!"
"...Reincarnation?"
The woman who had refused to name herself had been painfully honest with Shirou about his situation.
First, Shirou had indeed died.
Second, his soul had been transported into another world.
Third, he had to become a 'Seer' and fight monsters inside of something called a 'Labyrinth' for money and 'contribution points' or else be left in a gutter to die again.
After explaining these three things, the woman had just handed Shirou some kind of application card, pointed him towards 'the Guild', telling him to register with it and gave him a slap on the bum to get him going.
"Thank you for the directions." Shirou said with a polite nod before heading towards the guild.
He was pretty shocked by the whole reincarnation thing, but he wasn't exactly the kind of guy to question it when people placed a clear objective before him. Any panic attack he might have could wait until later, and if this woman didn't feel like giving him answers, he would just have to ask someone else.
It seemed as though the 'Guild' had people dedicated to talking to people in his situation, so just going there made sense.
The building was massive, the size of a large sports stadium, but was still crowded with people. Around a thousand people, both men and women ranging in age from twelve to forty, either milling about the room or standing in lines. Their clothes also ranged from ordinary to fantastical, as if they were all going to some kind of anime convention, or a medieval fair.
Shirou stared at the strange assortment of people briefly before making his way to one of the many lines, ready to wait his turn. As he waited, he pulled up the card that the woman had given him, and started to fill out the requested information on it. Putting in his name, age, gender, and so on, only stopping when he came to the last question.
"Job?" Shirou mumbled, wondering if that one was optional. But he didn't exactly want to leave it empty. He'd had a few odd jobs as a mechanic, so he figured he could just write that one down.
But before Shirou could fill out the box the man who was in front of him in line stopped him. "I won't write anything normal in that one if I were you, kid." Shirou looked up to see an older gentleman with black skin and braided hair. He was wearing a sort of leather armor that looked as though it had seen better days, and had a bow and quiver slung over his back. The man looked at him with a kind, if amused, smile before explaining what he meant. "People always end up in trouble by writing down their real jobs before finding out what 'job' means. I know a lady from about a year's back who wrote down 'swim instructor' and ended up having to fight monsters while in a bikini by throwing volleyballs at them."
"Excuse me?" Shirou said, completely perplexed by the man's words.
"When it says job, it means what kind of class you want. You know, like in a tabletop game. Things like warrior or wizard or something. While you can in fact write anything, your skills going forward will mostly depend on what job you chose. So you'll make things hard on yourself if you write something silly in there. If you write down something like pizzaboy, you aren't going to be able to find yourself a party that will take you." The man said before holding out a hand to shake. "Name's John Peters, and I have the Hunter job."
"I'm Shirou. Thank you for the warning." Shirou replied, accepting the man's hand. It felt rough, but Shirou didn't mind. His own hands were pretty rough as well from his daily workout routines and mechanic work.
"Don't mention it kid. I'd hate to see you lose your second chance at life because of a mix up." John said. "Usually there are no lines at all, but it is a little backed up today. Heard that a large group of newcomers arrived an hour ago. Something about a school bus blowing up. That your group?"
"Ah… so they are here as well." Shirou said in surprise. He wasn't sure whether or not to feel relieved about that. They were dead, but… Uh...
"Yep, but it seems you lagged behind a little. I'd suggest trying to hook up with some of them later. The world is a hard one to be alone in, but it's not so bad in a party." John said with a shrug. "On that note, welcome to District Eight of Labyrinth City, not the nicest place, but you could do a hell of a lot worse back on Earth."
"...District Eight?"
"That's right. Labyrinth City is divided up into eight districts depending on a sort of caste system. As you get contribution points with the Guild, you can move to the upper districts. District Eight is the lowest district, basically the slums of this world, where everyone who can't make it either lives or dies." John said. His words were depressing but he gave them with a huge smile. "Not that it is really all bad. It's not hard to get enough to eat, and if you remain a Seeker, the Guild pays for your housing and medical expenses. Plus, the Karma system means that there is almost no crime and no corrupt cops."
"...Karma system?" Shirou couldn't help it. The man just kept saying things he didn't understand.
John nodded his hand before taking out a card that looked exactly like the one that Shirou himself was holding. "These are our ID cards. They are basically an all purpose magical tool. It can display maps, record contact information, send messages to people you know, and will let you put down your skill points." John said as he thumbed over his card, displaying all kinds of things for Shirou, who was staring in amazement. "Once the guild activates your card, you'll be able to do this too. It will also start keeping a log of everything you do in order to calculate your Contribution points and your Karma. Every time you kill a monster, fulfill a request or save someone's life, you will earn contribution points. Your contribution points will determine when you will get to advance and where you get to live. Even though the Guild pays for everyone's housing, there isn't an unlimited amount of it, so it gets assigned to people based on merit. Those with the most points get to live in fancy suites, while those with the least have to sleep in a barn."
Shirou nodded his head to show he understood, though he couldn't tell whether or not he liked it. He supposed it wasn't much different than normal capitalism, but the description of it was just so strange.
"As for Karma, that goes up whenever you commit a crime, letting the Guild know what you did so that they can send guys to arrest you. While there are ways of fooling the system, it just isn't worth trying it, which is why normal crime almost doesn't exist in Labyrinth City." John finished his explanation.
"Is that so?" This was also something that Shirou didn't know whether or not he liked. Having something that constantly watched him like that was unnerving, but it did prevent a lot of innocent people from becoming the victims of crime.
Just like with the contribution system, the ethics of it was complicated.
"Next customer please!" One of the receptionists called out as John got to the front of the line.
"Oh, It's Louisa. Now she's a sweet thing." John said as he recognized who was open. He then gave Shirou a slight shove forward. "She's got a reputation for being soft on rookies. You go ahead kid. That will help you through your first time."
"Thank you very much." Shirou said as he walked toward the woman.
"Don't mention it kid! Just do your best!" John called after him before waiting for another spot to become open.
Louisa was a woman in her mid to late twenties, with a mature figure and long dark hair that had a slight curl to it. She was dressed in a sharp, if revealing, uniform. While she had a professional air about her, she wilted a little when she saw Shirou.
"That's the same school uniform as earlier. Another one from the bus?" Louisa asked gently.
"Not exactly. I was on the bus behind them, but I seemed to have died trying to pull people out of the fire." Shirou explained.
"Really!?" The woman said, her eyes bulging in surprise. "Well aren't you the little hero. Well then, I'll be expecting great things from you! But make sure to take better care of your own life from now on. This really is your last chance, no more do overs." After that Louisa started to look over Shirou's ID card. "You still haven't picked a job yet?"
"No, I haven't." Shirou admitted. "I guess I'm not sure what I should put there."
"Well, it doesn't have to be something you are skilled at now. You can put down any sort of job you think you have an aptitude for. And don't worry about privacy, regardless what you pick, we won't tell a soul." Louisa said as she pushed the ID back towards Shirou, waiting for him to write something down.
Shirou stared at the box for a few moments, wondering what he should write… but in the end, there was only one thing he could write.
'Ally of Justice'
"You wrote something? Alright then, just trace your finger around the edge of the card. If your job request is accepted, then your card should activate." Louisa said as she shuffled through some papers, not even looking at what Shirou had written down.
Shirou did as he was told, moving his finger along the edges of the card.
The card then started to glow slightly, leading Shirou to think it was accepted, only for him to blink in surprise as the 'job' section of the card turned black, erasing his chosen job from sight. Electric spark came from the card, drawing Louisa's attention back to the card just in time to see the black box fade back to normal, revealing something completely different from what Shirou had originally written.
'SWORD'
"I've never seen a reaction like that before." Louisa said as she looked closer at the card. "The job is also a little strange. Were you trying to write swordsman?"
"N...no. I wrote something completely different and it just changed to that somehow." Shirou said with a shake of the head.
"Really? What did you write?"
"...Ally of justice."
...Hearing Shirou's confession, Louisa burst into a steady stream of giggles about how adorable that was. Not understanding that Shirou was 100% serious.
Well, regardless of what Shirou had tried to put down, it seemed as though his own choice had been vetoed. Shirou was perhaps a little disappointed, but he wouldn't let it get him down.
Only question was, what exactly did a 'SWORD' job do?
While not the first story I put up, this is the first I ever wrote. I just figured that no one would want to read it. But since I don't have time to write at the moment, I guess I might as well post it.
It is a crossover between Fate/Stay Night and 'World Strongest Rearguard', which is your pretty standard power fantasy Isekai. One I only picked because rather than a single person ending up in the situation, it is thousands of people, and there is an entire community built around it.
There are also Demihumans of a kind that I think mesh well with Shirou's backstory, but you will see that later.
