Hello all, welcome to the Q&A Section.
SentinelSlice: In order: spoilers, correct (per chapter 1), and sorry, but this will not be a xianxia story.
DaDragon562: Remember that Merlin saw how Artoria's reign would end before she even drew the sword (though at least he showed her), the man's always had his own priorities separate from Artoria's. Won't go any further on that for now.
With that done, enjoy the chapter, and remember that constructive criticism is always welcome.
Shirou
'Beginning preparations.'
Muscles tightened and eyes strained as I focused every fiber of my being on the ritual space. Only perfect concentration and a will of steel would enable this undertaking to succeed, and succeed it must, for failure meant catastrophic consequences.
As the ritual began, bolts of power crackled off my form, before a flex of my will wrestled the energy into submission and channeled it down my arms, where it pooled in the palms of my hands. Now would be the moment of truth.
"Disappear!"
A ring of sigils blazed to life before my eyes, bathing the room in viridian light.
Molten iron engulfed my spine as the world rebelled against this violation of the natural law, but I soldiered on all the same. There was no turning back now, or everything leading up to this point would be for nothing.
I summoned every last ounce of willpower and brought it to bear on the magic circle. Power sparked from sigil to sigil, each arc coming faster than the last until the racing pulses of light merged into an emerald halo. But right on the cusp of triumph, a sudden blast of radiance robbed me of my sight.
My fist hammered the table. "Dammit!" So close! I'd been sure it would work!
But as the ring burnt into my vision faded away, something occurred to me. Where was the explosion?
Cautiously, my eyes inched open, before leaping out of their sockets when they saw the results of my work. My heart screamed in jubilation, at long last, my efforts had borne fruit!
Slow clapping cut my celebration short. "Congratulations Shirou, you aren't totally hopeless."
My glare would have reduced Merlin to ash if I had magecraft worth mentioning. "Let me have this one victory, will you? It took a month to pull off!"
He rolled his eyes. "Oh, sure, sure, after all this time you finally managed to hide a rock, feel free to scream your might to the heavens."
"Don't be like that, we all need to start somewhere," came my wounded reply, and I glanced down at my work.
Where there had once been a lump of granite, now floated a hazy cloud a foot wide, like air shimmering above the blacktop on a hot day. It was obvious something was there, but wasn't this a good first step? Not like I could make anything invisible a month ago.
Whether it was pity or actual acknowledgement, Merlin graced me with a nod. "Alright, I'll give you that, you did manage to pull it off." Patting me on the shoulder, his face lit up in pride. "Congratulations my boy, you managed your first bounded field, and you didn't even blow up the table this time!"
It was a little embarrassing how happy that comment made me, but I couldn't help but beam at the praise. The wizard's pranks had lost their shine after the third time I'd fallen through an illusory chair, but Merlin was my favorite teacher by far, and I was determined to impress him some day.
A month had passed since my first encounter with Artoria, and those days weren't spent idle. Between lessons with Merlin, spars with Kay, archery practice, and doing chores around the house and down at the fort, my days were busier than ever, but magecraft training took up the biggest fraction of my time.
The first lesson had been a massive letdown, Merlin took one look at me and pronounced me incapable of learning elemental magic because of my weird element and origin. Not that I wanted to be as broke as Tohsaka, but what healthy teenager didn't dream of throwing fireballs and lightning bolts? But once we established that fact, he revealed that there was more he could teach me than elemental spells.
Beyond making me practice reinforcement, the man was set on teaching me bounded fields, like the invisibility field I'd finally accomplished. Not that I saw it, but he was convinced that I had a knack for them, never mind that every lesson up to now ended with that tiny circle blowing a hole in the table and knocking me flat on my back. These days poor Llywelyn fled the house at the start of our afternoon lessons, saying the explosions gave him flashbacks. Before now, I'd wondered if my pain amused the man, but maybe he was on to something?
For the first time in weeks, tackling bounded fields didn't seem like a dangerous chore, and I found myself vibrating in anticipation. "So what's the next lesson going to be? Defensive wards? Oh! Or maybe a bounded field that surrounds a sword with wind?" Saber's Invisible Air had been amazing to see in action, even if I needed to carry her home after she fainted from unleashing it.
Merlin pursed his lips, lost deep in thought.
Then he snorted.
"Pfffbahahahaha!" The magus bent over the table, bawling in laughter.
My eye twitched. "What's so funny about that?"
"Oho, aha, ahhh." Merlin stifled one last chuckle before giving me his full attention. "What's funny Shirou, is that you think you're in any shape to move on."
"But you said it yourself, I succeeded!"
He scoffed. "Yeah, barely. You pulled it off, but your technique is horrendous! Or did you think an illusory bounded field was supposed to produce a light show like that? What's the point of making something invisible if you light up like a beacon while you're doing it? It's like waving a sign reading 'Lookie here, magecraft afoot' for everyone to see!"
"Now, here's what you're going to do." I found myself nose to nose with the wizard. "You're going to practice hiding that rock until I'm certain you won't blow things up or blind yourself casting it, 'cause what good is a blind archer? Then, and only then, will we go further. Got it?"
Were Tohsaka and Merlin related? Merlin was supposed to be half devil or something right? It would explain how both of them had that evil grin that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
"Got it!"
"Good. Now, onto the next part of the lesson, let's see some projection boyo!"
"Right on it!"
If there was one thing I'd thank Merlin for above everything else, it was giving me pointers on projection. See, now that the Grail War was over, it seemed pointless to risk it, even once the mana returned to normal levels. How could I save Artoria if I fried my nervous system projecting a noble phantasm? Never mind her reaction if I pulled a copy of Caliburn out of thin air.
But after explaining that to Merlin (minus the saving Artoria part), he brought up an interesting point. Who said I needed to project a noble phantasm? There were plenty of normal swords lying around that weren't legendary magical weapons, and a regular sword would do just fine against most things out there.
My shed back home had been filled to the brim with past projections collecting dust, things like wooden boards and steel pipes, everyday items I made to cool off after a failed reinforcement. And when you thought about it, what is a sword but a really sharp and pointy pipe?
With a blue-green glow and a light pinch, the Saxon raider's sword from a month ago popped into my hand. Merlin brought out the original from under the table and glanced between the two.
"Hmm, not bad, no structural flaws, though the temper isn't the best. Alright, you know the drill, give me five cycles and we're done for the day."
And now came the uncomfortable part. Under Merlin's watchful eye, I reinforced the blade, then carefully began molding its shape. The projection melted like candlewax and elongated in my grip, losing its edge while sprouting fletching and a barbed head. At the end of the process, a massive steel arrow rested in my hand. A second application reversed the transformation, then the cycle started all over again.
It felt downright blasphemous to twist a sword this way, but I couldn't deny it would be useful. Like it or not, I was a much better archer than a swordsman, and the extra oomph of a steel arrow would come in handy when we marched off to war, plus the knowledge could be used in other ways. I put the practice to good use when I made my yumi, and while projecting a stove was well beyond me, having a few more kitchen utensils was a nice consolation prize.
Speaking of which…
"Merlin, do you know when Arthur's coming back?" I finished the fifth round of transformation and laid the poor abused sword on the table.
Merlin smirked at me over his tented fingers. "Oh? And why do you believe I would know?"
Seriously? Who did he think he was fooling? I saw his smirk and raised him a deadpan. "Who but the 'peerless clairvoyant' would I ask?"
The wizard's smile grew catlike. "Oho! But why would I waste my phenomenal cosmic powers on a mere checkup? Is it mere curiosity, or do you have something planned for our king?"
My shoulders sagged. So much for the surprise, but I guess it was no use keeping a secret from the resident seer. "I do actually, I've been saving up money for a while and managed to get some sausages to go with dinner, planned on surprising everyone when he came back."
I would have liked to do it sooner, but meat prices were ridiculous in this day and age! I'd also given my best shot at making coleslaw, the result of which was marinading in the kitchen downstairs. If everything went off without a hitch, Artoria would come home to a hearty home-cooked meal after days of hunting for recruits, and judging from his smug grin, Merlin knew it.
"My, my, springing for meat? I'm sure the king will appreciate that when he returns tonight."
There, was that so hard? But that was the confirmation I needed, it was go time once I wrapped up my lesson with Kay.
I was a long way from being able to protect Artoria from her physical enemies, but hunger was a different animal altogether. My armory may be diminished, but that wouldn't stop me from doing my damnedest to make her happy in the one way I still could.
Though I may have gone overboard the first time I cooked for her and the knights. Garlic roasted potatoes had been on the menu that night, and they turned out to be a smash hit. Artoria actually wiggled after trying a bite! Not even Saber the cheerful little vacuum cleaner had lost her composure like that, which made me wonder what ungodly horrors the poor girl been eating up till now.
Something of my thoughts mush have shown on my face, because Merlin's smile turned conspiratorial. "You know my dear pupil, reinforcement does have applications outside of the battlefield, food can be reinforced too, makes it more nutritious."
That comment stopped me dead. A tantalizing scene played out in my mind, Artoria sitting across from me at the kitchen table weeping tears of joy, smiling widely as she looked me in the eye and told me—
A shake of my head put an end to that little daydream. "No, I'm not doing that. That would be cheating."
Merlin's face fell. "You're no fun. What's the point of learning magecraft if you don't have any fun with it?"
"It's still an unfair advantage, and using magecraft to boost my skills like that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. A man can have pride, right? Cooking's my pride, and I won't use magecraft to take the easy way out, better to learn the hard way first."
He rolled his eyes. "Oh sure, an unfair advantage, be sure to remember that the next time Kay kicks you in the balls."
I suppressed a shudder as phantom pains from that lesson reemerged. Thanks for reminding me Merlin. Not that I wasn't thankful for the time Kay spent teaching me, but lessons with the man were painful with a capital P, he seemed to take my healing as an open invitation to beat me half to death while providing running commentary on how much my technique sucked. But no matter how much my body and ego suffered under his tender mercies, there was no doubt that it was working, he'd recently raised his opinion of my swordsmanship from "embarrassing" to "passable."
"My answer's still the same, some things you just have to learn to do myself."
That earned me a shrug in response. "So be it. Anyways our time's up, have fun getting beaten up by the quartermaster."
As I walked across the room and out the door towards the fort, curiosity replaced my earlier confidence. Kay mentioned wanting to teach me a new technique yesterday, and I couldn't wait to find out what today's lesson had in store.
Artoria
With a click and a loud thunk, the gatekeeper unlocked the gate and opened the doors for me and my party. I glanced back at the nervous-looking recruits and beckoned them into their new home.
"Welcome to the fort my men, these will be your accommodations for the time being. See that building over there?" I waved to the wooden hut sitting beside the far wall. "That is Sergeant Peredur's quarters, he shall assign each of you bunks and weapons, and will be your immediate superior during your stay in Caer Afon. Any questions you have can be directed to him, or the camp commander Sir Bedivere. Rest well, and see you at the next drill."
The gaggle of recruits responded with a few "aye milords" before shuffling into the fort, while I led Llamrei to the stables within. Once she was tucked away in her stall with a fresh bale of hay, I strode over to the command tent to update Bedivere on the situation, taking the time to examine the men's hard work.
'The camp is coming along nicely, is it not?' It seemed that the men finished building the fourth bunkhouse while I was away, and restoration work on the palisade was nearly complete. Give it another month, and this old weathered ruin would be a fort worth the name.
Bedivere was perusing a report when I stepped into his tent, though he quickly rose to his feet and bowed once he noticed me. "Good evening my king, how went the recruitment drive?"
"Quite well Bedivere, I am glad to say that twelve men saw the worthiness of our cause, they went to find the good sergeant a short while ago."
His soft smile revealed his thoughts on the matter. "Excellent news, that brings our numbers up to nearly a century, we shall need to promote some new officers soon."
'And they will deserve those promotions.' Much of my time this past month had been consumed with riding through the countryside hunting for recruits, so the burden of training the men had fallen to Bedivere and the Caer Afon militia. The thirty-odd survivors of the raid had not been much, but they had eagerly sworn themselves to my banner and served as an excellent training cadre for the fresh recruits, Llywelyn's son the first among them. Perhaps we would call him Captain Peredur in the near future?
"Give me a list of deserving names, and I will see about rewarding them when the next batch of recruits comes in."
"It shall be done. Now, while you are here, I must report a disciplinary issue."
I felt a headache coming on. To think, something could spring up at the last second to ruin my evening, what could it be now?
But a second look at my knight's face brought my worry to an abrupt end. Surely it was nothing serious, if Bedivere looked this amused. "What happened?"
The knight's lips twitched. "You see Arthur, one of the newer recruits fancied himself a slinger, and thought to put our stock of potatoes to good use. Alas, he did not account for the increased size of his ammunition, and the shot went wide and broke our poor sergeant's nose."
A bark of laughter escaped my throat, hidden by a hard cough. Really, the things these men got up to in their free time! Nevertheless, this behavior could not go on, not when the man was wasting perfectly good rations and injuring my officers.
"I assume he was punished?"
"Indeed, he was sentenced to a month of latrine duty for the offense."
'Oh Peredur, that is just cruel.' A week I could understand, but a whole month? The poor man would never be rid of the stench. But before I could express this opinion, my stomach reminded me that I had not eaten since this morning.
"Thank you for the update Bedivere, I will see you at dinner." I quickly retreated from the tent and hurried to Llywelyn's house with as much dignity as possible. Better get some food in my belly before those hunger pangs developed into something more conspicuous.
A few minutes' jog brought me to the headman's porch, and I had just crossed the threshold when a heavenly aroma assaulted my nose.
'Oh gods, how is this fair?' There was no mistaking that smell, when did we get meat for the pantry?
"Ahem."
I snapped out of my reverie to see Kay seated at the table with a pile of papers, eyeing me with amusement. "Evening Arthur! Just a heads up, you have a little something right here," he said, pointing at his chin.
A quick swipe of my hand revealed that oh gods I was drooling.
'Calm and composed Artoria, calm and composed.'
Once I was sure that no, I would not embarrass myself again, I returned my attention to my brother, who was still wearing that accursed smirk!
"Good evening Kay, how were things while I was away?"
His smirk became an innocent smile that fooled absolutely no one. "Oh you know, nothing much, managing the war chest, charming the locals, training your exotic chef in the way of the sword—"
"He is not my chef!"
The shout escaped my mouth before I could catch it, and Kay's unconvincing smile morphed into a triumphant grin.
Kay 1, Artoria 0
I did not know if it was jealousy or mischief or something else, but once I had mastered Caliburn, Kay made it his mission to break my composure at every opportunity. Which was absolutely infuriating, a king needed absolute control of their emotions to rule effectively, and meanwhile my own brother made a game of tugging my tail to draw reactions out of me! And of course, my reaction revealed just where to prod. Kay had smelled blood, and now he would be needling me on the subject for the rest of the night.
"Oh, sorry, I misspoke," he replied, "he's your servant then, sure spends enough time scrubbing the floors in this place, not to mention sleeping at the foot of your bed."
Drawing in a deep breath, I crushed the desire to smack this fool. "Shirou cleans this house of his own accord, my orders have nothing to do with it. And I would hardly call the room across the hall the foot of my bed." Thankfully the magus had not been insulted when we asked him to move out of the room, but readily agreed, provided we gave him a second blanket to sleep on. I had no idea what a futon was, but if he was content with sleeping on the floor, all the more power to him.
"Speaking of Shirou, where is he? It is not like him to leave a meal unattended." This was said while carefully keeping my eyes off the pot resting on the coals.
Kay's expression grew sheepish. "Yeah, that's on me, I noticed some blood in his hair, and he went to wash up before dinner."
Blood?
"Kay," I growled, "What did you do to him?"
"Nothing really, I just… introduced him to the mordhau."
The mord— "Kay, what on earth are you teaching him? No true knight uses those sorts of dirty tricks, not to mention the risk of brain damage!"
But rather than retreating from my anger (oh blast it, 2-0!), my brother only regarded me levelly. "That's the thing Arthur, he's not fighting knights, he's fighting barbarians. What good is chivalry if some Saxon blackguard knifes him in the crotch? Or bashes his head in with a rock? Then all that time and effort we put into training him would be pointless, and there's one more death on our hands."
A girl laid draped in a bloody shroud, with an old woman sobbing over her body
"Very well Kay, if it will aid in his survival, then I have no objections."
His expression softened. "Look Arthur, this is for his own good, just so he knows to watch out for low blows like that. Plus, the kid's a quick learner, and too stubborn to stay down, give it a year or two, and he might be something worth calling a knight."
"And besides," he said, face growing mischievous, "can't have your gourmet chef dying, can we? Then you'll be stuck with little old me."
My eye twitched. "I said it once, and I will say it again, he is not my chef."
"Oh really? Then you'll have no objections to me cooking dinner for now on."
My blood froze. "No! Absolutely not!" Kay worked miracles with coin, but his cooking was atrocious, like hell I would go back to the blandness!
And just like that, I had fallen into his trap. "Ha! I knew it! The sword lessons to keep him alive, teaching him magecraft, the way you practically ran over here drooling—and don't you deny it! — it's all a way to protect your precious food supply."
Kay 3, Artoria 0
Why on earth did I believe I could evade his wordplay? The man could convince me he had won a spar while lying flat on the ground!
For a moment, I considered burying my face in my hands, but settled on eying him calmly. Kay had clearly not expected that, since that blasted grin lost some of its shine.
"Honestly Kay, you make me sound like a glutton. Shirou may be an excellent cook, but that has no bearing on my decision to train him. He simply has a rare combination of abilities and traits that make it worth my time to cultivate him."
What were the odds of running into a sword-wielding magus archer on the edge of the wilderness? True, his swordplay and magecraft were lackluster, but if Kay's reports were correct, he clearly had talent in the former. The cooking was only a bonus, even if it meant I needed to police my reactions even more closely.
In fact, I had briefly considered banning him from cooking after that… embarrassing lapse of control a month ago. But Kay and Bedivere enjoyed the meal so much, surely after a year of camp food, it would help the men's morale?
And so, I let him continue cooking. For that reason, and no other.
'Gods, those cooking fumes are getting to me.'
Meanwhile, Kay continued his offensive. "Oh, come off it Arthur, you're a human being like the rest of us, we're all allowed our vices. Me? I like to chase skirts. You on the other hand, are so desperate for a good meal that you recruited a cook from the far side of Serica and moved us into a bakery—"
An ear-piercing shriek filled the air, cutting the loudmouth off. Only then did it strike me that I was grinding my gauntlets.
"Kay, listen to me." My brother whitened under my piercing glare. "You say that I am a human, but a king is not human. A king has no need for emotions, or desires, and especially not vices. They must be perfect, pillars of strength and control, that spend every waking moment serving their people, and so help me, if you push me on this matter one more time—"
Grrrrrrrrroowwwwwwwwwl
I stared openmouthed at my traitorous stomach. Of all the times it could have acted up, why did it have to be the middle of my speech? Now Kay would never let me hear the end of it, could things get any worse?
"Oh, hello Arthur! don't worry, dinner will be ready in a few minutes."
Shirou smiled cheerfully from the kitchen doorway.
'Apparently they can.'
Kay meanwhile, was desperately trying to stifle his laughter, and failing miserably.
Kay 4, Artoria 0
'I suppose it could be worse, Bedivere could have been here.'
As the redhead hurried to take the pot off the fire, it struck me that there was another positive to having recruited Shirou. He simply did not care how I acted.
Unlike the soldiers I had recruited and any future knights that joined my forces, I need not worry about any embarrassing lapses shattering his impressions of me. He just smiled that cheerful smile and let it slide like nothing happened, fully confident that I would succeed in saving Britain. Sure, Kay and Merlin already filled that role, but it was refreshing to have someone that had not known me from childhood treat me the same way, only without the pranks and snide remarks.
The years ahead would be ugly, there was no doubt about it. The blood of thousands would be shed by my hand before Britain was saved from the dangers both within and without, and Merlin had shown me what awaited me at the end of the road. But despite knowing my fate, a small part of me prayed that this smile would remain untarnished. That had been my reason for drawing the sword from the stone after all, the smiles of the people along the way.