Hey guys, Y Aur here once again with a new chap!

So a few things to comment on, I got a beta! They helped me a lot with my less than stellar grammar, so now it should be a more smooth read with a richer vocabulary! So big ups to you, Aurum Faea! Thank you a lot! Also, I passed the previous chapters through Grammarly, they won't be perfect, but they should be a little more polished than before at least.

An important thing that I haven't said! Shirou does say "Trace on" or "Trace Bullet", etc... when using them, I'm just not putting them to not disrupt the pace/flow of the history. I think it was already understood, but I'm saying it regardless in case someone was wondering it.

About the reviews...Answering all of them takes quite the space, so I will only answer those that seem relevant to the history itself. It doesn't mean that I don't read the others, and I'm very thankful for the support! So let's get at it.

The-lost-memories6: I don't know either, but probably one girl. I doubt I can pull off a good and realistic harem, we'll have to see in the future.

Kayen1024: Yep, Bete making fun of Bell still happened. Shirou won't probably join the expedition, but that doesn't mean that his actions previous to it won't affect it.

StoryReither: That only happens on Heaven's Feel route, so Shirou won't suffer from that. Yep, I just try to consider how each character would react to him given what we knew about them, there will be small gaps where we didn't see how a character would act towards a certain situation, that may come out strange, but I guess it's unavoidable. The best thing I can do at that moment is trying to put myself in the character's shoes and try to recreate the reaction.

Twilight Manor

Shirou stumbled out of the library, his knees shaking as he leaned on the library's door with a lost look. His eyes went to his hand, where a cards notebook laid. He wasn't expecting Riveria's "teaching" method, but at least it worked well enough. After spending most of the noon studying, Riveria let him go. He already learned how to read, it was just that as he lacked any actual vocabulary, he could read but not comprehend anything he was reading.

Having said that, Riveria insisted that he would have to know it perfectly before tomorrow's study session and he wasn't that inclined to try to find out what would happen, thus the card notebook.

Now, even after hours of studying, there were a few more hours until the sun went down, so he could as well take stock of his time and do some of the things he planned today. So, after dressing in his adventurer gear, he left Twilight Manor in the direction of Northwest main street.

It didn't take too much time to reach his destination, a building made of polished white stone. His eyes went up to the placard that he now knew said "Dian Cecht", and after nodding to himself, as if reassuring that it was the place Loki talked him about, he entered.

What he saw was a well-distributed shop, with a lot of different items that he wasn't aware of what they were used for. Ignoring all the items that he didn't know the use of, he walked to the counter, where a young and beautiful girl with silver hair was looking at him.

"Welcome, dear customer, what would you want?" She said with a soft voice that matched quite well her doll-like features. He gulped, Loki jokingly said that Dian Cecht had a perfect weapon to make regular customers and he, looking at the soft smile on her face, couldn't help but agree.

Expecting that his internal thoughts wouldn't show in his face, he said "I would like to buy some potions of a normal quality, four of them." She nodded, then ducked behind the counter to get the potions.

Finn already told him the differences between normal potions, high potions, and elixirs, and taking into account what he had to heal and his budget, normal ones should be enough for now.

"Ah, could you add a mind one too?" The girl replied with a simple "Yes" and seconds later he was already paying for the potions.

"It will be 12.000 valis" His hand froze for a second before he took out Loki's pouch and gave her the money. He knew that a normal potion price was 500 valis, so that mind potion raised the price by quite a bit.

He wanted to repay Loki as soon as possible, but that purchase made quite the impact even for the money Loki lent him. He planned to go deeper into the Dungeon, so maybe he would be able to repay her today and have some spare for basic expenses.

After saying his goodbyes and receiving a smile from the girl on the counter accompanied with a "Please return whenever you need potions, dear customer", he left the Dian Cecht shop and went directly to the Dungeon.

Dungeon

Shirou was once again on the first floor of the Dungeon, taking a deep breath before stepping inside. Yesterday's delving gave him some experience on how the Dungeon worked, so knowing the basics, he decided he would directly go deeper instead of trying to kill all mobs he could find before actually getting to lower floors.

Having said that, he didn't just pass them. He wanted to try the blade the Guild issued and there was no better monster to try than those that were the weakest. Finding what this blade could take was high on his priorities. The first goblins and kobolds fell without issue, but just swinging the blade a few times gave him all the knowledge he needed.

The blade didn't have an edge as powerful as his married blades, that was a given, but he didn't expect the resistance he found when trying to cut the kobolds fur. A deep frown on his face, he looked at the sword. One consideration that he didn't need to take before was maintenance, but after killing some of those kobolds he could see that the sword would dull in a couple of days if treated poorly.

The sudden comprehension of why the adventurers classified their weapons in actual categories was clear now, it wasn't only what the blade could cut, but if it would survive an actual expedition, the strongest blade wouldn't be so if it broke easily, that was why the Durandal property was so valued.

He wouldn't like to call the blade cheap, but most blades weren't prepared for continuous use, and constant maintenance was a necessity, normal blades wouldn't be prepared for what the dungeon had to offer.

He sighed and sheathed the blade, as another identical appeared in his hand. Loki said that Kanshou and Bakuya were slowing his progress, so as long as it was a copy of the same blade he would be using, it shouldn't be a problem.

And having a spare weapon in good condition wouldn't be bad either, if something happened and he couldn't use his magic, that blade could save his life.

He slowly advanced, his pace diminished in comparison to yesterday, but with a clear path in mind. He was killing slower, the weapon difference was enormous after all, but that could be compensated by killing monsters of lower floors.

When he reached the 4th floor he had some scratches on him, some of the monsters that would usually die with a powerful cut hung onto their lives when slashed with this sword, so it was only natural that he would receive some damage.

Having said that, it wasn't a big deal, more of an inconvenience than anything, but he took a potion and drank it anyway, not really because of the cuts, but because of the bruises he received when he fought against that elf. Finn made a point of being healthy while in the Dungeon, and he started to feel the pain of that fight the longer he swung his blade.

What's more, the potion holder in his leg only had space for three of them, so he bought this fourth for that specific reason, the other, the mind potion, was in the deeper pocket of his backpack, he wouldn't want it to break after paying so much for it.

Shirou continued advancing, from time to time he would use his bow when the monsters stayed in big groups and even tried a little bit of knife throwing, which was less effective than he expected when not targeting the brain or the magic stone, but it would be a useful skill to practice, especially if he would use things like black keys in the future.

After an hour of slow descent, he arrived on the 6th floor. Finn advised him to be more prepared because from this floor on, the monsters were different than before. He called them the newbie killers, things like War Shadows who had claws as sharp as a blade would appear, or monsters with strong armor as the Killer Ants that could swarm you, this was the first barrier, the difference of someone who could eventually reach level 2 and those who never would.

He stepped without fear, the distant clashes of other adventurers fighting filled the air, though they were more distant than before, probably because there were fewer people and the floors got bigger as one went down. Those clashes weren't an impediment to hear the cracking noises he was starting to get used to.

Having experienced this once before, he swung at the falling War Shadow, but maybe it was a little bit naive to think it would end the same way. Instead of cutting those sharp claws, he found his back on the ground while the War Shadow was above him, having used its weight to pin him down.

He curled up a little, raising his leg to the monster's chest and giving a strong push. The kick was enough to get it off of him, but it didn't do any real damage, not that it was the purpose. The real attack was the floating blade aimed at the monster, which was shot like a bullet. The monster's lithe figure helped him avoid instant death, but it lost an arm in the process.

Without wasting time, a dagger appeared in his hand and was thrown at the monster's red gem, sinking into it as the monster gave a pained scream, which was rapidly silenced by the strong kick at the dagger's handle, that drove the blade into its magic stone.

Shirou sighed as he looked at his blade, its edge was slightly chipped by the clash with those claws. It seemed this was the limit of a beginner blade. In retrospect, adventurers stayed for weeks or months on the same floor, so a blade wouldn't clash with things outside of its league that often, it was him who was pressing the blade for things it wasn't made for.

The blade dissipated on his hand as another took its place. It wasn't a blade with mystical properties, but it was made with Damascus steel, so it would be more resilient than normal steel blades. For what he saw from some of the weapons of this world, they were made of a similar alloy using adamantite, a metal found in the dungeon, and within the drop items of its monsters.

He took a good look at the weapon, a longsword with a blade of a little less than 1 meter, and nodded to himself. If he was lucky, the weapon would be of an appropriate quality and it wouldn't hinder his growth.

He stepped forward to search for more monsters, he destroyed the last one's magic stone so there wasn't anything to take, but a faint glint of light reflecting made him stop, and look where the severed arm of the War Shadow fell. There, between the ashes of the monster, a finger, one of the three that conformed the claw, remained.

He took it, being careful of not cutting himself with it, and put it in his backpack. He continued, clashing with more war shadows, the occasional frog shooter, and other monsters on his way to the next floor.

His new sword took the pressure much better than the other one and it was able to pass, to a certain extent, through the natural sturdiness of a War Shadow's claw and make a somewhat deep cut, but not outright sever them. Through all his encounters, he made a point of avoiding being pinned down as before. If there was more than one monster, that could get him killed.

After two hours on the 6th floor, fighting and getting the magic stones of the monsters as well as the occasional drop item, he descended to the 7th floor. Those same clashing sounds that accompanied him on the upper floors already dissipated when stepping into the new terrain.

He advanced at a slow pace, making a point of not lowering his guard. The Killer Ants were a monster he had seen in his initial trip towards the surface, but he didn't have the opportunity to fight one himself, and they were monsters with tough-looking shells that wouldn't be easy to surpass if one were to directly attack it.

And so he advanced, fighting the occasional monster, his actual goal being to find one of those Ants. He finally found one, though it wasn't alone as another Ant was with it. He prepared himself, his stance ready for their charge, only to look dumbfounded when the monster didn't run towards him and stayed there, gazing at him.

He stared at them, without lowering his guard 'What is that smell?'. As he thought that, the Ants made a warcry and threw themselves at him. He quickly stepped back, slashing the leg of the nearest Ant, aiming at the joint, which was mostly free of armor. The blade cut smoothly making the Ant lose balance and fall to the ground, but he couldn't end it when the other Ant lunged at him with its full-body, its pincers aiming for his neck.

Knowing that he couldn't end up on the ground, he met the charge head-on, his blade blocking the pincers while he used his shoulder to slam its frame. The Ant, who didn't have a way to support itself mid-air, flew two meters backward, having a rough landing.

He turned around and with a step at the side decapitated the other Ant, who was about to attack him. He let the sword fall out of his hand, a recurve bow appeared in it, an arrow instantly being nocked. He maintained the arrow, knowing that it couldn't pierce that shell. The magical energy flowed, reinforcing the arrow. The process still was slow in comparison to what he could do before, but it didn't take so long that doing it would endanger him right now.

When the Ant was up again, and ready to rush him, the arrow was shot, piercing the Ants head and piercing through the body. He dismissed the arrow that ended up nailed to the floor.

He was ready to collect the magic stones when a noise as if a large group was running towards him took his attention. He walked towards the corner that connected with the hallway where the noise was coming, and instantly turned back and run as seconds after that a swarm of more than 20 ants was following his tail.

'How did so much of them get together?! And why in this specific direction?!'

Now, in terms of skill, Shirou could deal with them in an open space. But the fact that he was in a hallway and that he didn't have the raw strength that most adventurers do have when fighting on these floors left him at disadvantage. He had to make precise strikes to deal with them, and reinforcing his weapon or his body would take time.

Instead, what appeared in his hands was a dagger with a simple design, a rune inscribed in its blade. He poured magical energy into it, activating the engraved spell on that blade. A turnaround and a downwards slash were all that was needed to fill part of the hallway with flames. Having said that, the mystic code he used was a relatively weak one, he didn't want to risk someone seeing it, so they didn't die instantly, instead, they stumbled around in an uncontrolled way as the flames burnt their bodies.

He maintained his distance, seeing as they started to succumb to the flames one after another, as he killed those who were left to linger with his bow. He sighed, he'll have to ask Finn about this, it didn't seem like a monster party, so it was a little bit strange for so many of them to gather together.

He approached the dead ants and took out his knife, his face twisting in disgust when piercing the bubbling and burnt meat. After looting all of them he decided to return to the surface, it would be bad if another thing like this happened while he wasn't prepared, though he suspected that it had something to do with why the Ants didn't outright attack him.

After making it back to the surface, and taking a shower at Babel, it would be bad to go out soaked in blood again, he left towards the Guild.

He found himself in a familiar situation, a Guild employee looking at him with incredulity, though it wasn't the elf girl this time but a human with pink hair.

"You are a newbie, right?" He nodded, being a little uncomfortable being referred to as a newbie. The powerful gaze of the employee didn't help either.

After looking at him for half a minute straight she caressed her front before sighing and giving him his pouch.

"There are 17.486 valis, congratulations" Now, if only she wasn't looking at him with so much suspicion…

He nodded being a little uncomfortable with the interaction and left after his goodbyes.

"So that's the guy Sophie doesn't want to take, huh?" She said while looking at the paper on her hands, the request of a dungeon counselor for new adventurers, signed by the captain of Loki Familia. A sigh left her mouth as she looked around, seeing the hall mostly devoid of people. The sun had already gone down and the employees would change places with the ones from the night shift in a few moments, so she wanted to solve this now if possible.

"A newbie my ass, no newbie would make that much valis in a day." Maybe as he was new, the Loki Familia members partying with him gave him all the loot, she couldn't come out with another explanation that didn't involve shady business, but with him being a member of Loki Familia that was dubious.

"Something wrong?" Another voice, owned by a beautiful red-haired werewolf, broke her inner monologue.

"Ah, hello Rose. You know that newbie from Loki Familia that Sophie registered two days ago, right? Well, someone has to be his advisor, I'm kinda full and Sophie is adamant about not taking him, I think her words were "I won't take someone who comes to the Guild soaked in blood and that cannot even read" so I don't see who could take him, Eina also has his hands full with that white-haired newbie. Would you take him, please?"

The eyes of both employees met, both knowing what that really meant, it wasn't only about the extra work, but what would eventually fall upon the one who took him. But Rose was the more experienced one here, she already developed the skills needed to pass this time after time, not that it made it easier.

"Okay, I'll take him, tell the other girls to tell him his advisor has already been chosen the next time he comes to exchange magic stones. He was the one who just left, right?" The human girl, Misha, nodded at his senior's words.

As Misha filled the advisor's name before archiving it, Rose left. She was thinking about the boy, his way of walking denoted quite the experienced fighter, this one would probably last a little bit, but she didn't have any delusions, she knew that he would eventually meet the fate of everyone else in his career. After all, all adventurers were destined to die.

Shirou was walking towards Twilight Manor, the card notebook in hand as he went over the alphabet once again, the streetlights enabling him to read in the darkness of the night. Loki Familia would be having dinner quite soon, so his walking pace was quite fast, even though he took some turns that interfered with going directly to the manor, for him to see a little more of Orario.

Luckily for him, now that he knew Twilight Manor's general direction, it would be easy to spot when getting near. He turned the page of his notebook, looking and trying to memorize the symbols on it. This world used an alphabet akin to western countries as opposed to eastern countries, so that meant that all of them were individual letters instead of syllables, at least, that reduced the actual number of letters he would have to learn.

As he continued walking a metallic sound got his attention, he looked around only to see anything more than an old yet sturdy man carrying a box, which was where the noise came from.

The front of the man was full of sweat and his arms were trembling, so, putting aside his notebook he went to the man and lifted the box for him. It wasn't anything he couldn't carry, but it was impressive for someone at his age and that didn't seem to have a falna to be able to do it.

"Ah, thanks young man, that was starting to be really hard to carry by myself, could you leave it there?" The man said, pointing at the corner of the building they were in front of. After a nod, Shirou did as told, and turned towards the man once he left the box on the ground.

"If it isn't a bother to answer, why are you moving these heavy boxes by yourself?"

"Well, you see, young man. I'm the owner of this property, but I had it rented. Days ago, my tenant was found...deceased in the Dungeon. He was kind of a lonely guy, so no one, even from his Familia, came to grab his things. I can't rent it again if it's full of junk, so I had no other choice but to take them out myself."

Shirou couldn't stop himself from frowning. People died in the Dungeon, it was one of the first things Finn taught to him. For every remarkable adventurer, tens died in the Dungeon, but it still was a hard pill to swallow. But, to think that no one in the Familia cared enough to come for his belongings…

He looked at the window. The inside was illuminated, not by any lamp, but by the embers that remained on a coal forge. He could even see an anvil and other smithing tools there.

"And what will happen with all his things?" Shirou asked.

"I guess I'll try to sell them to the guild or some smithing Familia. I don't really have a use for them anyway."

"And do you already have a new tenant?" The worried face of the man told him what he needed to know.

"Not really, most smithing Familias have big shared forges, so this tiny one would only interest those who pick smithing as a hobby outside of their Familia's main job, and they are rare and far in between, so it's not that easy to find someone"

Shirou knew what he wanted to do. He didn't want to be disrespectful to that deceased adventurer by just taking profit from the situation, but by the expression the man had, he needed the money, so it would be killing two birds with one stone.

"If that's the case, would you be willing to make a deal?"

Twilight Manor

"Hey, you really did come at the right time, we were going to have dinner in just a bit. Let's get going." Those were the welcoming words that Loki said while sitting on a couch, book in hand, as he stepped inside the mansion hall.

"Can I least go to change to some normal clothes?" The hours in the Dungeon took a toll on him, his adventurer clothes and armor felt uncomfortable after so many hours on him, which added to his also tired mind, most of it coming from Riveria's "teaching", made Shirou wish to just go to bed without even practicing his magecraft for once.

"Nope, next time y'all bring your ass here before dinner time, let's make a lesson out of this." With that said, Loki left the hall, going towards the dining room, followed by his tired frame.

The dinner passed like a flash, his mind in another place, by pure coincidence, he got one of the requirements to start trying to get back to his world. The words filled the air, without any meaning to him who wasn't really listening. He remained in his head until a hand shook him out of his thoughtful daze.

"Hey buddy, you good?" He looked at Loki, who had a strange expression while looking at him.

"Yeah, sorry. I was just day-dreaming. What did you say?"

"I said that you can come to my room when you're finished if you want a Status update. But don't get too used to it, after this week I won't be updating your status every day, got to update the others too ya know."

Loki already told him, this preferential treatment was a one week only thing, she wanted him to have a head-start, but she couldn't keep attention on him all the time, so after a week, he would become like any normal member of Loki Familia, and he would be the only one at fault if the secret got revealed by his actions.

"I'll be there." he said, watching Loki leave the room.

After finishing his meal, he went to his room, took some pajamas as well as underwear, and went to the showers. Babel had showers, but commodities such as a sponge and soap had to come from the adventurer itself, of course, he projected a sponge, but he couldn't exactly do the same with the soap. The result was, that meanwhile, his body was mostly clean, he stank.

After finishing his shower he directly went to Loki's room, it was already late and he didn't want to make her wait.

A knock on the door and a "Come in" were all that was needed to encounter himself sitting on a bed without a shirt, once again.

"Let's see how much ya got today" With those words, her finger started tracing his back.

"Hell kid, what did you do? Beat a minotaur on a fistfight?"

"That much?"

"See for yourself." She said, passing him a paper. Luckily, Riveria taught him the numbers.

Name: Emiya Shirou

Level 1

Strength : I 6 - I 31

Endurance : I 2 - I 42

Dexterity : I 7 - I 34

Agility : I 23 - I 47

Magic : I 26 - I 41

Well, he certainly did know where that endurance came from. Even now that they were mostly healed, the phantom pain of that elf's strikes remained. He didn't have a strong opinion on the others, it only reassured him that Kanshou and Bakuya would hinder his progress, which did sting a little, to be honest.

"Forty points in a day, that's total madness you know, even with that skill of yours. Did you find a way to get more excelia or something?"

"No, I don't think I did" 'I just fought with an opponent out of my league' That would be considered a normal way to get more excelia, no? He certainly didn't think that it was something worth speaking about.

"Well, if you continue at this pace, in just a couple of years you'll be on the table with the big guys, ya know?" He hadn't planned to remain for years, but it was a possibility he couldn't shrug off either, after all, finding a way to come back by his own effort would probably be impossible, but there wasn't anything wrong in trying.

But saying that to Loki, who despite their first meeting had been so supportive for him, would leave a bad taste in his mouth.

"Well, having said that, get yer ass to sleep, you seem like you could faint at any moment." Shirou flushed a little at that remark, he should have expected Loki to notice how tired he actually was. Shirou stood up and took out a pouch from one of his pajama's fairly big pockets.

"Ah, before I forget, take this" Shirou said, passing her the pouch.

"The money you lent me, I did enough in the Dungeon, so I'm returning it to you" Loki looked a little bit confused, but a smile appeared on her face seconds later.

"Oh thanks, Shirou, you didn't have to be so considerate" Her voice was filled with sweetness, it was a little strange.

"Well, see you tomorrow, Loki. Have a good night"

"Good night to you"

Loki waited until a couple of seconds passed, the footsteps getting farther from her door.

"Gotta love that kid, thanks for the booze money" She gave him the money, but that money was given to her by Finn, and it wasn't money that he expected him to return either, so...This might be a good opportunity to celebrate a bit by herself.

Meanwhile, those thoughts filled Loki's head, Shirou returned to his room. He took a glance at his backpack, and took out the War Shadow's finger, the only drop item he hadn't exchanged. It seems he would be using it sooner than he expected.

Returning the drop item to the pocket where it was, Shirou just plummeted into the bed, instantly falling asleep.

By the time the sun rose again, he was already going to the market. Loki said to him on yesterday's lunch that the Familia had the ingredients delivered to their home every couple of days, but going to the market to get some spices or extra ingredients that weren't included in the delivery wasn't bad either. So he included it on his strolls around Orario.

After some small talk, and getting some shop recommendations from the market clerks, he started his way towards Twilight Manor, a stop already on his mind. The swinging sound guided him once again to the specific location. Even without him saying nothing, the elf noticed him with her sharp senses, a raised eyebrow while looking at him.

At least she didn't seem to get offended by his trespassing, so he told himself not to worry. He dropped his bags in the corner, putting his left foot forward while preparing his stance.

The elf waited for him to nod before launching herself at him. What she expected was the falchions or even the longer versions of those weapons, if it wasn't because she wasn't going at full speed she would have been pierced by the spear in front of her.

She made a quick step to her right, to enter his range, the disadvantage of a spear was that if one failed to keep the distance, they were all but done. Her strike was swift, he wouldn't be able to raise his spear in time to block it, but he didn't need to.

Instead of raising it, he lowered it, piercing the ground, his body already moving to be behind the spear. The sword met the spear, which apart from being through the ground, was still being held by his left hand. A normal spear would have broken when that hit struck, luckily for him Finn's spear wasn't a normal one.

He didn't give the elf time to recover, she was faster than him after all, and used the spear on the ground like a pole, vaulting himself towards her, before kicking her in the face. Even if his strength didn't amount to much compared to her, it was a strike on the head, and she had to take a few steps back to keep her equilibrium.

He didn't take the spear out of the ground, that would cost precious time, instead, another appeared in his hands, his body already in the motions for a strike. She blocked it with her wooden sword, but attack after attack came to her, making her struggle to block. She entered the effective range of the spear, one in which the wielder could have full aggression without being in danger.

It didn't matter if it was a step at the side or a feint, they were instantly seen and countered. The positions of the day before had reversed. Shirou wouldn't be able to win with his own spear skill though, which was why he wasn't using his skill. Instead, he was mainly using Finn's style, but the height difference was too big and it affected the techniques he could use, so he added another to the mix. Truly, being attacked by Lancer's unstoppable attacks had to suck.

After some minutes in which the elf tried different things, only for all of them to fail, she disengaged. He, as someone who had a much lower status, was the more tired of the two, but she wasn't as fresh either. In comparison to him, who had only a little dirt on his clothes, she was full of bruises.

She sighed and turned her back to him, probably not thinking that he would strike, which to be fair, was true, and walked towards one of the walls where there were a towel and a water bottle. He expected her to take a sip or something, instead, she moved the towel away, revealing two sheathed weapons, his eyes instantly telling him they were wakizashi.

She leaned her wooden sword on the building and took both short swords, returning to her stance after approaching.

"Are you okay to continue?" Her voice said, he only nodded but she stood there without approaching him, her stoic face looking a little bit more uncomfortable with each passing second. It finally clicked to him what she was expecting.

"Ah, it may be a little late, I'm Emiya Shirou" He saw as most of the tension left her face and replied with a confident tone.

"Ryuu Lion."

There was a pause of barely a second, before she rushed him, even faster than before. He thrust his spear towards her, but she casually parried the strike with her left sword while already slashing at him with her right one. One handoff of the spear's shaft, Bakuya appeared to block the blade, only for her to hit him with her elbow.

She would have continued her assault if it wasn't because a wooden sword at tremendous speed slammed her thorax, she didn't even notice the punch that followed quickly afterward.

That was why her Ryuu Lion, a level 4, was looking at the morning sky, a stranger looking at her with a worried face. He didn't knock her down, his punches didn't even hurt her, the only part of herself hurting right now was her pride. Yeah, she held back, but she got her ass kicked by a level 1, or she was rustier than she thought or this, or rather he, wasn't normal at all.

"Are you okay, Lion-san?" She looked at him and nodded, taking the hand he was offering to help get her up. Shirou still was a little worried about how her gaze seemed to drift away to the sky.

"Well, it may be a little strange to ask, but would you want to become sparring partners?" The gaze of the elf was redirected at him, and after a few seconds, she nodded.

The two stood there, without saying anything. Shirou was the first to lose to the strange atmosphere and said "Well, Lion-san, eh, see you tomorrow," before taking his bags and getting out of the property.

Ryuu entered the building and went to take shower, but…

"Syr, why is Ryuu taking so long?!"

"Ah, I don't know, she won't come out of the shower Mama Mia!"

Meanwhile, inside that same shower, stood a flustered Ryuu, who didn't realize that she touched someone willingly until she was analyzing the fight while showering.

Shirou walked towards North Main Street, after cooking breakfast, this time with Raul as a sous-chef, he decided to evaluate what he had for work. So, after a ten-minute walk from Twilight Manor, he was in front of the forge he rented.

He entered, the key returning to his pocket after doing so. The forge was a small one, it had the necessary but there wasn't space for anything too fancy, not that he needed it right now.

He paid the owner an advance of 5000 valis, he couldn't directly pay one month to enter, but the owner was kind enough to accept it, so they accorded that it would be 20.000 valis a month plus that initial advancement. That quantity wasn't much for a somewhat seasoned adventurer, but no normal person could pay that and don't go bankrupt in the process.

He was still wondering if he got ripped off or was actually a good deal, having into account that every tool he might need was already there. Not that it matters too much, he could do that quantity in a day if he stayed for a little longer on the Dungeon. And seeing that after the advancement and repaying Loki he was left penniless once again, he would have to return today.

He wandered around the forge, grabbing the hammers and trying its weight as well as looking at the other tools. The reason why he rented a forge was simple, he sucked at magic. For him to learn by himself a spell that would be able to bring him back to his world was a fool's dream, outright impossible.

So, if he was completely unable to do such a thing, he would have to do a sword that could accomplish that.

So there you got it. Probably most of you already noticed that the pacing is slow, it's because I'm treating this initial chapters as an introductory arc, getting Shirou to know Orario and seeing his different reactions, as well as the small waves he started to create. After Monsterphilia things will become a little bit faster.

Also, that was Shirou vs Ryuu part 2. It was made to show the diversity of styles Shirou can use and the advantage he gets from knowing what his opponent can do, also, they needed a somewhat proper introduction to each other. That being said, we won't see them fighting in a long time after this one, it's happening, I just won't show it, instead, I will be centering around the conversations/interactions they have after the sparring itself.

The same with the mourning routine, I won't give that much emphasis if a conversation like the one with Lefiya isn't going to happen, just know that he follows it.

That's all I had to say, for now, have a nice day guys!