Chapter 4
Beta: Worldbringer of Joesun
On the first light of dawn, the Emiya Family had awoken.
Illya made due on her claims from last night and made her way into the other Guild's room – where the meeting was taking place – to wait until it started.
This left Sakura and Shirou to guide Rin on her way to the Arcadia.
"So, what can I expect from the place?" Rin asked them.
"I'm pretty sure that all you can find there are books and scrolls about the magic of this world," Sakura mused as she recalled her trip there, "Other than that, nothing much else worthy of note."
"Really?" Rin asked but then sighed afterward, "That sucks. Looks like we're all subclass hunting then."
"I believe that was the plan anyway, Rin." Shirou reminded with a smile.
"Don't get smart with me, Shirou." Rin warned with a stern glare, "I just thought we'd be able to spend a little free time together."
"Like a date?" Sakura asked, a hint of excitement in her tone.
"Something along those lines…" Rin mused. A simple glance over to Rin was all that was needed for the other two to notice what she was staring at, which was Shirou's groin.
"Nee-san!"
"What? We still didn't check it out." Rin defended, "Besides, it's the perfect opportunity! The midget isn't going to be there anyway."
"We have no idea how long Illya-chan's meeting will go on for!" Sakura reprimanded, "We don't know if she'll return to the dorm early or not."
Shirou found that the fact that Sakura didn't refute the idea entirely was slightly off-putting.
"Oh look over there," Shirou hastily called out to change the subject. "The Arcadia is that building over there, Rin."
Rin stopped her mental molestation of their shared lover in favor of their current task. "It looks like a dump." Rin declared.
"Everything else in this world looks just like it, Nee-san," Sakura scolded,
"It's tidier than the other buildings at least."
Which was actually a fair comparison, to be honest. All the buildings had the same overgrowth. After a while, Rin thought that the whole ruined world aesthetic that Akihabara was going for was starting to get stale.
Still wasn't as tidy as their guild room though.
"Well, I'll be busy browsing the dump for a while," Rin said, "You two can go and get a head start– but message me once you start."
"Start what?" Sakura asked, only for her to blush wildly at Rin pointing at Shirou's groin without a hint of discretion.
It was too bad that Rin had already entered the Arcadia. Otherwise, Sakura would have blushed up a commotion. Shirou was prompted to simply drag the blushing Foxtail away with a calming smile.
Rin, on the other hand, sighed upon entering the building. There wasn't even a bounded field up, what would have happened if someone snuck in with a familiar and took a few books?
Not that Rin would do that, but the lack of defenses in the Arcadia was tempting her. Luckily, she didn't have to ponder on theft for long as she walked up to the reception area.
A strange, short, and stoic girl sat there, simply reading a book.
"Excuse me?" Rin asked her, "Do you know where I can find some advanced books on magecraft?"
The short girl looked up without a hint of care. "Over to your left," she pointed out.
"Thank you," Rin offered, even if it was intentionally half-hearted.
She saw no reason to keep up an honor student persona in their new found world. Her normal mannerism would allow her to blend in with the other adventurers.
Besides, it wasn't like her a-hole magus of a father would care. The bastard was dead anyway, that'll teach him for putting Sakura up for adoption without even considering the fact that Zouken was an immortal bundle of worms.
Even though Rin could understand his decision – She was a magus after all – but seriously, couldn't he have researched the Matou head before he sent Sakura away there? Rin knew he just wanted her to become a great magus, but his callous decision without a hint of caution was blatantly ignorant.
Which meant whatever admiration and respect she once had for him had dwindled into disdain. She basically hated the blighted twat.
So in light of that, she was free to be as vulgar as she pleased.
Rin sighed and pilfered a random book from the shelf without even looking at the cover and started going through it.
"Channeling mana through sheer force of will?" Rin muttered in disgust, "If we all did that then there wouldn't be spells and incantations. This is idiotic."
She put the book back on the shelf and grabbed the adjacent book to it. This time she offered a glance to the title as she read it, Standard Evocation Mentality.
"This is trash too." Rin blurted out. What was the point of having a three-hundred page book on having the right mentality? If they can't have the mentality then they shouldn't learn in the first place.
One by one, Rin went through the books. She found a few that were useful, and as such, she kept an eye on them. Such as 'Mysteries of the World', 'Spirits and their Magic', 'Extreme Enchantments', and a few others.
The rest though? Those were utter trash.
They used and referenced the first book that Rin read in this world. In other words, they used the horribly inefficient magical 'advice' that it taught to expound on the rest of the book's subject material.
The only books that were worth reading were about the history of the world, the enchantment system – as it didn't use the linear spellcasting theory – and the books that detail monster or spirit biology.
Not that Rin knew what kind of anatomy the monsters of the world could have.
She would need to create her own private workshop on the outskirts of town to obtain test subjects. Bringing monsters into town would bring bad attention, which they couldn't afford for now.
She placed a book back in its place, which detailed how to accurately fire a fireball with a hundred pages for crying out loud.
Rin audibly sighed and grabbed one more book. Rin didn't even make it past the first page before it referenced the infernal book of sorcerer basics once more.
"This is stupid!" Rin cried out in irritation, "Are all the magi in this world retarded!?"
"What makes you say that?"
Rin blinked out of her tirade and focused on the receptionist, who was sending her an odd stare.
"You've been listening to me?" Rin asked in subtle confusion. That faded away quickly when she sighed soon after, "Sorry for being loud madam."
She had no idea what the receptionist's age was so it'd be better to assume she was older than her. Looks could be deceiving, a magus like Rin knew that very well.
"I do not mind," she said, "I wish to know why you labeled… magi as you called it, mentally hindered?"
Did this girl really need to ask?
"Simple, everything that they're using is horribly inefficient." Rin answered with a haughty snort, "Everything they're using can be improved, but judging by the dates of all these books, the damn researchers are stagnant."
"Is that so…?" She muttered, a glint in her eyes as she closed the book she was reading.
Rin wasn't so sure that she liked it.
"Then would you like to converse with me in more detail?"
"Should we have really left Nee-san in the Arcadia?" Sakura asked with concern, "I don't feel like it was a good idea…"
"Rin is strong-willed, Sakura," Shirou comforted, "She'll be just fine. For now, we should go and search for a subclass to work on."
Despite the reassurance, Sakura still fell silent.
Shirou let out a soft sigh as he rubbed her shoulder with a smile, "Don't worry, she'll be fine. For now, we need to look for subclasses."
"Do you have any idea how to start?" Sakura asked.
"I have a few ideas," Shirou admitted, "–but I think I'll take the easy route and go for one of the subclasses Illya suggested."
"Which is?"
Shirou did not hesitate as he answered, "The blacksmith."
"I suppose that it suits you." Sakura allowed herself a small chuckle, "–but, do you know where or how to obtain it?"
"I can make an educated guess," Shirou replied, "I'll need to visit one of the local blacksmiths and bring up the subject. We're heading over to the stall we visited two days ago. The clerk might know."
"Ah, you mean Melhia-chan?" Sakura exclaimed in realization, stunning Shirou that she managed to remember it, "That does make sense… A blacksmith's daughter would know how to become a blacksmith." She sent a glance to their surroundings, "I recognize this street. We should be close to the stall now!"
Shirou nodded and turned a familiar corner. He let a sigh of relief pass as he recognized the familiar stall.
"Hey man! Don't cut in line!"
Shirou's gaze and relief faded as he turned to face the stall to their right, where a player – level sixty based on his indicator – was arguing with another higher-leveled player around twenty levels higher – who held a Japanese katana.
Shirou didn't know what classes they were each of, but from the katana he could only assume that the higher level player was a samurai.
"And what are you going to do about it?" The samurai mocked, "Are you going to mess with me?"
"Just because you're in a bigger guild doesn't mean that you can be a dick!"
The samurai scoffed, "Does it look like I care? I'm under orders to buy all the potions here. The Black Sword Knights need it more."
"That's unfair!"
"Don't care. If you want the potions, then go and tell Black Sword Isaac himself. You're just a mid-level swashbuckler, he won't listen to you."
So he was a swashbuckler…
At that, the swashbuckler gritted his teeth and turned away. The samurai only scoffed once more and told the store clerk to grab all the potions she had.
The store clerk, who had been silent and nervously watching the exchange between the players, hastily made to prepare his order.
"… Akihabara really isn't looking too good." Sakura muttered.
Shirou could only agree with a solemn nod.
"Just ignore it, Sakura," Shirou advised.
The irony was not lost on him. Despite the inner hero within him wanting to go up to the samurai and confront him about the blatant bullying, he knew it would be a bad idea.
First, he wasn't even an eighth of the samurai's level, so that meant he could die in a single hit, ignoring the fact that the Royal Guard would spawn on them.
More importantly, he would have earned the ire of an entire guild, The Black Sword Knights, if he remembered correctly. The guild's mere name was enough to cause a player – at a higher level than Shirou himself – to back away which meant that it was a guild with some renown.
Shirou didn't want to draw that kind of firepower and animosity to his family. He didn't want Rin, Sakura, or even Illya to be in danger.
He had already chosen to sacrifice as many people as necessary to save Sakura, the choice was clear to him.
A soft touch dragged his attention. Shirou turned to Sakura, who had a soft yet somewhat saddened smile as she tugged at his sleeve in order to rub and soothe his frustrated and clenched fist.
"Come on, let's go visit Melhia-chan."
Shirou sighed as a smile took hold.
Even now, Sakura was helping him in ways he could never hope to replicate.
Seeing no reason to further delay the visit, Shirou stepped up to the stall with Sakura at his side. It was best that they focus more on the task at hand after all.
"What do you want?"
Shirou had to blink and stare at the stall they were visiting.
That didn't sound like Melhia.
There wasn't a young and pale blond woman to greet him like last time, but instead there was a tall, burly, bearded, and – judging from his stare – a stern old man. He stared down at Shirou, his head nearly reaching the top of the now seemingly small stall.
He was massive. Shirou definitely wouldn't be able to find someone like him wandering around Fuyuki, not without actively searching through public records.
Were they at the right stall?
"Are you daft?" He blurted out with his eyes narrowed in irritation, "I asked you 'what do you want?'"
Shirou shook himself from his stupor to answer as he didn't want to anger the giant further. "Sorry sir, we seem to be at the wrong stall. Do you know which stall sells beginner equipment?"
The giant raised a brow, "You're looking right at it, boy,"
Shirou blinked once more and glanced at the stall. It was familiar, but with the giant at the helm, it wasn't as familiar as before.
"I see… what happened to the previous store clerk?" Shirou asked with concern.
"My daughter? She's busy stoking the forge, it's been a slow day for business." He informed, surprising the two of them somewhat.
It was then that they remembered that Melhia – the previous store clerk – had been minding it for her father. She said that he'd be back in a few days, which had passed already.
"You got anything else you want other than my daughter?" He asked with narrowed eyes, "I'll have you know that she isn't of marrying age yet–"
"I'm already nineteen winters, papa!" A voice shouted from behind him.
"You're old enough when I say you're old enough, young lady!" He shouted back with sudden fervor.
This allowed Shirou and Sakura a glance at the scene behind him. There was a forge there, where Melhia was pushing down a forge bellow, surprising force coming from her seemingly delicate stature.
"I'm a winter older than Cecily," Melhia shouted back, "–and she's married already!"
"You're not old enough! Not until you can forge a better blade than me!"
She stopped stoking the flames, "–but papa! That's impossible!"
"Then be quiet and stoke the forge! You're being rude to the customers!"
Neither Shirou nor Sakura wanted to test the giant on the irony of his statement.
"Now, where was I?" He muttered in musing, "Right, she's not of marrying age yet."
"I think you misunderstand my intentions, sir," Shirou started as politely as he could, "I already have a lover–" technically two, "–so I don't really wish to court your daughter."
The giant sent a not-so-subtle glance to Sakura, who had blushed at Shirou's statement. "Ah, sorry for being rude, young lady."
"I-It's fine," Sakura stuttered out.
"Well, if my daughter's hand was not what you wanted," the giant continued, "Then what did you want?
"I was looking for a way to become a blacksmith."
For some reason, Shirou found the giant's stare to be just a little bit harder. The man rose a brow at Shirou as he glanced at him as if he was analyzing him for something.
"You have good physique…" He commented, "… but why would you want to be a blacksmith?"
Shirou thought somewhat long as he answered, "I want to be able to make weapons for my guild. It's more cost-effective that way."
Upon the following silence, the giant narrowed his eyes at the response. "… Is that it, boy? No other reason?"
Considering the fact that Shirou could simply use his magecraft and recreate a far superior noble phantasm, he didn't really have any other reason. Shirou shook his head.
The giant sent another glance, "And the girl?"
"I'm just tagging along, sir." Sakura meekly uttered.
A puff of smoke exited the giant's nose, which surprised them somewhat, as he took a step back. "Okay… follow me inside, boy. I'll see if you have what it takes to become a blacksmith."
The two of them took a step inside the stall and took several more steps until they entered the building behind it. A separate zone, where the heat of the forge would not affect the people out front.
Instantly, sweltering heat from a burning forge blasted them. Sakura winced and took a step back, but Shirou held his ground at the heat. He was already familiar with the heat of flames.
Melhia paused from her job to gawk slightly at their entry, "Eh? Papa, why did you lead customers here?"
"Do you already know how to make a blade?" The giant asked as he ignored his daughter, sparing Shirou but a single glance.
Shirou nodded.
"Grab an apron from off the wall and make one." He ordered, despite the indignant pout that his daughter sent his way.
Shirou did not so much as sigh as he walked up to the lone extra apron and wore it. Sakura stepped away to the side where the heat wasn't as suffocating.
"You're free to use any of the tools in the shop if you need to." The giant said as Shirou just realized he had yet to learn his name, "Let's see what you're made of, boy. Go ahead and do that magic you adventurers like doing."
Shirou nodded but then widened his eyes at his last few words.
What magic? Weren't they forging a weapon?
Before Shirou could ask the giant what he meant, his menu appeared within his vision. A brief glance told him all the information it held.
Would you like to use up '1x Iron Ingot' to forge a(n) 'Iron Dagger?'
Was this menu… asking him to create an iron dagger right from the get-go? Shirou's mind flashed back to the memory of the bland auto-cooked travesty a few nights ago.
The food was tasteless, so what would that mean for the weapon? A weapon had no taste, so what else would be robbed from it–
Like thunder in a bright day, it struck him.
The weapon's history.
If he used that method, then the following created weapon would be robbed of the process of being created. It would be a sword that wouldn't know its origins, a dagger that didn't know the warmth of the forge, an axe that knew not of the essence of steel.
It would be a soulless weapon.
Shirou would never – not even if he lived for a million years – ever bother creating a thing like that.
Shirou promptly dismissed the message with furious and – in his opinion – righteous vigor.
"Are you giving up already?" The giant asked him as he sent him a stern yet disappointed gaze, "I thought you said that you wanted to be a blacksmith? Just use that adventurer magic and be done with it."
"I'm not giving up," Shirou declared with surprising vigor, "I just… want to do things traditionally. I'm not taking the easy way out."
The giant's eyes widened ever so slightly but retained his stern gaze. No other words came out of him save for an odd glint in his eyes.
Shirou paid no heed to it as he grabbed a sturdy steel tong along with a fairly strong iron ingot, courtesy of his structural grasping.
The forging had begun.
Illya sighed from her seat among the rest of the small guild leaders.
She had arrived earlier than the rest within Crescent Moon's guild room – the amount of pink that she saw didn't bother her – which gave her the freedom to analyze each and every person that came through the door.
She was a first-rate magus. She was familiar with how these meetings worked, she would be fine. Therefore, she didn't feel the slightest bit of nervousness as she waited for the others.
Although, she did admit that she was stressed. The meeting was going to be very influential among the lower bracket of players even if it failed. There would be repercussions that she wasn't sure she'd be able to protect her guild from.
That thought both extremely annoyed and truly frightened her.
Crescent Moon's guild leader, Marielle – whose avatar had two literal melons hanging off of her body – had greeted her with a smile. She had brought a Wolf Fang guard along too, which was odd seeing as it was nigh-impossible to start a fight in a non-combat zone.
Illya was asked if she brought a guard along with her too, but all she said was a relay of her previous thoughts. She hadn't.
Besides, she sat near the corner seat, which gave her view of the windows, the door, and all other possible entryways. This way, she had the option of a hasty escape if the situation called for it.
She didn't know the Crescent Moon Alliance's guild leader very well – other than the fact that she knew a player or two in the guild – Marielle could very well turn the guild room into a combat zone and prevent the leaders from leaving, using superior numbers to ambush them from the shadows.
Although since the guild was pink, there wasn't really a spot where assailants could hide. Maybe she was just being over cautious? Actually this was Elder Tale, you could have Assassins in the color pink and no one would bat an eye. So it was plausible but highly unlikely.
Soon, other minor guild masters started filling the room. A generic human with kinda okay equipment, a swashbuckler wearing heavy armor for some reason, a kannagi that was actually using good equipment, a cosplaying samurai– basically a whole bunch of nerds.
Especially the heavy armored rogue, he probably joined the game to play for fun before the 'Apocalypse' happened – which Illya thought was a stupid name. The 'Transference' would be a more apt title.
Illya at least took solace in the fact that she didn't seem out of place, save for her lack of a bodyguard.
When Woodstock appeared, they exchanged greetings, but nothing more than that as the meeting had taken priority. Which started a minute after everyone had gathered and introduced themselves to each other.
She was sure that none of them really cared about the introductions. They all saw it as a formality and just brushed it off and gave away basic information that anyone could glean from their player indicators.
Illya did the same, if only to conceal information. If she could turn the meeting to her favor, then she'd need more information.
Luckily, she learned that the Crescent Moon's guild leader was a joyful and naive person so she would be easy to manipulate. The others weren't like her though. There was a player with a kid avatar who seemed extremely laid back so Illya kept an eye on him, his confidence had to mean something.
Although after the 'meeting' had progressed for several minutes, Illya quickly realized how much her information gathering on the other players was going to be useful.
None at all.
"But even if we try to oppose the bigger guilds–"
"That's why we're trying to think of a way." Woodstock interrupted. If this was a meeting with magi, blood would have already been shed. "For example, we could share the hunting grounds among ourselves."
"With all of our players…" The samurai interrupted, opening one eye in a way that Illya found cringe-worthy. "… Is it really possible to share it? We only have the level one to sixty areas to use. Most of us are higher in levels, which narrows it down to the level fifty to sixty area, Belthias Lake. There aren't enough mobs there to farm among all of us."
"Spawn rates are higher when players are gathered together," a hooded Werecat added, "If we're all together, then surely the spawn rates will increase so that there'll be enough for us all?"
"Nope, that's not going to work." The heavy armored rogue countered. "The game prevents the spawns from going any higher than a spawn every ten minutes. There's too much downtime, we'd be fighting for every monster that spawned."
"Then why don't you offer some better ideas?" The human with kinda okay equipment started, "If all you're going to do is deny every suggestion then just leave!"
Soon after that, the whole bastardization of a 'meeting' devolved into accusations and backtalk. No sensible progress had been made. The heavy armored rogue started slander, the laid-back man-kid started ignoring everything all together, and even the bodyguards at the back started being unnerved.
It was just… a sham of a meeting.
People made idiotic requests without giving incentive to others and small opinions made large arguments. It was just… so unprofessional that the magus within her wanted to cry out in disgust.
Friendships would be broken, Illya knew that. Luckily for her, she came into this meeting without any sort of risk for her guild.
She had the perfect claim to the lower level zones for her family, which means that even if the meeting failed – which it already had – she would walk away with information on all the guilds along with a mental guarantee that there would be no possible chance of harm for her family grinding early on.
It was hard to hide her smirk while going through this hack of a meeting.
"I'm done with this shit!"
"Screw you guys!"
"I knew this damn thing was pointless."
Players got out of their chairs and left in droves. No one remained, except for Marielle, Woodstock, a man named Ichimonjinosuke Akaneya – she wanted to cry at trying to remember that name – and herself.
In the end, the people who left were quitters without a clear idea of how they wanted everything to improve. Those three that remained were people that wanted to sincerely improve Akihabara's situation.
Illya supposed that the three of them earned a little praise… but only just a little.
"Well," Illya mused, "That ended… exactly how I thought it was going to end."
Ichimonjinosuke – Illya was just going to call him Ichimo because it was shorter and simpler – sent her a narrowed glare, "And what exactly do you mean by that?"
"This meeting was doomed to fail from the start," Illya pointed out, "There was no agenda for the meeting. We came to talk about a common problem and yet we deviated a total of five times."
She sighed, "At the rate the meeting was going, I'm surprised that it took this long for it to end."
Woodstock sighed as well and rubbed his forehead in subtle irritation, "Always terribly blunt aren't you? Illyasviel, this meeting needed to succeed. Now there will be a lot more reason for conflict to start between guilds during the hunting sessions."
"Not my problem," Illya blurted out, "I respect you Woodstock-san, but I only joined this meeting because you invited me." and to gain information on guilds.
Ichimo sighed and followed in Woodstock's footsteps by rubbing his forehead, "Maybe we should try again tomorrow…?"
"I don't really think that would work, but you can try," Illya advised with the usual facade of the politeness of a magus.
"In other news… How's your guild, Illya?" Woodstock asked, concern littering his features, "Have they managed to acclimate to Elder Tale yet?"
Illya shrugged, "They seem to be doing fine so far. They hold up in battle pretty okay…" She started to trail off.
"But?"
"They're still low leveled, it'll take them a long while before they can even take on a dungeon– let alone a raid." Illya muttered in frustration, "This meeting helped me though, at least I can train them safely in lower leveled zones."
"You went into this meeting without intent to improve Akihabara, didn't you?" Ichimo accused.
Illya simply shrugged at him, "I guess you could say that, but even with my input the meeting still would have failed."
"That's not a nice thing to say, Illya-san," Marielle berated in a halfhearted manner, "There could have been a chance to improve the meeting!"
"I disagree, I don't even know how you can improve this town's situation," Illya said, "We lack the power to do anything about it, small guilds remember?"
"Power isn't everything," Woodstock argued, "With a common goal and a united mind, we can eventually reach a state of mutually agreeable peace."
"Unless you hold a gun over everyone's head, I don't see how you can do that." Illya blurted out.
It was like praying for world peace, albeit at a smaller scale. Illya already knew how fruitless that endeavor could be when there was no proper plan to go along with it.
Ichimo scoffed in irritation, "I suppose we can agree on one thing, as cynical as it sounds."
"… I wonder if Shiroe-kun has an idea…?"
Illya's eyes widened and faced Marielle who was slumped on a chair pouting. Did her ears deceive her? Yeah, that must be it.
"I suppose the Villain in Glasses would probably have an idea," Ichimo muttered, "It's too bad that he doesn't care about guilds in general."
No, she didn't mishear. How fortunate.
"Did that man get caught up in this world too?" Illya asked with some slight hope and intrigue.
His reputation among the player base was nigh-legendary. The absolute strategist of the legendary Debauchery Tea Party. In other words, the brain of the party.
Under his guidance, the party defeated every raid known to the Japanese server. It was an achievement that Illya could applaud, even if it was just in a game.
If there was anyone who could improve Akihabara, it would be him. Illya didn't want her family to come under any form of danger.
"Yes, he is," Marielle answered, "Although he's busy at the moment so until he comes back from Susukino, we won't be able to get his help."
Illya frowned.
There went that idea… No matter. It didn't really change a thing for Illya. She had held onto a bit of hope but it faded. She still had a sliver of it hidden away, ready to pop back up when the Villain in Glasses appears in town.
Oh well, all that means is that Illya had to step up her game.
For her guild.
Sakura sighed softly once she saw Shirou weld a rod of iron onto the ingot before he gently shoved it into the forge. The sheer heat of it was enough to redden the steel after just a few seconds.
They had been here for several minutes and Shirou was only starting his forging process. It took a while for the not-so-modern forge to start heating the blade.
He hefted the sweltering ingot onto an anvil and slammed a hammer down. He was going to draw the ingot out to a sword-like shape.
Sakura could tell that he was taking great care to do so, seeing as his mana had dropped a bit from using reinforcement. His muscles straining upon each hammer strike, rippling underneath his sweaty and loose shirt…
"He's a surprising one…"
Sakura snapped from her fantasy and turned her head gently to see Melhia staring at Shirou, an odd expression taking hold on her face.
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.
"Well…" Melhia started, "We don't really get many adventurers here nowadays but from what we can see, you adventurers usually wave your hands about and instantly turn an ingot into a sword."
Sakura opened her eyes in slight alarm at the information, "Is that really true?"
Melhia nodded several times, "It's true! If you want proof then you can see some blacksmith adventurers down the street. They're not even using the forge, it's like it's just there for decoration!" She threw her hands up in mock surrender as she said it.
Sakura nodded in contemplation. Such a feat… she was instantly reminded of Shirou's magic, but there was a bigger and better comparison to be made.
Namely, the filth that they had nearly eaten on their first night in this world.
Sakura briefly thought about what a sword made using the same method would yield. She didn't really see the difference other than the loss of hard work it would take to create the weapon, which Sakura saw as something close to a good thing.
However, knowing her lover – someone who has been so infused into the heart and soul of the weaponry of heroes – he must have come to a conclusion that offended him greatly. The vigor in his reply to the blacksmith was enough to tell her that.
"Shirou… isn't really like all the others." Sakura concluded for the blacksmith's daughter.
"We could tell that the moment he chose to make something with his two hands." Melhia pointed out, "At least we can gauge his actual skills."
"You're much more… open than when we first met, Melhia-chan." Sakura pointed out.
She rubbed the hem of her apron, "Well… Having my father here gives me confidence so that might be why? I think?"
Sakura chuckled, "So would you say that you're a daddy's girl?"
Melhia blushed like a tulip when Sakura pointed it out. She didn't deny it instantly which made Sakura giggle in turn.
How nice it must be… having a father that cared and raised you since birth.
Her own father couldn't be called such…
Sakura shook away those thoughts and focused on her lover, who was grunting in exertion each time he hit the tempered steel, drawing out the blade.
She could not help but giggle.
Shirou on the other hand simply carried on.
All Shirou had to do now was shape the metal into a blade, harden the metal through cooling, some final beveling, and followed by grinding the edges to sharpen the blade.
There was much to be done, but Emiya Shirou was no quitter. The other alternatives were either creating a soulless mess of blade or go home without the blacksmith subclass.
He wanted that subclass, not because of his inner relation to swords, but because of how practical it would be. He would not always have his beginner scimitars with him. He'd need a better weapon every time he leveled up or whenever he didn't have enough mana to create a projection.
Although, he was intrigued by the actions of his experience bar, which had increased by a centimeter or so every time he hammered the blade-in-progress.
Perhaps he could level up from creating weaponry? That would be an interesting idea.
Not something he should dwell on though. He had to finish creating the blade itself. He didn't want to make a mistake, doing so would be a disservice to it.
He had already drawn out the metal so there was no more issue with its length, the tang had also formed so there would be no issues with attaching a handle to it.
A scimitar could be made with this base but Shirou wanted to create a standard European blade to start his forging life off.
Shirou lifted and used the round back-end of the hammer to widen the metal, acting as a makeshift fuller. Of course, it left odd rivets, but Shirou hammered them away with precision, flattening the sides.
Whenever the metal would cool, Shirou would place it back into the forge to bring the temperature back up. The metal had to remain malleable for the forging, otherwise, he would be hitting steel fruitlessly.
Shirou repeated this. Every time the blade would cool, he would heat it again before resuming the rhythmic and methodical strokes.
He hefted the blade before him one more time as he eyed its shape and form. Shirou felt satisfied with it.
Once he removed the welded iron rod, Shirou turned and gently lowered the blade into a wide barrel to cool the metal using the sturdy steel tong. He made sure to hold the blade steady to prevent it from warping.
A bead of sweat fell past his brow as his exp bar rose steadily, once more confusing him greatly.
Once Shirou saw the smoke begin to fade a little, he raised the blade out of the barrel. He sighed in relief when he saw that the metal didn't warp. If it had, then he would need to bend the blade back into place before it hardened significantly.
He held the blade and checked it from every angle.
Shirou nodded to himself. All that was missing was the grinding. He left the forge and took a nearby seat next to a rotating wheel of emery. The forge had a few grinding wheels spread about, a few of them small for finer work like rapiers or farm tools and some large for things like cleavers and axes.
Bright sparks of light filled Shirou's vision, the final touches shredding excess metal which caused the blade to sharpen.
The grinding stone slowed down as Shirou hefted the blade up. The tang lacked a handle to accompany it so far. However, that can easily be added later with a sheath.
Although it wasn't really that necessary due to the existence of the adventurer's inventory system.
"You did good kid," the giant said from behind him which prompted Shirou to send him a gaze. "It's not perfect or complete yet, but you have talent. If you want to, you can work under me until you perfect your craft."
Shirou could only blink at the offer.
Was this the offer to obtain the subclass?
If so, then there was no reason to hesitate. Shirou stood tall as he answered, "I'd be honored to."
His menu updated, the previously empty slot under his player indicator filled with a new line of text. His previously empty subclass box had filled out with the blacksmith text.
He now had a subclass. He greeted the information with a smile.
"Come here every day at dawn," the giant told him as he walked away, "Repetition is the best way to learn. If you want to complete the blade in your hands today then follow me."
Shirou rose his brow at the order but nodded, "I understand…"
The giant raised his brow and rubbed his beard in minor embarrassment, "I forgot to tell you my name…" He then stood tall and proud as he gazed at Shirou.
"My name is Meltraus, Grand Master Blacksmith of Akihabara! Starting today, you will be my apprentice!"
On Sakura's end, she could not help the smile growing on her face as Shirou followed Meltraus to a separate room to create a handle for the blade.
"… That just happened. I'm not hallucinating, right?" Melhia muttered, "Usually we'd send adventurers away after they make a sword…"
"This isn't the usual outcome?" Sakura muttered in worry, "Did Shirou do something that displeased him?"
Melhia shook her head, "On the contrary, Papa seems to have taken a liking to him. He hasn't had an apprentice in a long time but I didn't think that the next one would be an adventurer."
"… Is it because he didn't use the usual adventurer's method?" Sakura wondered out loud, which elicited both a nod and a shrug from Melhia.
"I hope your lover has enough willpower, papa isn't lenient on any mistakes."
Sakura giggled, "I think he'll be fine."
Illya sighed and stepped into the marketplace.
The meeting ended badly, she left only when Marielle told them that she needed to use the room to cheer up the rest of her guild. This left Illya to venture out to find the rest of her guild.
Truth be told, the after-meeting discussion she had with Ichimo, Woodstock, and Marielle was more informative than the actual meeting itself. Although, the numerous time Marielle tried to 'be friends' with her was enough to give her a head ache.
Illya would have understood if she was still in her child body, but she had boobs! She wasn't a kid anymore!
To soothe her soon-to-be migraine, Illya had taken a detour for once to take in the sights, but frowned when she noticed that the players had been sending each other glares and uneasy movements.
Surprisingly, Illya noticed that the NPC's had felt the animosity on the streets and backed away whenever adventurers approached.
Akihabara was turning into a hostile place. Were the safe zone's going to remain safe any longer? Perhaps she should properly consider how to prevent the unstable atmosphere of Akihabara, for her guild's sake.
For now, she would need to pick up her guild members. From her mini-map, she could tell that Rin was still in the Arcadia for some reason, which was convenient because it was closer to her current location.
"Rin! Come on we're leaving!" Illya called out as she took a step into the Arcadia.
"Shut up midget! I'm busy!"
"I concur, we still have much to work on."
Illya took a moment to blink and gaze forward, where Rin had returned her focus to a paper. A book off to her side with Rin's finger placed on it but her gaze flickered between the open book and a paper she was writing on with a feathered quill.
On the opposite side of her, the NPC store clerk was doing the same, yet she was sending glances to Rin's paper instead while writing down on her own.
"Are you certain that using this method increases overall spell efficiency?" The NPC asked, "I am quite certain that this unorthodox method is dangerous."
"Magic is dangerous, Ferlna," Rin rebuked as she gave Illya the NPC's name, "All we're doing is trying to find a way to harness that power and improve upon it. Using this method, we should be able to do just that."
"But would this not take a much longer period of spellcasting before the spell is performed?" She argued, "That can be dangerous to both adventurer and Lander mages in combat. Speed is arguably better than power."
"That's true but we can improve upon that later. Right now, the 'spellcasting' process is far too linear. There are so many segments of spell casting that magi are glossing over that the spell is weaker than it should be." Rin supplemented, "Once we get the formula and process ironed out, we can work on streamlining it for wide-spread use among other magi."
"I believe I told you that we are mages, not magi."
"Magi, mages, all the same to me. What matters is that we focus on improving this system. Stagnation might as well be the same as death."
The NPC grimaced but nodded determined, "I cannot argue you on that, Magi Tohsaka."
Rin stopped in her writing and sent the NPC a small glare, "I thought I told you to just call me Tohsaka…?"
"I thought I told you that we're mages, not magi."
Rin snorted and continued writing on the paper, ignorant of the fact that Illya was standing right beside her.
"Rin… what are you doing?" Illya asked with admittedly some trepidation.
"What does it look like, midget? I'm writing down how to improve this world's root-forsaken method of magic." Rin answered, "I'll be back at the guild later. I'm finishing this segment, today."
Illya nodded and walked out of the Arcadia, only now noticing the sign that says 'closed' on it.
Well… that was a thing.
Ignoring Rin's magus tirade would be best for her growing migraine. Instead, Illya chose to focus on Shirou and Sakura's whereabouts. Lucky for her, it was at the stall that sold them Shirou's equipment.
Hopefully, some form of normalcy awaited her there.
Illya didn't have to walk long until she came across the stall… with Sakura standing outside talking happily with the NPC, Shirou not in sight.
"So the rest of the people held a party to celebrate the founding of Akihabara, right?" The NPC started, "But we all forgot to bring food so instead of actually partying, we had to spend the entire time hunting for some food! We had adventurers help us too – back when they were still agreeable…"
Illya remembered that event, it was the first one that she participated in. She had to kill boars and exchange their meat for event points, which she could use to spend on items and other cosmetics.
She could have also harvested some vegetables at the nearby farmlands, but that was boring so she didn't do it.
In the end, she got an amulet which boosted overall health absorption from that, which was a great investment. It saved her multiple times in a few raids.
Illya shook away the memory and walked up to Sakura, which the NPC noticed and clammed up into silence and nervousness. Sakura looked concerned and sent a glance Illya's direction.
She smiled softly upon seeing her, "Illya-chan! How did the meeting go?"
Illya sent Sakura a smug eye-roll and shrugged, "It went exactly as expected, a disaster…" Illya fell short and sent a look to the NPC, "By the way, where's Shirou?"
"He's inside working with Meltraus-san," Sakura answered, "He managed to get the blacksmith subclass so he's improving it by working under him."
The name didn't really strike any familiarity within her. It was probably some NPC that she didn't know about yet. She'd ask Sakura for clarification later.
"I assume he'll be done later?" Illya replayed the same thing Rin told her.
"No, he's nearly done. In a few minutes we should be able to leave so why don't you check on Rin?"
Illya made an odd face, unsure whether to be confused or astounded, as she answered, "Rin is busy writing a paper with the NPC, I believe her name was Ferlna?"
Sakura nodded with minor understanding, "I don't know who that is…" Her eyes lightened up and faced the NPC, Melhia if Illya remembered, "Melhia-chan, do you know who Ferlna is?"
Melhia smiled at Sakura but sent a nervous glance to Illya as she answered, "I only know her by reputation. She's from the capital of Eastal and she mostly keeps to herself, but I don't know what she's like as a person."
Sakura frowned and pouted, "It's okay if you don't know. Thank you, Melhia-chan!"
Melhia sent her a thankful and pleasant gaze as she continued her small talk with Sakura.
Okay… Illya was missing a lot of things, it would seem.
From behind the NPC, a familiar silhouette appeared. Shirou stepped out of the stall with a giant old man. He seemed vaguely familiar, but it was escaping her.
Illya had to restrain the urge to leap at her brother for a hug. Her migraine was starting to become slightly unbearable. However, Illya was a patient guild master. She could wait until they were done talking.
"Remember to be back here at dawn. I don't like waiting."
"I understand, Meltraus-san." Shirou reciprocated and left, a new blade held in his hands.
That must have been the sword that Shirou made to become a blacksmith. Illya did note that it looked somewhat different when compared to a regular iron sword but shrugged it off for now.
"Come on you two, we need to head back to the guild." Illya commanded, which she felt extremely happy about doing, "There's a lot to discuss. Particularly about the 'meeting' and what we're doing moving forward."
Shirou and Sakura nodded as they bid their farewells to the two NPC's and walked away.
Illya's sanity was probably not going to like the events that transpired today, especially in Rin's case.
Oh wait, sanity already left her the moment she woke up in a game world.
That would probably explain why she left her restraint and leaped on her dear brother's back for a hug.
Illya groaned from her bedside. Shirou sat on his own bed and held his new sword with an odd expression on his face.
Sakura sat on her own bed as well and was avidly reporting her day to her sister, who didn't really listen to her as she was busy reading a history book. Illya wasn't sure if it was purchased at all.
When they returned to the guild room, Illya had everyone relay what they did during the day.
Illya learned that Shirou had been with the old NPC, who was named Meltraus – but she didn't really care – and had apparently spent the day forging a blade, going through techniques taught by the NPC.
Yes, taught. Illya had to make sure she heard it correctly.
Instead of the usual smithing that a player does – which was creating a weapon using an ingot and a few bits of leather through the crafting menu – her brother opted to forge the thing from scratch.
Illya knew that there were implications there, but she didn't want to tackle that today. Maybe in a few days, when her mental fortitude could stop a tidal wave.
Sakura, thankfully, didn't do something insanely absurd and spent the day relaxing and chatting with her new NPC friend, who was the store clerk from before.
She didn't manage to get a subclass which was unfortunate but they still had other days. It was best to not rush into one only to regret it later. Restarting the subclass progress bar from scratch was a painful idea, even if starting early with a subclass would go a long way in helping it level up.
Rin, on the complete opposite spectrum of her sister, had spent the day not relaxing and chatting, but researching magic and the like with the Arcadia's store clerk.
Yes… research, which the twin-tailed magus still wasn't done with. She would head back to the Arcadia again to continue with the NPC, Ferlna.
Illya didn't even want to think of the implications such a thing would entail, but nevertheless, she shook away the mental fatigue and focused on the matters at hand.
She did find it a little worrying how she just moved on and accepted her family's shenanigans.
"Okay everyone," Illya started from her seat above everyone, which was just a chair stacked on top of the wooden center table, "We have a lot to go over but we can do it quickly and sleep."
"Let me guess," Rin muttered as she flipped through her book's pages, "The meeting went bad?"
Illya shrugged and nodded, "I went to the meeting… Let's just say that it didn't end well."
Shirou winced, "Was it really that bad?"
Illya nodded fervently, "The meeting progressed okay for the first few minutes but after that? It fell apart like Rin with technology,"
"I'm right here you know?"
"So it was that bad…" Sakura muttered in increasing worry.
"You guys better not be ignoring me."
"At least there was a bit of information that I got," Illya continued, which visibly made Rin release a gut-wrenching grunt, "The guilds are now somewhat hostile to each other – It'd take a miracle to remove the animosity the meeting caused – which means that if we go anywhere near someone from a different guild, they'll be immediately hostile."
Shirou grimaced, "Is there any way we can avoid clashing with the other guilds? It'd be hard to gain levels when there will be players with grudges." Unjustified grudges in his opinion.
Illya waved him off with a smile, "That won't be a problem for a while though. All we have to do is stick to the lower level zones, the majority of the small guilds will want to take the highest available zone. The starter forest and the two zones above that aren't in their priority list."
"So, does that mean we have a date for the next monster hunting day?" Rin asked after her irritation faded, "I'd like for it to be somewhat soon. I need access to the higher elemental spells."
Illya sent a small glare her way, "Why? So you can 'improve' them again?"
"Yeah, what else should I do with them?"
This magus…
Illya sighed and shook her head, "We can do that in the afternoon tomorrow. Sakura still lacks a subclass so she needs to go searching for one alone, the earlier the better."
"Alone? Isn't that a bit dangerous?" Shirou added with worry.
"As long as she sticks to the safe zone? No there's not much danger, plus I trust Sakura to not go looking for trouble." Illya defended while she spared Sakura a reassuring glance, "Rin's undoubtedly going to be too busy to accompany her and you need to help me train in axemanship? That's the word for it, right?"
Shirou blinked, "Why would you want to do that? I thought you were fine with the skills that your body has?"
Illya frowned, "The same reason as you, I don't want to be overly reliant on this body. What if my body doesn't let me use an attack that I know I can perform or something? There are variables that I don't like putting up to chance, especially with this body! That's why Onii-chan, tomorrow you'll be helping me train when we wake up."
It was a great plan in Illya's opinion. While Rin and Sakura were busy, she'd get some 'alone' time with her dear, dear brother!
He won't be able to resist her body's new 'feminine' wiles!
"While I think it's great you're planning contingencies," Shirou started, interrupting her mental cheer, "However, I have an appointment with Meltraus-san. I need to be at the forge every morning from dawn to dusk until my smithing reaches an acceptable level in his eyes."
Illya swore she heard glass shattering but wasn't sure where it came from. Oh wait, never mind. It was her cheer that died.
"Why."
"Meltraus-san mentioned that he needed to be at the forge, something about an apprenticeship?" Sakura added, "Melhia-chan said that it wasn't something that her father did before if that helps."
Illya shook her head at Sakura, "No, it really doesn't, wait– what do you mean by apprenticeship!?"
Shirou rose a brow, "Is there something odd about that? Most blacksmiths of the middle ages take on–"
"This world was a game world! The class is usually given to you instantly! Why in the world would being an apprentice help you at all!?" Illya ranted, "Don't you already have the blacksmith class? Can't you just ignore it and start up your own forge?!"
Shirou's eyes hardened.
"I can't do that, Illya."
She huffed, "And why not?"
"I want to know the in and outs of smithing from a master. I can only learn so much from observing the history of swords," Shirou answered, "Also, I promised him that I'd be his apprentice. If I don't go tomorrow then I'd be going back on my word."
Illya grit her teeth in frustration. Shirou had already given up his dream for Sakura, why can't he give up one stupid promise for her?! It wasn't fair!
"Can't you reschedule at all?" Illya tried one last time.
"It's already set in stone, Illya," Rin berated for once using her actual name instead of the usual, "You're the one being unreasonable right now. Just set the date for your training to some other time when he's free."
"Fine," Illya agreed with a frustrated sigh, "Check with the old geezer for free days, Shirou. I'll be lenient on you for today!"
Shirou sighed with a smile, "Okay, okay, Illya. I'll do that."
"Isn't it great, Illya-chan?" Sakura chimed in with a smile as she stood from her bed to give Illya a comfortable hug.
Illya still pouted despite the fact she was leaning into her.
Curse those mammaries!
"That's great," Rin muttered once again, having lost interest in the current situation. "We're all going to be busy tomorrow then? I'll be at the Arcadia, Sakura at who-knows-where, and Shirou at the forge." She paused in her reading and sent Illya a glance. "Actually, you're the only one with nothing to do tomorrow."
Illya grimaced at that but her frown disappeared once an idea came to mind.
"So I have the whole day to myself…" Illya muttered as she wormed her way out of Sakura's suffocating hug, "Then, is it okay if I head out of town for a while?"
Alarm bells immediately started ringing among the guild members who sent her a look of disbelief.
"Wait, what did you say midget?" Rin asked in confusion.
"Illya, that sounds like a reckless idea." Shirou berated.
"Rather, it sounds dangerous…" Sakura muttered.
Illya snorted and held her hands up in surrender, "Okay, okay– I'll explain myself! Remember what Onii-chan said about my axe right? About how there's an armor set for the rest of it?"
They nodded but Shirou widened his eyes in realization, "You aren't planning to–"
"Not now Onii-chan!" Illya interrupted, "When I'm a higher level then sure, but for now it'll just be a little bit of reconnaissance on the quest. I want to know if the quest NPC is still there."
Shirou still looked unsure, as did the rest of her guild, but they relented with a frown. "Can you at least get someone to go with you? Maybe a friend or another player you can trust." Shirou pleaded.
Illya frowned and browsed her memory. There was Woodstock who might agree, but he'd be too busy with trying to 'save' Akihabara. Ichimo was a no-go and she barely even knew the other guild masters.
She scrolled her friend list to see who else was online and pouted as she admitted not being able to find anyone–
Oh wait, never mind.
There was one person.
"I'll bring along a level eighty player so you don't have to worry about me, okay?" Illya reported with confidence despite the still skeptical gazes she received.
"Can you trust him?" Shirou asked once more, "Can you absolutely trust this player?"
Illya went through the memories she had of the game, specifically thinking about that specific player, and ultimately nodded.
Despite the quirks of the level eighty player in mind, Illya trusted him for a lot of things. His guild would probably miss him, but considering the type of person he was, he'd want to journey with her for just a little bit.
Besides, the guy still owed her a favor from when she traded an Artifact-class staff to him but got nothing in return.
As the rest of the guild went to sleep, Illya opened up her menu and sent the message to the person in question.
'I scratch your back, you scratch mine. I'm calling in my favor, Eisel.'
All that was left was to wait and see.
A/N: Sincere apologies for the delay. College life has been a struggle to find free time after the assignments start being handed out. You have to thank Worldbringer of Joseun for being patient with me through the beta-process of the story. He pointed out many errors I made during my fatigued state. Honestly, I'm astounded he manages to find things wrong after I check over it. Maybe it's because my mind already remembers how the story should flow and just ignores the errors?
We're still not sure that we got all the errors so if you spot any of them, just post a review about them and I'll try to get them fixed as soon as possible.
Kappa.
A/N 2: Edited a mistake on the item ranking system that Elder Tale uses (Totally not a Retcon btw). Don't worry, the next chapter will come out before the end of the month.
