Chapter 7

Beta: Worldbringer of Joseun


"It is time to awaken, young adventurers."

Illya's eyes snapped open and were met with a peculiar sight. Krentelfal was hovering above them, holding a detailed map in a somewhat lazy fashion. He looked as old as ever but there was a glistening sheen to his beard.

Great, he took mana as she slept.

Someday, Illya would learn how to tap into that reservoir of mana… But not today, though.

Shrugging off the annoyance she felt, Illya stretched. She felt a bone pop as she did so. Illya didn't really get a good nights sleep. Some part of her kept her awake yet she couldn't figure out the reason why.

Illya turned to Eisel, who had just woken up and crawled out of his sleeping back. He wasn't really lethargic, more annoyed if anything.

Lucky him.

"So…" Eisel started as he walked towards Krentelfal, ignorant of Illya's lethargy. He dragged the floating ghost down a bit to peer at the map. "Which coven do we take on first?"

"The one in Muriel Valley," Illya answered. Luckily for Eisel, Krentelfal pointed at the valley north to their location. "It's the closest right now and once we reach there, it'll just be a few kilometers from there to reach the others."

As she said this, she sneaked over behind Eisel and pushed the slab that he slept on just a bit more. A few limbs had been sticking out and Illya didn't want to deal with any reaction his stomach might have right now.

"Alright, let us set forth," Krentelfal stated. "We do not have the time to waste."

Krentelfal drifted away to the exit with Illya and Eisel following a few meters behind.

"He's sort of different to how he was before, don't you think?" Eisel asked.

"I don't really see it."

"Well for one, he hasn't made a terrible joke at all," Eisel reminded.

Oh, that was right, Krentelfal always made those jokes. It was a shame that Illya didn't really hear any from him yet, they could've made her day much more amusing.

"Maybe he's stressed?" Illya tried, wondering to herself if a ghost could get stressed. "Once this is all over, he'll probably be fine enough to make jokes."

Eisel made an odd expression at that.

Speaking of odd…

Illya stepped out into the clearing and blew on her whistle, knowing that it would take a while before her horse appeared. Eisel did the same, which was how Illya was able to look through her inventory without him noticing.

She didn't really need to be secretive, but a part of her just didn't like sharing unless it was with her family.

She had Tulius' Gauntlets. Upon scanning the item's information, she learned that she couldn't even equip it unless she was level 90, which was a bummer. It gave the wearer a grand boost in attack power, an almost twenty percent increase which is a lot. On top of that, there was a whole set bonus of tripled health regeneration, only if she had the full set.

It was a shame that there was a chance that she couldn't keep it. Krentelfal might take the armor pieces back once the whole quest line was over. It wasn't like the old immortal needed to stay with her at all. He probably had enough mana to last a lifetime.

She still thought it was unfair that she couldn't access it at all. Like seriously, her family was going to be broken once they reached a suitable level but here she was as a plain old Guardian.

Granted Illya had her Engel Note spell, but she still wanted something more to 'even' the playing field as it were. She had no doubt that Shirou and Rin were going to spiral into some monstrous behemoth of power and influence respectively. Sakura could probably catch up if her Foxtail racial traits didn't get in the way.

Her horse appeared from the foggy mist alongside Eisel's mare. Illya noted that her horse was the exact same as before. In the game, the horse's color and height varied each time. So was the whistle only capable of grabbing one singular horse?

It probably was the case, seeing as this horse froze in terror at the sight of the old ghost.

Ah well, you win some, you lose some.

Illya got on and sighed. "Follow me, neither of you knows the way."

"I can read a map just fine, you know?" Eisel argued.

Illya turned to face him. She grabbed the map in his hands and turned it right side up. He blinked at it for a few seconds before realizing what had happened.

"Ah…" Eisel muttered, only now just realizing that the game's mini-map and a real-life map differed in several ways. "… We can ignore that happened, right?"

Illya wore a smug smile on her face.

"No~"

Eisel seemed to pout, which Illya found funny. She found it funnier after he overtook her and traveled ahead of her, even though their horses had the same speed.

It was fine, Illya would call if he was going the wrong way, which was hopefully not going to occur even once because they were going down a straight path.

"It is intriguing to me though," Krentelfal called out to her, hovering beside her horse in a standing position.

Ah, so that was how Eisel's horse was able to overtake her, Illya's horse was stiffly trying to gallop along despite the fear it seemed to have. Dumb horse.

"I had thought that adventurers of the Guardian class could not use spells like that. Very intriguing indeed…"

… and just like that, Illya's mood soured.

"You saw?" Illya asked, not going to even put on a poker face. This NPC was thousands of years old, so he had probably learned how to see through facades anyway. "I'll have to ask you to keep that a secret."

"Another one of those matters where I shan't speak about then?" He muttered. "First with the reservoir of mana and now this. Will all future matters have to be concealed when it comes to adventurers, or is it just with you specifically?"

"Just me, Krentelfal," Illya said. "– and probably my other guild members. We're not normal, as you probably guessed by now."

Krentelfal shrugged as a leaf phased pass him. "I suppose I'll have to meet them then, won't I?"

Illya frowned further. "… and for what reason, exactly?"

"If these fellow adventurers of yours hold similar secrets as you do now, then I'd rather see for myself." He said. "It would be troubling if something off were to happen. Concealing something like your infinite yet inaccessible mana is rather simple, but I'm not sure the same can be said of your fellows."

Considering one of them has the ability to seemingly make spells on the fly, another with the ability to give sentience to her summons – when she got around to leveling those skills – and another that can seemingly recreate the world around him… yes, that would be incredibly hard to hide.

"I see you're point… but I have a question of my own," Illya retorted. "Why do you care? Keeping those abilities secret is my concern alone, not yours."

"Your concerns are my concerns," The old ghost said. "I wouldn't have been keeping you company for almost a full year without showing a slight bit of concern now would I?"

What.

"I think of you as a grandchild I never had, or something vaguely similar," Krentelfal continued, not noticing the thousands of question marks that were popping out of Illya's head. "Out of all the adventurers that passed by, you were the one that stayed the most."

"What."

"It was quite a refreshing experience to have someone willingly stay for my repetitive wordplay. Mayhaps I should make more, for when this is all over?"

"Wait, wait, wait! Timeout!" Illya halted his tirade with urgency. "What're you talking about? What time spent together? Didn't we meet just yesterday?"

His floating stance followed her on horseback but slumped ever so slightly. "Ah… Mayhaps I remembered wrong? My days back at the Fountain of Heroes were lonely, but bearable whenever a certain young adventurer appeared."

He chuckled to himself as if remembering an old memory. "He would sit around and listen as I told tales of my past and my frankly magnificent attempts at wordplay. While he was a male, you shared a similar mana signature, so I had simply assumed that it was a woman under that huge hulk of armor. It would appear that I was wrong, apologies young one."

He… he could remember things? From before the Transition?

"Truly, I should have seen it earlier. There was no way a woman such as yourself could've been under that giant's armor," He berated himself, ignoring the look of pure confusion that Illya had. "Perhaps you were his sibling? Do you know of a giant Guardian named Illyasviel?"

"… That's my name," Illya muttered. "I recently used an appearance changing potion. I didn't want to confuse you, sorry."

"Oh!" He mused as his shoulders rose in jubilation, a hearty chuckle escaping him. "I see, I see! How rude of me to not confirm first before jumping to conclusions. That must also be why you said that we only met yesterday, you wanted to avoid confusion…"

Krentelfal's eyes shifted as he peered down at her. "… Still, it is odd that the man I spoke to at that time would choose to become a woman."

"… You were right about the confusion part, but from the start, I was always a woman."

In her heart, that is. Now, she had the mature body to prove it.

The silence that followed was… awkward, to say the least.

"Ah…" He muttered. "I truly should cease the making of assumptions. Forgive me."

"It's fine," Illya finally said. "Look, I'm willing to put it all behind us. Just don't bring it up again, please."

"To make new memories? I see, I see–" He fell short and sighed. "Another assumption… Forgive this old ghost."

"No, actually let's do that," Illya stated with a new look of subtle determination on her face. "Even though we spent that much time together–" Even if she didn't know the details of it, "–we still don't know each other as people. We should get started from there."

This was the NPC that she would simply relax with whenever her family wasn't home. The NPC that kept giving her a smile on her face when she felt even the slightest bit alone. The NPC– the person that she found even a slight connection with.

She didn't want that to fade, even if what they knew of each other was basically shot. Hell, Illya didn't even know the personal details of the guy! All she knew was that he hovered around the fountain and told funny jokes!

From the looks of it, Krentelfal thought the same.

"I see… I would like that, lady Illyasviel."

"Just call me Illya."

"That I will, Illya."

Her earlier sour mood had faded and now a warmer feeling took hold.

Oh yeah… they were stuck to each other, weren't they? She was his supremely stable supply of mana, and she, the supplier. Unless he wanted to leave, there was no way for them to separate, not without sending himself to whatever afterlife existed for him.

Illya realized that didn't want that to happen, not even one bit.

She ignored the fact that he probably had several thousand years worth of mana stockpiled up now.

"On a separate matter entirely, mayhaps you could impart to me on how those white birds work?"

"Nope."

"Not even a little tweet out of you?"

"N-Nope!"

The snickers she held did not fade as quickly as she hoped.


Rin was pleased.

She walked joyfully with a skip in her step – or rather closer to a saunter than actual walking – as she glided her way into the Arcadia. Ferlna of course noticed but for some reason, she didn't immediately decide to greet her.

Not that it would put any damper on her mood. After all, Rin just had the most wonderful night in the days she spent in this world.

Turns out, Shirou's third leg was absolutely fine.

Definitely fine~

Rin managed to break herself from her stupor – as much as she would rather relish in the very recent memories – and focused on the task at hand. She wasn't about to be called out on being distracted, not this first-rate magus!

She was then caught by the appearance of a bundle of rather beautiful items on the table counter.

Oh, look, shiny.

"Hey Ferlna, where did those gems come from?" Rin asked with a hint of eagerness, something that Ferlna caught onto rather quickly.

"These, Magi Tohsaka?" She gestured the rather large and round gems on the table. "These are flame stones. There was a sale at one of the stalls yesterday so I decided to purchase a few. Winter is fast approaching so having some form of warmth should prove useful."

"Flame stones…" Rin muttered as she walked up to them, holding one in her palm. "Hmm… What else can they do?"

"Strange to find an adventurer that doesn't know…" the Lander muttered. "I believe that most adventurers find a use for them through enchantments, giving some of their weapons more flame-like properties." She shrugged. "Unfortunately, I am no adventurer. If you want to know more, I suggest you ask the much more knowledgeable adventurer smiths."

Interesting…

Rin had honestly never seen gems like these before. They glowed even without the influence of light as if their inherent glow came from the depths of the crystal itself. A marvel to behold to be sure.

However, that wasn't all that made this gem catch her eye. What really caught her attention was the swirling mass of mana literally circling within it. It surged much like its namesake, like a raging inferno yet tempered like a kindled fire.

Calling this marvel a mere flame 'stone' was simply abhorrent, a crime against the very existence of her magecraft! If anything, this was a fire personified as a lustrous gem!

Very interesting…

"Ferlna," Rin called as she spun the gem in her hand. "Do you have any spare gemstones like these?"

Ferlna still held that look of curiosity on her but didn't act on it as usual. Instead, she shuffled the glasses on her dainty nose as she pondered.

"Yes, I do… However, it will take me time to find them within the storage room." She halted her shuffling and gazed at the magus. "Might I ask what you intend to do with them?"

Rin's didn't really want to reveal her magecraft to them. Her training as a magus screamed at her with vigor to not even consider the idea, but Shirou had done so yesterday with structural analysis to some blacksmiths.

… Also, there wasn't really a mages association here to slap a drastic fine on her – or kill her – was there?

"I use gems for most of my magecraft," Rin found herself saying, cringing only slightly as the inner secretive magus wanted to tear her own heart out. "I haven't seen gems like these before so I want to see if they could help with my own personal research."

"I see…" Ferlna muttered. "Well then, once we're done with the paper, I'll be able to help you with your endeavor. It's the least I could do for the help you're offering me."

Oh yeah, she basically put herself up as a test subject yesterday, didn't she?

Granted, she was also very curious about the body structure of adventurers. The way they'd supposedly revive from the cathedral didn't make sense to her other than the religious connotations.

Great, not even a whole week in this new world and Rin had already found several projects to occupy herself on, not including the future studies she wanted to conduct on the items in this world or the monsters just outside the city.

"Unrelated to your magic," Ferlna said, breaking Rin's train of thought. "I find myself with a concern. The researchers at the capital, as inane as they are, hold significant weight as to whether or not the paper will be accepted. It would hurt their irritating concept of pride if we were to denounce the cardinal spellcasting formulas in the paper."

"Does the opinion of those old farts matter that much?" Rin questioned, finding herself another stool to take a seat on by the bookshelves to Ferlna's left. "We can just appeal to the top brass, right? If he accepts it, then we won't need approval from the rest of the idiots."

Ferlna sighed. "Therein lies the problem." She took a moment to readjust her glasses. "The one who holds the 'top brass' position, is the Sage of Miral Lake, a man named Regan… Unfortunately, the man has proven to be a bit of a recluse. Contacting him usually takes weeks, if not months, to garner a reply."

"So we got a lazy ass, not bad. Those kinds of people can be swayed if we grab their interest somehow." Rin speculated. "What are the usual ways you people try to contact him?"

"Simply through common letters via courier," Ferlna replied. "However, those prove to be fruitless as the sage actively ignores them."

"Then why keep sending letters at all?" Rin questioned with a furrowed brow. "Doing something that failed, again and again, is just plain stupid."

From the way Ferlna frowned with a sigh, Rin could tell that the Lander felt the same thing.

Ugh… The more Rin learned of these supposed 'Elders' the more she thinks that the magical side of the Landers is just full of senile old bats. That probably wasn't too far from the truth.

"Then what do you propose?" Ferlna asked as she massaged her brow. "Send a grander pigeon? Use a griffin to mail the letter?"

"You're thinking a bit small there, Ferlna." Rin chided, also checking if the Lander had a headache from the way her hands moved. "If this 'Sage of Miral Lake' is renowned for contributions to magic, then we simply need something magical to garner his attention."

Rin rose from her stool and wandered around the shop, only stopping when she found an ornate looking brass bird.

Perfect.

"You don't mind if I use this bird, do you?" Rin asked, admittedly with a sly grin growing on her face.

Rin didn't really wait for a reply as she grabbed it and tossed it in her hand to get a feel for its weight.

Light and malleable, almost perfect to use. Shame it wasn't made of gold, though. From research she had read in the library, gold was apparently a much more conductive material for this world's mana, as stated by some old codger that tried out a golden staff for the first time.

She didn't waste a second by flowing mana into the construct.

Mana flowed into its eyes and reaching the supposed section where a brain would have been. It was small and hollow in there – which was also perfect – allowed Rin enough leeway to stuff one of the smaller flame stones within it, which she did.

She could tell that Ferlna grew confused with her actions, but simply sat and watched, no doubt knowing that she would gain an explanation later.

Rin allowed her mana to flow again into the bird, but this time to the flame stone as well. She felt the surging inferno of mana within it just waiting to be released… or rather, to be used to its fullest potential.

The flame stone that had fit just barely, shifted its shape as it completely filled the hollow alcove leaving no room for wiggling. The mana within calmed as Rin fed her own mana into it.

As beautiful as the gem was, it was far too volatile and unfocused for her tastes. Adding her own mana to the mixture calmed it down, allowing the mana to be shaped to her will.

A series of commands were added to the gem, causing it to dim slightly in its glow. That lasted for but a moment until the final decision was made, veins of mana flowed out from the gem and into the brass work, creating pathways where mana would flow through them with just a bit of effort.

The mana finally calmed as the 'nerves' were made. With a final burst of prana to jump start it, the brass bird shivered to life. Wings spread open and flapped, the creaking of the brass present as its own light weight – combined with the air pressure being generated from its wing beats – created flight.

Rin only noticed Ferlna again when she heard the Lander's stool being shoved to the side to give way to hurrying footsteps.

"M-Magi Tohsaka, what in the world?" She muttered, a look of wonder and awe on her face. "Did you… give it life?"

What an odd conjecture.

"Not really," Rin replied as she ended that very same conjecture. "It's just a pseudo-familiar. The gemstone in its head gives out simple commands to the rest of the brass construct. Simple flapping movements for the wings enough to generate flight. It should also follow basic orders on where to go, but it won't be able to fight yet or ready to move great distances without a steady supply of prana."

… Although, the flame stone seemed to set the brass bird on fire. The metal wasn't melting at all so it was likely that it was just a visual thing, thankfully. It'd be bad if the brass bird just melted into a pool of slag right then and there.

It also looked like a cool phoenix right now.

Maybe a different elemental gemstone would change the way it works? The fire looked cool, sure, but the magus wondered if there were any other additional effects it had?

Rin rubbed her chin in thought.

"Hey, Ferlna? How far away is the guy– er, Regan, from here? I need an accurate measurement so I can fill this guy with enough prana to make the distance–"

The sound of a Lander hitting the floor caught her attention.

Rin turned to see Ferlna flat on her back with her eyes rolled to the back of her head.

"… Was it something I said?"

Eh, she'd wake up sooner or later. Rin might as well start finishing up the paper. She only had a few proofreads left until they were done anyway, Rin could let the Lander rest until then.

Rin turned the signboard outside to signal that it was 'closed' just in case.

After all, she didn't want to be accused of anything barbaric like 'assault' of all things.


Shirou held back a yawn as he made his way to the forge. He couldn't afford to show up looking tired or else… Well, actually he didn't know what would await him if he did, but from the looks that most of the other blacksmiths had when he was announced to be Meltraus' apprentice…

… Well, two hands clasped together with a look of solemn pity on their face said as much as it could, didn't it?

Shirou also didn't want Meltraus to ask what he had been doing to warrant his exhaustion. He really didn't want to explain it.

Last night… last night… it was a very tiring experience, to say the least.

He took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly, controlling himself. Most of his fatigue had faded now so he could focus greatly on his soon to come errands.

"Hmm… What kind of katana should I get?" An unknown voice said, a young boy from the tone of it. "What do you think, Minori?"

"I don't know much about swords. I'm sorry, Tohya." A second one replied, probably a girl of similar age.

By the time Shirou turned the corner and saw two children standing at the front of a nearby weapons shop, looking through the selection of katana as best as they could.

It wasn't an actual blacksmith's shop, those were for the more personalized orders. All regular and mass-produced weaponry were sent off to a weapons shop where both the shopkeeper and the blacksmith that made the blade would get a cut.

From the looks of it, one of the regular short swords he made was there, sitting on a display for the world to see. There was something in his chest at the sight, something close to a spark, but he didn't know exactly what that spark entailed.

"What about this one?" The young girl asked. Her name was Minori, judging from their talk from earlier. "It's pretty long… Maybe that gives it more strength?"

You would need more upper torso strength to wield it properly.

"Too long for me… what do you think about that one?" He said as he pointed to a katana with a somewhat larger hilt. "I could probably have a better grip on that!"

It would get in the way of your smaller body. Regular swings would take less effort but the handle itself would catch itself on your body.

"You would know more than me, Tohya. You're the Samurai, after all." She seemed to pout. "Besides, they all have the same stats. Does it matter which one we buy?"

A quick glance to the side showed that the shopkeeper Lander was trying his best to remain professional, but it was hard when your customers looked like kids.

He heard similar complaints from Melhia sometimes. When you meet a smaller and younger adventurer, you were never able to be sure whether or not the adventurer in question was actually that age or not. For all these Landers knew, they could be older than their grandmother.

Not for Shirou though, he knew from a single glance that these were children, without any knowledge on weaponry too by the looks of it.

He wasn't really going to be late, so Shirou could spare just a few minutes to help out.

It would be disastrous if the boy used an unsuitable weapon in battle.

"Excuse me," Shirou called out to catch the children's attention. "Would you mind if I helped?"

"Hm?" The young boy mused, staring up at Shirou in confusion. "Nii-san, you know anything about swords?"

"Yes, I used to do Kendo."

It wasn't a lie, the third-rate magus used to do kendo once in a while with Fuji-nee.

It was actually less 'kendo' and more 'smack Shirou around until he faints' kind of thing. Pretty similar to what Saber used to do with him if he was honest.

"Tohya, I don't think we should trust him. He's a stranger…" The young girl stated sensibly, which Shirou honestly agreed with. "The last time we did that…"

"But we'll be here all day if we don't buy one now," Tohya argued, a display of childish ignorance. "If this guy can shave that time away, then we can spend more time doing other things! We only have today to relax, after all…"

… There was a hint of grim acceptance in his tone, something that Shirou didn't know how to approach.

"Well… fine," She relented with a pout. "I suppose he can help, but don't say that I didn't warn you."

"Great!" He cheered before turning to Shirou. "So, which katana do you think is best for me?"

Shirou quickly walked up to the rack of katanas. "If possible, can I see the katana that you had before?"

"Yeah, no problem," He replied as he opened his menu to display it.

Shirou's own structural analysis filled in all the details he needed. He didn't pry into anything other than battle scenarios, he had the decency to maintain privacy after all.

The third-rate magus was… conflicted with how the sword was used. From what he could see, the sword was used mainly for attacking and attacking without much concern about defense. The basis was on how the boy would apparently run up to monsters and start slashing.

Ignoring the fact that this child's class was that of a Samurai, which played a rather defensive role in this world, Shirou could see that the boy had little to no training in the art of swordplay.

A complete beginner. Only the 'Skills' given to all players being the only things that kept him alive. That could be the case for almost every other player in this world, which didn't really sit well in Shirou's stomach.

"Have there been any problems when you used that katana?" Shirou asked. "Knowing something like that would make this go smoother."

"Now that you mentioned it…" Tohya muttered. "I could definitely go for a lighter one. This one is sometimes a bit too heavy for me to swing with."

Shirou knew he was talking about regular attacks, not ones that required mana to utilize. The burden his arms felt could be attributed to his younger age and body size, but Shirou felt that it wasn't the whole case.

Shirou picked a katana from the rack and held it towards them. "What about this one? It's a bit thinner than the one you used, but I guarantee that it's just as durable and lighter for you."

"Isn't it a bit… short?" Minori asked.

True, it was just longer than two shaku, or in layman's terms, just over sixty centimeters or a bit under twenty-four inches. It wouldn't be out of place to just call it a rather large wakizashi.

"It's still a katana, despite its size," Shirou found himself explaining. "Don't worry, it might not have as much reach, but it'll suit your brother more than his previous blade."

Also, based on the kid's up close way of fighting, a shorter katana would definitely yield him more results with more leeway of attack. He wouldn't even need to worry about hitting his allies…

… But why did they all look so sad when they fought, though?

Shirou was tempted to gaze further into the experiences that Tohya's blade held, but stopped himself and handed Tohya the katana. After all, privacy was important to everyone. "Just try it out and give it a few swings."

Shirou stepped back, something that Minori wisely copied as Tohya swung the katana around just a bit.

It was like seeing a child swing a bat around – a painful sight for the magus with nothing but swords on his mind – but Tohya seemed satisfied enough with it and nodded to himself with a smile.

"This feels great!" Tohya cheered as he turned to the counter. "How much for it!?"

The Lander sighed and looked at the blade. "Just a hundred gold, adventurer…"

Shirou didn't miss the slight disdain and wariness that the tone held.

"Alright," Tohya muttered as he grabbed a bag of gold from his pocket, handing over the bag once he confirmed that all one hundred of the gold was there. "Here you go. Thanks for the help, Nii-san!"

As they left, with Tohya seemingly starting a random game of tag with his sister much to her displeasure, Shirou turned to the Lander. His gaze held no animosity, which was a stark contrast to what the Lander showed.

"What?"

"They were just kids," Shirou softly chided. "There's no need to be rude."

The Lander merely scoffed and looked elsewhere.

Shirou frowned and sighed to himself, already back on the path to the forge.

He was tired in the morning, and from the looks of it, he was going to be tired for the rest of the day, at least mentally.

I wonder what Sakura's doing?


Sakura sighed as she shuffled in her steps.

This is a bad idea, Sakura.

That was the thought that would not leave her alone, like a plague that spreads through touch.

Presently, the youngest, technically, of the Emiya Family was walking through the forest. The very same forest that Illya had taken them in the first few days of arriving in this world.

Sakura found herself with almost nothing to do if she were honest. Cleaning the guild room was easy enough, no struggle there, and talking to random strangers isn't really a habit that Sakura wanted to get into, despite the fact that she had met with initially random strangers since the start.

She didn't really have a subclass to raise, the apprentice subclass seemed to level up regardless of what she did albeit at a far slower rate than what would be considered normal, nor did she have a task to preoccupy herself with as her other guild members had.

She wasn't good at magical research, not good at smithing, nor was she out on a quest with another player.

Instead, she was wandering the forest filled with monsters that would likely attack her if necessary.

Wonderful idea, Sakura. Truly a wonderful idea.

She shook away the pessimistic thoughts and held a firm grip on her staff. She hadn't really tried killing a monster before nor did she want to in the slightest.

She had honestly seen enough killing in the Holy Grail war…

However, if her hesitance in the act would cause harm to her family, then she would need to harden her heart in order to do so. She didn't want her sister to get hurt because she wouldn't hit a slime or something similar.

Sakura would need to get started by killing a slime first, something that she could feel less guilty about because she was sure those things had no emotions. They didn't even have eyes or mouths, so there was no way for them to cry out in pain and make her feel like a terrible person, right?

Happy thoughts, Sakura. Happy thoughts.

Sakura stepped over a little stream of water and carried on her way.

At least she wouldn't need to clean her druid robes. They had tested it earlier when they were covered in slime goo. After putting away Rin's slime covered tunic, they would be able to take it out without a hint of the murky goo on it.

Granted, the few scratches that Shirou's leather armor had remained when they tried it, but the goo and dirt that marred its surface had been removed. Almost like it was magic… Actually, it was definitely magic, Rin said so herself.

Sakura held back a chuckle.

Her sister certainly hated the fact that she couldn't understand the magic behind the inventory system, but someday she'd learn it. Sakura was sure of that.

The sound of ruffling bushes caught her ear.

Sakura gripped her staff as she turned to face it.

What were the spells she had again? She had the simple Heal, a minor movement restriction spell called Vine Snare… is that it? Thinking back on it now, she really didn't have many spells to use whatsoever.

The only real kind-of-attacking spell she'd get, based on when she last checked, was at level ten. Even then, it was just a summon spell for some small baby animal.

Alright… calm down, Sakura. You have a restriction spell to hold… whatever it is, in place. Just hit it while it's struggling and heal if you get hurt. Nothing too hard, right?

The shuffling of bushes stopped. In turn, Sakura's curiosity grew.

It wouldn't hurt to take a peek over the bush, right?

After a short second of minor pondering, the debatably youngest of the guild shuffled her way to the bush.

With bated breath, she peered over the bush…

… and the short whimper echoed from the undergrowth, alongside a tuft of silver fur.

"… Oh dear…"

In her sight was a small – and in her opinion very adorable – wolf pup. Silver streaks across its body, its neck covered in fluffy fur, and a long tail that flickered underneath its body in a show of fear and resignation.

"Oh, you poor thing…" Sakura muttered with pity. Soon, she gazed all around the surrounding forest for a sign of its parents.

Her eyes lingered on the random blots of silver fur around the area, very reminiscent of the day that Sakura and her guild had fought these monsters.

Granted, they had painstakingly looted all the fallen drops so nothing was left… but these fallen bits of fur indicated that some other party must have come around recently. From the looks of it, that party must not have cared about the drops at all.

The tufts of fur disappeared into bubbles of EXP, but they didn't flow anywhere and simply floated back up into the sky.

Was that what happens if you were too late to pick up the drops? Rin would certainly like to know that.

Another short whimper came out from the pup as Sakura attempted to approach.

… Had it not left from its spot here? Gazing at where its family had fallen, unable to do anything as they were slaughtered…

While Sakura could not relate to the feeling, she could emphasize with it.

"There, there…" Sakura cooed as she set her staff to the side, a hand held out towards the pup. "Everything will be fine, don't worry."

The pup backed away with a limp, stumbling within the shrubbery like a new-born calf… except it wasn't new-born in the slightest. The way the ribs had sunken and the way its bones were just about showing from underneath its fluffy fur…

… Illya would forgive her for this, right?


Four hours.

It had taken literally four hours, just four hours of both travel on horseback and combat to take out all of the surrounding lairs. All of which had weak cultists that didn't put much of a fight whatsoever.

Seriously, even if they were all level fifty, they should at least have something more to them than strong magical attacks!

They could have variety too, you know!? The amount of Fire Balls she was being fired at with was ridiculous!

Illya sighed and hefted her glorious axe onto her shoulder as she grabbed a pair of boots. A quick look at the description told her that these gave bonus movement speed for three seconds after a kill, which was very interesting.

That was the last piece of Tulius' armor to retrieve. Now, if the cultists wanted to re-summon their precious demon lord, they'd have to go through Illya first, assuming she'd get to keep the armor.

If she wouldn't be able to, then Krentelfal was significantly overpowered enough to break through any kind of hold they could have on him, especially with the apparent surplus of mana she had given him.

She walked out of the lair while ignoring the sight of bloodstains – they'd fade away into EXP with time – and focused solely on the grassy fields.

"Was it hard this time, young Illyasviel?"

"Not at all, Krentelfal."

"… Why am I even here? A tag-along?"

"Do not put yourself down, young Eisel! You were helpful in keeping those vulgar goblins away from us."

"You could have just one-shot them anyway!"

"Focus boys! That was the last lair, now what?"

Krentelfal froze from what appeared to be a quick retort and simply shrugged. "The cultists must not have had another plan whatsoever, moreover, they weren't prepared at all for our assault. Catching them in the middle of their chanting was a rather lucky break, for if we were but an hour late then Belaphr would have certainly revived."

"Not that I'd know…" Eisel mumbled. "I didn't even get to fight much."

"Trust me, humanoid monsters are something you should avoid," Illya advised. "For someone like you, it'd be a bit too much."

"Why? Aren't they super weak? You beat them quickly after all."

"Eh… reasons."

She really didn't want him to know that once she figured out that she could use her Engel Note spell, killing those magical failures was incredibly easy… With her 'training' that the Einzberns imposed upon her to kill the adopted son of her father, it was all the easier.

"Anyway," Illya spoke up to change the topic. "We're basically done with the quest, right? What's next, old man?"

"Hmm…" Krentelfal mused to himself. "There is no longer a purpose to remain here, I suppose. Normally I'd take my dear friend's armor and return to the fountain…"

Damn! She wasn't going to keep the set!

"… However, seeing as I don't need to stay at the fountain anymore, the safest place for his armor would most likely be alongside you," He finalized. "So, I shall leave all of his armor in your care."

Yes! She was going to keep the set!

"Of course, I shall be beside you every second of the day. An extra precaution against any would-be assassins sent for his armor once more."

Eh, she could deal with that.

Eisel though, the man's mouth contorted in horror.

"Yeah… good luck with that, Illyasviel." He muttered. "You earned it, definitely. Keep the dad joke factory to yourself."

Illya sent Eisel a minor glare at the rude remark, much to the old ghost's confusion. In fact, Krentelfal looked very confused.

Look, Eisel! See how your insult affected him!

"Pardon, but mayhaps you could tell me what is a factory?"

Never mind, he was confused for an entirely different reason.

"Alright then, let's go home," Illya said. "Use 'Call of Home' and we can get back to despairing in the city."

"Thank god, I'm gonna look forward to that… as morbid as that sounds." Eisel muttered. "I hate long missions. This is why I don't do raids."

"You could always drop your miner subclass and try out the tailor subclass, you sewing otaku," Illya suggested with a slight grin. "You would probably prefer something like that anyway."

"I tried that already…" Eisel muttered in heavy disappointment. "The act of 'sewing' here is just tapping on dialogue boxes like mindless lemmings. There's no room for creative flair either so the joy of it is gone entirely. At least as a miner, I can actually skip digging." He then shrugged. "Although, I'm not going to any of the nearby caves anytime soon. Too much of a hassle now."

"Hmm? Have you grown lazy somehow, young Eisel?" Krentelfal asked. "Most adventurers I knew would relish at the idea of such a journey."

Eisel sent her a sideways glance and just sighed. Illya could see why.

When he talked about the 'now', he was talking about being transported to an entirely different yet familiar world. Talking to a Lander about how they were just lines of code once-upon-a-time is just asking to be lynched as insane.

Granted, the Landers wouldn't be able to do any form of lynching, but it was the thought that counts.

Plus, it would be a huge hassle to deal with any sort of existential crisis that a Lander would have.

Illya sighed and started chanting the return spell.

Seriously, who would be insane enough to try to explain that concept to the Landers?


"So basically, most adventurers weren't even controlling their bodies as a regular person would," Rin explained. "It was more like controlling a puppet or something like that. Not completely sure on the specifics but I'm sure that my guild master would be able to shed some light on it. She's been an adventurer far longer than I have."

Rin watched as Ferlna furiously took down notes on her personalized clipboard.

After Rin had finalized the paper, she had awoken Ferlna and gotten the location where the Sage of Miral Lake was supposedly residing. It would take almost all of Rin's currently meager prana to let the brass bird fly all the way there, but Ferlna managed to help by lending her own prana.

Granted, Rin oversaw the process and made sure that any and all mistakes she could have made were rectified before they appeared. It was easy, like overseeing neural surgery… that wasn't easy, never mind.

Once it had enough mana, Rin allowed it to take off, with the research papers safely strapped onto its supposed ankles. It was hanging off of it like a coconut from a pigeon, as weird as that sounded, but honestly, there were magi that did weirder stuff.

When the pseudo-familiar left, Rin suggested they get started on the next research paper while they were still in a working mood.

So here Rin was, explaining to the Lander how and why the adventurers around them acted the way they had when the 'May Incident' occurred.

It was very hard trying to navigate through the conversation, making sure that Ferlna wasn't clued in on how their existence was basically created and based from a game not too long ago and that their memories were probably fabricated in some way or form.

She wasn't an idiot. Saying something like that would probably make Ferlna distrust her completely, and if she believed her then she'd probably break down in an existential crisis.

Hence, her current explanation. She had stated that adventurers were regular people who had found a way to send their consciousness to a different land via some form of technology – which Ferlna doubted heavily – where they controlled self-created bodies to experience a whole new world. The very act was considered a game to them.

Granted, she said that the bodies were a bit dated and couldn't be capable of fully expressing themselves but were, without a doubt, peerless in combat.

The reason the 'May Incident' occurred, is that these adventurers, who had families and friends in their original land, had somehow been permanently trapped in their current adventurer bodies. Thus, they had been taken away from their friends and family by some unknown force.

Hence their hysteria.

"This is… very fascinating…" Ferlna muttered as she wrote down on her clipboard. "And you can confirm this? You were in a different land, as well?"

Well, more a different plane of existence or dimension, but land worked out here better. Easier to explain than dimensional theory at least.

"Yep, that's right," Rin confirmed with a sigh. "I still remember it… The house me and my guildmates lived, my unruly teacher that would visit us daily, my classmates that are probably wondering where we all went… I remember all of it."

At some point, Ferlna's quill had fallen still. With a glance, Rin could see the look of concern and pity that she was being given.

"Don't mind it," Rin waved off the concern with ease. "I have my family here with me, they're all I need," She shifted her gaze to the clipboard. "More importantly, are there any other questions you have?"

Ferlna gazed at her, most likely trying to decipher whether or not Rin was possibly wearing a facade. She wasn't wearing one though.

Rin would miss the few friends she made – especially those three knuckleheads – but as long as she was with her sister, surrogate sister, and lover, then nothing would be able to cause her to worry.

As long as she had them, that is.

If she didn't, then Rin would have probably have gone all 'evil magus rawr' mode on all of these people rather quickly and started researching for a way to return with haste.

Probably trying out live dissection of Landers and adventurers alike just to see if it could help too, you'd never know.

Eh, teenage girl things.

"Yes… I do have one single question," Ferlna brought up, the concern having abated somewhat to make way to her usual glint of curiosity. "This understanding of magic you have… the only way to explain it and your expertise of it, is that there is magic from where you came from too, is there?"

Eh… Ah… Well played, Ferlna.

She had discarded the part of her that warranted secrecy of the existence of magecraft. So now, she couldn't really hide it from Ferlna.

"Yes, magic exists in our land… but it's a dying art."

"Would you care to expound?" Ferlna prodded.

Rin obliged.

"There aren't many magi left in our land. I and the rest of my guild are one of the many few. In fact, the very existence of magic has long since faded into myth and story," Rin explained, seeing the look of surprise on Ferlna's face. "Our world has no more creatures like this land has, all of them having been banished to the 'Reverse side of the world', so there was no need for the people of our world to defend themselves… unless you counted defending from each other."

Seriously, humanity could be as stupid as a bunch of primates with their trigger finger for flinging shit.

"Ignoring that part of our history," Rin moved on. "Magic, which we call magecraft in our land, is a mystery that can be actualized through the use of mana – or prana as we called it – but can also be replicated by the mundane methods. Things like Earth Shot can be replicated by throwing dirt, for example."

"Interesting…" Ferlna muttered, yet she did not write it down once she heard that it wasn't a widely known art, and therefore inconsequential to her research. "Although, it does not explain the disappearance of magic in your land."

"You can use magic here freely," Rin said. "In our land, magecraft is weaker the more people know how it works. For example, a Fire Ball would work as normal if only one person in the world knew how to use it. However, if two people know the process, then the Fire Ball is half of its size and half of its power. This led to a mindset of keeping our magic a secret, both from enemies and other allied magi."

"Eventually, if a secret is kept long enough, then it just ceases to exist in the eyes of the masses," Rin continued. "Well, that's that. My previous knowledge on the magecraft of my land made it easier to apply to the magic of this land. Does that make sense?"

Ferlna nodded.

"It does… and I feel as if I learned something more about you," Ferlna admitted. "While open, you are without a doubt enigmatic to me. I am glad, that you opened me up to what must have been a widely guarded secret in your land."

"Well, it's kind of easy to do that, seeing as there's no mages association about to kill us all for doing that–"

Rin stopped her miniature informational rant as she saw the look of pure horror that Ferlna had.

Ah… whoops?

"Kill…?" She muttered. "Was your world truly as… unforgiving, as that?"

"Don't get me wrong, all magi are dicks who only think of how to further their research," Rin offered. "If some people knew, then they'd zealously work to either induct – as impossibly rare as it sounds – or kill him… and all his relatives and friends, just to be sure that the secret of magecraft remains a secret."

Rin saw the growing horrified face and winced.

Okay, bad choice of words.

"Don't worry, basically all of the adventurers don't even know about any of that!" Rin offered once more. "It's just me and my guild, and we're mostly good magi."

"Mostly?"

"Well… some of us have done things we regret, but we put it behind us to live in this new land," Rin continued. "Just… forget about everything I said about magi. Don't let it cloud your research about adventurers. Magi are a small and irrelevant sample size to take note of. There are probably no other magi that came with us."

"… And why, pray tell, would you assume that?"

This time, Rin simply snorted.

"I doubt there are any magi that would stop their research to play any games. I only started because my guild master begged me too."

Rin looked out the window, noticing the now rising moon.

"Ah… It appears that it is late," Ferlna observed, a hint of a sullen frown on her face. "I suppose you are to return now?"

"Yeah…" Rin muttered, unused to the odd look Ferlna had. "Don't worry, I'll try to swing around tomorrow and help your research. Maybe I'll bring my guild master too for extra information."

"Yes. That would be appreciated."

Right, she looked like she was in a funk.

Rin stepped up to Ferlna and did what was necessary.

She rubbed her hands all over the Lander's cheeks and stretched them wide.

"Don't. Think. About. It."

"Fua-ardoun?"

Rin guessed that the Lander had said 'Pardon'. The stretched cheeks weren't really helping her enunciation a single bit.

"Keep out all your worrying and focus on your goal. Worrying doesn't help anyone." Rin let go of her cheeks, watching as the Lander rubbed them in confused irritation.

"Like this, see?" Rin let a smile grow on her face. "Just be happy, alright? You make more progress when you're enjoying something."

Rin knew the dangers of her magecraft, but it was an art form she loved. She could spend ages within her workshop perfecting her craft. Granted, not always with a big smile – more often with a growling irritated frown at the failures – but never once did she grow sullen at it all.

She kept her goal in mind with joy and jubilation, that was all she needed to do to keep a smile on her face.

And now, Ferlna would do the same.

Judging from the rare and amused smile that grew on her, she would do just fine.

Hehe, who said that giving a pep-talk was hard?

"Also, I need some of those gems before I leave."

The look of blatant irritation she received was almost comical.


Shirou hammered the last bit of bulging metal down, the steel forming a flat surface as it started to cool.

That marked the seventh sword he made today, a far cry from what Meltraus had accomplished. Most smiths made their money from horseshoes and such, but apparently, there was a surplus of adventurers who were purchasing extra swords.

Shirou wasn't sure on why so many requests were made… and in hindsight, he should be worried.

Why would so many swords be requested, and of a relatively low rarity at that?

He wasn't going to make the mistake of saying that the swords he made with Meltraus were low in quality, but adventurers should be using their already high-leveled gear for whatever battle they were preparing for.

Why use lower quality weaponry like iron swords?

Shirou didn't know but knew that it wasn't his place to ask. The grand master smith hadn't said anything about it, perhaps he hadn't noticed? The chance of that was extremely low, but not outside the realm of possibility.

After all, that very same grandmaster was currently rather busy with another project, something personally requested from a friend, so he wouldn't have the time to look at what Shirou was doing.

There were so many requests… all for what?

There was only one other conclusion Shirou had, and he didn't really like what it entailed.

"Shirou-san!" Melhia called from the front. "Are you done yet? If you are then you can go! We don't have any more weapons to forge!"

"I got it!" Shirou managed to shout back. Although, not after putting the hammer away first.

On the other side of his worry, he was pleased to say that his skill with a hammer and on the forge wasn't lacking in the slightest. All the swords he had managed to make were amazing in quality… yet he still felt as if they missed something.

Shirou did not know what it was, but he felt that he would learn very soon.

Hopefully.

Once Shirou finally set his equipment to the side, he let out a breath of relief as he stepped out of the forge. He could take the heat, but the fresh cold breeze of the night air gave him a very chilling – and not to mention welcome – feeling.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Melhia-san."

"Hmm? But isn't tomorrow a weekend?" Melhia muttered in confusion.

Shirou blinked. "Ah… I haven't really kept track of time."

In actuality, he didn't even know what specific day he had arrived, whether or not it was a Monday or Wednesday– wait a minute, did these Landers use the same day cycle that they did? Or was it different?

Maybe Sakura would know, or possibly Rin if she somehow learned from a book.

"Alright then," Melhia sighed out. "Here, come over for a second."

Shirou obliged and stepped towards her, only to find a bag shoved onto him. A quick look inside revealed it was filled with gold.

"Most apprentices get a share of the pay too if they do well enough," Melhia explained. "Papa would have given them to you earlier… but he's a little busy."

"Do apprentices really get paid?" Shirou muttered. "It seems a little… counter-productive. Wouldn't the forge need this more?"

"True," Melhia confirmed. "But~ Papa doesn't really like to live with loads of coin lying around. We're not like you adventurers with your magical pockets," Probably talking about inventories. "Besides, it's free coin. You shouldn't be complaining."

A glint took hold in her eye. "Make sure that you buy something good for your lover, alright Shirou-san?"

Shirou stifled a sigh and nodded. "I'll be sure to do that."

"Take care, Shirou-san~"

"You too, Melhia-san."

With that, they parted ways.

However, thoughts ran rampant on Shirou's mind. Thoughts of the forge. More specifically, thoughts on why he still couldn't figure out what his swords were missing.

As much as he knew his core nature was that of a sword, he didn't know what he was dearly forgetting the most when creating another sword.

Shirou sighed as he turned a corner.

Was it supposed to be hard for a sword to forge a sword? It shouldn't be. After all, a sword should know what a sword should need, right?

In any case, Shirou would need to spend quite a long while thinking long and hard–

"I'm telling you, we restock at the end of the week! Just get off your high horse and wait a few days!"

"Liar! I see those ingredients behind you!"

Shirou halted in his steps and gazed at one of the stalls, a familiar sight once he realized who was there. A Lander with alabaster skin and ginger hair.

It was the shopkeeper he had met on his second day here, Egburd.

However, next to him was yet another familiar sight, the same adventurer who had given him… Haste potions, was it? Isaac was his name if Shirou remembered correctly.

From the looks of it, he had another adventurer, sharing a similar look to him, standing beside him looking every bit as agitated as the Lander, yet far more controlled, almost like a knight.

"Those ingredients are my food!" The Lander argued back. "How do you expect a man to eat? To sell everything he has!?"

"Why bother to put them all up on display if you weren't gonna sell them!?" Issac questioned with agitated vigor. "Quit stalling! We need those ingredients!"

"You need them!?" He repeated with a scandalized growl. "You lazy adventurers don't do anything anymore! You don't need my ingredients! You don't need food! You don't even die, you monsters!"

A short, but nonetheless heavy, silence took hold.

"Monsters?" Isaac muttered, his agitation finally reaching his peak as he gripped his sword handle. "If that's how you see us then what's stopping this monster from gutting you where you stand, huh!?"

Shirou saw that exact moment to step in.

Luckily, he wasn't too slow seeing as Isaac's own guild member seemed to hold him back, grabbing his arm to prevent him from doing anything too rash.

Looks like he was used to doing that.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Shirou called out, garnering the attention of the trio of people, and the surrounding crowd that had gathered from the shouting. "It looks like we're getting a little too heated, why don't we all calm down."

"Huh? Who are you supposed to…" His soon-to-come rant fell silent as he recognized him. "Wait a minute, aren't you that level one noob from earlier this week? You're still alive?"

"You know him, Isaac-san?" The adventurer beside him, who was now letting Isaac's arm go, asked with a raised brow.

"Yeah, I gave him a few potions to help out," He replied. "So, what're you doing here, at this dump?"

The stalwart Lander looked ready to lash out again, but Shirou managed to calm him with a quick look of apology.

"Isaac-san," Shirou started. "Can you at least try to be respectful to these Landers? They have feelings and emotions too."

The large adventurer snorted and gazed at him. "Really? All I see is a buggy NPC that hasn't given me what I wanted yet."

"Didn't he give his reason out earlier?" Shirou reminded. "He has to have something to eat, otherwise he won't be able to survive."

"Well– we need to eat too!" He argued. "We're going on a short raid soon so the bonuses from cooked food would be useful."

"Is it an absolute necessity, Isaac-san?" Shirou asked. "Could you do the… raid, without it?"

"Well–"

"Yes, we can." The knight, seemingly of the guardian class, interjected from behind him. "However, it would take a while to actually do it without them. The first boss would be easier with the added buffs."

"Yeah, what he said." Isaac agreed with a shrug.

It seems like he wasn't good at explaining things. In fact, he acts as if he always expects people around him to know what he's talking about.

From the face of his companion, he's had to play the role of explaining multiple times.

"Papa, are they gone yet?"

Shirou blinked at the voice from behind the stall.

"Merideth," The Lander called. "Hurry back to your mother, this won't take long. I just need to sort these gits out."

She was short and stout, yet sharing the same alabaster skin and ginger hair – held in pigtails – as the Lander before them. She wore simple clothing as most Landers would, but there was a braid around her wrist made from flowers.

"Mmkay."

The child quickly shuffled as she scurried away, sending worried and wary glances at both her father and Isaac respectively.

Once she turned a corner, Shirou turned back to the rest of the adventurers…

… Only to find Isaac with his back turned, walking away. The knight breathed out hard, teeth clenched all the while in irritation. "Dumb ass Landers…"

The knight, most likely his aid, simply sighed. "Looks like Isaac-san has decided to forgo the ingredients. Well then, goodbye."

And with that, the aide made to follow.

"Damn adventurers… every last one of them." Egburd muttered. "Sorry laddie, I don't like to lie. I don't like you lot, not anymore. The sooner we be rid of you, the better."

He didn't say much more as he pulled the curtains above his stall, letting them fall down and covering his stall, leaving him out of sight and out of mind.

… Shirou really didn't like the situation in town.

Not one bit.


Sakura sneaked.

She curled her footsteps, with the heel touching the ground first as it rolled to her toes. She didn't really want anyone to see her at the moment, especially not any adventurer.

Oh, what are you doing, Sakura? This could turn out very badly…

… Yet she couldn't abandon the little thing.

She wore her priest robes but it was clear that one of the sleeves hanging limp, a clear sign that her left arm was cradling something underneath the actual robes.

A small bark echoed across the empty guild hall.

"Shh! You have to be quiet…"

The barking didn't continue, but Sakura wondered for how long that was going to last.

She was good at keeping secrets, her own lover never noticed her suffering for years so that was a testament to her skill, right?

As morbid as that sounded, she snuck her way into the guild room and plopped the puppy onto the center table. It wobbled in mild confusion as it took in its new surroundings, before spotting Sakura and wagging its tail in joy.

So adorable~!

Sakura stopped herself from fawning over it and searched her inventory. She had the raw sausage that Illya and Rin tried to eat a long time ago stashed away, which she laid on the table. The puppy sniffed it, growled for just a bit before pouncing on it, nibbling and tearing pieces of meat from the sausage.

Even as it was ripping meat apart with sharpened teeth and claws…

It was so cute~!

Sakura found herself sat on her bed, staring at the wolf puppy as it ate to its heart's content. Most likely feeling increased relief at the sight of food, and joy at the feeling of fullness.

The way it pounced on the meat suggested that its mother had been clearly in the middle of teaching the young pup how to hunt before they were killed and everything.

It really made Sakura think, did the wolves that they killed have pups of their own? If so, what happened to them?

The pup let out a short bark, wagging its tail as the last bit of raw sausage was swallowed. It spun on its hind legs to face her and wiggled its tail. Soon after, the pup jumped onto her lap.

It shuffled atop her robes, trying to find the most comfortable position to rest in, before nestling itself deep on her lap.

The slow breathing it now had, indicated it had fallen asleep.

Sakura let a smile grow on her face as her hand moved to pet its fur. She could take care of a puppy, right? She was good at keeping secrets–

–The guild door burst open.

"Guild meeting! Get your asses into the room!"

"Don't order me around, midget!"

"Just listen to her, Rin…"

"Grrr… Fine! You better explain why this… 'ghost' is here."

"I will, I will. Now get your asses into the room!"

"You're certainly much more… vulgar and crass than before, young Illya."

"This is the real me, Krentelfal. Accept– is that a dog?"

Sakura's hand, which had frozen from her attempt to pet the dog, instead rose in a small and uncertain wave. Short and uncertain laughter soon followed.

"W-welcome back, Illya-chan…" Sakura scrambled to say.

The stare of annoyed acceptance was all she received. Shirou had wisely walked into the room and took a seat on his bed, with Rin following him.

Their guild master gazed at the puppy, then to the nonchalant bundle of gems that Rin had managed to obtain – Sakura was eager to learn where she got them from – and finally to Shirou, who had a large bag of gold in his hands.

"… Why did I think you three would be fine without me?" Illya muttered, rubbing her forehead rapidly once everyone had taken a seat. "I was gone… For. Just. A. Single. Day!"

All the while, the small and adorable wolf puppy slumbered, unaware of the continual ranting of a recently returned guild master.


A/N: ... This fic is starting to have a tradition of being late and I really don't like that. It's not really my fault this time (okay kinda sorta) because my laptop's casing broke. It took a while to actually find a shop nearby to repair it and procure funds to pay for it, which took a few days total. I had it prepared and everything, about to send it to Mr. Beta too, but bam my laptop shattered like a jigsaw (repaired now of course).

... Although another reason I could be late is that I was spending a whole two days and a sleepless night to complete one single challenge quest in Gilfest. I blame Merlin for making these harder. Also farming the lottery, and Warframe... yeah, a lot of distractions took hold of me.

–But hey, Good news! The gang is back together, yay! Now I don't have to rack my brain around to find something for Sakura to do! Seriously, as much as I love the whole cast of F/SN (excluding Shinji), Sakura is pretty one-dimensional and rarely has anything touching-up on her character, which makes it hard to find things for her to do as the recent chapters just had her meandering around. I hope that changes when the entirety of the Heaven's Feel Trilogy comes out so it gets exposed to a wider audience.

Also, don't ask about how the pup managed to get past Akihabara's defense matrix. That'll be explained next chapter, so don't worry.

As usual, please review if you find anything that is grammatically wrong, canonically incorrect, or just something that peeves you. I'm open to criticism in it's many volatile forms.

Until next time.

Kappa.