Sara woke up along with the first chirps of the morning song birds, without even the slightest hint of a sunrise in the windows. But even in those morning hours, she could still see as well as if it had been bright outside. Part of being a Paladin was that the light was always within your eyes, so once she put on her new glasses, she could see everything around her just fine.
Pushing herself up out of her bottom bunk and being careful not to hit her head on the bed above her again, she got herself out of bed. Looking around the room she saw what she saw every morning, Rin and Megumin asleep in their beds of stray and furs, and Shirou already gone.
Well, that was alright, so long as Rin was still safe in bed. Ten days ago, Sara had a heart attack when both her leader and Shirou had not returned one night without telling anyone and both showed up in the barracks late in the morning. She had been so sure that Shirou had… taken her that night. She understood that Rin trusted Shirou for some reason, but Sara just didn't. It wasn't because he was scary… alright it wasn't just because he was scary. It was because he acted differently towards Rin than he did the rest of them. From the vary first day, she was the only one he took noticeable interest it.
He might have put up with Megumin and been like an older brother to her, but it was only with Rin that he had that occasional grin and sneaky word. She didn't want him to try to task advantage of her and get her pr…pregnant. The entire reason why Sara had agreed to room with him in the first place was so that she could protect her friend from his male hormones… not that she really had a clue how to do that. Her worry only increased as the two of them spent more and more time together and had secret meetings with each other.
On an intelligent level, Sara knew that Rin could take care of herself, far better than Sara could even. She might have even wanted to be in a relationship the red-haired Hunter. Maybe all that defending nonsense that the Paladin's recited day in and day out had gotten to her, but she didn't want anything to happen to her only real friend.
Neither the other boys or girls took any interest in Sara. Megumin was nice to her, but that was only because of how cold most of the others were to the little girl. As a Paladin, Sara did her duties and strived to improve herself, but as a person she was just too quiet. She didn't socialize with anyone and spent most of her time either training or just sitting quietly thinking to herself.
She had felt flattered when Rin had approached her with the money before going off on the raid and told her that she wanted her to do her best to look out for the group. She was so happy when Rin had helped her get new glasses so that she could remain a part of the group, even though the glasses cost more than all the armor fittings the team had to do put together. Rin had looked out for her, even though she didn't need to.
Sara looked up to Rin, metaphorically speaking. She was smart, and strong, and beautiful, more so than any of the other girls in their group. Sara knew for a fact that she was quickly becoming renown as a Mage and that multiple older parties had approached her in attempts to recruit her, but she didn't go with them. She stayed behind in order to tend to their larger and weaker group. She turned down rank and security in order to help them. She spent endless hours each night going over spells and tomes trying to improve herself.
She was a true role-model, and Sara would trust her no matter what.
Sara performed a light morning exercise. Or she would call it that. Mostly she just stretched and rubbed out her already sore muscles in preparation for what would already be a long day of work. No need to push herself in the morning when life was going to be pushing her all day. She did however go through a few shadow boxing-like routines for her shield parry practice, without the shield in hand.
Shirou was in the same place he was in every morning, the kitchen. No one else had cooked a single thing in the entire time they had been there. Someone had once suggested they do it on rotation instead of making Shirou do it all himself, but then a strange atmosphere had filled the room and the motion was dropped, leaving the boy to cook all their meals; breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
By the time breakfast was finished, everyone was awake and moving to the kitchen. Most of the group merely slouched in their chairs, still not fully awake. Niko was the only one who seemed alert and that was only because food was being put out on the table. Niko was a worry in the field as she tended to be a little scatterbrained and didn't pay attention to what she was supposed to be doing, though she was quick enough to follow instructions when given, but once you brought food out, you had her undivided attention.
"Good morning." Sara said as she took her place at the table.
"'Morning." Rin answered, not sounding fully awake yet. Sara chalked it up to all the late nights she spent working on her magic. She really did need to rest more, but even on her days off she still worked endlessly. It showed in the sheer number of spells she had managed to learn, and in the Elemental Familiar that she had started to bring out with her on their hunts. She was an absolutely amazing Mage.
"So, are we going to be going to the Damuro Ruins?" Sara asked, filling up her plate with cooked meat and veggies. She honestly didn't know what they were, nor did she really care. If there was one thing about Shirou that could be trusted, it was his cooking. She just learned to stop asking what it was after having been told for one meal that she was eating a Dragon Horse. She could be eating Goblin for all she knew, so she really didn't want to know.
"Yes, I think that would be for the best." Rin said as she took a long draft of her tea.
"Damuro, again. When are we going to move on the real monsters instead of just killing goblins every day?" Itsuki complained.
"When every frontline fighter in this party can beat a goblin in one on one combat and hold there own in two on one or more." Rin said. She didn't mention any names but some of the boy's scowled at her. In truth, Sara found handling more than one goblin by herself difficult. She knew that the goblins weren't very fast or skilled, but they were still enough to give her trouble. She wouldn't mind having more time to grow before fighting the faster and stronger enemies. "Our ranged supports also need to be able to provide assistance against multiple enemies and for multiple fights. Megumin and Yukari still has some work to go on the [Magic Barrage] spell we made."
"I know, I know." Megumin pouted at the mention of the spell.
That was another thing that had separated Rin from all the other Mages. After only one month, she was already creating her own spells, and since these spells weren't strictly speaking part of the Mage's Guild, there were no rules against her sharing them. She had modified the beginner level spell [Magic Missile] Into a more versatile version of the spell which could hit multiple targets and did more damage, which she called [Magic Barrage]. There was also [Magic Cannon] which spun the energy around a single point, condensing it into a much stronger blast that could actually kill an enemy rather than just staggering it. And since it was all elementless Arcane magic, even the over specialized Megumin could learn it.
"Oh come on, I can take care of two goblins by myself no problem." Itsuki growled, crossing his arms.
"Yes, but not everyone can. And we don't move forward until everyone is ready." Rin said.
"With a party our size we should be able to handle anything the other areas got." Riku huffed. "Besides, if things go wrong Shirou can always…"
"Shirou and I might not always be around." Rin said sharply, cutting the boy off. The man looked shocked at the suggestion. "For one reason or another, Shirou and I might go off and have to leave the party behind, like we did before with the raid on the Orc supplies. Or the entire party might end up running into an elite monster that would require Shirou's full attention, leaving the rest of us on our own. Such monsters do exist. For that reason, you should all be ready to handle yourselves. Don't rush ahead when we don't need to. We have enough money for now. Just focus on getting strong enough to be ready to handle yourselves when the time comes, because even when we are gone, this team needs to continue to function."
Everyone at the table was quiet, save for Shirou who was still humming along to the sound of cooking meat as he prepared all of their lunches. Sara couldn't imagine it. Not having Rin there to guide them. Not having Shirou around for when things turn to hell. She was so shocked, that she almost didn't hear Rin's next words.
"To that end, I think we need to have a second in command of the group to make the strategies for when I'm gone. For today, Sara will be your team leader."
It took a few seconds for that declaration to sink in and a look of panic spread across Sara's face. Several of the others gave the quiet Paladin looks of undiscussed indignation. To day was going to be a long day.
"Anyone need second?" Shirou asked.
"Yes please." Sara whispered softly.
"Alright, nine goblins. We can handle that." Sara said, swallowing a little and she crouched down with stick in hand drawing a basic outline of the building they were about to try to ambush. Nine goblins had been spotted inside, and the group had decided that this would be their next target.
This was the third one of the day, but Sara was still not used to it. Not used to everyone's eyes being on her. Rin and Shirou were standing outside of the group, quietly watching.
She marked points on her little map for people to position themselves in. "Megumin and Yukari will initiate the attack drawing the frontline goblins forward. Aoi will then take the chance to take out the crossbowman from behind while the enemy fighters are distracted with ours." Sara said then gulped a little. "Th…that's the plan. Any questions."
"This is stupid. It's just nine goblins." Itsuki grumbled as he adjusted his helmet on his bold head. Sara shrank a bit at the comment. She looked to Rin for help, but the girl only gave her a look of encouragement.
There were no questions and those participating in the fight started to move out.
"Shirou, be ready to provide support." Rin said once the others were out of earshot. "Don't save them immediately, if they get hurt, it might help to humble them a bit. We can always have their injures healed. Just don't let them die."
Shirou looked confused. "That plan should have been good enough for nine goblins." Shirou commented.
"It is, but they aren't going to be dealing with just nine goblins. Kairi's magic sight shows me another group underground, most likely a cellar. Once the fighting starts they will have another fifteen goblins on their hands." Rin explained.
"…Why are Mages not considered a possible scouting class?" Shirou said, feeling like his usefulness as a Hunter had taken a hit. Well, at least he still could identify herbs for his cooking.
"It normally takes around a year to make a proper contract with an Elemental Familiar. Same for why Dread Knights aren't considered scouts." Rin said with a small shrug.
"But of course, you are a genius who managed to create three in just a week." Shirou said rolling his eyes, though his voice became more serious as he asked his next question. "Speaking of your magical talents, any luck with the information you got from the tower?"
Rin nodded. "I've deciphered it to the best of my abilities. Unfortunately, this World and our old one doesn't seem to be ideally parallel with the distance between them remaining constant, they just never intersect. I'll need more data in order to establish a pattern. Ten total sets would be best, though hopefully they don't require us to wait for the full moon. I'd settle for five on the full moon and five off if possible. I did confirm that it is only one other world that is being tapped into though. It isn't much, but it's a start."
"Isn't much she says." Shirou scoffed. "Before we didn't even know what the hell we were looking for. We were just stumbling about in the dark hoping to find a light switch."
"Light switch?" Rin said, raising an eyebrow. "Do you even remember what that is?"
"No. Do you?" Shirou asked her, she shook her head.
"Four more months. After that we will need to start looking around for a way to string together a gateway." Rin said. "We will have to leave the city behind, and I'd rather not take the others with us on our suicidal quest." They heard the crashes that would indicate that the ambush had begun. "Well, want to see how well they will do without us?"
"My heart is filled with dread at the thought." Shirou said but followed Rin along.
In the end, it wasn't nearly as bad as they had expected. Sure, the gobs came out of the basement right as Aoi was going for her flanking attack and the Thief ended up surrounded. Sure, in an attempt to save her with a series of fireballs, Megumin set the building on fire. Sure, Itsuki bit off more than he could chew and tried to take on four goblins at once by himself, landing himself stabbed in multiple nonvital places. Sure, Touma pissed himself about all of the fire and just stood there like an idiot as the goblins attacked him. But it still went better than Rin and Shirou had expected it.
Shirou and Rin quickly took control of the situation, killed all the remaining goblins before lethal blows could be dished out, Rin and Kairi squelched the fire, and the healer got to work patching up their teammates. Now Shirou was looking through the wreckage as Rin played coach.
"What the hell!? How were we supposed to know that there were more goblins in the basement!?" Itsuki shouted, angry at no one in particular.
"The plan was useless. I can't believe you choose her as leader." Riku commented, throwing a glare at Sara, who flinched back.
"The plan was fine. You used the information you had to work with to make the best plan possible, but no plan survives first contact with the enemy." Rin said calmly.
"Then what is the point of a plan in the first place!?" Itsuki demanded, though Rin ignored him.
"If you believe that you can do better, then tomorrow you will have your chance to prove it." Rin said, looking over at Riku who only grumbled in response.
Shirou mostly ignored the talk. Listening to it was only depressing.
He moved around the ruins of the once human building that the goblins had taken over and stripped of everything, just like the rest of the city. Goblins didn't have any sort of craftsmen. They scavenged for just about everything, and what they couldn't scavenge, they traded for with the other monster races. This was less out of a lack of intelligence needed to perform tasks like smithing or sewing, and more of a cultural deal. The goblins looked down on people who preformed such tasks. Even being homeless and starving was seen as more honorable than being a worker. Only slaves performed these tasks. However, this did mean that some things that were purely work related and difficult to move had been left behind.
Shirou stopped in his tracks when he saw a medium sized anvil sitting out in front of the building. He walked over to it and switching on the single magic channel that, with Rin's instruction and Kairi's help, he had managed to get some control over in the last ten days. The act stung a bit, but once done he performed one of the two spells he had managed to learn from the pages and pages of spells that Rin had started to copy down, the [Structural Analysis] spell.
He had figured out that it really was the same… thing… he had been doing with swords all along, save for that with blades and other instruments of war, he had never needed to touch them, and the cost of the spell was so small, that he could do it without even meaning to. For other types of objects, it took a bit more effort. Rin had said some things about personal Elements and Origins effecting ones ability to use this style of magic, but though the words sounded familiar, Shirou didn't really understand any of it.
The anvil was wrought iron in make with a good chromium steel alloy face. While it had rust a little and been worn down in places, it was still solid enough for moderate use.
Shirou glanced over at Rin to make sure she was still with the others. He knew she was going to laugh at him for this. She already teased him about how he hoarded half of the weapons and armor he came across. The barracks shed had a stock pile that covered every inch of the walls, tables and chairs.
The problem was that most of the armor that he took was all sized for Orcs who had rather odd shaped heads and shoulders when compared to humans. While forging a set of armor from scratch would take weeks, he could resize pieces in just an hour or two, saving them the hassle of having to deal with the Blacksmith's Guild, who always over charged on their resizing jobs.
He could also perform his own maintenance on his weapons. He had been breaking more and more of them lately. Only the black kobold made blade he had taken from the Goblin Prince's corpse still retained its strength and edge, despite having been made of nothing but wrought iron. This was mostly due to the kobold's magic inside of it, which Shirou had been preserving with his own magical energy. Say what you want about the kobolds, they know how to make a good sword.
Taking a moment to cast [Reinforcement] on his arms, legs and back, he lifted up the two-hundred-pound anvil, pulling it out of the stone slab it had been sealed in. Hearing the sound of the stone cracking, Rin turned around to see Shirou balancing the massive piece of solid metal on one of his shoulders.
"What?" Shirou said innocently, trying to shrug while still holding the anvil up on his shoulder.
She couldn't help herself, she just started laughing at him.