Chapter Twelve "Team Chaldea"

"Master, why are we going?" Clementine asked her master in wonder as she followed.

Shirou never replied to Clementine. He just continued to walk briskly without saying a word. They continued to walk in silence as Clementine could only guess where they were going. The destination was unknown until Shirou walked up to the front entrance of a very famous and lavish inn and opened the door to enter the building.

There were many individuals. Many of the individuals' occupations were recognizable from the medals around their necks as adventurers. Adventurers were looking at her master and surprisingly even at Clementine with respect and worship. Clementine was surprised that she looked at with the awe that was similar to what her master was receiving.

"The medal." Shirou whispered like she had read Clementine's mind.

It clicked in Clementine's mind that she had forgotten about the medal that she currently wore. Clementine turned down to look at the adamantium medal that hung over her chest. The metallic plate hung in front of her chest was a symbol of a living legend, humanity's trump card that protected them from even the strongest monsters that threatened humanity. The blonde haired woman couldn't help but think back when the religious believers of the Six Gods looked at her in admiration when she wore the uniform of the Black Scripture.

Shirou entered the inn. He nodded in acknowledge at the looks that were directed at him. His footsteps left no sound in their wake and he moved in a manner that made him seem to blend in the background, losing the looks that had been directed. Clementine followed her master's example, but couldn't help to marvel her master, who shouldn't be versed in the skills he was presently demonstrating. It was rare but mages were known to learn how to use weapons to defend themselves from their glaring weakness and that was physical combat. A mage that knew stealth was something that Clementine had rarely heard about. Clementine was further impressed that the level of stealth that her master was displaying was not that of an amateur or expert but that of a master. The same level of stealth skills that Clementine had learned over her long career as an assassin.

The more I observe, my master, the more questions I have than answers. Each time I think I am about to unravel a mystery; the mystery thickens. Clementine mused. Her musing was cut short when she felt her cloak being thrown up. Clementine screamed, "Hey! Who did that?!"

If entrancing into the inn had caught only some attention then now everyone was looking. It wasn't at her master, he had disappeared seemingly into thin air. Clementine blushed as she saw mixed reactions amongst the crowd. Most of the female population was disgusted by Clementine's appearance. Only a few women and nearly every man looking at her with either lust or impressed. It was at that instant that Clementine wished she could hide herself.

She quickly reached to cover herself with the cloak when she found her hands touching nothing, but air.

What is going on? Clementine blinked in confusion reached around for her cloak only to find it missing. Who…MASTER! She screamed in her mind in fury. Where is he?! I am going to…

"Do you have no shame?!" A woman shouted in outrage and many other women started making similar comments.

"Don't insult her! It takes a lot of courage to show that much skin. What she does is her decision." A man shouted in Clementine's defense and nearly every man nodded his head.

"You are only saying that because you're enjoying the sight!"

"Is there something wrong with a man showing his appreciation of the female body?!"

The shouting about woman's appearance started a discussion amongst many of the bar patrons, but Clementine quickly zoned out as she tried to make herself disappear. Clementine was about to make a mad dash when she was stopped.

No. I order you to stand there. Clementine heard her master's voice in her mind, but she swore he was also snickering in the background.

What do you mean stand here?! Do you know how humiliating this is?! Clementine screamed back in her mind.

It was not uncommon that female fighters exposed generous proportions of their bodies. There were various reasons why female fighters might expose their skin. One and the most obvious reasons was that to show off their beauty and to bask in the attention they got. Another and more practical reason was that a woman exposing their skin tended to distract and sometimes stopping men from attacking, giving women either buying women valuable time to strike or escape. Those female fighter that exposed their skin were normally those that served as a support role such as healers, mages and archers far from the frontline and in the backline or they were lightly armored combatants where agility and speed was prized such as flanking the enemy.

Clementine too had used her beauty to her advantage many times for many purpose. She had started her career as an assassin that used her beauty and charm to infiltrate enemy territory and use seduction to enthrall her target before eliminating them. Then as her proficiency with the blade and physical prowess grew that she could fight in the frontlines despite wearing light armor and lightly armed.

She was completely and utterly humiliated by her current appearance. It was one thing to be an assassin, where she exposed her body to seduce her target to lower their guard and then eliminating them, or fighting in the frontlines where she used a bit of exposed skin to distract her opponents. Exposing nearly her naked body to dozens of people was not what she could bear.

I hate you Master! Clementine screamed mentally as she was frozen in place like a doll and forced to endure the humiliating act of being looked at either in disgust or lust.

- O -

Climb walked into the inn and was baffled by what he saw when he entered the room. The inn was popular place to eat and drink, but he had never seen a time where the front entrance was blocked. He apologized as he pushed his way through the crowd at the entrance.

It took some time, but Climb found the two figures sitting around a circular table.

One of them had a small stature and was wrapped in a jet-black robe. The face was hidden not because of the lighting, instead it was entirely covered by a strange mask with a red jewel embedded in its forehead. The area around the eyes had a thin crack so that it was impossible to even tell the color of the pupils.

And the other figure...

Although the person before had a small body, the other possessed an overwhelmingly huge physique. Enough to make one think of a huge rock. In a way, the body could be described as plump, but not because it was fat. First, the arms were as thick as tree trunks. In order to support the head, the neck was as thick as an average woman's thighs, and the head resting on top of that neck was a square. The chin was wide as to better clench the teeth for power, the eyes for scanning the surroundings looked like the eyes belonging to a carnivore. The blond hair was cut short strictly for functionality. Muscles trained over and over conspicuously bloated the chest hidden behind her clothes. It was no longer the chest of a woman.

The female-only adamantium rank adventurer team in the Re-Estize Kingdom – Blue Rose. They were two of its members, mage Evileye and warrior Gagaran.

Climb headed in their direction. The person whom he needed to speak to nodded her head and shouted in a husky voice. "Yo, cherry boy!"

"It has been a long time, Gagaran-sama, Evileye-sama." He approached the two and bowed his head.

"Yeah, long time no see. What, did you come here because you wanted to be embraced by me?" While motioning with her chin to take a seat, Gagaran asked him with a beast-like grin across her face.

But Climb shook his head with a blank expression.

This was also part of Gagaran's usual banter. Although it was a greeting, it did not mean that she was joking. If Climb ever replied in the affirmative, even in jest, Gagaran would immediately drag him with overwhelming strength, without any chance for retaliation. Gagaran, who would openly proclaim that plucking a 'fresh cherry' was her hobby, was that type of person.

Different from Gagaran, Evileye stared directly in front of her and showed no sign of turning her face. You could not even tell which direction the eyes beneath the mask were pointing.

"What is with it being so crowded her today? I had a hard time getting into here because the entrance was blocked by people." Climb asked as he sat down.

For some reason the atmosphere became dark and depressing. Gagaran furiously scorned and even Evileye, who Climb couldn't see her expression due to the mask she wore, had an angry body language.

"A whore is attracting all their attention." Evileye said in an anger tone.

"Whore?" Climb repeated in confusion.

"Evileye is just pissed off." Gagaran replied. "The woman that is attracting the crowd is not simple a 'whore.' She might be dressed even more scandalously by the standards of whores, but there is something that is unheard about her."

"What is it?" Climb asked curiously.

"The woman is an adamantium-class adventurer." Evileye said in seething tone.

"ADAMANTIUM-CLASS ADVENTURER?!" Climb shouted in disbelief. He quickly blushed red when he saw everyone around him looking at him strangely before looking away, returning their attention to the 'whore.' That made Climb a bit more cautious and self-aware about his surroundings. "Who is she?"

"No one knows anything about her. Only two things. That she is an adamantium class adventurer because of the adamantium medal around her neck. The other is her name. Clementine. Before you ask, how we know. It is rather simple. One of the staff from the adventurer's guild when to look up her name as there are very few admantium-class adventurers in the Kingdom." Gagaran explained.

"Why is Evileye so pissed?" Climb inquired as he glanced over to Evileye, who was clearly fuming in anger.

"Why don't you see for yourself," said Gagaran as she walked over to Climb.

"Wait… WAIT!" Climb shouted in alarm. "WHAT ARE YOU DO–?!"

Climb was soon sent flying into the air. He was not average boy. As the personal guard to royalty, Climb was very fit and his weight reflected muscular body. He was easily sixty kilograms of hard muscle. It was a testemant to Gagaran's very impressive strength that Climb was sent flying nearly five meters into the air.

"Look at the center of the crowd!" Gagaran shouted at the thrown Climb.

Deciding that he might as well go along with Gagaran's antics, Climb looked at the center of the crowd. What he saw was burned into his mind even if he wasn't able to look at the figure at the center of the crowd for too long as gravity took effect.

"Uffu!" Climb grunted as he felt Gagaran catch her with her incredible muscular and thick arms.

"Did you see?" Gagaran asked as she let Climb down onto the floor.

"How is she a whore? Her beauty matches those a high-class prostitute that only nobility and rich merchants can afford." Climb commented. He then shook his head. "No, that might be an understatement. She is so beautiful that the noblemen might go out to ask her hand in marriage."

"Evileye here," Gagaran smirked evilly, "has inferiority complex. Looked at her and compared it to that woman."

It didn't take a genius to deduce what Gagaran meant. Evileye despite trying to hide as much about her appearance as possible couldn't be compared to the woman that Climb had seen. Despite being an adult, many might dismiss Evileye as a child with her stature and her absolutely lack of womanly charms. In fact, Evileye was so lacking in that department Climb while not being a female himself could understand why Evileye might feel so anger about the woman as she was clearly everything that Evileye wished she might be.

"Hey! I am not jealous of that woman!" Evileye snapped as she saw Climb's pitying look. "Look at her! She has no decency. She might as well be naked!"

Climb was not convinced by Evileye's attempt to hide her jealousy, but he quickly dismissed that thought. He had to agree that Evileye was right about the woman's attire. She might as well be naked. In fact, the woman's attire seemed to defy physics. She was wearing two pieces of metal. One seemed like a seemed to look like a metal bra, but it barely covered anything. It only completely covered her nipples and parts of her breasts while completely revealing the rest of her cleavage with a metal band running underneath her breasts and over her back. The next garment the woman wore couldn't even be described to be a piece of clothing. It was piece of metal that barely covered her groin and anus.

"Evileye, you're an expert on magic. Do you think she is using magic to keep her clothes from falling off?" Climb asked curiously.

The question caught of Evileye off guard. Her emotional beef with the woman disappeared as she began to analyze information she had regarding the woman's bizzare and scandalous attire.

"The most obvious reason would be as you said. That magic either the woman is using magic or the her attire is enchanted to remain struck to her body. The magic that I know of that could be used would be…" Evileye trailed off as she began to use technical words that no one except a fellow mage would understand.

"Good work," said Gagaran.

"I was actually asking a honest question, but I completely forgot that Evileye-san is very passionate about magic…" Climb replied.

"…Now that I remember, didn't you ask Evileye for something awhile back? Was it magic training?" Gagaran recalled.

"Yes." Climb replied.

Climb glanced over at Evileye. Back then, it was turned down by a scoff from inside the mask. No doubt that bringing up the same topic when nothing has changed will have the same result.

"Kid," said Evileye as she snapped out of her musing. "You don't have the talent. Try something else."

A crude remark, as if that was all that she needed to say. Climb himself knew at least that much better than anyone. He did not have any talent for magic. No, not only magic. In other fields too. No matter how much he swung his sword, no matter how much he bled and hard his hands became from the blisters, he could not reach the level that he wanted. The wall that those with talent would easily overcome, even that became an absolute obstacle that he could not traverse. That was why he had collided into the barrier that allowed him to break through the gold class strength.

Even so, that was not a reason for him to be lazy with his efforts to cross over that wall. As long as he was talentless, the only thing he could do was believe that his efforts will allow him to take at least one step forward and break through that unassailable barrier through the only means that he had: training.

"It seems you can't accept it." As if she read Climb's emotions beneath his expressionless iron mask, Evileye continued to speak. "Those who possess talent have it from the very beginning... Some claim that talent is simply a bud that has yet to bloom and that everyone has it… Hmph. I see it as nothing more than envy. Words like that are so the inferiors can console themselves. The leader of those famous Thirteen Heroes was the same."

Climb calmly nodded. Internally that was whole different story. He wanted seethed at the fact that Evileye tarnished the idol, the leader of the Thirteen Heroes, that he had for himself. The legend went that in the beginning, the hero was just an ordinary person. Although that person was weaker than anyone, the hero became the strongest by endlessly swinging a sword despite being covered in wounds. The hero possessed a power that could rise without end.

"But that person's talent had simply not bloomed at that time. You're different, even with effort you're still only at your current level. Talent undoubtedly exists. There are those who have it and those who do not. So… I won't tell you to give up but at least know where you stand." Evileye's cold words brought a curtain of silence. And it was she herself who broke that silence. "Gazef Stronoff… now that one is a good example of a human with talent. Climb… do you believe that you can fill the difference between the two of you with hard work?"

No words came out of Climb's mouth. There was no denying Evileye's statement. He had the rare and honored privilege to witness Gazef's strength firsthand. It was no exaggeration that the legendary Royal Guard Captain was talented. There was no other explanation to describe the sheer strength that he possessed otherwise. The strength that made him into a living legend.

"Stronoff-dono is indeed unarguably a genius." Climb grudgingly agreed.

"Actually, he might not be a fair comparison. The only ones I know of who can rival his talent with the sword are the Thirteen Heroes. Gagaran here is fairly skilled but still can't beat him."

"…Don't ask for the impossible. Gazef-ojisan is someone with one foot in the realm of heroes." Gagaran replied to Evileye's words with a laugh.

"Hey, hey, Evileye. Weren't the heroes considered to be monsters with talent that was in a different league – the type transcending the realm of humans?"

"… I won't deny it."

"And I'm only human. It's impossible for me to reach the level of those heroes."

"…" Evileye clicked her tongue behind her mask. "…I guess you won't stop even if I say it like this."

"No."

"You are foolish, truly foolish."

She shook her head, unable to understand him.

"Moving forward with an unreachable wish will definitely ruin your body. I'm repeating myself, but know where you stand."

"I understand what you are trying to say."

"But I see you have no intention of listening. You are beyond foolish. It will lead to an early grave. … Won't there be someone who will cry if you were to die?"

"Huh? What's this, Evileye? Were you bullying Climb because you were worried about him?"

Evileye's shoulders slumped at these words. She grabbed Gagaran by the collar with her gloved hand and shouted as she stared at her.

"The meathead needs to shut her mouth!"

"But I'm right though, aren't I?"

Evileye could not say a word to Gagaran who remained calm even when she had her by the collar. She leaned deeply into her chair and, trying to change the topic, turned her arrow to Climb.

"First, increase your knowledge of magic. If your knowledge improves then you may be able to predict the moves of your enemies who use magic. Then you will be able to respond appropriately."

"Hey, you know how many different spells there are and you're telling him to study all of that? Aren't you being too cruel?"

"That's not true. There is a common pool of spells that a mage typically focuses on. He can start by studying those." Evileye implied that if Climb couldn't even manage that, he should give up.

"No matter how many there are, he'll probably be able to manage if he can study the spells up to the 3rd tier." And for some reason, Evileye showed a brief moment of hesitation before opening her mouth. "Climb. Even if you desire power, don't give up your humanity."

"Give up on my humanity…? Are you speaking of the likes of demons that appear in stories?"

"That and others like turning into an undead or magic life forms."

"A normal human cannot do something like that."

"That's true… but turning into an undead will often twist your heart as well. Desiring perfection, becoming an undead to achieve one's ideal… the heart will be tempted by the changing flesh and the resulting transformation will be terrifying." A tinge of pity could be felt from the voice behind the emotionless mask. Evileye looked as if she was staring far off into the distance.

"So there is no method for someone talentless like me to become someone as strong as an adamantium class." Climb said in self-defeat.

A voice suddenly shouted in outrage interrupting Climb, Evileye and Gagaran in their conversation.

"Don't underestimate the talentless!"

- O -

Shirou was laughing at all the feeling that was going through Clementine's mind. Yet, at the same time, Shirou listened to the conversation taking place in the room. Nothing really noteworthy, but there was one conversation between the other two adamantium class adventurers that caught his attention. What was being discussed Shirou was reminded of himself. It was when the boy admitted in defeat that he could never become as powerful as an adamantium class that the connection that the boy had with Shirou's past became solidified.

"Don't underestimate the talentless!" Shirou suddenly shouted in outrage, interrupting the conversation.

The three individuals that had been interrupted glanced at Shirou with surprised looks.

"Don't underestimate the talentless." Shirou reaffirmed. He looked at the two adamantium class adventurers, Shirou got their names – Gagaran and Evileye – from the conversation, with a grave expression. "You have a gall to insult every single individual that has to work for their lack of talent."

Evileye and Gagaran looked at one that interrupted them with interest because the first thing they noticed about the one to rudely interrupt their conversation was the adamantium medallion that dangled on Shirou's neck, the very medal that they wore.

"It is rude to not introduce yourself." Gagaran spoke.

"Agreed." Evileye nodded.

"Shirou Emiya. Leader of the recently established adamantium class adventurer team, Chaldea." Shirou introduced.

"The Chaldea? The same adventurers that completely annihilated an undead army and several skeletal dragons." Climb interrupted as he looked at the newcomer in awe.

"Yes. That would be us." Shirou confirmed. "Except for the part that we completely annihilated an entire undead army. That undead army was huge. It numbered in the thousands. My team and I took down several hundreds but our largest contribution had been taking down the mastermind behind the undead army and the necromancers that controlled and supplied the undead army with mana to maintain their existence. The guards of E-Rantel and other adventurers were responsible for the ultimate destruction of the undead army. I heard another and newly formed adamantium team, the Darkness, was also involved." The white haired man corrected. "Now getting back to what I originally spoke up for. I am sorry to interrupt your conversation, but I had to because you were crushing the boy's dream. You, Evileye-san, keep insulting him because he is talentless but to condemn him with the view that it is impossible for him to reach adamantium class is unforgivable. I happen to be someone without talent that had reached the realms of heroes."

Climb looked at Shirou with amazement. He saw someone as something as a possible idol for what he was hearing. He was someone that embodied the very thing that Climb sought to become. Someone that was proof that he could adamantium class was within his grasp no matter how far away it seemed.

The look of amazement that Shirou was getting was nothing special. Rather it had become a common experience after all the memories he had inherited from EMIYA that he had come to brush such awestruck looks like it was another day in life.

Like usual, Shirou was working with half-truths.

One could say that he was indeed talented. Anything that had the concept of sword related to magecraft was within his Origin as Sword was in his abilities to take beyond what most would hope to accomplish, but that applied only to magecraft relating to his Origin. Any magecraft that was outside of his Origin was an uphill battle up the steepest of mountains. He was someone talented with related with magecraft related to swords and everything outside of swords with the concept of swords was where he was talentless. Still that didn't mean it was impossible. It just took a life faced with hardship and not faltering in their path to travel down it until the end. His ability to use magic outside of those not related to swords was evidence that the talentless could match the talented.

"If you have been eavesdropping on your conversation than you should know that you're one of those who are talented but happened to be a late-bloomer." Evileye refuted as she thought differently on the topic.

Normally, Shirou wasn't the type to go revealing his abilities for in fear of someone spying on him and keeping tabs on his abilities so that they could exploit the revealed information against her, but his instincts told him that the present situation was the right time. Climb represented the individual that he had once been, the naïve and weak individual, prior to the life-defining Fifth Holy Grail War.

"Trace On." Shirou chanted.

Those within the room with any ability to detect magical energy or had sharp instincts alerted of the something dangerous happening.

Evileye as the most skilled mage beside Shirou within the room felt an invisible and condensed concentration of mana being given off in steadily the white haired man give off. In her immortal life of two and half centuries, there had been only a few experiences that she felt very powerful magic like the one that was unfolding before her. She had the suspicion that was she was witnessing was the tip of iceberg and that the caster was displaying a fraction of the true potential that magic the silver-eyed man was using.

"This is…" Gagaran whispered with widened eyes.

Gagaran was one of the only ones in the room that had the experience and instinct to discern a weapon's potential at a glance. The weapons that materialized around the room, harmlessly placed flat on various flat surfaces were peerless in their construction and forged out of the finest materials. Every single weapon she saw was equal or superior to her personal weapons, which had been brought over years of saving funds as an adventurer until she reached adamantium class, and soon she found the entire inn transformed into an arsenal filled with weapons fit for adamantium class fighters.

"Climb-san, this is a culmination of a lifetime of hard work. Magic that I worked all my life to improve. You can achieve something of this caliber if you apply yourself and continue the path regardless of hardship and what others say. I did it. You can do it." Shirou spoke in a soft and gentle tone.

Climb's eyes literally glittered with light at the magnificence he saw. It was like he was looking at a divine being. Someone that was the very peak of what he sought to reach telling him that she had once been an ordinary individual like him. He could only imagine if he achieved something…

Shirou quickly realized the attention that he was attracting and dismissed the weapons. The weapons disappeared like it had all been a dream. Motes of light shimmered as the very energies that made the Mystic Codes and Noble Phantasms disappeared.

"…" Evileye was left speechless.

"Just keep in mind what I said. The journey will be tiring and hard, but there is always an destination waiting for you." Shirou spoke then left the inn and disappeared like an ethereal spectre.

"Shorty, I think you might want to rethink your opinion about talent." Gagaran guffawed out.

"Shut up!" Evileye snapped as she began kicking at the manwoman.

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