Chapter Nineteen "Throne of Heroes"

"Welcome back, Shirou-sama." Linda greeted as she bowed. Behind her several knights that once made up the Sunlight Scripture and now Shirou's followers bowed too.

"Hello to you, Linda, and everyone else," said Shirou as familiarized himself with his new surrounding after using teleportation. "How is everything going?"

"Everything is proceeding as planned," Linda replied as she followed Shirou walking through the hallway.

"I delegated you many tasks," said Shirou as he continued to walk. "What were they?"

"These were the tasks that you gave us…" Linda spoke as she began to list the tasks that Shirou had assigned to her to complete. Shirou was furthermore impressed when the report he got was very detailed.

"I am impressed that you were able to execute all the tasks that assigned you and from your report it seems all of them went without too much problem." Shirou said happily at the news.

"The innovations that you have made has immensely helped in the tasks that you have given us." Linda replied.

"What is the status of Carne Village?" Shirou asked as he finally made it out of the large building that housed the teleportation circle.

Before Linda could respond to his question, Shirou got the first look of Carne Village for the first time in more than year since he had last seen it. What he saw surprised him. Nigan and Linda always given him daily reports of what happened in Carne Village, but those reports didn't do justice to what he was seeing. Carne Village that had been a ravaged village of fifty-some survivors had grown significant since. The population had exploded and the size that the word "village" couldn't be used anymore. Shirou saw a vibrant and thriving town that easily housed a thousand inhabitants.

"Wow…." Shirou muttered as he took in the sights. "Your reports don't do justice to large and populated that Carne… Town had become."

"The town and population would have grown significantly more if not for the stringent requirements of who and what comes in and goes out, Shirou-sama." Linda replied. "Although, I have finally come to understand why you made such strict regulation regarding trade and immigration. If they hadn't been implemented who knows how much Carne Village's prosperity would have been robbed or destroyed by spies and saboteurs."

Shirou shivered at the sheer devastation that what Nigan and many of the New World considered as "revolutionary innovations" that he had taught the inhabitants of Carne Village. His "innovations" were something that would disturb entire industries and something that the dominant market holders would never want to be allowed to spread as it would threaten their monopoly or businesses. Something that could easily result in Carne Village being targeted for elimination.

"How are the trails going so far?" Shirou asked as his eyes glanced over various parts of Carne Village that had his "innovations" implemented.

"Many wonder why you are still limiting your innovations to small-scale trails. They wished that they you implemented on a large-scale." Nigan reported.

"I am merely a scholar, who had suggested ideas using the knowledge that I have learned from books and education. I don't have the skills or experience to foresee if there are errors with my innovations. The innovations could be disastrous and prove flawed. Something that we will want to know before we implement on a wide-scale." Shirou spoke as he recited the excuse that he had made up regarding his "innovations". After all… Shirou thought. I have confirmed that the New World and Earth is very similar in many ways but there might be areas that are different. There is no telling how much of my ideas will bear fruit or if they detrimental. Hence, the trials…

Shirou looked at various points of Carne Village. They were tall towers. Linda seemed to catch what Shirou was looking at.

"The magic barriers that Shirou-sama call "Bounded Fields" have worked flawless. It has maintained an impenetrable, wide-scale illusion that makes it think that Carne Village is still the small, rural and agricultural village. Not the growing town that it has become." Linda reported.

"There hasn't been a single issue?" Shirou asked.

"The only issue had been the initial creation and maintenance of the unfamiliar magic barriers." Linda replied.

"Good," Shirou nodded and he turned to see loud footsteps echoing in the distance.

"Welcome back, Shirou-sama…" Nigan called out as he followed with an entourage of mages. "I would have come immediately if someone…" He shot a glare at Linda. Linda just shrugged carefreely at the murderous glare that was directed at her. "…Had told me of your arrival."

"How goes the investigations of the vampire and six monsters that I entrusted to you? Do you find anything noteworthy? What of their equipment?" Shirou asked.

"Yes, we did, Shirou-sama," Nigan nodded then shivered. "The vampire is powerful beyond my comprehension. How were you able to defeat it…?"

"Did you doubt my powers? Not believe that I am Godkin?" Shirou asked in an accusing tone.

"No… no… no! Of course, not Shirou-sama," Nigan quickly stammered as he realized that he might have irked his master. "I would never. Isn't that right everyone?!"

Nigan quickly looked around for support. No one really reacted or at least that wasn't until Shirou looked at everyone around him in a scrutinizing tone.

"Of course not! We never doubted you, Shirou-sama, of your status as a Godkin!" Everyone shouted as they feared for their lives at that moment as they recalled stories of those that had irked Godkins.

"That is good to hear," Shirou nodded in approval as he made sure his ruse as a Godkin continued and not one began to investigate his true origins. "Continue with your report…"

"As I was saying…" Nigan swallowed nervously before regaining his composure. "The vampire that you slay was no doubt an Evil Deity. Something that is thought to be all dead or sealed away… The items that the vampire wielded were beyond anything that a mortal could use. The only items that could be comparable would be weapons of myth and legend…"

"How would you rate it compared to the legacy left behind by the Six Great Gods?" Shirou asked as he remembered what Clementine had told him about the equipment left only for the sole usage by the Black Scripture.

"The ones that the masses believe as legacies of the Six Great Gods or their true legacies?" Nigan asked in confusion.

"Their true legacies," Shirou confirmed.

"I hate to admit this, Shirou-sama, but I would say that they are comparable…" Nigan admitted grudgingly.

"It seems that I will have to use it…" Shirou sighed. "What about the six monsters that I recently handed to you?"

"They were not anyway close as powerful as the vampire, but still a threat that only members of the Black Scriptures such as yourself, Shirou-sama can handle. I would rate them amongst the ranks of mythical monsters but nowhere near Evil Deities. Their equipment is similarly powerful yet nothing comparable to the vampire's equipment." Nigan reported.

Shirou nodded his head in approval. The information that he had received was not as much as he had hoped. He knew just about everything he needed about the vampire and monsters or their equipment with both his YGGDRASIL avatar's and his own abilities. What he had done was to test what his followers would be able to gather on information regarding items. Although, the test had done proved to be a total succession it give him some idea of what his followers were capable of when inspecting items and corpses.

"Remember to be constantly vigilant near the monster corpses or their equipment. There is no telling if the monsters can revive themselves or their allies seeking to retrieve their comrades' bodies and equipment." Shirou said warningly. "Otherwise, continue with the good work."

"We will take heed of your words," Nigan nodded his head. "May I ask what you meant earlier by 'it'? Are you planning to use something special?"

"Something like that," Shirou replied ambiguously. "Let us walk to the Throne Room."

Shirou walked over and his followers soon followed suit to form an entourage. He soon exited the large building housing the teleportation circle and made his way through Carne Village. It was when he passed through the streets that people stopped what they were doing and cheered as Shirou passed through like he was a hero. In response, Shirou waved back with a smile.

Soon walking through the streets of Carne Village he made his way towards the center of the village and into a large stone building that acted as the town hall. There he passed through the heavily patrolled hallways and security checkpoints before arriving at his destination.

"I am not to be disturbed," said Shirou as he turned to his followers. "Nothing save for Carne Village coming under attack shall be a reason to disturb me. Understood?" His followers nodded his head. "Then I leave everything to you until I call for you."

He walked through the large stone doors into the throne room and the doors closed behind him.

The throne room was very large like many would expect. It could easily house several hundred people. What it lacked was the furniture and decoration that one expected from a throne room. Only essential furniture like one would need for large gathering was present as Shirou hated wealth being squandered on unnecessary things that could be better spent elsewhere.

"It seems like I will have to use my ace in the hole seeing that I might be dealing with entire guild of Players and their NPCs…" Shirou grumbled as he reviewed the information that he had gathered from the vampire, Shalltear Bloodfallen, and the six non-human maids, the Pleiades. "Ainz Oown Gown. What a troublesome group…" He shook his head. "At least, this time the whole fate of humanity isn't on the line... like the Chaldea Crisis…"

Shirou brought up a menu and pressed several items before he brought up his trump card. The trump card that he had never thought about using back in YGGDRASIL considering how broken and OP it was. Something that he knew YGGDRASIL developers would have thrown a fit and rebelled against the founder and key investor of YGGDRASIL. The spartan throne room soon underwent a transformation. It became exactly what one imagined when looking at a throne room. Filled with lavish and priceless furniture and decorations.

"Let's see if this works exactly like Waver Velvet had once described to me as he handed me what could be potentially the most broken World-Class Item…" Shirou muttered as he sat down on the throne and looked at the menu that popped before him. "I work this works as I definitely need some aid with the possible crisis at hand."

He pressed several buttons on the menu and soon a magic circle formed before him. It activated and immense amount of prana came out of it. So much prana that blue mist of condensed magical energy formed. The sheer power that he felt made him recall as his days as Chaldea's Master.

"I ask, are you my Master…" A voice that Shirou was incredibly familiar with spoke up as the magic circle faded away and a figure materialized.

"Welcome, Heroic Spirit!" Shirou called out. "I have called you forth to my ser…"

"Shirou? Is that you?" The voice of the summoned being interrupted Shirou.

"Arturia…? What…? How…?" Shirou asked in disbelief. "Impossible! I should only be able to summon a NPC…."

"NPC… Are you saying that I am Moon Cell?" Arturia asked in confusion.

"…Moon Cell?" Shirou repeated in a similar state of confusion.

"Since you don't know that name, I assume this is completely unrelated…" Arturia mumbled, but Shirou's sharp hearing caught what she said. "Anyway… Moon Cell is not important… When did you become a gamer, Shirou? Out of all the possible individuals that could become and are Shirou Emiya, none of them have been gamers…"

"Kami…" Shirou gripped his head as a headache began to form with all the question going through his mind and trying to comprehend what was going on. "Are you telling me I summoned an actual Heroic Spirit, not an NPC from YGGDRASIL but a real Heroic Spirit from the real Throne of Heroes …? How does a YGGDRASIL game item, a World-Class Item by the name of Throne of Heroes, connected to the real thing… The headache I am having just thinking about this…"

"Let's take this slowly, Shirou…" Arturia spoke in a calm tone. "How do you know me, Shirou?"

"Ha," Shirou sighed as he regained his composure. "I know you from two events. The Fifth Holy Grail War and the Chaldea Crisis…"

"Oh…" Arturia's mouth widened in an o-shape. "You're that Shirou… The one that become a host of Sengo Muramasa and learned of your true ancestry."

Happiness came to Shirou as he recalled that event. It had been an incredible period to learn who his ancestor had been and from there tracing down his family tree from his ancestor had allowed him to learn of biological family. Shirou also shivered at the ridiculous amount of power that he had been able to wield with the aid of his ancestor. Unlimited Blade Works combined with the legendary blacksmithing of Muramasa…

"That is me," Shirou nodded. "Since you made references to things that I have no knowledge of and seemingly familiar with many possible 'Shirou Emiyas', I assume you are a Heroic Spirit?"

"I am," Arturia nodded.

"Wow…" Shirou muttered just imagining the power that Arturia could yield if she was able to access the abilities of other Servant Classes like her spear, Rhongomyniad, while still having access to Excalibur. "You seem to be familiar with games given that you know what NPC means. Can you access your character stats menu?"

Arturia remained confused for a moment before she closed her eyes to access her memories. Memories that belonged to the lives of many possible Arturia Pendragons. It took some time to isolate the information she was looking for, but she soon found it. She opened her eyes and went through the menu.

"Here it is, Shirou," said Arturia as she made her character status menu visible to Shirou to see.

Name: Arturia Pendragon
Race: High Human
Total Level :100
Job Level:

· Fighter (15)

· Cleric (15)

· Wizard (15)

· Knight (10)

· Sorcerer (10)

· Cursed Knight (5)

· Dark Knight (5)

· Holy Knight (5)

· Magic Knight (5)

Character Status:

· HP: 100

· MP 78

· Physical Attack: 88

· Physical Defense: 85

· Agility: 79

· Magical Attack: 84

· Magical Defense: 78

· Resistance: 84

· Special Ability: 102

· Total: 778

Shirou Emiya sighed. He had been expecting much more. As NPCs, Heroic Spirits and Servants acted Bosses that were several times stronger in stats and abilities than Players. Servants, the weaker variant of Heroic Spirits, requiring a full party of six Players while Heroic Spirits needed an entire Legion (six parties of six Players). Arturia didn't possess stats and presumably abilities of a Boss. She would be rated amongst the top Players with her character build and stats.

Still by looking at just purely at character build and stats, Arturia is superior to me. She has a very well optimized build for PvP. Shirou thought to himself.

"Shirou, none of these stats make any sense to me." Arturia asked.

"Imagine a combination of your Saber, Lancer and Caster selves during the Chaldea Crisis. That should give you some idea of what you are capable of." Shirou replied.

Arturia shivered as she recalled the memories of the lives that herself that basically switched places with her older, half-sister, Morgan le Fey where she had become the evil witch to oppose Camelot and birth Mordred.

"Please don't bring up my Caster self…" Arturia shivered as she sealed away those unwanted memories.

"What is the problem? It is not like you're that the reason that you can also qualified for Caster is because the time you switched places with Morgan. The might be Alter Caster, but there was also a time where you were Queen Arturia, Wise Magical Queen of Camelot." Shirou asked in bafflement.

She didn't feel so well after hearing one possible path of that an Arturia Pendragon could achieve. The legend that Shirou referred to be the one where she reigned as Queen alongside Merlin as her husband and king. A terrible image that heavily conflicted with the perverted nature of the otherwise sagely and capable Merlin.

"Can we please not talk about me…" Arturia complained as she fought back the urge to vomit. "I would like to know about you. What has happened in your life since your time as the Chaldea Master?"

"It's the year, 2138. The world has changed greatly. Wildlife, natural scenery and farming has become a thing of the past given how populated Earth has become. I have taken to…" Shirou spoke as he launched into story detailing his life after last seeing Arturia as one of his Servants during the Chaldea Crisis.

"Zelretch is not informed in your arrival in this… 'New World'…? Are you sure? This sounds exactly like something he would do…" Arturia asked as she frowned after listening to Shirou's story.

"I am sure that Zelretch isn't involved. He isn't the type to just drop me off in another world without leaving some note or clues to how to get back. I have seen not a single shred to solve the mystery how I got here in the New World or how to get back." Shirou explained.

"Sadly, I will be unable to help you out," said Arturia in apologetic tone. "My Caster persona might be a master mage in many fields of magic but I am just as unable to use Kaleidoscope as you. What I can do is help you with these NPCs of Ainz Oown Gown. That is after all the reason why you summoned me."

"I am grateful for the help, Arturia. Who knows what threat the NPCs of Ainz Oown Gown can be to humanity." Shirou spoke. "I have a question, Arturia. How do you feel? Do you find anything unusual about yourself?"

"Now that you bring it up… I do feel strangely different. I can feel the abilities and Noble Phantasms that I have as Saber, Lancer or Caster but I also feel that I have access to abilities and skills that I shouldn't possess… Do you have any answers?"

"It seems like you are in the same situation as me…" Shirou muttered as he recalled the experience of his real body and YGGDRASIL avatar's merging as one. "Here is what I experienced, and I found out…"

- O -

"Ainz-sama, what should we do about the situation?" Demiurge inquired.

Ainz Oown Gown breathed deeply as he thought about the situation before him. He had suffered devastating setback after setback. The first and most serious setback so far had been the loss of Shalltear. Following the first setback, his efforts to gather information regarding the New World had similarly suffered. The latest setback had come in the loss of the Pleiades, a group of six non-human maid.

"I wish to know what your current plan is," said Ainz as he fought back the urge to admit that he had only idle fantasy to make the parties getting in the way of his goals pay. "What would you do if you were in my place."

"I am honored that you value my advice," said Demiurge in a grateful tone, "but I could never compare my ability to plan and execute to your unmatched and supreme ability."

I am not as infallible as everyone thinks! Ainz wanted to scream as everyone in Nazarick seemed to believe that he had all-powerful and wise when he was far from it. "Demiurge, think this as a test. I wish to see the ability of Nazarick's grand strategist. Tell me how you would deal with the situation."

"I am honored to be tested by you, Ainz-sama. Please tell if there is anything wrong with my plans," said Demiurge. "We have learned of several important things about the New World. Ainz-sama, you were correct in your assessment that there is more to this world than it seemed. I, like so many of the Nazarick, had greatly underestimated the strength and ability of the inhabitants of the New World. It was for this reason that Shalltear and the Pleiades had been lost to us."

Ainz nodded his head in agreement. While he had been the first to not underestimate the New World, never in his mind had he thought that the New World was even more dangerous than he had initially thought. If he had been so careless than Shalltear, the Pleiades and many other assets of Nazarick wouldn't have been lost.

"What are these 'important things' that we learned of the New World?" Ainz asked as he wanted to know if Demiurge knew or had learned of something that he hadn't noticed or escaped him.

"There are many things that we have little or no knowledge of regarding the New World. That the inhabitants of the New World cannot be underestimated. Any operations outside of Nazarick must be undertaken with special care under assumption that they will fail and for contingency plans to be made."

"You are correct," Ainz nodded. "How goes our attempts to gather information regarding this Shirou Emiya?"

"Information regarding the adventurer is scarce. What little we know can either be confirmed be no sources or a very untrustworthy one. Progress could be faster, but it cannot be done without either alerting Shirou Emiya of our presence or spying." Demiurge responded.

Ainz nodded happily that his orders were being complied. His standing orders had been to gather as much information regarding Shirou Emiya as possible, but without bringing attention from the adventurer to Nazarick. He tapped away on the menu that only he could see. Before his eyes appeared memo of what was known regarding Shirou Emiya.

"Are you definitely sure that Shirou Emiya is a human? Can he possibly be another species pretending to be a human? He seems to be too powerful compared to the rest of the humans in the New World." Ainz asked.

"Our spies report that they have heard that Shirou Emiya is a High Human…" Demiurge reported.

"High Human…" Ainz muttered and internalized his thoughts to prevent Demiurge or any other NPCs of the Nazarick to know his internal turmoil. This is not good. Whether or not Shirou Emiya is truly a Player is not important. The fact that we meant by dealing with an High Human is going to be troublesome.

High Human were considered "broken" and "overpowered" by many of YGGDRASIL's players for just about every race normally came with their strengths and weaknesses. There were many reasons for this sentiment. The first being that some of YGGDRASIL's most powerful NPCs (known as Heroic Spirits) were High Humans. The second being that High Humans had the largest per level growth stats and largest max level stats to the point that many of YGGDRASIL's top players were made up of High Humans.

This narrows down the list of potential Players that I might be dealing with, assuming that he is indeed a Player and using his real name instead of not using his ingame avatar name. Ainz thought as he recalled that despite being considered many as OP or broken that it was incredible difficult to become a High Human to the point that few Players was ever able to complete the stringent requirements to change races and become a High Human.

"Shirou Emiya will be incredible difficult to kill – if that is the cause of action that you decide, Ainz-sama," said Demiurge, snapping Ainz out of his musing.

"That is indeed correct," Ainz nodded. "High Humans are notorious difficult to kill…"

Ainz recalled the times that his guild at their height had difficult clearing the dungeons and Raids that had Heroic Spirits or their lesser counterparts known as Servants. He shivered as a particularly Raid Boss that the entirety of his guild had once fought. The hail of Legendary and Divine-tier weapons like it was rain. Gilgamesh had been impossible foe to defeat. His guild had come close reducing the Raid Boss to 10% HP several times but always had died when Gilgamesh used his Ultimate Skill, Ea: the Sword of Rupture. A skill that killed anything and everything to the point that Gilgamesh had never been defeated and theorized the only way to win was to reduce Gilgamesh's HP to zero within the seconds he took use Ea.

I had completely forgotten about Gilgamesh… He is just an example of how dangerous and powerful a High Human could be. Ainz thought darkly. He turned to Demiurge. "Demiurge, I want you to put bounties on Shirou Emiya. One bounty will be for gathering information. The other is to assassinate him."

"You believe that this Shirou Emiya is that much of a threat to Nazarick?" Demiurge asked in a very concerned tone.

Bringing his mouth to a close, Ainz carefully considered what words to say to Demiurge. Demiurge like the other NPCs of Nazarick considered him a Supreme Being. Someone that was all-powerful and mighty. It could possibly be catastrophic to the morale of Nazarick if he revealed that he treated Shirou Emiya as a potential threat that could end his life. Something that could never happen if Ainz had his way as there was so little that Nazarick knew about the New World. The unknown was the greatest danger to both him and Nazarick.

"Shirou Emiya is not a threat that I cannot handle," Ainz boasted. "What I am considered is the about of destruction that Nazarick could potentially face if Shirou Emiya were to learn of our existence and decided to come down on us. Nazarick contains treasures left by my fellow guildmates that could be damaged or destroyed."

"Of course, Ainz-sama, how can we forget the legacy left behind by the 41 Supreme Beings!" Demiurge shouted in alarm as he realized that he had forgotten something like that. "You are the wisest being, Ainz-sama, for you are thinking of events that I had not even considered about. Truly, you think ten steps… No, a hundred steps ahead!"

"That is not true…" Ainz wavered embarrassingly at Demiurge's high expectation of his not possible abilities. "Ahem… Make sure that when you make the bounties that it is impossible to trace it the request to us. That would nullify the whole point as we are trying to avoid the notice of Shirou Emiya."

"I will make sure to make it so," said Demiurge as he bowed. "I also have other plans that I wish for your approval, Ainz-sama…."

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