Chapter 3: Training

Two years have passed since Shirou's first meeting with Elizabeth and the two had become fast friends. Elizabeth would often drag Shirou through town doing whatever she felt like and Shirou, like the doormat he was, let her.

"I'll see you on Monday, Shiro!" Elizabeth called as her parents let her in their house. "It's a promise!"

"Yeah," Shirou muttered as the door closed behind her. "It's a promise."

Shirou heaved a sigh as he started the walk back to his house. His parents let him roam the town with Elizabeth, mainly because it was a small town and everyone knew each other, but they always had to be back home when the sun was still up.

"Mom, dad, I'm home," Shirou said as he knocked on the door to his house. The door opened to reveal Akane with her falchion on her hip.

"Welcome home Shiro," Akane said as she let Shirou in. "How was your day?"

"It was okay," Shirou replied with a smile. "Elizabeth and I went to town today."

"That's wonderful," Akane said as she closed the door. "Now make your way to the backyard. Your father is waiting for you."

"'Kay," Shirou said before making his way to the backyard. When Shirou opened the door to the backyard, he saw Kenji swing a wooden longsword, the air flexing around him from the force of the swing.

"Ah, Shiro! Welcome back," Kenji smiled as he rested the blade over his shoulder.

"Hi dad," Shirou replied with a small smile. "What did you need?"

"Today we're going to be doing something very special," Kenji pointed the wooden sword at Shirou. "As of today, we're going to start training."

/

Kenji couldn't help but smile as Shiro unsheathed his wooden sword. Despite his growth, the sword was still a good length for him.

"Before we start with forms, I want to see what you can do," Kenji said as he looked at his opponent. Shiro held his sword in front of him with one hand. It was reminiscent of some of the older one-handed sword stances that Kenji was forced to study in class.

"Be safe, boys!" Akane cheered the two of them on. She was watching by the door with a proud smile on her face.

Something that Kenji noticed was that he used the sword one-handed, even though he specifically commissioned the sword to be used by two tiny hands. From what he could remember seeing kids and remembering his own play-fights, children tended to hold the sword with both hands so they could swing harder.

"Are you ready?" Kenji said with an easy smile. Shiro, on the other hand, frowned. Kenji almost flinched at the intensity of his gaze. He still looked adorable, but he didn't know that a five-year-old child could have such a focused gaze. Kenji barely registered his son's nod before seeing him dash forward. His little legs didn't take him far, but it was enough to throw the man off guard.

Shiro swung at Kenji's left shoulder. With a single twist of his wrist, Kenji's wooden sword moved to block Shiro's swing. At the last second, Shiro's sword veered down to strike Kenji's hip and the man had to jump backwards to avoid the blow.

A feint?! Kenji could barely believe his eyes. He didn't have time to think, as Shiro was already going on the offensive again. Kenji's mind went on autopilot as he swung his sword. The sword was halfway through its swing when Kenji realized he swung too high. Shiro's fighting style messed with Kenji for him to momentarily think he was fighting an adult. The boy didn't have to move much to dodge the blow and counterattack, exploiting the weak spot Kenji made by overextending his swing.

Crap! Kenji jumped back before swinging downwards at Shiro's head. The young boy sidestepped and jumped up, aiming a slash at his neck. Kenji swung up to parry the blow, but underestimated his strength. The blow was strong enough to launch Shiro a couple inches up, causing him to fall on his back.

"Goddess! Are you alright?!" Kenji immediately panicked, throwing his wooden sword aside and rushing to Shiro.

"Fine dad," Shiro winced as he stood up. Kenji then flinched as he felt Shiro poke him with his toy sword. Kenji could only look at his son as he smiled innocently. "I win."

/

Akane was speechless. The way Shiro fought… no five-year-old could or should be able to fight like that, but here she was, playing the events of the short fight in her head.

"Honey, where did you learn how to do that?" Akane asked as she walked up to Shiro and Kenji, who were play-fighting after Shiro declared his win. The two stopped and gave the woman a blank stare.

"I just did what you and dad did during training," Shiro said with a criminally innocent look.

What am I going to do with this boy? Akane thought to herself.

"Is that so?" Kenji eyed Shirou with an indiscernible look.

"I'm really proud of you, sweetie," Akane picked Shiro up. "We already have a little knight on our hands, don't we Kenji?"

"Mom," Shiro pouted. Akane couldn't help but giggle. She loved her son.

"Yeah. Our son is a genius," Kenji had a soft yet proud smile as he ruffled his kid's hair.

"Now, your stance is pretty solid, but we need to teach you a solid stance," Kenji said. Akane placed Shiro down and Kenji grabbed his sword. "Now, I noticed you like to hold your sword with one hand. A good stance you can use is…"

/

Shirou had to admit, he loved learning his parents' fighting styles. Kenji specialized in a form similar to Italian longsword fighting, focusing on two-handed cuts executed in a way where the user was still guarded. Kenji only taught Shirou a few basic moves, but it was enough for Shirou to get a grasp on what his father's style was like.

After Kenji was done teaching Shirou a basic exercise, Akane stepped in with her falchion. Her fighting style was very suitable for her weapon, focusing on powerful single-handed cuts with the intent of chopping right through armor. What made Akane unique, however, was the speed she was able to execute powerful swings. If Shirou was being honest, his mother's demonstration of her fighting style scared him a little bit. She didn't need to have anything in front of her for Shirou to deduce that his mother was ruthless on the battlefield.

"Did you have fun today?" Akane asked as the three went in. The three had spent several hours outside taking turns teaching Shirou basic maneuvers of their styles.

"Yep!" Shirou chirped. The training session was very educational. If Shirou had to guess, he would assume that Kenji's fighting style was similar to the status quo. Italian longswords were utilized by knights back in Shirou's world, so seeing something so similar tipped Shirou off.

"I'm glad you did, because we're going to start studying now!" Akane then said. Shirou pretended to groan.

"Mom, do we have to?" Shirou asked with a slight whine.

"I know you don't like it, but we have to do it," Akane then picked up Shirou and made her way to her room. "Wouldn't you like to read your own bedtime stories?"

"FIne," Shirou groaned. In reality, Shirou enjoyed his studies. He loved learning more about the world he was now living in and with his mother's tutelage, he was finally getting a grasp on the written language.

"Here it is," Akane grabbed a small book on her desk and sat down and placed Shirou on her lap. She opened the book and Shirou looked at the colorful pictures with small descriptions.

"Now what does that one say?" Akane pointed to the first line of the page.

"Knight!" Shirou answered with faux glee. The only downside was that he had to go slowly. Very slowly.

"Good job!" Akane cheered before pointing to the next line. "What about this?"

"Tree!" Shirou responded.

"Good job!" Akane said enthusiastically. "You're doing very well, Shiro. I think you're ready for the next level."

"Really?" Shirou looked up at his mother with wide eyes.

"Yep!" Akane flipped through a few pages and stopped to point at another line. This one, however, had two words. "Now what does this say?"

Shirou almost groaned. Archer was right. This truly was hell.

/

Shirou sighed as he flopped onto his bed. While Akane taught Shirou how to read and write, Kenji taught Shirou mathematics. Shirou sent a silent prayer of thanks to whatever divine spirit was watching that this world used Arabic numerals rather than a whole different system.

What surprised Shirou, however, was Kenji's proficiency in math. Sure, he expected him to know math to a certain degree, but apparently he was the accountant for an Adventurer's Guild for five years before Shirou was born and he retired. He knew that both of his parents were originally knights, but Shirou just found his father doing taxes for a business appalling. Hell, he found the prospect of doing taxes by hand appalling.

Akane, on the other hand, was a historian after she retired from the knights. She spent a good three years getting as much information about how the world was like hundreds of years ago before retiring to have Shirou. It's one of the reasons she has so many books in the house.

"Alright, now for the real training," Shirou muttered to himself as he sat up. He looked around his room. It wasn't ideal, but it would do. "Trace on."

Blue motes of light started to form around Shirou's hands until they formed a smaller version of Kanshou and Bakuya, the married blades. Since projection and structural analysis aren't common spells in this world, Shirou's projections require less prana to make and are more durable. Alteration became a lot easier as well. Back in Shirou's old world, he had to concentrate a fair deal to alter one of his projections, but now he could do basic alterations like size almost instantly, not unlike Archer.

Shirou let go of the blades and they vanished. He wanted to practice tracing more powerful Noble Phantasms, but he could only do so much without alerting his parents. He continued to summon and unsummon the married blades, doing so to exercise his magical circuits. He made sure to do this daily so they wouldn't degrade from misuse.

It feels so cramped in here, Shirou thought to himself as he laid back down. As much as he loved his new parents, he hated being stuck inside. He hated his weak body. He couldn't save anyone like this.

Granted, it doesn't seem like anyone here needs saving, Shirou thought to himself. From what he's seen, everyone was living a relatively good life. Everyone seemed to be in the same class of wealth, even the shopkeepers and their employees. Shirou didn't see any homeless people in alleyways or streets, and there was rarely any conflict.

Well, I only have three more years until my ritual, Shirou added. At the age of eight, each child did a ritual to summon their sword. From what he could tell, swords were a reflection of a user's soul, almost like a bootleg origin. A sword's shape is what represents the user's soul the best. Although it wasn't as impactful as an origin, it still showed a fundamental part of a wielder's soul.

I shouldn't be thinking about this, Shirou thought to himself as he closed his eyes. He was still a child, afterall. He missed out on the first seven years of his life due to the Fuyuki Fire and now he had a chance to live it again.

Still… Shirou still had a nagging feeling in the back of his head. It was in Emiya Shirou's nature to save someone, and being forced to stay idle was almost soul crushing.

I'll… I'll get stronger, Shirou promised himself, resolve flowing through him. I'll get stronger and save everyone.

First thing's first, yeah, I'm aware of the dual swords thing. Just thought it would be a bit funny to put in. The actual in lore explanation is that Shirou's bout with Elizabeth was Shirou's first "fight" ever since he reincarnated. He was keeping on the defensive because he could trust his reflexes to clash swords, but when he went for the offensive, he overextended. When he realized that, he wanted to use the second sword he's used to having on hand whether or not it's using that Archer v Lancer thing, but it wasn't there. Anywyas, please do consider leaving a review! I would love to read and reply to your thoughts. As this is an original world, I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you may have. Also please join my Discord! I would love to talk to you all and answer all your questions! I talk a lot about my thought process while writing, so if you're interested in that, do consider joining. The url is discord . gg (forego the spaces) followed by a slash and CpVs7R8KXz. Unfortunately you'll have to type the rest of the url in manually because I'm not allowed to post links. Thank you for reading and I'll catch you on the flipside.

Another thing. Due to the fact that Solomon was not summoned in the fifth war due to it being a normal UBW route, Maisbury didn't win. Solomon was never there and by extension Romani. When the incineration of humanity happened, there's no Chaldea to stop it. The original timeline's boned. That isn't to say that another version of Chaldea could end up visiting due some second magic fuckery. Sorry to those who were thinking about that. I want to focus on the new world rather than create another subplot I have no desire to work through.