Thank you for all the reviews and the support! If you have a comment or question you want me to respond to, please leave a review!
muzjun no kishi: Thank you for the assurance! I'll be sure to keep that in mind as I move forward.
YetiGoZeti300: Don't worry man. You'll get there. I'm just coming out of burnout myself. You can do it.
adislt: Reading the history of weapons is literally his canonical ability? I honestly don't know what you're trying to tell me.
Chapter 11: Journey
"That incantation…" Vivianne muttered as she and Merlin rewatched the scene where the cultists kidnapped Elizabeth. "Do you have any idea what it is?"
"From what I can gather, it's some sort of summoning spell," Merlin rubbed his chin. "Though it looks like they didn't plan well. The amount of life force required to make a body completely out of magic… Artoria would have probably had a body for two seconds before all of them were drained of magic energy. If they had a third party to support them magically though…"
"I see," Vivianne nodded. "Merlin, see if you can complete the incantation."
"What? Why?" Merlin tilted his head as he looked at the goddess. "I was planning on doing it anyway, but why would you need it?"
"Well, just in case," Vivianne replied, her frown deepening. "You know that she's growing stronger."
Merlin nodded, his usual smile fading in an instant. "I'll finish it as soon as possible."
"See to it that you do," Vivianne said before stalking out of the room.
"Some woman," Merlin muttered before getting back to work.
Shirou sighed as he stood outside his house. Elizabeth had to leave a couple weeks earlier to start some early assignments, so Shirou was left alone.
"Are you sure you don't want us to call a carriage?" Akane said. Shirou turned around and smiled.
"Did you and dad have a carriage when you went to the Academy?" Shirou asked. The two remained silent. "It's fine. I've already been there before."
"I'm still not happy about that," Kenji grumbled. Shirou knew that his father understood that he needed to go, but that didn't mean he liked it.
"Sorry dad. You know how I am," Shirou had a weak smile on his face.
"Whatever. Just be sure to write a lot," Kenji waved his hand dismissively. "Just remember that admission ends in a week. Just make it to the Academy by then."
"You know he loves you," Akane said with a soft smile. "Stay safe, alright?"
"Alright," Shirou nodded. He had his sword set to Kanshou and Bakuya and traced a pair of sheaths for the married blades. "I'll be sure to write to you soon."
"Goodbye Shiro," Akane hugged her son. Kenji paused before joining in the hug.
"I'll miss you, son," Kenji had a small smile on his face. Shirou could see the tears in his eyes, but decided not to bring it up.
"I'll miss you too," Shirou muttered as he pulled away. He took a deep breath as he turned around and he started to run.
Shirou was going a lot slower than he would have liked. He was only using his Strengthening Art, which was a lot less efficient than his Reinforcement. Since he had been relying on magecraft for so long, he only recently acquired the Art, so he decided to use it on his journey to improve.
It had been roughly eight hours and he had only made it a quarter of the way. He had plenty of time with admissions ending in a week, but Shirou didn't like that he had to slow down to master the new technique.
It was then that an unfamiliar scent caused Shirou to stop. He took another sniff and almost gagged. The smell was rotten and potent… almost demonic. Forgetting his current path, Shirou ran towards the source of the stench.
He arrived on another road to see large dog-like beasts attacking a carriage. As he ran closer, he saw one man lying on the floor, blood pooled around him. There was another man in armor fending off one of the beasts while a girl with orange hair, sapphire eyes, and two cutlassess was surrounded by three more.
Damn! Shirou grabbed Kanshou and Bakuya and threw them. They curved and cut the head off one of the beasts' heads off before flying back into his hands. As they did, he jumped up and landed in between the girl and one of the creatures.
"Another dual wielder?!" The young woman shouted, relief and shock coating her voice. "Thank the Goddess!"
"What's the situation?" Shirou asked.
"One casualty," The girl lowered her head. "With you here, I think we'll be able to fend them off fine, though."
"Good," Shirou nodded. He then turned back to the beast and charged. He switched his grip on Kanshou and stabbed the beast through the skull before beheading it with Bakuya. He turned to see the young woman cleaving an X-shaped scar into her opponent's chest. She then stabbed it in the head with one of her cutlasses. The other knight also finished off his opponent with relative ease.
"Thank you for your assistance. They caught us by surprise," The young woman bowed to Shirou. "My name is Mary. I'm an incoming first year student at the Knight's Academy."
"Ah, my name's Shiro. I'm also going to be a first year at the Knight's Academy," Shirou rubbed the back of his head.
"Oh, what a coincidence!" Mary sheathed her swords. "It's nice to know there will be another dual-wielder in my year."
"Yeah," Shirou nodded. He didn't really know what it meant to be a dual wielder in this world, but he knew they were special.
"By the way, where's your carriage?" Mary tilted her head. "Aren't all students supposed to have one escort them?"
"Er…" Shirou rubbed the back of his head.
"Well, you can join me. As a thank you for saving us," Mary's smile was wide and genuine.
"Thank you," Shirou nodded. Part of him didn't want to, but he felt that it would be impolite to decline.
"Alright then," Mary walked up to the carriage and opened the door. "Let's go."
Shirou and Mary learned a lot about each other in the past two days. Mary came from a long line of farmers who never had any interest in being knights, but when Mary summoned two swords, they all supported her in her journey to become a knight.
Shirou learned about his mother's reputation that day. Apparently, "Bloody Mist Akane" was famous nationwide as a powerful yet kind knight. Apparently during an invasion, she single handedly killed all three of the enemy Commanders and forced them to retreat by herself.
"Ah, we're here!" Mary said with childlike wonder in her eyes. Shirou looked out the window and he had to admit, Capital City was really something. It looked like something out of a picture book with big, cobblestone walls and medieval style houses with a castle in the center. Off to the right of the castle was a large building that could easily be mistaken for a large mansion, but Shirou had been there before. That mansion was the Knight's Academy's main building.
"It's so cool!" Mary said, a look of innocent wonder displayed on her features.
"Save it for the Academy. It'll be a lot cooler up close," Shirou said. He then had an idea and a mischievous smirk found its way onto the young man's face. "Hey Mary. I heard that the wielder of Excalibur is a student this year."
"WHAT?!" Mary spun around to look at Shirou.
"I think she's a… second year?" Shirou put a finger on his chin and looked up. The ploy seemed to work because Mary's eyes widened and started to sparkle.
"OhmyGoddess! We need to get there right now!" Mary exclaimed, jumping up and down in her seat. "Do you think I'll be able to get her autograph?!"
Shirou chuckled. "If only she knew."
"We're here!" Mary jumped out of the carriage and looked up at the large, open doors that stood in front of her.
"Yeah we are," Shirou nodded as he made his way out calmly. "Shall we?"
"We shall," Mary said with a smile and the two walked into the building.
"Shiro!" The Wrought Iron Magus almost groaned when he heard the familiar voice. Elizabeth ran up to him with two girls behind him. One with blue hair and green eyes and the other with lavender hair and lilac eyes.
"Hey Lizz—" Shirou stopped to dodge a right hook to the face.
"I can't believe you're already hanging out with other girls! Playboy! Pervert!" Elizabeth shouted before putting a hand on Excalibur.
"Uh Lizzy… I'm twelve and you're thirteen," Shirou held his hands up with an uneasy smile. "Aren't we too young to be thinking about that kind of thing? Where did you learn those words anyway?"
"I'll show you too young when I cut you in half!" Elizabeth unsheathed Excalibur and pointed it at Shirou.
"Is that Excalibur?!" Mary shouted, interrupting the dispute.
"Yeah, why?" Elizabeth tilted her head.
"OhmygoshcanIpleasehaveyoursignature?!" Mary was instantly mere inches away from Elizabeth with stars in her eyes.
"Shiro, who's this?" Elizabeth took a step back.
"Oh, this is Mary. Her carriage got ambushed by monsters, so I helped out," Shirou shrugged. "She offered to give me a ride after. That's it."
"Oh," Elizabeth sheathed Excalibur with a slight blush. "Uh… I'll get you an autograph once I have a paper and quill."
"Thank you!" Mary then turned to Shirou. "You didn't tell me you know Excalibur's wielder!"
"Yeah, we're childhood friends," Shirou said. "Mary, this is Elizabeth, wielder of Excalibur. She still hasn't—"
"Don't say it!" Elizabeth shouted.
"So this is the infamous Shirou," The bluenette interrupted the conversation with a snicker. "I've got to say, Lizzy. You really know how to pick 'em."
"Stella!" Elizabeth whined and spun around.
"Hmm, you said he knows his swords, right?" The other girl said, a teasing smirk on her face. "Stella's right, Lizzy. You have a catch."
"Jasmine! Not you too!" Elizabeth whined. Shirou looked at the three and saw another opportunity. He might as well take it.
"Oh? You've been talking about me?" Shirou said with a teasing smile. "Only good things, I hope."
"Only good things," Stella assured with a smile.
"G-guys," Elizabeth was looking at her friends frantically, praying for them to stop.
"I would love to hear about it sometime," Shirou shot a glance at Elizabeth, who flinched. "I would love to hear what my dear friend has to say about me."
"L-l-let's get you enrolled, alright?!" Elizabeth was beet red when she grabbed Shirou's wrist and dragged him off to the receptionist.
Anderson sighed as he stared at the road ahead. He was only halfway to the Academy and Rose and Lubelia had already tried to kill each other.
"Get off me you skank!" Rose hissed. Anderson had no idea what they were doing, but it was brutal.
"Skank? If I'm a skank, then you're a maggot," Lubelia tried to act calm and refined, but Anderson knew his daughter. If they went any further, something was going to explode.
"Why can't you guys just act like Shiro?" Anderson muttered under his breath. To his surprise, there were a couple moments of silence.
"Did you say Shirou?" Rose asked. "Who's that?"
"Oh, he's a friend of my student, Elizabeth. I've told you about her, right?" Anderson replied nonchalantly. He was just happy his twins weren't fighting anymore.
"Hey Lubelia?" Rose's voice was scarily sweet. "Do you want to call a temporary truce?"
"You just read my mind, dear sister," Lubelia replied with an equally honey-dipped voice. "Now, we have much to discuss."
For the rest of the trip, Rose and Lubelia spent their time whispering to each other and giggling.
Shiro, I don't know what you did… but I wish you luck, Anderson thought wistfully. Even if Shiro was a talented young man, the viscount didn't know if he would make it out alive. I'll be rooting for you.
Thank you all for reading! Now the real fun begins. Expect a lot of new characters, terminology, and a bunch of other fun stuff. Also, this arc will be fairly long. Just a heads up. I want to cover at least one year at the academy, but I might cover two or three if things work out well. Anyways, 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.