Their pace slowed by their injuries, it took a good hour to get to where the JSDF personnel's truck was, having left it due to not being able to cross the ash-covered remains of the forest. The elves had formed an escort around them, though Shirou didn't know what they would be protecting against, since every animal in the vicinity was long gone.

He supposed it was the thought that counted.

Once there, the field medic of the unit - a Kurokawa Mari - proceeded to check up on the injured elves. Without access to most of their Spirit Magic, the elves had to heal the old fashioned way. Unfortunately, nobody had managed to salvage any medical supplies from the village.

In fact, it was a miracle that several of the burn victims managed to survive as long as they did.

Thankfully, from the short time that Shirou was watching, the medical supplies that the Third Recon brought with them was sufficient enough to patch up the worst of them.

He'd have liked to go and help, no matter how little it may be, but he had more pressing issues to deal with. Namely, being a translator.

"My thanks once more for the aid thee has given." He repeated the words that the Grand Elder spoke with surprising ease. Oddly, due to the spell that was used on him, he didn't actually need to speak in another language.

It was weird, but he had seen weirder.

"No problem at all, ma'am. We're just doing our jobs." Itami was a lot more relaxed now, compared to the tension from before, but the anxiousness still remained. Shirou couldn't blame him. Had he no experience with dealing with the aristocrats of the Clock Tower, he too would have been out of his depth talking to Adrianne.

Said woman laughed lightly in response, "Is thine job to help strangers in a strange land?"

"It's our job to help those who need help." Itami spoke with such conviction that Shirou couldn't help but look at the man approvingly, despite knowing that that wasn't the case. Politics always got in the way of the right thing. The JSDF, per their name, was to defend Japan.

They weren't meant to interfere in other countries without permission. The Enforcer knew this, the lieutenant knew this, and going by the raised eyebrow of Adrianne, the Grand Elder knew this. A military force, even one for self defense, wouldn't be given permission to divvy up aid for foreigners like this.

Saying that to Adrianne, who by all means was the leader of an entire population, small as it was, was a dangerous thing indeed.

Any further conversation was interrupted as a loud laugh sounded out. With raised eyebrows, Shirou snapped towards it, towards Tuka, who was now trying to stifle her laughter to no avail.

Beside her was one of the JSDF personnel rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment while shooting looks at Hodor, nervousness apparent. For his part, the father glared at the man with judging eyes. With a sigh, Shirou gave a small smile.

Small as it was, the scene was the first bit of levity the elves had had since the dragon had come. For the past hour, the air had been thick with the despair one would find within the survivors of a natural disaster.

It was an air that was all so familiar to Shirou, but to see it in the faces of the elves of Coan Forest was another thing entirely.

"My," Beside him, Adrianne had spotted the same thing and laughed alongside the growing grins of the surrounding elves, "Hodor really needs to relax about Tuka. Always so overprotective."

"A father will always be a father, I suppose."

"Ahhhhh!" Itami didn't need a translation to understand, "I'm really sorry about that! I should've told Kurata to behave."

"Tis no problem." Adrianne kept her amusement apparent, "I suspect that Tuka appreciates the attention. A young maiden such as herself deserves such, after all." She gave a pointed look at Shirou at that.

Shirou stared back with a dead look in his eye. The Elder grinned back at him, a teasing glint in her eye. Shirou coughed as he felt his eye twitching.

"Anyway," He diverted the topic as quickly as he could, though from the look on Adrianne's face, she knew what he was doing but letting it go, "You said that you're going to try and find a new home. Do you have any idea where you'd go?"

At this, the uplifted spirits around them soured once more. Shirou internally winced, knowing the question was a bit loaded. Beside him, Itami awkwardly coughed while looking anywhere that wasn't him.

Regardless, it was a valid question. With the amount of injuries that they had sustained from ash inhalation, being within the vicinity of dragonfire and everything else, the elves needed to get to safety. Traveling far would only make them more vulnerable, and would likely have several of them die along the way.

It was a sobering decision that Shirou had seen more than one war refugee group make. Survive, at the cost of innocent lives.

"To be frank, I do not know." Adrianne sighed in frustration, "The Empire has mine people surrounded. Should we make our way anywhere near the borders, the Imperials will be on our necks faster than the executioner's axe. We could perhaps see if Coda Village is willing to take us in temporarily. I know of the sage in it, and he owes mine people a debt."

"Coda Village?" Shirou frowned as he remembered the village he'd visited during his journey to Coan. There was a peculiar looking old man there, dressed in stereotypical fantasy garb, along with that blue-haired girl who was likely his apprentice.

Debts were important, he knew that from experience. Any magus worth their name would try their damndest to not be in debt to another magus. Doing so would put you under their mercy, be it politically or literally.

He'd experienced both first hand, and it was an experience that he would not like to repeat.

If the debt was unavoidable, however, a magus would pay off that debt as quickly as possible. It would not be good for their health, mentally or physically, otherwise.

To hear a magus as old-looking as the apparent sage of this Coda Village owed a long-living species such as the elves, not to mention the bitterness between the species, was startling to say the least. What could have driven a human to deal with a species that actively hated him in the first place?

"I thought that you hated the Empire?"

Moreover, the more important question was why the elves would even deal with a human from an Imperial Village. Given the animosity that almost every single elf here had towards the Imperials, he would have thought that had the sage even stepped close to the area, he would've been speared by at least a dozen people.

"We do," Adrianne nodded in confirmation, "But Coda Village was initially not part of the Empire. Indeed, only some thirty years ago was the village independent, so much so that mine people traded with them frequently. Then, as with all good things, the Empire came and ruined it."

Even without Reinforcement, Shirou could hear the tightening grips of several of the escorts around them.

"They wanted a supply route from the Capital to Alnus Hill. Small as it was, Coda was directly in between their planned route. As such, the Emperor commanded over a thousand men to annex the village, a village of no more than fifty people, mind you. Mine scouts saw what had happened, reported to me the injustices that the Imperials wrought upon Coda. We cut off most communication from them soon after. Too dangerous for both people.

"What communication we did have was done in secret with their elders. Those who we'd known before the annexation. They too hated the Imperials, but were powerless to stop them. If we were to appeal to them, and the debt that Sage Cato owes us, I am sure that a few days of rest would not be out of the question."

"Cato…Coda…" Itami was furrowing his brows as he picked a couple of words from Adrianne, even as Shirou translated. As if an epiphany struck him, he stood a bit straighter, "Ah, right! I'm sorry, but I don't think that's an option."

"Whatever do you mean, green men?" The Grand Elder was frowning now, her earlier optimism, little as it was, fading fast.

"On our way here, we ran into the villagers on their way, well, anywhere else." The lieutenant nodded as he remembered, "We couldn't really understand each other, but from what I can tell, they were trying to get away from the dragon after someone spotted it flying nearby."

"...Ah. I suppose that should be expected." The blonde sighed in defeat as she listened to the translation. It was odd to see her like this. The proud, charming elf leader that Shirou knew had never looked so tired before. Even when Rubrasax was breathing dragonfire on the village, she had remained strong.

Now, she looked lost.

"Thank you once more, Lord Itami, Lord Emiya." She spoke softly as she looked towards Tuka and Hodor once more, the former still laughing at something or the other, "Please excuse me, I must meet with my council." Where before, her words flowed easily, now, she was clipped. Her tone devoid of any emotion.

Shirou couldn't help the pang of guilt that stung at him. Despite intellectually knowing that he had tried his best given the circumstances, he looked back onto what he could've done better. How he could've prevented the dragon from doing as much damage as it did.

In fact, had he used some of the stronger Noble Phantasms in his arsenal, the dragon would have died before anything else could be destroyed. Sure, Caladbolg or Balmung would've destroyed a large part of the forest, but had he used them, then it would have only destroyed said large part, not its entirety and then some.

Hell, had he just asked about the capabilities of the dragon instead of just assuming it, none of this would've happened. The entire thing was a failure on his part.

Hindsight, he supposed, was twenty-twenty. He watched the Elder walk solemnly into the crowd of elves, her footfalls heavy with unsaid emotion. Nothing could be done now, not with the forest completely destroyed.

A thought came to him.

No, there was always something he could do.

Life at the Clock Tower had taught him much. It had taught him that for every problem that he had, there was always something that someone could do. There wasn't a situation where actions couldn't be taken.

It's just that you had to be ready for the consequences.

"Grand Elder Valliere." Maybe the consequences will be nothing in the long run. Maybe a headache that Shirou would have to deal with. Maybe.

But there was one thing that Shirou was sure of, it's that he wouldn't regret this at all.

The elf turned, a curious look still marred by the news that Itami broke.

"There should be plenty of space near Alnus Hill for you and your people to stay. I'm sure the JSDF would not mind terribly."

Twin exclamations of surprise, one from the elf and the other from the human, sounded out. He could not blame them. He was essentially offering to make Alnus Hill a refugee site. For the elf leader, it was an invitation to help her people, beyond what any reasonable person would even conceive of asking from another individual.

For Itami, it was different. Shirou wasn't just taking in refugees. He would be taking in refugees from another world. Not only that, but Alnus Hill was directly under the control of the JSDF, and the Japanese government as a whole. Shirou, quite literally, didn't have the authority to authorize this.

Not that Shirou cared.

Right now, all he saw was people that he'd failed. He'd saved their lives, true, but he couldn't save their lives. If he left them as they were, without giving them any help, then it's likely the Empire would spot and kill them.

Or worse. They'd have to leave their injured to the Empire and have to live with the guilt.

No, the option to him was clear. Should the elf take his offer, he would take the responsibility it carried, no matter how much it would cost.

And Adrianne wasn't exactly in a position to refuse, even if she was struggling to accept it.

"Hey, uh, can I talk to you real quick, Emiya-san?" The green clad man beside him was nervously tapping his foot on the ground, despite the hardened look on his face. Shirou nodded and followed him, though not before giving a knowing look to the elf.

"I know what you're going to say," Shirou started when they were far enough that Adrianne wouldn't hear them, "But you and I both know that, had the circumstances been slightly different, you would've offered the same thing anyway." The Enforcer gave a rueful smile at the way that Itami looked to the side at Shirou's observation.

Yes. That was another thing that Shirou noticed. Itami Youji was a good man, his words earlier just another indication of his disposition. Had the elves been just slightly less than their current population, had their injuries been slightly less severe, Itami would've done the same thing as Shirou.

As a JSDF personnel, the man had just that more leeway when it came to what the government would claim as their territory.

But the elves needed a lot more than just temporary housing. The amount of work that would need to ask the government for permission for not just housing, but for what essentially was a full humanitarian mission was too much to ask on such short notice.

That wasn't even putting into question that Alnus Hill was, as of right now, a military installation that could be under fire soon.

"Don't worry about that for now." Shirou continued, using the voice he usually only reserved for dealing with his fellow Enforcers, "I'll take care of it. For now, we'll need to discuss the logistics of transporting everyone."

"I-" Itami scratched the back of his head, "Look man, I'm the one that's going to get his ass chewed by command. I wanna at least get the story straight." The man avoided acknowledging the magus' earlier words. A bit too humble, in Shirou's eyes. Not that he could say that out loud without being a hypocrite.

"If they have a problem, just point them towards me. Now, transport?"

Itami sighed as he palmed his face in frustration, but nodded regardless. He didn't have to ask if Adrianne would accept. Even a blind man could see that Adrianne would, and was only delaying it out of respect for Shirou.

It was a quick talk, all things considered. The JSDF and their vehicle would be guarding their flanks, with Shirou taking the front. The injured would be carried in between all of them, and the healthy-to-move elves. A simple, but effective convoy.

It was half-way through that talk, though, when Adrianne approached and accepted the invitation to Alnus begrudgingly.

"Make no mistake, Lord Emiya, mine people and myself will pay back this debt, no matter the cost." She had added, her eyes brokering no argument. Shirou nodded at that. It was expected.

In his line of work, no help was freely given. There was always a give-and-take, a deal that benefited both parties. Most of the time, it would be favors - some for acquiring reagents that would take a bit of work, or votes for the Clock Tower's recent policies. Others, to be used at a later date.

For this case, though, he had the perfect payment in mind.

"How long does the dragon corpse have before decaying?" A normal body would start to decompose immediately after death. Normal, being the imperative term here. A creature that was infused with that much magical energy would be bound to be different.

"I would put it around a week, perhaps a week and a half. Why do you ask, Lord Emiya?" Shirou nodded at her words. A week was more than enough time.

"After we get your people situated, I'll need some help extracting every usable part of it."

Say what you would about his being a third-rate magus. He knew good quality materials when he saw them.


A/N: If you like what I do and want to support me, check out my P-atreon at P-atreon•com(slash)Almistyor.

And a special thanks to: Oliver vazquez, brutalcrab and Tassimo.