The forest they were in was dense, that much Shirou was certain of before. Just from the area he had ventured in, he could see the thick canopies of various trees, not a single bit of ground unclaimed by the vegetation around them.

So, imagine his surprise when, as they walked further in, the forest became even denser. before, they could still walk on fairly even ground, now they had to climb on the monstrous roots on seemingly normal looking trees.

Not only that, but the leaves became even thicker, to the point that though he knew it was only midday, the shade of said leaves made it look as if it were already night. Even then, they kept on walking.

It wasn't until a certain point that Shirou felt something somewhat familiar. A chill went down his spine, just as he and Marceau crossed a small stream. At the same time, Marceau sighed and rolled his shoulders. The elf turned to look back at the Enforcer, "Alright, we should just be a few minutes now." Shirou ignored the relaxed tone and stared tensely in the distance.

"Field?" The magus asked. He needed to know if what they entered was a known entity or not. After all, he'd not even noticed the Bounded Field until he'd crossed it. A difficult feat, since he'd made it a point to be on the lookout for even the most minor of dangers on his regular work.

"Field?" The confusion on the other man's face almost made Shirou Trace his swords and flatten the entire area around them to ward off any attacker. Thankfully, Marceau seemed to have an epiphany, "Oh! You must mean the Magic Barrier. We've got one set up in case one of those dragons comes by and tries to fry us."

At that, Shirou allowed himself to relax somewhat, but not entirely. He had faith in Marceau - the elf was a good person, sure, but whoever set up the Bounded Field was still a complete unknown.

"Marceau!" A different voice came in from the distance, beyond a couple of thicker trees. The both of them looked forward, just as another elf, blonde as well, came up to meet them. Unlike the elf with Shirou who wore something akin to a stereotypical fantasy hunter, this one was a bit more armored.

Instead of hunting leathers, the new elf was decked in a light chainmail, one that without even Analyzing it, Shirou could tell was well used. Not only that, but the sword at the man's side, despite the worn handle, was exceptional in its quality.

From just a guess, and how he met the two of them first, the elf was probably a guard.

"Francois!" Marceau greeted back with a wave. The other elf, Francois, jogged up to meet them. The two elves shook hands.

"You're back early."

"Game wasn't good, I'm afraid. Got scared off by all those Imperials running with their tails between their legs."

"Ha! Serves them right." The brief conversation between the two was interrupted when Francois finally took note of Shirou. Immediately, the somewhat relaxed disposition of the elf turned tense. Especially when he took note of Shirou's ears.

"Marceau, what the hell?" The grim look on the elf's face was mirrored by the defiance on the mage's. Already was Francois' hand on his sword, while Shirou gripped a yet to be Traced blade. At any moment, if either tried something, neither would hesitate to slice the other's neck.

Seeing this, Marceau got in between them waving his hands around, "Stop, stop, stop! This guy isn't an Imperial, I swear!"

"How sure are you about that?" The elf didn't take his eyes off of Shirou, and to his credit, neither did the Enforcer.

"Like, pretty sure?"

"Not good enough. Stand back, I'll deal with him." The sword was drawn from his waist. Subsequently, Kanshou was Traced and held in a low guard.

"You don't want this fight." Shirou didn't bother speaking in Latin. He was sure that the guard would understand what he wanted to say regardless of the language barrier. The both of them ignored whatever Marceau was trying to say. While Shirou couldn't say for certain why Francois wasn't listening to the other elf, he could at least glean some of the reasons why from Tracing the elf's sword.

Francois, no last name. A veteran of war, with a sword that had seen use for well over three hundred years. A mind boggling time for a weapon that was, for all intents and purposes, just a regular steel blade, disregarding its enchantment of durability.

The blade had seen its wielder through a multitude of battles. Some of them were mundane - a feral wolf or six perhaps. But it was the ones that were fought against the familiar visage of normal humans, and some other creatures he couldn't recognize that stood out.

How could they not be familiar when they wore the same colors as the ones who attacked Ginza.

"That sword." Surprisingly, instead of attacking when the magus openly displayed a willingness to fight, both elves stared at the Traced Kanshou, "How did you do that? Summoning magic?" Francois demanded. Unfortunately, Shirou didn't entirely understand what he was trying to say.

"Ahah, I forgot." Marceau rubbed the back of his head, "He can't really speak our language. He's new from beyond Alnus."

"Tch." Francois sheathed his blade, and seeing no more sign of hostility, Shirou dismissed the Noble Phantasm, "You're coming with us to the elders." There was no room for argument. The guard would be watching him the entire time, and would likely be ready to kill him should he do anything untoward.

Not an issue, Shirou figured. After all, he still had the projections of blades ready to be Traced at any moment. More than that, he was getting an escort to the possible leaders of this settlement of theirs. Not a bad deal, all things considered.

The elf village was quaint. Sure, the treehouses were a sight to behold, but everything else was…normal. It felt just like those rural towns he'd stopped by, where everyone had something to do, somewhere to be. The farmers farmed. The seamstresses sewed. The only real differences were two: the elves themselves, and the abundance of magecraft being used.

"Watch out!" A large bundle of logs, for example, was being carried by an elf half of Shirou's weight. Around five logs, each three times as tall as the Enforcer, were being carried by one man. The glow that traced along the elf's arms were a telltale sign of Reinforcement, different as these people might call it.

The scene played out in various ways throughout the village, with people gathering water through a well, but not actually using the bucket provided. Instead, the water was drawn straight up into various containers. Another was a large fire pit with an oven being maintained by three people, flames dancing in their fingertips.

Shirou couldn't really appreciate it, though, as the entire time the villagers would look at him in a strange mix of fear and anger. For all he knew, he'd done nothing to these people, and yet, they acted as if he'd committed the greatest of grave sins.

This was also coupled with Francois constantly giving him the stink eye. It barely gave Shirou any time to take in the scenery.

Finally, after what seemed like ten minutes, they had arrived at what Shirou amounted to the village center. Where the houses he'd seen were made entirely of wood, this one he could see was reinforced with stacked stones, and was by far the largest building in the settlement.

When they entered, it was to a scene of several elves arguing with one another. The room was similar to a courtroom, with one seat in the center front, while rows of other elves sat on two sides.

When they saw the three of them enter, they paused, though from the dirty looks that they gave each other, whatever they were talking about wasn't going to be let go any time soon.

"Ranger Hodor. Ser Francois. What is a human doing here?"

Shirou froze as he looked to the source of the voice.

The one who spoke was an admittedly beautiful female elf. She sat upon a throne made of various woods, jewels, and even some gold. She had her hair tied in a bun, and wore a dress made of what looked to be silk. As was the case for every elf he'd seen so far, she was also a blonde, and her features were that of a maiden despite being hundreds of years old.

It was the startling green eyes that got him. For a moment, he couldn't help but think that this was Saber herself. But no, one look at her ears would dismiss that thought entirely. Shirou quashed the disappointment in him, despite knowing that it was impossible for his Servant to be here.

"Grand Elder," Francois kneeled, Marceau following suit, with the latter motioning for Shirou to do the same, "This man claims to be from beyond the Gate of Alnus Hill, from where the Empire retreated from days ago. I have my suspicions as to who this man may be after his display of magical prowess, but I could not confirm them due to a difference in language. I would request that the Translation Spell be cast upon him so that we may understand just what forced the Imperial rout."

Once more, the sheer number of words overwhelmed Shirou's limited knowledge. But, he knew enough from the vehemence at which the elf spoke of the Empire. And from the curious, and dare he say hungry, looks around the room, Francois wasn't the only one with a bone to pick.

The Grand Elder raised a delicate eyebrow, before she raised a hand towards him, "Granted. Spirits of the Air, grant me this boon, and let this man hear our voices."

Immediately, Shirou could feel something shift in the wind. As if the very air itself had gotten stiff. Foreign magical energy started gathering around him, and instinctually, he flooded his own Circuits with his own.

The foreign energy didn't let up, but instead of forcing itself towards him, the energy felt curious. Not as in the it was interesting, but rather, that the very magical energy he was fighting against felt the emotion known as curiosity.

Blobs of energy probed at his Circuits, and even as the Grand Elder started to frown, Shirou looked on in wonder. He had never felt anything like it before. It was as if the mana in the air was sentient, and trying to tell him something.

'Rin is going to kill me for this.'

Unlike every other magus, who would've vehemently fought against whatever was happening, Shirou slowly let up on his mana filtering. He knew that it was a dangerous thing to do, but, for some reason, he knew that this wouldn't harm him.

One by one, the blobs touched him, and faded into nothing. There was no trace of them afterward, with the only thing that marked that they were there in the first place was a faint warmth of where they touched.

"Strange. I have never seen the Spirits act like that before."

Shirou's head snapped upward back to the Grand Elder, "You can speak Japanese?"

"I know not of this 'Japanese'. I merely cast a Translation Spell on thyself." The Grand Elder stood up, and held her hand across from her, "Allow me to introduce myself formally, traveler. I am Adrianne Valliere, Grand Elder of the Coan Forest. I welcome thee to our home."

"Shirou Emiya, Senior Enforcer of the London Clock Tower." The job title was a bit of a misnomer, as he wasn't actually sure he wasn't fired yet. "You seem awfully relaxed about me." Indeed, when he entered, though she hid it well, there was an air of trepidation. It was the same with everyone else in the room. Now, they acted as if all of that wasn't even a thing that happened. Even Francois, with all his hostility earlier, was completely relaxed.

"The Spirits have taken a liking to you, Shirou Emiya." Valliere spoke with a smile, "We formed a pact with them ages long past, and subsequently, they tend to dislike those who would wish us harm. Though, admittedly, they do not normally show their intentions as such. Thou art an exception, it seems."

Shirou nodded, both in amazement, and in worry. He had encountered Spirits before, but never ones that would let a magus cast magecraft the way these elves did. Whatever they were doing was then either a branch of magecraft that he'd never heard of, or a different system entirely.

Both were equally terrifying.

"Now, I believe you had a query, Ser Francois?"

"Aye, Grand Elder." The scarred elf was a lot more calm now. Instead of distrustful looks, he now shot Shirou a look of awe and envy, "You claim to be from beyond the Gate, yes?"

"The anomaly, yes."

"Then, would you know what exactly happened to the Imperials? Our last scouts reported a force of over ten divisions worth of men, only a quarter of which was seen retreating."

"The Imperials, as you call them, attacked my home through the anomaly." Shirou admitted, "Despite the casualties, however, we managed to decisively push them back. We're still counting, but the estimates are that of the Imperials that went through, half are either dead or captured."

The Enforcer startled when a loud cheer echoed throughout the chamber.

Stifling her own chuckle, the Grand Elder motioned for everyone to calm down, "Apologies, Spirit Loved." That was a new title. "My people have been subject to generations of subjugation attempts from the Empire. Hearing of their defeat is…" A smile that was too bright for the words formed on Valliere's face as she trailed off.

"That is not all, my Lady." Francois shook his head despite the feral grin on his own face. His own face morphed into a more serious one, "My scouts report that there was an Imperial encampment housing a full contingent of battlemages and heavy infantry. They were completely routed. Rumor has it that it was by a man in red, conjuring a sea of swords out of thin air." He looked pointedly at Shirou.

Shirou decided right then and there that neither Rin, nor Luvia, would ever hear of this.

"Lord," Again, that was a new one, "Emiya, would you perchance be said man?"

"...yes." He couldn't lie. Not that he didn't want to, but because, even after seven years, he couldn't keep a straight face. Even if he did lie, the truth would be more obvious than the sun being hot, "However, it was not that impressive."

His last words went unheard as an even louder cacophony of cheers rang out. This time, even Valliere had a bloodthirsty smile as she stood from her throne.

"For too long, the Empire has claimed and conquered land, enslaving all those they came across. Finally, they have met their match. Shirou Emiya, Spirit Loved." She proclaimed as she stood at full height. It was a bit amusing to him, since the elf was still shorter than him despite the raised platform her throne was on.

"Now and forever, you have the friendship of the elves of Coan Forest. Let this village be your home should you wish for it. Now, however, we celebrate! Bring out the wine casks, for tonight, we drink to you, Shirou Emiya, Bane of the Empire!"

Shirou wondered just where exactly he went wrong in life to arrive here, when all he wanted was to draw a damned map.

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

Huge thanks to: Oliver vazquez. All the best to you all.