Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Fate/stay night or any Blizzard related merchandise. Now stop trying to be silly by suing me.

This story is Rated M for safety reasons. Although it will not be my main focus, I might spontaneously add in mature content such as violent imagery ranging from bloody fights, torture, or physical/mental abuse as well as foul language, lemon or other contents not recommended for youth below certain ages. You have been warned.

Hello everyone, this is Minaly22. This is the fourth chapter of the story. There will be no action (Thank goodness! I really think I absolutely suck at writing action scenes) and its pretty much just a filler chapter.

It took sometime for me to research everything I needed to make this chapter flow correctly, and hopefully it will be a good read for everyone.

I really think that I'm a horrible writer, and should delete everything in shame ._. But then, writing this story is too much fun, and the potential in the plot line too great for me to just throw it away!

Oh, I have done loads of skipping scenes in this chapter. I apologize if it makes people uncomfortable, but start get used to it, or else there is simply too much for me to write and it starts to get extremely stressful. This will happen in the future as well.

Beta'd by silentstrixe and souvikkundu0017

Shirou was woken up by Arthas's loud groan from the other side of the room.

It seems that the other teen is in an immeasurable amount of pain.

...

'It hurts! Please!' A desperate cry echoed through the night.

... He quickly squashed down the memories of his past, and focused on the present.

His desire to help the suffering teen was climbing each moment he hears another painful moan from the other bed in the room, and he couldn't really go back to sleep with good conscience. So he climbed out of the comfortable bed in their room, leisurely stretched his limbs and purposely made sounds to attract the attention of the suffering teen.

He threw a cheeky smile at the person scowling at him from their bed, and unnecessarily carefully stretched his limbs. Purposely doing it slower than usual.

'Everything seems to be in order.' Shirou mused. The aches from several days ago have completely subsided, and a quick check within him has told him that his Prana reserve has once again made another jump. He almost fainted from the number of zeroes from a mere estimation of maximum output, then decided that this was unimportant and was just happy that nothing went wrong.

Once he was done, he decided to greet the scowling Arthas. "Rise and shine!" Shirou said in his normal speaking volume, but he did get his desired grunt of pain from the other teen.

"Not so loud..." Arthas tried to add more heat into his voice, but Shirou knew he couldn't. To add insult to injury, Shirou pulled open the curtains that was on a wall to the side right between their beds to let in the sun light. He was rewarded with loud groan of pain, and some curses.

Having dealt with a drunken Fuji-nee multiple times for a good long while back on Earth made him knew everything there is about hang over. Such as their painful sensitivity to sound and light, or the splitting head aches along with nausea. He knows how to make a quick fix for hang over, but he wasn't sure if there were any equivalent ingredients available for him here in Azeroth.

Which reminds him, he might want to find a bucket before Arthas decides to vomit all over the place.

Or maybe not. He was having too much fun tormenting Arthas. He does the same thing as a form of punishment when Fuji-nee couldn't restrain herself from going over board, thinking it was a good idea to over indulge on alcohol. He has been trying his best to teach her a lesson about the fact that 'drinking was bad' by driving it into her thick skull the hard way.

The lesson naturally failed, but he couldn't really do anything about it.

Deciding to be charitable, he closed the curtains and stepped closer to Arthas; Shirou could smell the alcohol on the other teen when across the room, and it took him some effort to not scrunch up his nose when it hit him harder due to the proximity.

"I am going to go find some food and water, and a bucket just in case. Stay here to rest alright?" Shirou gently whispered into Arthas's ears.

Arthas gave him an affirmative nod which quickly dissolved into a grunt of pain, probably aggravating his head ache.

Shirou left the room to make his way to the kitchen.

'Oh, now is a perfect opportunity to see what the cooking of this world could offer.' Shirou thought to himself as he closed the door behind him.

With a spring in his steps, he walked through the corridor, eager to learn more about the things in this world.

He made a decision last night before he went to sleep; that he would make the most out of all the things that has happened so far. Ultimately, he still wanted to become a Hero of Justice, and being here didn't make it harder; in fact, it made the goal seem much easier. Staying here is probably not that bad, right?

Accepting the fact that he would probably never see his friends again was very hard. But he now knew that 'mourning' for their loss wouldn't change anything at all, and if his friends were here they would actively encourage him to live this new life to the fullest.

Doesn't change the fact that it hurts like hell though. On the other hand, being 'encouraged' by Rin via Gandr Shots or Saber's Invisible Air would be much more painful.

But he is willing to try before he decides to fully drown himself in self-pity.

His mind was pulled back to the present as his sensitive nose picked up on the delicious smells in the air. Herbs, baked eggs, Roasted meat, Fruits, and a lot more that he wasn't bothering to identify.

Walking into the Kitchen, he saw that there were several other occupants in the room, sitting at the vacant tables and chairs eating breakfast. He ignored them and simply walked towards where the cooks wearing white chef hats were. One tended the furnace right in front of his view, and another was stirring a pot on the other side. He heard oil sizzling and saw a short... humanoid creature standing atop a stool with a frying pan in hand.

'Is that a Gnome?' Shirou wondered curiously. He saw a Dwarf last night, so he could clearly see the differences between them now that he actually understood what Arthas was talking about.

Even though the Dwarf was short, a Gnome was much shorter. Despite not seeing its face since the Gnome had its back to Shirou, he couldn't help but compare its size with a young human child. It would be more accurate to say that Dwarves look like short men who stopped growing taller, and that the Gnomes resembled over-sized babies.

He could feel the imaginary heavy smack on the head from his blushing inner Tohsaka Rin in response to that offensive statement. If she were actually here, Shirou would have guess that she is actually terribly amused, but found it too disrespectful to laugh outright, and decided to take it out on him instead.

The Gnome turned around just this instance, and saw Shirou staring at him with a strange expression on his face.

"Oh hello there! Do you want something specific to eat?" said the male Gnome.

Shirou was trying his best to not break down into giggles from the image that was presented before him.

He hadn't realized it before, but he now realized that the Gnome was wearing an over-sized Chef Hat (for a Gnome, probably standard size for a human with a big head). It flopped comically from each movement, and its big ears did not make things any easier. The big stool it stood on was contrasting by making the Gnome look even smaller, holding a frying pan with both hands projected the image of a child around 5 years old playing make-believe as a Chef. If Santa really existed and actually had elves, he would be wondering when did a Christmas Elf change into a chef outfit, leave the north pole and started to work in a Kitchen if he saw the Gnome now.

Shirou swallowed heavily to suppress his amusement before he replied.

"Do you have anything that could help with hang overs?" Shirou asked.

"Sure, just gimme a moment." And the Gnome hopped down the stool with practiced balance, not letting whatever content inside the frying pan fly out from the movement. It walked to a low table counter that was filled with eggs and sausages, and dumped more of them onto another plate.

"Do we have any more Detox?" The Gnome shouted to no one in particular.

"Check the shelves -" One of the cook shouted back, but realized his mistake quickly.

"Oh, right, sorry." But didn't say anymore since he was busy with his own duties.

The Gnome rolled his eyes, and turned around to face Shirou.

"You there! Check the shelf to my right and see if you can find a Detox for me." The Gnome pointed his finger to Shirou's right, and Shirou followed it to see the aforementioned shelf. It was indeed too tall for the Gnome to effectively search.

"Er... What is a Detox?" Shirou lamely admitted.

"WHAT!? You don't know what Detox is!? Its a 'Potion of Curing' you dimwit! You know, the Greenish Yellow liquid in a glass bottle that can cure most poisons?" The Gnome impatiently told him, and turned back to organize the food on the plates.

Having the necessary information, Shirou easily found the Potion, and gave it to the Gnome.

'So Alcohol is categorized as a Poison here?' Shirou inwardly nodded with more approval than he would have liked to admit.

He saw the Gnome unceremoniously dump the contents of the bottle into a plate of food after uncorking it, and held the plate out for him to take it.

Knowing how busy it could get inside the Kitchen, Shirou decided not to hog any more time from the Chef and grabbed the plate laced with the Potion.

He grabbed another plate, and filled it with some meat and fruits. "I sort of hate to ask it, but do you have a bucket?" Shirou asked the Gnome again.

The Gnome didn't say anything and just pointed a finger to where the door was, Shirou saw some empty buckets sitting right beside the door close to the wall. He grabbed two, filled one with water from a big canteen that had a sign that wrote 'Water' on it, leaving the other empty, then left the Kitchen.

Since he has at one point balanced 7 plates when walking out of the Kitchen back home, it wasn't too hard to juggle around two plates and two buckets. If it was one thing that he learned while doing part-time jobs, it was how to do different kinds of services like a pro.

Opening the door, he placed the food and bucket of water on the table in the room, then took the empty bucket to Arthas. Lightly tapping Arthas with the bucket, it seems he has made it just in time, as Arthas quickly quickly grabbed the empty bucket and hurled.

Shirou respectfully turned his head away, then proceeded to see if there are cups in the room for Arthas to drink from. He found two wooden mugs and scooped water, handing one silently to Arthas while sipping the other.

He heard Arthas rinse his mouth briefly, spewing it into the bucket of vomit once he was done, then gulp water down his throat loudly.

Handing over the plate of food tentatively, he witnessed a re-performance of Arthas the Food Demolisher from last day. Shirou was forced to concede to the fact that 'Yes, there is someone who has worse table manners than Fuji-nee in the world', only to slap himself on the head to remind himself its not the same world anymore.

Arthas simply fell back asleep after he was done eating, and drank a bit more water. Shirou wasn't one who liked to disturb people's rest, so he decided that he would leave Arthas alone and go find something to do since he already filled his own stomach.

However, the moment he stepped out of the room, he almost collided with Uther that came from the blind spot on a turn. Both of their battle hardened instincts let them react quickly enough to narrowly avoid clashing into each other.

Shirou's dodge was much more clumsy than Uther's fluid motion as those instincts at the end are still copied product from EMIYA's memory and not quite his own. But hey, it was good to not get a face full of steel armor plates in the morning, even if he had to half roll into the ground to absorb some impact.

Quickly turning around to face the Master of the Order, Shirou quickly apologized. "I'm sorry! I didn't see you there!"

"Its alright, It was my fault as well." Uther replied Good-naturedly, reaching out a hand to pull the crouching Shirou back up.

They stared at each other in silence for a while, before Uther broke it.

"I'm sorry for dragging you up there without warning last night." started Uther earnestly.

"Don't worry, no harm done. It should be me apologizing when I wasted both of our time." Shirou said back, avoiding any direct eye contact with the older male.

"How is Arthas doing?" Uther asked with an exasperated sigh.

"I asked the Kitchen to make something for his hang over. He is sleeping peacefully right now." Shirou couldn't help but smile at the little 'rubbing salt in his injury' thing he did to Arthas right after he woke up.

"... Let me guess, judging from that cheeky smile of yours, you have teased him about it." And once again Shirou would have missed the slight smirk on the older male's face if he hadn't been around the stone faced Arturia. He wonders if there is anyone who can outdo her poker face in this world.

No, a face carved out of stone would definitely break apart when Arturia decides to put in her best efforts in keeping her face serious, so that wouldn't count.

"Maybe a little." Shirou admitted.

"I was friends with the lad's father; he was insufferable when drunk, but even more so while hung over." Uther recalled warmly, a grin that split his serious visage appeared on his face.

Shirou was kind of curious about Arthas's family, but since he figured that it wasn't really his business to know, he didn't ask further.

"What brings you here today, Sir Uther?" Shirou asked politely.

"I was just going to check up on my Squire, then look for you." Uther told him truthfully.

"Look for me? What for?" Shirou knew what Uther wants deep down inside, but went ahead and inquired anyway.

"To finish that chat we had from last night. I got the whole day emptied just for this; you seem very troubled and I just can't not try to help you." Shirou could see that Uther really meant well.

He shuffled awkwardly on the spot for a moment, before nodding his head. Uther once again lead Shirou up the stairs; but this time instead of stopping on the second floor, they kept on going until they got into the third floor.

Mentally updating his map of the castle inside his Unlimited Blade Works, he walked past the big hall along with Uther, who then pushed apart a pair of doors at the end of the hall open.

Inside the hall was a very spacious office, with a big work table, several chairs, shelves filled with books, and a rack of weapons as well as an empty mannequin. Shirou guess that the mannequin was used to store Uther's armor when he wasn't wearing it, and the majority of the weapons on the rack are hammers with two swords thrown into the mix.

His eyes zeroed on the weapons, and instinctively copied those weapons into his Reality Marble. Most of the hammers were of excellent quality, but no special characteristics. The 'Truesilver Champion', which was a shining sword with a long golden handle, however, was much more interesting.

Name: Truesilver Champion

Owner: Uther the Lightbringer

Type: Two-handed Sword

Rank: C

Quality: Rare

Protects the wielder with a holy aura.

...

'That's strange.' Shirou thought to himself in confusion. The information he acquired through his structural analysis on the sword, gave him different set of numbers and values when compared to analyzing something from his world.

He reviewed the other hammers, and also found similar readings when analyzing them more closely. The Ranks were different to what he was used to as well. There were two more of them that were Rare.

By looking deeper into the Truesilver Champion, Shirou also found out that there seems to be a certain amount of... sentience? in the weapon. The sword has to at least acknowledge the person as their owner, otherwise the anti-theft function through magically binding itself to its owner wouldn't work.

But it seems Shirou has inadvertently stole it, whoops.

'Since the owner was noted as Uther the Lightbringer, would the anti-stealing function prevent me from using it?' He began to simulate the tracing process in his mind to find out.

Judging the concept of creation

Hypothesizing the basic structure

Duplicating the composition material

Imitating the skill of its making

Sympathizing with the experience of its growth

Reproducing the accumulated years

Excelling every -

Oh hang on, he's stuck after Sympathizing with the experience of its growth. 'Dammit. Nifty anti-theft function there. If every Noble Phantasm on Earth had that, I would have been totally screwed.'

'Hmm, what if I only partially sympathize its experience and the accumulated years?' Shirou thought to himself. 'If I make it so that it doesn't recognize Uther as its owner by leaving out certain parts of those years...'

Partially sympathizing with the experience of its growth... Partially reproducing the accumulated years... Picking out the experience and years associated with Uther from a sea of other things. This was much harder to do than he thought it would be. It was not too dissimilar with trying to find a needle in a haystack, or finding usable spare parts in that junk yard he called Magus Workshop.

Moving on...

Excelling every manufacturing process.

'Aha!' Shirou wanted to whoop in triumph. And a personalized sword just popped into existence inside his Unlimited Blade Works.

But he will have to take time to get used to it, since there are blanks in its experience of growths and accumulated years, he will have to fill them somehow, even though he is not sure what sort of impact those holes will make. And because the concept of creation as well as the structure and materials were different from what he was familiar with and what expected, it will require lots of practice to be able to utilize it in a combat situation properly, mistakes on the field are usually fatal; that goes double with Magecraft.

He noted the other things he copied from Uther's personal weapon collection, and vowed to himself that he would try them as well.

"I see that you are interested in my weapons." Uther cut him off from his musings.

"Yes, I have always been interested in weapons, especially swords." Shirou replied truthfully.

"I used to fancy swords myself, but I prefer using hammers nowadays." And Uther tapped the gigantic two-handed mace placed on the ground leaning onto the work table.

Shirou quickly copied that as well, then physically staggered.

Uther was startled to see Shirou almost collapse to the ground when taking a glance at his hammer. But he didn't question any further when he saw Shirou right himself.

Shirou had a very pensive look on his face when he looked at Uther again. "I... I would like to tell you everything." Shirou started hesitantly.

"Everything?" Uther questioned confusedly.

"Yes. For one, I am someone not of this world." Shirou winced at his own words, it seems like that was not how he intended to word that fact.

Uther's wariness sky rocketed, though he was sure that he would get an explanation from the teen if he waited.

"Alright, that didn't really come out right... Anyway, I am someone from another world that is populated by Humans. To a normal human, Magic, Magical Creatures, Orcs, Gnomes, Goblins, Elves, or Dwarves do not exist." Shirou continued...

... And Uther simply listened to the youth, telling him everything he knew about his world. Things such as how humans have already abandoned 'ancient weapons' like Swords, Axes, Spears; using things called 'Guns' and 'Firearms' instead. Uther has already learned of 'Guns' from a Gnome before, and it was only an idea that has yet to even be developed. But from what Shirou is telling him, their 'modern' weapons can achieve horrible destruction with nothing but a finger twist on the trigger; tearing people up from the inside out with minimum effort.

It was fascinating to hear that 'science' has been able to do so much for Shirou's world. Science is a recent topic of research for the people of Azeroth as it is, first introduced by the Gnomes (or Goblins, depends on who you ask) exactly one decade ago, something that is still not popular enough for people to put any trust in it.

'Probably has something to do with how wonky the Gnome inventions are, and how Goblin products always tend to explode in one way or another.' Uther thought to himself. In other words, the reason that science is unpopular is not due to a lack of trying to become popular, but simple lack of appeal. Hot showers and water tap sounds like truly amazing inventions however.

Next up, Uther learned about the fact that Magic is almost non-existent in Shirou's world, how the number of people who knew it existed for certain, were a minority to the world. He would have laughed himself silly if it were not for the seriousness of Shirou's next words.

"Back in my world, people who found out that magic actually existed would either be brain washed into forgetting that it existed, or outright killed so they can never tell that secret to someone else." Shirou squirmed uncomfortably as he stated this. "It would not be the first time that entire settlements of people have been killed, simply to prevent more people from knowing that secret." Uther could see the fire of indignation burning in the youth's eyes, a look that did not fit on such a young face; he also noted the tightly clenched fists trembling in anger.

'Wiping out a town just to keep a secret? Seems much more counter-productive to me.' Uther mused. A whole town going poof in a single night would draw more attention in his opinion, but since it is possible to brain wash people, they might make them think that something else other than magic had happened.

"But if that is the case, then how do you know about the magic in your world?" Since Shirou is obviously standing right before him, and not six feet under, Uther can say for certain that Shirou knows enough magic to not be considered as someone that needs to be brain washed.

Shirou thought for a moment, and said "I am a Magus; someone who knows and practices Magecraft. Magecraft, in simple terms, are magics that can be replicated by ordinary means. For example, if I can make a fire with a spell, then I can also make a fire by collecting dry wood and lighting it."

"Most of the people who know magic are Magi who study different forms of Magecraft. There are also those very rare sorcerers that can use True Magic." Shirou continued.

"True Magic?" Uther asked in bemusement.

"Things that are normally impossible, like reviving the dead, time travel, dimension travel, and creation from nothingness." Shirou listed off.

"Well, accomplished followers of the Light can occasionally revive the dead, Archmages who study Arcane magic can warp time and open portals that can travel to other dimensions, and create food out of thin air."

"Magi back in my world are probably crying rivers right now." Shirou replied with a wry smile.

'Serves them right.' Uther didn't know it, but he and Shirou shared the same thought on that regard.

It was several hours past noon when an exhausted Shirou finally conceded to the fact that he has told Uther everything about his world.

And Uther was absolutely mind blown from everything he has heard so far. From the history of that world, to the technologies, cultures, and all the things in between; he is having a very hard time to grasp it.

"...And that's how I ended up here in this world." Shirou concluded.

But the one thing that Uther truly couldn't believe was the so called 'Holy Grail War' Shirou had participated in.

A malevolent magical artifact that could possibly destroy the world, destroyed by the combined efforts of several teenagers.

Uther could feel his respect for Shirou rise every second he narrated his story of the 'Fifth' Holy Grail War. ('Fifth!? That's not the first the Light-forsaken abomination of a death game has happened!?' he had thought to himself.) Of course, there were some parts that flew completely over his head.

But Uther was certain that having Shirou join the Order is probably one of his best decisions he has made yet. He could tell that Shirou has omitted lots of things, but he does not hold him against it since personal matters are always the most difficult when it comes to 'sharing your troubles', with someone you have only met for three days to boot.

Which reminds him...

"Why are you telling me all of this? I am someone you have only just met, and seeing how you described yourself to be someone extremely wary and paranoid, I don't see how I have garnered enough trust to know all of this. " Uther questioned.

"As you have already heard, I only know the most basic of basic when it comes to Magecraft." And Uther nodded from this statement. Shirou has told him that he only knew three basic spells and nothing else when it comes to magic. Uther applauded the youth inside his mind for being able to overcome such difficult trials with only three skills in his arsenal.

"One of them is called 'Structural Grasp', which allows me to analyze anything that I set my sights upon. I have mastered it to the degree that I can look 'deeper' into something, and see more conceptual things such as their history or origin." Shirou explained.

"And when I looked at your hammer... I saw lots of things..." 'That might have been better not seen.' Uther finished that sentence in his mind.

"So you decided that you can trust me after seeing my deeds by looking deeper into my hammer?" Uther asked.

"That is correct. I have managed to glean the fact that you are trustworthy and understanding. And since I can't do anything on my own in this world, I thought that I will just have to risk it." Shirou finished uncomfortably, probably because it was the very first time he has told someone everything about him.

"Then I shall do my best to prove that your trust is not misplaced. I will help you in anyway I can, all you have to do is ask." Uther offered sincerely.

"About that, wouldn't people find it strange that you are giving so much help to a total stranger that came out of nowhere?" Shirou questioned.

"Lad, I am a Paladin. Helping strangers simply because I can is what I do." Uther rolled his eyes in exasperation. Its the first time that Shirou has voiced this question, but it was not the first time Uther had heard it.

"But you do have a point. Are you saying that you want to join my Order so it will look less suspicious for me to help a recruit?"

"If that is alright with you -"

"That is more then alright." Uther smiled.

"And since you have been very forthcoming, I would like to tell you about why I wanted to have you join in the first place." Uther wanted to return the trust he has been given.

"When I first found you, you appeared with a flash of light, then spontaneously combusted." Uther said with a deadpan, and Shirou winced.

"By the time we managed to douse the fire, you were already covered head to toe by heavy burns. We weren't even sure you were going to make it; until a flash of golden light washed over your body, healing you until all of the burns disappeared." And Shirou nodded as if he had expected that to happen.

"So from that, I assumed that you have been blessed by The Light. And after confirming that you are indeed very powerful in terms of The Light -"

"Oh, so that's why you asked me out of the blue that night." This time it was Shirou's turn to deadpan. Uther smiled in response to that.

"Indeed. I have not seen someone as strong as you when it comes to The Light. You truly believe that the things you do are right, and you go out of your way to help everyone you can." Uther saw Shirou trying to say something - probably very self-derogatory - and decided to cut him off.

"Now, don't try to be humble. You did help destroy an artifact that could have destroyed the world, and by extension, save the world." Which made Shirou close his mouth with a snap.

Arthas was having a very bad day.

Its not really due to the hang over - which already subsided after eating something and falling asleep again. Physically he was better than fine.

But his mental state was a completely different matter. He felt ashamed.

His Father has always told him about the dangers of alcohol; how it makes people waggle their tongue, saying unnecessary things, or lose all sense of decorum turning into violent beasts. His sister has also told him in no uncertain terms that she detests all drunkards who are stupid enough to 'drink poison', and said that she would never talk to him again if she found out.

The way he treated Shirou last night was also out of the line. He is the Crown Prince of Lordaeron! He could have anything that he desired, so he shouldn't be feeling jealous over something as petty and unimportant as attention.

... right?

But he couldn't shake off the feeling of dissatisfaction and loneliness that is still gnawing at his own heart even now.

'I need to distract myself.' Sighing dejectedly, Arthas climbed out of bed and began to suit up in his armor.

'Report for duty, see if there is anything Master wants me to do, then hit the training yard.' Yes, that sounds like a good plan.

Thinking about his Master reminded him of a certain embarrassing name... Better not think back on it.

Once he finished with his armor, he grabbed his sheathed sword that was on standing aside the wall, and left room...

... before he was reminded of his own vomit in a bucket.

Opening the windows to refresh the air and taking the bucket this time, he dumped the bucket somewhere to the side in the gardens, placed the dirty bucket in the kitchen (getting an angry scowl in return from one of the helpers), then headed towards the third floor to see his master.

On his way there, he continued to ponder on the walking oddity that was Shirou. He has never seen anyone who was so... ignorant of EVERYTHING, even a child knows more about the world than Shirou does. And from what he have seen so far, Shirou is intelligent in his own way, so he doubts that being dumb would be the case.

'Maybe he lost his memories?' Arthas mused. It is a possibility, even if a slim one. Still a better explanation than labeling the guy as a retard.

He was sure that Shirou is hiding something though.

Not that he would pry; since he has his own secrets to worry about.

'Keeping my identity hidden was actually easier than I thought.' Arthas continued to walk to the stairs.

For some reason or another, people didn't seem to react to his last name despite it completely gave him away. He is not going to look a gift horse in the mouth though.

It felt refreshing to be treated like a normal human being, and not a porcelain puppet that is forced to dance to the tunes of others, while the ones who don't control you treat you as something that could break with a single touch.

After finally reaching the third floor, he was about to knock on the door when he could hear voices from the inside.

" -right, this should be everything." Arthas recognized his Master's voice, he could tell that his Master was in a very good moo.

"That's it?" there was Shirou's voice as well, with a lot of surprise and bewilderment.

"Aye, wouldn't be sensible if every recruit had to fill out twenty scroll's worth of documents just to join the order."

'Join the Order?' Arthas could feel his confusion welling up from inside. No one has voiced their interest in joining them in Caer Darrow as far as he knew, and having heard from Shirou that he doesn't really want to join the Order, he was semi-confident that its probably not Shirou that is joining. Although Arthas was sure that given enough time and effort, he could persuade him to join.

Shirou turning around in just a day was not what he would expect, it mustn't have been an easy decision for the other teen. Heck, it wasn't an easy decision for himself since it took almost a whole month. Rustybeard had taught him how to fight like a Warrior, and he wanted to become an actual Warrior at first; not a Paladin. His Father has suggested him to become a Paladin since knowing magic would balance out his strengths and weaknesses, and Rustybeard reluctantly agreed to the King since he made a very good point. Warriors being vulnerable to magic is an iron hard fact that has often cost lives of brave men and women after all.

Plus, Varian said it wasn't a bad idea. He was not going to ignore the advice of his only friend.

... Even if it has been a long time since they've actually seen each other. How long has it been? 5 years give or take? It was really just mails and letters going back and forth, with the occasional added contents like gifts or odd and ends trinkets.

"Well, with that done; I will have Arthas take you to the armory to gear up once he's rested."

'Aaaand *Poof* my semi-confident assumption goes.' Arthas thought sourly.

Figuring that its either now or never, Arthas knocked on the door.

Shirou was awkwardly holding onto several pieces of armor in his arms, while Arthas picked out more and more from a pile. They have produced a big pile discarded armor pieces on the side, and its growing steadily as Arthas continued to leaf through the remains.

"Not this one... definitely too big for you..." With another *Whoosh* and *Craaash, Clatter Clatter Clatter*, a discarded piece of armor that Shirou thought looked like a pauldron flew through the air and collided into the ever growing pile. How anyone would be able to find the matching pieces of armor in here is completely beyond him.

'This wasn't what I expected when they said gearing up.' Shirou felt a sweat drop slide down on the back of his head.

Going through spare armor parts and throwing the ones you don't need callously through the air isn't exactly what he imagined when it comes to choosing armor. Not that he wanted to be picky, but he truly has no idea what to do when it comes to anything other than Swords, Cooking, and Archery in this world; even then, he was sure the knowledge would be limited.

Arthas was kind enough to help him out, but this is starting to get ridiculous, and that pile of discarded armor is growing more and more unstable, ready to collapse and make a big mess in any moment. Shirou has tried to warn Arthas repeatedly, but to no avail. At the very beginning when they started out on this, Shirou stood right behind Arthas, and had to continuously dodge flying armors coming his way; while also having to snatch some of those out of the air when Arthas said "this/these will do".

Once he's arms were starting to get a bit full from all the armor they have collected so far, Shirou finally smartened up by stepping away from firing range.

As of now, Shirou is holding a matching pair of Greaves and Sabatons, a pair of fingered gauntlets (He wasn't sure how Arturia could grip a Sword properly with those mitten gauntlets, and was eternally thankful that people in this world don't seem to use those.), and a chest plate.

Arthas is trying to look for a helmet, some shoulder protecting gear (Pauldrons or Spaulders) as well as two leg guards (Cuisse) for him, to no luck.

Said teen was gazing on a helmet thoughtfully, pausing from his armor tossing frenzy.

Seeing his chance, Shirou promptly caught Arthas's attention.

"You know, that big pile of discarded armor might collapse and make a big mess if you don't stop anytime soon." Arthas turned 180 degrees around from that statement, then grimaced sheepishly at the sight of his master piece.

"I think we won't be able to scavenge anything out of here anyway." Arthas shrugged. The pile he was looking through being extremely small now, and even Shirou could tell that they won't be finding anything.

"Let's go to the smithy and see if anything is immediately available. If not, we will just have to commission and wait for it." Arthas said.

"Why didn't we commission for a full set then?" Shirou questioned.

"Armor isn't super expensive, but I doubt you have any money. Plus, Paladin armor are usually much more protective than normal armor, and the prices will stack up if you custom-order a full set, not to mention one of good quality." Arthas explained. "Usually, the Recruits of the Order save up until the day they are officially knighted and become Paladins, then go for a full set. Before that though, they just stick to whatever they can find that fits the criteria."

"I don't exactly need good quality -" Shirou began, but was cut off by Arthas who threw him a heated glare.

"Good protection can make the difference between life and death. Wearing bad armor have gotten people killed before."

'I kind of doubt I will need a full set of cumbersome armor though...' Shirou still didn't like the idea of wearing that much armor. Sure, EMIYA wore some, but it wasn't the same as covering your entire body with them. Arturia's battledress had quite a bit of armor, but from what she has told him, there are zero movement impairment involved since it was specifically designed for her and personally enchanted by Merlin, making the whole thing only slightly heavier than a feather. Lancer pretty much wore no actual armor at all. And Berserker had a body that was better than any armor that have ever existed. He was also certain that with the absence of Gaia, his reinforcement could possibly compensate for lack of protective gear by hardening his body. And his Unlimited Blade Works has literally turn his body into steel before, even if it had hurt like crazy back then.

So wearing movement confining armor would probably not be a good idea for him who focused more on speed than brute power. He might come to the conclusion that armor is not as constricting as he first thought it would be once he puts it on, but even then one cannot deny that it will change the way you move. Regardless, his adoptive father Kiritsugu has at one point told him that modern gear for soldiers are in truth, heavier than the armor people wore during medieval times; a firefighter full gear actually weights more.

Well, 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do' he supposes. Would be awfully suspicious if someone swung a weapon to his face, only to have it rebound as if hitting an immovable object.

Would be funny if someone tried to punch him in the face, only to hurt themselves more than him though. At least it would be worth it that way.

Both of them walked out of the armory, heading towards the town's smithy.

A cacophony of clattering crashes sounded off in the distance, and both teens cringed guiltily, hastening their steps to escape the corridor as soon as possible.

Shirou was in awe at the sight presented before him.

Granted, it was extremely hot and somewhat unpleasant, but he still couldn't move his eyes away.

A heavily muscled man was hammering a piece of glowing heated metal on the anvil, with another man pouring melted metals into a mold on the sides.

The walls were filled with weapons of all kinds, with racks holding more which couldn't be placed on the walls. Some barrel of weapons were there as well, and another section had nothing but armor on the shelves or wall.

Shirou desperately drank everything in with his eyes. His Unlimited Blade Works working quickly through every single piece of equipment in the forge. None of these were spectacular, but at least he knows that the quality this forge could produce doesn't need to be questioned.

Arthas was talking with an assistant that looked a bit younger than their age with brown hair at the counter. Probably an apprentice or just a helper, Shirou didn't really care. He vaguely heard the boy ask for his measurements, where Arthas handed them over on a piece of paper.

It felt slightly awkward to have Arthas measure him at first before they started looking through the armory, but it beats having a complete stranger doing it for him.

Hang on, Arthas kind of IS a stranger though; since he has only just met him these past few days.

'Bah, who cares...' Shirou rolled his eyes, and continued to look around the forge in awe.

Sure, he has seen how weapons were born by looking at their history of creation, but its still better by actually looking at the place with his own eyes. He had never imagined he would ever set foot in an actual forge. The smell of steel, iron and fire strangely made him feel invigorated. He couldn't help himself, and took a deep breath.

Everything about the forge was fascinating to him, and Shirou remembered that EMIYA had briefly learned blacksmithing, even if the actual memories and experience on that were not available to him.

'Well, it looks like I have found another hobby aside from cooking now.' Shirou thought to himself resolutely. Blacksmithing is something he would definitely want to learn, but unlike Magic, he knows that he can become good at it if given enough time and effort.

His attention was immediately drawn towards the smith who placed the hot glowing metal into a barrel of water when it produced a sizzling sound. His Unlimited Blade Works managing to capture the essential steps of blacksmithing from that brief glimpse before Shirou did something he had never tried to do before: forcing himself to forget something that the Reality Marble had copied.

Shirou wanted to learn everything properly, not just half-assing things by copying with his Reality Marble; he wants to become a master at blacksmithing by applying himself, so he was not going to allow himself to cheat like this.

He felt Arthas poking him out of his zone with a finger, so he turned to face him.

"Alright, we got everything we need now." Arthas dumped the stuff he had just bought for Shirou in the other teen's arms.

Shirou was slightly unbalanced from the sudden motion, and wobbled around dangerously with the pile of armor. But managed to steady himself.

"Do you know how to suit up?" He heard Arthas ask, and shook his head, only to realize that the pile of armor probably made it impossible for Arthas to see his head.

"No, I have absolutely no idea." Shirou sighed.

Arthas sighed, slightly annoyed. 'Who in the world does not know how to wear armor in this time and age? Even Priests and Mages knows how.' Heck, sometimes Arthas has to wonder how in the world to Priests and Mages wear those Light-be-damned-complicated robes! Hand him a good honest set of armor any day, since in his opinion, trying to wear one of those is harder than putting armor on.

Dragging Shirou roughly behind a screen in the forge - reserved for people who try on armor or measurements - he man handled Shirou as he began to clasp all the pieces on him.

Starting from his feet, Shirou stepped into the Sabatons that are more like the parts of steel toes on steel toed boots, as Arthas was busy clasping the greaves. The blonde teen then threw the codpiece - Oh was it awkward - to Shirou and told him to get it up or else they can't get started with the leg guards. Next was the padded shirt and chest plate, which Shirou found to be extremely annoying. Looping over every single hole on the Gambeson was extremely tedious, though Arthas seemed to be used to it since he was doing it much quicker than Shirou. A hauberk then was placed over the gambeson, and it went slightly past his waist. Attaching the chest plate, tightening the entire thing onto his body, and they moved to the arms and shoulders.

By that point, Shirou was feeling slightly weighed down by the entire ensemble.

The ordeal was finally over and done with after Arthas popped the helmet - a Barbute to be exact - onto Shirou's head after another few moments.

"Now all you need is the Tabard." Arthas remarked, and held his chin in his hands in a thoughtful expression.

He was rewarded with a long piece of cloth in the face, courtesy from the young smith assistant. Shirou couldn't suppress his laughter from Arthas's furious look and messed up golden locks of hair.

Shirou took his helmet off and gave a good scratch to his head. Wearing a helmet all the time now would probably be the hardest part for him to get used to. He never liked wearing hats or caps since it aggravated his head and made it itch like crazy, plus he likes to scratch his head, especially when he is nervous.

Arthas gave him a good slap on the head while he was distracted, and threw the tabard in his face this time. Shirou just looked at it once he untangled it from his head.

Blue was the dominant color scheme for humans in general it seems. The whole thing was almost entirely blue, only exceptions are the silver outlines and a silver colored enclosed fist with a cross on the background in the middle.

Arthas snatched it out of his hands, then shifted Shirou's pauldrons slightly so there was room for him to place the Tabard over his whole upper body. It draped all the way down to his knees. Arthas then threw him a weird belt.

Shirou studied the oddity that was presented to him. It was an armored belt where there was a big plate at where the buckle was supposed to be, and a few chains dangling on the sides as if to hook up something.

Seeing that Shirou was not going to wear it himself any time soon, Arthas once again snatched it, this time with another annoyed sigh, and looped it over Shirou's body, purposely tightening it more than he should, gaining an 'Urk!' out of Shirou for his troubles.

Shirou glared at the cheeky teen while slackening it slightly.

"All done! We just need to find you a weapon, and a tome." Arthas announced, then took a few steps back to give Shirou space.

Shirou moved his body, and twisted around, trying to get a feel on his new acquisition. To his surprise, it was less constrictive than he thought it would be, and although it was slightly heavy, he was sure he would get used to it if he has to wear it all the time now.

"Er... how do I look?" Shirou asked while still moving around, he was inspecting the silver and gold colored vambraces, and looking at his gauntlets.

"Like a true Paladin." Arthas stated with a grin, the assistant from earlier came around with a huge body mirror and Shirou finally caught the entire image he is going to present from now on.

The whole thing was now fitted tight and snug on Shirou's body, he has to hand it to Arthas. Finding anything at all in the Armory, not to mention stuff that was his size was really impressive.

The colors seem very similar to the set of armor that Arthas is currently wearing, but with more silver and white than blue. The Helmet effectively stopped anyone from seeing exactly how young he was, combining this with his taller-than-average height made him look older than 15 years old. In short, he looked somewhat imposing with all the white-gold and blue armor plus golden colored eyes. Experimentally, he threw his best glare into the mirror, and was rewarded with a bone chilling image that might be able to freeze any weak minded criminals on the spot.

He was not going to lie. He thinks he looks great.

Although he lamented slightly that he was not a muscular individual, as he seems to be thinner than Arthas, making him look a tad-bit more delicate than the other teen.

Uther watched his newest recruit spar with his young Squire inside the training yard, and found the sight to be slightly hilarious.

It is evident that Shirou has never wore any armor before, and was stumbling out of balance with almost every movement. While that is happening, the more experienced Arthas was trying to hit the teen by predicting where Shirou would move to, only to miss because Shirou did not go where he thought he would.

The image of two young and clumsy bears trying to dance around a camp fire came to mind, and Uther's grin grew a little bit bigger.

In Shirou's hands was his spare weapon: the Truesilver Champion. It was only reserved as a back up weapon in case his hammers weren't available anyway, and since he takes good care of his hammers (while also keeping them close at all times), it was unlikely the sword would ever see any use. So Uther just thought, 'Why not' and gave it to Shirou as a present.

Shirou's smile when he received it was enough reward for him anyway, and he felt his chest pulse slightly from a deed well done.

Shirou's motion speak of slight inexperience in using an actual weapon; the movements are smooth and seem alright, which means that he has had trained with practice weapons for some time, but its still not the same as the real deal. Uther started the trend with the Paladins training with full armor on since they kind of counted as weights, so he was certain that Shirou will need sometime to get used to everything; but the results would be promising. He could see it.

While the two youngsters were off looking for armor, Uther had another meeting with the other Masters discussing the movements of the Orcs. Scouts have reported sighting them around the area, and this made Uther uneasy as he voiced his suspicion to the others. Some Masters understood why he would think that they had a spy (or in worst case scenario, spies, in multiple terms.) while a few waved off his worries. The ones who agreed with him were the veterans like him who have participated in the First War, while the few who didn't were the ones who didn't.

Don't get him wrong, he is very strict when it comes to the requirements of becoming a Knight and Paladin, but he was even more so when choosing a Master that could help lead the Order. So those Masters did not gain their position with anything other than hard work, but sometimes experience simply couldn't be substituted.

Thankfully, with a majority vote, Uther has been able to urge everyone to double check the recruits under their responsibility, to see if there is anything strange going on. They will hopefully find out before things go completely south.

...

...

... 'Oh damn.' And Uther face palmed himself.

'I just jinxed it, didn't I?' he sighed in exasperation.

I am going to be moving away from where I live now, and I will need to start packing my things.

My computer included.

Which means, for a very long time, until I find a new place to live and all, I would have no computer available for me. So not updates! I estimate that it might take all the way until end of August for me to be back and ready.

Don't cry. I will still write with pens and pencils when I get a chance... and if I could manage to tolerate my own horrible hand writing.

Some people seem to be worried on whether or not this is a Harem fic. Well, it depends on your definition of a Harem fic. To me, a Harem fic is pretty much just having females (or males, if the protagonist is a female, or if the male protagonist is homosexual. I have no qualms against homosexuality so don't start any flames on that, I WILL be banning those.) throw themselves to the guy, and the guy ends up screwing all of them at once like a super stud horse.

Anyway, in short, I think multiple-romantic-relationship (that have each of them touching each other's heart, not just bodies) isn't counted as Harem.

I will just come clean and say that this is definitely not a Harem fic, and if for some reason or another it turns into a Harem fic, it would either mean I have completely gone bonkers or its not me writing this story anymore.

But remember: I don't think that multiple-romantic-relationship is counted as Harem. So don't be surprised if somehow Shirou gets multiple pairings in the future (although I have not planned for that to happen as of yet).