Chapter 3

Young Eleven year old Shirou woke up to a new day and a new sensation, the sensation of being hugged like a doll. Turning around a bit he saw that he was being hugged by Arcueid who was wearing her white almost transparent nightgown.

It had been four days since the night Shirou had summoned the ten women who had become his familiar. The past four days had thus being quite rough on Shirou who had to try to meditate the fights between the various women in his house and try not to let it blow to kingdom come. It was really a trying period for him but Shirou felt that things were settling down now.

He was getting used to the antics of his familiars now and he was also getting used to Arcueid sneaking into his room and grabbing him like a body pillow. It was really cute of her if Shirou might say and it was oddly comfortable being with her like this. Still he should wake up least Tamamo caused some commotion again due to Arcueid sneaking into his room again.

Going to the kitchen Shirou found that Tamamo was already in the process of cooking the morning breakfast. Out of all his familiars Tamamo was the only one who had any household skills and was now helping him with the household chores.

While it snubbed him a little that Shirou could no longer cook like before, he had to admit that Tamamo was the better cook between the two and Shirou had learned quite a bit from her when she help her prepare food for all.

"Ah, good morning master, your awake I see." Tamamo greeted him, dressed in blue shorts a yellow tank top and a plain blue apron, with "Don't worry about breakfast I have taken care of it."

It really rubbed him the wrong way that someone was using the kitchen like that but Shirou knew that he could at least trust Tamamo not to destroy the kitchen while cooking, unlike some other people like his father. Still lately he was finding himself being unable to cook much apart from the nightly feasts that he had to prepare for his familiars.

"Good morning to you too Tamamo" Shirou greeted back, "You could have at least woken me up Tamamo, you know how much I like cooking." Shirou could not help but whine, cooking after all was a bit therapeutic for him and he needed to cook to deal with the antics of his familiars.

"Well I saw how Arcueid was cuddling you and how peaceful you looked so I decided to leave the two of you and began with the household chores." Tamamo replied as she finished preparing the ingredients and began cooking them. "Honestly you looked quite tired the last night and knew that it was better to get you some extra hours of rest. Yesterday's shopping spree was quite rough on you."

Shirou had to supress a shiver as he recalled the nightmare of an event that was the shopping spree. His familiars did not have much in the way of clothing and had decided to rectify it and using Gilgamesh's wealth had gone on a mad shopping spree with the Queen of Heroes also pitching in and buying dresses worth her time. Shirou did remind her that she had to have some casual wear too and not simply the extravagant dresses that had caught her attention, safe to say she was not to happy with that even if she saw the need of it.

Her pride was really something that Shirou knew would give him a lot of headaches in the future.

Conversely Scathach was someone who seemed quite lost for words during the trip as she was unable to decide what to buy and what not to buy. The fact that it was Gilgamesh who was financing the trip did not make it any better as there was an unofficial rivalry between the two.

Though Medea and Tamamo did put her through her paces as they made her their personal model for the duration of the trip, some of the poses they made her do were something that was forever etch in Shirou's mind. The fabled Godslayer was quite cute when she was doing the poses.

Shirou really had to admit that Medea and Tamamo had quite the good tastes as they were the chief contributors the wardrobe of the women and had really gone all out in selecting the dresses, though Shirou had to question the validity of some of the dresses like the short French maid outfits and some of the more strange costumes like the nurse uniform etc.

Shirou had simply given them the leeway as Gilgamesh had more than enough money to cover the costs and he had not much knowledge about fashion in general.

Arcueid for some reason was oddly mortified and was refusing to say why at the antics of the two spellcasters. Shirou even heard her mumbling something about the legality of the dresses and something about the act surrounding them. It was not that bad was it?

Still yesterday had been a day full of trips to one store to another in an endless manner with the trip lasting well into the night before the girls were satisfied. Shirou really had to supress the images of seeing his familiars in one particular store while they were buying their undergarments. There were so many straps, black and purple, with an odd pink and white in between.

It was really torturous for him. Why were they asking his opinion anyway? He was a boy damn it, one that was ignorant of the general fashion, so what was he going to know what kind of undergarment suited them or not. But since they asked his opinion Shirou did try his best to give his honest opinion, which lead to him being asked quite a lot of questions and leaving him drained quite a lot.

"Well I am going to freshen up and come and help you with the chores Tamamo." Shirou said as he headed to the bathroom.

"Ah don't worry about that Master Emiya, I have taken care most of the household chores." There near the door stood Brynhildr, wearing a black shirt, blue pants and a white apron with a white bandana over her head. "I have even taken the liberty to prepare the bath for you, once I sensed you were awake."

Shirou was a bit surprised that Brynhildr of all his familiars was working alongside Tamamo and helping her with the chores. If Scathach and Gilgamesh were unofficial rivals then Tamamo and Brynhildr were official rivals in regards to him.

"The damn Shota-con decided that I should not be handling all the household work alone and decided to help me but I feel she is just doing this so that I don't monopolise your time when you help me with the chores, master." Tamamo said glaring at the demi-goddess.

"Guilty as charged." Brynhildr admitted, "There are so many perverse acts that you will be able to do in the guise of 'household works', and it is my responsibility to see to it that you do nothing untoward master and protect him in every way possible." Brynhildr said, smiling sweetly at Tamamo.

Shirou really felt that the two of them were taking their little rivalry a bit too far.

"Master, why don't you go and take a bath while I deal with the princess, it should not take long and breakfast will be ready by then." Tamamo said levelling a glare at Brynhildr.

Shirou simply nodded and headed to the bath. All the while noting that while Brynhildr had done quite the satisfactory job I cleaning the mess of last night, there were still some spots that she missed, and Shirou knew that Tamamo would take full advantage of those minor mistakes and run her into the ground.

Surely as he was washing himself Shirou heard Tamamo shout at Brynhildr and he could hear Brynhildr cries of apologies, their conversation oddly consisting of how one's love one home was a sacred place and should be taken care with the utmost care.

Ignoring them, Shirou began to wonder just how he was going to explain their presence to his father. It was really going to be a troublesome affair and Shirou was worried that it might lead to the destruction of parts of his home when all was said and done.

After bathing Shirou headed to the dining room where he saw Tamamo and Brynhildr setting the table for breakfast, the food smelling delicious which only set to increase his growing hunger. Ever since he had summoned the ten women Shirou felt that he was having a feast every day.

"Tamamo have you called everyone for breakfast?" Shirou asked the fox-priestess.

"Yes master. Though it did too some prodding to wake some of them and get them out of their stupor but I believe they should all be fresh enough for breakfast." Tamamo replied while giggling a bit, which Shirou translated as her threatening some of the others with some subtle threats.

Tamamo had been strict laying down the rule of having food on time and respecting the dining area. Going as far as to trash the two Queens, after which the others seemingly fell in line thus cementing her position as the head of the house. Now only Brynhildr was crazy enough to challenge Tamamo in regards to the household matters, but that was a given due to their rivalry which was not about battle prowess at all.

"Good, Master Zelretch said he would be joining us for breakfast and he said he would be bringing some guest with him too. I hope you remembered making extra portions for them?"

"Yes master I have set aside some portions for them, though with how much Artoria, Arcueid and Jeanne eat I fear that if I don't hide it they would be gone in an instant."

"True." Really those three were the biggest eater of the group eating away plate after plate and asking for seconds, thirds and more. Yet their hunger did not seem to abate in the slightest.

Shirou heard the footsteps of his other familiars approaching and Tamamo and Brynhildr both took their place besides him.

"Good morning everyone, breakfast is ready." Shirou greeted his familiars.

Okita and Atalanta looked quite haggard and were itching away from Medea who look tired and sported a dreamlike smile on her face.

"AH, Okita, Atalanta where are the dresses I gave you yesterday?" Medea asked the sakura swordswoman and the green archer.

Said duo shivered at the question as Atalanta answered the violet spellcaster's question.

"Well you see it is morning and we felt that it would be improper to wear them at such time. In fact we felt that they should be worn at only appropriate time and special occasions so we have set them aside for safekeeping." Atalanta answered while Okita simply nodded agreeing with every word Atalanta said.

"I see. Well in that case it is all right, though now I have to find some casual dresses for the two of you to wear if the ones I gave you were too extravagant." Medea said and began mumbling about the various dresses that would suit the archer and swordswoman duo.

"Please don't let the state of our clothes bother you much." Atalanta replied, though one could hear the fear that Medea was invoking in her heart.

"Don't day that Atalanta, we are practically sisters now, so it won't be a bother selecting dresses for the two of you." Medea said as she took her seat while a cloud of despair hung over Okita and Atalanta.

"The food smells good, I must say priestess you impress me more and more every day." Gilgamesh commented as she entered the room. "Though I do hope that the food is as good as it smell, else you risk offending me."

"I assure you your majesty, the food is as exquisite as always." Tamamo replied with a small bow. It was something that Tamamo said had to do with court etiquettes which Gilgamesh expected everyone to follow while in her presence. Tamamo said while it was not necessary for him to do so, it would be good practice for him to start learning such things.

Scathach entered the room and silently took her seat appearing to be a regal queen that matched her rival, Gilgamesh, but from her posture everyone present knew that she was simply controlling herself from attacking the food. What with her growling stomach.

Arcueid soon entered the room and in a bold move plopped Shirou into her lap and hugged him like a live size doll, all the while mumbling incoherently in an ancient language. It seemed that she was not quite awake yet.

Artoria and Jeanne were the last to enter taking their place beside Medea and Scathach respectively trying to put quite a lot of distance between them. It was then that Zelretch made his appearance accompanied by a ten year old girl with snow white hair, dress in a winter coat and a twelve year old girl with brown hair dressed in expensive purple dress.

"Good morning everyone, I see I am just in time for breakfast." Zelretch greeted them, while the two girls simply stared at the assembled women.

"Shirou this here is my granddaughter Lorelei Barthomeloi and to my right is Illyasviel von Eiznbern. Girls this is Emiya Shirou, my apprentice and the master of the all the gathered Heroic Spirits present before you. Say hello everyone and do get ready today we are going to visit the land of Godslayers."

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AN: Short too short but well I wanted to give you guys something while I sort out some of the mechanics of the spells that I wanted to show in the next chapter.