"Saber, please… can't you pick one yourself?"
"But Shirou, I need a man's opinion on which one looks better."
Saber smirked as her master, still very much a boy, turned crimson red in embarrassment at her teasing. Currently, the servant of the sword is clad in nothing but a lacy red lingerie hugging her naked body. It's really fun to tease the boy, still on the cusp of being a man. It's like teasing her dear Lancelot, that straight forward girl was too dedicated to her duties with no nonsense. She and Shirou are very much alike, she can only imagine if he managed to summon the Knight of the Lake instead of her.
Still, she's not an easy woman. Granted, she isn't new to sex but she's very much a virgin. No man had laid with her, nor she would allow it. She very much prefers the company of her fellow knights and other women. It's not because she hates men, no.
She just hasn't found a man she would like to lay with.
Not even Shirou, despite being her current master, interested her. The boy is too innocent yet and she would do him disservice if she simply invited him. Not to mention, it would be an insult to Taiga who she still needs to apologize to.
Seriously, she did that girl a favor with how wound up she is.
"Shirou, you must know that a woman's undergarments are her comfort." Saber said as a matter of fact.
"Do I have to really know this?" Shirou sighs.
"Yes, now help me. I can't reach my back."
"Saber!"
"Hehehe."
After flashing him a few times and more teasing, they continued their day out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Saber, what do I have to do?" Shirou suddenly asked as they ate ice cream.
The day was already done and they had bought what they needed this morning. Except for going home, Saber opted to explore and sightsee with Shirou. Of course the redheaded master allowed it as the servant is simply curious of the modern world.
Their outing can be even considered as a date even if the two deny it.
"Hmm, is this about last night?" Saber turned at him, her ice cream melting in her mouth as she devoured the sweet treat.
"Yes. I… I thought about what you said last night and you were right." Shirou said, scoffing at his previous behavior.
"No matter what the truth was, I'm still what I am." Saber nodded in agreement.
"That's why I'm asking what we should do in this war? I refuse to participate and commit needless bloodshed but I won't stand by and let the other Masters commit it to the innocent."
"A noble goal indeed." Saber smiled.
She lucked out in having Shirou as her master indeed.
"If you seek this king's advice, I'll recommend waiting and gathering our strength. Right now, we lack intelligence against our foes and neither of us have the capability of finding said opponents."
"So you're saying we should wait for them to come? What if it's too late? Someone could be hurt or worse?" Shirou frowned. It was a good plan but it's too passive for his taste.
"Don't be hasty." Saber warned her as she saw his conflicted expression.
"It's not a strategy I would like to employ myself but with our current situation, we lacked a path to walk upon. But know this, someone will be hurt, that's already a given. But if we stick to it and react immediately to stop the enemy, we will save many more."
"But at a cost?"
"Not everyone could be saved, Shirou. You already know this with Kiritsugu." Shirou nodded at Saber's words
Kiritsugu did try to save everyone but that led him to a very dark path.
"It may be detestable but I can only do so much." Saber admitted having her own limits.
"Wait."
Saber paused, wondering why Shirou stopped.
"I grew strong enough, can I save everyone?" He asked.
Saber will say no. Saving everyone is impossible. He should simply throw away such notions but…
"It's not wrong for me to try right?"
"No, there's nothing wrong with trying."
Simply put, the being known as Shirou Emiya simply wants to save everyone. Across all timelines, it's one of the definite constants in the Multiverse.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Structural Analysis.
Alteration.
And Reinforcement.
Three spells, his only arsenal. These three spells were the only thing Kiritsugu imparted to Shirou about the moonlit world. Since then, these three spells became integral in his life. Something he constantly does and improves upon with constant practice and application.
Since then, it has been a ritual for him to work on the three spells everyday.
But today, it was different.
"Lose your stance, you're being too rigid."
"Too weak, your reinforcement needs more power."
"You're losing focus, Shirou!"
Shirou collapsed on the floor, gasping on his back as he tried to get as much oxygen. His body burned and his nerves are killing him.
In his decision to get strong, Saber took it upon herself to train him instead to improve his magecraft in the most unconventional way possible.
"Only in conflict where you truly evolve." She said at the start.
With that said, she had him use all three spells while fighting her. Reinforcement to enhance his body and Shinai, Alteration to fix what damage his Shinai accumulated in clashing against Saber's and Structural Grasp to read her movements by using it on her clothes and predicting her movements.
This exercise is probably the most exhausting and painful application of his magecraft. In order to keep up against Saber's speed and strength, despite her going easy, he had to create magic circuits in his entire body to maximize his Reinforcement. His Alternation meanwhile had to be applied in an instant when any damage is done to his Shinai. The hardest was using Structural Grasp constantly to predict Saber's movements through the motions of her clothes.
In order to use Structural Grasp effectively, he has to be in contact with his target which is redundant in combat. Instead, he had to do it by eyesight alone which Saber simply solved by advising him to Reinforce his eyes to improve its effectiveness.
It shows Saber's experience by simply grasping what he can do and implementing an exercise to improve every spell he had in at the same time.
Dare he say it, she had far more understanding of his own spells than him.
Nonetheless, this exercise has consequences. In one hour alone, he felt his body burning from his insides. His nerves burned as if hit pokers were shoved deep within. Body temperature shot through the roof and in desperate need to cool down. Not to mention, his head hurts due to constant use of Structural Grasp while his eyes are tearing up due to the burning sensation of the heated nerves behind.
He feared he would go blind but it seems like that's not the case.
"Take a break for now, Shirou." Saber said as she threw a bottle of water.
A grunt escapes Shirou's lips as it lands on his chest, too tired to react and catch the flying bottle.
He greedily drank said bottle.
"Senpai?"
Suddenly, a certain purple haired kohai peeked at the dojo's entrance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Senpai, you shouldn't move too much with your condition."
"Ah thanks, Sakura. But I'm fine. Really."
"No buts."
Saber smiled as she watched the two bicker and argue in stubbornness. Sakura is currently tending to Shirou's bruises from their sparring session. Of course, the boy is playing tough, trying to push her care as she was a guest. It slowly devolved on who will cook dinner for today which almost made Saber laugh at the two.
They looked like husband and wife.
But…
Saber didn't ignore the way Sakura kept on glancing on to her and Shirou's hand where his command seals are in the open.
Not to mention, the way she looked at her when Shirou introduced her as Kiritsugu's old acquaintance. Her eyes were of recognition and suspicion.
Saber then glanced at her own hand.
It was covered in bandages, an accident from cooking, she said.
Of course, Shirou believed her and practically forbade the girl to cook to which the girl argued back. It's basically going back and forth at this point.
Although, when did Shirou start to recover fast?
She can see that he still had bruises as he cooked together with Sakura, a simple agreement they made, but said bruises are no longer black and blue but have started to fade away.
Did something happen?
Is the conversion rate speeding up?!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That night, the Emiya Household was packed with a lot of guests.
If you consider three people as a crowd.
Taiga arrived that evening to a fragrant scent of dinner. Mouth watering already, she immediately bursted into the scene like a tiger pouncing on her prey. She was welcomed by Shirou and Sakura together, working in the kitchen with practiced efficiency. Taiga almost cried.
She has shipped these two since day one after all.
Then there's Saber.
Not wasting her time, Saber pulled the woman for some adult talk. The two teens never heard what the two talked about but when Taiga returned, she was a blushing mess while Saber came with a satisfied smirk.
Looks like the two made an impasse this morning.
Dinner commenced like the usual, Shirou and Sakura together to service the gluttonous tiger who accepted the generosity of the two. Of course, the blonde servant alleviated the two from their service by teasing and talking to the other adult woman, distracting the hungry beasts.
Of course, the two adults gossiped and whispered about a certain couple.
Looks Taiga gained an accomplice to her secret plan for these two teens.
Oblivious from the two scheming adults, the two teens simply enjoyed the night.
One wished the night to never end while the other wished to keep the other safe and unaware of the dangers of the Holy Grail War.
Conversion rate: 30%
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile…
"So you finally showed yourself, Lancer." Illya said from the empty alleyway leading to one of Kiritsugu's safehouses.
"Sorry, Missy. Master's orders. So what's it gonna be, Big fella?" Lancer grinned wildly at the huge servant looking up with him. Red eyes promising a violent end.
Berserker roared at the challenge before leaping in an explosion of dust and asphalt to pulverise the blue Lancer.
"Finally! Some action!" Lancer threw himself to battle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's notes!
Finally! Some real action.
The next chapter will cover the a Berserker vs Lancer fight that we never got in the three fate routes which a fucking shame for Lancer.
Poor doggo just wanted to rumble.
Who will win? Give me Stones as bets!
As for Shirou, we now see how he slowly diverges in terms of abilities from the other Shirou.
Here, he hasn't opened his magic circuits yet but simply makes temporary magic circuits across his body. For normal magi, this is lethal and self suicide
Except, Shirou's physical alterations are now slowly giving him some form of Regeneration that counters this method.
Also started to do some minor spellchecks and edits to previous chapters.