Chapter 25: Surrounded and Beaten
Hephaestus was, after all, the head god of her Familia, and it was impossible for her to keep an eye on Shirou at all times. So after passing on all the necessary knowledge to him, she left the forge to attend to her own affairs.
In the now-empty forge, only Shirou and the blazing furnace remained.
"Well then, let's begin."
Now that he had the opportunity to forge weapons, Shirou had no intention of wasting time. He quickly found a member of the Hephaestus Familia to purchase the most basic iron ore, and after returning to the workshop, he began his first forging attempt.
Since it was his first time doing such work, Shirou had little confidence in his own forging.
He figured it would be fine as long as he could craft something remotely usable.
As expected, being a complete beginner, Shirou made numerous fundamental mistakes during the process.
For instance, his control over the fire was lacking, the iron ore was not smelted evenly, his hammer strikes failed to remove enough impurities, and there were many other small problems.
Still, despite all these errors, the weapon Shirou eventually forged was surprisingly decent—more than just passable, in fact.
"This…"
Looking at the longsword he had forged for the first time, Shirou felt an uncanny familiarity with it.
To an ordinary person, it looked like just a regular longsword, but Shirou instantly recognized it—it was one of the weapons from Unlimited Blade Works.
Ever since that fateful battle to the death against the Ainsworth family, the power of Unlimited Blade Works had become deeply ingrained in Shirou's very essence. The form and image of every sword on that arid plain were etched deeply into his soul.
Naturally, he recognized that the weapon he had forged bore a high degree of similarity to one of the swords from his Reality Marble.
Or rather—it was one of those swords.
And that was something truly unbelievable.
After all, the swords that appeared in Unlimited Blade Works were never ordinary weapons. Each one had been deliberately recorded by the Heroic Spirit EMIYA—each was a named sword.
No matter how ordinary a sword might appear, it was, in reality, the weapon of some legendary warrior of a past era.
It was likely that, due to Shirou's deep familiarity with those swords, his instincts had subconsciously guided him toward forging something like them.
But the shocking part was—this was only Shirou's first time forging a weapon.
He had no experience or technique to speak of. He had created a weapon of this quality purely on instinct and intuition—even he was stunned by the result.
Clang!
Shirou swung the sword a few times, sensing the unusually sharp aura it emitted, confirming once and for all that he had indeed forged a weapon from Unlimited Blade Works.
This truth left Shirou stunned. He couldn't understand how he had managed to accomplish such a feat.
At the same time, he began to wonder—if he could forge even this kind of sword, then perhaps he could reproduce other weapons from Unlimited Blade Works… even those at the level of Noble Phantasms?
This thought sparked a powerful urge within him, making him eager to begin another round of forging to test his theory.
Unfortunately, forging the sword had already taken him the entire afternoon, and he had to leave the Hephaestus Familia before they closed.
…
On the road back to the Hestia Familia, Shirou decided to temporarily keep his success a secret.
Although he wanted to tell Hestia about his newfound forging talent to ease her worries, the weapon he had created wasn't made through normal means—it was a result of Unlimited Blade Works' power.
Because this "cheat-like" process had created the weapon, Shirou wasn't sure he could reproduce it.
So he decided to try forging a few more times before telling anyone about it.
"Hey, girlie, wanna buy some booze? This is the real deal—divine wine!"
Suddenly, a careless-sounding voice rang out from a nearby alleyway.
Several unsavory-looking adventurers had surrounded a frail-looking girl. Because it was getting dark, Shirou couldn't clearly see her face, but he instinctively walked over.
There was no particular reason—his body just moved on its own.
"Um, could you let me through? I still need to buy ingredients…"
"Buy ingredients? Forget that—how about you buy our divine wine? One sip and you'll be floating!"
"This is…"
Faced with the men's aggressiveness, the girl looked clearly troubled.
The adventurers pressed closer and closer, clearly planning to force a transaction if necessary.
At that moment, Shirou stepped between them and the girl, his expression cold as he said, "Can't you see she's troubled?"
"Shirou… Shirou-san?"
The girl behind him seemed to recognize him and looked pleasantly surprised.
Only then did Shirou realize—the girl being harassed was someone he had met before at the tavern. It was Syr, the waitress.
On the other side, the adventurers glared angrily at Shirou, one of them growling, "What the hell do you think you're doing, punk? You wanna play hero?!"
"Hero? I used to think about it—but I'm not fit for that anymore."
Shirou responded calmly, his expression unwavering.
The adventurers, seeing his attitude, obviously weren't going to let their target go. They chose to resolve things the violent way.
After all, Orario didn't have a formal police force. While the major Familias maintained public order on the surface, if something happened in a dark alley with no witnesses, no one would care.
Violence was, in some sense, part of this city's daily life.
"You cocky little bastard—go to hell!"
The adventurers lunged at Shirou with punches. Their levels varied, from LV.1 to LV.2, and with the advantage of numbers, they could even take down an average LV.2.
Syr looked on with clear concern.
But that concern turned out to be unnecessary.
Boom!
Shirou raised his hand and caught the lead adventurer's punch, then effortlessly lifted him—as if he were a club—and swung him hard.
"AAAHHH!!"
The supposedly formidable LV.2 adventurer was hurled like a bowling ball into a wall, leaving a large dent in it.
The impact even shook the ground violently, making it tremble.
"Oops… did I overdo it?" Shirou muttered, shaking his wrist.
During his time fighting in the dungeon, Shirou had slain many monsters and even dungeon bosses. With every kill, he had absorbed a kind of special energy that drastically enhanced his physical capabilities.
As a result, his body had grown incredibly strong without him even noticing.
But because he had been seriously injured earlier and couldn't engage in high-intensity combat, he hadn't yet fully adapted to this newfound strength.
It wasn't until his body had completely recovered—and he fought that adventurer named Bete—that Shirou finally realized just how much stronger he had become.
At that moment, he had a very clear feeling:
Even a LV.5 adventurer might not be stronger than him now.
Still, that battle had not reached a decisive conclusion. So as for exactly how strong he had become—Shirou himself still wasn't entirely sure.