"Arthur!" The Matron- Sister Aria- cried out in relief as I approached the orphanage. She ran over to me, taking me into her arms. "Oh, I'm so glad you are safe! We feared the worst when we couldn't find you after the storm!"
"I'm sorry, Sister Aria," I looked down. "I didn't realise the storm had started until it was too late... Then it started raining, and with the wind blowing about I couldn't tell where I was. I got lost."
"And you're freezing," she noted with freight. "You'll get sick at this rate! Come, inside quickly now!" She ushered me into the orphanage.
"Can I get a change of clothes?" I asked her. "My clothes are wet and if I keep wearing them, I might still get sick."
She nodded and quickly led me to a private room, getting me a fresh pair of clothes. I removed my old ones- in private, of course- and put on the new ones. I was still wet, but now my clothes were fresh and not causing problems.
As soon as I stepped out of the room, I was wrapped in a blanket. It was nothing impressive, but it was an extra layer to help keep me warm.
"This way now, the others will be relieved that you're okay," Aria told me gently as she led me through the hall and towards a room where everyone- a group of maybe ten other children besides myself- were all huddled together.
Eyes lit up at the sight of me, the children- only two others around my own age- said my name with relief as I was led over to the group and took a seat among the circle. I could feel a new warmth in the group, my body relaxing as it rushed through my body.
Aria smiled, clearly purely relieved to see all of us together again. "I'll go get you something to eat, okay Arthur?"
"Thank you, Sister Aria," I told her gratefully.
She just kept that beautiful smile on her face before she hurried away.
"I'm glad you're okay," a girl- Beatrice, my mind provided- spoke with relief. "You were so reckless, you should have come back with us with the storm clouds started rolling in."
I merely nodded in agreement at her words. "You're right. I should have. I'm sorry."
"You're apologising?" a boy- Edmund- asked with surprise. "That's rare, didn't even know you knew what the word 'sorry' was."
"Of course I know," I grumbled. "It's just that I don't get in trouble, so I've never needed to use it."
Beatrice hummed. "Well, you're not exactly wrong- doesn't make me happy to hear it though..."
"I have no plans of going out like that against anyway," I told them. "I've decided that I want to be a knight. Tomorrow, I'm going to start watching Knights training their squires and start following their exercises on my own."
They both shared a look of surprise at my words before their eyes turned back to me.
"You never talked about this before, why now?" Beatrice asked me.
"Out in the storm, when I thought I was gonna die, I felt like I had a moment where everything made sense," I lied without hesitation. "And I realised that I want- no, I need to be a knight."
They both stared at me, but how could I possibly explain to them that I needed to etch my name into history in order to make my damned system finally wake up?
"Well, okay," Edmund finally nodded. "We'll support you, Arthur."
"Of course we will, like we'd ever turn our backs on him," Beatrice agreed. "But I guess this means we can't play anymore, huh?"
"Probably not," I acknowledged, still shaking a bit from the cold.
They both nodded and we all fell into silence as we focused on staying warm, my thoughts drifting away.
Though I knew I needed to be a knight, reaching that goal wasn't easy. Training my body was one thing, but I would also need to develop my own sword technique by copying what little I'd be able to see from the training of other knights. And putting it into practise wouldn't be easy without being able to experience it in actual combat.
In other words, to truly get to the point of being a knight... Starting as a bounty hunter might needed to be my first job.
While bounty hunters were not very abundant in this era, what few memories I could find relating to them showed they did exist. But they were looked down on compared to knights. They were seen as selfish for killing others for money, rather than in service to the kingdom like knights were.
Right now, I was ten years old. Once I turned thirteen, I would be an adult in the eyes of society in this era. The orphanage would still let me stay though- but only so long as I worked.
The sword drawing ceremony would take place in only six more years... That meant I had that long before things would start to really pick up in regard to the battle between Vortigern and Artoria.
As for the sword in the stone- I wasn't even going to try and draw that thing. Merlin had so many seals on both the sword and the stone that only Artoria could draw it. And besides that, I was not king material. Artoria, on the other hand, had been raised for that purpose.
In fact, perhaps becoming a villain in Artoria's story wouldn't be the worst thing. Everyone knew about Vortigern, Morgan, and Mordred. Becoming another obstacle in her path... It might not be the worst idea to establish myself.
I shelved that idea to the back of my mind. If other things failed, then I could definitely try that method. It wouldn't be the most glamorous thing, but it would certainly be a good shot at the Throne of Heroes.
Joining up with Morgan might also be a good- no, I shook my head quickly.
This might be an anime world, but it was very real to me at the moment. Even in Fate Lore, Morgan is wicked, vile, and vindictive. Cold, calculating, and cruel; she used her own children as tools for her goals without a care in the world. Even if Morgan could turn me into the greatest knight the world had ever known, joining her wasn't worth my mental or emotional health.
In the end, all the issues I would face as a knight boiled down to two things. The first, I needed some kind of teacher. Even the smallest amount of advice was fine, I just needed someone who could teach me.
The second was a purpose.
Etching my name into history was fine and all but going about that was going to be difficult if I didn't have a clear goal in mind- something to strive for. Everyone else had a goal. Artoria wanted to save Britain and become its King. Morgan desired to sit upon the throne that was her birthright, getting revenge against Uther and Merlin.
I needed something that I wanted to do. Something that drove me, enveloped me, and would become what I would push myself so hard to achieve beyond merely entering the throne of heroes.
Sadly, no matter how much I thought, I couldn't find a goal in my mind that I wanted to do beyond entering the Throne of Heroes. I had no particular desires related to this time, nothing that particularly stood out to me.
"Arthur," Sister Aria spoke up as she re-entered the room with a plate of food for me. "Here, I heated up the leftovers in the pan. It's not much, but hopefully it helps you warm up."
"I want that," another kid whined selfishly.
"Don't be greedy, Wesley," Aria scolded him gently. "You already had your breakfast; Arthur has been out in the cold and hasn't eaten at all- he needs food."
The kid grumbled, but he didn't argue any further.
I stood up and gently took the plate, heading to a table to sit, "Thank you, Sister Aria."
She merely smiled at me before she went to check on the other children while I ate my food.
I took a bite and closed my eyes in pure distaste...
Horrible.
Of course, this was Britain in the fifth or sixth century... They barely knew anything about cooking. beyond the absolute basics- and even that was a stretch. The best food was reserved for nobles- people living on the glory of their ancestors. Many peasants and even people of faith- like Sister Aria- didn't even know about how adding salt to a dish could add a new depth of flavour.
'No wonder Artoria is such a glutton,' I thought to myself. With food this bland, Shiro Emiya's cooking was like taking her from eating non-starred food to top tier five-star cuisine.
I would need to get used to food in this time too, something I was already dreading... A lot of comforts I had taken for granted- internet, good food- were all beyond my reach right now.
Still, I didn't complain. Instead, I just ate my food and focused on the warmth filling my stomach as I swallowed it down. It was helping with the cold... Not a lot, but it was helping.
I finished eating quickly, placing my knife and fork back on the plate and rejoining the circle between Beatrice and Edmund, who happily began to chat with me about the latest comings and goings of the town.
I idly listened as they spoke about knights and squires who'd been spotted in town recently, nobles who were rumoured to be on their way for various deals and so on.
Listening idly but not taking on any information truthfully, I closed my eyes and curled up just a bit more as I continued to let my thoughts run rampant.
Five years. That was the time limit I was setting for myself to start going out and starting my journey across Britain to establish a name for myself before Artoria drew the sword from the stone and became known as King Arthur.
If I established a good name for myself, then perhaps there was a chance I could join the round table when Artoria began the campaign to call on Knights for the fight against Vortigern. It wouldn't be easy as a mere bounty hunter, but Artoria wasn't really one to discriminate against someone's background. She preferred to judge them by their deeds.
For now, I would set that as my short term goal. Become established enough to become a Knight under Artoria's leadership- and then work hard to join the Round Table so that I would make sure my name would become etched into history.
But with all that laid out as the plan for the moment, several burning questions still remained.
Why had I been the one to end up in this body? Was there something special about me, or was there something special about Arthur that meant someone needed to take over and I was just the lucky guy who could fit the bill?
If this wasn't random, had someone specifically decided to put me in here? Or was this just a situation where a Random Omnipotent Being decided to plop me into this body and let the chips fall where they may?
And perhaps the most important question... Was I being watched, even right now? Was someone, in a place beyond where I could comprehend, watching my every move at the moment?
I supposed, at the end of the day, those questions weren't ones that I could answer and- probably for the sake of my own sanity- I shouldn't pry too deep into them either.
If you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you.
I had no desire to be the next victim of the abyss.
Finally, the exhaustion and stress of my new situation finally caught up with me. My head slumped onto Beatrice's shoulder as I finally fell into the realm of dreams.
It was going to be a long five years...