Because Gae Bolg is not a sword, it's not something Shirou instinctively picks, and anyway, there are weapons that explicitly have "anti-giant" designations... like Caliburn, and a
certain hero's mattock.
I I I
Part 1.1
Sitting patiently, smiling softly, he certainly didn't look like a lunatic.
"This is him?" the Sergeant asked.
"Sir!" The recruit replied, tucking his fist over his heart in salute. "This is him. The man who walked up to the gate from the outside."
"Hmn." The sergeant grunted, and then sat down.
The room was simple, no decorations and only squat, broad windows near the roofline. There were no decorations. Only a table, with a chair on opposite sides.
"I am Sergeant Heather Campbell, of the Wall Maria guard." The soldier introduced herself. She sat down, and the recruit shuffled back to stand at attention against the wall behind her, next to the door.
Across from Campbell was a mystery.
Dressed in a simple, close-cut tunic over denim pants, his only other possessions were the long coat and a small bag of implements. A knife, a few books. Pencils and papers.
That is not enough. To survive outside the wall, away from the 50-meter-high bulwark of humanity, without any weapons? There is no way. The giants, monsters that devour humans, would stalk him. They cannot be evaded, because they can sense human life. The only defense, is the fortress walls.
"Pleased to meet you." The enigma responded. His accent is odd. His consonants are stiff. His vowels are flat. "My name is Shirou Emiya."
"Sir!" The recruit said. Sergeant Campbell turned, and made eye contact, scowling her displeasure. But the recruit did not waver, and the Sergeant took the hint.
She stood, and moved close to allow the recruit to whisper in her ear so the lunatic could not hear. "Do you think his ancestors were from some remote village when Wall Rose fell?" The recruit asked. It was a possibility Campbell had not considered. There were three concentric walls that protected humanity. Two were still held by the power of the army. But the third, Wall Rose, had been breached by titans five years ago. Giants poured through, and devoured everyone they could. Humanity was forced to fall back to the second Wall, Maria.
Whole villages had been lost. But was it possible? Had some fragment of people endured, outside the protection of the Walls? Hiding or running from the giants, living as nomads or hermits? After five years of being continuously hunted by Titans?
It sounded impossible.
But it was the only way to explain this impossible person before her.
"Hmn." Campbell grunted, nodding. "It merits consideration." She responded to the recruit.
she turned and sat back down.
"Shirou Emiya." She said. "Since you have not done anything wrong, there is no reason for us to detain you."
The lunatic simply smiled. There should have been something like relief; that was Campbell�s instinct as an upholder of the law. But Shirou was not relieved. It was as if he had never been concerned about his fate at all. As if... he believed all along they would not harm him.
No. Campbell�s instinct was, that he had believed all along they could not harm him.
It was true there was no reason to detain him. But, everything in Campbell thought: 'this man is dangerous'. "Then I am free to go?" the lunatic asked.
Campbell issued a noncommittal sound. "It is not that simple. There are no outsiders in society... because everyone outside our Walls has already been devoured. You do not have a place here."
Shirou gave the first half of a nod. "I think I can manage."
Campbell shrugged that away. "Without any references, there will be no jobs open to you. For now, the army will provide you with food and lodging. We will help you find work."
She stood. "I must return to my post." Even if this lunatic was a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon, so was a titan kicking in the Wall. And just as the first had occurred, so had the second. It was the duty of the army to man the Wall, no matter what.
This lunatic was not an exemption from 'no matter what'.
Still....
"Recruit Arlet." Campbell said.
"Sir!" The recruit came to attention.
"Escort our guest to the central fort. Explain to the duty officer what happened, and tell them I will come by when I finish my shift to help arrange this man's position."
"Sir!" The recruit acknowledged.
"Thank you." Shirou nodded, standing up himself. "Then, I will be in your hands, Mr. Arlet."
The door opened, and they walked outside.
Shirou considered the town around him. Simple row houses, with dusty streets on every side. With the wall encircling them, it was like being a guppy in a fishbowl.
As they walked, Arlet spoke. "Are you... really from outside the wall?" His voice is skeptical and incredulous. Frankly, it is far more likely he snuck outside somehow, and has wandered back this way, rather than being someone who was born and lived under the giant's noses.
"I've never seen it before today." Shirou responded.
Arlet considered that. "What about the giants?"
"What about them?"
Arlet frowned. "Even with the walls, even with the three-dimensional-movement gear", he gestured at the harness and compressor system belted around his waist, "killing even one giant still costs human lives. So, living outside the walls should be too dangerous."
Shirou shrugged. "I manage."
"Hm." Arlet considered. "What about your family?"
"What about them?"
"If you've never seen the walls, then someone raised you away from them. Where are those people?"
"Gone." Shirou said. "I was... there was an accident, and it looks like I got separated from them." He paused, and for the first time, looked uncertain. "Is it... is it really true that there's no-one outside the walls?"
Armin Arlet frowned. He had never once questioned that truth, but when it was presented as a question, he could not help considering it. "Well... never once has someone from outside the walls appeared. We thought we were alone. The last fortress of humanity that escaped extinction from the Giants." He chewed his lip. "Although, the world is supposed to be pretty big. If humans had built more than one city, and they were far enough part, they might not be able to communicate. So it might only seem like we're the only city."
Arlet swallowed. "That's something I don't think anyone's considered before."
"But humanity was almost wiped out by giants. That much is certain?" Shirou pressed.
Arlet nodded grimly. "Yeah. They are the enemy of all humankind."
"I see." Shirou said. His voice is soft, but somehow, Armin feels pressed into the ground by the sad heaviness of those words.
Nothing more was said until they reached the central fort.
I I I
Campbell rolled her shoulders as she walked along. It had been another boring day, but after the disaster of four years ago, everyone took watch duty very seriously. Because her superior officers demanded a vigilant watch, it fell to Sergeants like her to keep the watchers vigilant. Even if that meant they vigilantly stared at the horizon of unending plains.
And now she had one more duty, although it was one she had imposed on herself.
She approached Algers, the lieutenant-on-watch, who was inspecting the access walkway for the great tanks of compressed air that was the blood of the three-dimensional combat equipment.
"Sir." The sergeant saluted.
The Lieutenant returned it. "Campbell, was it?" The lieutenant nodded at the confirmation of that before continuing to speak. "I don't know where you found him, but that new guy is great. We're certainly willing to offer him room and board." He began to walk, and after a moment of surprise, or mild hesitation, the sergeant followed his steps.
That is not at all how the sergeant had expected this conversation to go. "Sir?" She asked.
But, as they turned a corner around the great storage tanks, the answer became visible to her.
Working diligently, using all of the tools with certainty, Emiya Shirou has disassembled the broken number three compressor that no one could fix. Replacing it had been deemed necessary without a thorough review by someone from the already-overwork technology department.
If the high-pressure air is the blood of 3D combat, than these compressors are the hearts. Without them to pump the air into high density, the gas guns that fire the grapplers couldn't do anything.
Emiya Shirou holds up a single valve to the light, and he frowns at it. He has identified the root of number three's failure.
Part 1.1
I I I
I decided they probably speak English. That's not (just) chauvinism on my part, but if Asians are rare (as per Misaka's backstory), then they are not in Asia. They do not speak any dialect Chinese, the only language that could be considered "more common than English". Likewise, they shouldn't be speaking Japanese. Since the people are not complexioned like Africans or Indians, then the probability that English was the most common language among their ancestors was high--especially considering the "English normal" names chosen by the author.
I thought about having Shirou speak like somebody out of "the Canterbury Tales" to imply a gap of millennia in the language, but that would require a lot of effort on my part, just to make it harder for the characters to talk to each other. So, it would be the author creating work for himself, and the result would be a harder-to-read story. I suppose "Shirou is comfortable speaking with English" might be a hint....
The reason I put Shirou in the Central Fort should be obvious... anyway, the next bit(s) will correspond with chapters 4-9 in the manga. This is probably the part you all actually are interested in seeing.
This part, though, is still just "taping the two series together." Of everything I have planned, the beginning definitely feels the weakest to me. So, if you have suggestions, I'm listening.