Elementary Schooler Emiya's Class Begins

Two months later, Shirou had completed all of Reines' commissions. That day, he came to Webber's office. Regardless of Webber's motives for getting close to him, the two had gotten along well recently, and he was here to say goodbye.

Just like with Touko, Shirou kicked the door open without any decorum and plopped himself down on the high-end sofa in Webber's office.

Webber didn't even look up. He'd grown used to Shirou's rude behavior, or rather, he felt quite at ease with it. After two months of observation, he'd noticed something: Shirou's discourteous actions only showed up around people he knew well.

That wasn't a bad thing for either him or El-Melloi, after all, the kid was absurdly strong.

"What brings you here?" Webber asked. There was no point in being too polite with Shirou.

"Nothing much. I'm leaving, so I came to let you know."

Hearing that, Webber suddenly looked up, glancing at Shirou through his square-rimmed glasses. "Then do me one last favor, no problem?" he asked.

"Go ahead." Webber had decent character, and helping him out was no big deal for Shirou.

Webber checked his watch, then stood up and walked toward the door. "Follow me," he said to Shirou.

The two walked all the way to the door of the El-Melloi Classroom before stopping. Shirou asked Webber a bit boredly, "Hey, Second, couldn't you say whatever it is in your office?"

"Nothing much," Webber said, lighting a cigar—he'd taken a liking to them since becoming a lord. "I just want you to cover a class for me."

Cover a class? You really think highly of me, Second. I don't know jack about magecraft!

"Are you really not afraid I'll lead those kids astray, Second?" Shirou muttered to Webber.

The latter leisurely blew a smoke ring and said unhurriedly, "It's fine. At least you're strong. Just tell them how to get stronger."

Sorry about that, but I'm cheating—I was already this strong the moment I came to this world! Shirou grumbled inwardly. But since he'd agreed from the start, he wouldn't back out. He could only blame himself for agreeing too quickly.

"Fine, but at least introduce me and my status to the students. Otherwise, with this look of mine, I've got no authority at all."

If it were any other classroom's students, it might be fine, but the place Shirou was covering was the El-Melloi Classroom of the Modern Magecraft Department—the gathering spot for all of Clock Tower's problem students. Without even a shred of authority, he'd easily be treated as a joke.

Webber nodded. Shirou had a point. He led Shirou into the noisy classroom. And sure enough, Velvet Teacher's reputation wasn't for nothing—the classroom immediately fell silent.

Webber pointed at Shirou bluntly and said, "Let me introduce you. This is the substitute teacher I've found for you. He'll be in charge of this class. All of you better behave, or else..."

He paused, then dropped the words every student dreaded:

"Ten times the homework!"

This Second guy's got some tricks up his sleeve! Watching Webber, Shirou couldn't help but think of his middle school teachers for some reason... terrifying!

After Webber left, Shirou strolled up to the podium with his hands in his pockets. He could clearly feel that he'd instantly become the center of attention in the room.

They'd thought he was just a new classmate brought in by the teacher, but he turned out to be a new teacher. The shift was huge for everyone in the room.

"Don't be so tense," Shirou waved at the students and said, "At worst, I won't assign any homework this class, so even if Second tries to multiply it by ten, it won't matter!"

Shirou cracked a small joke, and the students in the room all breathed a sigh of relief. A teacher who could joke with students couldn't be too hard to get along with.

"Well, let me introduce myself first. My name is Shirou. You can call me Teacher Shirou. Age-wise, I'm about the same as you. Dreams are too far off to talk about, and as for likes and dislikes... emmm, I don't want to tell you!"

"So after all that, we only know his name?" Caules muttered quietly below. "And isn't this Teacher Shirou about the same age as us? How could he be that impressive? Why did Velvet Teacher ask him to cover our class?"

"Caules, don't say that. That Teacher Shirou is really strong. Among everyone I've met, he has the most magical energy. It's almost comparable to the Holy Lance Rhongominiad." The gray-haired girl beside Caules spoke. She was Gray, the student Webber had brought from the countryside.

Rumor had it that she carried the bloodline of King Arthur and was now the king's tomb keeper.

But everyone knew that Saber was female. The only one who could be called a descendant was the infamous wielder of the sword that betrayed its owner—Mordred, the famous brat of the entire Nasuverse.

Unfortunately, she was also female. That meant Uther's Pendragon line had not only lost its kingdom but had been extinct for thousands of years. So King Arthur's bloodline was a non-starter.

Gray was actually a distant relative of Saber, tracing the line through Morgan.

As for why Gray also had a Saber face, let's all just ignore that. It was just a foolish thousand-year-old scheme to resurrect the dead using the living.

"That King Arthur's gear—this guy's exaggerating way too much!" Caules exclaimed, unaware that he'd unknowingly become the focus of the entire classroom.

"There's nothing exaggerated about it, Caules," Shirou said, having already used Sonido to appear behind Caules without anyone noticing. "If you're envious, give it up. It's an innate talent of mine—you can't envy your way into it. If you have any complaints about me, say them directly, but I'll relay your words verbatim to your Velvet Teacher for him to handle as he sees fit. Finally, if you've got nothing else, sit down and let me start the lesson."

A devil! This teacher, who was about the same age as them, was absolutely a devil! Cold sweat poured down Caules' face. Velvet Teacher had indeed found someone formidable. He'd never been caught whispering in such a low voice before. And that weird movement technique—what rotten luck!

Having easily dealt with one of the top problem students in the entire El-Melloi Classroom, Shirou used Sonido to return to the podium. Dealing with problem students was all about putting them in their place.

"That said, I don't really have anything substantial to teach you," Shirou said, a bit helplessly. "Honestly, I'm not much of a mage. Aside from being able to fight, I'm pretty useless. I might be strong, but I'm still far off in magecraft research."

"So what I want to teach you is just this: choose a path that suits you, not the one everyone else takes. We're the problem students in others' eyes—isn't it normal to be different?"

"Projection Magecraft is a simple but rather useless art. Normally, you can only project the outer form of the original—an empty shell, completely useless. But with me, it's different."

"Because of a special magical attribute and unique talent, anything I project with Projection Magecraft will be infinitely close to the real thing. I'll prove to everyone that a replica doesn't have to be inferior to the original!"