Shirou in Another World.

Volume 1: Beginnings CH4

That very same day.

Shirou had managed to convince Taiga to let him spend time outside the village. Since he had returned to the orphanage, she had made sure to keep him nearby. Not that it was a problem, since at that time all he did was brood about Sakura.

But that was before he decided on his goal.

Now he was sitting beside the river thinking about how to approach magic. He only knew that he had potential. But potential doesn't produce results. Shirou knew that he had some form of enhancement magic that allowed him to be tougher and faster. The only problem was that he didn't know how to draw it out.

So that left him with the other option for the time being, and that is by getting stronger the normal way. It wouldn't be easy, but it was the first step to his goal.

Shirou brought a fist to his chin in thought. There were two choices, he could ask the Fujimura clan or the hunter group. Alright, maybe only one obvious choice then. Taiga would kill him if she heard that he was asking for help to get stronger from the Fujimura clan. Right after he had just recovered from being injured.

With the first step in mind, Shirou went off to find Yamashiro, the leader of the hunter-gatherer group.

The man would be easy to find. He always spent his time near the village borders, hunting small game like rabbits and geese while the hunting group was busy with other responsibilities. Not everyone was always available, that was why they limited the hunting trips to twice each week.

Shirou returned to the village and asked a few guards whether they had seen where Yamashiro went. A couple of them gestured that he went hunting towards the north. He thanked them and ran off to find him. If he was going to start working out, then might as well begin early.

Except he underestimated his stamina and found himself out of breath after a few minutes of running. Shirou leaned on a tree while he recovered, thinking that one of his priorities should be learning how to endure longer. If he ran out of energy quickly, how would he survive a fight? During the chase, he learned that magic was not infinite. His body certainly felt like it was burning after the entire event.

After resting for a few moments, Shirou resumed his search for Yamashiro. Albeit this time, he tried jogging to conserve his energy.

A few kilometers later, he arrived at some geese hunting areas. The location was close to a river, so they naturally flocked to the surrounding area. Not to mention that it was also far from any populated areas so there was lots of food to be found.

Quite a good place for them to settle in.

The first area was empty. Yamashiro clearly wasn't hunting on this spot, so Shirou combed through several more geese nesting sites before finding the man.

Shirou found Yamashiro laying underneath an apple tree, watching a flock of geese. "You're not hunting them down?"

"Nah, it's breeding season and I don't want to disturb them. Once the eggs hatch, we can hunt more after they grow." Yamashiro shook his head while munching on an apple.

That made sense to Shirou. The more geese there were, the more food the village got. Hunting them now would only minimize the gains later on.

"Uh...so I came to make a request..." Shirou stumbled on his words. He wasn't sure if Yamashiro would agree at all. The hunting party had been one of the first people to be informed about his injuries.

"If you came all the way out here then it must be urgent. I'm not doing anything right now so let's hear it."

"Can you train me to be stronger?"