Settling down

While sleeping Shirou was woken up by the laughter of children that were playing outside without a care in the world. Getting up from the bed he stretched his muscles on his way to the window. Opening the window he was instantly hit by a cool breeze of wind that came through. Looking out of it he saw the laughter and playfulness of innocent kids that knew nothing of the world. It reminded him of his days as a mercenary. A time where he traveled around the globe helping everyone in need and a time where he lived on a borrowed ideal. An ideal that he would willingly sacrifice everything he had even his own soul.

Remembering all of this made him think if he really deserved it. A new life, a chance to start over.

But he couldn't accept it. He couldn't forgive himself for what he did in the past. All he wanted was for him to disappear. For him to have never existed in the first place. But reality just had play this sick joke on him.

All of a sudden the door opened and the voice of a woman was heard. "Oh you're awake. Here have something to eat" she said as she placed down the food on the table. "I will tell my husband that you have woken up. You can talk with him after you finish eating" afterwards she left Shirou to himself.

Looking at the food that was brought in Shirou noticed that he was quiet hungry. Sitting down he ate the food. Which consisted of a vegetable soup and bread. After he was finished he walked down to the kitchen and handed in his bowl just as he was about to thank her for the meal Shirou realized that he didn't know her name. Seeing his looks woman also understood what he was thinking. She smiled and said "you can call me Sera". Shirou replied "Thank you for the meal miss Sera. May I ask were sir Woodhearth is?"

"He's in his workroom, the door next to the livingroom."

Shirou said thanks and went to meet the village chief Woodhearth. He knocked on door 3 times and heard Woodhearth say "come in". After getting permission he opened the door and went in.

Seeing Shirou come in Woodhearth asked him to sit down and went straight in to business.

"Sir Shirou thank you for saving our village" then he brought out a sack that was filled with jewels. "This is the your payment a total of 670'000 jewels"

Shirou accepted the payment and said "Thank you for your hospitality during my stay". The chief replied "no problem, best of luck to you on your future missions". "Best of luck to you too" Shirou said.

After their conversation ended Shirou bade farewell to the wife and husband duo and left the village.

On his way to Magnolia Shirou thought over his situation something which he has neglected to do till now. Because he just couldn't believe the situation he was in right now. But now that he had calmed down a little he thought about how he was able to get here in the first place. After thinking for a while he came to a conclusion. Nobody he knew of could do something like this not even Zelretch. If he was alive then maybe but he was already dead and had become a counter guardian that served the counterforce. Once he was under Alayas control no body should have been able to get him out of it or rather the people who were capable of it wouldn't do it as it would piss off Alaya.

After racking his brain over it. Shirou opted to not think about this problem for now as he would soon reach the town of Magnolia. Where he would have to deal with finding a place he can stay for a long term, clothes, food and other daily necessities, even though for most of the time he would stay out accepting and completing request. But Shirou wanted to deal with these problems now so it won't be inconvenient for him later.

Once he reached the town of Magnolia he walked towards the Fairy tail guild. When he got near the guild he heard yell and screams of his fellow guild members. He got in front of the entrance to the guild, slowly opening the door what greeted him was the same sight he had seen when had just entered the guild. Shirou was lamenting over his decision to join fairy tail. He took a deep breath and sighed, gently rubbing his eyes. He walked towards Mira in quick strides hoping to leave as soon as possible without being noticed. But what happened next shattered his hope.

As soon as stepped a foot inside the guild all guild members stopped their bickering and started screaming "welcome back to the guild Shirou, congrats on finishing you first guild quest" some even asked him to have drinks with them as a celebration. Shirou gently turned down their request.

Mira who saw Shirou walk in safe and sound was glad that he was able to finish the request without any major incidents. Seeing him walk towards her Mira waved her hands and said "congratulations on finishing your first quest Shirou". "Thanks Mira, also could you recommend me a place to stay for a while". " of course. I recommend going to Strawberry Street near The Town's shopping center. You should be able to find a nice place to stay over there. The cost for the rent is usually in between 60'000 to 80'000 jewels also as a plus the view outside is quite nice" Mira answered. Shirou was also going to ask a place to buy general appliances such as brush, soap, toothpaste and etc but after listening to Mira's reply he understood where he could buy them.

Following Mira's advice he went to Strawberry Street and searched for a place he could stay he asked around and found many free apartments that could be rented. But some of them were too old or poorly maintained, there were some good ones that he liked but he decided to look around for more and if he was unable to find a good place he would rent one of the previous ones. While looking around a two story apartment house with red wall and a dark brown sloping roof with two chimneys caught his eyes. The building looked over the canals that ran through The Town of Magnolia.

He entered the apartment and looked for the owner. Not long after he entered a middle-aged woman came down. She looked at Shirou and asked "You must be here to rent an apartment, there is a free room on the second floor. You can go up and check it out if it's to your liking we can talk about the contract" just as Shirou was about to ask which room the landlady said "there is a on the door saying the room is free". Shirou nodded and went up to the second floor and just as the landlady had said there was a door with a sign on it. He opened the door and looked inside.

It had two rooms in one of the rooms there was a bed, a closet, a bookshelf, a dinning table with three chairs, a work table, a couch and a simple kitchen that was separated from the rest of the room by a counter. The other room was a bathroom with a sink, a toilet and a bath. The room had white wallpaper and a fireplace. Through the windows he could see the canals that flowed through Magnolia.

The apartment was to Shirou's liking. He went down to tell the landlady that he would be renting the apartment. The landlady told Shirou to follow her to her study room to talk about the contract.

Once inside the landlady told Shirou that the rent price was 70'000 jewels a month and that he would have to pay at least 30 percent of it in advance.

Shirou told her that he would be renting it for a month for now and see how it goes. He payed the full amount then and there and was given the keys to his apartment.

Looking outside Shirou saw sun starting to set. He didn't have any materials to cook with on hand so he went out to eat. Though this time he didn't have to search for a restaurant as he had seen plenty during the day.

After picking a random restaurant and dining there. Shirou payed for his meal which consisted of a steak with vegetable salad and mashed potatoes on the side. The meal was enjoyable, so was the atmosphere in the restaurant. Once he was done he went back to his apartment took of his equipment to have a hot shower, something he didn't have for a long time. When he was finished he went to his bed and decided to call it a day. Shirou layed his head on the pillow and closed his eyes, letting the exhaustion take him over. Soon he was sound asleep.

That night Shirou had the most comfortable sleep since he came here. But in the morning he heard a his neighbor scream

"MY BEDROOM!!!!!!"