Chapter 30: Iraq
Kritsugu had spent the past 3 days going here and had searched through numerous clues to find the missing Melvin Weins. Now he was sitting in a taxi with a large suitcase beside him, anybody looking at this scene would feel that he is a traveller sitting alongside his luggage.
The car stopped in front of a modest-looking hotel and the driver turned back to his passenger after parking the car and spoke in English with a heavy dialect
"Sir the bill is 40 euros."
Paying the driver the money kiritsugu stepped down from the taxi and began rolling the bag towards the hotel gate. He heard the ambient noise of people talking in Greek, ignoring the ambient noise kiritsugu pressed his sunglasses onto his face as his eyes glowed with magic.
walking to the reception, he asked the lady at the desk in English
"Is there a room booked here under the name Lech Lager?"
The woman behind the desk quickly checked, handed him a key and said
"Yes Mr lager there is a booking in your name, please head to room number 303."
Taking the keys after thanking the lady kiritsugu went into the room, once inside he got fresh and opened the suitcase revealing dissembled weapons and tools. Wearing his signature suit he assembled a p90 submachine gun and loaded the clip.
Then he put various knives in his belt and finally put his mystic code the Thompson Contender and his set of origin bullets. Smoking a cigarette kiritsugu opened the room door and crept along the corridor till he reached the fire exit stairway.
Climbing along the stairway he slowly went down. When he crossed the ground floor level he heard a commotion coming from below.
Peaking from above he saw 2 thugs with pistols strapped at their hips laughing out loud as they took swings of alcohol from bottles they held. From behind them the sound of women crying in pain was heard, and the sound of people begging in various languages was heard from beyond the flimsy tin door they were guarding.
Drawing 2 knives from his back kiritsugu took position on the stairs and jumped down after opening his circuits. He fell on a thug and the knife was struck in the man's throat and head killing him. A silenced pistol bullet greeted the other thug surprised by the sudden movement.
After killing the two men, the magus killer checked around and entered the door after loading his submachine gun. Once inside he saw about 20 young women sitting on the floor back to back with their hands tied by ropes.
The true face of the hotel was revealed, it was a human trafficking ring under the cover of the hotel. Pulling the trigger of his gun kiritsugu killed the 7 thugs guarding the women, neutralizing the threat.
Hearing the gunfire about 8 traffickers rushed into the room only to be greeted by the bullet shower of a submachine gun and get instantly killed. After killing the men kiritsugu went into the passage they came out of in a crouch position.
Reaching a door leaking fierce argument sounds he pressed his ear against it. Opening the door a little he saw 2 groups of around a dozen men arguing with 6 men on each side. They were standing beside trucks carrying some unconscious men and children.
Looking at this scene calmly kiritsugu felt his phone vibrating, he ignored the call while taking out 2 cylinders from the bag on his back. The phone vibrated 4 times in the pattern that he had told shirou to contact him.
Considering the situation he still decided to ignore his son`s call after he came to the conclusion that the matter could be postponed. He threw the cylinders into the men after removing the pin and activated his night vision by enhancing his eyes with mana.
The 2 smoke grenades released copious amounts of smoke and the magus killer unaffected by the obstruction proved why he was called an assassin. He killed 10 men with rapid fire and shot the knees and shoulder of the 2 men arguing at the front.
Hearing the commotion the men driving the trucks jumped out with AK47 assault rifles only to be shot in the head by mana-infused bullets. after the smoke cleared it revealed the scene of carnage as 2 men whimpered and cursed in pain as they struggled on the floor after being shot.
Walking up to the two men the magus killer removed two posters containing images of Melvin Weins and another brown-skinned young man with a mean look.
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Rin and shirou were practising magecraft till evening, til Rin decided it was time to go home. Declining Shirou's offer to escort her home she said while flustered
"Even if we are attacked by something the better fighter among us is me. Our duel`s results prove that I am better than you as a magus, so the one that I should be worried about is you."
Looking at Rin`s behaviour and trying to justify her denial of having him escort her, shirou just showed a genuine smile. After Rin went home shirou went to prepare dinner early to have a lot of time for his practice of swordsmanship.
As he was practising his swordsmanship despite the pain from his wounds, the zone that he had entered to ignore pain was disturbed by the ringing of the phone and he rushed to it after putting away the katana after sheathing it.
Picking up the call his father`s voice sounded from the other side.
"Shirou?"
"Yes Dad it is me." replied shirou emiya.
"What had he called me about in the afternoon?" asked the older emiya.
Answering the question he informed his father about him having a vision, which he didn't elaborate on following the teaching of the older emiya who told him to never talk about his visions via telephone or letters.
He informed the man on the opposite side about the stimulation of his origin and his body sprouting real swords instead of minor blades like paper cutters. Then he talked about their plan to visit the hospital and his and Rin`s adventure in the hospital.
The current head of the emiya family remained silent for some time after hearing the escapades of his son and said
"We will talk about this when I reach home. You should now pack up because the day after tomorrow we are leaving for Iraq. I have found the location of the tuner so you should come with me to visit him."
"Yes, Dad." said shirou.
Then they had a detailed talk about the things to pack and shirou went back to practise after eating and gradually fell asleep.
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The next morning he woke up and after preparing his breakfast as well as his lunch box, shirou began carving magic circles on the perimeter wall of the emiya residence. After finishing his practice he got prepared and went to school.
Walking to the school shirou was worried about the magic crest he would be getting. After finding out about the effort he has to put into learning the basic magecrafts due to lack of affinity, he became worried about the possibility of not being able to use the family magecraft at all.
He reached class and during lunch, he climbed the stairs and went to the terrace and set up a simple bounded field to call out rin. As expected she came within 25 minutes with a questioning expression on her face.
"I am leaving fuyuki for a week to go to Iraq." said shirou seriously.
Hearing this rin was confused and asked shirou a lot of questions, after 20 minutes of talking she said as the bell rang and she was forced to leave
"Take care of yourself in there, the middle east is a place that actively resists mage association so people might target you for just being a magus. I do not want my only peer to end up missing on a god-forsaken battlefield."
As he sat there deep in thought looking at the leaving girl`s swinging twin tails he thought
< I promise you tohsaka that we will have our next spar.>
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Reaching home and making dinner shirou spent all the time carving sigils for the bounded field on emiya residence and then went to sleep.
Waking up the next morning he rushed to prepare breakfast and moved to the lawn to do his morning exercise. After taking a bath and drying the washed clothes shirou sat down for breakfast as he listed out the things to take with him.
As shirou was preparing the bag the doorbell rang and not feeling any reaction from the bounded field that he set up, the boy went to the door and opened it.
Across the door stood the magus killer in his signature all-black suit, who now looking at his son said
"Are you ready to leave?"
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(A/N: so people I want to ask, should I push myself and write 5 chapters in advance and put them on Patreon behind the membership?
"patreon.com/Fickle_as_light"
I just set up a Patreon account and am still on the fence about what to do, so tell me your opinions.)