As the plan was made and set in motion, Cirrus got on the next merchant traveling to the city of sword smiths.

"How's is it back there?" said the merchant.

"It's fine." Cirrus said sitting in the back. "How long is it to Solingen?"

"Hmm a couple of days." He answered. "You will be rather bored these days, not many bandits target this road."

"Why is that?"

"It has a nice flow of people with Falna, mostly blacksmiths."

"Ah, I see."

Cirrus simply watched the scenery and other towns they went through, he helped the merchant sell their wares as thanks for letting him travel with them and eating their food, this also helped Cirrus gain an understanding of bargaining and the merchant gained an understanding of marketing.

"I see, how about two for 25% off?" said the merchant.

"Hm... yeah you can even add in a buy three get one free kind of thing. What item isn't your most profitable? Might as well free up some space."

"Ooh! Great idea! I had these weird toys for years."

After about 8 days of travel, they arrived near the city. From afar, one could see a tower of smoke with a metal wall reflecting off its dull metal in the distance.

When reaching the city gates, the guards of the city sounded incredibly sketchy, when in the back of the carriage Cirrus overheard their discussion.

"It'll be 10,000 Valis." said the guard.

"T-ten thousand Valis!? A-are you—"

"Hah!? Do you know what this city is!?"

"Tsk." Cirrus clicked his tongue, he wished to help the merchant but for now he needed to bite his tongue.

The entry price was practically a highway robbery.

"A-alright..." The merchant said as he pays the fee.

"Thanks, go on inside you are holding up the line."

The merchant moved on into the city. The merchant went a bit more inside before stopping.

“Thank you for letting me ride, sir.” Cirrus gave a polite bow. "Sucks about the fee."

“Not at all! You are more than welcome to ride with us again anytime! As for the fee well it's nothing I can't remake. Good luck here." The merchant then rode off to sell his wares.

Now in the city, Cirrus looked to find that several of the building were for blacksmithing.

'Every building is practically breathing out smoke, they blanket the sky in certain angles.'

Cirrus quickly hid in the shadows of the buildings and alleyways.

From the shadows, he could see several stores with fine swords of a variety of styles, even armor. This was a cultural pot of blacksmiths.

‘I need to find the Chernobog Familia.’

Cirrus went about searching the city from the shadows only to find their shady-looking city guards. The residential area of the city had several people, but it had a rather sturdy wall surrounding it.

From the way it looked, it reminded Cirrus of a concentration camp. He would see some smiths coming into the area through a gate after being patted down.

‘Geezus fucking Christ… how the fuck has no one heard of this?’

Cirrus continued to observe the city, but it was getting dark. Cirrus couldn’t go to the inn since a child having money to stay at an inn will be very suspicious and he can’t be starting a scene here, not in this situation.

“Haaa… no matter what world it is, people will always ignore the homeless.”

Getting a dirty ragged cloak, he finds a dark abandoned alley and makes himself at home, hiding in a corner of trash.

‘Well… I wanted new experiences… this technically counts…’

 

Sleeping in a pile of trash, Cirrus wakes up when some people started yelling.

“P-please, we do not have the money!” shouted a boy. “You took so much we can’t even make daggers!”

“Doesn’t matter! Lord Chernobog wants more money and weapons made!!”

Smack!

Crash!

They threw the boy into Cirrus’s pile of trash.

“Hahaha!! Let's go! You better have the weapons and money!!”

They walked away as the boy cried.

“Dammit….”

“… are you just gonna let them do that shit to you?” said Cirrus.

“Huh?”

The boy gets up as he felt underneath him something was moving. From the trash, a young boy with messy brown hair and emerald eyes appeared in a ragged cloak.

“W-who are you?” the boy said, falling back from surprise.

“… My name is Zephyr, boy,” Cirrus looks at the kid to find that he’s actually older than him. “Do you wanna overthrow this ruling Familia?” Cirrus said, reaching out his hand in a pile of trash.

Much like how Emiya met Saber, the full moon illuminating Cirrus' figure, the boy was dazzled.

“Yes!” he said, reaching out and shaking his hand.

“Cool… so what’s your name?” Cirrus said, helping him up.

“M-my name is Ibic! Can you really help?”

“I can. Tell me, do you have a Falna?”

 

Walking back to his workshop, Cirrus sees eyes glancing at them until they made it to the workshop.

“Lord Lugh!” Ibic said, rushing towards his god.

Lugh was a god with a divinity of red and gold. His hair was as red as fire with goggles around his neck, his tan skin was dirty from his work and soaked in sweat another result of the forge with orange eyes to match the warmth of the the flame.

“Hm? Your back.” He said. “Who’s this?”

“His name is Zephyr! He said he’s here to help get rid of the Chernobog Familia!”

Lugh looks at Cirrus and gets up to inspect him.

“… Remove that dirty disguise.”

Cirrus did as he said, revealing his mix of leather and metal armor with a sword to his back and a 3-sectioned spear.

“Who sent you? Which god are you child to?”

“Hermes sent me here, but he is not my god. The reason I am here is to investigate the Chernobog Familia and, in turn, Evilus.”

“Evilus? Aren’t they just a group, Orario?” he said, taking a seat.

“They were once, but they have spread out, currently as far as we know, this city and Santorio Vega.”

“I see…. but why send only you? A human child?”

“… Lord Lugh, before the Chernobog Familia came here, who had the highest level?”

“… That would be from the Vulcan Familia. They have a level 3 but now due to Chernobog was subjected to this constant workload.”

“Well, isn’t it the same workload, but just you have a sword hanging down your neck?”

“A very fitting description, but you haven’t answered my question. Why did they send only you a child?”

“Because I can hold my own and gather information on the Familia and any other cities. They took over.”

“Is that so?” Lugh looks at his child and moves his head in a direction. Ibic quickly moves and removes a sheet from a massive sword. “Move this great sword.”

“…Sure.”

With not even a hint of hesitation, Cirrus easily lifted the weapon and put it down gently.

“A level 3, huh? At such an age… very good, so what can I do to help get rid of this annoying Familia?” Lugh said with a smile.

“I only need to have a cover. Working in your forge will give me a cover and a place to stay until I get word from Hermes.”

“And from there you all will get rid of Chernobog Familia?”

“Yup.”

“B-but if you're strong, why don’t you g-go in and deal with them now?” Ibic said nervously.

“Because as far as I know, they could have spread to other places, until I have a full map of their Familia and connections. Their group won’t be truly stopped.”

“Smart lad, now.” He throws Cirrus an apron for the blacksmith, along with some goggles. “Let us see how good you are at Blacksmithing!”

Cirrus removes his gear and weapons and puts them to the side.

“Well, I’m barely qualified to be considered a novice, but I hope you are an excellent teacher.”