Just imagine this: in a team filled with adults, there are two children, and one of them tells you that she is the squad leader of the entire group. Would that not leave you confused?
At the very least, Lin Yuhsia was already completely confused.
"Ahem, this is Amiya, the leader of Rhodes Island and also the squad leader for this operation. And this here is Lin Yuhsia… a regular customer at my shop?"
Seeing Lin Yuhsia lost in confusion, and Amiya unsure of how to address her, Shirou stepped in to ease the atmosphere a little.
"?????"
After hearing Shirou's explanation, even more question marks seemed to appear over Lin Yuhsia's head.
Had she heard that correctly just now? The little rabbit in front of her was the leader of Rhodes Island, that pharmaceutical company?
"Miss Lin Yuhsia, may I address you that way? May I ask what you are planning to do here…?"
Compared to the utterly bewildered Lin Yuhsia, Amiya had no such issue. As an excellent squad leader, she was very good at reading the situation. Looking at the people behind Lin Yuhsia, she still needed to know their purpose for coming here.
"…I simply came to check on the situation here and this place does not seem to be in very good condition."
Pulled back to reality by Amiya's question, Lin Yuhsia let out a breath to calm herself down and accepted this rather absurd reality.
At the same time, her gaze swept across the surroundings.
She remembered this place as a relatively remote residential area, the kind where almost no one normally came.
That was a good thing. Fewer visitors and fewer residents meant fewer people caught in the aftermath.
The only problem was that the already run-down buildings had now become completely uninhabitable and could only wait for reconstruction later.
From the sound of the explosion earlier, along with the state of the scene, Lin Yuhsia could already imagine what things had looked like at the moment of detonation.
It was impressive that only Shirou looked like he had been blown up, while everyone else still appeared relatively clean.
"Fortunately, thanks to Mr. Shirou, we did not run into too much trouble. We have also already confirmed the enemy's location. Now we are simply waiting for the Lungmen Guard Department to handle the rest."
After understanding Lin Yuhsia's intentions, Amiya briefly explained what had happened earlier.
Most of the work had actually been handled by Shirou alone. Rhodes Island had not contributed much, aside from helping a little during the interrogation at the end.
"I understand what happened. Are those the people over there? May I see them?"
After listening to Amiya's explanation, Lin Yuhsia nodded to show she understood, then pointed in the direction of the crossbowmen, wanting to head over.
"Of course, that is no problem."
Seeing how reasonable Lin Yuhsia was being, Amiya nodded and agreed to the request, personally leading her over.
"My, what a pleasant surprise that we meet again, last time you still had not woken up when we left, so we could not say goodbye. My apologies~"
Seeing that no conflict had broken out between Lin Yuhsia and Amiya, and that things were actually quite peaceful, Shirou finally let out a sigh of relief.
He had been somewhat worried that the two sides would start arguing. Even Officer Chen had failed to gain any advantage against that woman before. Fortunately, she now seemed fairly easy to talk to.
However, after sending those two off, Shirou was greeted by four familiar faces.
It was Blacksteel Worldwide, whom he had worked with during the concert incident before.
The teasing tone naturally belonged to Franka.
"It is fine. Circumstances were special, after all."
Ignoring her playful expression, Shirou rubbed his forehead while thinking about a very serious problem.
There were nine people from Rhodes Island, three from the Lungmen Guard Department, and more than a dozen from Lin Yuhsia's side in the slums…
At this rate, the culprit could probably just be buried directly.
This lineup was honestly excessive. And that was not even counting Swire's Guard Department squad.
Still, the enemy had caused so much trouble that Shirou felt absolutely no sympathy for them.
Not only had they committed some rather terrible acts, they had also blown him up earlier.
"These two were not introduced last time. They are our juniors, Jessica and Vanilla. You should have met them before."
After getting poked in the side by Liskarm, Franka finally restrained herself a little and briefly introduced the other two.
"U-um, hello, my name is Jessica."
The female Feline who had left a rather deep impression on Shirou introduced herself.
Or rather, perhaps he should simply say Jessica. She practically had the word "nervous" written all over her face, both last time and this time.
That was why Shirou remembered her so clearly.
"Vanilla from Blacksteel Worldwide. Please take care of me."
The other girl appeared much more ordinary. Although she also seemed a little nervous, she was far better off.
Jessica's nervousness was so infectious that even Shirou felt himself becoming tense just from looking at her.
"Emiya. Shirou. Just call me Shirou. This should be our second meeting. There is no need to be so nervous, this place is very safe right now. There are plenty of people here."
Taking advantage of the break before the operation, Shirou introduced himself and also tried to calm Jessica down.
However, when he mentioned the large number of people present, the cat ears on top of her head visibly twitched.
Well then, it seemed she was not nervous because of the scene itself, but because she was not very good at dealing with people.
"Do not let her nervous appearance fool you. She is actually very reliable during operations."
Franka jumped in to defend one of her own.
"That is true. Still, constantly being this nervous is not exactly a good thing either."
Liskarm nodded in agreement from the side.
With the encouragement from the two of them, Jessica's nervousness visibly faded quite a bit.
"I remember that your relationship with Rhodes Island is fairly good… is it some kind of partnership?"
Shirou was familiar with Blacksteel Worldwide. Like Rhodes Island, they were a mercenary…ah, pardon him, Rhodes Island was a pharmaceutical company.
In that case, it seemed that Blacksteel Worldwide and Rhodes Island, this pharmaceutical company, were working together in some capacity.
"Congratulations, correct answer. You really understand things well. I should say, as expected of the bridge between Penguin Logistics and the Lungmen Guard Department?"
When mentioning the word "bridge," Franka was even snickering.
Naturally, she was immediately quieted down again by another elbow strike from Liskarm.
"…"
Watching the two of them bounce off each other, Shirou somehow felt as though he were watching one of those comedic cross-talk performances…
It had to be his imagination, right?
Blacksteel Worldwide was supposed to be a famous mercenary company from Columbia, was it not?
At that moment, Shirou suddenly felt that the more he learned, the more disillusioned he became.
Whether it was Rhodes Island or Blacksteel Worldwide, all of it made him want to return to his dormitory and get some proper sleep.
Unfortunately, that was impossible.
Until these people were arrested, there was no way he could sleep peacefully.
While chatting casually with the people from Blacksteel Worldwide, the members participating in this operation gradually gathered together.
Rhodes Island, the organization for the Infected from outside Lungmen, along with their partner Blacksteel Worldwide.
Lin Yuhsia from the slums, together with several individuals beside her who looked very difficult to provoke.
And the Lungmen Guard Department, led by Officer Chen, Officer Swire, and Officer Hoshiguma, along with Shirou, who could barely be counted as half a member of the Guard Department.
If someone told Shirou that these three groups were about to carry out a major assault operation, he would not doubt it in the slightest.
However, just as Shirou had thought from the beginning, having too many people in the sewers was actually not very useful, so they needed to reduce the number of personnel involved.
The others were not idle either. They would be responsible for blocking escape routes above ground.
After intense discussion between Officer Chen, Lin Yuhsia, and Amiya, it was ultimately decided that the Lungmen Guard Department would take the lead, while everyone else remained above ground on standby.
Shirou was also placed on the standby list above ground.
Carrying this confusion with him, Shirou stepped forward to ask about it.
After all, he could still be useful in the sewers.
"There is no way I am assigning further action to someone who just had a pile of explosives blown up in his face. The fact that nobody immediately carried you off to the hospital is already generous enough."
Those were Officer Chen's exact words.
Originally, she thought Shirou had merely watched the bombs explode from a distance, but after hearing the details face-to-face…
Was that not basically walking directly into explosives point-blank?
She did not even know whether to praise Shirou for being tough or criticize him for being too slow to react. He had taken such a huge blast and was still standing here acting like nothing had happened.
Just as she said, the fact that nobody had forcibly dragged him to a hospital was already saying a lot.
If Shirou had not still appeared relatively normal, she would not even want to take the risk.
Looking at the kind smiles from Officer Chen, Hoshiguma, and Swire, Shirou silently retreated to stand beside Rosmontis.
Actually, staying above ground was not so bad. At least afterward, he would not need to worry about smelling strange.
"Would you like some water?"
Seeing Shirou retreat beside her, Rosmontis naturally handed over the bottle of water she had received from Blacksteel Worldwide.
Although she did not remember much, she felt that Shirou was a pretty good person.
Rosmontis always treated people she acknowledged as good people kindly.
"Thanks."
After suffering under the pressure of the three Guard Department officers' gazes, then comparing it with the water bottle Rosmontis handed him, the contrast was honestly rather intense.
He had not drunk water for quite some time, so instead of gulping it down all at once, Shirou took a mouthful first and slowly swallowed it in portions.
After a brief period of reorganizing themselves, Swire, who was also directing the Guard Department forces above ground, called Shirou over.
"Is your body really fine?"
Looking at Shirou, who had changed into a fresh tactical jacket, Swire asked cautiously.
Last time, Shirou had ended up in the hospital because of her own misjudgment. She needed to be more careful this time.
Having someone get hurt because of one's own mistakes was not a pleasant feeling.
"I really am fine… I defended against it at the time, so do not worry."
Shirou replied helplessly.
"…Fine then. Later, you will move together with the little rabbit and the others. You all seem to know each other anyway. The hospital you went to last time was also connected to that island or whatever, right? Remember to get checked afterward. That damn dragon and I expect to see your medical report on our desks later, understood?"
After thinking for a while, Swire still assigned Shirou a task, though it involved acting together with Rhodes Island rather than the Guard Department.
"Understood."
Watching Swire hesitate for such a long time before finally forcing herself to assign him a task, Shirou found it somewhat amusing.
However, this was definitely not the moment to laugh out loud, or his eardrums might really burst.
"Then hurry along. Remember, your body is your capital. Do not wear yourself down."
Seeing Shirou's face trying not to laugh, Swire became annoyed. If there were not still people below waiting for her to assign tasks, she definitely would have made Shirou understand just how formidable she, Swire, really was.
Annoyed as she was, Swire still kindly reminded Shirou.
Hoshiguma had already mentioned this before, telling her and that "damned dragon" to pay more attention to this issue.
Strictly speaking, she had actually noticed it first. However, she had only seen the side of Shirou that protected others, while forgetting that he used his own body as a shield.
That was her negligence.
"Ah? Alright, I understand."
Confused by Swire's sudden words, Shirou froze for a moment before obediently nodding.
After being sent off again, Shirou took the replacement communicator and headed toward the Rhodes Island group.
"Shirou will be acting together with us this time. We discussed it with Officer Chen earlier. They will handle the assault from below, while we provide support from above. So shortly, we will move to the area directly above the criminals' location."
Seeing Shirou join the group, Amiya briefly explained their upcoming operation.
As for how they would locate the exact position above them… that was not much of a problem. The enemy probably never imagined that those crossbowmen could survive such a massive explosion after the failed operation.
That was why they had explained many details clearly, including which street the transaction site was located beneath.
"I am Scout, the sniper from earlier."
After Amiya finished speaking, Scout, carrying a large sniper rifle on his back, introduced himself.
"Pleasure to meet you."
Shirou extended his hand and briefly shook his.
The two had technically never met up close before, but Shirou had already noticed Scout the first time Ace used hand signals toward him.
At the time, however, Scout's condition had seemed rather unusual. If Ace had not signaled in that direction, Shirou might not have noticed him at all.
"…Hmm, there really is a big difference between seeing you from afar and up close. Shirou, do you know how to use a gunstaff?"
After studying Shirou for a moment, Scout asked the question.
The question immediately attracted the attention of the surrounding Rhodes Island members. Everyone already knew that Shirou could use blades and bows. If he also knew how to use firearms, that would honestly be terrifying.
"A gunstaff? Hmm… strictly speaking, I do not know how to use one. I cannot activate Originium Arts devices."
After thinking over Scout's question, Shirou answered honestly.
He truly could not use the gunstaffs of this world, because he could not activate the Originium Arts mechanisms required to fire them.
However, if they were talking about firearms in the sense he understood them… during the period when Shirou Emiya traveled around with Kiritsugu, he had come into contact with such weapons.
But how should he put it… none of his commonly used combat tactics were designed around firearms. If he really picked up a gun, he would probably feel more lost than anything else. In that case, it was better not to use one at all.
And speaking of that…
He absolutely could not let Exusiai know that he could project such things, or she would definitely cling to his leg and pester him endlessly again.