The conversation with Pineap—cough, with Miss Lin Yuhsia ended rather quickly.
After all, Shirou had no real reason to refuse what she wanted to do, and he himself had no intention of demanding too much, so the deal was settled swiftly.
The only thing that worried Shirou was the lack of manpower, though according to her, the chances of a direct confrontation were fairly low.
Not that he was particularly afraid of one anyway.
The main issue was that this employer of his also seemed intent on personally joining the operation.
If she got injured...
There probably would not be any major problems, right?
He would deal with things as they came. In any case, he planned to ask Yith about Miss Lin Yuhsia later.
"Then let us leave it at that for now. I will contact you later with the time and location using this phone, so keep it fully charged."
After seeing that they had discussed everything necessary, Lin Yuhsia left behind a phone before departing.
Strictly speaking, Shirou really did not have her contact information. Still, casually tossing him a phone like this felt somewhat excessive, did it not?
Judging from the model though, it was just an ordinary one. After the operation ended, he would find a chance to return it to her.
"What were you two talking about?"
Only after Lin Yuhsia had been gone for a while did Rope slowly peek her head out from the back door.
She had not been eavesdropping. She still knew perfectly well which things she should and should not listen to.
It was just that the front door bell rang whenever someone entered or left, so she only poked her head out after hearing it.
"Hm... she wants me to help with something. In exchange, she will arrange for people to teach you all how to read and write."
Looking at Rope by the door along with several curious children nearby, Shirou thought for a moment before only mentioning the final result of their discussion.
As for what exactly he would be doing, he left that part out. It was not that he did not trust them, but knowing too much was not necessarily a good thing.
And when Lin Yuhsia said she would teach the children how to read and write, Shirou straightforwardly interpreted it as her sending people over to teach them.
"Reading and writing... studying!?"
The moment she heard the word studying, Rope's pair of purple rabbit ears immediately shot upright.
Naturally, it was not because she was excited or happy, but because she suddenly remembered the terror of doing homework back then.
"Studying is a good thing. You should all work hard."
Shirou technically could teach them himself, but... he had only made it halfway through high school, and his educational level was not particularly impressive.
Most importantly, forget first-year high school material, there were already portions of middle school content he had forgotten.
Elementary school lessons were naturally no issue, but just as he said from the beginning, his teaching ability really was not that great.
Phal or Jaye would honestly teach better than him.
One of them had the time and patience, while the other only needed to stand there for the children to obediently study.
Compared to them, someone like Shirou, who lacked both time and intimidation, truly could not manage it.
After dealing with the matter involving Lin Yuhsia, Shirou no longer felt like staying around. He went to the back to greet Phal, checked on the current state of the shop, and then left.
There was not anything particularly important he needed to do. He simply wandered around the market district of the slums for the first time in quite a while.
After all, he had spent several days lying in a hospital bed at Rhodes Island. And since only the deck received decent sunlight there, strolling around the market while soaking up the sun felt rather pleasant.
He even bought some ingredients along the way. It was only after his hands were filled with heavy bags of groceries that Shirou finally felt the solid sensation of truly having returned to Lungmen.
This time, he bought a little too much. It had been so long since his last proper shopping trip that he got somewhat excited, and only realized afterward that he had overbought.
As a result, he decided he would head back early and cook a lavish meal.
Unfortunately, that idea was quickly shattered.
"Is that not... Shirou?"
While carrying a large bag of ingredients, Shirou suddenly heard someone call out his name.
The voice sounded somewhat familiar, and since the person clearly addressed him by name, Shirou stopped walking and glanced around.
"Over here, over here."
Noticing that Shirou was searching for the source of the voice, the owner of the voice called out again.
Turning toward the sound, Shirou finally saw who it was.
"Miss Nian?"
Looking at the white-haired woman seated at a roadside food stall, Shirou quickly remembered who she was.
The woman who ate absurdly spicy food and immediately saw through the true nature of his body!
And right now... she also seemed to be eating something extremely spicy.
With Shirou's eyesight, seeing the food on her table was hardly difficult.
Everything was bright red. Shirou guessed she and that priest would probably get along very well.
Speaking of which, he actually seemed to know how to make mapo tofu...
He vaguely remembered eating it several times in certain memories, and someone had even taught him how to make it.
He simply never made it himself, because he was not very good with spicy food.
"You can just call me Nian. Adding Miss makes us sound so distant. Judging by how you look now, it seems you have found some direction?"
After briefly observing Shirou, Nian quickly realized that his current state was completely different from the last time they met.
"I did find a little."
Following her lead, Shirou sat down across from Nian.
"Hm... looking at you now, it does not seem like only a little."
Only after Shirou sat closer did Nian carefully examine him.
Some things could only be seen properly from up close. Earlier, she had merely noticed the surface-level differences.
If the Shirou from last time had been like a blade dulled from long disuse, then the current Shirou could be described as a sharpened weapon.
Though...
There seemed to be a little too much to it. And parts of it were abnormally sharp.
Shirou: "?"
He genuinely had no idea how to respond to that. He could not really understand what she was talking about.
"Although I did tell you to find your direction and sharpen yourself, do not sharpen yourself too much, alright? Excessive obsession will only end up hurting yourself and others in the end. Nothing will remain afterward."
After taking a bite of the bright red and mysterious dish in front of her, Nian pointed her chopsticks toward Shirou's chest as she spoke.
The red broth dripping from the chopsticks looked almost like blood falling drop by drop.
"That? Do not worry. I know my limits."
Hearing her elaborate, combined with what she told him last time, Shirou finally understood what she meant.
Move toward the direction you want to pursue. Those were the words Nian had told him previously.
After that, all he had done was take in those infected children... so why was she saying he had become obsessed?
Very quickly, Shirou understood. The person she referred to probably was not him.
Although he was not entirely sure how she managed to see through him, what she likely saw were merely traces left behind.
At present, they no longer affected him.
"Sorry. Someone like you is honestly a first for me, so I ended up saying more than usual."
Noticing the slight furrow in Shirou's brow, Nian mistakenly assumed she had touched on a painful topic.
Just as she said, this was the first time she had ever encountered someone with such a dense aura of blades around him. Looking at him made her fingers itch a little.
Even though it had been quite some time since she last forged anything herself.
"Not at all. It was actually because of your words that I finally made up my mind to act. The scale is still small, but there have already been some results."
Shirou truly did not mind the things Nian said.
After all, it was because he listened to her advice that he developed the idea of taking in infected children and creating Fuyuki Shop in the first place.
"Is that so? Then would it be convenient to tell me what exactly you did? If it is inconvenient, then forget it."
Listening to him speak, Nian became somewhat interested.
She happened to be eating anyway, and having a story to accompany the meal was excellent.
"...That should be fine."
Looking at how casually she behaved, Shirou felt that... this person might actually be a little too carefree.
Still, he had some experience dealing with people like her.
And so, Shirou briefly talked about the shop, though he only spoke about that much.
The rest was not particularly appropriate to discuss with Nian. Even when talking about the shop, he deliberately altered some details so she would not connect too many things together.
The reason he was willing to tell her these things was because she had never shown any hostility, and merely by looking at him, she could already perceive the problems surrounding him.
Truly worthy of being called all-purpose Originium Arts.
"Oh? That is actually pretty great! Looks like my judgment of people is still quite good!"
With both food and conversation together, Nian ended up enjoying this meal immensely.
Mainly because everything Shirou had done was simply an act of kindness, and on top of that, he only began doing those things after receiving her guidance.
Rounded up, did that not mean she herself had also done a good deed?
Thinking about it that way made the food taste genuinely wonderful.
Shirou did not say much in response. As long as she was happy, that was fine.
"Still, Lungmen has been pretty chaotic lately! And some time ago, I do not know which idiot treated an excellent weapon like fireworks and blew it up. If I ever catch that person, I am definitely going to lecture them properly."
After finishing the story and her meal, Nian finally began venting her frustrations.
After all, there were not many people in Lungmen she could casually chat with, and most people were unwilling to sit around a table talking with her like this.
It was a shame that Shirou had no intention of ordering a bowl for himself. Otherwise, the atmosphere really would have been perfect.
"..."
The moment she brought that up, Shirou completely lost the ability to relax.
Nian's description was far too specific, making him instantly realize the person she referred to was him.
He was the idiot she was talking about.
Using a weapon as fireworks was something only he would do. She was probably referring to when he blew up those drones in the slums.
Still, the fact that she could sense the existence of the Broken Phantasm through intuition alone significantly raised Shirou's evaluation of her.
"Eh! Forget about that for now! The badge hanging at your waist, is that Rhodes Island's?"
The more Nian thought about that idiot, the angrier she became.
After all, creating a weapon of that level must have required a tremendous amount of effort!
And yet the other person just blew it up!
The more she thought about it, the more furious she became. To prevent herself from accidentally flipping over the entire restaurant, Nian decisively changed the topic.
This place was one of the few restaurants willing to serve properly spicy food for her. If it disappeared, she would truly be troubled.
Truthfully speaking, Nian was not particularly familiar with Shirou either. If she had to describe it, she viewed him mainly through the eyes of a blacksmith, which naturally left them with very few shared topics to discuss. Still, it was already much better than talking to ordinary people.
However, she did recognize the badge hanging from his waist.
Before coming to Lungmen, she had visited that place once, mainly because an old acquaintance of hers was there.
As for Shirou establishing connections with Rhodes Island, she did not find it surprising at all.
What this kid was doing could basically be seen as a miniature Rhodes Island. The only difference was that he lacked the ability to provide proper medical treatment facilities.
But that did not mean he had not tried. Instead, he had connected himself to Rhodes Island.
If she guessed correctly, the two sides should already have formed a cooperative relationship by now.
Otherwise, Shirou would not be carrying Rhodes Island's badge.
"Uh... yes."
Shirou honestly had not expected Nian to also have connections with Rhodes Island. It only went to show how enormous Rhodes Island's network really was.
"You two sides probably get along quite well! Speaking of which, I have not been back to Rhodes Island for quite a while either. The food here in Lungmen is barely spicy at all. Eating it just is not satisfying."
The moment she thought about Rhodes Island, Nian immediately remembered the cafeteria there.
Compared to Lungmen, it at least passed the minimum standard. The biggest reason was that they had chili peppers from all sorts of regions, allowing them to make hotpot bases packed with flavor.
Though unfortunately, she usually had to cook it herself. After all, her spice tolerance was just a tiny bit higher than a normal person's.
"Things with Rhodes Island have been progressing very smoothly so far. I only returned from the landship yesterday."
Completely ignoring the second half of her statement, Shirou answered calmly.
Barely spicy?
Not even mentioning that hotpot from last time, just the bowl she had eaten earlier was probably beyond what an ordinary person could endure.
After learning that Nian was connected to Rhodes Island, Shirou also relaxed somewhat.
Although he had not interacted with her very deeply yet, people associated with Rhodes Island generally could not be too bad.
"That is pretty good too. Maybe we will meet again on Rhodes Island someday? When that happens, I will treat you to a hotpot base that I stir-fry myself!"
Listening to him, Nian laughed lightly.
So he had already gone aboard the main landship! She originally thought he only had ties with the local branch office. Impressive. That level of initiative was something else.
No wonder he had changed so quickly. Ordinary people would struggle to reach Shirou's current state without spending a very long time.
Of course, aside from his own initiative, Shirou had probably also received a great deal of help from others.
His luck was honestly quite remarkable as well.
"That will not be necessary. I am really not good with spicy food."
The moment he heard that, Shirou immediately rejected her offer.
Given her pursuit of extreme spiciness, Shirou genuinely felt that he could not survive her cooking.
A few bites would probably be enough to send him directly to the emergency room.
Being hospitalized because of spicy food was not something he ever wanted to experience.
"Tch, how boring. Young people should eat more spicy food! Spicy food is great for your health!"
Seeing Shirou reject her invitation instantly and without hesitation, Nian did not appear angry at all.
At most, she simply found it disappointing. After all, plenty of people had rejected her invitations before.
"No, no. That is beyond me."
Shirou shook his head furiously, remaining completely firm in his stance.
"Eh... what a pity! Well then, if we get the chance later, let us have another proper chat. And remember what I told you. Do not become too obsessed. You will hurt yourself and others."
Nian sighed. It seemed her journey toward finding an excellent dining companion was still a long way from completion.
Before leaving, she deliberately reminded Shirou one more time. After all, he had only begun moving forward because of her guidance. If he ended up destroying himself because of these matters, that would not be good at all.
"I understand."
Regarding Nian's words, Shirou simply nodded as he replied.
He had certainly heard her.
Whether he would actually follow that advice, however, was another matter entirely.