Everyone else agreed with Croissant's explanation.
Only Shirou did not.
A lot of what she said matched up. There were some inaccuracies, but she still got most of it right.
However, Shirou did not point that out.
Mainly because it felt troublesome.
"Haah~"
Shirou even let out a yawn.
Right now, all he wanted was to get some proper sleep.
While working, he could devote himself completely to the task at hand. But after Chen ordered him to rest, the nerves that had been tightly wound the entire time finally relaxed, and all the accumulated exhaustion came flooding in.
"Should we head back first? We can talk about the rest after we get back."
Noticing Shirou's condition, Sora suggested it.
Exusiai and Croissant, who had been arguing nearby, immediately agreed. Texas naturally followed the wishes of her teammates.
Mainly because there were too many people from the Guard Department around, which made her uncomfortable.
Besides, the Guard Department uniform Shirou was wearing had already been stained with dust and blood after multiple missions. It was about time he went back and changed clothes.
The only unfortunate thing was that tonight they would probably have to order takeout.
And since they had not placed an order in advance, there was likely no grand feast waiting for them either.
Still, it did not matter.
As long as everyone was together, fried food and soda were enough.
Their happiness was just that simple.
As the group prepared to take Shirou away, nobody from the Guard Department objected. Instead, they even helped bring over some food for him.
This was Swire rewarding everyone who participated in the operation. Although Chen's expression darkened a little after hearing about it, she did not stop anyone from enjoying the post-battle meal.
After all, it was not her money.
She herself even took two portions, eating while cleaning up the scene and recovering her strength.
As for Shirou, his mental state was poor and he was already half asleep, so the food naturally ended up in everyone else's hands.
He did not mind anyway.
After all, he had already eaten some rations before the operation and was not very hungry.
With everyone's help, Shirou successfully got into the vehicle. The cool air from the air conditioner and Penguin Logistics' specially customized comfortable seats made it incredibly easy to fall asleep.
"The Guard Department really works people to the bone. Look how exhausted Shirou is."
Watching Shirou collapse into sleep the moment he got into the car, Exusiai commented.
At the same time, she took off her jacket and gently covered him with it.
Although she was usually mischievous and constantly causing trouble, that did not mean she did not care about the people around her.
That was simply her way of interacting with others.
When she got serious, she really could be dependable.
Probably.
Even Exusiai herself was doubtful about that.
"I asked around earlier. Apparently Shirou has been fighting nonstop these past two days and even stayed up through the night."
Croissant nodded from the side and shared the information she gathered, encouraging everyone present to condemn the Guard Department together.
"Stayed up all night?"
Hearing those keywords, Texas glanced sideways at Shirou while driving.
He looked deeply asleep, which made her agree with the others even more. While driving, she quietly listened to Exusiai and Croissant complain nonstop about the Guard Department's systems and work conditions.
"Um... should you maybe keep it down a little? Someone is trying to rest."
Just as Exusiai and Croissant's discussion was becoming increasingly heated, a staff suddenly shot past their cheeks and embedded itself into the car window before stopping.
The inside of the vehicle instantly fell silent.
The two slowly turned toward the owner of the staff.
Sora.
She was currently staring at them with the exact same signature smile Shirou often wore.
That smile was so deep and unsettling that it sent chills down their spines.
The two immediately straightened their backs and stared forward, not daring to move recklessly.
And it was at this moment that they realized something.
The gentle and adorable idol Sora had disappeared.
In her place stood a little demon king who had returned after training under the great demon king Shirou.
At least, that was how she seemed to them.
The car remained quiet for a long time afterward.
Aside from the music Texas had playing in the car, there were no other sounds.
Meanwhile, Exusiai and Croissant were practically suffocating from the silence.
This kind of atmosphere was what they hated most.
But because of the pressure Sora was giving off beside them, they could only submit.
"Ah~ Pururun~"
The sound that finally broke the silence was Exusiai's phone ringtone.
Feeling the call of her phone, Exusiai decisively answered immediately, afraid that if the ringtone continued any longer she would have to face another deathly smile.
"Hello, hello! Penguin Logistics speaking! How may we help you?"
Exusiai whispered softly.
She answered too quickly earlier and did not notice who was calling.
"...Did you get stupid? You cannot even recognize my number anymore?"
Emperor's voice came from the other side of the phone.
"Oh, Boss? What is it? Let me say this first, we are already off work, okay? Today is Remembrance day. Surely you are not going to make us work overtime on such an amazing day, right? Without a reservation in advance, that is not happening."
The moment she realized it was her boss, Exusiai immediately switched to a completely different attitude.
Getting a call from your boss after work hours was never a good sign.
Especially on a special holiday like today.
"Remembrance day"
"Even if we cannot have the grand feast Shirou usually makes, just enjoying the atmosphere is already nice enough!"
"Gwah? Then forget it. I originally heard that brat Shirou got injured, and since you all did such a good job cooperating with the Guard Department this time, I already booked a restaurant. But since you do not like it, forget it! I will enjoy it all by myself!"
After hearing Exusiai's words, Emperor first let out a confused squawk before immediately launching a verbal counterattack.
Calling them to work overtime?
Was he that kind of boss?
He was.
But he also paid generously and never once tried to shortchange them.
In fact, ever since Shirou started cooking their three daily meals, the group barely worked overtime anymore. Every day they got off work precisely at five and sat around the dorm dining table by six, waiting to be fed.
And now they were actually using Remember day as an excuse to avoid overtime.
Hmph.
He was very unhappy.
"Ah... sorry, Boss! I did not mean it like that!"
Hearing her boss's response, Exusiai realized she had said the wrong thing. Her expression immediately turned awkward as she hurriedly apologized.
"Where is that brat Shirou? Put him on the phone!"
Emperor clearly could not be bothered talking to Exusiai any longer and directly told her to hand the phone to Shirou.
After hearing from Yith that the group had already gotten into the car and started heading back, Emperor had tried calling Shirou several times.
None of the calls were answered.
Left with no choice, he finally called Exusiai instead, only to immediately get treated like some evil employer.
The main reason he called Exusiai was because he had assigned her work earlier that day, so her number happened to be near the top of the contact list.
"Shirou is resting! Boss, let me tell you, the Guard Department is awful! They actually made Shirou stay up all night working overtime and forced him into multiple missions... ow!"
After learning that the boss wanted Shirou, Exusiai sped up her speech dramatically. Complaining about the Guard Department, her words poured out nonstop like automatic gunfire.
Only after someone suddenly knocked her on the head did she stop.
Turning around, she saw Shirou staring at her with an utterly helpless expression.
"Hehe... Boss is looking for you."
Seeing the person in question awake, Exusiai immediately handed over her phone.
She assumed she had woken him up, which was why she passed the phone over so quickly.
But Shirou had actually woken up on his own.
Although he was exhausted, he had been sleeping lightly the entire time and could still hear the sounds around him. That brief period of silence earlier had indeed let him rest comfortably, but the moment he heard the boss's voice, he was already awake.
There was no helping it.
Emperor's voice was simply too recognizable.
Just hearing it made him reflexively sit upright.
As for why he knocked Exusiai on the head...
Mainly because she talked too much.
Complaining privately was one thing.
Complaining directly to the boss was absolutely not acceptable.
Who knew whether their boss would use that as an excuse to go argue with Wei Yenwu and then "accidentally" sell him out again?
For the time being, Shirou absolutely did not want to continue working under such intense overtime conditions.
His body was not made of steel.
Once or twice was manageable, but if it kept happening repeatedly, he felt he would eventually walk straight down the road of death by overwork.
Besides, he had no mood for overtime lately anyway.
What he really wanted was to pry the identity of the mastermind behind everything out of that culprit's mouth.
If there really was nobody behind the scenes, that would naturally be the best outcome.
But Shirou's instincts told him there was definitely someone else behind this person.
Until he figured out who it was, he simply could not feel at ease.
Especially now that Archer's blame had effectively landed on his shoulders.
Who knew how many enemies Archer had made in Ursus?
Judging by Archer's personality, Shirou felt that life from now on was going to become extremely difficult.
Although, upon further thought...
His life had basically always been like this.
No matter how bad things got afterward, they probably could not get much worse than before, right?
Still, the immediate priority was figuring out what his boss wanted from him.
"Boss?"
After taking the phone Exusiai handed over, Shirou greeted him.
"Hmph hmph! I already heard everything! Apparently the Guard Department has been exploiting you pretty badly, huh?"
The very first thing the boss said was exactly what Shirou least wanted to hear.
"That was a special circumstance! I just happened to be targeted, that is all! Boss, calm down!"
Shirou hurriedly tried persuading Emperor not to do anything rash.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Why are you getting so worked up?"
After being persuaded by Shirou, Emperor could only give up on that line of thought.
After all, Shirou rarely became this emotional.
That alone showed just how anxious he currently was.
As for what he was anxious about...
Surely it was not because he wanted to protect the Guard Department's reputation?
Then the answer was obvious.
Shirou was afraid Emperor would clash with that old dragon Wei Yenwu again and somehow end up forcing him to continue "shining and generating heat" for Lungmen.
Fine then.
Considering Exusiai had just said Shirou had been working very hard, Emperor was willing to give him that much face.
Besides, this phone call was not even about that matter in the first place.
It was about Shirou himself.
"I will get straight to the point. Shirou, be a little more careful these days. That Sarkaz has already leaked your information."
Emperor immediately became serious as he informed Shirou of the matter.
"Sarkaz?"
Out of everything his boss said, the only thing Shirou focused on was the word "Sarkaz."
He had not interacted with any Sarkaz recently.
So why was there suddenly a Sarkaz leaking information about him?
"The one whose hand you chopped off today. The Forte identity was just a disguise he deliberately used. He was actually a Sarkaz. That is pretty normal though. The Sarkaz race is only treated slightly better than the Infected by ordinary people anyway, so infiltrating Lungmen under another identity is not strange at all."
Seeing that Shirou still had not realized this, Emperor explained it to him.
On this land, the Sarkaz were a race despised by many people.
The main reason was because Sarkaz were extremely susceptible to becoming Infected through Originium infection.
Because of that, ordinary people who saw a Sarkaz would usually assume they were Infected and instinctively distance themselves from them.
Of course, that was only from the perspective of normal people.
Emperor himself knew far more, and in much greater detail, but there was no real need to explain everything right now. Once Shirou eventually came into contact with that side of the world himself, he would naturally understand.
Given his rough understanding of Shirou's personality, Emperor decided not to waste words and push his employee into another gloomy mood.
"Oh... so that is how it is?"
After learning that the man earlier had been a Sarkaz, Shirou was mildly surprised, but that was about it.
After all, he was not familiar with the other person.
Their only point of interaction had been complaining about Archer together.
Still, it did make things more reasonable.
From what he had learned at Rhodes Island, the Sarkaz race possessed an extremely ancient history, and their compatibility with Originium was very high. They possessed all kinds of strange and unusual Arts abilities.
"Right. So I am warning you to be careful. I do not want to end up collecting your corpse one day."
Emperor spoke without mercy.
However, after spending so much time together, Shirou more or less understood Emperor's personality already, so he did not think much of it and simply interpreted the words as concern.
"Understood."
Even without his boss bringing it up, Shirou himself had already been fully aware of it.
Ever since Wei Yenwu showed him Archer's exploits, and after learning about Nameless's existence at Rhodes Island, he had already guessed that a day like this would eventually come.
"Then that is all. I booked a table full of food. Just tell Texas we are going to the usual place and she will know where."
Hearing Shirou's response, Emperor did not continue the topic any further.
After all, he had already passed on the warning. As for what happened afterward, they would just have to wait and see.
He was not a prophet who could foresee the future.
After saying that, he directly hung up the phone.
Shirou: "..."
Their boss was always so rushed.
"Texas, Boss said we are going to the usual place. He already booked a huge meal."
Shirou returned the phone to Exusiai while speaking to Texas.
"Oh? The usual place? Then it sounds like Boss is in a pretty good mood."
After hearing Shirou's words, Texas's eyes widened slightly, and even her tone carried a hint of excitement.
Not just Texas.
Even the three people in the back seat lit up with excitement after hearing what Shirou said.
Watching everyone's reactions, Shirou guessed that this so-called "usual place" must be a restaurant Penguin Logistics loved very much.
Seeing everyone so energetic also improved Shirou's exhausted mood a little.
This kind of atmosphere was nice.
As expected, he still preferred lively and cheerful environments like this.