"Whoa... the view is so wide open! But it is shaking so much!"
Inside the aircraft, Exusiai leaned against the window with binoculars in hand, constantly scanning outside for anything suspicious: people, events, or objects.
Unfortunately, there was one small issue. Looking through binoculars from such a high altitude was extremely dizzying.
Not only Exusiai, but even the others helping nearby could more or less understand exactly how intense the shaking she described really was.
"It is not that bad, right? If you are really dizzy, sit down for a bit and drink some water. You are probably just not used to it yet."
Hearing Exusiai complain, Shirou offered some suggestions based on his own experience. However, he did not turn around to check on her condition. Instead, he continued pacing back and forth while observing both sides outside.
"This is already considered relatively stable. Just bear with it."
Blaze, who was also holding a pair of binoculars nearby, added her own comment.
Aircraft were extremely rare in Terra, so it was only natural for people to be unaccustomed to them... but could someone explain why Shirou looked even more experienced with this than she was?
Thinking that, Blaze turned her head slightly to look at the unusually busy Shirou.
Shirou seemed to notice her gaze as well. He stopped walking and glanced at her before asking:
"What is it?"
At that moment, because Shirou was using reinforcement magecraft, his eyes had turned golden. Inside the dimly lit aircraft, they looked especially bright, like fires in darkness.
"...Nothing. Did you find anything?"
Blaze had originally wanted to ask whether he had ridden aboard aircraft before, but she realized this was probably not the right time for that.
Besides... those eyes felt strangely familiar to her.
The kind of familiarity that subconsciously made her pull her chainsaw back a little.
It had to be her imagination, right? How could she possibly associate that foul-tempered, ruthlessly violent guy known as Nameless with Shirou, who looked so friendly and easy to get along with?
The personalities of those two were completely different.
"No. But it looks like there may be fires inside Chernobog. I saw smoke rising earlier, so I am a little worried about Amiya's side."
Shaking his head, Shirou explained what he had seen earlier.
Even if he had not discovered anything useful, the situation inside Chernobog definitely did not seem optimistic.
He had no idea whether Rhodes Island had already clashed with Chernobog's defenders, or whether it was simply an unfortunate coincidence that a fire had broken out.
"You have got to trust little bunny! Besides, Ace, Scout, and Nearl are there too, so everything will definitely be fine. Once little bunny rescues that Doctor person, they will definitely solve everything. After all, everyone who knows that Doctor seems to trust them a lot!"
Hearing Shirou's concerns, Blaze quickly returned to her usual cheerful self and gave him a thumbs-up.
Although she herself was equally worried about Amiya's situation, she trusted the other Elite Operators to handle things properly.
More importantly, the target of this rescue operation was that Doctor whom even Ace and Scout highly respected. There definitely would not be a problem.
"...You are right. Let us focus on finding the cause behind the increase in Originium concentration first."
Since Blaze had said so much already, Shirou could only temporarily put aside his concerns about the others and focus on the task he was supposed to complete.
After speaking, he turned around and resumed inspecting the surrounding area.
They had already circled around most of Chernobog aboard the aircraft, yet they still had not found anything.
Only being able to observe through the windows was proving troublesome. Their field of vision was drastically reduced.
Shirou's entire face was practically pressed against the window as his eyes constantly darted around, scanning the outside world. Whenever he found nothing on one side, he immediately moved to the other side to continue searching.
Back and forth, over and over.
Everyone else watching him was already getting dizzy just from observing him move around so much, yet Shirou himself continued tirelessly pacing around.
Seeing how diligent he was, the others could only grit their teeth and continue using their binoculars despite their own dizziness.
Fortunately, their efforts were not wasted. Before long, Sora noticed something strange.
"Shirou, look over there. Is something flashing?"
The moment she noticed it, Sora immediately called Shirou over to check.
After all, from her perspective, she could only vaguely make out that something seemed to be flickering. She could not discern anything else.
"Let me see..."
Hearing Sora's words, Shirou immediately walked over to the window beside her and looked in the direction she pointed.
Something really was flashing.
But there did not appear to be anything unusual beneath it...
No, that was not entirely correct.
"It is Originium Arts... and several people seem to be casting it simultaneously. It looks like they are trying to conceal something."
Although the image was blurry, Shirou could still sense that something down there was being hidden.
To Shirou, something this unnatural could only be Originium Arts.
He had seen something similar before. Back on the snowfields, the child named Sasha had possessed comparable Originium Arts.
"So should we go down and check it out?"
Exusiai looked eager to try. Jumping out of an aircraft sounded incredibly exciting.
As she spoke, she reached for a parachute pack, only for Shirou to stop her.
"You all stay on the aircraft. If there are no surprises, that flashing thing is probably Originium dust. If you jump down like this, you could become infected. Besides, none of you have any parachuting experience, right?"
Grabbing Exusiai by the back of her collar, Shirou spoke.
Even if those things were not Originium dust, he still would not let them parachute down. None of them had any related experience. It would be ridiculous if they somehow got themselves killed attempting it.
Moreover, the Originium concentration in this area was already high to begin with, and conditions were even worse at high altitude. Brief exposure was manageable, but jumping down directly from above was far too risky.
"Eh... alright then. Shirou, are you going down by yourself?"
After hearing Shirou's explanation, Exusiai felt it made sense, so she did not continue making a fuss. Instead, she handed the parachute pack she had picked up over to him.
"Let us observe a bit more first. Can we lower the flight altitude further?"
Shirou did not rush things. Instead, he asked the pilot to descend a little lower so their field of vision would improve somewhat.
As for whether they would be discovered? That was inevitable, but Shirou was not worried.
If there really were people below trying to escape, he was confident he could stop them through sniping.
And without injuring them, at that. That was how he used to capture criminals in the slums before, though it admittedly consumed quite a lot of flooring.
After all, it involved embedding dozens of swords into the ground to form a cage.
"Understood."
After hearing Shirou's request, the pilot immediately lowered the altitude and maneuvered the aircraft toward the location Blaze indicated.
"...This feels unpleasant."
As the distance closed, Rosmontis frowned and spoke quietly.
"Hang in there, little kitty. It will be over soon."
Blaze reached out and skillfully pulled Rosmontis into her arms.
At the same time, her own expression became somewhat grim.
If the place was disturbing enough to make Rosmontis uncomfortable, then there was definitely something wrong there, and likely something very serious.
Once she calmed little kitty down, she intended to personally head down and investigate.
"I will go down myself. Later, move farther away and do not get too close."
Noticing the commotion around Rosmontis, Shirou glanced over briefly. Seeing that Blaze had already begun comforting her, he immediately decided to head down alone.
Although he did not know why Rosmontis felt uncomfortable, children naturally possessed keen instincts toward many things.
And even without Rosmontis's reaction, Shirou still needed to go down personally.
After all, despite getting this close, he still could not clearly determine what was hidden below.
It would be better to investigate in person.
"Eh? That suddenly?"
The members of Penguin Logistics had not heard what was happening with Rosmontis, so they could not understand why Shirou had just said he wanted to observe further, only to suddenly decide to go down himself.
That change was way too abrupt.
"The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can return. If the Rhodes Island operators guarding the camp encounter danger, things will get bad. Most of the combat personnel already followed Amiya's group into the city."
As he spoke, Shirou packed up the items in his hands. He also glanced at the parachute pack Exusiai had given him, but after thinking about it, he ultimately decided not to bring it.
At this altitude, he really did not need a parachute. Besides, it would just turn him into an easy target in midair.
"Feels like Shirou's attitude during this mission has become a lot more forceful..."
Although Shirou's reasoning made perfect sense, Croissant still could not help commenting.
Throughout this operation, Shirou's entire style had become remarkably decisive, and his thought process before every action was extremely clear.
Maybe Shirou was simply born for this kind of work? Perhaps making him a househusband really was burying his talents.
"Be careful. If anything happens, we will immediately come down to support you."
After evaluating the situation, Texas agreed with Shirou's proposal.
Still, she added one condition: if they felt things were becoming dangerous, they would immediately move in to support him.
"No problem. Then I will head out first."
After receiving Texas's approval, the Rhodes Island combat uniform on Shirou's body glowed blue and instantly transformed into his Mystic Code.
He glanced at the infection monitoring device exposed on his left wrist, moved his arm slightly to confirm it did not hinder his movements, then directly asked the pilot to open the aircraft door.
He had already done this once before. He was very familiar with the process.
"Eh! Wait, hold on!"
Blaze barely managed to say the first few words of her attempt to stop him before Shirou had already jumped down.
"Ugh, seriously! Little kitty, stay here by yourself and behave! If you feel uncomfortable, do not come closer. I am going after Shirou to take a look."
Watching Shirou's falling figure, Blaze hurriedly settled Rosmontis into a nearby seat and gave her instructions before grabbing her chainsaw and charging toward the open door.
"Be careful."
As Blaze rushed over carrying her chainsaw, Rosmontis waved her hand lightly and spoke.
"Of course!"
Hearing Rosmontis's voice, Blaze turned around at the last moment and made a finger-gun gesture toward her before leaning backward and jumping out.
The members of Penguin Logistics: "..."
So was it Shirou who infected the Rhodes Island people with his habit of high-altitude jumping, or was it Rhodes Island that had corrupted Shirou into casually leaping out of aircraft?
They probably would not know the answer until later. Right now, the most important thing was having the pilot find a safe place to land so they could hurry over to provide support.
Meanwhile, Shirou descended vertically headfirst through the air.
With reinforcement magecraft and the support of his Mystic Code, the only thing he really needed to worry about was making sure he did not land somewhere too awkward. There was basically no difficulty involved.
Then he heard a voice coming from above him.
Looking upward, Shirou saw a large black feline carrying a chainsaw jumping down after him. The important detail was that she had nothing on her except that chainsaw.
"──"
And because they were falling from such a high altitude, Shirou could only see her mouth moving without hearing anything she was saying.
If not for the sharp noise produced during her descent, he probably would not even have noticed her.
"Seriously..."
Realizing she had no parachute, Shirou first projected a silver rope and tossed it toward her.
"?"
Seeing the silver rope, Blaze froze for a moment before understanding Shirou's intention. She reached out and grabbed it.
Once he confirmed she had hold of the rope, Shirou first shifted his body from a vertical dive into a spread-eagle position. The added air resistance significantly slowed his descent.
After aligning himself parallel with Blaze, he securely fastened the rope around her waist while tightly gripping the other end himself.
Then he projected a massive piece of red cloth, gripping all four corners tightly to turn it into an improvised parachute.
The speed of their descent immediately slowed considerably. Only when they were around ten meters above the ground did Shirou finally dispel both the rope and cloth projections.
A drop of a little over ten meters was nothing more than a minor inconvenience for Blaze.
And for Shirou, it was even less of an issue.
Even though Shirou had heard rumors about Blaze performing high-altitude jumps before, he still deliberately created cushioning measures for their landing.
The reason was simple.
He was worried the two of them might land in the same spot and that he would end up crushed underneath her.
There were far too many unpredictable factors during a descent like this. Shirou had absolutely no interest in gambling on whether he would be flattened into the ground.
"Haa... you jumped way too suddenly, you know? At least wait for me next time!"
After landing safely, Blaze finally let out a relieved sigh.
This was the first time she had landed without relying on Originium Arts, so she inevitably felt a little nervous.
"Next time, definitely. Also, put your mask on."
Rather than continuing the conversation, Shirou first glanced upward toward the aircraft. Seeing it descending lower and lower, it was probably planning to land somewhere nearby.
After confirming that, Shirou redirected his attention forward.
From far away, it had indeed been difficult to notice anything, but now that they were closer, Shirou immediately sensed how strange this place felt.
There was an unnatural atmosphere to it.
Thinking that, Shirou stepped forward while Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in his hands.
Shirou in front, Blaze behind, the two carefully advanced forward.
Only when they were just a short distance away from the suspicious-looking area did Shirou finally stop walking.