Ring ring… ring ring…
After dinner, Shirou's phone rang. He glanced at it and saw it was an unfamiliar number.
"Hello?"
Shirou walked out to the balcony and picked up the call.
"Hello, this is Yith. The Boss should have mentioned me to you."
A voice came from the other end. Shirou paused, thinking about who "Yith" was.
"Yith… the one the Boss said would contact me?"
After a moment, he recalled that it was the person the Boss mentioned, the one who would guide him on what to do in Penguin Logistics.
"Glad you remember. Let me introduce myself again, you can call me Yith. I handle logistics, weapon maintenance, intelligence gathering, and information processing for Penguin Logistics."
Yith listed a whole string of responsibilities, leaving Shirou a bit overwhelmed.
"I'm Shirou… the housekeeper of Penguin Logistics?"
Not knowing what else to say, Shirou felt he should at least respond to avoid awkward silence.
"…Nice to meet you, Shirou. If you have any questions in the future, you can contact me through this number. Also, please set aside some time tomorrow. The Boss and I need to evaluate your comprehensive physical assessment. Your body should have mostly recovered by now, right?"
Ignoring Shirou's slightly awkward reply, Yith got straight to the point.
"A comprehensive physical assessment? What's that?"
Shirou understood everything else, but this part confused him.
Was it not just a normal check-up? Why call it "comprehensive"?
"It's simply an evaluation of your physical condition and combat capability. It helps us understand what areas you excel in and what weaknesses need improvement."
Yith patiently explained.
"Oh…"
Shirou let out a sound of understanding.
Well… not really understanding, he just caught the keywords like "combat capability evaluation."
"You will understand when you get there. I have already sent you the address, just arrive around 10 a.m. tomorrow."
Yith seemed used to this kind of reaction and simply set the time and place. Once Shirou saw it in person, it would make more sense.
Even if it did not, it did not matter as long as the Boss understood.
"Alright, got it."
Though still a bit confused, Shirou agreed.
That meant the desserts he promised to make tomorrow would have to be postponed.
"Make sure you rest well tonight."
After saying that, Yith hung up.
Looking at the ended call and the new message, Shirou began thinking about how to arrange his schedule.
Tomorrow's tasks would definitely be delayed, but that was not a big issue, his workload was not heavy to begin with.
The only problem was the desserts he had just promised tonight… those would have to wait.
"Shirou, who was that? Not someone from the Guard Department, right?"
Exusiai, who had been crouching nearby and blatantly eavesdropping, asked.
She had probably come over around the time Shirou mentioned the assessment and had not heard the earlier part.
"It was Yith. He told me to set aside time tomorrow for a comprehensive physical assessment."
Shirou nudged Exusiai away slightly and showed her the call log.
"Ohhh right, you will probably be joining us on long-distance runs later. Are you thinking of being a backup sniper?"
After seeing it was Yith, Exusiai relaxed. As long as it was not the Guard Department, everything was fine.
"Not sure. I will see when the time comes."
Shirou did not lock himself into a sniper role. Compared to using crossbows or bows, he preferred dual swords.
His role was likely flexible offense, defense, close combat, long-range… Projection Magecraft was incredibly versatile.
That said, he still was not sure how strong people in this world were overall. After all, Originium Arts existed here.
For now, he treated Originium Arts as roughly equivalent to magecraft, anyone who could use them was basically a spellcaster.
The details would have to wait until after tomorrow's test. Since Penguin Logistics used this kind of assessment, it was probably quite common here.
"Hm… it would be great if you could be a caster. Then we would not have to go around those guys with big shields."
Exusiai said sincerely.
"What's wrong? Picking a fight with shields again?"
Croissant poked her head out. She loved watching Exusiai struggle helplessly against shield users.
After all, she used a shield herself, though Exusiai probably would not actually shoot at her. Still, just imagining it felt satisfying.
"Ugh… people with shields are the worst!"
Exusiai let out a frustrated groan.
"By the way, Shirou are you doing that comprehensive assessment tomorrow?"
Texas leaned over. She and the others had been nearby, listening clearly to the conversation.
"That thing… it's exhausting."
Croissant immediately recalled the time she had to keep swinging a giant hammer during the test, her hands went numb, and she still had to continue.
Nope, nope just thinking about it made her hands feel numb again.
"It's not that bad, right? Is it not just some basic stuff? Like running around a bit?"
Exusiai thought back, it seemed like she had just run a bit and fired a few rubber bullets before it ended.
"Idiot. The Boss specifically tested each of us more in our areas of expertise."
Texas corrected her. Back then, she had spent quite some time slashing things with an Originium light blade.
"Is that so?"
Sora thought about it. Hers had not seemed too tiring but her abilities were sound-related, which made them harder to test anyway.
"…You guys are making me nervous."
Listening to them all talk over each other, Shirou started to feel uneasy.
It was like a group of people who had already finished an exam standing around talking about how hard it was, while he was the one about to go in.
Anyone would feel nervous in that situation.
"…Do not worry, it's easy."
Croissant patted Shirou on the shoulder reassuringly.
If Shirou remembered correctly, the one who said it was the hardest and most exhausting earlier… was Croissant.
"Forget it. You guys should head upstairs and get some sleep."
Shirou gave up thinking about it. Checking the time, he realized it was already quite late and started urging them upstairs.
"Oh, it's that late already? Then we will head up. Good night!"
At Shirou's urging, the group quickly tidied up their game console and the mess they had made, then went upstairs.
Normally, they might have lingered and kept playing, but after just scaring someone about to "take an exam," it was probably best to behave for now.
Time to make a quick escape.