Lungmen city district, 8 AM, clear weather, the day of the exercise.
At this moment, Shirou was helping the Lungman Guard Department inspect and count their weapons.
Since this was only an exercise, all the weapons being used were specially modified. At the very least, the priority was ensuring they could not seriously injure people...
Looking at the more than one hundred standard-issue Lungman Guard Department swords in front of him, Shirou reasonably suspected that Wei Yenwu only came up with this exercise because he knew Shirou could mass-produce weapons like these.
All of these standard swords had been projected by Shirou yesterday. None of them had sharpened edges. At worst, getting hit would only hurt a little.
Unless someone swung extremely hard or accidentally struck a particularly dangerous area, they should not be capable of killing anyone.
The arrows were the same. However, Lungmen already had rubber-tipped arrows available for use. The arrowheads would also be coated in paint, making it easier to determine whether a target had been hit.
Of course, all of these were for the Lungman Guard Department's use.
As for the equipment Penguin Logistics would be using, Texas and the others were already transporting it over. That was why Shirou was the only Penguin Logistics member currently at the site.
Still, standing around alone was boring, so he came over to inspect whether there were any issues with the projected weapons.
And naturally, to greet the people from the Lungman Guard Department as well.
Once the Lungman Guard Department personnel learned that Shirou would also be participating, everyone immediately felt that victory was guaranteed.
Then, after discovering that Shirou would not be fighting on the Lungman Guard Department's side, but instead alongside Penguin Logistics, the smiles on their faces gradually vanished.
Soon after, waves of miserable groans echoed out one after another.
Shirou was an incredibly reliable teammate.
Who would not want a sniper with absurdly high accuracy whose every shot could punch through reinforced concrete?
But when that reliable teammate became the enemy, the feeling was no longer pleasant at all.
At the very least, none of them felt capable of defending against that kind of long-range sniping.
"What are you all yelling for? Instead of standing around whining, how about you spend that time thinking about how to deal with this later?"
Hearing the commotion, Chen walked out with her usual stern expression and spoke sharply.
At a time like this, they still had the mood to stand around complaining?
Although Wei Yenwu had established many rules specifically restricting Shirou, Chen had no intention of publicly revealing those details.
This was an exercise. Without pressure, these people would never take it seriously, so naturally she intended to keep everyone in a state where they would not dare underestimate the situation.
After Chen's shout, everyone immediately quieted down and went back to organizing their equipment.
"Haha... maybe I revealed my participation too early?"
Seeing the Lungman Guard Department's morale visibly sink a little, Shirou looked somewhat awkward.
"It does not matter. If they lose their fighting spirit just because the enemy is strong, then they really do need more training."
Shaking her head, Chen answered calmly.
The purpose of this exercise, besides the fact that Lungmen's upper management apparently had a bizarre moment and came up with this idea to restore civilian confidence, was another extremely important objective:
Testing the Lungman Guard Department's crisis response capabilities.
Of course, this was merely Chen's conclusion from trying to view things from Wei Yenwu's perspective.
But Chen was not Wei Yenwu.
So naturally, she could not see as far ahead as he could.
The true purpose of this exercise...
Was to sharpen the Lungman Guard Department like a blade.
A series of recent incidents had given Wei Yenwu a growing sense of crisis. The suspected remnants left behind by the Black Snake continued interfering with Lungmen.
That was why Wei Yenwu arranged for Shirou to participate against the Lungman Guard Department.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that if Shirou had not existed, Wei Yenwu would never have approved this exercise at all.
After all, without Shirou, it would have been meaningless while also wasting money and manpower.
But with Shirou involved, everything changed.
Although numerous rules restricted him, his combat instincts and abilities were still undeniably present.
He was the perfect whetstone.
Normally, Shirou's assistance to the Lungman Guard Department was like sharpening the blade itself. Both Chen and the sniper division had gained greatly from him.
But that alone was not enough.
Wei Yenwu was not satisfied with merely making the blade sharper.
He wanted to polish it until it gleamed while retaining its cutting edge, creating a weapon intimidating enough to deter anyone plotting against Lungmen.
It could be said that he held extremely high expectations for this exercise.
And in pursuit of maximizing its effectiveness, Wei Yenwu had not arranged any forced scenario where the Lungman Guard Department absolutely had to win.
If the Lungman Guard Department won, then everyone would be happy.
If they lost, then they could simply publicly announce that Penguin Logistics personnel had already been invited to provide tactical guidance for the Lungman Guard Department.
Either way, Lungmen would not lose out.
As long as he did not completely fall out with Penguin Logistics, everything was profitable.
"That actually makes a lot of sense..."
Shirou agreed with Chen's reasoning.
Still, there was an enormous difference between an exercise and a genuine crisis.
Some people only unleashed their full potential when truly cornered.
But in an exercise... when everyone knew they could neither die nor even be seriously injured, most people would naturally become lax.
Though that was not Shirou's concern to worry about.
"By the way, where are the others from Penguin Logistics? Why are you here alone?"
Chen did not continue the topic further. Going deeper would involve core Lungman Guard Department matters.
Not that it would matter much even if Shirou knew, but Chen was fairly certain there was a high probability he would not understand most of it anyway.
After all, he had once worked under her doing paperwork for a while.
"They went to move the equipment over... everything has already been officially reported and approved, so please do not worry. They are only loading equipment onto the vehicle."
Shirou answered honestly.
Almost as if to prove his words correct, the sound of heavy bass music suddenly echoed from the distance.
Walking at the front was Emperor, wearing sunglasses and a thick gold chain around his neck just like always.
Behind him followed the members of Penguin Logistics, all four of them carrying a massive crate together.
Their outfits were also completely different from usual.
Wearing sunglasses and black suits, they looked exactly like a gang from the slums.
In short, they looked suspicious beyond belief.
This bizarre entrance immediately drew the attention of everyone present.
"...This is very Penguin Logistics."
Looking at the scene before her, Chen felt that she had already witnessed enough strange things for one day.
"..."
Meanwhile, Shirou stood to the side covering his face, silently declaring that he did not know these people.
Unfortunately, avoidance was useless.
He was still called over by his boss.
Thankfully, since there was no extra room, he did not have to carry the coffi…..ahem, the equipment crates like the others.
All of Penguin Logistics' equipment was packed inside, including Exusiai's specially made multi-purpose odor explosive rounds.
"Go change into this. That way everyone will match properly."
Seeing Shirou jog over, Emperor tossed a bag into his hands.
Inside was a black suit identical to the ones the other four were wearing.
"Did they not say we could just wear our usual uniforms? Why are we suddenly changing clothes now?"
Looking at the outfit in his hands, Shirou asked.
"Hmph! I thought about it for a long time yesterday and suddenly realized that just wearing uniforms was way too LOW. So this morning I specially arranged these outfits for you guys. Look at yourselves, do you not instantly seem way more high-class now?"
Emperor spoke with complete confidence while pointing proudly at the four people behind him.
Exusiai, Croissant, and Sora immediately cooperated by striking poses.
Meanwhile, Texas simply sighed while shifting her gaze elsewhere.
"...Boss is right."
After thinking about it for a moment, Shirou nodded seriously.
After all, he was the boss. Cooperating a little was not really a problem.
"Do your best out there! Crush those Lungman Guard Department guys and make Wei Yenwu suffer a huge defeat! If you perform well enough, I might even consider giving you all a long vacation along with some bonuses!"
Seeing Shirou cooperate so readily, Emperor's mood improved greatly and he immediately offered extremely attractive incentives.
The moment those words came out, Shirou noticed the eyes of the people behind Emperor shining even brighter.
At this rate, if the buffs kept stacking like this, these people really might bulldoze straight through the entire Lungman Guard Department...
Forget it.
He would think about future problems later.
After imagining those scenarios for a moment, Shirou chose to stop worrying entirely.
Whatever happened later could be dealt with later.
It was only an exercise anyway.
Nothing too serious would happen.
After changing clothes, the group loaded part of their equipment and props onto the vehicle before heading toward the gathering point to wait.
Blacksteel Worldwide, acting as referees, would soon explain the detailed rules.
And the people Blacksteel sent were all familiar faces as well:
Franka, Liskarm, Vanilla, and Jessica.
The referee duties would mainly be handled by the first two, while Vanilla and Jessica were mostly there to observe and learn from the Lungman Guard Department's combat methods.
Blacksteel had been selected largely because the Lungman Guard Department had cooperated with them before, and those collaborations had gone extremely smoothly.
"Hey hey, Shirou, dressing this stylishly... are you planning to go on a date after this is over or something?"
While everyone waited at the gathering point, Franka suddenly jumped over and started talking to Shirou.
"These are coordinated outfits!"
Before Shirou could answer, Exusiai interrupted and answered first.
"Oho~? Is that so? What a shame then!"
Franka glanced over Penguin Logistics' outfits and confirmed that they really were all wearing identical black suits.
Still, she had only been teasing Shirou a little and did not particularly care either way.
"Stop fooling around."
Watching Franka casually start chatting with others on her own, Liskarm stepped forward, grabbed her shoulder, and dragged her backward.
At the same time, she apologized toward Penguin Logistics.
"Please do not mind her too much. She talks nonsense all the time."
"You cannot just spread slander about me everywhere simply because you do not like talking, you know? Ah! Or is it because you are afraid I will find a boyfriend before you do, Liskarm?"
While being dragged backward, Franka laughed cheerfully.
"Idiot, read the atmosphere a little, alright?"
Hearing Franka's words, Liskarm's eyelid twitched slightly before she lowered her voice and whispered.
Franka: "?"
At first, Franka did not understand what Liskarm meant.
Then she suddenly felt several piercing gazes directed at her.
They were coming from Penguin Logistics.
Even though all four of them were wearing sunglasses, Franka was absolutely certain every single one of them was staring directly at her.
"Looks like Shirou is pretty popular, huh?"
A little pressure from people staring at her was nothing to Franka, so she remained perfectly calm. Still, she had no intention of continuing to challenge their limits.
There had indeed been some genuine goodwill and recruitment intentions hidden in her earlier teasing.
But now, the latter option clearly seemed very unlikely.
Still, building a friendly relationship was definitely not a problem. When traveling outside, having more friends was always safer.
"You really are terrible at reading the room."
Watching Franka's carefree behavior, Liskarm let out a tired sigh.
Exhausting.
Who knew how many people this stupid fox would end up provoking if she were left unsupervised?
Meanwhile, after watching the Blacksteel duo leave, the Penguin Logistics group finally withdrew their gazes.
Trying to poach Shirou!
Right in front of them, no less!
That woman really was fearless.
If Exusiai had been carrying pepper rounds on her right then, she definitely would have fired one straight at them.
The Lungman Guard Department was one thing.
At least they were still in Lungmen.
And Rhodes Island had things Shirou needed there.
But what was Blacksteel Worldwide supposed to be?
They actually dared try to steal away their Penguin Logistics Mama Emiya!?
Well... considering they were the largest mercenary company in Columbia, they really were quite a big deal.
But that did not matter!
Worst case scenario, they just would not go to Columbia in the future!
"Hm?"
Watching the two walk farther away, Shirou looked confused.
He had not even greeted them yet, so why had they already left?
Although they were not especially close, Shirou thought the two of them were pretty entertaining, almost like a pair of constantly bickering partners.
"Come on, apparently the Lungman Guard Department restricted the kinds of arrows you are allowed to use. Let us go take a look first."
The group immediately dragged Shirou over toward Penguin Logistics' rules and equipment section.
"Hey! I can walk on my own! Stop pulling me!"
Having already experienced being dragged around countless times, Shirou offered some token resistance before quickly giving up.
After all, he could not exactly use force to break free.
And without using magecraft, aside from Sora and Exusiai, he completely lost to the other two in terms of raw strength.
So...
As long as they were happy, it was fine.
With a helpless expression, Shirou allowed himself to be dragged away.
"Let me see... the Lungman Guard Department actually provided rubber bullets. Amazing!"
Seeing the huge crate of rubber ammunition supplied by the Lungman Guard Department, Exusiai felt like her life had reached its absolute peak.
Free ammunition!
And she could use it to shoot Lungman Guard Department officers!
It was double the happiness!
"...What the heck is this? I only get these?"
Unlike the overjoyed Exusiai nearby, Shirou was definitely not happy.
What the Lungman Guard Department had provided for him were children's arrows.
More specifically, suction cup arrows.
Each arrow had a suction cup attached to the front. As long as it hit a smooth surface, the suction cup would stick there firmly.
But the problem was...
Was the Lungman Guard Department not using realistic rubber arrows?
So why did he get suction cup arrows instead?
"It says here... considering Mr. Shirou's abilities and attack power, even rubber arrows might still cause severe damage. Therefore, during this exercise, whenever Mr. Shirou needs to use a bow, he is requested to use suction cup arrows instead."
Seeing Shirou stare blankly at the suction cup arrows as though questioning his entire existence, Sora kindly read the notice out loud for him.
"...Fine."
If they had already gone this far explaining it, what else could Shirou even say?
At least they had not restricted his projections.
Though these arrows would affect shooting accuracy to some extent, they were still usable enough for an exercise.
At the very least within ordinary distances, Shirou could still guarantee precise accuracy.
If the distance stretched beyond one kilometer though, things would probably become difficult.
And besides...
Getting hit by one of these things seemed extremely damaging to a person's dignity.
Just imagine it.
Someone gets taken down by a suction cup arrow, and afterward the suction cup remains stuck right onto their helmet...
The mental image was honestly hilarious.
At least Penguin Logistics was extremely satisfied.
Originally, they had still been wondering how to fully involve Shirou in their joyful campaign of tormenting the Lungman Guard Department.
Who would have thought the Lungman Guard Department themselves would hand them such massive assistance instead?