"Hey, hey…Shirou, you showed off quite impressively yesterday, did you not? So why are you suddenly taking leave today? Do not tell me you feel embarrassed and do not want to face reality at the Guard Department?"
As soon as they got into the car, Franka started chattering away.
She was driving, while Liskarm sat in the front passenger seat, holding binoculars and keeping watch for any danger ahead.
In the back, Vanilla and Jessica were not idle either. They were also scanning the road with binoculars. It seemed Liskarm was intentionally training them in this regard.
After all, they might not always be on missions together in the future. Having more skills would never hurt.
As for Shirou and Lappland, they sat in the third row with nothing much to do. At most, Franka would occasionally strike up a conversation with them.
Well, Shirou was reviewing the information Lin Yuhsia had given him on his terminal, while Lappland held her freshly washed tail and kept trying to use it to bother him.
"You are overthinking it."
Shirou's lips twitched slightly before he gave a straightforward reply.
Had he really made it that obvious? Then again, Blacksteel did cooperate with Rhodes Island, so they would naturally know what a normal checkup schedule looked like.
"What a shame. I thought I got it right."
Franka looked disappointed while driving. Beside her, Liskarm raised a finger, hesitated for a moment, and decided not to poke her.
Mainly because if she did, the car might flip.
"The main reason I am going to Rhodes Island is that there is something I want to discuss with Doctor Kal'tsit… Do you happen to know about an infected organization called Reunion?"
Seeing Franka's expression, Shirou decided to change the topic.
He had only just thought of this. He was not sure whether the Rhodes Island main ship had information on it. At least the local office did not seem to know much, which made sense since their focus was primarily medical.
Moreover, Reunion was not widely discussed in Lungmen. Even the information gathered so far was minimal.
Perhaps Rhodes Island would know more… and if not, reporting it to them would still be useful.
As a pharmaceutical company specializing in treating the infected, Rhodes Island might take interest in Reunion, an organization that had gathered a large number of infected individuals in Ursus.
Besides, Shirou needed someone to help him think through the current situation.
He could not keep troubling his contact for this after all that person had already been overworked preparing for the recent exercise.
"Reunion? I do not really recall anything about it."
Franka admitted she had no idea.
"I have heard a bit… it is an organization with many infected members, right?"
Liskarm had paid some attention to such matters, so she knew slightly more than most but only slightly.
"That is right. It is an infected organization based in Ursus, and recently it has been somewhat active in Lungmen… The inhibitor incident last time also seems to be related to them."
Following Liskarm's lead, Shirou shared what little he knew.
"…That does not sound good."
Hearing this, the others realized the situation might be serious.
They were already aware that Lungmen's public security had been unstable recently. The inhibitor incident, in particular, had been extremely harmful to the infected.
Rhodes Island would not ignore something like this.
"… "
The atmosphere inside the car suddenly grew heavy.
However, that heaviness clearly did not affect Lappland. She blinked, glanced around at the tense mood, and stopped teasing Shirou with her tail.
Then she simply leaned over and rested against him.
"?"
Feeling the sudden weight on his lap, Shirou looked down.
There was a white lump sprawled there…Lappland.
He knew she was unpredictable… but in the end, he decided to let it be.
"You two seem to get along pretty well?"
Noticing what was happening in the back, Franka commented.
She disliked tense atmospheres, so she wanted to lighten things up a bit. Otherwise, she would feel uncomfortable herself.
"Not at all."
Shirou could tolerate Lappland's sudden behavior, but not Franka putting it that way.
If he did not clarify things, she might embellish the story when telling others later.
"Tch, I thought I had some new gossip to enjoy."
Seeing that Shirou took this seriously, Franka lost interest in teasing further.
She better not push too far and annoy him. Besides, her goal of easing the mood had already been achieved and others' attention had shifted to Shirou.
Now the pressure was on him.
"Heh heh~"
As for Lappland, she did not care at all.
She lay down simply because she had seen Texas do it before.
And she wanted to try it herself. So she did.
Unexpectedly, Shirou turned out to be quite tolerant. He did not immediately push Lappland away, instead allowing her to mess around as she pleased.
Coupled with her lack of sleep, she was indeed starting to feel drowsy.
"Can you stop thinking about weird stuff all day?"
Shirou complained. He knew Franka had ulterior motives.
If he had not clarified things earlier, she definitely would have kept teasing him about it.
Thinking this, Shirou let out a quiet sigh of relief, then projected a red coat and draped it over Lappland.
After lying down, she became completely still. She had probably fallen asleep.
That worked out well. Earlier, when she kept brushing his hand with her tail, it had been quite distracting.
Now he could finally focus on other matters.
"By the way… why did Lungmen invite you to act as referees? If it was about avoiding complications, there should have been better choices, right?"
After some time, Shirou suddenly brought this up.
There were clearly other options within Lungmen. Why had Blacksteel been chosen for this role?
"That? Probably because we have worked with you and the Guard Department before. And we are quite interested in how the Guard Department captures criminals, so when we heard about it, we accepted right away."
Liskarm answered calmly.
"And we even did it for free. If anyone decided to cause trouble during the event, we would have had to deal with it without pay too! But overall, it was pretty interesting. Jessica and Vanilla learned quite a lot, right?"
Franka added.
"Ah? Y-yes… we did learn quite a bit…"
Caught off guard, Jessica responded nervously, her words stumbling.
They had indeed gained some insight into how the Guard Department utilized resources to track and apprehend targets.
But more importantly…
"The most striking part was Mr. Shirou's combat performance at the end. That was kind of… overpowered."
Vanilla nodded.
Even watching through a screen, the scene had been very memorable.
Especially the slogans shouted by the Guard Department but she knew that was a sensitive topic, so she deliberately avoided mentioning it.
She had no intention of ending up like Swire.
"True. Shirou really had the aura of a villain back then. It is just that those toy arrows weakened the impact a bit. It would have been better if you used something else."
Franka and Liskarm both agreed on this point. They did not know much about Shirou's abilities, but it was clear that the Guard Department had tried hard to compensate for his power.
Unfortunately, they had not quite succeeded partly because they had also provoked him.
"No, no, are you trying to get those Guard Department officers killed?"
Shirou replied, somewhat speechless.
If not toy arrows, then what?
Actual blades?
That was a terrifying thought.
"Hey, I was just saying! Do not take it so seriously. Can you not at least focus on the compliment part?"
Franka protested.
"I did not know being called a villain counted as a compliment…"
Shirou sighed.
Being told he had a villainous aura was not exactly something to be happy about.
"Franka, just focus on driving."
Even Liskarm could not take it anymore and stepped in to cut her off.
"Alright—"
Feeling the pressure from her teammate, Franka shut up and focused on driving.
That was enough from her. The rest could be handled by Liskarm.
"Sorry, she is always like that… we do not mean any harm. It is just that your shooting skills yesterday were exceptional. I also heard that you serve as a shooting instructor for the Guard Department's sniper team—covering crossbows, bows, and firearms. So we were hoping you could guide Jessica a bit."
Liskarm explained.
She had only thought of this the previous night after hearing that Shirou would be hitching a ride to Rhodes Island.
There were many firearm users at Rhodes Island, but most of them were Laterano natives. For them, using guns was second nature, which made it hard for outsiders to learn much from them.
She wanted Jessica to gain broader experience in shooting.
Jessica's performance might seem average, but Liskarm knew that was more of a personal issue.
Once she overcame it, she had the potential to become an excellent sniper.
"Me?"
Hearing Jessica's nervous voice, Liskarm felt that she still had a long way to go.
"That is fine with me. But I cannot guarantee results. At the Guard Department, I mostly correct posture and share my own shooting experience."
Now that he understood their intention, Shirou felt they had taken quite a roundabout approach.
Why not just ask directly?
"That is more than enough. Just teach what you can. The rest depends on whether Jessica can grasp it. Jessica, you must make good use of this opportunity. I have heard that the sniper team at the Guard Department already treats Shirou like their superior, just waiting for him to formally join."
Liskarm knew that one teaching method would not suit everyone. Jessica would have to observe and learn on her own.
That was why she emphasized it again.
It was this part of the conversation that left Shirou somewhat puzzled.
There were simply too many things he could comment on.
"Got it! I will do my best! Ow—"
After receiving her senior's encouragement, Jessica clenched her fists and spoke earnestly.
…only to bite her own tongue.
"Honestly…"
The others from Blacksteel had already grown used to this kind of thing.
If Franka had not been restrained by Liskarm at the moment, she probably would have made a few teasing remarks again.
"..."
From the back seat, Shirou quietly observed Jessica, recalling what she had been like in previous encounters.
She was very introverted and lacked confidence, yet during operations she could still properly handle her assigned role…
This kind of personality was actually difficult for him to deal with.
If it were someone like Exusiai or Croissant, he was confident he could handle them just fine.
But someone like Jessica was more troublesome. If he was not careful, he might end up lowering her already fragile confidence even further.
…He wondered if she liked food.
After thinking it over, the only idea Shirou came up with was to use food as a reward to encourage her improvement—and it would have to be something special.
After all, he had just seen how thick her wallet was. It was so stuffed that even all four members of Penguin Logistics combined could not compare. She was clearly not short on money.
Of course, Shirou would not simply assume that a thick wallet meant she lacked nothing—but the gleaming cards inside were hard to ignore.
He could tell they were high-tier cards. Aside from his own boss and Swire, he had rarely seen anyone carry that kind of card.
His boss was one thing, but Swire was obviously wealthy too. That much was clear from how she frequently brought in premium ingredients for him to cook.
Thinking about it this way, teaching this time might be quite challenging…
On top of that, Jessica used a compact firearm. For someone who was not from Laterano, using a gun was quite rare in this world.
Blacksteel seemed to issue firearms, since Liskarm also used one. It was just that she usually carried a shield, making people forget about the gun.
Shirou did not think too deeply about it.
After all, in his understanding, firearms were relatively easy to use, you just hold it and pull the trigger.