In the end, after receiving a few subtle hints from Miss Liskarm, along with all the clues from earlier...
Shirou roughly understood just how wealthy the Jessica in front of him was, despite looking like she was about to burst into tears while still relentlessly firing her gun at the Originium Slugs.
Just thinking about how Exusiai looked as though her soul was being ripped out every time she used etched ammunition, while Jessica here was swapping magazine after magazine as though the ammunition cost nothing at all...
However...
"Stop shooting already! They are deader than dead!"
Please stop! I know you are nervous, but the things you are shooting right now are already corpses! Stop desecrating the dead, Jessica!
Seeing that Jessica still had not noticed all the enemies had already been wiped out and that her hands showed no signs of stopping, Shirou hurried forward to stop her.
He absolutely could not accept this kind of wasteful behavior!
As for why the other two had not stopped her...
They did not possess Shirou's almost telescope-like eyesight to confirm the kills, and under non-emergency circumstances, firing a few extra shots to make absolutely certain the enemy was dead was also considered a very cautious choice.
"Uu... sorry."
Successfully stopped by Shirou, Jessica, who had just saved the equivalent of half an afternoon tea's worth of money, looked somewhat embarrassed.
After being reminded by him earlier and learning that Senior Liskarm and Shirou were both watching her, her nervousness had instantly skyrocketed. She had nearly been unable to breathe...
Fortunately, the acid attacks from the Originium Slugs ahead constantly reminded her what she should actually be focusing on. Once she redirected her attention back to the battle, that suffocating feeling immediately disappeared.
As a result, she ended up becoming immersed in that strange sensation, continuously firing her gun without paying attention to anything else.
"It is fine. You did well. I more or less have an idea for your training now."
Seeing her look as though she was about to cry again, Shirou thought about it for a moment and decided not to lecture her further.
After all, it was not his money being burned away, and Jessica was not going to pull an Exusiai by spending all her money on etched ammunition before running over to him asking for food.
Besides, if he continued scolding her...
It would really start to feel like bullying, and his conscience could not handle that.
"Really?"
Hearing Shirou's words, Jessica instantly lost the expression of someone on the verge of tears. She practically looked as though the word "happy" had been written directly across her face, while the black cat tail behind her rapidly trembled and swayed.
She had always hoped to become stronger.
At the very least, she did not want to hold back her two seniors, nor drag down Vanilla, her junior teammate.
Naturally, she would not let an opportunity to become stronger slip away.
"Of course it is true! Little Brother Shirou is incredibly strong. Just look at how he wiped out most of them with a single attack earlier. Jessica, if you learn even ten percent of his skills, you could directly surpass both Liskarm and me!"
Franka, who had been enjoying the show from the sidelines for quite a while, suddenly leaned in and spoke up.
"But... I cannot draw a bow..."
Hearing her senior's words instantly sent Jessica's mood crashing to the bottom.
The weapon Shirou had used earlier was a bow. If he intended to teach her archery, then that would be troublesome...
The main issue was that her physical strength could not support prolonged bow use. Using it a few times would probably already be her limit.
And she would have to start learning from scratch.
"...I know a thing or two about firearms as well, so do not worry."
Gesturing with his eyes for Liskarm to drag Franka away, Shirou continued comforting Jessica.
The current situation was somewhat complicated.
Liskarm was dragging Franka away, Shirou was trying to stabilize Jessica's emotions, while Lappland sat inside the vehicle leaning against the window, happily eating buns while watching the drama unfold.
As for Vanilla?
At this moment, she was dutifully carrying out the responsibilities expected of the youngest junior member of the team, wearing a heavy and unbearably hot protective suit while collecting useful materials from the Originium Slugs.
Originally Jessica should have been helping as well.
Unfortunately, she had currently been pulled away by Mr. Shirou for what basically amounted to emotional counseling.
Vanilla did not particularly mind.
She clearly understood that her position within the squad was the lowest. The kind where she even had to address Jessica as "senior."
"Do not worry! Your issue is not that serious!"
Without Franka interfering, Shirou successfully managed to calm Jessica down.
Although...
It was honestly exhausting.
Still, compared to the two members of Penguin Logistics, Jessica was obviously far better.
At the very least, Shirou did not suddenly feel the urge to chase her down with Kanshou and Bakuya.
"Your comforting skills are pretty good. Do you do this often?"
The moment Shirou returned to the vehicle, he received what could only be described as a duel request from Lappland.
Yes.
A duel request.
Using that mocking expression and tone while saying something like this, if it was not a duel request then what else could it possibly be?
Unfortunately, Shirou was mentally exhausted right now and could not be bothered arguing with her. He simply narrowed his eyes halfway and ignored Lappland completely.
"How boring."
Seeing Shirou outright ignore her, Lappland showed no signs of irritation.
After all, during the journey earlier, Shirou had already sighed at his terminal countless times. Then afterward he had to go comfort Blacksteel's little kitten over there as well, so he was probably genuinely tired.
Although he could at least try to act more convincingly.
Right now, he was half-squinting his eyes while still glancing outside and occasionally sneaking looks at her. It honestly felt somewhat insulting to her intelligence.
Whatever. Whatever.
Considering how well he treated her, she could overlook these little issues.
Besides, this time she had only come because she had received a rare request from Texas, so she had to treat the mission target a bit better.
Her mission this time was extremely simple.
Follow Shirou on the trip and keep an eye on his safety.
However, Lappland, who fully understood Shirou's combat strength, could not help wondering exactly whose safety was supposed to be protected here.
Should she not be the one in danger instead?
Did Shirou really need someone watching over him with that kind of combat ability?
She seriously wondered whether Texas had been taken care of too well by Shirou over at Penguin Logistics, to the point that her brain had started deteriorating from comfort, for her to actually propose such a mission.
While internally complaining about Texas, Lappland slightly shifted her position.
It had to be said, lying down after eating really did make it easy to fall asleep. She wondered what Texas would do after they returned and she smelled Shirou completely covered in Lappland's scent.
Just imagining it made her excited.
"..."
Watching Lappland behave so familiarly and casually, Shirou felt somewhat speechless inside.
Still, it was not really a major issue, so he simply let her do as she pleased.
After briefly checking the right side, the left side, and the front to confirm they would not encounter another wave of enemies anytime soon, and after making sure Lappland had already closed her eyes, Shirou finally opened his own eyes and took a look at the condition of everyone inside the vehicle.
The driver had changed from Franka to Liskarm, which freed Franka up completely. Out of every ten sentences spoken inside the vehicle, seven were probably from Franka, while the remaining three were brief responses from everyone else.
However, Franka had directly taken over the lookout duty, allowing Jessica and Vanilla to organize their equipment since the two of them had contributed the most during the battle earlier.
They needed time to inspect and maintain their gear in case another fight suddenly broke out later and their equipment turned out to be damaged. That would be awkward.
Even though the back seat currently contained a powerful support unit and an invincible star player, these small details still needed to become habits during ordinary times.
At this moment, Shirou's attention was focused on Vanilla.
Unlike Jessica, who had been shooting with a firearm earlier, Vanilla belonged to the type that charged straight into the front lines wielding an axe.
Although she had been wearing protective gear, she had still been splashed by acid to some extent. While cleaning off the protective suit earlier, she seemed to have accidentally touched some of it and was now applying medicine.
And then Shirou remembered that a certain someone had not been wearing protective gear at all and had simply grabbed the two greatswords he provided before charging forward while yelling enthusiastically.
Thinking of that, Shirou stopped caring about things like differences between men and women and directly grabbed Lappland's hand to inspect it slightly. Sure enough, there were several obvious wounds. Although she had rinsed them with water, she had not applied medicine or bandaged them.
"What?"
Lappland, who had been sleeping quite comfortably, was awakened by Shirou's actions. The moment she opened her eyes, she saw him holding her hand while carefully examining the fresh wounds she received during the battle earlier.
"You really do not apply medicine to your wounds?"
Originally, Shirou had not intended to wake her up. It seemed Lappland was not the type to completely lose awareness while sleeping outside and still retained a decent amount of vigilance.
"Is rinsing them with water not enough? That is what I have always done before. Medicine is expensive you know and it is better to save the money for weapon maintenance. Makes cutting people down feel smoother."
Pulling her hand back, Lappland answered casually.
"Water is not some miracle cure. If you do not disinfect wounds properly, there is a risk of infection. I mean actual bacteria and viruses. If wounds are not bandaged correctly, you can easily end up unlucky. Lappland, you do not want to spend an entire month lying in a bed at Rhodes Island, right?"
Hearing Lappland's answer, Shirou let out an extremely helpless sigh. Then he borrowed some medicine and bandages from Vanilla before preparing to treat Lappland's wounds himself.
At the same time, he gave her a brief explanation.
Did she seriously think water could cure everything?
Back at Penguin Logistics, during certain special days, anyone who dared say the words "just drink more hot water" would immediately receive murderous stares from the others.
After learning a bit more about those situations, Shirou had gradually stopped doing that. Usually, he would heat milk morning and night, make the main dishes mostly from iron-rich beast meat, and finally finish with hot red bean soup.
It was not exactly luxurious, but it was far better than simply drinking hot water.
"Yes, yes... I will pay attention next time."
Since she needed treatment, Lappland was pulled upright by Shirou and now sat beside him with her right hand extended, waiting for him to apply medicine and bandage it.
Once he finished that hand, there was still the left hand to deal with.
As for wounds on her torso, Lappland had remembered Shirou saying the clothes were borrowed, so she had skillfully avoided getting the clothing damaged there. That was also the main reason Shirou did not notice her injuries immediately.
"Heh. That response sounds incredibly insincere."
Hearing her utterly perfunctory answer, Shirou intentionally pressed a little harder while applying medicine, immediately causing Lappland's eyebrows to twitch repeatedly.
If he had not noticed, Lappland probably would have just ignored the injuries altogether. Most likely, many of the wounds covering her body had accumulated exactly this way.
If small injuries were ignored long enough, eventually the body would become battered beyond repair.
...Though, honestly, Shirou did not really have much standing to criticize Lappland.
After all, he himself constantly ignored his body's complaints, always believing he could simply endure through it.
That was how he acted during improper training and reckless use of magecraft, and it was also how he acted when facing powerful enemies.
However, Lappland did not know that, which meant Shirou could still afford to act a bit more forcefully.
He did know how to perform simple wound treatment.
Not only had he learned it while traveling around the world with Kiritsugu, but within his own memories, he had also specifically studied emergency medical techniques.
"Hiss—can you be a little gentler?"
Noticing Shirou seemed to be doing it on purpose, Lappland immediately voiced her dissatisfaction.
After that, Shirou did become slightly more restrained, and the bandaging process went smoothly.
Aside from Liskarm, who was driving, the other three were all watching Shirou bandage Lappland's wounds.
The four members of Blacksteel suddenly felt that if Shirou were part of their team, work efficiency would definitely improve tremendously.
Embarrassing as it was to admit, their own emergency treatment skills might not even be as good as Shirou's. Even the way he wrapped bandages looked cleaner and more professional than theirs.
Shirou, whose bandaging experience mainly came from repeatedly wrapping himself in the Holy Shroud: "?"
Why was everyone staring over here now?
Being watched so intensely was extremely stressful, you know?
Internally complaining about everyone else's behavior, Shirou successfully finished bandaging both of Lappland's hands.
The palms only had minor swelling and redness, probably caused by friction from swinging her swords repeatedly.
For those areas, Shirou simply applied some medicine before leaving them alone afterward.
If left untreated, at worst her hands would only become slightly rougher. For someone like Lappland, who relied on dual swords for combat, that was an unavoidable process.
Still, taking care of them like this could significantly reduce and improve the condition.
Some people claimed that roughened hands made it easier to wield weapons effectively, but Shirou felt that kind of thing would easily create inconveniences in everyday life.
If it was truly necessary, wearing tactical gloves would probably work better instead.
"Done."
Only after repeatedly checking everything did Shirou finally withdraw his hands in satisfaction.
As for injuries hidden beneath the clothes, he had no intention of checking those. If Lappland needed help, she would bring it up herself. If he personally tried handling those injuries, it would feel somewhat... inappropriate.
Not only could Shirou himself not mentally cross that line, but the gazes from everyone else nearby guaranteed he would never do such a thing.
After all, he really did not want to gain even stranger nicknames throughout Rhodes Island and Lungmen, especially the latter. He already had more than enough bizarre titles in Lungmen as it was.
He absolutely did not need even stranger ones appearing.
"Your skills are pretty good, you know? Next time I get injured, should I come find you again?"
Pulling her hands back, Lappland lightly moved them around a little. Shirou's bandaging barely interfered with her mobility.
She did not know whether it was just her imagination, but after Shirou treated the wounds, they genuinely did not hurt as much anymore...
Originally, she had simply been enduring the pain, but this was not bad either.
"Should you not be going to the doctors at the office instead...? They are the actual professionals!"
Although Shirou felt happy that Lappland thought highly of his bandaging skills, he still insisted that she should seek professional treatment the next time she got hurt. What he learned was only emergency first aid!
Please stop treating him like some kind of medical station!