Considering that it would sit for a while, Shirou chose to use the feathered beast meat he had prepared yesterday to make the sandwiches. He could just fry it slightly before sandwiching it. Feathered beast meat was similar to chicken, and if handled properly, the flavor wouldn't change too much even when cold, provided it was stored correctly.
After making them, Shirou cut all four sandwiches in half, placed them into separate bags, and then put them together into an insulated bag.
"This is for you to bring and eat. I used feathered beast meat. You're coming back at night, right?"
Shirou carried the insulated bag out of the kitchen and handed it to Sora.
"Texas, if we set out now, will we make it back in time for noon?"
Exusiai turned her head and asked with a serious expression.
"No matter how you think about it, that's impossible, okay? We might not even make it back for dinner."
Texas responded without a single thought. They had delivered this cargo many times; even if the delivery and return went completely smoothly, they might just barely make it back before dusk.
That was on the condition that everything went extremely smoothly.
When had any of their Penguin Logistics long-distance operations ever gone smoothly from start to finish?
"I don't want that kind of thing!"
Exusiai let out a wail.
"Sister Exu, don't worry! As long as we quickly wipe out the enemy, we can come back early!"
Croissant offered her solution.
"Croissant, you're so right! I'm going to go top off my ammunition in a bit!"
Hearing Croissant's words make sense, Exusiai prepared to expand her ammunition reserves so she could let the enemy know the true meaning of a hungry angel's blessing.
"Umm... actually, wouldn't it work just as long as Shirou prepares dinner a little later?"
Listening to the two of them converse, Sora slowly raised her hand and voiced her opinion.
"..."
Croissant and Exusiai looked at each other, and then turned to look at Shirou.
"Then just call and let me know once you're back in Lungmen. The time it takes for you to get back and wash up should be about right."
Shirou thought for a moment and figured there shouldn't be any problem; at worst, it could just serve as a midnight snack.
"Wuwu... can I request an apple pie? The one from the commercial district is fine."
Seeing Shirou agree without hesitation, Exusiai didn't hesitate either as she placed an additional order for an apple pie.
"I want to eat that pulled-sugar sweet potato."
Croissant joined the ranks of those placing orders.
"Then I..."
Sora saw that everyone had ordered, and followed suit with her own request.
Although Texas didn't speak, judging from her ears and expression, she seemed very interested as well.
"Alright, alright, I'll prepare it. Also, we agreed to tidy up your side today—you've all packed your personal items into your rooms, right?"
Shirou took note of everyone's requests one by one. It was just that lately, everyone seemed to be eating quite a bit; it looked like he needed to pay attention to some basic nutrition as well.
Furthermore, tidying up upstairs was only decided upon because it was certain that everyone would be out today, and it was strictly limited to the kitchen and living room areas.
"Everything's all packed up, don't worry. Shirou, you won't be able to find our underwear."
Exusiai struck a pose and said.
"I hope so."
Shirou also hoped he wouldn't turn up anything strange today. Yesterday, when he went up to check in advance which areas needed tidying, he had already seen plenty of things he shouldn't have.
"Don't worry, I stared at them until they packed everything away. Basically, it's just some public supplies, dust, and stubborn grime left in there."
Sora patted her chest and said with confidence. Yesterday, she had personally watched the girls pack away all their private items!
"Shirou, it's fine. You'll get used to it once you see it more often."
Croissant patted Shirou's shoulder and said with a serious expression.
"I hope I never get used to this kind of thing in my lifetime."
Shirou mercilessly slapped Croissant's hand away, checked the time, and continued:
"Alright, hurry up and head out. If you any later, it'll be too late."
Only then did the group notice that the time had gotten a bit late; if they didn't leave now, they might not make it in time for the delivery.
Hurriedly packing their things, the group ran out the door. Of course, the important sandwiches were carried off by Texas.
Watching the hurried figures of the Penguin Logistics members, Shirou waved his hand and said:
"Watch your step on the way."
Justice's Companion?
About half an hour had passed since Penguin Logistics set out on their assignment.
During this time, Shirou finished his own breakfast and cleaned up the aftermath left behind by the morning meal.
Once everything was tidied up, Shirou headed upstairs.
"Let me see... it really has been tidied up a little."
Shirou carefully peered inside first, making sure there were no terrible things around before opening the door with peace of mind.
Overall, it was a bit cleaner than yesterday, but on the whole, it was still very dirty and messy.
Shirou looked around and roughly decided how to tackle the cleanup.
The main enemies were the dust and years of stubborn grime, plus the kitchen, which was a disaster zone, waiting for him later.
Working with deft and nimble hands using various tools, Shirou suddenly noticed something resting beside a few packs of Pocky.
"Huh? Is this pair of headphones?"
Shirou paused his hand movements and looked closely. It seemed the cord part was broken.
Thinking back to a few days ago when he was first brought to the commercial district, Texas and Exusiai seemed to have been discussing this very matter. Texas appeared to quite like these headphones, but they had been discontinued, and repairs were too expensive, so she kept dragging her feet on it.
Shirou had previously repaired headphones and all sorts of other miscellaneous items, so he was fairly knowledgeable in this area.
Still, it was best to inspect them just to be safe.
Shirou reached out his hand, and his Magic Circuits manifested.
"Hmm... the structure is pretty much the same. The main body of the headphones is fine; a bit old, but still usable. The main issue is the wire between the headphone body and the audio jack."
Solving this problem wasn't difficult either—he just needed to cut off the broken section and then solder the intact parts back together.
After finishing his inspection, Shirou didn't simply take the headphones away, but instead placed them back right where they were.
After all, it was still Texas's property, and taking it to be repaired without permission wasn't a good idea. At most, he could just mention that they were fixable and leave it up to her own wishes.
Another reason was that he still needed to buy some equipment: soldering gear, electrical tape, and heat-shrink tubing.
"Hmm... should I just buy a tool set? It feels a bit empty not having a tool set close at hand."
Shirou thought to himself while cleaning. Back in the warehouse, he used to have a whole set of tools and a soldering kit, and whenever he needed them, he would use them right there. He himself was quite skilled at this sort of thing.
In the past, he frequently helped Student Council President Issei repair old electrical appliances around the school. Besides that, Taiga would often bring home appliances that felt like they could still be fixed.
"Let's leave it at that for now. I originally planned to clean the kitchen as well, but it seems that's still too much to ask for."
Shirou brought his current work to a close and checked the time; it was already past noon.
Aside from a few areas holding relatively important items, the rest of the place was now quite clean.
Cleaning the living room alone took Shirou half a day, mainly because there was simply too much clutter.
Packing away his cleaning tools, Shirou went back downstairs to wash up, had a simple lunch, and then headed out.
Shirou first went to the commercial district to buy the tool set and Exusiai's apple pie, and then headed to the supermarket to buy the ingredients needed for tonight's dinner.
Returning to the dormitory, Shirou placed the apple pie into the refrigerator—it could just be reheated when they wanted to enjoy it—and then went back to his room to put the tool set on the large table that had been brought in a few days ago.
On top of the large table sat a few items produced by projection. Over the past few days, he had tried projecting all sorts of things, but for now, they were mostly just empty shells; only when he projected swords was there a more noticeable difference.
He took out the tool set, arranged it on the small table according to his own habits, and then checked for any flaws.
"Nn, excellent, everything is fine."
Shirou unplugged the soldering iron and looked with satisfaction at the tool set on the small table.
This was his first time spending money on a hobby here. Cooking didn't count—cooking was handled by everyone from Penguin Logistics, so it was considered a public expense, and Shirou kept the receipts for those to apply for funds from Emperor.
Croissant was the one who reminded him about applying for funds.
Shirou sat in his chair to rest. After all, he had been busy non-stop from the moment he woke up in the morning, and when a person has nothing to do, their mind easily wanders.
"Come to think of it, it's already been almost a week since I came to this world."
What he was thinking about now was that for nearly a week, those remaining three doors were still locked tightly by golden chains and remained impenetrable.
His intuition told him that the doors beyond could grant him even more knowledge regarding magecraft.
And even more experiences of growth.
The studies of the past few days had also allowed him to roughly understand this world—or rather, this land.
Originium, which Emperor had mentioned, was a very important thing here.
Energy, abilities, and weapons were all born from Originium.
A tiny piece of Originium could provide a massive amount of energy, and one could drive a phenomenon called Originium Arts through it.
In Shirou's understanding, as long as one possessed Originium, they could use abilities similar to magecraft.
As for weapons... here, some of them were called staves, but they weren't the staves Shirou understood. A staff was merely a general term; as long as it could cast Originium Arts, it took the form of a staff.
As a side note, the firearm Exusiai used was also considered a type of staff.
When he first understood this, Shirou was also left with a head full of questions.
Ordinary people who wanted to use Originium Arts absolutely had to go through a staff, but there was one kind of person who didn't.
That was the Infected.
Because the Infected already had Originium inside their bodies, they could directly use themselves as a medium to wield Originium Arts, but correspondingly, this would also cause the Originium within them to increase.
It sounded very convenient, but in reality, once someone became Infected, there was no way to be cured, and their life directly entered a countdown.
Thinking of this, Shirou rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"What a chaotic world."
At least in his original world, the conflicts among magi and others were still carried out in the shadows, and people still lived ordinary lives on the surface.
Nn... at least if something went wrong, they still had the excuse of a gas explosion to gloss it over, right?
But here, people had grown numb to this kind of daily life. After all, the threshold for using special abilities like Originium Arts wasn't particularly high; as long as one had the will, they could definitely acquire and even use them.
This land was chaotic, so what should he... do?
He didn't know. At least, the current him didn't know.
Shirou looked at the Holy Shroud wrapped around his right arm.
The ideal of becoming Justice's Companion... he didn't seem as obsessed with it as he used to be?
"Is it because of that Holy Grail War I experienced?"
Shirou believed that the experiences of the Holy Grail War he participated in had changed him. Even though he couldn't remember them, his soul still did.
However, the current him could no longer selfishly think only of ideals the way he used to—at least not right now.
He needed to understand this land and figure out how to help the people who needed help.
Most importantly, he still had to continue his current job—houseman for Penguin Logistics.
After all, he was saved by them, and his impression of Emperor and the girls wasn't too bad. Naturally, a favor had to be repaid.
Until the moment Penguin Logistics no longer needed him, he would keep this matter engraved in his heart.
The Light of Penguin Logistics
Before you continue