Shirou did not give the others a chance to catch their breath. With a side kick to another man's jaw, he instantly sent him flying.
In a single exchange, Shirou shattered most of their weapons and rendered three of them combat-ineffective.
Stepping back a few paces to reset his posture, Shirou prepared to strike again.
"Longmen Curses, what kind of Originium Arts is this?"
The leader among the thugs looked at the iron pipe that hadn't even lasted a single blow, unable to stop himself from cursing aloud.
Wasn't this just too absurd? Whose blade could directly shatter an iron pipe as if it were a wooden stick?
Not only were all their weapons gone in mere seconds, but three people had even lost their ability to fight outright.
How the hell were they supposed to fight this?
"Wait, we surrender."
The lead thug immediately dropped the remaining half of the iron pipe in his hand, raised his high hands, and chose to surrender.
Seeing this, the others also hastily tossed away the weapons in their hands.
As street thugs who had been in quite a few fights, they could still tell that Shirou was on a completely different level from their past opponents.
Since they couldn't afford to provoke him, they would just surrender.
Seeing that everyone had dropped their weapons, raised their hands high, and shouted surrender, Shirou was left a bit bewildered.
Weren't they just brimming with fighting spirit and wanting revenge a moment ago? Why did they suddenly surrender?
Swire at the side also twitched the corners of her mouth a few times, while inwardly elevating Shirou's strength to a very high level.
She hadn't quite figured out where those two black and white dual blades had appeared from either, so she could only chalk it up to Originium Arts.
Whenever you encounter something hard to understand, just attributing it to Originium Arts is always right.
"Speak, why did you attack us?"
Shirou did not put Gan Jiang Mo Ye away. Instead, he spun the two blades around in his hands a couple of times before taking a reverse grip.
Aside from guarding against the possibility of a fake surrender and a sudden counterattack, he was also keeping watch on someone standing in the distance observing their side—a person who had just arrived and appeared to be holding a large shield.
"Be... Because we wanted to avenge our boss."
Seeing Shirou's practiced blade-twirling, the lead thug naturally didn't dare act rashly and answered obediently, terrified that Shirou might run him through with a blade in the next second.
Out making a living, bullying the soft and fearing the hard wasn't disgraceful.
"Boss?"
Shirou thought for a moment. Ever since coming here, it seemed he hadn't had any conflicts with anyone yet?
"Could it be that infected person from the shopping mall?"
Holding the shopping bags Shirou had just placed on the ground, Swire stepped closer.
Hearing their conversation, Swire quickly recalled that criminal. After all, it was a case she had taken charge of, so naturally she understood a lot about it.
The few people before them were presumably those subordinates mentioned in the file.
"Hmm... Turns out it was him? Then that person over there who's been staring at us must be their accomplice too, right?"
Understanding why the group had attacked, Shirou pointed into the distance.
"Where?"
Following the direction of Shirou's finger, Swire spotted a figure in the distance. After realizing the others were looking at her, the person pointed to the phone in her hand as a signal.
─Let's begin, the best...
Swire's phone ringtone blared, and she immediately answered it.
The ringtone was something she had been forced to use for a whole month without being allowed to change it, a penalty for losing a bet with the Rice-Noodle Dragon previously.
It made her answer the phone with the fastest possible speed whenever it rang that month, just to avoid being recognized on the spot and dying of social embarrassment.
42 Hoshiguma
"Missy, are you done handling things on your end?"
A voice that sounded quite reassuring emanated from Swire's phone.
"Hoshiguma? Why are you here?"
Listening to the voice on the phone, and looking at the green-haired female with the large shield in the distance, Swire naturally recognized her old colleague.
"Jie just called to tell me Missy you were in trouble over here, so I came. If you guys are finished on your end, I'll head over. I just caught someone watching your side with binoculars."
"You can come over now."
Swire glanced at Shirou beside her, and then at the thugs crouching on the ground with their hands behind their heads in surrender in front of Shirou, before speaking.
"Someone you know?"
Seeing Swire hang up the phone, and learning that it might be someone Swire knew, Shirou finally lowered his guard.
"Yeah, a colleague. Thanks a lot for this time."
Gently rubbing her temples, Swire expressed her gratitude to Shirou.
If not for her, Shirou wouldn't have come here at all, and naturally wouldn't have encountered this ambush. Furthermore, if not for her, Shirou might not even have needed to run—he might have wiped out all these people by himself.
It was her own fault for being too impatient to find clues, coming all the way here without even bringing a weapon.
"No, since these people were coming after me, it should be my problem anyway."
Shirou took the blame upon himself. If it weren't for him, Swire wouldn't have run into these troubles either.
"...Let's not argue about it. First, have them help the injured stop their bleeding."
Seeing Shirou's reaction, Swire had no intention of arguing with him either. The most pressing matter right now was dealing with the injuries of those who had just been hurt.
Although she had held back earlier, there would still be life-threatening danger if the bleeding wasn't stopped in time.
"Yeah... Also true."
Pondering for a moment, Shirou felt Swire made complete sense and stepped forward to bandage the two people he had injured earlier.
The bandage material was their own upper garments, tied over the wounded areas and pressed down to minimize blood loss as much as possible.
"Are all these people going to be dragged back? Missy."
Holding a large shield, Hoshiguma dragged a person over as she walked.
"Yeah, it's related to that person caught at the shopping mall a few days ago. Let's see if we can get some useful clues."
"You took such a risk just for a tiny hunch?"
Hoshiguma naturally knew about Swire's hunch regarding the whole case, but she hadn't expected the other woman to be so reckless as to come investigate alone.
You had to know that the people in the Slums held absolutely no affection for the Knights of the Round Table; Swire's actions were undoubtedly jumping into a fire pit of her own accord.
"...It's true that I acted on impulse, I can't argue with that."
Facing Hoshiguma's reprimand, Swire had nothing to say. Basically, this whole incident happened because of a sudden whim of hers to find clues.
No matter what, she would shoulder this blame firmly.
Carrying no weapons, filing no reports, and bringing someone whose strength she hadn't even confirmed, simply assuming the other party was completely reliable—the result was an almost overturned cart.
If Shirou hadn't been genuinely formidable, she would have regretted it for the rest of her life.
And essentially, throughout this entire affair, she was the one dragging everyone down.
That was why when Shirou tried to shoulder the responsibility of the problem, she didn't know what to say and chose to change the subject instead.
"Being driven is a good thing, but at least I hope you can ensure your own safety. You aren't as capable of fighting as Ch'en."
Seeing Swire's repentant look, Hoshiguma found it hard to lecture her any further. Although the two were close, strictly speaking, Swire was supposed to be her superior.
"Yeah, I'll be more careful from now on."
Hearing Hoshiguma's words, Swire accepted the suggestion, resolving never to make the same mistake again if something similar happened in the future.
"Everything's handled over there..."
After treating the injuries of the two men, Shirou stepped forward to report to Swire, and froze upon seeing Hoshiguma nearby.
First of all, the other person was tall—at least a head taller than Shirou.
And then there were the horns on the other person's head.
Shirou remembered this point very clearly. After all, before coming here, he had often read about similar legends in books, and in Terra, this race truly, concretely existed.
That was the Oni located in Higashi.
This was the first time Shirou had seen a genuine Oni, and he had to admit it carried quite a strong sense of oppression.
"Scared?"
Hoshiguma smiled lightly. She was already quite used to this kind of reaction; people frequently felt intimidated by her height and her identity as an Oni.
However, compared to a certain seafood stall owner who had already been rumored to be the big boss behind the scenes of Lungmen's underworld, her situation was much better.
"Uh... a little bit."
Facing Hoshiguma's remark, Shirou felt a bit awkward.
"Don't think too much of it, I don't mind. You're the guy from Penguin Logistics that Missy mentioned, right? Your combat awareness looked pretty good just now."
Noticing Shirou's embarrassment, Hoshiguma generously patted him on the back to ease the tension.
She had an impression of Shirou's name, having heard Swire complain about him quite a bit a few days ago while keeping her company for late-night snacks.
Well, how could late-night snacks possibly be eaten without alcohol? That day, she had listened to Swire grumble about how an exceptional talent actually belonged to Penguin Logistics—and she had to admit, it really went well with drinks.
"I suppose so?"
Papped a few times by the other person, Shirou felt the impact on his back as if he'd been hit by a car, his entire body feeling like it was about to fall apart.
However, this simple action and the casual, chatting-like tone did indeed make Shirou's sense of tension diminish a lot.
"When did I ever talk to you about that?"
Swire wore a puzzled expression. In her memory, she hadn't mentioned it to anyone else, right?
"Missy, you really shouldn't drink casually when you're out."
Hoshiguma teased Swire about her alcohol tolerance, making Swire realize that the culprit was those few glasses of wine from their late-night snack session a few days ago.
"Ugh... Seriously, I need to drink a few glasses less next time. I just called the Rice-Noodle Dragon and had her arrange some people and a vehicle."
Covering her somewhat burning face, Swire spoke to Hoshiguma. Every time she drank alcohol, new dirt on her would be discovered by Hoshiguma; thankfully, Hoshiguma didn't have a gossip-loving trait.
"Understood. This... how should I address you? You can call me Hoshiguma."
Receiving Swire's message, Hoshiguma turned her head and asked Shirou. She had originally wanted to ask if he wanted a ride, but after a moment's thought, she realized she didn't know his name yet.
"Just call me Emiya."
"Emiya? Is that a codename?"
As someone from Higashi, Hoshiguma understood Shirou's name.
"It's my real name. The full name is Shirou Emiya."
Shirou had mentioned this to everyone at Penguin Logistics; afterwards, to avoid trouble, he simply used Emiya externally across the board.
Plenty of people used codenames, so using this name didn't make him stand out excessively.
"Oh? A fellow countryman then? Care to grab a drink later?"
Hoshiguma was quite curious about what kind of person Swire thought so highly of. To think they were compatriots!
"No thanks, I don't really drink."
Shirou declined Hoshiguma's invitation. He genuinely didn't drink, and besides, he was still underage.
The minimum legal drinking age in Lungmen seemed to be eighteen. Strictly calculating it, he still had two to three months before he would be considered an adult.
"Is that so? What a pity. Well then, want a ride for a lift later?"
Hoshiguma had no intention of pressing the issue since they weren't close, it was mostly just polite socializing. Still, if Shirou had actually dared to agree, she wouldn't mind having a few drinks with him.
43 You Got Dragged In Too
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