Shirou Emiya Stands Upon Terra Chapter 43

"Hmm... not anything goes. Mostly swords, and then bows and arrows. Anything else depends on what it is."

Shirou said after thinking for a moment.

"Wow... that's so convenient! It's like a mobile arsenal! Does that mean I won't have to carry my weapons when I go out anymore?"

Croissant swallowed the bread in her mouth and voiced her thoughts.

The heaviest things in the car were her hammer and shield. If she could carry less of those two pieces of equipment, it would be much more convenient!

"It consumes a lot. Never mind the hammer, just projecting a shield consumes enough to project several other swords and weapons."

Ruthlessly shattering Croissant's idea, Shirou briefly explained the cost of his Projection.

Swords had the lowest consumption, followed by bows and arrows. Shields and the like consumed too much, so Shirou wouldn't use them unless absolutely necessary.

"I see... it's called Projection? It really lives up to its name."

As Shirou spoke, the others gained a general understanding of his abilities. Sora also felt that the name "Projection" was very fitting.

This was also the first time the group had heard the exact name of Shirou's ability.

Shirou hadn't intended to hide it; it was just troublesome to explain. Even he didn't know how to explain it.

The principles of Projection, mana, Noble Phantasms, and so on – there were almost no relevant concepts here.

So, Shirou could only describe it using the concepts they possessed.

61 Snow

After understanding Shirou's abilities, or rather, the principles of Projection, the group gained a certain degree of understanding of Shirou's combat power.

They should have an understanding by now, right?

Anyway, Shirou only ran these long-distance jobs with them. It was better to think of him as a secret weapon rather than a combatant.

"Is the boss arranging for Shirou to be Penguin Logistics' ultimate combat power? Like, if we can't win, we just bomb them?"

Croissant in the back seat started to overthink things after she finished eating.

Recalling the mushroom cloud from earlier, Croissant still had about ten thousand words of thoughts to share.

No, ten thousand words might not even be enough to describe her reverence for Shirou.

Great Demon King Shirou was too powerful. She should give up struggling early. As long as she didn't dance on the Demon King's bottom line, he wouldn't do anything to her.

He was actually quite easy to deal with.

"I think that's very likely. With the boss's personality, how could he let Shirou continue to be a housekeeper?"

Exusiai strongly agreed with Croissant's words.

"No... Shirou, didn't you tell the boss?"

Sora, who had realized the truth of the matter, turned to Shirou and asked.

She noticed that Shirou wouldn't particularly mention things unless they asked, but conversely, he would try his best to answer if they did ask.

"I mentioned it, but I didn't go into specifics?"

Shirou recalled that he should have mentioned it, but perhaps his description wasn't specific enough, so it was forgotten?

"Just blow one up right in front of the boss, and I guarantee he'll immediately give you a full raise."

Croissant said, imitating the motion of drawing a bow.

"You'd probably get taken away by the Knights of the Round Table first."

Exusiai, in the front, teased Croissant. Even her small explosives were confiscated; if Shirou unleashed something like that in Longmen, the entire Knights of the Round Table would probably be mobilized.

"No, I think things are fine as they are."

Shirou rejected Croissant's suggestion. He had no plans to change his current routine anytime soon.

"Hmm... if Shirou gets promoted by the boss, we might not get to eat Shirou's cooking anymore."

Sora thought for a moment about Shirou being promoted and realized this crucial point.

"Hiss... then we absolutely cannot let the boss know about this."

Croissant took a deep breath, determined to prevent this possibility from happening in the future.

"I can't imagine life without Shirou anymore. Going back to thinking about what takeout to eat every day is too painful."

Exusiai added. In this regard, she and Croissant were definitely on the same side.

"You two..."

Texas looked at her two teammates who had been spoiled.

Although she secretly shared the same stance as them, she still had to sincerely wish them a promotion on the surface, right?

"Just kidding, just kidding."

Faced with the contemptuous gaze of her partner, Exusiai quickly waved her hands, indicating she was joking.

"Road conditions ahead."

Texas didn't seem to care whether Exusiai was telling the truth or not. She could only forcibly end the conversation and find something for Exusiai to do.

"Shirou, did you see anything?"

Exusiai turned her head and asked Shirou. Nowadays, unless absolutely necessary, she wouldn't use binoculars when Shirou was around. It was thankless work and less accurate than his own observations.

"Nothing, but it looks like it's snowing in the distance to the left."

Shirou shook his head. He had been paying attention to their surroundings the entire way, but perhaps due to the cold, he hadn't seen many infected creatures.

While it might not be noticeable inside the vehicle, Shirou could see that it seemed to be snowing in the distance to the left. The temperature outside must be incredibly low.

"Snow? You're right, there is."

Hearing Shirou's words, Exusiai took out her binoculars and looked to the left. She did indeed see what looked like falling snow.

Exusiai opened the window slightly and felt the cold wind constantly blowing in.

"Ahhh, close it quickly!"

Croissant in the back seat was directly hit by the cold wind. She hadn't zipped up her jacket and was only wearing a tank top underneath. The cold wind blew almost directly onto her.

"Sorry, sorry, but we might need to speed up. It might start snowing soon."

Exusiai offered a perfunctory apology to Croissant in the back seat before turning to Texas.

Since it was snowing in the distance, it was highly likely to snow here as well. A light snow would be fine, but a heavy snowfall would be troublesome.

"Mhm."

Texas responded, stepping on the accelerator a bit harder.

Although Shirou didn't feel it, the vehicle was actually already moving very fast. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to travel from Longmen to the Ursus border in such a short time.

The main reason was that Texas drove quite steadily. Except for the brief period when they were being chased, Shirou didn't feel that the speed was too fast.

And as Exusiai had predicted, it gradually began to snow on the road they were traveling. At first, it was just a light dusting, but as they got closer to the Ursus border, the snow grew heavier.

"Is this really going to be okay?"

Shirou asked while helping Texas, who was in the driver's seat, put on her jacket.

Everyone else in the car had also put on their jackets and looked calm.

"It's fine, it's fine. We can't turn back now anyway. Might as well push straight for our destination, maybe we can even find a place to set up tents."

Exusiai looked unconcerned. After experiencing such situations many times, it wasn't that big of a deal.

Now it was a race to see whether the vehicle would reach the village first or if the snow would become too heavy to proceed.

If they reached the village first, everything would be fine. They could find a place sheltered from the wind to set up tents and wait it out. If the latter happened, they could only pray for the best.

This wasn't the worst-case scenario. At most, they would just sleep in the car for a day. The supplies in the car and the vehicle itself were more than enough to sustain them.

The items provided by the boss were definitely reliable.

"A mere snowfall, what's there to worry about?"

Croissant said bravely, while also zipping up her jacket tightly.

Although the inside of the car was slightly warmer than the outside, with snow falling outside, the inside of the car wasn't exactly comfortable either.

"Hoo... Shirou, aren't you changing your jacket?"

Sora also pulled at her jacket, trying to find some warmth.

"It's fine. Sora, if you're cold, you can wear my jacket."

For Shirou, this temperature was within an acceptable range. His current jacket was sufficient.

However, it seemed to be quite cold for the others. Shirou could see Sora shivering.

Without waiting for Sora to refuse, Shirou draped the thick jacket that Sora had prepared for him before they left over her. Croissant also grabbed a corner, and the two of them huddled together under the jacket.

62 Border Village

Thanks to Texas's efforts, the vehicle finally reached its destination before the weather turned into a blizzard, and they parked outside the village.

Shirou checked the time on his phone and calculated that they had set off in the morning, and it was now evening.

However, there was no internet here. The phone could at most be used to check the time or take pictures.

Still, Shirou thought about it and decided to keep his phone with him. It would work well as a temporary flashlight.

"Shirou, take these."

Texas handed a backpack to Shirou. The contents of the backpack were the items they were delivering. She also gave Shirou an earphone for communication. Centered around the vehicle's equipment, it would cover at least half the village with signal.

They originally wouldn't have needed it, but Texas felt that something was off about this place.

She couldn't quite pinpoint it, but she just felt that something was wrong.

"Okay."

Shirou took the backpack, checked if it was properly closed, and then put it on.

Although the sky was dim, the bright bonfire lights within the village were still very noticeable.

However, he thought he had just seen a child who seemed very wary of their arrival.

It was a black-haired child holding a crossbow.

The bow and crossbow in his hands weren't even nocked with bolts; he was merely watching them from afar.

Shirou had just been a little busy, and when he turned back, they were already gone.

Perhaps they were curious about outsiders like them?

Shirou didn't know. For now, the task was to deliver the goods to the recipient and then find a place to set up camp for the night.

This was what they had just decided. As the wind and snow intensified, driving back in their vehicle was impossible, so they could only wait and see the situation tomorrow.

Considering the frequent natural disasters and man-made calamities that occurred on this land, Isv had packed enough dry rations for about five people for four to five days.

Coupled with some snacks the others had brought themselves, staying here for a couple of days wouldn't be a major issue.

The only cause for concern was... there was no internet here, and no apple pie either.

Shirou was a bit worried if the others could endure it, especially Exusiai and Croissant.

"Shirou, over here."

After speaking with some of the villagers, Texas had found out the recipient's address.

It couldn't be helped. Such small villages didn't have very clear addresses. Fortunately, most people knew each other, so a little inquiry was all it took.

Combined with their status as messengers, they hadn't encountered too much trouble, and Texas had gotten the address.

"Hiss... Shirou, don't you feel cold at all?"

Seeing Shirou wearing only a light jacket with his own red scarf around his neck, Croissant felt cold just looking at him.

Incidentally, Shirou's original thick coat was now on Sora.

"It's fine, I'm used to it."

Shirou exhaled lightly as he spoke.