"Well... it's not like anything works. It's mainly swords, as well as bows and arrows. As for other things, it depends on what they are."
Thinking for a moment, Shirou spoke.
"Phew... How convenient! It's practically a mobile armory! Does that mean I won't have to carry weapons when I go out from now on?"
Croissant swallowed the bread in her mouth and voiced her thoughts.
The heaviest things in the vehicle belonged to her—her big hammer and shield. If she could travel without these two pieces of equipment, it would be so much more convenient!
"The consumption is huge. Let's not even talk about the hammer; the consumption of projecting a single shield alone is enough for me to project several other swords and weapons."
Mercilessly bursting Croissant's bubble, Shirou briefly explained the consumption of using his projection.
Swords had the lowest consumption, followed by bows and arrows. Shields and the like consumed far too much, and unless necessary, Shirou would not use them.
"I see... Is it called projection? It really lives up to its name."
Listening to Shirou, the others also gained a rough understanding of his abilities. Additionally, Sora felt that the name projection was extremely fitting.
At the same time, this was the first time any of them had heard the exact name of Shirou's ability.
Shirou wasn't intentionally hiding it; it was just a bit troublesome to explain, and even he didn't quite know how to explain it.
The principles of projection, magic power, Noble Phantasms, and the like barely had any relevant concepts here.
Therefore, Shirou could only describe them using the concepts available on this side.
61 Snow
After understanding Shirou's ability—or rather, the principle behind projection—the few of them finally gained a certain degree of understanding regarding Shirou's combat strength.
They understood it, right?
Anyway, Shirou was only coming along on these long journeys with them. Rather than viewing Shirou as combat strength, it would be better to treat him as a secret weapon.
"Is the boss planning to treat Shirou as Penguin Logistics' ultimate combat strength with this arrangement? Like if we can't win, just call in an airstrike."
Croissant started letting her imagination run wild after eating her fill in the back seat.
Recalling the mushroom cloud from earlier, Croissant still had about ten thousand words of thoughts she wanted to express.
No, ten thousand words probably wouldn't even be enough to describe her awe toward Shirou.
The Great Demon King Shirou was too powerful, so she might as well give up struggling early. Anyway, as long as you didn't dance on the great demon king's bottom line during a confrontation, the great demon king wouldn't do anything to you.
He was super easy to deal with.
"I think it's very likely. With the boss's personality, how could she possibly let Shirou continue being a househusband?"
Exusiai strongly agreed with Croissant's words.
"Wait... Shirou, didn't you mention this to the boss?"
Sora, having realized the truth of the matter, turned her head and asked Shirou.
She noticed that most of the time, if they didn't ask, Shirou wouldn't go out of his way to mention things, but conversely, as long as they asked, Shirou would answer as best as he could.
"I did mention it, but maybe not in specific detail?"
Recalling the past, Shirou remembered that he probably had mentioned it, but perhaps his description wasn't specific enough, so it had been forgotten?
"You should just set off a blast right in front of the boss on the spot; I guarantee the boss will max out your salary directly."
Croissant said, mimicking the posture of drawing a bow.
"You're more likely to be dragged away by the Knights of the Round Table first."
Exusiai, sitting in the front, teased Croissant. The small explosives she usually used were enough to get her arrested; if Shirou pulled off something like that in Lungmen, probably the entire Knights of the Round Table would have to be mobilized.
"No thanks, I think things are pretty good right now."
Shirou rejected Croissant's proposal; he had no intention of changing his current routine anytime soon.
"Phew... If Shirou gets promoted by the boss, it seems like we won't get to eat Shirou's cooking anymore."
Thinking for a moment about what it would be like if Shirou got promoted, Sora realized this crucial point.
"Hiss... Then we definitely can't let the boss find out."
Croissant took a deep breath, determined to nip this future possibility in the bud.
"I can no longer imagine days without Shirou. Going back to agonizing over what takeout to order every day would be simply too painful."
Exusiai continued. In this aspect, she and Croissant were in absolute alignment.
"You two..."
Texas looked at her two teammates who had already been spoiled rotten.
Although she privately stood on the exact same side as the two of them, on the surface, shouldn't she at least sincerely congratulate the other party on a promotion?
"Just kidding, just kidding."
Facing her partner's trash-tier gaze, Exusiai hurriedly waved her hands to indicate she was only joking.
"Road conditions ahead."
Texas didn't care whether what Exusiai said was true or not, and simply forced the topic to an end, finding something for Exusiai to do.
"Shirou, do you see anything?"
Exusiai turned her head and asked Shirou. Unless necessary, she probably wouldn't use binoculars with Shirou around anymore; it was unrewarding and wasn't as precise as him.
"Nothing at all, though it looks like it's starting to snow far off to the left."
Shirou shook his head. He had been paying attention to the surroundings all the way along, but perhaps because of the bitter cold, they hadn't seen too many infected creatures along the route.
Being inside the vehicle made it a bit hard to tell, but Shirou could see that it seemed to be snowing far off in the distance to the left. The temperature outside must have been truly heartwarming.
"Snow? There really is."
Hearing Shirou's words, Exusiai took out her binoculars and looked toward the left, indeed seeing snow drifting down.
Opening the window slightly, Exusiai felt the cold wind continuously blowing inside.
"Ahahaha, hurry up and close it!"
Croissant, sitting in the back seat, took the brunt of the cold wind. Her coat wasn't zipped up, and she only had a small tank top underneath, so the wind was blowing straight onto her body.
"Sorry, sorry, but the car might have to speed up a bit; it's probably going to snow in a bit."
Offering a perfunctory apology to Croissant in the back, Exusiai turned her head and spoke to Texas.
Since it was already snowing not far away, it was very likely to start snowing here too. A light snow would be fine, but a heavy snow would spell trouble.
"Mhm."
Texas acknowledged, pressing the accelerator down a bit further.
Although Shirou didn't feel it, the vehicle's original speed was actually very fast; otherwise, it would have been impossible to reach the Ursus border from Lungmen in such a short time.
It was mainly because Texas drove quite steadily, so aside from when they were being chased earlier and drove somewhat hastily, Shirou hadn't felt that the speed was overly fast.
And just as Exusiai had anticipated, snow began to fall gradually along the road they were driving on. At first it was just light flakes, but as they got closer and closer to the Ursus border, the snow grew heavier.
"Will this really be okay?"
Shirou asked while helping Texas, who was in the driver's seat, put on her coat.
The others inside the vehicle had also put on their coats, looking calm and composed.
"It's fine, it's fine. Since it's too late to turn back now, we might as well charge straight toward the destination. Maybe we can even manage to pitch a tent somewhere."
Exusiai looked completely unconcerned; she had encountered this kind of situation plenty of times, so it wasn't a big deal.
Right now, it was a race to see whether the car reached the village first or if the snow fell fast enough to make the car unable to move.
If they reached the village first, everything would be fine—they could find a wind-sheltered spot to pitch a tent and survive. If it was the latter, they would just have to pray for their own luck.
Anyway, this wasn't the worst-case scenario. At worst, they would just sleep inside the vehicle for a day, and the supplies inside along with the vehicle itself were more than enough to sustain them.
The things provided by the boss definitely wouldn't have any problems.
"It's just mere snow, hardly worth mentioning."
Croissant said bravely, while zipping her coat up tightly.
Although the inside of the vehicle was slightly warmer than the outside, it was already snowing out there, so the interior naturally couldn't be much better.
"Phew... Shirou, aren't you going to change into a coat?"
Sora also pulled her coat tighter, trying to squeeze a shred of warmth from it.
"I'm fine. Sora, if you're cold, you can wear this coat of mine first."
For Shirou, this level of temperature was still within an acceptable range; the coat he was already wearing was enough.
However, it seemed a bit too cold for the others, and Shirou could even see Sora shivering slightly.
Before Sora could refuse, Shirou draped the thick coat that Sora had prepared for him before departure over her shoulders. Croissant, sitting nearby, also grabbed a corner of it, and the two of them huddled together under the coat.
62 Border Village
With Texas's efforts, the vehicle finally arrived at its destination before the weather turned into a blizzard, parking right outside the village.
Shirou checked the time on his phone and calculated—they had set out in the morning, and now it was already night.
There was no internet connection out here, though; the phone was useful for little more than checking the time or taking pictures.
Still, after thinking about it, Shirou decided to keep the phone on him, as it worked quite well as a temporary flashlight.
"Shirou, take these."
Texas handed a backpack to Shirou. The items inside were the goods to be delivered this time, and she also had Shirou put on a headset meant for communication. Centered on the equipment inside the vehicle, it at least covered most of the village with its signal.
Normally it shouldn't have been necessary, but Texas just felt that something was a bit off around here.
She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she just felt that something wasn't right.
"Got it."
Taking the backpack, Shirou checked to make sure it was zipped securely, then shouldered it.
Although the sky was dim, the bright firelight inside the village was still quite prominent.
Only, he seemed to have just caught sight of a child who looked extremely wary of their arrival.
It was a black-haired child holding a crossbow.
The crossbow in the child's hand wasn't even notched with a bolt; they were just watching them from afar.
By the time Shirou finished tending to things for a moment and looked back, the other party was already gone.
Were they simply curious about them, these outsiders?
Shirou had no way of knowing. What needed to be done right now was to deliver the goods into the recipient's hands and borrow a place to camp for the night.
This was what the group had decided earlier. As the wind and snow grew heavier, it was impossible to drive back under these conditions; they could only wait until tomorrow to assess the situation.
Taking into account the various natural and man-made disasters frequently haunting this land, Isv had prepared 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 much of a problem.
The only thing worth worrying about was... there was no internet here, nor were there any apple pies.
Shirou was somewhat concerned about whether the others could hold out, especially Exusiai and Croissant.
"Shirou, over here."
After conversing with some of the villagers, Texas learned the recipient's address.
There was no helping it; small villages like this didn't have very clear addresses. Fortunately, most people knew each other, and all it took was a little asking to find out.
Coupled with their status as couriers, Texas managed to secure the address without running into too much trouble.
"Hiss... Shirou, don't you feel cold at all?"
Seeing Shirou wearing only a thin coat with his own red scarf wrapped around his neck, Croissant felt cold just looking at him.
As an aside, the thick coat Shirou originally wore was currently draped over Sora.
"I'm fine, I'm used to it."
Exhaling a light breath, Shirou said.
Before you continue