Shirou Emiya Stands on Terra Chapter 46

"Shirou has such a good temper."

After remarking on Shirou's good temper, Texas snuggled back down. She had been driving all day yesterday, and on top of that, she was a light sleeper and easily woken up, so she needed a little more time to catch up on sleep.

Just a little.

"You're up early. Didn't sleep well?"

Shirou, standing in the living room and stretching his body slightly, heard a woman's voice from behind him.

"I slept very well. Thank you very much for lending us the room."

Turning to face the woman, Shirou replied.

"It's nothing. You came all this way to deliver mail, and it's good enough that we received letters from that couple."

The woman said, then as if remembering something, picked up a letter from a nearby table and handed it to Shirou.

"Do you want to reply?"

Shirou asked, surprised. After all, he wasn't familiar with these tasks; they were mainly handled by Texas and Sora.

"Yes, my daughter wants me to join her, but I'm old now and prefer to stay here. So, please just mail this letter back for me."

The woman said with a wry smile.

"I understand... I'll hold onto the letter for now. I need to inform the others."

Shirou noticed the crystallization on the woman's hand and understood her intention.

It was likely that she had accidentally become Infected after her daughter left home, which was why she had no intention of going to them.

Infected... This was the first time Shirou had truly felt how people were treated on this continent if they were Infected.

"Then I'll trouble you with it. Also, it snowed quite a bit last night. If it's inconvenient, I can let you stay here for a few more days."

"That's very kind of you."

Shirou politely expressed his gratitude.

It was always right to respond politely to kindness offered by others.

"Not at all. By the way, did you interact with people from the Reunion Movement yesterday?"

The woman suddenly remembered that Shirou had taken some bread out of the house yesterday, seemingly to give to two children.

She recognized those two children; they were from the Reunion Movement.

"Reunion Movement? You mean... Mephisto and Faust?"

Thinking that he had only interacted with Mephisto and Faust yesterday, Shirou assumed the woman was referring to them.

But what was the Reunion Movement?

"Yes, judging by your expression, you don't seem to know about the Reunion Movement. Let me tell you about it, so you don't mistake them if you encounter them outside."

The woman, with a look of "just as I expected," pulled Shirou to a nearby chair and poured him a cup of hot water.

Around nine o'clock, the sleeping bag in the room suddenly stirred, and then Sora's head emerged from it.

"Mmm... What time is it..."

Sora sat up groggily. It was a bit cold when she slept last night, and she hadn't slept well initially. The occasional cold wind blowing in made her uncomfortable.

"It's nine o'clock."

Texas, beside her, had woken up a little earlier than Sora. However, the temperature inside the sleeping bag was vastly different from the outside temperature. Unless there was something particularly important, Texas had no intention of leaving the sleeping bag anytime soon.

"Nine o'clock? Ha..."

Sora yawned and then snuggled further into her covers.

A cold day, a warm bed. There was no way she was going out.

She wouldn't get out of bed unless Mama Emiya called her.

"Haven't Exusiai and Croissant woken up yet?"

Sora thought about it but decided not to go back to sleep. Instead, she started chatting with Texas.

"Not yet. Those two probably went to bed very late yesterday."

Mentioning those two troublemakers gave Texas a slight headache.

Thinking back, she should have woken Shirou up directly last night. Unfortunately, at that time, she couldn't overcome the sleep demon and just kept sleeping.

She regretted it even more when Shirou gave them extra blankets this morning. Shirou was so kind-hearted, yet he was pranked by the fluorescent lights and the bread man.

I'll just push Exusiai and Croissant out for Shirou to deal with later, Texas thought.

"Hiss..."

Exusiai and Croissant beside her felt a chill and snuggled further into their sleeping bags.

"Did they not sleep well either? It was indeed a bit cold yesterday."

Sora thought Exusiai and Croissant were also too cold to sleep.

"Yesterday, they dragged Shirou into their room while he was asleep."

As soon as Texas finished speaking, Sora was instantly no longer sleepy. She sat up straight and looked around the room.

Not seeing Shirou's sleeping bag, Sora breathed a sigh of relief, thinking Texas was just trying to scare her.

Then she saw another sleeping bag covering theirs.

"66 Teacher..."

"...Shirou covered us this morning?"

For the first time, Sora felt her teammates were incredibly annoying.

At least give her some mental preparation!

"Yeah, we'll tie up Exusiai and Croissant later."

Texas calmly pronounced their teammates' death sentence.

"Agreed."

Sora had no more mercy for their actions this time.

The sleeping bags didn't feel as cozy anymore. Sora left her sleeping bag and, while still warm, put on both jackets.

"I'm going out to see what Shirou's doing."

After telling Texas, Sora left the room.

Pushing open the door, Sora saw Shirou sitting by the fireplace, knitting something.

"?"

Sora looked at the scene before her.

It was harmonious in its own way, but also a little bizarre.

Texas, inside, saw Sora frozen in the doorway and also crawled out of the covers to take a look.

Then, both of them stood at the doorway with question marks on their faces.

After a while, Shirou's hands finally finished their work, and he finally noticed the two of them standing blankly at the door.

"Sora and Texas, why are you two spacing out at the door? Come sit here, Madam Dalia specially made a fire."

Shirou pointed to the burning fireplace beside them.

Dalia, the owner of the house, had talked to Shirou a lot early this morning before going out.

Before leaving, she had specially started a fire and, fearing Shirou would be bored, taught him how to knit.

Shirou had some prior experience with yarn, so he picked it up quickly. In two hours, it had a basic shape.

It should be finished in about a day or two. He was very good at this kind of highly repetitive work.

The yarn was a friendly sponsorship from Madam Dalia. In return, Shirou gave her all the remaining bread.

"Shirou, have you already gotten close to her?"

Sora unceremoniously sat down by the warm stove. The warmth of the stove was completely different from the warmth inside the sleeping bag.

Texas also sat down beside them, enjoying the warmth of the stove.

"Madam Dalia is quite enthusiastic. This morning she pulled me aside and told me a lot about this village."

Shirou put down the towel and prepared a cup of concentrated coffee for both Texas and Sora.

Although drinking coffee alone was a bit bitter, Lactate was hard to find, so they had to make do.

"Thanks."

Taking a sip of coffee, the bitter taste made Texas much more alert.

"Ugh..."

Sora, however, couldn't quite handle the bitterness. But, adhering to the principle of not wasting, Sora still drank the coffee.

"...Oh right, Madam Dalia seems to have a letter she wants us to deliver back."

Seeing Sora had finished her coffee, Shirou quietly put the sugar he was holding back into his luggage and changed the topic, picking up the letter beside him and handing it to Texas.

"Deliver a letter? I understand."

Putting down her coffee, Texas briefly checked the letter before putting it into her luggage.

The original job was to deliver the letter and then bring the recipient back. If the recipient was unwilling, they were to send a reply. Looking at the letter, Texas understood that the recipient seemingly had no intention of leaving.

However, she wouldn't try to persuade them. Their job was to reliably deliver letters, items, and messages. How the person involved chose to act was their business, and they at Penguin Logistics wouldn't interfere.

Of course, if they were attacked, that would be a different story.

"Phew... I wonder if we'll be able to go back today."

Sora said, having recovered from the bitterness. It was too cold here, and she couldn't stand it.

"It's unlikely. I took a look just now, and the weather still seems a bit bad."

Shirou Emiya poured a cup of hot water for Sora this time. Of course, the water was brought by Penguin Logistics themselves, and he had just heated it up with a kettle.

The cup and kettle were projected by Shirou, though Sora and Texas both thought he had borrowed them from Madam Dalia.

However, the other party only had one set of tea ware. They had originally planned to borrow from someone else, but Shirou made them give up on that idea by pretending to take a tea set out of his luggage.

Shirou probably wouldn't take this tea set with him, so he left it here. It wouldn't cause any problems with normal use.

"Then there's nothing we can do."

Hearing Shirou's words, Sora also gave up struggling and pulled her legs into her coat. It was a bit tight, but her slender build allowed her to tuck them in.

Sora sat on the chair, hugging her tucked-in legs, her socked feet dangling outside.

This way was warmer, but the drawback was that she could only sit in the chair in one fixed position.

However, Shirou would help her get anything she needed, so this drawback was irrelevant.

Sora quite liked these leisurely moments, wishing only that the weather was a bit warmer.

"Is there anything special about this village?"

Texas had felt something was off about this village since yesterday. Now that she knew Shirou had gotten some information from the locals, she wanted to understand more.

"Hmm... I recall there's a mountain forest north of the village, with many wild animals that occasionally harass the village. However, after an organization called the Reunion Movement moved in three months ago, the problem of wild animal harassment was resolved. Now, the village and the Reunion Movement are in a cooperative relationship."

Shirou thought about the conversation they had that morning and summarized it.

Earlier, Madam Dalia had told Shirou a lot about the Reunion Movement. Madam Dalia's initial reaction made Shirou think the Reunion Movement was some evil organization feared by the villagers. But it turned out to be like this?

They helped defend the forest and the village borders, and they also shared excess edible animals with the villagers. They were very harmonious with the villagers, basically maintaining a mutually supportive relationship.

There also seemed to be some infected creatures in the forest, which was what troubled the villagers. Quite a few people had been attacked by infected creatures and turned into Infected. Thanks to the Reunion Movement, they were now living relatively peacefully.

"Reunion Movement?"

Texas pondered the unfamiliar term.