Shirou seemed to sense the other party thinking up some mischief.
"Well then—Shirou, I'll call you that. I have a job here that can pay you a salary, give you a legal identity to stay in Lungmen, and give you a chance at treatment. The job is very simple, and I wonder if you might be interested?"
Emperor clapped his hands together and stated his purpose.
He wanted to recruit a babysitter for the Penguin Logistics crew and incidentally keep the guy here to observe him.
Even though he had no memories, he was still someone with the achievement of falling from a high altitude and coming out fine, after all!
Besides, he just wanted to keep the guy around to observe him for a bit.
As for Shirou, he felt such conditions were acceptable.
He just needed to confirm what the job duties were; it wouldn't do to accidentally sign some weird contract and get driven crazy.
"Can I confirm the job duties?"
Emperor hopped down from his chair and casually opened a room.
"It's very simple, just like what you're doing right now."
Seeing how clean the inside was reinforced his idea to hire Shirou. After all, those girls' living habits were really a bit terrible, basically tidying up in the most minimal way possible—like having an open spot to sit was enough, or having an area on the bed to lie down was enough. Although Isv did tidy up occasionally, Isv was busy!
He had long wanted to find someone to take care of this group of hellions, but ordinary people generally found it hard to accept Penguin Logistics' eccentric personalities and danger, while hiring professionals was too expensive.
As for Shirou before him, first, his identity required help; second, he was rescued and also had ability; and the point was that he looked easily gullible!
It was just that he had to be made to do some basic things first, and other matters would be discussed after the observation period passed.
"So you're saying... it's similar to a housekeeper?"
Shirou thought for a moment, then described a job with roughly similar duties.
"Yes, but you don't need to worry about the cooking part; they mostly order takeout. Still, it would be even better if you can cook."
"I'll give it my best?"
Even though cooking was Shirou's hobby and forte, he could hardly guarantee that there would be ingredients here that he was familiar with, so he didn't dare say straight out that he could cook.
"Great, then welcome to Penguin Logistics. In a bit, Exusiai will bring the others up, and you can get to know everyone properly then. This right here is your room and workspace, feel free to use it. The areas you'll usually handle are this place and upstairs. If there are other needs, I'll notify you again."
Emperor very readily turned this entire place over to Shirou to manage.
Uhm... how should he put it? Shirou somehow felt that this onboarding was a bit casual?
Did he just join a weird place?
"All right, I understand. I'll do my best."
Still, he genuinely needed the other party's help right now, and furthermore, he seemed to have been rescued by them—they should be... good people, right?
Glancing at Emperor's setup of sunglasses and a gold necklace, Shirou put a question mark over the legitimacy of the company he had just joined.
"Very good, very good. You won't be shortchanged on the salary."
Emperor felt pleasantly cheered by how smoothly this conversation had gone. He dragged his chair over, hopped up onto it in one go, and struck a comfortable pose while waiting for Exusiai and the others to bring the food.
03 Joining Penguin Logistics...?
Shirou and Emperor sat before the table, and Shirou felt the atmosphere was quite oppressive.
It had clearly been fine just a moment ago... Could this be the unique atmosphere between a boss and his subordinates?
Shirou's mind wandered wildly.
"Boss! We're here!"
Croissant pushed open the main door, holding bags upon bags of food.
Exusiai, Sora, and Texas behind her were also carrying other things respectively.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Is this really that wasteland that everyone was too lazy to tidy up?"
Croissant made a dash, placed the food on the table, and then began wandering haphazardly around the living room while casually opening all the room doors to look at the state of things inside.
Shirou seemed to hear some strange terminology, but it was probably better to selectively ignore it.
"Really, though... No wonder the boss wants to eat here. Compared to our place, this is truly very clean." Sora joined the ranks of curious babies.
Texas placed the bag in her hands in front of Shirou and opened it so Shirou could roughly see the contents inside.
"Some daily necessities and a change of clothes. I didn't know your size, so I bought them a bit larger first."
"Alright, thank you very much, Miss Texas." Shirou took the bag. Inside were bath products, toiletries, and a set of spare clothes—plain-colored ones.
"Just call me Texas, drop the honorifics." Texas casually pulled out a Pocky stick and clamped it between her teeth.
As for Exusiai? She had long since joined the ranks of looking around everywhere.
Emperor fished a bottle of red wine and a goblet from the items on the table, poured himself a glass with great zest, placed it in front of Shirou, and then said to Exusiai and the other two:
"Stop wandering around over there, eat first. Let's treat this as a welcome banquet! Let's welcome our newcomer."
The moment the three heard there was a newcomer, they rushed over to the side of the dining table. Croissant and Exusiai used lightning-fast speed to lay the food out on the table, while Sora and Texas set aside everything that wasn't food.
Before Shirou even reacted, the girls had prepared everything. Exusiai and Croissant hooked their arms around his shoulders, one on each side.
"Boss, Boss, what position is he applying for? Is our team finally going to get a proper caster to trash those shield guys?"
Exusiai and Croissant both wore excited expressions.
"No, he's a houseman, in charge of looking after your daily lives." Emperor took a sip of red wine, shattering the pair's fantasies.
"A houseman?"
"Looking after our daily lives?"
"Him?"
Exusiai, Croissant, and Sora emitted sounds of confusion.
Although Texas didn't voice it, she also wore a look of confusion.
Emperor slammed his cup down onto the table and pointed at the surroundings:
"Look at this level of cleanliness, then think about your place!"
The girls instantly went silent, and then their gazes turned away to one side one after another.
"Um... that wasn't a mess! It's just that there were slightly more items, that's all!"
This was Exusiai's defense.
"That's right, that's right. A portion of my merchandise is in there, too."
This was Croissant's defense.
"My things are all inside my room."
Sora explained.
"As long as you can sit and lie down, it's fine."
This was Texas's minimum requirement.
"..."
Although Shirou hadn't seen the state of the girls' rooms yet, he could already sense that the future was going to be quite busy.
"So, your great and handsome boss spent money to hire someone to take care of you. Aren't you going to thank me?"
"Boss! Our forever good boss." Exusiai and Croissant both wiped tears that didn't exist at all.
"Mm... then please take care of me from now on, okay? You can call me Sora, hee-hee, I have a junior now too!" Sora reached her hand out toward Shirou, wearing a thoroughly happy expression.
"Please take care of me, Senior Sora."
Shirou reached out to shake it in a perfunctory manner.
"Eh... although I'm happy to be called senior, just addressing me as Sora is fine."
Sora smiled shyly.
"Just call me Texas."
Texas, meanwhile, handed Shirou a slice of pizza. It was the classic Siracusan style, consisting of simple cheese and tomato sauce.
"Alright, Texas."
Shirou took the pizza from Texas, took a bite, and then his shoulder was tapped.
"You can call me Sister Croissant, you know?"
Croissant, standing beside him, patted Shirou's shoulder.
"Just call her Croissant. After all, even the great senior didn't ask for honorifics. Also, just in case you haven't been introduced, my name is Exusiai."
Exusiai, beside them, shoved Croissant back into her chair and pointed at herself in introduction.
Shirou memorized it slightly: the one with blonde beast-ears was Sora, the one with black beast-ears was Texas, the one with orange bovine horns was Croissant, and the one with a red halo was Exusiai.
And that penguin with an underworld aura in front of him was Emperor, as well as his future boss.
Well, aside from Texas and Sora, everyone else didn't seem particularly reliable.
"If you have any requests, bring them up now. I'll have people prepare them these next few days; if you think of anything later, just tell these girls and let them help you prepare it. Take a good rest for a while, you can start working in about a week or two."
Seeing that Shirou didn't seem frightened by the Penguin Logistics crew, Emperor hopped off his chair in satisfaction.
"Ah... well, could I get some books?"
Shirou thought about it. The things he needed seemed a bit numerous, but blurting them all out at once didn't seem very good. He could just buy them himself later once he had a salary.
However, Emperor seemed to see right through Shirou's thoughts, waving a large hand and saying, "Don't overthink it. Even though I said to make requests, at most it'll just help you handle clothes and other daily necessities. But considering your condition, I'll prepare some books on common sense. I remember you've forgotten a lot of common-sense things, right? Spend these next few days getting a grasp on what Originium is from Texas and the others; don't go and get infected with Oripathy out of nowhere. If an employee gets infected with Oripathy, it's a huge hassle."
Having said that, Emperor pushed open the door and left.
Seeing Emperor leave, Croissant spoke to Shirou with a look of deep regret:
"You missed out on hundreds of millions! If it were me, I'd definitely skin the boss alive."
"No, no, no, you're thinking too much. If you dared to do that, the boss would dare to cut your horns off and use them as decorations."
Exusiai advised him as someone who had been through it.
Back in the day, she had been just as young as Croissant, trying to take advantage of the boss in this regard, and then she had been tied to the ceiling to be used as a fluorescent lamp.
The boss was a simple person: be polite to him, and he wouldn't do anything to you, but if you tried to take advantage of him, you had better make sure you weren't caught—otherwise, he had plenty of ways to mess with you.
"Don't corrupt the newcomer!"
Sora attempted to stop the two from instilling strange, scamming knowledge into Shirou.
"Phew..."
Texas poured herself a cup of hot coffee. Watching Shirou—who was surrounded and somewhat at a loss—and the girls bustling around him in play, the corners of her mouth lifted slightly. She took a sip of coffee, enjoying this somewhat noisy yet wonderful daily life.
04 The Golden Door
After the farewell banquet, Shirou looked at the living room. Although it had been tidied up, it was still somewhat chaotic, and he felt as though he was already looking at a future version of himself who was either cleaning or on his way to clean.
Fortunately, Sora had brought some trash bags down from upstairs, otherwise this garbage might have just piled up on the table.
"Heh-hsh." Shirou skillfully washed and sorted the items, then packed them neatly into the trash bags.
In no time, the living room returned to its original state. Shirou picked up his spare clothes and headed toward the bathroom.
"It's a good thing I cleaned the bathtub this afternoon, too. I can take a proper soak... Hm?"
While changing clothes, Shirou discovered that there was a piece of red cloth inside his pocket.
It was the Holy Shroud.
Yet Shirou remembered placing the Holy Shroud on the bed. Exiting the bathroom to place the Holy Shroud on the living room table, Shirou returned inside, washing up and soaking in the tub all in one smooth motion.
Soaking in the bathtub and enjoying it, Shirou let out a long breath.
Once things quiet down, I somehow feel even more panicked.
Before you continue