Unfortunately, Shirou's idea of returning to Lungmen could no longer be realized.
Because he could already see Rhodes Island in the distance.
The procedures for boarding the landship were entirely handled by the members of Blacksteel. Lappland and Shirou basically just sat obediently inside the vehicle waiting around without doing much of anything.
Honestly, the entire trip had been like that.
The two of them looked less like passengers and more like they had hired Blacksteel to escort them to Rhodes Island.
The price paid for that service was Shirou providing Jessica with sniper training guidance.
As for that, Shirou already had some preliminary ideas in mind, though he still needed to observe Jessica's condition further before deciding anything concrete.
Meanwhile, Lappland remained extremely curious about the scene she had witnessed earlier and continuously questioned Shirou about it.
It was not just Lappland either. The four members of Blacksteel sitting in front were also very curious.
However, as professional mercenaries, they generally avoided prying too deeply into their clients' affairs.
Of course, if the client accidentally revealed something in front of them, that was a different matter entirely.
Unfortunately for them, Shirou clearly had no intention of discussing the topic.
Ever since hearing Lappland describe what she saw, he had remained lost in thought.
Only after catching sight of Rhodes Island's main landship did he finally return to normal.
Naturally, he was not pretending to think just to avoid their questions.
He genuinely had been pondering something seriously.
Unfortunately, he failed to arrive at any answer he personally considered reasonable.
The relationship between Originium on this land and his magical energy...
No matter how hard Shirou thought about it, he simply could not understand why Lappland had been able to see his memories.
Eventually, he gave up trying to think about it altogether.
That habit was something he learned from Exusiai.
According to her, life became much happier if you stopped overthinking certain things.
Happiness really could be that simple.
"Alrighty then, delivery complete! We will decide later whether we want to take the return trip commission too! We are going off to handle our own work now!"
After the vehicle reached the designated area, everyone finally got out.
Aside from Shirou and Lappland, who had spent nearly the whole trip resting, the others had all been diligently working the entire time.
Now that they had returned to Rhodes Island, they could finally relax completely.
There was still work waiting for them, of course, but at least this place was far safer.
After stepping out of the vehicle, Franka stretched lazily before speaking to Shirou.
"Do you need any help?"
Watching Jessica and Vanilla skillfully open the rear compartment and unload the materials collected from the Acid Originium Slugs earlier, Shirou felt that he should at least be able to help with something small.
He had spent the entire trip idling around, after all.
He needed something to do.
"No need. Are you not supposed to go see Doctor Kal'tsit first? I asked around for you earlier. She should currently be in the medical department office, so you should head there first."
Before Franka could even respond, Liskarm rejected Shirou's offer first.
Then, after noticing Jessica nearby, she suddenly remembered the request she had entrusted to Shirou earlier.
"Tonight I will contact you using Rhodes Island's communicator. I will have to trouble you again then."
"Mm... alright, understood."
After being turned down, Shirou did not insist further. He simply nodded before preparing to leave alongside Lappland.
He was never the type to stubbornly force himself into helping others.
If someone needed assistance and asked for it, Shirou would help depending on the situation.
If they refused...
Well, that depended on how close they were and what the matter involved.
After all, Croissant once told him that a person's bottom line should remain flexible.
"Haaah... this feels kind of strange. Not carrying weapons around makes me feel like something is missing."
After leaving the unloading area, Lappland, who was walking ahead, let out a massive yawn.
Her two greatswords had been forcibly left behind at the office by Shirou. The pair she used earlier for warming up were only temporary projections borrowed from Shirou's abilities, and he dismissed them into particles of light immediately after the fight ended.
Honestly, that ability felt incredibly convenient.
As long as Shirou was around, weapons could practically be treated as disposable items.
Unfortunately, Shirou himself was far too powerful.
Rather than supporting others, he was better off simply fighting personally.
Otherwise, Lappland might genuinely have considered persuading him to become her permanent teammate.
"I already told you, we came here for medical treatment, not fighting..."
Hearing Lappland's complaint, Shirou answered helplessly.
It was precisely because of Lappland's battle-crazed personality that he intentionally left her weapons back at the office.
That way, if she wanted to fight, she would either have to visit the training grounds to spar more safely or request weapons from him like earlier.
Though Lappland always behaved politely around other people...
Shirou more frequently saw her crazier side instead.
Granted, that usually only happened during battle. Under normal circumstances, Lappland was surprisingly easy to deal with.
Ever since the earlier incident, though, she had started acting mischievous again, to the point where Shirou briefly saw flashes of two certain troublesome brats in her behavior.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. We are going to see Doctor Kal'tsit first, right? If I remember correctly she is the head of Rhodes Island's medical department."
Faced with Shirou's endless muttering, Lappland directly covered her wolf ears with her hands to show she understood.
Then she asked about their next destination.
"Yeah. Though technically speaking, we were supposed to meet Doctor Kal'tsit tomorrow. But since Miss Liskarm already helped ask around, we should go greet her first. It will also make it easier for Doctor Kal'tsit to arrange things."
Shirou nodded as he explained.
Originally, after arriving at Rhodes Island, they were supposed to first apply for temporary lodging for the next few days, then find something to do for the evening before undergoing medical examinations tomorrow.
There was plenty of time regardless, so taking a detour to see her now was not a problem.
And if she happened to be busy, they could simply leave immediately.
It probably would not inconvenience her too much.
"Got it. Do you have any plans for tonight?"
After confirming the schedule, Lappland asked.
"I might need to teach Jessica how to use firearms tonight... other than that, probably nothing? Why?"
Hearing Lappland's question, Shirou thought about it for a moment. Aside from the training session they had just arranged earlier, he probably had no other plans.
But why was Lappland asking?
"Nothing much. Just asking out of politeness, I do not really know anyone here anyway, so I will just stick with you."
After getting her answer, Lappland turned around while walking backward ahead of him and smiled as she spoke.
Then Shirou placed both hands on her shoulders and forcefully turned her back around.
"Please watch where you are walking. Walking backward is dangerous."
After forcibly turning her around, Shirou spoke seriously.
"..."
The smile on Lappland's face instantly disappeared after being turned around by force.
This guy...
Was he genuinely clueless or just pretending?
Lappland found Shirou's behavior deeply puzzling.
However, that confusion was quickly answered.
"Not watching where you are going is dangerous. Rhodes Island has lots of children around. It would be bad if you accidentally bumped into one of them... and if you accidentally step on the wrong thing outside, it could even bring about a deadly disaster, you know?"
Shirou was now sincerely trying to correct her earlier behavior.
That last part came from personal experience.
If Lappland had not brought it up just now, he probably would not even have remembered the incident.
"Then I will just turn everyone who tries to kill me into mille-feuille."
Lappland replied with an extremely "kind" smile on her face.
"...Just be careful."
Seeing that expression, Shirou understood immediately that she no longer wanted to continue the conversation.
She had even used the code word "mille-feuille." Clearly, Lappland's mood had worsened quite a bit.
Shirou was fully aware that this was probably because he had been nagging too much.
It could not be helped.
If Exusiai and Croissant fell into the category of troublesome children, then Lappland resembled a rebellious teenager far more.
Nagging was completely ineffective against unruly children, but it could still have some effect on rebellious teenagers.
Though...
There was always the risk of overdoing it and making them rebel even harder.
Those were lessons learned from Fujimura-sensei, combined with a little personal experience of his own.
"Hmph."
Turning her head away, Lappland quickened her pace toward the medical department.
Watching her reaction from behind, Shirou could only smile helplessly before following after her.
Rhodes Island looked much the same as it had the last time he visited.
Many operators and doctors moved through the hallways, and occasionally a few children could be seen running around the corridors.
As the two approached the medical department, the number of people gradually increased.
Which was only natural.
After all, Rhodes Island was fundamentally a pharmaceutical company, and medicine remained its core focus.
"Good day, Mister Shirou."
The moment he entered the medical department, Shirou saw a white-haired woman greeting him.
Her tone was incredibly flat, almost mechanical.
"Good day, Miss Ptilopsis."
The woman showed no intention of greeting Lappland, so Lappland simply ignored her in return.
Mainly because she did not know who the woman was anyway.
Shirou, however, clearly remembered Ptilopsis's name.
After all, her peculiar way of speaking left quite a strong impression.
"Are you here to see Doctor Kal'tsit? She is currently handling some administrative work and will likely require a little more time. You may need to wait briefly."
After politely nodding toward the two of them, Ptilopsis immediately identified their purpose for coming.
It was not difficult to guess.
After all, Shirou was a patient personally designated by Doctor Kal'tsit herself for treatment, so he was obviously here to see her.
"She is busy? Will it take long?"
Learning that Kal'tsit was currently occupied did not surprise Shirou much.
She already seemed like someone buried beneath an enormous amount of work.
Those eyes that seemed able to see through everything just like Yith's eyes, looked exactly like the eyes of someone drowning in endless responsibilities.
He asked casually because if it was going to take too long, he and Lappland could simply leave and avoid disturbing her.
After all, this was the medical department. Doctors and patients constantly moved around here, so the two of them were somewhat in the way.
"According to my calculations... Doctor Kal'tsit should come out in approximately several minutes."
After hearing Shirou's question, Ptilopsis calmly answered.
Shirou had absolutely no idea how she calculated that.
Still, if she said several minutes, then waiting a little seemed reasonable enough.
Sure enough, several minutes later, Shirou saw Doctor Kal'tsit emerge from inside while holding a terminal device.
"Shirou? Why are you here?"
When Kal'tsit stepped out and spotted the red-haired figure standing ahead, she briefly thought she was seeing things.
After rubbing between her eyebrows slightly, she finally confirmed that the person before her truly was Shirou.
But there should still have been quite some time before their originally scheduled appointment.
Why had he arrived early?
Did something happen?
In an instant, countless possibilities flashed through Kal'tsit's mind.
If Kal'tsit ever learned that Shirou had come early for his medical examination simply to escape awkward stares, she would probably consider hanging him from the deck as well.
"I just happened to have some vacation time, so I figured I would come get the examination done while I had the chance," Shirou explained.
"I see. Unfortunately, Amiya had already arranged time off for this... now it seems the only thing left is to let her rest properly."
Kal'tsit showed no sign of doubting Shirou's explanation.
Rather, she simply had no energy left to be suspicious over something like this anymore.
At this point, she and Shirou were effectively partners working toward the same goals. If she continued treating him with the same level of suspicion as before, it would only become unnecessarily exhausting.
"Hm? Amiya? Time off?"
Hearing Kal'tsit's words, Shirou looked confused.
Why had Amiya specifically arranged vacation time?
If it were someone like Rosmontis or Blaze, Shirou could understand it. After all, he had interacted with those two much more frequently.
But Amiya...
Aside from their last major interaction, she had mostly been occupied with her own work afterward.
Despite only being around thirteen years old, the amount of work she handled already exceeded that of all four members of Penguin Logistics combined.
"She said she wanted to talk with you about some things... and it also seems she wanted to do something with you specifically. She will probably invite you to help with something later. When that happens, you can decide for yourself whether you want to accept."
Seeing Shirou's confused expression, Kal'tsit calmly explained.
At the same time, she warned him in advance that Amiya might ask for his assistance with something, and that the final decision would be entirely his own.
In other words, when the time came, he was not allowed to use Kal'tsit as an excuse to avoid it.
This outcome was already the final conclusion reached after discussions between Rhodes Island's elite operators and several other members. Even Kal'tsit herself no longer had the authority to change it.
However, since the proposal originally came from Amiya, Kal'tsit simply dumped all the preparation work onto her.
As a result, once this vacation period ended, Amiya would likely become even busier than before.
Which was why Amiya had originally been looking forward to this break so much.
If Kal'tsit remembered correctly, Amiya had planned to use the vacation to properly spend time with Shirou while also showing him around the entirety of Rhodes Island.
But now that Shirou was already standing here ahead of schedule, all of Amiya's plans had effectively fallen apart.
"Mm... understood. When the time comes, I will decide after hearing the details of the request."
After listening to Kal'tsit, Shirou frowned slightly as he replied.
From her tone alone, he could already tell that this request would probably become troublesome.
He had previously promised everyone at Penguin Logistics that he would stop casually accepting random commissions, so naturally he was not about to agree immediately.
Ultimately, everything depended on what exactly Amiya wanted him to do.