That evening, in an abandoned building somewhere within Lungmen's slums...
"So this guy is one of your targets too?"
Looking at the group of people busily moving about in the distance, Shirou asked.
"He is. Officer Chen asked me to keep an eye on him. The Guard Department has had him under surveillance for a while now, but they never had a chance to move in... Wait. Too?"
Beside him, Rope was speaking while peering through a small pair of binoculars. Halfway through her explanation, she suddenly realized something and turned toward Shirou with a puzzled look.
Why had the two of them suddenly ended up together in this abandoned building?
Originally, this had been Rope's carefully chosen observation point. The ten-story building was mostly a ruined shell, with more than half its rooms missing doors, so she did not consider herself to be trespassing.
As for why Shirou was here...
It was simply because Rope had called him midway through his own operation.
Rope had no idea how Shirou had found his way here. If he had been trying to locate her and happened to stumble into the area, suddenly appearing within sight of the target would have been dangerous.
Not dangerous for Shirou.
Dangerous for her.
That was why she had contacted him by phone, preventing him from accidentally walking into the group's line of sight.
Fortunately, the people below had spent the entire afternoon busily preparing something. They kept burying objects around the area and continuously gathering additional manpower.
Thankfully, Rope had called Shirou before he got too close.
Otherwise, he definitely would have been spotted.
"Yeah. These people brought a lot of dangerous goods into the city through Penguin Logistics. The boss sent me to recover them."
Without taking his eyes off the group below, Shirou answered her question.
He was carefully observing where they were placing traps.
If fighting broke out later, it would be useful to know which areas to avoid.
Not that the traps were particularly threatening to him.
Still, if possible, Shirou preferred not to return covered in dirt and soot.
And there were...
A lot of traps.
Some of them were even linked together in chains.
If he accidentally triggered a few, this entire district would become extremely festive.
"Then... maybe we should wait for Officer Chen? She will be bringing a team over soon, I am here to make sure the target does not leave."
After learning why Shirou had come, Rope offered a suggestion.
She did not have any grand strategy in mind.
She simply felt that more people meant greater safety.
"Do we know exactly when they will arrive? If we wait too long and they finish setting up all those traps, things could get troublesome."
Examining the scene while estimating his own condition, Shirou asked.
If Chen and her team would take too long to arrive, handling things himself might be the better option.
Once all those Originium explosives were fully deployed, he suspected the situation would become rather difficult.
"...At the earliest, thirty minutes. They cannot spare personnel right now."
Hearing his question, Rope immediately pulled out her phone and contacted Chen.
The reply came quickly.
"Thirty minutes? Maybe that could work..."
After hearing the estimate, Shirou began calculating.
Thirty minutes was not terribly long.
But it was enough time for the group to plant several more traps.
Maybe waiting for Chen's team was still possible—
...No.
The situation had changed.
The instant Shirou sensed something was wrong, he wrapped an arm around Rope and jumped straight out the window.
"Wha!? Whaaaaaaaat!?"
Before she could react, Rope felt someone suddenly grab her around the waist.
The next thing she knew, she was plummeting toward the ground at terrifying speed.
Normally, she could descend from buildings using her grappling hook.
But that only worked from the second or third floor.
This was the tenth floor!
And she did not even have her grappling hook ready!
There was no safety line, no cushion.
Nothing.
They were simply hurtling directly toward the ground and worse still, she was facing downward.
The visual impact alone was horrifying.
"Trace on—"
Ignoring Rope's scream, Shirou immediately projected his gun-blades and fired several shots upward.
At the same time, he shifted his footing and veered sharply to the right.
"Tsk, they got sharp senses. They ran fast but why are there two of them? I thought there was only a purple-haired Caster. Where did this red-and-white-haired kid with guns come from... Wait. Is he the one who spent the whole afternoon wrecking our other bases? Someone from the Guard Department?"
At the window of the floor where Shirou and Rope had been hiding, a man cautiously leaned out only after the gunfire had ceased.
Unfortunately for him, he could not spot a single trace of them.
He had thought this time he had finally cornered his targets.
Instead, the moment he reached the floor, they had escaped.
And they had escaped by jumping off the tenth floor.
That was simply ridiculous.
He had never seen an escape route like that before.
After muttering a few complaints, he picked up his communicator and informed the others about what had happened.
Meanwhile, Shirou continued carrying Rope through the streets of the slums.
Only after putting considerable distance between themselves and the building did he finally slow down.
"They actually discovered us!? It's a good thing you were there, Shirou. If I had been alone, I would probably be finished."
By the time Shirou started firing toward the building, Rope had already understood what was happening.
However, she had been too busy calming herself down from the terrifying fall.
She had also been worried that speaking too soon might attract unwanted attention.
Only now, after Shirou slowed down, did she finally dare to talk.
"They probably noticed me while I was moving into position... Let Officer Chen know. I am planning to launch a direct assault."
Setting Rope down on the ground, Shirou said calmly.
Shirou could have counterattacked immediately just now.
However, Rope had been beside him.
The room had been far too cramped. If the enemy chose not to engage directly and instead started throwing things inside to wear them down, protecting Rope would have been difficult.
He could certainly block direct attacks such as crossbow bolts and Arts.
But he could not stop the Originium dust produced after an Originium explosive detonated.
That was why he had chosen to grab Rope and retreat.
Fortunately, the enemy had brought only a small number of people in order to avoid attracting their attention.
Otherwise, Shirou might have ended up fighting them on the first floor.
And then he would have been forced to drag Rope straight into the enemy's headquarters.
Compared to that, the current situation was relatively favorable.
The downside was that they probably could not afford to wait for Officer Chen's reinforcements anymore.
Without Shirou and Rope keeping watch, there was a very high chance the group would simply flee.
If those people escaped with such a large stockpile of Originium gunpowder, neither the Guard Department nor the citizens of Lungmen would be getting a peaceful night's sleep anytime soon.
"...Understood. Be careful, Shirou. There are quite a lot of people in there. This afternoon alone, I saw dozens of vehicles carrying both personnel and supplies into the compound."
Although Rope wanted to stop him, she knew there was nothing she could say that would change his mind.
In the end, all she could do was pass on every piece of information she had gathered.
"Yeah, got it. Find somewhere safe and hide for now. Meet up with Officer Chen when she arrives. Stay safe."
After nodding to show he understood, Shirou gave Rope one final reminder before retracing the route he had taken earlier.
"..."
Watching his departing figure jog away, Rope pursed her lips.
In the end, she turned and ran toward one of the safe locations she had identified nearby.
At the same time, she pulled out her phone and directly called Officer Chen to explain the current situation.
Having survived in the slums for so long, Rope knew exactly what she should be doing in circumstances like these.
She knew her own limits.
Fighting even one armed opponent would be difficult.
Fighting multiple enemies at once was completely out of the question.
Going along would only get in the way.
After all, she had already passed every piece of intelligence she had gathered to Shirou.
The only thing left for her to do was exactly as he said:
Find a safe place, contact Officer Chen, and lead the reinforcements over when they arrived.
That was her role now.
"What a hassle... If the Guard Department were already here, I would not have to think about all these problems."
Following the route he remembered, Shirou headed back toward the enemy position.
One hand held a gun-blade.
The other held his phone as he called Yith to explain the situation.
"Think about tactics? I always thought your battle plan was to walk in with two guns and solve everything. I did not realize strategy was involved."
Yith naturally heard Shirou's complaint and responded immediately.
At the same time, the sound of furious keyboard typing echoed through the phone.
"Is that seriously the image you have of me!?"
A question mark practically appeared over Shirou's head.
"What else would it be? For the record, my previous impression of you was 'Lungmen's Fireworks Master.' Honestly, this sudden influx of fireworks powder into Lungmen is partially your fault."
Yith could not see Shirou's expression, but he still found time to reply.
After all, Shirou only needed to worry about getting to the battlefield.
The detailed intelligence gathering and operational planning were Yith's responsibility.
Chatting with him a little to ease the tension seemed like a good idea.
"'Fireworks Master'... Are you trying to say those Caladbolg shots I fired in downtown Lungmen made the city's residents develop a sudden obsession with fireworks?"
The moment he heard that explanation, Shirou felt his face begin to twist.
He had assumed the city imported so much fireworks powder simply because people liked setting off fireworks during the Lunar New Year.
Now Yith was telling him there was a good chance it had happened because of him?
Lungmen citizens! Could you please stop joining every spectacle you see? You have already turned it into a major incident!
"Correct. There is no prize, though. The drones have already surveyed the area. There are barely any civilians nearby, so you can fight without holding back. No need to worry about collateral damage."
After answering Shirou, Yith began listing several viable battle plans.
The first thing to consider was Shirou's personality.
He hated involving innocent bystanders.
That meant understanding the local environment was extremely important.
This district sat near the edge of Lungmen.
The population had always been sparse.
Furthermore, this group had driven out most of the remaining residents several days ago.
At this point, almost everyone still present could safely be assumed to belong to the enemy.
"That is good news. But the amount of explosives are a problem. If they all go off at once, that entire area is probably getting flattened."
Receiving at least one piece of good news, Shirou relaxed slightly.
With no civilians nearby, the number of options available to him increased dramatically.
At the very least, he would no longer be restricted to using his gun-blades purely as intimidation tools while relying on close combat.
The biggest issue remained the traps and Originium explosives.
Flattening a district was one thing.
The chain reaction of explosions could easily spread to nearby structures.
"Why do you think the area is so sparsely populated? It is located on the outskirts. Illegal entrants frequently try to sneak into Lungmen through this district, so public security has always been poor. That is one of the main reasons this group chose it as their base.
"Second, the buildings here have poor seismic resistance. Every time Lungmen moves, the area shakes heavily, so residents gradually relocated deeper into the city."
Hearing Shirou's concerns, Yith felt a headache coming on.
He had already explained things pretty clearly.
How had Shirou not connected the dots?
This was not very Penguin Logistics of him.
If Exusiai had heard the phrase "barely any people around," she would already be preparing the largest explosives available.
Why was Shirou still being so cautious?
Then again, that cautious attitude was probably why the Guard Department never held a grudge against him.
In fact, it was the reason Wei Yenwu occasionally recruited him for work.
If Shirou had possessed even a little more of the typical Penguin Logistics mindset, Wei Yenwu would never have considered bringing him aboard.
At most, he would have negotiated some small agreement with Emperor.
Still, Shirou's willingness to work so hard had helped Emperor squeeze quite a few concessions out of Wei Yenwu.
So...
Was Shirou the only one losing out?
No.
Shirou did not seem to mind at all.
In fact, he appeared to enjoy it.
The real loser was Yith.
Whenever Shirou encountered a situation that was difficult to handle, Yith had to provide technical support.
In simple terms:
He had to work overtime.
Thinking of that, Yith felt his headache worsen.
"Got it. So what you are saying is that even if I flatten this place with an Caladbolg, that would still be acceptable?"
After taking a few seconds to think it over, Shirou felt he had finally understood what Yith was getting at.
"...That is a bit excessive. Do not forget that Lungmen is a mobile city. If you swing that thing here, the entire city will shake. Besides, the Guard Department wants prisoners alive. They need to pry information out of these people."
Yith nearly failed to process what he had just heard.
Who could have predicted it?
Just a few seconds ago, he had been internally criticizing Shirou for not having enough of the Penguin Logistics spirit.
And now Shirou was proposing something even more outrageous than Exusiai would.
At least, Yith had not seen that coming.
It took him several seconds to reorganize his thoughts before persuading Shirou not to do anything reckless.
"Oh. Then the usual approach?"
Even through the phone, Shirou could more or less imagine the expression on Yith's face.
His suggestion about using Caladbolg had only been a joke.
It was simply his way of getting back at Yith for teasing him earlier.
After all, even if Yith had already surveyed the area, that did not guarantee there were absolutely no civilians nearby.
As long as there was uncertainty, Shirou would never casually deploy a large-scale weapon like that.
"Let us stick to the usual plan. Compress their operating space a little and make sure they cannot escape. After that, we can leave the cleanup to the Guard Department when they arrive."
After calming himself down, Yith quickly slipped back into work mode and began outlining the most effective tactical approach.
He knew Shirou was extremely capable.
But after an entire afternoon of fighting, facing a large number of enemies, dealing with countless traps, and still needing to leave survivors behind for interrogation...
Even the most capable person would find those conditions exhausting.
So the solution was simple.
Let Shirou do what he was best at:
Overwhelming fire suppression.
Then wait for the Guard Department to arrive and handle the aftermath.