After briefly learning about Lungmen's recent situation from Hoshiguma and receiving her permission, Shirou organized some information that did not involve internal Guard Department secrets and sent it to Yith.
As for the fact that Hoshiguma seemed to be intentionally hiding something...
Shirou simply pretended not to notice.
That was not something he needed to know.
He only needed to be the one carrying things out.
At the very least, he could still choose his targets for now.
As for thinking and strategizing, it was better left to professionals.
For example, Yith.
"Hah... There is still some time left. I will stop by the shooting range before heading to Officer Chen place."
First yawning, Shirou then took out his phone to check the time. Realizing it was still early, he decided to head to the shooting range first.
Since he was already here, he might as well finish the daily work Chief Wei Yenwu arranged for him.
Coincidentally, during these past few days, he had gained a few new ways into firearms usage.
Now he had even more things he could teach the Guard Department members who used guns.
Toward the people in the Guard Department, Shirou was never stingy.
As long as it was something he knew, he taught them sincerely and wholeheartedly.
Aside from work-related reasons, the main reason was that Shirou hoped the Guard Department's combat capability could become stronger.
Even during operations he personally participated in before, many people still got injured.
And according to Swire, that was already considered fewer casualties than usual.
If his insignificant support could reduce the Guard Department's casualty rate, then that would be quite good.
"...?"
The moment Shirou stepped into the shooting range, he saw a crowd of people already waiting for him while holding the long-range weapons they commonly used.
Their eyes were filled with such intense longing that it honestly made Shirou a little nervous.
If he remembered correctly, Hoshiguma had just said earlier that there usually were not many people at the shooting range lately...
So what exactly was this situation?
"Did they come because I am here?"
Suddenly thinking of that possibility, Shirou sighed.
That really was the only explanation.
After all, he had greeted quite a few people on the way over.
These people probably calculated that he would come here.
Or perhaps if he had not shown up, they would have simply dragged him over themselves.
Just like the way Penguin Logistics invited people.
By directly hoisting them up and carrying them away.
Still, this also meant everyone trusted him quite a bit.
That feeling...
Was actually pretty nice.
Similar to how things felt back at Penguin Logistics.
Thinking that, the expression on Shirou's face softened slightly as he said:
"Today will be a bit shorter. I will come earlier tomorrow. Some of you can start with self-practice first."
Though Shirou himself did not notice it.
Like usual, he removed his jacket, put on the training ground earmuffs, and began helping some Guard Department members who had questions regarding shooting.
Most of them were not first-time students anymore, so Shirou mainly just corrected certain shooting postures.
After all, humans were not machines.
Once someone repeated the same action for a long time, they naturally developed small personal habits.
Some habits might not matter much.
Others, however, could create subtle issues.
Especially for people like the Guard Department members, who constantly engaged in combat.
Those little issues might eventually cause injury.
Or even death.
That was something Shirou could not fully account for.
He could only correct them as much as possible.
Seeing there were only around fifteen minutes left before his scheduled sparring session with Officer Chen, Shirou finally tidied up and left the shooting range.
"Are you ready?"
By the time Shirou arrived at the agreed training area, Officer Chen was already warming herself up there.
Just like usual, she had her hair tied in a ponytail and was wearing a sleeveless athletic top.
Unlike Texas, Officer Chen dressed much more conservatively.
Which meant Shirou did not need to worry about strange distractions during sparring.
"Yeah. I stopped by the shooting range first. Why are there fewer people today?"
Looking around at the state of the training area, Shirou replied.
The place itself was no different from usual.
There were simply fewer people around.
That puzzled Shirou somewhat.
After all, plenty of Guard Department members needed close-combat training.
Normally this place would be packed full.
If Officer Chen had not reserved the training area in advance, they might have needed to find another location entirely.
"There have been many missions lately. A lot of people need rest."
Looking at the training grounds, which were far quieter than usual, Chen pursed her lips slightly before answering.
The number of incidents occurring in Lungmen recently had skyrocketed, leaving many people overwhelmed with work.
In truth, she herself still had plenty of unfinished tasks waiting.
Still, sparing one hour to refine her swordsmanship was manageable.
As for paperwork, as long as she pushed herself a little harder, she could finish it before the end of the workday.
Though she should probably remind Shirou not to overdo it later.
Otherwise, she might still need to head out on a mission in the afternoon.
"Hmm... Then this time I will focus purely on defense and not attack. I will just treat it as some light exercise."
Hearing Chen's request, Shirou did not seem bothered by it at all.
In the past, he always used practical combat to help her accumulate close-range fighting experience.
Even if the improvement it brought Officer Chen was perhaps not particularly huge, small gains accumulated over time.
"Your defensive swordsmanship is the most annoying part though... If you attacked instead, I might not end up this exhausted."
Hearing Shirou's proposal, Chen immediately rejected it.
Every time she sparred with Shirou, those black-and-white twin blades would always "just happen" to block her attack paths perfectly, interrupting the rhythm of her offense over and over again.
Once Chen's offensive rhythm fell apart, he would begin attacking her with different combat patterns. The moment she barely recovered, he would return to a defensive stance once again.
After countless sparring sessions, Chen could clearly feel that her combat experience had grown tremendously, but the problem was that it was incredibly frustrating!
And every single time, Shirou always looked completely at ease!
This was bullying!
Even sparring back and forth with Swire had never irritated her this much!
"...Eh? Is that so? Then this time I will take the offensive?"
Seeing the resentful look in Chen's eyes, Shirou thought back carefully. During their sparring matches, it really was as she said. Most of the time, he had been focused on defending against her attacks.
It was mainly a matter of habit.
"Alright!"
The moment Shirou readily accepted her proposal, Chen decisively picked up two standard issue Guard Department swords and assumed her stance.
"...?"
Shirou suddenly felt as though Chen had tricked him somehow.
Still, it did not really matter. There just happened to be a sword style he wanted to try out.
Last time, he accidentally broke someone else's weapon during practice. This time... two standard issue swords. It should not be a problem.
Those two swords were not even the ones Chief Chen normally used. They were merely spare weapons.
After widening the distance slightly, Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in Shirou's hands.
"Those are...?"
Chen, whose eyes had been fixed on Shirou the entire time, immediately noticed something strange about the pair of blades in his hands.
The white section in the middle of the black blade, and the black section in the middle of the white blade... had been hollowed out?
And the shapes were somewhat different as well.
Rather than saying they were similar, aside from both being black and white, they were practically completely different swords.
Facing Shirou, who had suddenly changed weapons, Chen took a deep breath and focused even harder.
Although she did not know why he had switched weapons, one thing was certain: the offensive that followed would definitely not be simple.
Especially since his eyes had turned golden.
Chen was already starting to regret telling him to take the offensive. Just looking at Shirou in his current state placed a heavy pressure on her.
The main reason for her regret was concern that it might affect her work later that afternoon.
If that concern was removed though... she was actually looking forward to seeing what kind of surprise Shirou would bring her next.
When it came to combat, this man was like a treasure vault, constantly pulling out one unexpected fighting style after another and shattering everyone's expectations.
If Shirou were an enemy, the pressure would definitely be immense. After all, nobody knew what kind of method he would use to fight in the next second.
But right now, Shirou was acting as her swordsmanship instructor, which meant she could further temper herself.
"Ready?"
After quickly adjusting his condition, Shirou gave her a verbal warning.
Normally, he would wait for Chen to attack first. This time, the roles were reversed.
The feeling was rather fresh.
Holding the twin blades in his hands, a single thought continuously surfaced in Shirou's mind.
Destroy the enemy before him.
However, he suppressed that impulse perfectly and charged forward with both swords in hand.
Clang—
The sound of colliding blades rang out, followed immediately by the sharp and grating screech of metal grinding against metal.
The piercing noise made Chen frown slightly, but her expression quickly shifted into surprise.
Because Shirou's other blade had already thrust toward her body.
"!"
Although she knew Shirou would definitely pull back in time, Chen still treated it like a real battle. She immediately exerted force with the sword in her hand to shove Shirou away while retreating several steps backward herself.
The stab did not land, but the consequence of doing so was that her body was now filled with openings.
"Hmph!"
Letting out a light snort, Shirou rushed forward decisively and continued his assault.
Normally, he would certainly pause to readjust himself before attacking again, but this time was different.
After all, this was Chief Chen's request. Naturally, he chose to respect her wishes!
As for injuring her? Impossible. He had already adjusted the projections beforehand. Even if she took a direct hit, at worst it would merely feel like being struck by a stick.
This time, he had made special adjustments. There would absolutely be no safety concerns.
"Haah!"
Meanwhile, as Chen faced Shirou's relentless storm-like offensive, she gradually began grasping his rhythm.
Unlike before, Shirou's attack pattern this time specifically targeted the weak points in her defense, and every strike was direct and straightforward.
This sword style... rather than a sword style, was it simply a method designed purely for killing more efficiently?
If her judgment was correct, every place Shirou chose to attack should have been a vital point on the human body.
Using the fastest and simplest methods possible to directly kill the opponent.
The weakness was equally obvious. The offensive rhythm was extremely simplistic.
Then as long as she seized an opportunity to counterattack, victory would be assured!
Just as Chen thought this, Shirou suddenly connected the handles of the two blades in his hands together.
"...?"
Chen, who had never seen such a technique before, froze for a moment while instinctively retreating to widen the distance between them.
Unfortunately, Shirou had no intention of giving Chen any room to breathe. The connected Kanshou and Bakuya spun in his hands like a fan.
Faced with Shirou suddenly changing the rhythm of his attacks, Chen was defeated after roughly two exchanges.
"F***** Lungmen profanity!"
Thinking that there were not many people around today, Chen decisively cursed after losing in order to vent the frustration of being beaten down just now.
She did not make excuses. A loss was a loss. All she needed to do was learn from it.
After all, this was only sparring.
"Are you alright?"
Dispelling the magecraft around himself, Shirou grabbed a bottle of water from nearby and walked over to check on her.
"I am not dead."
Taking the water Shirou handed over, Chen drank more than half the bottle in one go.
After that, she began recalling the details of their sparring match.
Seeing Chen deep in thought, Shirou did not disturb her. He simply turned around and went to get his own water.
He had maintained an uninterrupted offensive the entire time, giving Chief Chen no choices other than blocking or dodging.
Then, once he realized she was beginning to adapt to that rhythm of attack, he decisively transformed the blades into a double-ended weapon and launched another wave of assaults.
This was very much in line with that Emiya Shirou's combat style, but this attack pattern... pursued offense almost exclusively.
He had seen a similar sword style before. It was the one Texas used, the so-called killing swordsmanship she herself had mentioned.
Everything existed solely for the sake of killing the opponent.
Unless something unexpected happened, Shirou probably would not use it in other situations. He was not a Servant capable of trading injuries with his enemy.
"Shirou, just now... it felt like you held back in many places? What is going on with your left hand?"
Suddenly, Chen opened her eyes and questioned the Shirou standing before her.
After reflecting on the sparring match, although many details were missing, she had still managed to piece together part of it.
She noticed that during his attacks, Shirou primarily fought with his right hand. Most of the time, his left hand merely seemed to be holding another weapon, only occasionally moving to attack as though it were actually wielding a blade.
That was also the main reason she felt Shirou's offense was simplistic, because it seemed he had not gone all out.
"My left hand? There is nothing wrong with it. That combat style is simply centered around the right hand."
The moment he heard Chen's question, Shirou immediately understood what she meant.
According to the combat skills fed back through Alter, what should have been in that hand was not a blade, but a gun.
That was why Shirou had instinctively left his left hand mostly idle, only moving it when necessary.
Naturally, Shirou had no intention of revealing that fact. Projecting firearms and such... if Wei Yenwu found out, it would probably become very troublesome.
For the time being, Shirou did not really want to deal with people like Kal'tsit or Wei Yenwu.
He was still just a high school student. He had no desire to deal with two adults whose minds were full of schemes.
"Then let us stop here for today. Thank you for your help."
Chen did not doubt him either. After all, Shirou knew so many sword styles already, so having one particularly unusual style was not strange.
Still... the Shirou during their sparring session had seemed somewhat unfamiliar.
Thinking this, Chen raised her head and glanced at Shirou, who was currently tidying things up nearby.
"...?"
Halfway through cleaning up, Shirou suddenly sensed someone staring at him. He turned around and looked toward the source of the gaze with a puzzled expression.
Because he still had water in his mouth, Shirou tilted his head slightly to express his confusion.
"It is nothing. Keep doing what you are doing."
Seeing his reaction, Chen confirmed that this was indeed the Shirou she knew.