None of this was common knowledge for ordinary people, but unfortunately, neither of the salaries Shirou was currently earning could be considered ordinary. As a result, whenever he had free time, he ended up doing the assignments the others gave him, and naturally memorized all of it.
They were not particularly pleasant memories.
Incidentally, the assignments were arranged by Yith, while the three officers from the Guard Department were responsible for supervising him.
"But freezing it does not mean the problem is completely solved. It is still better not to carry it around."
Taking the frozen Originium explosive from Frostnova's hand, Shirou opened the window and tossed it outside. Then he threw the blade in his hand after it, splitting the explosive apart in midair.
The Originium explosive detonated in the distance, but the resulting blast was far weaker. The cloud of dust it raised was almost instantly scattered by the fierce winds.
Freezing was indeed effective, but if it was going to explode, it could still explode. The safest solution was still to detonate the thing in a relatively secure location.
"Eh? We could have taken it back and used it."
Frostnova, who had not reacted in time, could only watch helplessly as Shirou threw away the explosive and even followed up by slicing it apart.
Shirou: "..."
Looking at the regretful expression on Frostnova's face, was she trying to get him to project one later?
"Forget it. Originium Arts are more useful anyway."
Though she found it somewhat wasteful, it was only a damaged Originium explosive. Losing it was no great loss.
Reaching out, Frostnova used a bit of effort to close the window.
Outside, the storm was raging. Powerful winds carried sheets of rain that slammed endlessly against the building. During the brief moment the window had been open, a puddle had already formed on the floor.
Even Frostnova herself had been drenched while closing it.
She did not particularly care, however. Catching a cold was not something she worried about. Besides, the outermost layer she was wearing was the cold-weather coat Shirou had given her, and its exterior was waterproof.
"Anyway, there is nobody else here at the moment. Aside from that explosive, I did not find any other prob—"
"If there is nothing else, I will go check the other areas."
After confirming that Frostnova did not seem concerned about getting soaked, Shirou finally relaxed and reported the results of his investigation.
The entire first floor contained only the people gathered here. All doors and windows had been tightly shut.
The school's windows were of fairly good quality. Despite the violent wind and rain, they only rattled occasionally and showed no other problems.
Overall, it was an excellent shelter.
Unfortunately, there were not many people inside. Those who had arrived earlier were staying on the third floor, while those who came later had probably been driven away by them.
"Mhm... If there are no problems, then you can go—"
Frostnova nodded at first while listening to his report, but then suddenly realized something was wrong.
"No! Hold on! You are staying right here. Stop running around!"
This guy really had not given up.
And she had nearly let him talk his way past her.
"Tch."
Shirou clicked his tongue as Frostnova pressed a hand onto his shoulder.
"Stop it. At the very least, wait until the Catastrophe ends. Besides, what you are seeing now is only the beginning of the real Catastrophe."
Naturally, Frostnova had noticed the look of utter displeasure on his face.
Yet she had no intention of releasing him.
If she let go now, there would probably just be one more corpse added to the Catastrophe.
From the very beginning, she had noticed that Shirou was in terrible condition.
Perhaps he himself had not realized it, but she could see it clearly.
The sky was dark, and he was covered in dirt and grime, yet the pallor of his face was still obvious. Even his breathing rhythm was wrong.
Noticing this once more, Frostnova tightened her grip on his shoulder, preventing him from breaking free.
"...The real beginning? What do you mean?"
Upon hearing those words, Shirou looked as though he had just heard a horror story.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump-thump. Thump-thump-thump-thump.
He could feel his heartbeat accelerating abnormally fast.
His brain felt like a computer that had suddenly opened too many programs at once, freezing under the strain.
"You do not seriously think a Catastrophe is nothing more than a storm, do you?"
Seeing his face turn even paler, Frostnova loosened her grip slightly before continuing:
"Although I am not a Catastrophe Messenger and cannot provide professional data analysis, I have witnessed plenty of Catastrophes in Ursus. What you see now is nowhere near their true limit. Even if this Catastrophe was artificially brought forward, that remains true."
"..."
Hearing her words, Shirou began reviewing everything he knew about Catastrophes.
Most of that knowledge had come from books.
But books were not absolute truth.
He had already learned that lesson when studying related subjects on Rhodes Island and making a fool of himself more than once.
The only Catastrophe he had actually seen was that half-formed tornado.
Even though it had merely been a nascent Catastrophe, he had poured an enormous amount of effort into defeating it.
Back then, he had been lucky.
He had encountered a Catastrophe that happened to be one he could handle. All he needed to do was destroy the critical point, and the entire phenomenon would collapse.
It was simply a case of the situation being perfectly countered by his abilities.
But what about this Catastrophe?
The dark clouds blanketing nearly the entirety of Chernobog, an entire mobile city, were nothing like before.
There was no single point he could target to solve everything.
He understood that perfectly well.
That was why his plan had been to guide as many people as possible to safety and wait out the storm.
And now Frostnova was telling him that this was not even close to the Catastrophe's true limit?
At that moment, Shirou felt as though he had returned to that sea of flames once more.
Blazing flames devoured everything around him, yet all he could do was watch helplessly as others died.
He hated that feeling of powerlessness.
Even though he knew that failing to save those people back then had not been his fault, he still hated that feeling.
"Calm down."
Noticing Shirou's breathing becoming increasingly rapid, Frostnova hurriedly lowered the surrounding temperature with her Originium Arts, physically forcing him to cool down.
She did not know what exactly drove him to work so hard.
For the sake of complete strangers?
Was that not far too flimsy a reason?
Although Reunion had always helped the oppressed Infected throughout Ursus, they only did so when they could guarantee their own safety.
The last person as reckless as Shirou had already been reduced to nothing, not even ashes remained, only a small red crystal was left.
Back then, she had been unable to stop him because she had been one of those being protected.
But this time, she could stop it.
She had the ability to do so now.
"Precisely because this Catastrophe was artificially brought forward, the buffer period is much longer than with normal Catastrophes. Most people have already found suitable places to shelter."
"Even if you go searching through the streets, you will only be wasting your strength. You would be better off resting here and joining the disaster relief efforts after the Catastrophe passes."
As she spoke, Frostnova carefully watched the expression on Shirou's face.
Her words seemed to have had some effect.
His breathing steadied, though his complexion remained pale.
"Really?"
Shirou looked lost as he asked the question.
What Frostnova said was logical and well-supported. Now that he had been forced to calm down, he remembered that while searching nearby, he truly had not seen many people.
"Really. Sit down and get some proper rest first... I forgot to bring candy, so I will make it up to you later. I saw some jerky earlier. I will go get it for you. Stay here and do not run off!"
Seeing that Shirou had apparently calmed down, Frostnova directly pushed him into a nearby chair.
She had originally planned to give him some of her candy, but she was not carrying any at the moment.
That was fine, though.
There were plenty of supplies nearby.
She had heard earlier that there was preserved meat among them.
After all, he had given her part of his rations. Giving him some candy in return would only be fair.
Now that Shirou had calmed down, she herself had also regained her composure and realized that her earlier behavior had been somewhat impulsive.
To her, Shirou was still little more than a stranger she had only met once or twice.
Perhaps it was because he had draped a rather nice-looking coat over her shoulders.
Or because he had given her the last of his food.
Since she had accepted his kindness, she could not simply stand by and watch him engage in behavior that was practically suicide.
Or perhaps...
Perhaps she had seen the shadow of someone long gone in him.
Whatever the reason, she had already acted and successfully stopped him from taking the next step, at least for now.
The most important thing was to get some food into him before he changed his mind again.
"Fine."
Pressed into the chair and forced to calm down, Shirou leaned back against it and began organizing his thoughts.
First was what Frostnova had said about the Catastrophe not having truly begun yet.
His gaze shifted toward the window.
The fierce wind and rain outside battered the glass relentlessly. He had never witnessed weather this violent before.
It was difficult for him to believe that this was still not the Catastrophe's limit.
But...
Her reasoning made sense.
And one point in particular was important.
This Catastrophe had been artificially triggered ahead of time.
If that was the case, then having unusual characteristics was perfectly reasonable.
Catastrophes.
Originium.
Arts.
The Infected.
Originium Arts...
There were simply too many factors on this land that Shirou could not properly evaluate.
His understanding of these things was limited.
Certainly, he knew far more than the average person by now, but when faced with a real situation, he still could not use that knowledge to analyze and fully comprehend what was happening.
That simply was not his area of expertise.
Thinking this, Shirou let out a deep sigh.
For now, he would listen to Frostnova and rest here.
He had been tense the entire time, so he had not noticed it before, but the moment he sat down, drowsiness began washing over him.
Just in case, however, he still cast Reinforcement Magecraft on himself.
If he heard anyone crying for help, then it would not matter what Frostnova said.
He would move immediately.
Closing his eyes, Shirou listened carefully to the sounds around him.
The voices of Frostnova and the Reunion members as they searched through supplies.
The sounds of people upstairs moving barricades.
...And beyond that, the endless roar of the storm.
The sounds of conversations between the students and civilians on the upper floors drifted down as well.
Extending his awareness farther outward, Shirou heard nothing besides the howling wind and pounding rain.
That allowed the anxiety weighing on his heart to ease slightly.
No one was exposed to danger.
That was the best news he could hope for.
After confirming there were no cries for help, Shirou remained in that state.
Not only could he immediately notice if someone needed assistance, but the constant background noise around him also made it difficult for him to fall asleep.
"...Did he fall asleep?"
The members of the Yeti Squadron naturally noticed Shirou sitting in the chair with his eyes closed.
After all, his golden glowing eyes had been one of the few light sources nearby, making him particularly conspicuous.
Now that he had shut his eyes, two glowing lights had disappeared, and they found themselves feeling oddly unaccustomed to it.
However, they quickly pushed the matter from their minds.
There were still plenty of supplies to sort through.
"Keep your voices down... and go upstairs to find people who are familiar with Catastrophes. See if they can analyze what this one is likely to do next."
Hearing her teammates' comments, Frostnova glanced in Shirou's direction.
Judging from the way his ears twitched from time to time, he was probably only resting with his eyes closed.
Still, the fact that he was willing to sit down and rest was already an improvement.
After reminding everyone to keep the noise level down, Frostnova assigned a few people to go upstairs and look for those with experience dealing with Catastrophes.
Catastrophe Messengers were a profession highly prone to becoming Infected.
After all, they spent their lives dealing directly with Catastrophes.
In Ursus, many Catastrophe Messengers and related personnel eventually contracted Oripathy and were subsequently sent to the mines. Therefore, it was perfectly normal for some people here to possess relevant knowledge.
They became infected while surveying Catastrophes and warning others of the danger ahead.
Yet despite that service, their status remained little different from that of ordinary Infected.
Some were even captured by villagers and exchanged with Ursus authorities for a small amount of food.
It could only be said that the status of the Infected in Ursus was truly miserable.
"Wait! Something is wrong... Get down!"
With his eyes still closed, Shirou suddenly heard an unusual sound.
It was not a human cry for help.
It was a deep, rumbling roar.
The instant he heard it, the unease lurking in his heart surged forth again.
Without hesitation, he shouted for everyone to get down.
The moment the words left his mouth, the ground began to shake.
"An earthquake? No... it is a meteorite!"
Frostnova steadied herself against a nearby piece of furniture and looked out the window at the culprit behind the tremor.
A gigantic Originium crystal.
It was far taller than any nearby building.
It had fallen from the sky, crashing into the earth with enough force to trigger violent tremors before leaving behind a colossal Originium formation standing upright in the distance.
"Lungmen profanity... So this is a Catastrophe?"
Shirou practically ground the words out through clenched teeth.
The worst-case scenario he had imagined had become reality.
He had considered the possibility from the very beginning.
When Frostnova mentioned it earlier, he had felt the premonition growing stronger.
But seeing it with his own eyes was another matter entirely.
Even Shirou could not stop himself from cursing.
Why had every single worst-case scenario he imagined actually happened?
Was he simply cursed with terrible luck?
Or were the Boss and Yith's mouths just that poisonous?