"Boss!" Exusiai exclaimed in delight. "How are you back so fast?"
"Because I never ride those slow, crawling buses," Emperor said. "The punk who claimed he wanted to challenge me heard I was coming and ran for it, so I bought my records and came straight back."
He looked his employees up and down. "While I was gone, nobody bullied you, right?"
"Of course not," Exusiai said. "We were just unlucky a couple days ago—our four girls all got hauled in by the LGD. Good thing Su Yi didn't get arrested too, or we probably would've had to wait for you to come back before we saw daylight again."
"Su Yi's always had good luck," Emperor said.
As they spoke, Croissant and Sora returned as well. With everyone present, Emperor pulled out a suitcase stuffed with souvenirs.
Coffee beans, volcanic rock, dried Originium-sand-eating beetles, music festival wristbands… he even had a few chunks of obsidian—despite obsidian mining being officially prohibited now.
"Boss, this is Siesta's old specialty—obsidian, right?" Su Yi asked.
Why "old"?
Because obsidian had been over-mined. That wrecked the habitat of the Originium insects that fed on it. The insects' burrowing and nesting pushed them out of dormancy into an active state, triggering several earthquakes. The volcano hadn't erupted, but it remained in a sustained heightened activity state.
Now the local government had issued an explicit ban on further extraction.
"A friend of mine who likes soaking in magma gave it to me," Emperor said. "No idea when he dug it out of the volcano. If you like it, take it."
Soaking in magma… your friend's hobbies are truly something.
Su Yi kept the thought to himself and accepted the obsidian—gorgeous, and undeniably collectible.
As for volcanic eruptions?
Don't bring me along for the decadence, but blame me for the environmental damage.
How long have I even been in this world? Lungmen's broader climate is already a mess and that has nothing to do with me, let alone a volcano in Siesta, hundreds of miles away.
While everyone was dividing up the souvenirs, Exusiai quietly sidled up to Emperor and reminded him eagerly, "Boss, do you remember what you said before you left—about finding Su Yi a fixed partner?"
"Of course I remember. I'm not senile yet!" Emperor opened his beak and bellowed, "Look at me, look at me! Eyes on me—everyone! I've got an announcement!"
When all attention turned to him, he declared, "Starting today, Texas and Su Yi will be a fixed pair!"
Exusiai: ???
You're just announcing it like that?
That's not how company bylaws work. You're supposed to ask for our opinions first. Then we tell you it should be me and Su Yi as partners. Then you ask Su Yi, and Su Yi says he has no objection.
And then—only then—you announce it in front of everyone, with me and Su Yi as partners, unlocking the main storyline!
How are you just opening with "Texas and Su Yi are partners"? That's not how it's supposed to go! I refuse to accept this!
After making the announcement, Emperor finally remembered to ask the people involved. "You two don't have any objections, do you?"
Su Yi didn't particularly care.
Texas noticed Exusiai's pleading look—begging her to refuse. She silently told herself, Sorry. This is for your own good, and agreed to the boss's arrangement.
"Actually, I think Su Yi and Exusiai partnering up makes more sense," Sora suddenly spoke up, trying to fight for Exusiai. "One of them keeps triggering incidents, and the other has been blowing up schools since she was little."
"Sora…" Exusiai was so moved she was practically trembling.
"And then I spend every day chasing behind them cleaning up their mess, right?" Emperor imagined the hellscape and started cackling—guttural penguin noises pouring out.
His records. His liquor collection. His hideout… No. Absolutely not. Those two could not, under any circumstances, be paired together.
Besides, having Texas mentor new employees was an excellent tradition Penguin Logistics had maintained ever since its founding in 1093—and a rite of passage for joining the company.
Not to mention Su Yi had been the one Texas picked up in the first place. They already had a foundation.
Sora wanted to say more, but Croissant suddenly grabbed her wrist, stopping her.
Happiness had to be fought for by yourself. What were they doing, pushing Exusiai forward from behind every time?
What next—when Exusiai and Su Yi finally ended up in the bridal chamber, they'd still be behind them pushing her hips?
Time to let go.
Emperor scanned the room. Seeing that even Exusiai—the former partner—didn't openly object, he finalized the decision.
As for how long this fixed partnership would last…
Emperor hoped it would be ten thousand years.
Because he had absolutely no desire to recruit anyone new. His current bunch of monsters and maniacs already caused more than enough trouble.
Add even one more and he might need to find a Beast Lord to help him clean up after them.
"Since nobody has any objections…" Emperor said. "Texas, Su Yi—there's an armed escort job this afternoon. Simple stuff. Perfect for you two to get in sync."
Having just made a major internal staffing adjustment, Emperor immediately couldn't wait to assign work.
"Understood," Texas said, as sparse with words as ever.
"Finally, something with a little weight to it," Su Yi muttered. "I was starting to think Penguin Logistics was actually a logistics company."
After lunch with everyone, the newly formed two-person team took a short break and began preparing for the afternoon's armed escort mission.
Texas's kit was as simple as always: two Originium sword handles and a box of Pocky.
By comparison, Su Yi—being an ordinary person—had a lot more to prepare.
First, firearms. At least two: a semi-auto and a handgun. Switching weapons was always faster than reloading.
Then magazines, body armor, a radio… tactical equipment.
And finally, nonlethal smoke grenades and flashbangs.
"Why are you bringing etched rounds?" Texas asked when she saw that one of Su Yi's four magazines was loaded with live, etched ammunition. "They're not allowed in Lungmen's city limits, and they'll slow you down."
A single full magazine of etched rounds weighed more than the other three magazines of rubber rounds combined.
Su Yi's answer was simple: "I might not use them—but I can't afford not to have them. Like your swords. Most of the time you're not cutting people with them, but when you need them, the tip has to be sharp enough."
Texas considered it, decided the logic held, and let it pass.
Once ready, the two of them drove to the designated location.
Before long, a box truck with the words "ARMORED ESCORT" printed on the side rolled to a stop in front of them.
A slit opened in the door. The person inside spoke cautiously, verifying the passphrase:
"Alone in an empty room, I 'make a wife' with my hand—too ashamed to tell anyone."
Texas nudged Su Yi with her elbow. Only then did he reply, "On the screen, an Eastern-country girl; on the desk, paper laid out nice and neat."
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
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