13 Connection

[ EX Skill Card received ]

[ Your physique has been bolstered beyond its limitations through unknown means ]

"Eh…?"

"Hm? What's wrong?" The girl beside me inquires.

"Oh, nothing! Just got lost in thought for a moment." I offer her a reassuring smile.

'This is…wasn't EX the highest tier? This skill card could be a game-changer... and my physical abilities boosted? Ah, that explains the lightness I'm feeling.' A subtle grin creeps onto my face.

'Thanks, my enchanting Goddess. I love you!'

"So? Do you have a plan?" I ask the girl beside me.

"Um… I was thinking of asking the people around here…"

"…and?"

"…and hope for the best?"

"…" I regard the girl with a blank expression.

"D-don't give me that look! Do you have any better ideas, then?" She pouts at me with an aggrieved expression.

"Acting cute won't get you anywhere with me, you know?" I tease with a smirk.

"I-I'm not acting cu-" She stops abruptly as the sound of someone crying reaches us.

I scan the surroundings and notice a little girl standing at the side of the road, tearfully searching for help.

"Hey. Doesn't she seem like she's lost?" She nudges me, drawing my attention.

"Seems that way, huh? What about finding your insignia, though?"

"That's important too, but if she's lost, we should do something."

"Hm…you make a good point. Now that we've noticed her, we can't just leave her like that." I glance at the green-haired little girl.

With her silver hair dancing behind her, she trots across the street toward the crying child.

The girl, her eyes filled with tears, noticed someone approaching her. There was a glimmer of hope in her gaze, as if she thought the person she had been searching for had finally found her.

"I'm sorry, I'm not the one you were looking for. What's the matter? Aren't your mom and dad with you?" The girl wears a gentle smile as she inquires.

Unfortunately, the sudden approach of a stranger seemed to frighten the little girl.

"…waaaaa," she begins crying again.

"H-Hey… Don't cry. I won't do anything to hurt you, okay?" The girl starts to panic, trying to reassure the distressed child.

'Seriously? Welp, I guess I have to take out my secret weapon…' I stride over to the girl.

"Behold, mortals! Feast your eyes on this!" I announce dramatically, crouching down and started making funny faces at the girl.

"…" The scene falls silent.

'C-Come on…Don't just be silent! I sacrificed my dignity here!'

Just as I'm about to dig a hole to bury myself in, fortunately…

"…pftt…hahaha…big brother is weird…" The little girl's beautiful giggles grace my ears.

"I know, right? Don't worry; I get that a lot. This big brother is what you would call 'an alien'. So I do a lot of weird things. Now…" I say with a gentle smile as I pat the girl's head.

"Tell big brother what's wrong, okay? Me and big sister will for sure help you!"

"…mmn…" She nods meekly.

I extend my hand, and the little girl takes it with a hint of hesitation.

The silver-haired girl next to me widens her eyes.

"You really look like you're used to this…is your profession taming children?" She asks me with an innocent expression.

"When you take it out of context like that, that sounds really, really bad! I don't want the FBI at my door, woman!"

"Afbeai? What's that?" She tilts her head curiously.

"Forget about that! Let's help the girl, okay?" I grasp the girl's little hand firmly as we begin walking down the street.

I ask her a few questions, and she answers them.

"I see. So you got separated from your mother, huh? Don't worry! Just leave it to big brother and sister. We'll find her right away!" I give her a toothy grin.

We continue down the main road through the waves of people together.

We were both holding each of the little girl's hands.

As we proceed down the road, the girl lets out a little gasp and runs ahead of us.

"Mommy!" The girl cries out tearfully.

"Ah! There you are!" The mother hugs the little girl tightly.

"Thank you so much!" Once the girl's mother is reunited with her child, she thanks us several times, though we just smile and play it off as if it were nothing.

Once the two left, I let out a satisfied sigh as I stretched out my arms.

"Haah…we finally got her back to her mother. Hehe…come to think of it. The way we were earlier, don't you think there are some people out there who look at us and think that we're a young couple with our child?" I give her a teasing smile.

"At the very best, I can only see you as her older brother…" She says with a smile.

"What makes you think I'm so much younger than you!? I doubt there are too many years between us!" I retort back with an aggrieved expression.

"…I don't think you'll get anywhere guessing that. However old you think I am, I don't think you're very close... After all, I'm a half-elf…" She mutters as she looks down at the ground.

A mix of thoughts runs through her mind, but the predominant emotion etched on her face is one of hopelessness.

'Half-elf? Does that cliche race exist here too?'

"Well, I guess it makes sense. You check all the boxes, after all. You can use magic, and you're cute as hell. If that doesn't scream elf, then I don't know what does..." I let out a soft sigh as I examined her features.

"Huh?"

'Yeah, her ears are slightly pointed. I've stumbled upon an actual elf! Can you believe—hm? Why is she making that face?' I look back at her with a hint of confusion.

"What's wrong?"

"D-Didn't you hear me? I-I said I was a half-elf…" She shakily pointed at herself.

"Yeah…I heard you the first time."

"…ah." She lets out a slight gasp.

Suddenly, she turns away from me and kneels down on the ground, holding her silver-haired head in her hands.

"W-What's wrong?" I inquire.

Just as I was about to step forward, something small emerged from her hair and playfully bopped me on the face with its soft paw.

"Take that!"

"Ow! What the hell was that for?" I stared at the diminutive cat with a puzzled expression.

"I just had to do something about this unbearable tingle I'm feeling!" The cat purred and shivered on the spot.

"Y-You little…I won't accept being punched for a reason like that!" I shot him an aggrieved look.

"I mean, I'm not really mad at you or anything. If I had to say one way or the other, I'd say it's the opposite." The cat smiled.

Before I could question him further, the girl had already turned around.

Twisting the ends of her silver hair in her fingers, she glared at me with a small blush on her face.

"Y-You really are a dunderhead!"

"Dunderhead? Who uses that word nowadays? Also, I have a name!"

"Hm? Come to think of it, we haven't exchanged names yet! Should we all introduce ourselves?" The petite cat suggested.

"Oh, yeah, you're right. So much happened that it already slipped my mind. I'll introduce myself first, then!" I smile as I face them.

"I'm Kurogane Ryota! Nice to meet ya!" I give them a thumbs up.

"That's a very strange name. Kurogane was it?" The girl says.

"Kurogane is my family name. You can call me Ryota!"

"I'll go next! I'm Puck! Nice to meet you!" The cat flies forward and dives down to shake my hand with its tiny paw.

"Nice to meet you too, Puck!" I shake Puck's paw gently.

"And? What's your name?" I say as I look at the girl.

"…My name is…" A strange look appears on her face, but she shakes her head and smiles at me.

"I'm Emilia. Just Emilia." She says, smiling brightly.

'Damn, her smile is too beautiful…Is everyone in this world pretty as hell or is it just her?'

"Nice to meet you, Emilia!" I return her bright smile.

"Now that we've introduced ourselves, let's get back to searching around," Emilia suggests.

"Will you still help me, Ryota?" Her eyes lock onto mine.

"Of course! If there's one thing I won't ever do, it's going back on my word!" I assure her.

"Ryota… thank you…" She smiles gently.

We resume our search, strolling down the main road again.

'Hmm... I did a lot today. Met a Goddess, got transported to another world, narrowly escaped death, and officially became an adventurer. I also helped that little girl earlier. I'm having so much fun. Thank you, my Goddess…' I express my gratitude once again.

'Come to think of it, I could have located that little girl's parents with my Fatestrider Gaze. I could have traced her threads all the way back to her family…wait a second!' I halt in my steps.

"Hm? What's wrong, Ryota?" Emilia glances back at me.

"Emilia! Tell me where it got stolen!" I exclaim, holding her hand tightly.

"H-Huh?" Her face reddens at the unexpected touch.

"I-It got snatched somewhere in the commercial district…" She replies.

"Do you know where specifically?"

"Y-Yes. What's this about?"

"Don't worry about that! Just lead me there!" I urge her with an expectant expression.

"O-Okay…" She nods meekly.

She walks ahead of me, guiding me through the streets, and comes to a stop at a certain road surrounded by food vendors.

"This is the place where my insignia got stolen. Why did you want to know?" She asks me, confusion evident in her eyes.

Puck emerges from her hair, placing his paw on Emilia's lips.

"Shh, Lia. I think he's gonna show us something interesting…" Puck smiles.

"Puck…mnn" She nods.

I survey the area, taking in a deep breath.

'Here goes nothing…' I open my eyes wide.

"Fatestrider Gaze!" My eyes turn multicolored as ethereal threads spread out around me.

Unbeknownst to him, Puck's eyes widen in shock.

'Those eyes…'

"Ryota…" Emilia gazes at me with concern.

I look around and examine the different threads.

'I can instinctively tell one person's thread apart from the other if I have seen them once…this can work!' A smile creeps onto my lips.

'Crap, there are too many of them! It's like finding a needle in a haystack! Oh wait!' I suddenly have an idea.

'System, filter out all the threads I don't recognize!'

[ Understood ] 

'Yes! It worked!' Thousands of threads around me turn transparent, while a select few begin to glow brightly.

"Found it!" I exclaim.

"Huh? Ryota, what did you find?" Emilia walks over and grabs my hand.

"I found the thief! I met her in that alley, so I recognize her thread! She's in that direction!" I point to the direction the thread is coming from.

"Thread? What are you talking about?" She looks towards the direction I'm pointing at.

"That direction…the slums!" Her eyes widen as she exclaims.

"That does sound like the most likely place she would be at! Way to go, Ryota!" Puck smiles and gives my cheek a slight nudge.

"I told you that I would help you find it! See? Aren't I amazing? You can go ahead and praise me!" I say with a smug smile.

"Thank you! You're the best, Ryota!" Emilia beams as she gives my arm a tight hug.

'…soft…' My face reddens.

"So? You're prepared for death, right?" Puck cracks his paw-knuckles as he dives in and starts to pull my hair.

"P-Puck! You little furball! Unhand me!" I playfully wrestle with the tiny cat, trying to disentangle him from my hair.

"No! This is divine retribution! Take that!"

"I swear I'm gonna pull on your tail, you litt-" We both freeze as melodious laughter wafts towards us from behind.

"Hahaha….you both are so silly!" Emilia laughs heartily, wiping a tear from her eye.

"…I don't recall the last time I saw her laugh like this…thank you, human…" Puck's voice carries a note of gratitude as he slips back into Emilia's hair.

'Puck?' I blink in surprise, gazing at the spot where the mischievous cat vanished.

"Alright! Let's go reclaim my insignia!" Emilia seizes my hand, tugging me along.

I join her in a lively run, a smile dancing on my lips.