8 Chapter 8

[Third Person's PoV] 

Erza blinked a few times, unsure of what she was seeing in front of her. "Well, aren't you cute little creatures?" she said before petting Puck.

"I take it you're a spirit yourself since you know where we are," she guessed.

"Well, it's mostly a feeling I'm getting, plus I can sense a whole bunch of spirits in the vicinity," Puck said, nodding his head with his arms crossed.

Erza just smiled at Puck, finding him cute, before looking towards Futarou in confusion. "How don't you know where we are? You brought us here, after all."

"First of all, I didn't mean to do that. I didn't even know it was going to happen. And second of all… Why the heck were you on a mountain in the middle of nowhere?"

"I always go alone in the mountains to train my swordsmanship," Erza explained. "Now the question is, why were YOU up in the mountains all by yourself?"

"I wanted to train my ability away from people in case something happened, which clearly did happen. It was my first time using it, so I didn't know I would be transported somewhere else entirely," Futarou explained as he slowly got up from the floor, dusting himself off.

Erza then looked at Futarou in confusion. "What even is your ability to be able to do this?" she asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

"Hello, nice to meet you too. Would you like to know my social security number as well?" Futarou said in a mocking tone.

Erza blushed when she heard that. "Sorry, I know abilities are supposed to be something people keep private. I didn't mean to pry."

Futarou just rolled his eyes. "That wasn't what I was getting at. You haven't even introduced yourself yet."

A look of realization came over Erza as she stood up straight, offering her hand with a serious expression. "The name is Erza Scarlet, pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Futarou Uesugi, the pleasure is all mine."

Futarou then nodded. "My ability is Summoning. I can apparently summon creatures from different realms. It was my first time activating it, so I didn't know it would end up this way. Sorry for dragging you along."

Erza just shook her head. "If I minded my own business, this wouldn't have happened, so it isn't entirely your fault."

"Now we just have to find a way out of here…" Futarou said, looking around. He started to see balls of small lights of different colors, along with tiny fairy-looking creatures, but he also noticed something else—they were all keeping their distance and shaking while looking in their direction.

"Is it me, or do they look scared of us?" Futarou asked.

Erza looked around and started noticing the same thing, causing her to lift a brow. "Is it because we're humans?" she pondered.

To which Puck let out a sigh and went to sit on Futarou's head. "That's because of me, sorry, guys."

Erza just reached over and started petting Puck. "How can they be scared of such a cute animal?"

"It's my status as a Great Spirit," Puck explained. "Due to my status as one of the four Great Spirits, little spirits are scared of me. Sorry, kiddo, looks like because of me you're going to have a tough time making new contracts."

Futarou shrugged his shoulders. "That's not really something I'm worried about. I'm happy with you, honestly."

"Aww shucks, stop it, you're going to make me blush," Puck said with his paws on his cheeks.

Erza just smiled at their interaction before looking around. "You're right, though. We do need to find a way to escape."

"I have a theory on how, so it shouldn't be a problem," Futarou said before he started walking in a random direction.

"What is it?" Erza asked, following close behind, with her hand on her sword on her side, looking around and keeping her guard up.

"I think I need to make a contract with a new spirit to be able to leave. This only happened when I tried to summon something, so maybe, just maybe, for me to actually summon something, I need to either tame it or make a contract with it," Futarou explained, with a hand on his chin as he continued walking.

"I see… that makes sense. In that case, since I'm here, I might as well help you," Erza said with a serious expression and a nod.

Not having anything else to say, Futarou appraised her, curious to see what it would reveal about her.

[Name: Erza Scarlet]

[Age: 15]

[Rank: S+]

[Ability: Re-equip]

[Info: Erza Scarlet, daughter and heir to the Scarlet family, one of the major leading families known to have contributed greatly during the re-establishment of society and driving the monsters back into the gate.] 

'The hell, she's like a princess or something in this world?' Futarou thought before appraising her ability.

[Re-equip: an S+-rank ability granting instant armor and weapon switching in combat. Its potential increases with the quality of stored armors, enabling the warrior to adapt and excel with unmatched versatility and power on the battlefield.]

'Not bad, just like in the anime… In this world, her abilities are more helpful and advantageous. With monsters dropping different items, her ability will definitely be used more appropriately,' Futarou thought.

His thoughts were soon interrupted by Erza as she then asked, "By the way, have we met before? I feel like I've seen you somewhere before, but I can't place my finger on it."

"Yeah, we did. We bought strawberry shortcake at the same time," Futarou said as he looked around, unsure of where to find something to make a contract with.

Erza slammed her fist on her palm. "That's right, that's where I remember you from. But you look so different now. You used to look so…"

"Skinny? Weak? Unimpressive?" Futarou asked with a smirk.

"I wouldn't say all that. Skinny would be along the lines. Well, it's at least good to see you have some discipline to be able to change yourself for the better," Erza nodded.

What followed was a silence between them before Futarou asked, "You seem like a lady from a high status, so why would you be training in the mountains? I would have assumed you have people to train you or something."

"It's a matter of discipline. Yes, I could have it easy and have people train me, but I would feel it would be too easy and would lack any substance towards wielding a sword. So I push myself by going to nature and training myself there. I just so happened to be in the mountains before hearing a commotion and going to check it out, and you know the rest," Erza said, explaining her reasoning.

Futarou nodded in understanding before they were filled with another silence. But this silence wasn't awkward; it was a comfortable silence as they enjoyed the scenery that the spirit world had to offer. Even the air was cleaner and smelled fresher.

Futarou then gained a confused look which Erza managed to notice. "What is it?"

"I feel something attracting my direction a few miles ahead of us," Futarou explained.

"It's most likely a spirit to which you have a high compatibility towards," Puck explained.

"I thought I had a high affinity towards all spirits," Futarou asked to which Puck nodded his head in agreement.

"And you do, but there are some spirits in which you would have a higher compatibility towards more so than others, which has nothing to do with affinity. It's true that affinity plays a major part in forming a contract with a spirit, but if the two of you aren't compatible, it just wouldn't work no matter how much you force it," Puck said, lecturing them.

"I see, so I better check it out then…" Futarou muttered before turning to Erza. "Follow along."

Futarou then took off running at a fast pace, while Puck held on to his hair as he ran. Erza didn't seem to have any trouble keeping alongside Futarou as they ran.

After a few minutes of running, they ran over a tall hill before coming to a complete stop as they watched in awe at the beautiful scene in front of them.

In the middle of a lake, a giant wolf made entirely out of water laid with its head resting on top of its paw, while smaller spirits looked like they were taking care of it.

[Image]