Chapter 31: The Lost Child and the New Feature

About 3 days after he was released from the so called "Fluffy hell", he wanted to go with me and explore the town.

We walked outside the hotel and onto the main street. For now, let's head over to the market because that's where most of the people are.

There were people displaying and selling various items. From food, to miscellaneous goods to clothing and items were sold there. Were there any good bargains to be had? People mixed around while searching for things they were looking for.

(『It's pretty lively here isn't it?』)

(『This is tentatively the center of town. You can buy things cheaply here so it's a place that everyone comes to.』)

Kohaku and I didn't hear us talking. Being that we were summoner and summoned beast, we could more or less understand what we were thinking. We didn't really talk out loud because people would think that I was nuts.

Although Kohaku was in this form Kohaku was still a tiger. He stood out after all. But, everyone just looked from a distance, with the reaction of seeing something unusual and didn't overreact at all. Occasionally some girls would pat his head as they passed by.

Because we were in the presence of other people, he pretended to be a tiger cub and Kohaku let out a "Gau gau" which in turn made the girls happily pat his head more. Since he had been liberated from our girl's attention it was a disaster….

But it really is crowded isn't it? We should try not to get separated. Well, even if we were to be separated, I would be able to feel where he was and find him easily.

People kept mixing around me and Kohaku was starting to get restless, it could be bad. I was starting to look troubled. Because of that I picked him up and held him. At first he didn't want to, but shortly settled down.

Just like that we walked around then suddenly, Kohaku looked over to the right, in the crowd of mixing people.

(『Master, is that not Yae over there?』)

(『Eh?』)

Abruptly, I looked in the crowd and followed Kohaku's glance, over at the edge, on the side where the flow of traffic wouldn't be interrupted, Yae was squatting down. There was also a girl of about 4 years of age sobbing in front of Yae. Yae was working very hard to calm her down.

「What are you doing Yae?」

「Touya-dono? Kohaku is with you also, degozaru?」

After seeing our faces, Yae shows relief on her face. What happened? That's an unusual expression for Yae.

「…This child is?」

「That is, she seems to be lost, degozaru」

A lost child? In this crowd it seemed to be easy to get lost. I looked around in the vicinity while thinking so. In this crowd, looking for the parents will be difficult.

「Ok, what is your name?」

「Uku…Feeee….Mommy….」

It's no use. It's not a place for her name it seems. If she doesn't stop crying we won't be able to ask her anything..

「I also tried to ask her things like her name, where she came from, but she wouldn't answer at all degozaruyo.」

Yae sighed as she let out a worried face. Fumu, we need to get some kind of information.

I put Kohaku in front of the girl. The girl momentarily startled but pinched her face again and was about to cry again. I ordered Kohaku in my heart.

『What is your name?』

Kohaku speaks to the girl. The girl who until now was ready to weep at any moment looked at the tiger cub and blinked. Then blinked again, and had a puzzled look.

『What is your name?』

「...Rimu...」

『I see, it's Rimu is it?』

The girl gave a small nod to Kohaku's question. Great, Kohaku guidance success. Of course, when a tiger cub starts talking to someone they become dumbfounded.. Now then, let's take a look shall we?

「Search: Rimu's family」

I activated the no-attribute magic "Search" I should know if they're within a 50 meter radius. ...…No response. Are they not close by?

「Any thing, degozaru?」

「No. At least they're not within 50 meters.」

Un, what should I do? Use "Search" while walking around? The weakness of "Search" is the retrieval range is considerably small.

Huh…wait a second. To me if I were to look at a normal person I wouldn't be able to determine if that is "Rimu's family." Isn't it obvious that nothing would be retrieved using this method? To not recognize or if there really isn't anyone one there, that isn't something that I can determine using this magic. I don't know the criteria.

It feels like the time when I did the poison search. I didn't know what kind of poison it was, but if I were to taste it I would die, it was poison, and that's how if found it? It was the same with Vanilla, because I knew what vanilla smelled like it was able to find it… it was something like that.

It was true that if a human was to tell themselves "that's wrong" then they wouldn't be able to judge it.

Let's get a little more information.

『Who did you come here with?』

「Mommy」

『Your mother….do you know what the color of your mother's clothing is?』

「Um....Green clothes」

Kohaku asked questions and little by little Rimu gave Rimu's mother's information one after the other. Hair, brown, long hair; Green clothes, silver bracelet; Blue eyes; not fat. That's good, it was possible to get a general image in my mind. With that information I might be able to recognize Rimu's mother. One more try.

「Search: Rimu's mother」

No response. It's no good huh?

「Anything, degozaru?」

Yae asked but I shook my head. The search range is still too small. If I were able to use my Smartphone app to use it as my search range then it would be a lot of help. I wonder if someone would make me a "Search" app.

...…..Wait a sec.

Map app and "Search". Could it be... lets test that out. I took out my smartphone.

「Enchantment: Search」

I enchanted the map application of my smartphone with "Search". A light shot from my fingertip to the screen and disappeared. Well then, how about now.

I started the map app and the map around me is displayed. Rather than just the market, it displayed the entire town of Leaflet as its search area….I input "Rimu's mother" in the search bar and a pin dropped showing us the location.

「Alright! There's a response!」

Rimu, who had been hugging Kohaku, was startled for a moment when I suddenly shouted but didn't look like she was about to cry again.

I stood up and patted Rimu's head

「Let's go to your mother's place.」

「Mommmmmy!」

「Rimu!」

Seeing a mother and child reunited after being separated for a few hours hugging each other, it was an indescribable feeling. Rim's mother was in the town's guard room. It was something like a police box. After coming and reporting a "lost child" to begin with had hoped that she would be brought soon. Well, in the end it turned out alright.

Yae and I bid farewell with a wave to the mother who was bowing, and Rimu.

「Yae there's something that I wish to try, is that alright?」

「? I don't mind, degozaru?」

We went straight to the coffee shop "Parent", after ordering I asked Yae various things.

I asked things about Yae's house. The exterior, the interior of the gym, every little detail. Whether they had dogs, the Sakura trees in the garden, the pillar with marks of her comparing her height to her older brother's.

After listening to what she said, in the searched for "Yae's house" the map app. On the eastern continent, a single pin dropped over part of Ishen.

I expanded the area. To the East of Ishen's Edo...Hashiba.

「Yae, is your parent's house in Hashiba near Edo? Is there a Shinto shrine nearby?」

「There is, degozaru but...why do you know that much degozaru?」

Yae looked at my face in surprise. Ok, it looks like it was a success. With this app I could search the entire world. That's a great help. If I don't have detailed enough information the search results won't narrow though.

After explaining to Yae, I tried to search for her brother. Yae gave her brother's characteristics, and it was easy to find him.

「There's a dojo right? There seems to be a lot of movement, he might be in a match right now.」

「That is so like older brother.」

While looking at the smartphone screen, Yae smiled.

「Older brother is usually calm, but when it comes to the sword he becomes engrossed with it. He really loves the sword, so much that he forgets to eat.」

Yae happily talks about her brother. With a look of longing at the pin that kept moving on the screen.

「You love your brother, don't you Yae?」

「...That's right, degozaru. He's strong and kind, a good older brother that I love.」

I could understand that much just by looking. Just how much Yae's older brother is important to her.

「Which reminds me, you somehow remind me of older brother. You're calm and a good person degozaru.」

「I'm honored to look like you beloved older brother.」

I smiled wryly while drinking a glass of water. I'm not as strong as her brother is with a sword but, in character I guess.

「That's right, degozaru, beloved...」

While muttering Yae stops. Then looks at me, blushes and in a panic says,

「I- it's not like that you know!? I just wanted to say that Touya and older brother are alike is all, it's not that I like my older brother but that you look alike, I mean I don't dislike you but, um ... older brother is family, right, family, degozaru! Love like family… love!? Li-like I said it's not like that, degozaru, you know!?」

Yae says all that in a single breath. I don't know why she's panicking like that. I think loving her brother is a good thing.

「Sorry to keep you waiting–」

A mountain of food was brought (most of it was Yae's) to the table, Yae, still blushing, unable to look me straight in the eye, began devouring it greedily in silence. You sure do eat a lot....

Maybe she was embarrassed about having said she loved her older brother.. Well, I'll keep the suspicion that she has a brother complex locked away in my heart.