The night of rescue operations also made him understand that when the disaster occurred, people who were holding hands or physically touching one another would be transported together.
Eris's family's maid also told him that at the time, in the dining room, Ghislaine had reacted extremely quickly and immediately hugged the lady tightly.
Because at that moment, the lady happened to be beside the window, concentrating on watching her daughter work hard at practicing swordsmanship in order to take revenge on him.
Eris's grandfather was originally a Saint-ranked swordsman, so he should have had no problem protecting himself.
Although for some reason, his fate had initially felt extremely fragile to Ash, during this period it had somehow become considerably more resilient... He didn't know whether it was because of the butterfly effect caused by his appearance or some other reason.
Of course, the accuracy of these speculations was also difficult to judge. Based on the magic he had researched while observing that ball of light, its reliability was probably only dependable for minor matters?
As for Sylphie's parents, he had already given them money, which should be enough for them to return home together with the people who had been separated from them. As for the other people who were enough to give him motivation, they had either already been found, already died, or didn't need to be worried about.
Therefore, he naturally planned to temporarily stop actively continuing the operation. Afterward, he would first accompany Eris around and find a place for her to stay.
Although choosing a location also required caution... after all, if a pretty noble child was left unattended, the consequences would be serious.
———
That vague observation of fate, like a mass of fog lingering in Ash's mind, unconsciously made him somewhat irritated.
On the way back, he planned to take a route different from the one he had come by, and finally rescue some of those unfortunate people who had been caught in the disaster, treating it as the conclusion to this rescue operation.
After all, the area affected by this sudden Great Transfer was simply too vast. Although it had not yet encompassed the entire Fittoa Region, it was like a gigantic circle drawn across the earth. Saying that the entire region had been transferred would not be an exaggeration, as its area was roughly comparable to that of a small country.
Even with Ash's extraordinary abilities, allowing him to cross two continents in a single night, he was merely flying over them from above while exploring part of the area along the way. Without spending a great deal of time, there was no way to carry out a blanket rescue operation.
Or rather, after a certain amount of time had passed, there was no meaning in conducting a blanket search anymore. No matter how actively he acted, more than half of the people would die.
And while patrolling the sky, he casually killed another group of thieves, but not long after he continued flying... in the middle of a wide grassland, he saw two children hugging each other and crying uneasily.
"Haa... Just how many children is this now?", Ash stood high in the sky, observing the two trembling children from afar, and couldn't help showing a troubled expression, "Let's count these two as the last ones. Once they're dealt with, I'll hurry back first..."
Muttering this to himself, he slowly descended to the ground.
Honestly, everything else was fine, but children who had been separated from adults were the most troublesome group of all.
Anyone else who was a little older, even if they were civilians with no combat ability whatsoever, could simply be shown the safe route and given some money.
But with children like these, giving them money was meaningless. They couldn't walk very far on their own, and someone still had to take care of them... but simply standing by and doing nothing wasn't very good either.
Ash slowly landed on the ground, lightly patting nonexistent dust from his body before walking toward the two children who were hugging each other and crying uneasily.
Earlier, from high in the sky, he had been able to clearly see through his Far-Sight that one was a little girl with smooth blond hair, while the other was a little girl with dark red hair who, for some reason, was wearing a maid outfit.
At this moment, both of them were filled with fear, with tears leaving two clear trails down their cheeks.
"Don't cry, little ones," Ash tried to make his voice sound as gentle as possible. He crouched down and placed his hands on the two little girls' heads, trying to calm them down first.
The blond little girl, Norn, heard his voice and raised her head, looking timidly at Ash with her large eyes still filled with tears. Her voice carried a sobbing tone as she asked shakily, "Wh-who... who are you?? Where are we? Where are Mom and Dad?"
Hearing this, the little red-haired girl in the maid outfit, Aisha, also raised her head. Although her eyes were likewise full of fear, she still tightly held Norn's hand, as if giving each other courage. She looked at Ash cautiously and said softly, "A-are you... a bad person, big brother? Or a good person?"
"...If I have to say, I suppose I count as a good person at a time like this?", He thought for a moment before answering with a smile, "Don't worry. Although I don't know who your parents are, I'll ask someone to take care of you."
"...Mm, mm! I believe you! A handsome big brother! He definitely wouldn't hurt people!?", Aisha in the maid outfit seemed to gather her courage and forced a smile.
The smile was somewhat strained, but it carried a sense of innocence and trust that made one's heart warm just from seeing it. Only...
"Not a bad flattering line. Your parents really taught you... something."
Hearing the forced quality in it, Ash casually flicked her on the head, then reached out and stood up with one little girl in each hand. While thinking about which side would be better to hand them over to, he also asked their names and their parents' names, wanting to see whether they were people he had rescued.
Then... he got several names, including one familiar one.
Aisha's father was "Paul Greyrat"; biological mother: "Lilia Greyrat."
Adoptive mother: "Zenith Greyrat."
And the blond little girl Norn was her half-sister, apparently born to the legal wife, while Aisha was the child born to the family's maid. Their relationship was somewhat complicated. They would occasionally argue in their daily lives, but Aisha would always take the initiative to yield to Norn.
But compared with all that...
"...Paul Greyrat?", Ash muttered this name, unconsciously frowning.
"What's wrong? Big brother? Do you know Daddy?", Aisha widened her eyes in surprise and looked at Ash curiously. Her eyes were full of expectation, as if simply because Ash knew her father, he could immediately take them to find their family.
"No, I don't."
Strange memories surfaced, allowing Ash to roughly guess that the Paul in that village had probably been exposed after cheating, and in the end, he had married both women, with these two children being born respectively.
The two children had been born only a few minutes apart, and both were full-term babies with perfectly healthy bodies. In other words... they must have been conceived within a few days of each other.
To some extent, this made Ash admire him a little.
"...Ah, ah... um?", Norn, whose personality was clearly more timid, gathered her courage and looked at him.
"Hmm?"
"N-no... it's nothing..."
Norn wanted to say something, but she quickly lost the courage to say anything more and lowered her head, no longer looking at him.
Although he didn't like Paul, there was no grudge either, and children were innocent. It would be better to hand them over to someone else, right?
Thinking this, with both hands occupied, he quickly walked toward the edge of the grassland.
The two children were unexpectedly well-behaved and didn't struggle at all along the way.
Perhaps because they had been hungry for an entire day, when Ash took out bread and handed it to them, the two of them ate ravenously like two starving little kittens.
Although the way they ate was somewhat messy, under these special circumstances, it also carried a sense of sadness.
And while their attention was completely drawn to the bread and they had yet to figure out what was happening, Ash quietly opened a teleportation gate, then carried them into it and instantly arrived at the outskirts of a bandit camp.
"Who are yo—Lord Ash!"
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