Fate stared at John as the fire crackled merrily in the background. John leaned back and stared back.

Prota watched them quietly from her position on the sofa, now bored after waiting so long. She was fascinated by John’s behaviour, an attitude she’d never seen him adopt before. It was… so different. Usually, he was either lazy, passive, acting happy, or in a few rare cases, or either truly happy, empty, or angry. However, this… this was something completely different.

He appeared amused, as if he was reading a remarkably entertaining book, or perhaps smooth talking his way into a good deal.

It was the face of someone playing with someone else's mind. But… it was a bit more than that. It was as if he was observing characters in a book and flaunting his superiority as someone who knew everything that would be to come…

While she didn’t think those thoughts exactly, she suddenly understood John’s mindset a bit more. He was a [Reader] reading into the world.

That was how he was able to predict all the information he was predicting about Fate. He was guessing based on the fact that the world was just a [Story].

“...” Prota continued to stare at the two passively, a third contender in an unannounced staring contest.

It was interrupted by a knock on the door.

“...” John frowned. “Are you expecting anyone?”

“No,” Fate said. “Not really. Were you?”

“Yeah, I was expecting your mother to come over for dinner,” John said with a deadpan face. “No, of course not,” he sighed as Fate glared at him. “I don’t even know anyone in this world. Why would I be expecting anyone?”

Fate flinched as John mentioned the words “other world” so causally, but reached for his sword as John slowly walked towards the door. Prota’s eyes lit up as she slowly got off the sofa, magic forming in her hands.

John looked back and got a slow nod from Fate. He reached for the handle and pulled…

Revealing a messenger from the guild.

“Uh… is there someone behind me?” he said nervously, seeing the weapons aimed at him.

“Ah- no, no, don’t worry about it,” John chuckled awkwardly as Fate let out a sigh behind him. “What’s up?”

“What- oh, right. The boss asked me to deliver this.”

John took an envelope from the man and shrugged. “You know what this is about?”

Fate shook his head.

John sighed and ripped the seal off.

“We have a kid looking for his sister. Guess the description? Young elf woman, C rank adventurer. Maybe you’ll meet him someday.

Anyways, that’s not what I wrote to tell you. I need you guys to keep quiet, go on some quests, whatever. John, if you’re there, I’m talking to you specifically.”

John’s eyebrows twitched as he read that part but kept going.

“I don’t know what you guys are planning, but don’t, for Celestia’s sake, go rushing in right away. Wait. I need to talk to you before anything. Keep quiet, one more time, just for John.”

“Signed… Albert,” John finished. “Well, there goes my plan.”

“You were planning on rushing into an unknown enemy without a plan?” Fate said incredulously.

“...yes? Do you know how many stories could be shortened to just a few pages if the hero just confronted- never mind,” John said, stopping as he saw the confusion on Fate’s face.

“Meet me at the guild tomorrow,” John said as he got up to leave. Prota jumped off the sofa and walked over as he wound his scarf around his face, getting ready to head out.

“What- do you have a plan?” Fate asked.

“Yeah,” John nodded.

“...what’s the plan?”

“We talk to the old man,” John shrugged. “See ya.”

~~~

“...”

Despite the mask on his face, Fate was visibly annoyed.

“Something happen between you two?” Albert said, raising an eyebrow.

“No- what? We talked for, like, an hour,” John said with a snort. “How could we have gotten into an argument in that short of a time?”

“How did you know?” Fate said suddenly.

“Know what?” John and Albert responded at the same time. Fate pointed at Albert.

“How did you know he would just rush into things without a plan?” Fate exclaimed.

Albert snorted. “Pfft- you should’ve seen this guy going off to do a B rank quest meant for three or four people. He just rushed in and came back empty handed the first day.”

“And came back with a shit ton of heads the second,” John reminded him.

“...ok,” Albert said. “Sure. Anyways, I’d put him on a leash if I were you,” he grinned.

“...” Fate looked over at John. “Maybe I should.”

“Absolutely not.”

There was an awkward silence before they went on.

“Listen. Fate, I’ve heard from a friend of mine, fellow guild master, that you’ve developed somewhat of a reputation.”

“He’s a child,” John snorted. He was thinking about how young protagonists always were, but Albert seemed to misinterpret John’s message.

“Aren’t you a child?” Albert pointed out. “It’s not like you’re any older.”

“I’m- right,” John nodded, swallowing. He’d almost forgotten about his appearance change. “Yes. I’m a child.”

Albert nodded, letting the topic drop.

“John. You’re sort of famous too, but… for wielding an unknown artifact of unknown capabilities.”

“Nice,” John grinned.

“No, it’s not nice,” Albert sighed. “That’s- it’s not a good thing.”

“How could it not be a good thing?”

“John! Your point is to blend in and gain allies. You’re going to need some good ones for this, regardless of how strong the two of you are. All you’re doing is standing out in all the wrong ways! No one wants to be allied with someone unpredictable like you.”

He sighed and went on. “Anyways, the two of you-”

“Three,” John reminded Albert. “The three of us.”

“Three?”

“You forgot Prota.”

Everyone turned to the small girl, who’d been silent the entire conversation, hoping to be avoided altogether.

“She’s my protector,” John said firmly. “She’s a hell of a lot stronger than me.”

“Her?” Fate said. “The girl?”

“Yeah,” John nodded, crossing his arms. “Problem?”

Prota looked up at John. The look in his eyes was… it wasn’t empty. It was still empty for the most part, but… there was a hint of pride in them. Real emotion. That, in turn, kindled a little flame within her. She would fulfill her role. She would protect that small bit of emotion John was feeling… and maybe, someday, it would be there to stay.

Unfortunately, that day was not today, and Albert went on.

“Fine. Three. The three of you need to start clearing dungeons.”

“Dungeons?” John frowned. Another stereotypical element of an isekai. He wanted to sigh out of frustration, but what could he do about it?

Albert sighed and reached behind him, unfurling a large piece of paper onto his table, revealing a map of the surrounding area.

“Dungeons are caves full of hostile and dangerous beasts. There isn’t a real reason to raid them, considering the dungeon breaks are rare, but they’re full of precious artifacts and resources, meaning they pay off well.”

Prota let out a little sigh as John’s ears physically perked up at the mention of “pay off.”

“However, considering their difficulty, teams of at least four experienced adventurers usually raid them.”

“That’s the number of people I want you two- sorry, three,” Albert said as he caught John’s glare. “I want you three to take a party of at least four people when you go to investigate these kidnappings. The more, the better. You need to develop a reputation and put together a team.”

John rubbed his chin. “That’s not all, right? We could just as easily form a team without going into dungeons. What else is there?”

“...”

Albert leaned in closely.

“This is strictly confidential. This gets out, everything is ruined, alright?”

Fate felt a pressure he’d never felt from Albert before, a sort of intensity that seemed to suck the air out of his lungs. He gulped and nodded.

“Yeah. Got it.”

“We found something that might be their base of operations.”

“What? Where-” John started, but Fate threw his hand over John’s mouth.

“Don’t tell him,” Fate said, already getting the hang of working with John. “He’s going to rush right there.”

“You’ve got the idea,” Albert sighed, sitting back down. “That was close. Regardless, it’s in a dungeon somewhere. Raid a few dungeons, but not too many. It’ll start looking like we’re looking for them, and the last thing we want is for them to run.”

John raised his hand like a schoolboy in a classroom. “Ok, but if we didn’t know where they were, wouldn’t we be raiding more dungeons? Won’t it look more suspicious if we limit ourselves?”

“...what?”

“Think. If we didn’t have the knowledge we do now, then we would’ve just gone out and raided a bunch of dungeons, right? So why not just act normal? They shouldn’t suspect anything if we don’t know anything, right?”

Albert shook his head. “I- no, no mind games. Just stick to the plan, ok? Find a fourth. Go out, raid a few dungeons, bring stuff back or don’t, I don’t care. Once you’re confident in your team, come back, and I’ll give you the location of the dungeon.”

They nodded.

“Alright. With that, we’ll-”

Albert was interrupted as the door swung open, a short boy with curly brown hair stumbling. His face had streaks of soot, and his clothes had splashes of what looked like paint and oil on them.

“...Danjo,” Albert groaned. “How long were you there for?”

“You found her?” the boy exclaimed. “Where is she? Where is she?!”

Albert rubbed his face and sighed. “Kids these days… I’m getting too old for this shit. Danjo, we didn’t find her.”

“Then let me go look for her!”

John got a closer look at the boy. He was about as tall as Prota, which was pretty short, and his face was rough, almost mature. The boy had orange eyes like flames, which were somewhat red from what John assumed was from crying. He looked further down and saw that the boy’s clothes were made of a kind of thick material, sort of like a blacksmith’s. Hanging around his waist were several tools that John didn’t recognize. His bodily build suggested a dwarfen ethnicity, which he was.

“Danjo, it’s too dangerous! Let the adventurers take care of it-” Albert started, then stopped as Danjo whipped a tool off his belt and pointed it at Albert. Electricity started crackling at the tip.

“...a taser?” John frowned. “They have those?”

“Not that I’ve seen,” Fate whispered back as they watched Albert try to negotiate the situation.

“This is new.”

“...hey, kid,” John said, interrupting him. Danjo swivelled to face John, pointing the weapon at him.

“What?”

“Did you make that?”

“Yeah? What about it?”

“Someone teach you how to make that?”

“No, of course not.”

John hesitated for about five seconds before making a decision.

“Old man, you said we needed four, right?”

“Yes, but-”

“We found our fourth.”

Albert shook his head. “John, he’s too emotionally invested in this! Also, he’s a kid! We can’t just-”

“Do you want to rescue your sister?” John said, cutting Albert off.

“What? Of course!” Danjo exclaimed.

“You heard him,” John shrugged. “You gonna say no?”

Albert grabbed John’s shoulder and pulled him over to the side.

“John. Please think about this.”

“I already have.”

There was no sarcasm in John’s voice. He was dead serious.

“...what makes you want to take him, of all people?”

“He’s emotionally invested,” John shrugged. “You don’t understand how good of a thing that is.”

“That’s a terrible thing! He’s going to make rash decisions!”

“And?”

Albert sighed. “John, this can’t be it. Tell me, or I’ll have to force my hand on this.”

John glanced at Prota. “I promised someone I’d rescue their sister. They wanted to help. How can you deny someone the chance to save someone they love?”

“...you sound like you’re speaking from experience.”

“You ever lose someone you could’ve saved?” John shot back. His voice was bitter.

“...fine. You better take care of that kid,” Albert warned.

“I’m sure Fate will be a good babysitter,” John shrugged. “I’m not going to be able to do much, I think.”

“You’re gonna make Fate look after both of you?”

John laughed. “That’s a good point. Don’t worry, Prota will take care of me. I wasn’t joking when I said she was my protector. Just trust the plot- process, old man.”

Albert shook his head. “You goddamn kids. I’m getting too old to keep up with all of you. Go ahead, do it. Just stay safe.”

John grinned. “Can’t make any promises, but… yeah.”

~~~

Fate took his fox back to his room to make a few calls, whatever that meant, and John decided to bring Danjo back with him to ask a few questions.

“So… uh, wanna say anything?”

“Like what?”

“Well… for starters, what’s your full name?”

“Danjo Flintsteel. My sister likes to call me Flint…”

He started to trail off, and John realized this probably wasn’t a good topic to talk about.

“So! What’re those things on your belt?”

“I made these. Artifacts. Aria always said I had a knack for artificing…”

“You- you made all of those? On your own?”

“Don’t believe me?” Danjo growled.

“No, no, I just… how does artificing work?”

“You use magic to make tools. These are magical tools, or artifacts. Do- how do you not know this?”

“Anyways!” John exclaimed, dodging the question. “You make anything particularly cool? Like a weapon, for example?”

“This,” Danjo said, showing his taser again. “I’ve also made a device that shoots knives out of a sort of wristband,” he explained, rolling up his sleeves. “Heat resistant gloves that are thin. Jets for swimming. Simple stuff.”

“...that’s simple?”

“Simple enough,” Danjo shrugged.

“This is a main character,” John groaned. “Of course we just so happen to run into another one.”

“A what?”

“Nothing. Danjo, listen. You want to rescue your sister, right?”

Danjo nodded, conveniently forgetting about his previous question.

“Ok. You need to tell me about her. For starters, is she really your sister?”

Danjo flinched, then retaliated. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? Of course, she’s my-”

“I mean, do you have the same biological mother?”

“...no,” Danjo said quietly.

“Then how did the two of you meet?”

Danjo looked away uncomfortably.

“...fine, wrong question. Danjo, how old are you?” At this point, John was past caring about the kid’s emotions. He was a source of information, and John was going to milk him for all he was worth. It was a strange switch from having shown empathy just a while back, but John wasn’t someone predictable.

“Ten. I was planning on going to Scholaris in a bit…”

“Ten,” John thought. “Kind of young for this… no, it’s a story, of course it’s not young. ”

“How old is your sister?”

“Seventeen.”

“...really? Seventeen?”

“Yeah. Why do you keep questioning me?”

“She was described as a young adult elf…”

“Oh, yeah, she looks older than she really is,” Danjo shrugged. “That’s how she took care of me. Now she…”

He started to trail off again, leaving John deep in thought.

From what he could put together, Danjo had been an orphan until Aria, who he assumed was Danjo’s sister, found him and started taking care of him. Something like that. She would take jobs to provide, probably, while Danjo would tinker…? John wasn’t really sure how Danjo had discovered his talent for artificing but that wasn’t important.

John still hadn’t figured out what he wanted to know.

“Danjo, was Aria… special in any way?”

“Special? Like what? She’s an amazing sister,” he tried.

“I- mm, never mind,” John said shaking his head.

An ordinary person… what did an organization want with ordinary people?

He looked up and noticed Danjo’s eyes shining. He gulped. He hated getting attached, but the situation reminded him too much of a part of his past.

“Just this once,” he muttered to himself. “Just this once.”

“Oi, Danjo,” he said, grabbing the boy’s shoulders. “Look at me.”

The young boy looked into John’s eyes. “We’re going to get her back, ok? We’re gonna go get her back, me, you, Fate, Prota, we’re gonna do it. So don’t cry.”

Danjo sniffled, trying to look tough but mostly failing. He looked to the side, only to see Prota looking at him.

The girl had been quiet and otherwise unnoticeable the whole time, but for some reason, her calm demeanour and the small thumbs up she was giving him calmed him down. She nodded to him once, and like that, a wave of calm washed over his body one last time.

The two of them were an interesting duo. One so chaotic, the other so calm, one so noisy, the other dead quiet, but they worked well off each other. Danjo sniffled one more time, wiped his eyes, and jumped off his chair.

“What first?”