A Small Step Toward Fitting In

"It's a bit troublesome to put someone with an unknown background into the Moth Chasers to Fire's team, but as long as the captain agrees, there are plenty of unorthodox methods. However, I'm more worried about where to assign Kalpas."

"Tell me about the candidates? Perhaps I can offer some advice?" Eden revealed the qualities of a capable and supportive wife.

"... Actually, there weren't many. It was mainly Kevin's team, Hua's team, Himiko's team, oh. and Aili."

"... Kosma hasn't become a captain yet?" Eden's expression turned strange when he didn't hear Kosma's name.

This guy is a veteran who participated in the Third Honkai Eruption! Kevin and Hua, who were slightly later in the same period, have become captains. What's wrong with you?

"Oh, he's Kevin's vice-captain now. It makes sense that a husky attracts a chuunibyou (a person with delusions of grandeur)."

Liu Bai didn't care. In any case, whether or not someone is the team leader isn't that important right now. Besides, that kid Kosma really isn't suitable to lead a team; he doesn't have much leadership ability.

In the past four years, Kevin has gone from being the vice-captain to the captain of other squads.

Sue received a "so-so" evaluation from Mobius after four years of study, and then took charge of a medical team.

"... And don't keep talking about your students like that."

Eden thought about Kevin, who had come to wish him a Happy New Year every year for the past few years, and felt that he should say something nice about the kid.

"Speaking of which, isn't Kevin quite good? I think that kid is very approachable."

"Kevin ... I actually wanted to send Kalpas to Himiko. After all, Himiko is a straightforward and easygoing person, and Kalpas should get along well with her."

Liu Bai stroked his chin, lost in thought.

"But Kevin... it's hard to say about Kevin, but Kosma and Kalpas might get along quite well."

Kalpas is the kind of person who will reciprocate your sincerity if you treat him with sincerity.

It could even be said that any normal person could get along well with Kalpas as long as they set aside their fear—because Kalpas views ordinary people with ordinary eyes.

On the contrary, it's the dangerous guys like Aponia and Mobius who have a hard time getting along with Kalpas Calamity.

Mobius, needless to say, is obviously dangerously unpretentious.

Aponia, on the other hand, is... "the abyss of mercy".

Considering that Aponia would eventually obtain Divine Sound and the more than forty vicious incidents and four hundred dangerous incidents that she would cause by using Divine Sound, this was the only adjective that Liu Bai could think of.

That being said, what Kalpas really wanted most was a "home," right?

Liu Bai suddenly remembered this incident.

"... Never mind, I'll take care of him myself."

Although Eden didn't play a significant role, it still solidified Liu Bai's resolve.

To put it bluntly, it's just taking care of a kid, right? At most, this kid is a bit older, a bit stronger, and a bit harder to fool.

When did I ever need someone else to take care of the kids?

It was simply to let Kalpas feel the warmth of home.

As long as Kalpas identifies it as "home," he will do everything in his power to protect it... and each failed attempt to protect it will make Kalpas feel more guilty and crave power even more.

That's why the desires of Kalpas are so contradictory.

"Actually, if there's a problem you don't know how to solve, it's not bad to pass it on to Aili —she's a big problem herself anyway."

After seeing Liu Bai make his choice, Eden said, half-complaining and half-teasing, but not surprised.

Upon hearing this, Liu Bai rubbed his temples. "... Although my rational mind tells me that Aili is very reliable, I just can't trust her emotionally."

Eden smiled without saying a word.

Another good solution to this problem is indeed to leave it to Aili. However, while Elysia is reliable, she is hard to trust.

"Keep it up, darling." Four years have passed, and Eden has learned to be a little bolder sometimes—after all, although she looks like she's still twenty, she's actually thirty, considered an older single woman, and people really do change after crossing a certain threshold.

"This time, the task is arduous and the road ahead is long."

Chapter 385 A Small Step Towards Integration into the Community

"Although we've met once before, let's get to know each other again. Let me introduce you to Eden, our ELM's God of Wealth."

After deciding to take Kalpas with him, Liu Bai began taking Kalpas around to meet people.

Kalpas nodded indifferently.

The other person's aura was very ordinary; he was just an ordinary person.

But... I feel a sense of familiarity about it.

"Would you like to hear my new song, Mr. Kalpas?"

"No." Kalpas showed a hint of realization, remembering where this sense of familiarity came from. "That woman from Aponia, shut up your noise."

"..."

Noise... Eden fell silent.

The last person to call her singing noise was Mobius, but that guy is usually hypocritical; he said it was noise but actually quite liked listening to it.

But this guy in front of me...

"Ahem, Eden, don't mind it, Kalpas is just... um... outspoken."

"... I'm not so arrogant as to think that everyone should like my singing."

Eden sighed as he spoke.

But regardless, this was the first time her singing was honestly and directly criticized as noise.

Slightly frustrated.

However, Eden is already thirty years old and has seen many ups and downs, so he wouldn't lose his composure over such a small matter.

"However, Mr. Kalpas, in the future, please don't express your inner thoughts so directly. It would be best to learn to be more tactful... and observe how Liu Bai does it."

"Troublesome." Kalpas spoke bluntly as always, but still glanced at Liu Bai subconsciously.

Learn from this guy?

No... the two of them are not the same kind of people.

Kalpas looked away, but he accepted Eden's suggestion for the time being.

Although this woman is nothing special, her suggestion just now came from a sincere and kind heart, and Kalpas doesn't mind writing it down—of course, just writing it down.

Seeing that Kalpas had killed the conversation with a single sentence, Liu Bai had no choice but to take Kalpas upstairs to find other people.

"Good morning, sir." Sakura and Rin were resting upstairs. "This—"

The dangerous aura emanating from Kalpas made Ying stiffen, but fortunately, Liu Bai was there to prevent Ying from making any hostile moves.

"Kalpas, our newbie at ELM." Liu Bai patted Kalpas on the shoulder.

Liu Bai hinted that Kalpas should introduce himself at this moment—but Kalpas did not react at all.

Well, after all, Kalpas hasn't been out of that village for long, where they treated him like a god but then tied him up and bled him. It's good enough that he has the common sense to not attack indiscriminately. There's no need to have high expectations for Kalpas in terms of social interactions.

In that case, Aponia in the original timeline actually had a pretty tough time...

Fortunately, Sakura is a virtuous woman. After noticing that her husband was in an awkward situation, she immediately realized what was wrong.

"My name is Sakura, this is my younger sister Rin, Mr. Kalpas, nice to meet you."

"...Nice to meet you?" Kalpas tilted his head. He found the words a bit long-winded, but he could still sense the goodwill conveyed by the other party, so he nodded and replied, "Hello."

What an awkward greeting... Sakura was beginning to understand why her boss felt embarrassed; this man seemed completely oblivious to the atmosphere...

"Waaah..." Ling shrank back. Unlike her older sister, she couldn't remain calm in the face of Kalpas, who exuded a dangerous aura.

However, Rin, who had grown into a sensible young girl, didn't say anything rude like "scary".

"...?"

Kalpas seemed to sense Ling's gaze and glanced at her with some confusion.

Why is she afraid of herself? She didn't do anything.

Moreover, this fear seems somewhat different from the fears I've felt before...

Kalpas looked away, unconcerned about the other person's "strange fear"—or rather, he had nothing to care about right now.

Sakura then protected her younger sister once again.

(So where did the leader find such a dangerous companion?)

If they were to meet in a different place, Sakura would definitely run away if she could, and if she couldn't, she would draw her sword and fight to the death— Kalpas's aura is definitely that of a villainous boss.

The atmosphere became tense again...

Liu Bai remained silent. Kalpas's personality was indeed not suited for chatting, but if he didn't chat, Kalpas wouldn't be able to integrate into the group.

"Ahem... Is Mr. Kalpas very strong?" Sakura knew she couldn't let the conversation continue in such an awkward way, so she asked.

"I don't know." Kalpas gave a clean and decisive answer that killed the topic.

Liu Bai finally found a topic to steer the conversation. "Very strong. Qian Jie Kalpas took down the Fifth Herrscher from a few days ago."

As Liu Bai spoke, he patted Kalpas on the shoulder.

"The Fifth Herrscher?" Sakura was stunned for a moment, then showed a look of sincere admiration. "I didn't expect that Mr. Kalpas would actually defeat the Fifth Herrscher all by himself. If Dr. Mobius and the others knew about this, they would probably be shocked."

Liu Bai picked up the conversation, and Ying immediately continued along the line—after all, if she didn't take up the topic, she really wouldn't have anything to say.

However, Sakura was indeed somewhat surprised by the fact that the Fifth Herrscher had been defeated single-handedly by the man in front of her.

(If he possessed such bravery, it would be understandable why the head of the household valued him so much.)

"... Is that guy important to you?" Kalpas finally asked a question.

"They are our enemies, and your future enemies too." Sakura nodded calmly. "Their name is Honkai, and their existence is destroying—"

"I'm only doing this for revenge," Kalpas coldly interrupted Ying.

"I can't continue..." Sakura sighed.

"Revenge...not bad." Sakura automatically interpreted it as Kalpas seeking revenge for the destruction of his family—although this interpretation actually hit the nail on the head.

"If you need any help, you can come to me. I'm usually in the lounge or the guardhouse at the entrance."

"Good."

Kalpas nodded, then looked at Liu Bai.

Intuitively, the other party should now be taking me to the next place.

"... Could you stop looking at me like that? It's making me feel a little frustrated." Liu Bai covered his face; he really had a hard time getting Kalpas to improve her social skills!

The only child he had mentored with relatively poor social skills was Bronya, but Bronya as a child and Kalpas were two different cases.

Bronya has a closed mind, Kalpas... Kalpas is actually a kind of "abnormal normality".

Bronya can fill in the social gaps on her own once she opens up, but Kalpas... doesn't even have the concept of needing to socialize.

"Don't know."

Kalpas crossed his arms, believing that there was no problem with his communication with the other party.

"And why should I talk to them? They'd rather talk to you."

Kalpas spoke frankly about what was on his mind.

"You...sigh." Although Liu Bai didn't expect Kalpas to understand his thoughts, he still felt a bit of a father's sadness upon hearing Kalpas's aloof reply. "Fine, I won't take you to meet people. Come with me to see your room."

My own room?

Although Kalpas still maintained a cold expression, his aloof demeanor relaxed slightly, clearly indicating that Kalpas was quite interested in this.

"By the way, Mr. Kalpas, is there anything you'd like to eat for lunch?" Sakura interjected as the atmosphere eased.

"Casual."

Upon hearing Kalpas's reply, Ying sighed again.

"Whatever" is the hardest thing to deal with...

Well, only the head of the household can communicate with this kind of guy, right?

Kalpas looked at Liu Bai with some confusion, as if asking, "Is there something wrong with my answer?"

"Kalpas, next time someone asks you this kind of question, you can answer 'stir-fried meat' or 'stir-fried vegetables'."