Chapter 153 - House

But as Ethan was ending their moment by deciding in his mind to resume when Lefiya wouldn't see them, the latter took courage and said

"Y-You don't need to stop just for me! Maybe if I.. keep seeing you doing so day after day, it'll change s-something or I'll get used to it and feel less embarrassed.."

The reasoning was a bit convoluted, but it wasn't entirely wrong. Actually continuing to take time to observe something like a kiss or even something more would lighten her embarrassment a bit, but her answer made Ethan sigh as he brought his gaze straight to face hers.

"Are you really okay with this..."

It was the question Ethan wanted to ask her the most, and without hesitation asked her. He wanted to divide his time and devote it to both, to deepen their relationship further, but if in this way only his relationship with Ais improved, Ethan felt it wasn't the right thing to do. His objective was to find a way to know both Ais and Lefiya better, without leaving anyone behind.

These thoughts led Ethan to think about something more important though. It was true that Lefiya had said the two could exchange effusions, and he had decided to do as she said so that he could devote time to Ais, but he had never asked a much more important question.

While Ethan slowly realized he was wrong, Lefiya nodded before looking elsewhere with a blush on her face. Seeing this, Ethan brought his hand over Ais' head to make her understand she had to wait for a moment and after this Ethan headed to Lefiya as she was sat on a chair, he lowered himself enough to be able to look at her in the eyes while she continued to look away in embarrassment.

"Tell me Lefiya, what is it that you want from this relationship?"

They loved each other, and this was something that automatically led them to be in a relationship, but Ethan until then was focused on the idea even if Lefiya was a different person from Ais, the former had the same needs and d.e.s.i.r.es as the latter, and even though that might be true, Ethan never really asked what she wanted.

This question surprised Lefiya, who previously looked elsewhere, now had found the courage again to look him in the eyes and seeing how close he was, she could feel her heart beat faster...

What brought Ethan to this was the very moment he tried to put them together and get to know them better at the same time. He realized maybe there was no need to press her so much, and that their relationship could grow even if all he could do was kiss her or give her a hug.

"I...want to be held..tightly.."

She had pulled out all of herself to utter these words, and in fact by the middle of the sentence, Lefiya's voice had fallen so much that by now it was no more than a whisper, but even if this was the case, Ethan would have wanted to say that wasn't exactly what he asked her, but this reply was enough for him now.

Without being repeated twice what Lefiya wanted, Ethan wrapped her in a hug as he held her even more to himself as she had requested.

She could feel that Lefiya was very nervous, and also that she was giving her best, which made Ethan very happy, but mostly determined to find a real way to make their relationship work.

While he thought so, Ais kept staring at them for a few seconds before Ethan slightly weakened his hold on Lefiya as he didn't want to leave Ais out now...

---

That's actually not all Ethan had done. In addition to creating a routine, there were times when he didn't respect it because of secondary commitments. In fact, on the first day, Ethan found some free time during the day, so that he could discuss with Loki.

Having to update her on the whole situation regarding Maple, and the entity, Ethan decided to reveal the existence of the [True Dungeon] to her too because without it, he wouldn't have been able to explain where Maple came from, and why he had decided to take her with him.

As Ethan proceeded with the explanation, Loki felt so shocked that she decided to check his status, but she was indeed able to find, much to her surprise, the skill he said he had.

Although this was really just a camouflage Ethan had made the system do to avoid any kind of risk, and although it would have taken a while to remove the 'fake' skill if he wanted to remove it, Ethan decided to let it stay so that Loki wouldn't suspect him.

In addition to this, he had then moved the conversation to his new home, object of interest since once he obtained it, Ethan would finally be able to produce his weapons and so be able to use weapons even when he had as a condition not to use weapons from the system during a quest.

But besides that, Loki was still deep in thought about the situation with Freya, in fact she had recommended Ethan to show up when Freya would come to meet him. Although Loki knew Freya wouldn't attack so easily, she knew having a favour to give to that woman was always foreshadowing of not at all pleasant situation.

While Loki was a bit worried about what to do and what Freya would come up with to bring Ethan to her service, the latter had doubts about Freya's charm, but as soon as he thought of it, a panel appeared in front of him

[Freya's charm has no effect on you]

As usual, the system hadn't deigned to explain anything, but had only answered a question Ethan had asked himself, and although it reassured him, he would have preferred to know specifically why Freya's charm was ineffective against him so that he could tell Loki as well..

But this will be something Ethan will keep to himself until Freya actively tried to use her charm against him, which he has no doubt she will, but even if that was the case, Ethan knew Freya might be different from what he remembered, so he couldn't claim to hate the Freya that was in the same world as he was, at least until he met her..

Leaving Loki's room with these doubts he would soon confirm or not, Ethan resumed his routine as if nothing had happened.

---

Finally, on the seventh day, Ethan's new home was finally built and decorated, then ready to welcome him, and so he inevitably decided to move in his new 'house'.

Shortly after being informed by a messenger about this point though, Ais had a determined expression and, while Lefiya was still half asleep and Ethan was wondering if there was anything to 'move' from this room to his new home, Ais broke the silence adding

"...Can I come with you and stay in your house?"

When asked, Ethan twitched for a moment before moving his eyes to look at her. Now that she had asked him, Ethan thought about it for a moment and knew it wouldn't change that much, since they were always together if he had free time anyway, but he also knew that 'living together' wasn't exactly the words defining their current situation, which would change if she came to stay over his place.

But even if that was the case, Ethan had no reason to refuse, so he just nodded while she smiled.

Hearing what they were saying, Lefiya previously half asleep, now had her eyes wide open as Ethan sighed.

"I don't know what you want to do...but know that I will keep my words..."

At his words, Lefiya blushed as she remembered what he had said to her. And she knew he was referring to the fact he would leave her free to do whatever she wanted without pressuring her, even if they would move in together, that wouldn't change at all, and having the same thoughts Ethan had had, Lefiya found no 'real' reason to refuse other than that such a sudden change was a little... scary. But this 'feeling' dissolved the moment she looked at Ethan's face as he was clearly telling her 'Choose what you want to do'

Ethan would obviously have preferred - now that Ais had decided to move in his home - to also welcome Lefiya in, just because otherwise he would have quickly lost the bond that united them because it was impossible not to focus only on Ais, and if Lefiya to reply would remain there every day to avoid that, nothing would have changed from actually living together.

Looking down with her face so red as her blush reached up to the tip of his ears, Lefiya swallowed before answering

"I-If..It's not a problem for you..."

---

But before he went to his new home, Ethan knew he had to talk to Maple. In fact, Ethan had decided to let her come to his house, as he was the person who found her and saved her, he also wanted to be the person who would take responsibility for her needs and everything else.

Even if once he bought another book and communicated the situation Maple seemed a bit sad, this didn't last long before she got carried away by Ethan.

This is because during this week, Maple had inevitably bonded with Riveria, and even though she wouldn't admit it even though she might have had a chance to, the elf was much nicer than she initially seemed, and Maple wanted to apologize for thinking that the latter was a frightening existence from which to stay away during the first few days..

---

For the occasion, Loki personally accompanied him to the entrance of what will be the house in which Ethan will live. It wasn't exactly far from the Twilight Manor, it was in fact located close enough that even at a slow pace, it was possible to reach his home in about 30 minutes.

Once reached, Loki smiled with pride as she began to explain in detail all the aspects the house had to offer but what interested Ethan more than anything else was his room to start blacksmithing already...

---

(I have a discord server. discord.gg/cpVr5X8. You may ask me: "Why should I enter the server?". Well, I'm replying to every interesting question you readers are asking in my chapters, so, you should absolutely enter if you want to read my answers. Ah, and you can find some image reference of items in the story such as Light..! (Soon even Qienta).. so it's recommended to join, I frequently post polls as well, regarding things that(most likely) will be present in the story. One last thing, I post chapter updates in my discord right after I posted on , so I guess you can join to be able to know when I post chapters faster.)

(Do you enjoy reading my novel? If the answer is yes, then thanks. I'll leave my ******* here. w ww.pat reon.com/watashiwavdesu)

(I will seriously describe the house in the next chapter, don't worry)

(Alternate Titles: "Finally the house! the description shall be given in next chap", "Ais sneaky as always OwO", "Lefiya's embarrass.e.m.e.nt...as always")