Chapter 155 - Room

"... Maybe I'm doing something wrong"

Some time passed, and Ethan tried to follow the advice of the system. He had decided to buy a small pillow and sit on the ground of his new room in the same pose he used to meditate, but today on the 4th attempt, He still couldn't find out what it was that he was doing wrong, and the system had no intention of helping him

He wanted to seriously doubt this was the right path, but the words of the system kept buzzing both in his mind and in front of him now that he was trying.

'Could it be that I couldn't grasp what the system wanted to tell me?'

It was at times like this Ethan missed Light, and he thought it probably wouldn't take long for her to arrive to the solution of the problem..

Quickly getting lost in these thoughts, Ethan yawned noting that even today he had arrived at sunset without concluding anything except having asked himself more questions than before...

---

Once Loki had explained to Ethan how the secret room worked, she decided to return to the Twilight Manor as she had many things to worry about, but before she went through the door, Loki remembered another detail she had forgotten to tell them

"... This place is way too big to let you clean up, since you're all very busy, I can advise you to hire someone who can clean the house for you, or if you don't have time to worry about it, leave things to me and you'll find some pretty girl ready to be at your service"

But what she didn't expect, was that Ethan was seriously considering it. After all she had done for him, Ethan was beginning to see Loki in a different light, and this involved also taking her words into consideration, even though it was clear as the sun she said these words only to tease him and his relationsh.i.p.s.

"... I'm fine with you taking care of this, I'm sure you can find people far more competent than I can.."

Ethan had considered Loki would bring him in part what she had specified before, but even if that was the case, Loki would never bring anyone dangerous, or who might not be on his side, so seeing no reason to refuse, Ethan decided to start trusting her judgment.

His words opened Loki's eyes for a moment, and, looking into his eyes just to notice the seriousness of his words, all she could do was sigh while Ais now had her eyes on Ethan while the latter tried to not think about it for the moment.

As this happened, Lefiya quickly moved her gaze from Ais to Ethan in fear that some kind of fight might break out between the two, and she was just to stand in front of Ais to try to make her think about the fact Ethan wasn't trying to have new girls around him.. or at least it was what she believed but before this could happen, Loki decided to intervene

"You're no fun..."

With this sentence, she turned to the door of the house before opening it

"... I'll find someone who can take care of the cleaning."

These words led Ethan to smile and, seeing she had left, he turned to look at Ais before adding

"I didn't ask Loki to take care of it because I'm looking for other girls. Loki was just messing with us, but during the time I spent in the Twilight Manor, I had the time to get used to recognizing a bit of seriousness in the things she says. That's why I decided to trust her judgment since her ability to recognize who is worthy of being chosen for certain jobs and whether to put trust or not is something beyond my capabilities"

He could recognize when something was beyond his means, and although in the past this capacity seemed to be lacking, now Ethan could recognize he was totally inferior to Loki under that field. Between an inexperienced like him and an 'expert' at Loki's level, he definitely preferred someone who would carefully select the person who would have contact with them..

This is because if he needed so 'little' to ensure the safety of the house, and therefore the place where the people he cared about the most resided, then Ethan could go beyond his doubts or anything else, and trust Loki.

When he answered, Ais thought for a second and found nothing strange in his speech, so she decided to nod to let him know that she had received the message...

After this point had been clarified, Ethan sighed before looking at Lefiya as he thanked her in his mind for trying to explain things and, although at this time he didn't feel the need to favour either of them, he made up his mind to do his best to make her happy.

But this would be deepened at a later date as now Ethan had to deal with something much more important.

"Tell me, Lefiya, when you were exploring the second floor, all you could find were bedrooms?"

To this unusual question, Lefiya flinched before bringing a hand behind her head as she answered

"The truth is that we were too focused on the b..bedrooms and on which we would choose.. personally I didn't get to see much else.."

She couldn't tell him they were actually arranging a method for Ethan's room to be perfectly in the middle between Ais' and Lefiya's bedrooms, because the mere thought of revealing such a thing embarrassed her a lot, but she managed to remain calm hoping that Ais wouldn't...

"We were checking how the rooms on the floor were arranged.. so that we could have your room in the centre, with our rooms that would have been at the same--"

Before she was able to continue, Lefiya began to 'scream' begging Ais to stop as the blush on her face was even redder than usual while Ethan who had taken Maple in his arms shortly before Ais spoke, thought about it for a second and, while Lefiya was asking why she had revealed that information, Ethan responded very calmly

"It's not a problem at all, if you want you two can choose in which room I should reside"

Ethan had no problem with not choosing his own room. He was used to other people deciding for him what room to stay in, and that didn't bother him, but it was just when he was expecting a positive response that they both looked at him as if he had said the dumbest thing in the world.

"What are you saying? This is your home. We don't decide where you should be, at most we adapt to where you want to be..!"

Lefiya had spoken with conviction every word out of her mouth, while Ais nodded with the same serious expression, which led Ethan to stare at them for a second before opening his mouth, but it seemed to him as if anything he could say about this point would make things worse, so he shut his mouth before nodding to confirm their words.

As he nodded, in his mind Ethan wondered if he had done something wrong. From his point of view, what he said was normal, letting them decide his room was something Ethan expected, and he would have been happy with whatever room they chose, but their reaction was completely different, Lefiya seemed visibly angry, and Ais agreed..

While Ethan lost himself in his thoughts and headed for the stairs, Lefiya looked at Ais who in response turned her gaze to her.

Even if they didn't say anything, what they had in mind was clear to both of them. Without hesitation, they began to follow him upstairs, so they could let him choose where they would sleep tonight...

---

"Before you go...could you choose your room and take out our baggage...?"

Upon being asked this, Ethan nodded again and, being able to notice several doors, he asked them where the bedrooms were. Once he understood where they were, Ethan noticed the room he was supposed to use for blacksmithing as he added

"I would like my room to be the closest to the room I will be working in, so..."

Arriving at the door of that bedroom, Ethan put his hand on the door to make it clear this would be the room where he would live; Turning his gaze around him, he could see beyond that room, there was a kind of living room with a style very similar to the room Loki used to discuss important things and, a little further on the right, there was just the room he would use soon.

Seeing Ethan smiling, Ais couldn't help but get a little influenced by his smile while Lefiya looked down and, like Ais, she felt his smile was very catching.

"That's why I told you...choose his own room gives a completely different sensation than letting others choose for you, isn't it?"

At Lefiya's words, Ethan sighed as he could only confirm her words in his mind. Actually choosing your own room was a feeling Ethan didn't know he wanted until a few moments ago. He was always told that was the place where he would live, he was always told to settle for what was there, but now instead of having to live with that reality, he was free to choose what he wanted most, and the feeling...

"You're right, Lefiya, it's really a different feeling."

Saying these words, Ethan hugged Maple to himself tighter without even realizing it while the latter questioned herself about what could have happened in this short period of time to make Ethan feel a similar feeling, but she decided to let Ethan pour this feeling on her without any resistance, being rather pleasant while Lefiya to his words, could only blush as Ais added

"From now on, you can choose to do whatever you want, you're free"

Ais didn't know much about his past, the only thing she knew was that Ethan had lived far away from this place his whole life, but even if that was the case, for now all Ais cared about was that he was here where she could see him grow stronger, both at the level of power, but also as a person. As she understood today, Ethan had an incorrect vision of the world, and although she couldn't really be the person to teach Ethan about this matter, she would have done her best to learn slowly with him.

Saying those words, Ais embraced Ethan while silently bringing in the embrace even Maple this time, but she decided to let her do as she pleased for now as Lefiya stood still watching the scene for a few seconds before Ais turned to look at her.

"I need you Lefiya.. alone I am not able to make everything work..."

She had also realized this. Seeing Lefiya so angry for Ethan's sake, Ais had understood Lefiya could be the part that acted on impulse, but that was able to make Ethan understand what wasn't good much more effectively than she herself could, and even if the thing a few days ago would have bothered her a little, Ais knew she couldn't think only of herself and Ethan, not anymore.

At her words, Lefiya opened her eyes wide and, understanding Ais was indirectly telling her to join the embrace, Lefiya hesitated for a moment.

But by recalling the words Ais had just spoken, she joined hands in fists before heading towards them and once she reached her destination, she slowly wrapped her hands around them, before adding

"I-If I'm okay with you.. I.. h-have nothing more to add.. except that I will do my best.."

This was all that Lefiya said as Ethan, feeling embraced by both Ais and Lefiya as Maple let herself being embraced, he looked down as the words of both echoed in his mind.

'I'm still a little insecure about why all this happened, but I feel like I've realized something important today.'

He didn't realize his attitude had worried Lefiya and Ais so much, but he was able to understand the two would do their best for his sake, so he could only respond to their feelings.

"The only thing I can do is thank you for everything, and I promise you that I won't be outdone. I'm already deciding what my path will be, and even though I don't know where it will end up, I'm sure I'll find an answer with time..."

This was all he said while both Lefiya and Ais nodded without adding anything in particular...

---

(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.)

(Poll going on in the discord: Who do you prefer? Qienta or Light? | Cat-girl or Renard(Fox) | Are you liking the interactions between Maple and Ethan?)

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(Alternate Titles: "Ais is still as sneaky as always", "Ethan remains a stupid kiddo, but at least now he has two people who really care about him; Meanwhile, Maple doesn't understand.", "That four-way hug...I feel like I might overdose with cuteness...", "Ethan's trust on Loki..")