Chapter 177 - Tranquillity

While Ethan, now busy trying to open his domain was finally moving closer to achieving what he wanted, the situation, from Ais' point of view, was different. This was because the expedition she had participated in was by no means a normal expedition. In fact, it was the first expedition after what previously happened in the dungeon and had the task, with few chosen people, to verify the integrity of the dungeon and the level of the monsters.

During the hard week in fact, some of the bravest adventurers had ignored the warnings and the danger they could be forced to face if new and overwhelming monsters appeared and, as they explored, they recognized in the few days after the incident, they found out the dungeon now seemed to be completely stable..

With this, they knew the situation was under control but for safety, the Guild had waited for the situation to be safe at least for a considerable period of time, to lower any risk, but even if that was true, the crisis following from letting only some individuals enter the dungeon for a long period of time would reduce the prestige of which Orario had always benefited, which had forced the guild to create an expedition with only a few people from each familia.

They chose to do so because even if the level of the monsters would strangely rise, there would still be no losses, and at the same time they could verify the veracity of the words spoken by the few adventurers with the strength needed to enter the dungeon.

Having been chosen by Loki to participate in this expedition therefore, Ais had been informed by Loki herself on the way to reach their home the previous day. But even though that was the case, the formed party had already wiped out all the monsters in the upper floors, confirming it was indeed as the fellow adventurers said.

At this time in fact, they had decided to take a break, and they would continue the next day, with their goal being the 24th floor.

Once the 24th floor was reached and cleared, the expedition would be over and, with confirmation from them that everything was back to normal, the adventurers could start running again much of the city's economy exactly as before, strictly necessary at the moment to maintain Orario of its glory, but especially of its overwhelming power, because if Orario had remained in this situation for a long time, in addition to adventurers also the people, merchants, craftsmen, all would have thought to return to their countries, for those who were not already an integral part of Orario, and to flee in search of new wealth for those who were instead Citizens.

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The only reason she didn't include Riveria, was because the latter was busy, as was Tiona, and although she was sure she wasn't wrong in thinking both of them were headed to Ethan's house, it wasn't that important to her, since he knew the 'expedition' in which she had sent them wasn't a real expedition, but a simple check of the Dungeon, and if there was someone who wanted to know more about the situation, the latter could only be Loki herself.

With the Loki familia quickly setting up their tents, Finn concentrated on setting up the commander's tent and, helped by Tione, Gareth and Bete who had already finished assembling their own, the process didn't take long,

After this, Ais was dragged to bathe with Aki and Tione who, unlike Ais, seemed to be in a good spirit, and this obviously did not go unnoticed in the eyes of the two women.

"Ais..did something happen?"

Immersing herself in the water while asking this question, Tione was curious to know what happened to make Ais look different from the usual, even if she normally lacked expressions and spoke few words.

At Tione's question, Ais turned her gaze to her as she pondered her question. From what she remembered, nothing 'bad' had happened as from the tone with which she asked, she knew she was asking if something 'bad' happened. So, even trying to find out why Tione had asked that question, Ais had no idea how to answer, which led her to shake her head in confusion.

But at her denial, Aki showed her a rather smug smile as she continued the question Tione had asked, interested in how Ethan's home life was progressing.

"Are you really sure nothing happened? From this morning I suspected something in you seems different. Even if your way of speaking hasn't changed, is there something different, as if you feel...lonely?"

Although there weren't many opportunities for Ais to have a friendly relationship with Aki, the latter was known for the ease with which she could be approached, just because Aki had a rather normal personality, but at the same time it was able to attract people to her, and although until that time their relationship was nothing more than a formal relationship between members of the same familia, the group that had celebrated Ethan's good health was slowly growing stronger with the friendsh.i.p.s that were being born among the girls, although some cases like Hestia and Lili remained more difficult to approach, while Aki had already managed to have good relations with Tione, Tiona, Ais, Riveria, Shakti and even Ryuu.

That's why Aki was speaking more clearly. Normally in fact, she would try with a more delicate approach not having a great relationship with the person in question, but having already made a friendship with both, she wouldn't hold back and was curious to find out what was wrong. If it was something Ais had no intention of revealing, Aki would have added nothing else, but...

"I...have no idea."

This was all Ais replied, which shocked Tione once again. This was because even though she was slowly getting used to seeing Ais act as a maiden in love, at the same time it was a surprise. She had deduced that Ais didn't seem to understand how she felt, but it was at this moment that Tione wondered if it was appropriate to make her understand these feelings that perhaps weren't necessarily a good thing. She could understand in fact if the separation from the partner would last months, it would be normal, but from Tione's point of view, the fact Ais seemed already to be missing Ethan was...shocking.

'How Ais' love for that boy can be so..different, I don't understand..'

Tione didn't have the answer to this question, which made the question even weirder to ask, because since all the time she has chased the captain trying to finally make him fall in love with her, the love Tione felt for him had never changed, while Ais', at least from Tione's point of view, seemed to grow bigger and bigger, which in her opinion differed from what she had always believed.

'Maybe it changes and gets bigger.. when the person you love loves you back?'

She could only come to this conclusion, thinking that it all came from the person she loved though, Tione had returned to the starting point, as it didn't even explain how Ais could love the boy so much, Although he had qualities that certainly attracted the female community, if in reality it was him 'reciprocate' her feelings that made Ais' feelings grow exponentially, then she would reach the answer she wanted...

But while Tione had several puzzles to solve in her mind, Aki to Ais' reaction, had an even wider smile on his face.

This was because from her point of view, Ais was actually missing Ethan, which subconsciously led Ais to be quieter and duller than normal in her words, but unlike Tione, Aki saw it as just...adorable.

"If you have no idea..then I'll tell you what you likely feel.."

To her words, Tione snapped out of her thoughts with an 'Eh? 'mainly because she didn't want Ais to think too much about unnecessary things during the expedition, because not only it would make her more vulnerable, but she would also suffer having to wait at least another day before she could see Ethan.

But ignoring Tione shaking her hands to make her understand not to talk about it now, Aki approached Ais before speaking more gently.

"Try thinking about your Ethan who warmly welcomes you home after a tiring expedition...with him planning a dinner just for the two of you..or a date after you rested enough..."

At her words, Ais did as Aki was telling her while Tione, knowing she could no longer stop Aki, sighed as she crossed her arms on her c.h.e.s.t.

Imagining her returning with Ethan who, with a smile, welcomed her into the house, and explained what he had planned just for the two of them so that she could have a little fun, being bored with monsters who couldn't even challenge her, Ais felt her heart getting warmer, and this was certainly the feeling she always felt when Ethan was close or embraced her, but besides that, there was something.. different.

The fact for a second, Ais had shown a reaction, brought Aki to grin as she then asked

"...Then, you felt it, didn't you?"

When asked, Ais nodded and, while her eyes were narrowed, she looked towards the water and, taking some of it in her hands, she answered her question with a rather unexpected sincerity.

"..I think so.. I felt..warmth.. but there was something more.. I don't think I fully understood.. but loneliness seems to be very difficult to handle.."

The way her conversation was enriched, the sadness that could be felt by her expression alone, the impression she was suddenly several times cuter than normal. This was all Aki could see in her sight, and this was enough to surprise even her who, without hesitation, threw herself at her so that she could wrap her in a hug.

"I didn't expect this feeling to be a complete mystery to you. I don't know what kind of spell that boy used on you, but your love is so pure that I couldn't contain the excitement. I just wanted to remind you of something, even though it might seem strange now, remember that the sadness you're feeling can easily be used to your advantage. Try to think like that, if you can't see him for a period of time, you'll be lonely, and you'll want to see him, isn't it? When the moment to see him comes, you will experience even more warmth from his touch..and that will bring your feelings to become even bigger.. so I guess that's not a bad price to pay at all...!"

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(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: "Aki, the popular girl!", "Ais feels lonely, Tione want her to not know it, but Aki won't allow this!", "There's a reason as for why her love is growing so strong. Someone that understands you truly is better than everything else.")