Chapter 190 - Contract

"I.. my n-name is..Barther R-Reyna..I'm a werewolf..Please take care of me from now on, E-Ethan-sama...!"

Timidly saying these words, Reyna continued to avoid Ethan's gaze while the latter, previously focused on Glenda, was now facing Reyna. He hadn't yet heard his voice until the moment she introduced herself, and being able to recognize a certain femininity and charm in it, Ethan was once again surprised, although this was normal, given the fact that she was a female. Through this surprise, he was able to confirm his vision of werewolves from Bete's attitude had drastically changed, leading him to prejudice his entire race, something he didn't expect.

'That Bete..even when I don't want to think about him, he's again in my thoughts...'

Although he was annoyed by this, Ethan couldn't blame Reyna, and from that moment on he decided he would try avoiding prejudicing a race because some individuals behaved in a certain way..

'..It's not like Bete is a representative of werewolves anyway...'

While Ethan thought so, Loki decided to step in their discussion again.

"Since you two already introduced yourselves, why not we all go somewhere private to establish a contract? I think he's worthy of your services, what do you think, Glenda?"

Glenda was also lost in her thoughts, trying to rearrange them from the moment Ethan had simply thrown what was the hard truth at her face. From her point of view, his words were so shocking that even her normal calm and composed attitude had no chance of resisting, but Loki's words were enough to let her snap out of these thoughts and, looking back into Ethan's eyes, Glenda made her decision.

"Yes, Loki-sama..."

She didn't yet have a complete picture of Ethan's personality, and there may have been things she didn't know about him, but she had been convinced before by his reactions, and by the way he looked at her, Glenda was convinced he was sincere. He wasn't at all disgusted by her hair, and in fact, he also told her that that's what made her even more unique, and even though she'd heard it before in different contexts, Glenda was very impressed with those simple words.

She didn't also miss the fact he was not even disgusted by the personality of her partner, Reyna, who was always seen as weak and useless by everyone, precisely because of her shy and clumsy personality, completely different from what you normally expect from a werewolf...

Now out of his thoughts as well, Ethan glanced at Lefiya to make her understand he should bring the two to the second floor and that while they could continue to prepare breakfast, Lefiya nodded with a smile in response.

Although the two hadn't spoken and didn't know if what the other meant was what they thought it was, Ethan was confident Lefiya would understand the situation, and in fact shortly after their small 'exchange', Lefiya convinced Lili and Hestia to continue preparing breakfast while Loki, having previously 'requested' Riveria's presence, brought the latter along, and with Ethan leading the group, Glenda, Reyna, Loki, Riveria, and himself, arrived at the second floor after a few minutes.

Opting for the left wing of the house where both his room and the room where he had to work were located, Ethan sat on what was one of the two crouches in the area, inviting the two to sit down at the other one that was placed oppositely to the one on which he was sitting while Loki, who still had to say in their 'contract' sat down next to Ethan, leaving Riveria the only one to remain standing, making the situation a bit awkward.

"So..you talked about a 'contract', what did you mean, Loki?"

Quickly breaking the awkward atmosphere that had been created, Loki sighed knowing she had to start talking from that.

"You don't even know this? A contract is required for you to hire personnel, most of the time it's a serious matter, but in your case you can consider this a plain formality. Even though I know you wouldn't treat them wrongfully, it's necessary for them to trust you"

Understanding what he meant, Ethan realized it was probably an exchange of vows. In this case the contract was mostly proof Ethan wouldn't abuse the two maids, and in exchange for this vow the two would take a vow to serve him for a certain period of time...

'I see, it's only normal for me to take such a vow, but even if I didn't take it I wouldn't lay a finger on them, that's why Loki said it's just a formality...'

"I understand, if that's the case, I have no problems in swearing to not abuse these two, I'm not that kind of person anyway."

To his words, Loki had an imperceptible smile on his lips, but even if this was the case, she nevertheless responded to his words with a tone almost as if she was scolding him.

"It's not just 'abuse', you have to take vows to pay them accordingly to their work, you have to take a vow you will take care of them rightfully, also you have to take a vow to treasure their lives as living beings. There may be sc.u.m all over Orario who wouldn't care about such vows, but as you're a core member of my familia, I would never let you just vow to not abuse them."

Ethan was a bit surprised to hear such determination from Loki, in fact it was the first time the latter had appeared so determined in his eyes. He understood she would handle the way this contract would develop, but he didn't expect such a thing from Loki. Although this was the case though, Ethan knew her words were the pure truth, Loki couldn't afford to let one of her family members tarnish her reputation in this way, because something like the abuse or mistreatment of a worker were definitely things that would have damaged Loki's familia exponentially...

"I understand, well it's not like I have any objections since I had in mind to treat them well from the start. Having a vow binding me to do is no different from my previous intentions"

While Ethan expressed his acceptance, Riveria narrowed her eyes as she was suspicious about Loki's behaviour. In fact something like 'contracts' rather than being a fundamental thing, were a rarity in Orario. Rather than following the 'rules', usually the maids themselves set conditions, or in extreme cases neither side was willing to take vows. But the way Loki seemed determined to enforce this type of contract was unusual.

'Is it something these two wanted.. No wonder something was odd, probably nobody wanted to actually take such vows...'

The reason wasn't the content of the vows themselves, but the fact the two had requested an official contract. Many people prefer to try their services, and if they are not satisfied firing them afterwards, but a vow would force them to take care of the two even if their services didn't satisfy them at all, in short, the thing was unfavourable to the 'Master', since the latter didn't have a real way to 'kick out' the maids, but it were the maids themselves to decide whether it was the case to end the contract or not...

Riveria then understood Loki's intention. Only someone who really had no bad intention would accept such a contract, only someone who wasn't interested in abusing his power wouldn't have any kind of problem accepting the terms and the contract itself, which the two of them needed most to trust him and work peacefully...

To Ethan's words, Glenda was again surprised, though no longer as before having understood his nature...

"What do you think now, Glenda? You could see on his face his words were the truth, am I wrong?"

Having a huge smirk on her face, Loki turned to look at Glenda as the latter looked down while nodding.

Seeing the situation unfold in front of him, Ethan was a bit confused by this exchange, but before he could ask why Glenda almost seemed to want to apologize again, she explained the reason for her frustration.

"I apologize, from all this time I was trying to understand what kind of person you were..Loki-sama promised me you were a righteous person but I didn't believe her words right away, so she said she had no problems in showing me..I have a skill that lets me understand if someone is saying the truth or not or to what extent, and the fact you were really as Loki-sama described you made me feel an idiot for doubting the Goddess who helped us the most..."

To her words, Ethan was a bit surprised, but after a second he sighed having realized that perhaps what had happened to her seemed to be a stronger trauma than she had shown until then.

"I honestly don't mind. You were trying to know the person you will be bound with for quite some time, so it's only natural to be cautious...I can take the vows Loki asked me to, since she brought you two here, I think you will be able to do your jobs properly.."

At his words, Loki's smile widened even more, while Glenda was again surprised, expecting Ethan to be angry, but confirming this wasn't the case, Glenda lowered her head.

"Ethan-sama..there's no need for you to take vows..Instead, I, Glenda Acanthus, swear on my family name that I will serve and I will be loyal only to you until the day my life will end..for my foolish behaviour, I don't mind how you want to use me, since I now know you would treat me and Reyna well.."

It was Ethan's turn to be shocked now, not only because Glenda had just taken a vow that if broken, it would likely cost her own life, but also because the moment Glenda stated these words, a panel appeared in front of him.

'...Wait, how can the loyalty level already be over the required level if we only exchanged a few words!? I can understand she wasn't treated well her whole life, but isn't this just blind trust now...?'

Sighing, Ethan knew this wasn't simple since the moment he could see them properly, but he never expected things to develop so fast, so soon...

"...You know what you did? I can understand why, but don't you think it's way too reckless!? What if I had a skill that lets me camouflage the lies...or if I wouldn't treat you well at all..?"

At his words, Glenda gasped, she didn't actually think about the possibility Ethan might have had a means to evade her skill, but although this was the case, Glenda had already decided...

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(Alternate Titles: "Well, Glenda, you should understand that you acted almost as recklessly as Ethan, no, maybe even more than him lol", "Loki's smirking as she already knew the outcome from the start...as always.", "Imagine if Lefiya misunderstood Ethan's glance and thought he wanted her to be close to him or something, that would've been funny")