Chapter 197 - Scar

The moment she mechanically finished wiping her tears, Glenda felt the connection with Ethan was indeed there. It was as if a small string from her body was connected to his own, but the sensation wasn't painful or strange at all, instead she could feel herself more comfortable that his presence was so close.

Although to a smaller degree, Ethan felt their connection actually strengthening the moment he issued his first order, and the same sensation she felt filled his mind with doubts.

'Is it possible the fact she's bound to me is able to influence my mind as well..?'

He couldn't help but ask this question to himself as it was unnatural to suddenly feel closer to someone, even if she was his own subordinate.

[The Host's mind can't be influenced by the system directly, this closeness is the result of Glenda's loyalty]

The small panel appearing in front of him confirmed he wasn't being influenced, so Ethan decided to put this aside for the moment.

Nevertheless, Glenda spoke again now with her curiosity piqued.

"I...I can feel it"

She didn't explain "what" but Ethan was obviously able to guess what she was talking about.

"..It's good if you can"

Sighing, Ethan looked away as he knew his break was about to end.

"Just know this bond can become stronger, weaker, or be severed. I don't have any right on your life whatsoever, if I ask you to kill yourself for example, that won't work..."

He didn't explain how the bond can strengthen or weakening since it was merely his assumptions, so he also avoided talking about [Loyalty], but in the end of his small speech, Glenda had again the smile on her face.

"I see. If that's the case I don't mind being able to feel Master..."

Whispering the last part, Glenda was actually interested in how this could be possible, but since Ethan didn't explain 'how', she didn't ask.

"This is really useful as I can more or less feel your presence if you're in danger, so I hope you don't mind.."

He actually never asked if he could 'subordinate' her in this way, but from her smile accompanied by a nod, Ethan chose to not say anything more.

"Master is treating us with care, so I don't mind this as I would listen to your orders anyway"

She only said these words sarcastically, but Ethan was really surprised. He explained to her he could theoretically order her anything, but if she truly didn't will to do something, the order was likely to be a failure. Although this was something he didn't know for sure, Ethan wanted to believe Loyalty, albeit really useful, had a certain limit, but Glenda was telling him she would listen to his orders anyway, a response he didn't expect.

He was really about to ask her who brought her to that desperate state, he was again curious about her story and if necessary he would go to the length of making the culprits pay.

"Can you tell me about your past when you have some time?"

Even if his emotions were on rampage for a moment, that was all Ethan could do for now. He wanted to know what caused such pain, he wanted to know why Glenda accepted her fate even if she was a level 4.

'I know really nothing about her, but from looks alone she seems the type of person who could do anything to oppose others, but to have become like this, there must be a reason..'

Hearing her words, Glenda knew this moment would come knowing Ethan's character.

"I... Is that an order?"

The look she had on her face was something Ethan couldn't easily describe. He understood the moment his eyes met hers that even if she didn't want him to focus on her, the scar she had on her heart was way deeper than he expected, but after a few seconds he replied

"No, this is not an order"

Forcing her to reveal her past was comparable to losing all her trust to him, as it was clear the whole thing he called 'past' was still fresh.

But all of his thoughts were just assumptions. There could be the possibility whatever happened is completely different from what he thought, so Ethan chose to ignore his rage, as that wasn't the moment for it.

"I see..."

That was all she said as before they knew it, his break ended and the moment Tiona showed up asking for him to spar first, Glenda quietly left while Ethan sighed again.

'If there's a culprit I can find in Orario, I wouldn't be able to win against the latter anyway, if it could reduce a level 4 to this state...'

He had the will to protect his family from harm with both power, and influence, but now that he had another reason to focus on his power, Ethan could see how problems were starting to appear one after the other, and it would be up to him to resolve them all.

'My strength is certainly not enough now, I have to learn how to use my abilities faster, and I also have to obtain new powers.'

He previously had the option to just buy whatever he wanted, but now he was glad he didn't spend his SP carelessly on abilities or skills as the time to acquire the amount of SP he currently had would be quite difficult...

'If I didn't avoid buying them, I wouldn't now have the SP to buy the [Blacksmith] and [Mystery] manuals, and if my talent for both wasn't enough I wouldn't have such confidence in forging the item I need'

The combination of the new item he would introduce able to let gods in the dungeon, with the new city he would build in the 18th floor was the core of his plan, and if one of the two missed, not only the Loki Familia's fame wouldn't spread enough, the Production familias would be less interested in them, but fortunately his plan could be carried now without hesitation.

'Right, I would need to ask for Hephaestus' guidance after I will be able to gain the development ability, so that it'll be faster to achieve a good proficiency...'

He remembered Hephaestus actually wanted to have a meeting with him, and that was perfect not only to inform her of their situation and ask for her cooperation, but also if she herself could teach him even if he wasn't from her familia, using the cooperation as an excuse, but if it didn't work, Ethan would just tell her about the whole project he had in mind.

'Either way or another, I need a teaching and while Light can't, Hephaestus is perfect for the job'

With this thought in mind, Ethan followed Tiona to his garden...

---

"You know already"

That was all she said. During their sparring in fact, Ethan's magic was abolished as always strengthening his body to fight wasn't the way to increase his raw parameters, and that was something he knew as well.

Nodding to confirm her words, Ethan still felt a bit awkward at fighting without a clear style in mind, and he also asked Riveria for books related to the argument but as he expected there was something off from each of them, so in the end he chose to not use any martial arts.

Since Tiona was fundamentally stronger than Ethan though, the latter was taught by Riveria that to fight the strong relying purely on his strength, landing blows on the vital points was necessary.

Although he had a rather hard time understanding this concept since he never even watched a fight between martial artists, Ethan slowly grasped it as Tiona herself knew well about this, and so he was starting to understand how the fight would proceed, if the opponent was a normal strong person.

After 1 hour as Ethan was repeatedly thrown away, their spar finally ended as he chose to do some physical training before the time to have lunch arrived in the blink of an eye...

---

This time though, the lunch was prepared by both Glenda and Reyna, with the help of Lili and Lefiya, as Hestia wasn't present.

Even if she didn't have to do many jobs to acquire valis as soon as possible, Hestia's pride wouldn't allow the debt to the person she previously had a hostile relationship with to last long, and so she was even more fired up than before to work.

Loki instead, having many things to deal with, returned home after reminding him to not be late the day after, as that was the day he would have to meet with Freya for the first time.

After all this, Ethan locked himself in his room as he wanted to understand well how to enter his own domain, as if he could do so, not only he could finally see Light again and have a look to her progress during these weeks, but he could also be able to learn faster about various things interesting him, and that would only be for the better.

Remembering the system's hints, Ethan focused on the sensation he could feel before his divinity would bump in, as that was still the key to unlock his domain. Even if the two things were considered different, in reality they were heavily connected, thus the way to enter his domain was similar to the way he could connect with his divinity, but there wasn't anything to worry about it now, since as the system clarified to him, the Domain didn't have a conscience on its own, so it couldn't go against him in any way...

After a few hours, Ethan could finally feel there was 'something' but that wasn't referred to the environment surrounding him, but in his own body, exactly near the area where the heart was located... Even if he couldn't exactly feel anything, he felt as if compelled to concentrate on his heartbeat and in no time, a new sensation filled him.

It was different from what he expected. There wasn't 'nothingness' at all, instead he could feel as if his body was lighter than before, and he could feel his surrounding abruptly changed.

Opening his eyes slowly, Ethan found himself in a room different from his own, but even if that would normally cause him to be suspicious, he could easily see from the window present in the room that instead of what he called 'terrain', only light was visible on the horizon...

'It seems I was finally successful? But I didn't feel like entering the domain at all, I just found myself here...'

That was what he thought, but before he could think more about it, he heard strange sounds he didn't hear from the last moment he entered his Domain, someone he knew well calling his name.

---

(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: "Finally, after what felt like years, Light is back!? Or maybe not", "Glenda's this kind of person, putting Reyna before herself, but it seems it doesn't work with Ethan", "No Martial arts learnt yet, but now he knows he needs to strike at vital points if the opponent has more strength then him...")