Chapter 23 - Sword Princess

While Ethan was 'fighting' with the Soma Familia's member, In the Twilight Manor things weren't that simple.

"Hey! I saw someone leaving a letter on the Sword Princess' door!"

Hearing these words, everyone in the hall looked at the man who said this. In particular, there was Bete in that room.

With a 'huuuh!?', he went near his own familia member, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"What did he looked like!?"

Feeling an intense fear, the man said immediately

"I-It was a boy with scarlet eyes and black hairs.. I-I-I c-can't remember anything more! Please leave me alone!"

Bete, immediately recalled Ethan's face and, with his fury out of control, he didn't even see that there were other core members of the Loki familia in the room.

"That brat! I knew he wanted to court Ais, I will teach him a lesson the next time I see him"

Letting go of the Adventurer's shoulder, Bete immediately headed towards the door, with the intent to go find Ethan. But, the moment he left the hall, He met Tiona, the latter immediately looked at him with an angry gaze

"You will never learn the lesson if I don't punch you, isn't that right, Bete?"

Hearing these words made Bete's fur raise but, without make it showed to her, he replied with a 'tch' before he said

"That weakling has gone beyond the limit"

Gritting his teeth, he saw that Tione, Riveria and even Lefiya were present with her, he couldn't be sure about getting the upper hand with Tiona but, he could still win against her if they were alone. Instead, she had supports to evade that situation.

"Aren't you a coward? Fight me alone and if I win let me trash that weakling!"

His words made Riveria sigh while she said

"Bete, you need to calm down. Don't you remember he is one of our familia's member? Do you really wish to go that far?"

With his classic 'tch', Bete looked at the sky before he returned towards the Twilight Manor, saying

"He is a weakling... I can't accept him as a core member."

Hearing these words, Riveria made another sigh before she looked at Lefiya

"Why did you choose to protect him now? I saw that you weren't 'happy' with him joining the familia"

This time, Lefiya smiled bashfully at her words as she said

"I-It's not like I am h-happy with him.. If he is the one Ais chose... I.. I.."

Riveria, this time had a smile on her own, she was at least relieved that only Bete had problems to be in 'friendly' terms with Ethan. This because Riveria finally understood the boy that joined her own familia wasn't that normal at all. His mana is something she couldn't fully understand, the fluctuations he had at the Hostess of Fertility were 'impossible' to her, she studied magic for years, and she knew many things about magic but the fluctuations and the mana itself were something simply 'at another level'.

She wanted to ask a lot to him but, for the moment, she looked at Lefiya, saying

"I see, Ais is fortunate to have someone like you, Lefiya"

Hearing her words made Lefiya blush hard while she couldn't find the right words to say. Tione instead, was more focused on Tiona's action, but she still said

"Riveria is right, Lefiya".

Tione's support made Lefiya calm down a little while she said

"I... I will do my best!"

After the two heard her words, They saw Lefiya ran towards the Twilight Manor. With a smile on her face, Tione said

"Well, I hope things won't develop in the wrong way.."

Riveria, this time, replied

"I think Ethan and Bete will fight, but other than that, the situation 'should' be okay.."

After she said this, Tione, Tiona and Riveria left the area, The latter going to her business while the twins returned to the Twilight Manor.

---

"Ais, I am L-Lefiya, can we t-talk?"

Hearing this, she opened the door, seeing Lefiya with a letter in her hands.

"Ethan left this l-letter, you should read it"

While saying this, Lefiya gave her the letter. Reading it, Ais recalled immediately that she said she would have accompanied him in the dungeon. She felt sad that her own lack of sleep caused this.

Lefiya, immediately saw the 'sad' face Ais was making and, without a second of hesitation, she stated

"I-It's not your fault, Ais! E-Ethan knew about it, he isn't angry at you...!"

Hearing her words made Ais look directly in her eyes while she said

"I...don't want to see him..in that state again.."

Ais' words made a shocked expression to form on Lefiya's face. She knew that Ais was bad with things like this and, the fact that even someone like her didn't want to see a 'state' of Ethan again meant it was very serious.

She didn't want Ais to explain anything 'private' about Ethan, but the fact that Ais was worried about him made Lefiya's heart twitch. Lefiya was conflicted between having Ais tell her or not.

Seeing the anxious state of Lefiya, Ais asked

"Are you okay...Lefiya?"

She looked at her for a moment and, deciding it was for the best if Ais told her, she said

"I-I'm okay..you don't need to w-worry about me.. However, if i can ask what state about Ethan you..didn't want to see..?"

Ais, saw that her friend wanted to know and, finding nothing wrong telling her, she said

"I.. Last night..before I started to train him, Ethan..wanted to enter the dungeon and..he had an expression I..don't want to see..ever again.."

Lefiya was paying attention to the events that happened while she wasn't there and, after she head all the story, she focused on the first part, replying

"What..kind of expression..?"

Ais, thought for a moment before she said

"I..don't know..how to explain.. It was..sad.."

Feeling she couldn't obtain that much asking Ais such things, she decided to ask something different

"You attacked him because you wanted to help him feel better?"

Ais, this time didn't even thought about her answer

"Yes, I..felt that was the best.. I could do for him..."

Lefiya, decided to stop asking about this and, without saying anything more about the story, she wanted to comfort her in some ways.

"Would you like to g-g-go shopping with m-m-me...?"

Ais, this time, looked at her before nodding. She somewhat understood that Lefiya was worried about her and, wanting to not have her worry anymore than this, she decided it was better to go with her.

Seeing Ais nod made Lefiya happy while she said

"I'll go call the others, I will wait for you with them at the entrance of the Twilight Manor"

Ais nodded again before she said, with a 'smile' on her face

"Thank you..Lefiya.."

She felt her cheeks hot and, with an anxious vibe in her voice, she replied

"I-I-It's n-nothing.."

That was all Ais heard before seeing Lefiya run away. With a confused expression on her face, she decided to ignore it before undressing.

After 3 minutes, she dressed in her classic white one piece dress before heading towards the entrance of the Twilight Manor.

Seeing the 'Sword Princess', everyone in the hall immediately started to whisper.

"Oi, she absolutely refused that guy, right?"

"What are you saying!? Isn't it obvious? You Baka!"

"Are you calling me Baka again!? Do you want to die that much!?"

Hearing their words brought a confused expression on Ais' face. She didn't understand what they were talking about but, the fact that she should have 'refused' a guy, made her think about it.

Tiona and Tione were worried about Ais, so they decided to come along with Lefiya but, when they saw Ais' confused expression, Tiona immediately asked

"Why are you so confused, Ais?"

Ais, seeing Tiona, asked

"Did a guy...confessed to me..?"

Hearing her words made Lefiya cough before a blush formed on her face

"S-Someone saw E-Ethan place the l-letter...so..they t-thought he..he...wanted to...to confess to y-you!"

The confused expression on Ais face dissipated for a moment before another one formed on her face, with a 'light' blush on her face, she asked

"So... Did he..confessed to me..?"

These words caused Tiona to start laughing so hard that even Tione was tempted to join her laugh but, seeing the serious expression on Lefiya's face, she decided to intervene before things could go out of hand.

Ais, looked at Tiona with the same 'blush' that didn't actually dissipated from before

"Why are you..laughing..Tiona..?"

Tiona, stopped laughing for a moment before she said

"I'm sorry.. Hahah.. I.."

Tione, stopped their conversation, saying

"No, Ais, he didn't confess to you.. The letter Lefiya gave you..that was the letter.."

Her words brought the light blush on Ais' face to dissipate while she said

"I understand.."

Tiona made a 'pfft' sound while Lefiya, with the same serious expression, finally uttered a word.

"I... I s-s-support y-you Ais!"

That was all she said before she started to ran away like before.

Tione, was a little bored by this display but, without having it show on her face, she muttered

"Come on..we needed to go shopping.."

Ais, now was thinking about her own reactions with the same confused expression.

'Is Ethan..different..?'

---

(I have a discord server. discord.gg/cpVr5X8 If you enter it, you can choose one of Ethan's future powers from the pool I created, but that's not all! On the server, you can see the reference on some things that will be present in the story! Right now you can freely see some things like the [Twin's Digimon], but I advise you to read the story further before seeing them otherwise you'll get spoilers!)

(A/N: Ais.. You should understand your own feelings before trying to know about Ethan's feelings...)

(Another A/N: I had warned that today's chap would be posted later, so don't argue in the comments :D)

(Alternate Titles: "Sword Princess for the public, Ais Wallenstein for the few", "Bete... Ethan's BFF", "Lefiya, asking 'go shopping' and ran away at the first chance to do so.")