Chapter 139 - Yowaka

Realizing that Ethan was the one at fault, Maple was unable to return in her noble personality and, before she realized it, she was weakly pawing him on the c.h.e.s.t.

Although this was the case, Maple's paws were not yet remotely developed enough to even cut the fabric of the shirt that Ethan was wearing. This, led him to think again about how much adorable Maple appeared in certain situations, but he couldn't stop the urge to calm her down...

With a quick action, he wrapped his arms around her again, so that he could pick her up before he raised from the floor before directly think about buying water to use in the bathtub.

As soon as the tub began to fill up however, Ais could clearly hear the sound of the water and instinctively woke up. Although she trusted him enough to sleep without problems, - even unconsciously - Ais was still a high-level adventurer, and if a noise of this intensity wasn't able to wake her up, then it would certainly be a problem.

As Ais slowly opened her eyes, Maple, who had been picked up again without the slightest warning, could already feel much less embarrassed than before, but it was still something that brought her the feeling, miraculously ended a short time ago. But this time, instead of getting lost in her thoughts, Maple followed the advice Ethan had decided to spend such a rare object on...

'If I...think about it, the object he used for me would have been wasted..'

With her educated noble side slowly driving her to calm down, Maple now had time to look around again and immediately noticed something that insidiously, brought her tail to wag side to side in happiness.

'..it's so high.. from up here..!!'

It wasn't the first time she'd been held. Maple had memories of this, but all foxes, being their 'low' stature in the natural form, maintain a 'low' stature even in transformation as humans. This meant Maple had never seen things from a height higher than 150, 155 cm, compared to Ethan's now 179 cm, which made a 'big' difference.

Seeing Maple's tail wagging almost furiously, Ethan was surprised and, noticing her sparkling eyes staring at the floor in amazement, he realized more or less what she was thinking, even though the thought was slightly wrong.

'Maybe..She was never held like this..?'

Ethan had no experience with children, he had only seen something on TV, which was not called 'knowledge', but her eyes shining only for that height, immediately led him to think of something he had never done before.

Unconsciously, Ethan could see a child so frail in his arms, that if he was not holding her now, he would fear the fall might hurt her, although theoretically a fall from that height wouldn't hurt even the weakest foxes.

Gripping her tightly, Ethan slowly detached her from his c.h.e.s.t, and although this brought a state of confusion to Maple, his bright smile caused her eyebrows to twitch before she looked around, and realized what she was trying to do.

Although the communication between the two was severely limited, and they may not understand anything about each other, Ethan had decided from the beginning such a thing wasn't possible. He had chosen to take care of her, and he wasn't convinced she understood what really happened in the [True Dungeon], given the carelessness she showed throughout their interactions. Her superior intelligence, was something he would never doubt again, and that's why, even though it would have been hard for him in the future, he still decided to continue through this path, protecting a frail fox, that by now already had made space in his heart.

While these thoughts made him feel really happy with the choice he made in the [True Dungeon], Ethan could see she now had her tail wagging so fast it generated almost more wind than his [Avian].

The room itself was nothing special. It was just a normal room of a normal member, but for Maple instead, seen from top to bottom, the room was something amazing and incredible.

The maids who lived in the home to carry out the chores, didn't also take care of Maple in all aspects. More than making sure she studied, and was healthy, they still had a very hard job, since there were only four of them to clean the entire home, which was certainly not small.

'At this height..I can look at all the surrounding space..!'

She knew very well that among the Arts flying wasn't considered difficult to learn, but she didn't care about this at all while Ethan, noticing the state she was in, couldn't help but chuckle.

Hearing him doing so, Maple didn't say anything while Ethan, satisfied with the reaction, brought Maple back to his c.h.e.s.t while holding her firmly so as not to drop her. He wanted to keep playing with her, but the eyes that had been staring at him for a while, had become quite difficult to 'ignore'.

It was not his intention to ignore her any more than he had already done, but as he had surprisingly seen, Ais had remained completely impassive at the sight of what the guard defined as a demon.

"...you have much.. to explain..?"

Her words, were filled with calm, and impassiveness. She didn't seem angry, nor did she seem particularly shaken.

"Is everything okay..? Something is bothering you..?"

Previously, he would have surely noticed something was wrong, but he still had no hint of emotion, and even though he was already making his mind work to understand if he did something wrong, he was interrupted by her words.

"Not right now. I'm just curious about what that animal is..."

Being able to guess that Ais seemed really just curious now, he immediately relaxed all the muscles of the c.h.e.s.t while exhaling all the air he kept in it in the grip of pure panic.

He was so frightened, because he knew he had neglected Ais these days. Obviously, it wasn't his will, but the various commitments he had, brought him to always think about something else...he had been afraid she had closed herself again, but fortunately this didn't seem to be the case.

As these events unfolded, Maple obviously sensed the sheer fear that Ethan had felt for a few seconds, and although she had no way to help, she still tightened the grip with her paws on his shoulder, as if to remind him that she was still there, as he had been for her.

Not being able to fully express it, was something that also bothered her, but she decided to wait for something to happen instead of thinking too much about everything with her noble side...

"I see... To tell you what she is, she's a fox. The moment I saw the state it was in, plus its sweetness the moment I helped her, I couldn't resist the urge to take it with me..."

He didn't want to lie at all. So Ethan decided to hide part of the truth for the time being. His plan, was to reveal both Maple's origins, and precisely the [True Dungeon] itself to Lefiya and Ais.

'It's probably too soon to even think about it, but in case the situation is as I imagined, I won't be able to be a support for her if I'm alone..'

He had no idea what the future might hold for them, but if Maple's future was to despair over the death of all her loved ones, Ethan knew - not having lived nearly enough - he would be of no help, since all he could do in his mind was to offer his closeness.

"..Did you think about a...name..for her?"

Her words, brought his thoughtful expression to vanish immediately while thinking back to the present, he remembered he was so full of doubts and thoughts, to even forget the very thing that marks the life of living, the name.

'I'm pretty sure she has one. If I try to ask her what her name is with [Hon'yaku-sha]...'

But Ethan, sighed in his mind because he knew if he revealed the superior intelligence of Maple now, he would be forced to reveal even her true origins, and his speculations, which at the moment he didn't want to talk about...

'A name...for her..'

Ethan wasn't very good with names. He was not able to find hidden meanings behind complex words, mix them up a bit and get a cute and original name, but, having her in his arms, he could only reflect on two of the features Maple certainly had.

'She is..weak.. something I want to protect, and her fur is all red. If I unite the kanji of red, and weak...'

As he concentrated to the maximum trying to unite the two kanji, Ethan came to a conclusion, muttering..

"Yowaka..."

He knew the name wasn't much, but the meaning behind it was something Ethan really cared about. This represented for him his d.e.s.i.r.e to see her become stronger. Although he was convinced she wouldn't participate in the fight in the [Inari's Hidden Dungeon], in his mind he was already determined to train her after learning how to actually train someone..but he knew he didn't have time to think about something else now.

"I see..her name is... Yowaka then.."

Seeing that Ais had been staring at Maple for a while, Ethan could only sigh as a small smile formed on his face.

"Ais..you want to try holding her in your arms?"

His words brought Ais' eyes to widen before giving him an answer.

"...If she's comfortable with it.."

With her weak response, Ethan could only chuckle as he slowly moved her out of his c.h.e.s.t again. Now looking at each other face to face, Maple was curious about what he wanted, but Ethan knew she had no way of communicating, which led him to look at her with an intense gaze.

'Please, trust me...'

That's what he was trying to say. He was not sure if she was introverted, or extroverted since he had seen her act only with him, but he hoped that this little moment would strengthen their bond up a little, even if they barely knew each other.

Maple had also more or less understood what Ethan wanted from her after looking at Ais, but even after she was in the latter's arms, Maple continued to look at Ethan, while with her own paws, she weakly moved the arms of Ais away, so as not to hurt neither her, nor herself while Ais from this 'response' was somewhat confused.

'She's trying to respect me while clearly stating she doesn't like Ais..?'

Indeed. This time, Ethan was able to fully understand Maple's gesture, and it should be noted that although it was rather rude, in the World 1999 this was the nicest way to express yourself regarding the subject...

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(Alternate Titles: "Maple doesn't like Ais...", "Tail-san was wagging rather hard", "Yowaka.....pfft. Ethan is literally bullying Maple")