Chapter 165 - Smile

Being busy arguing with Ais, Ethan hadn't noticed what was happening and, from the stench generated by the impact of the plates and Lili against the ground, Ethan turned before noticing Lili on the ground.

This vision led his eyes to widen in surprise and, by the time Lefiya had taken to turn around, Ethan was already close to Lili checking up her condition.

"Are you hurt?"

Asking for this, Ethan took a look at Lili's body. Although a simple fall was nothing serious, what worried him was the dishes that had been broken on the ground. This was because even if to a normal adventurer they wouldn't even be able to cause a scratch, Lili was one of the cases of adventurers who hadn't even begun to venture into the dungeon, but even before this, for Lili a severe training was necessary.

Even though he might not be in a relationship with her, and the connection between them wasn't as developed, Ethan still decided he wouldn't allow her to venture into the Dungeon until he said it was okay. If she refused to do so, Ethan would stop training her.

He understood the Lili he was facing was no less than the stubborn version he was used to seeing, but the difference between him and Bell Cranel was precisely the fact Ethan had no intention of letting her play the role of a supporter, definitively closing her life to that path. If she wanted to become one in the future, Ethan would have nothing to say, but his current goal was to make her reach the average-adventurer level.

While these thoughts flooded his head, Ethan made them all disappear the moment he confirmed no piece cut Lili's body. Having only to check for external wounds, Ethan's analysis had lasted a few seconds, in which time Lili was already getting up while Lefiya and Ais were next to Ethan, at the time busy helping Lili to get up while Hestia, seeing she was alright, sighed before taking on a playful attitude.

"As usual, Lili maybe this kind of thing isn't for you, you know...?"

To the innocent words of Hestia, Lili turned to look her in the eye before shouting angrily

"I was just unlucky! Hestia-sama, I think it happened more times to you than to me!"

As Lili was now fully up, Ethan checked for the last time that everything seemed to be okay. Reassured by this, he used a very small part of his [Avian] on his feet to scr.a.p.e together all the remains of the dishes before storing them in the inventory so that he could throw them away later.

This was because when Ethan went up to show the rooms to Hestia and Lili, Lefiya and Ais didn't have a real means to communicate with Maple, and seeing she was slowly falling asleep, both had decided to let her rest a bit...

Now on Ethan's right leg, Maple had her paws resting on it while looking upwards, hoping he would notice it and, noticing in turn this hadn't been too difficult, her tail wagged in happiness while Ethan looked at her with a perplexed face.

'Don't tell me..she wants to be picked up herself..?'

During their short period of conversation, Ethan hadn't yet had the opportunity to talk about many things with Maple, but this was just one of the most discussed things in their early 'conversations'.

In reality, they were only small messages, But they were still able to uncover facts Ethan was completely unaware of.

She made it clear. Where she came from, picking up in the way he always used to do was considered a rather intimate thing, which shocked Ethan, and he even tried to apologize, but to his exaggerated reaction Maple laughed as she moved her paws up and down as if to explain to him that in reality it was not a problem for her.

Seeing Maple laughing with p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e for the first time, Ethan could only dwell on the way Maple laughed, which consisted trivially in a very restrained laugh, but as if to unmask the composure she always seemed to master, her body was full of tremors, more like the d.e.s.i.r.e to laugh harder.

'...But she laughed.'

That was the thought Ethan had in his mind at the time. She had finally laughed, she had finally managed to put aside those feelings of fear, uncertainty, anger, and terror that had always seen in her, he had succeeded in something very normal, but somehow, this simple thing warmed his heart like he did something incredibly difficult..

'..And I'm really happy about that, but I really wish she could laugh to her heart's content..'

While this thought made the smile on his face disappear a little, Ethan knew he couldn't give up anyway.

'...That means I have to try even harder in the future...to see a more spontaneous laugh.'

...But his thoughts ceased to be in his mind when Maple calmed down a bit, and that was because he didn't want her to find out he had something worrying him. He was so careful with one reason in particular. She was able to feel the emotions emitted by other beings, which seemed to be one of the most important things Ethan had discovered about her.

Although Maple had one of the weakest affinities a fox could have, which Ethan wasn't aware of yet, it wasn't all Maple had. Her race in fact, in addition to being the faction of [Moonflame] shared special traits that each fox born in a family with the closest line to the queen possessed.

Things like sharper senses, or a particular skill were just that 'common' things for those with strong blood ties to the queen had. This was because the purity of the latter's blood was so rare that it allowed the queen to become an existence simply out of the ordinary.

This is because with the greatest purity, it was easier to refine one's own arts, to make the best use of one's own spiritual energy, to possess in abundant quantities. And this obviously also applied to foxes who had blood ties to the latter. Being quite close to the queen, Maple had surely inherited the queen's traits, only that to this day, she still had to 'find out' whatever she had, but by the ease with which she was able to read the atmosphere, and the emotions felt by the people in her vision, it was definitely something that Ethan considered abnormal.

'Come to think of it, this could be one of the most useful skills in politics. Being a passive skill, she can find out based on emotions if someone could be doing actions that backfired on her...She is probably also able to figure out whether a person acted for the sake of themselves or not, which is really helpful..'

He knew that this skill could help Maple take a big step into politics, soon becoming the head of her clan, and although Ethan was happy Maple actually had such useful tricks up her sleeve, Ethan could only dwell on what he saw in the True Dungeon, which was complete destruction...

But to return to the main point, Maple was easily able to make a vague distinction between Ethan's intentions, and that was enough for her to trust him, but he well remembered she never mentioned she would also take the initiative, and knowing the value that was attributed by his clan, Ethan could only sigh in indecision but, this didn't last long as Ethan decided to hold her as usual while Maple's tail hadn't yet stopped.

'It seems she's.. more lively today, I'm glad'

While Ethan was smiling at the affection Maple seemed in the mood to show him, Ais who had already received her response from Lili, nodded before turning to look at Ethan.

Seeing the way he had been positively influenced by Maple, Ais looked up so that she could look at him well and, his contagious happiness brought her lips to curl up while Lefiya, also turning her eyes with her goal to be Ais, saw how the state the letter was in again in such a short time.

"I am so happy.. it seems now you are able to smile much more than before"

It was only her whispering, which was heard only by Ais, but it had managed to bring Lefiya so many memories they had shared together, but on all those occasions, Ais always acted so cold, with her way of acting without the slightest emotion been the switch that led Lefiya to idolize Ais to the point of comparing her to a doll in her thoughts.

In reality she had never understood the girl In front of her was neither a doll, neither a person without emotions. She was just hiding them behind that wall, which only with Ethan's help she had been able to see and tear down slowly...

At her words, Ais turned her gaze to Lefiya but, realizing the elf in question was practically on the verge of tears, her expression became extremely confused before Lefiya, no longer able to contain her emotions, jumped on Ais, hugging her while answering her doubts.

"I'm sorry..I'm just so glad I can finally catch a glimpse of your natural smile, I couldn't help myself..."

Barely able to say those words interrupted by sobs all over her sentence, Lefiya continued to hold her, and while Hestia and Lili were puzzled as to why she was in tears, Ethan had understood more from her words and the whisper that unbeknownst to Lefiya, he had been able to hear.

"Don't mind her, she lets herself be taken a bit too much by the emotions"

That said, Ethan took a look at Ais to make her understand accepting her feelings wasn't wrong and this led Ais to reciprocate her embrace by nodding, believing she had more or less understood why she was in tears while Hestia and Lili looked at each other, both with something to say

"So...why is she crying then?"

"Wasn't I the protagonist until a few seconds ago?"

Ready to give a quick explanation, Ethan was about to formulate his sentence, but the moment he heard what Lili had said and, seeing her serious expression that implied she seriously meant her words, Ethan could only chuckle while Hestia, trying to have a serious conversation, she turned her gaze to Lili, now angry at her for her behaviour...

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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: "Lefiya, sentimental moment...", "Maple is more special than we originally thought!? Cuteness + Uniqueness...", "Lili wants to be the MC!")