94 Danger(s)

Deciding to let the matter be for the moment, Tiona nodded while she added

"Right, let's go"

Saying this, she started to walk towards their party before Ethan put a hand on her shoulder.

"One last thing, I would appreciate if you don't talk with Lefiya about the conversation we had right now. She would surely feel better, but I don't want to put pressure on her either. She already promised to train with me and Ais, and that's fine like this..."

Understanding, she smirked as she added

"I won't tell her, If she comes to know that I asked you about this, she would surely be mad at me.."

Knowing Tiona was someone that never said lies or half-truths, made Ethan sigh internally as he couldn't help but mull over his thoughts, now that he has had the opportunity to tell someone how he felt.

Thinking about Lefiya while she cried because of him, Ethan shook his head to clear his thoughts.

'I am doing the right thing, so I can't doubt about it now that I decided..if I decide to get caught by the moment, I wouldn't be able to protect her. I'm not strong enough for that luxury. And apparently my growth won't be as fast as it was before... right?'

Sighing, Light stepped in his thoughts as she replied

[...You figured out? I wanted to tell you after the expedition, but it seems I'm forced to say it now. The only thing I know is that previously, your growth was something like a release of the potential you already had, making your growth much faster than normal, this occurred because--]

While he was listening to Light's words, Tiona 'stepped' in as she added

"..We have to go"

Returning his focus on her, he saw that he was still with his hand on her shoulder while the various parties rearranged themselves to join the groups they had formed.

Immediately removing his hand, Ethan brought it on the back of his head as he replied in an apologetic tone

"S-Sorry, I was thinking about other things"

Nodding, Tiona didn't reply as she more or less understood that he was having an internal struggle, probably about Lefiya. Even though she wasn't the type of person who thought too much about things before acting, she was undecided about what to add, because she thought that, if she tried to reason with him, she would get the opposite effect...

'This really isn't something for me, but..'

Turning around, she stared at him as she replied

"...You are thinking about it way too much! Nobody will be able to lay a finger on her if we don't want others to be able to do so. You can say it's pretty arrogant to think like this, but who cares..?"

Her words surprised him but, without actually thinking about it, he smiled as he added

"..Yeah, you are viewing things considering that we are the strongest familia out there, but what if, in reality, we aren't the strongest at all?"

Thinking about the fact that Freya was definitely watching him, the first thing Ethan wanted to do was avoid having to worry about her.

'Ais can fight against Ottar for a while, enough for me to buy something in the shop able to teleport us away..so, even if the situation would reach that point, I'll surely be able to escape. She probably wouldn't send Ottar to blatantly kidnap Ais, but I already came to understand that this world can't be called Danmachi anymore. I can't give myself an excuse like everyone will act as 'programmed'... If her personality is different or, in the worst scenario, she wouldn't mind killing a mortal for the sake of obtaining me, then the moment I will get Lefiya involved with me will endanger her....'

Now that he had a gap while she was thinking about his words, Ethan's thoughts actually cleared his mind a bit..

'That's right, I have to protect her in my own way. I don't care if she will hate me, just seeing that she's fine will be enough for me'

Smiling, he was about to add something before she added

"...What do you mean?"

Shaking his head, Ethan started moving towards their party as he answered

"...I can't protect her with my strength, so I am protecting her in my own way...The only thing I can ask you is to trust me, I'm thinking about her well-being... "

Even though she wanted to add that for her, it wasn't really like that, the seriousness contained in his words brought her to understand it wasn't something she had any 'power' to change...

'I should be the strongest one..It's not fair..'

Pouting, she looked away as she replied

"Fine, I will trust you. But my advice is that you really should live life treasuring every moment you can spend with her, as you said, what if someone is stronger than us, and they will take her away from you? You will find that if you were never able to see her again, you would have so many regrets.."

Surprised again by how casually she was saying such wisdom things, Ethan turned to look at her as he replied with a chuckle

"I guess you are right, I will have to apologize to her properly once she finds out about this"

Looking at him, she sighed as the two were already close to their own party. Running towards Lefiya she said one last thing

"Hope you won't regret your choices by that time!"

Stopping for a moment, he saw her next Lefiya seconds after saying so as she squeezed her in a hug.

At this display, Ethan looked up at the 'sky' as he sighed as well.

'Regrets or not, I have no choice..'

Immediately returning his focus on his own party, he smiled again as he saw that Raul was waving his hand at him to make him understand they had to form the group...

---

"Lefiya-san, are you in love with Hyogumi-san?"

Casually asking this, she made an 'eh?' before understanding what she had just asked. With a blush, she replied weakly as she didn't really know what to say..

"...W-Why are you asking... all of a sudden..?"

Thinking about it for a second, Ryuu immediately replied

"I had this thought from the start. The way you look way cuter when he's around and the way you blush when he protects you made me guess that you are in love with Hyogumi-san, but I was just curious to know if I was right"

Hearing her words, Lefiya flinched as she was way too direct. Glancing at Ais to see if she had any kind of reaction, she saw that she just stared at Ryuu while the latter tilted her head as she waited for an answer.

The fact she wasn't answering, brought her to add

"Can I guess that your silence means you are in love with him?"

Feelings her cheeks really hot, she looked down as she brought the tip of her fingers together..

"I...I don't k-know..b-but I think if I...had someone I l-liked, it would be someone like him"

Her words confused Ryuu as she tried to understand what she meant..

"Oh, is Ethan for monogamy?"

At this question, Ais actually stepped in as she replied with a 'no'. This, brought even more confusion in her head as she added

"Then..what's the problem?"

Hearing her words, Lefiya's blush became even more evident as she smiled

"He said... it's better to be friends for the time being"

Lefiya's statement, brought Ryuu to look at Ais as she pointed her finger at her

"Ethan recently joined the familia, right? So he must have known you both at the same time ... what's the difference between you two?"

Even though she didn't want to think about it, the fact she was casually asking such an important thing, right where a lot of people could hear, brought Lefiya's smile to break as she was about to reply to her words, but before she could, she saw Tiona jumping at her.

Not prepared to evade her, Lefiya fell to the ground while Tiona was on her. Chuckling, the latter asked

"What are you talking about?? You all seemed to be enjoying yourself, I want to join the conversation as well!"

Staring at her, Ryuu shook her head as she added

"It's nothing important, just something to pass time."

Understanding, Tiona decided to let the matter be as she turned her focus on Lefiya

"You are lucky and unlucky at the same time, Lefiya!"

Hearing her, she had a confused expression on her face as Ethan stepped in the conversation.

"I actually had to revision our roles, you'll be something similar to a Vice-Captain, Lefiya. You'll have to work hard, is it fine for you?"

Now understanding what she meant, she immediately nodded as she didn't care about working hard if she could be of help...

"I-It's fine..by the way Tiona! Please get up!"

With an 'oh', she did as she asked while Ais stared at Ethan before he went next to her.

"Is everything...alright?"

Her question brought him to turn his head towards her while his smile didn't face from his face.

"...Yes, it wasn't anything important in the end"

Nodding, she saw as Tiona chuckled while talking with Lefiya while Ryuu didn't say anything,

"Did something happen?"

Turning to look at him, she was undecided if it was fine to talk about it or not, but, remembering Riveria's teaching, cleared her doubts.

"She asked Lefiya..if she was in love with you..."

Surprised, he brought a hand on his forehead as he understood that he would likely have to put a stop on their relationship for the second time.

'It really is hard..the situation is safer in this way, but it will harm her right now. If I decided to take her as my lover, she would be happy, but the situation would become dangerous for her too..even though I know the correct one is the safer one, I can't help but brood and think about what it would be like if I had chosen to ignore the dangers of the world for the time being... I would really like to take a break already..'

Thinking this, he sighed as he knew that even though it felt like the 100th time that he decided to focus on the expedition, he always ended up thinking about everything other than the Dungeon itself. Deciding to 'ignore' what she just said, Ethan called everyone's attention with a few claps.

"We have to go next the group already, we are one of the last parties left.."

While saying this, he brought Ais' hand in his as he smiled at them

"...Let's go"

With a nod from everyone, they decided to hurry as Raul had a sarcastic smile on his face.

"..They really took their time to understand they had to come..I wonder if something happened"

Thinking this, his smile didn't fade as a girl with long black hair, behind him, laughed

"So, where's your new friend-nya?"

Being asked this question, Raul looked at Ethan, now approaching him. Seeing him as well, brought her to nod in agreement.

"I see-nya. He's quite handsome, and his eyes are similar to a cat person like me-nya"

Her words brought him to look at her as he saw her tail waving

'She likes him already..? What a protagonist's Aura...I'm quite envious.'

Thinking this, he closed his eyes before wiping out an imaginary tear while he saw him surrounded by girls who happily talked with each other.

'My friend..is really lucky.'

That was all he thought before going near him to bring him to meet the 3rd party that will be in their group...

---

(Basically, what happened in Ethan's mind from the start (Only about this situation, for the ones who are confused): Understanding the personalities of the people he remembered from the anime wasn't the same > Freya's Danger > Ais' Feelings / His Feelings > Understanding Lefiya is probably in love with him > Decision of the friend route until she's strong enough/he's strong enough > Knowing it wasn't really fair, Decision of 'waiting' for her > Seeing her crying, brooding, thinking about it, while he didn't pay attention to his feelings > Tiona's reminding that they are strong enough to protect her > Mulling over his thoughts > Him actually loudly saying what he thought all along > Understanding it was the right decision)

(A/N: Please don't misunderstand! It's not like Aki likes him or anything, just that she finds his eyes interesting. And he's handsome, so..)

(I have a discord server. https://discord.gg/cpVr5X8 . You may ask me: "Why should I enter the server?". At this question, my answer would likely be: "Because it's fun? I don't know either. Just join." Ah, and you can find some image reference of items in the story such as [The Devoted Heart], so it's recommended to join. One last thing, I post chapter updates in my discord right after I posted on webnovel, so I guess you can join to be able to know when I post chapters faster.)

(Do you enjoy reading my novel? If the answer is yes, then thanks. I'll leave my patreon here. https://w ww.pat reon.com/watashiwavdesu)

(Alternate Titles: "No matter how hard it is, just keep going until you will exit the tunnel. At the end, happiness is waiting for you..", "Ryuu's logic: You are way cuter when he's around you, so you love him", "Raul: What a protagonist's aura! <-- yeah, you ain't no protagonist Raul, sorry about that")