I Became A System

How can I say this? Ellena is somewhat ignoring me. I don't know, but it just feels like she was intentionally not talking to me. Is she hiding something?

Or I might have become paranoid…

While on the way to the orphanage, I was at their back, looking intently as I am on guard duty right now.

I have nothing in particular in mind. Ellena can defend herself, but still, this place has memories that might come back to her. What I mean is the vigilant activities we did.

That time was enjoyable, but things are different now. I think I just don't have to think about it like it's a big deal to reduce the thoughts in my brain.

When they finally arrived at the orphanage, what I noticed was the church wasn't ignored and I think it has been maintained since then.

Ellena and Thalia were intently looking at the church, and upon their gazes upon it, a voice called them out.

"What are you doing in front of the church?"

When Ellena turned to the one who was talking, she almost teared up in joy as she saw a familiar person before her. It was Selena.

Ellena smiled softly, confusing Selena, and as she glanced at Thalia, she thought that she was not familiar with them.

"Selena!"

Ellena immediately rushed to her, ready to embrace her at any moment. However, Selena moved backward to evade Ellena's embrace.

"Who are you?" Selena asked in a serious tone.

"Huh? Why are you asking me that? It's me, Ellena!"

After saying it, Selena's face became less tensed.

"You… you're Ellena?" As if she was confused, she slowly approached Ellena.

"Now, can I hug you?" Ellena jokingly said.

"You look different," Selena remarked.

And without wasting any time, Ellena immediately embraced Selena.

"Of course, because I changed my hairstyle. Look at these bangs. Was that enough for you to not recognize me? " Then she giggled while tightly hugging Selena.

Selena started to embrace Ellena and tears flowed from her eyes.

"Ellena!" she cried as they both tightly embraced each other.

After a few minutes, they finally settled and started talking about things and also why Ellena is here.

"Did you continue being an adventurer?" Selena asked as she saw Ellena's gear was somewhat for swordsmanship.

"Yeah. I continued to be an adventurer after my education. "

"That was short?  Have you already finished your education?"

"Yeah, but the pressure was dreadful," Ellena said.

Selena smiled at her word, then her eyes reached Thalia.

"Who is she? Is she your other cousin?" Selena asked.

"She is… how should I say it. My slave?" Ellena said in a somewhat hesitant manner.

And as expected, Selena was surprised by what she said. Ellena isn't the type of person to get a slave, and even with just a first glance at her, people would think of her as a sweet person.

But this was just simply baffling.

"Hello," Thalia said, in her usual expression, unbothered and uninterested.

Selena slightly got near Ellena and whispered. "Ellena, do you always take kids from slave markets?"

"Huh?"

Ellena was just confused by what Selena said, and somewhat tried to understand it. However, she eventually surrendered.

Maybe Ellena forgot this, but she mentioned to Selena that she saved Isabella from a slave market.

"Forget about it. Come, let's get inside the orphanage. The orphanage became blooming after you left. This will surely surprise you." Selena uttered with a gleam on her face.

"Is that so? I'm excited if you put it like that."

Since then, the church and the orphanage have come into a good state. Did Ellena's threats embed to the headmaster? Now that I think of it, what if we tried to visit her?

It's not a bad idea, right? But I think it would be great if she listened to Ellena's words.

***

After going to the orphanage, Selena gave a tour to them as it was the first time for Ellena to see the whole orphanage.

They ate, talked about what happened to the both of them, and also, in their talk, Selena turned out to be a potential gold-ranker now, ready for her test for promotion.

They continued to talk for hours and laughed like there's no tomorrow. Thalia was also involved in their talk, but she was just briefly talking.

As usual, Thalia was just timid inside.

Later on, Ellena introduced a topic – about having a twin if she had one.

"Selena, might I ask something? Do you have a twin?" Ellena asked, and just after that question, the room became silent, with Selena not making a sound.

Now that Selena was obvious, she was bothered by her question. Selena's eyes immediately turned blank, as if lifeless.

Ellena… you might have stepped on a mine.

With just being silent, Selena frowned and stood up, leaving Ellena clueless about what had just happened. I think that she also noticed that the topic was sensitive to Selena, thus, she slowly tried to approach her and talked about it more softly.

"Selena?... Is there something wrong?"

Selena was just silent and still standing.

"How… did you know about my brother?" she softly mumbled, inaudible to them.

Ellena was clueless, so I enlightened her.

"She was asking how you knew about her brother."

'Oh.'

Ellena stood up and approached Selena.

"Because I met him. He tried to kill me."

Wow. Ellena, please! How can you be thoughtful but still act inconsiderately?! Sometimes really! Your unstable personality is hurting my pride as your guardian and system.

Nevertheless, I know that she was just being blunt and direct to the point. I guess I can understand her point. But still, you are talking to a human, not a demon.

Selena faced Ellena slowly as if being shocked by what she just heard. Her eyes were widened and her lips were twitching, hesitating to speak.

After some time, Selena finally spoke.

"You saw him? And worse, tried to kill you? I guess… that's not impossible. I haven't seen him for 10 years since then." Then a bitter smile emerged on her lips.

"Care to share? I thought you grew in the orphanage."

This… Ellena?!

Sighs… Never mind, I can't talk about it anymore.. She's simply too… unique in odd ways.