Habitually, he pulled Selene into his arms, gave her a hug, and then introduced Sheryl and Hermione to her.
Hermione had seen her before, but they had never truly spoken. Moreover, Selene had concealed her true appearance at that time, so this could be considered their first real meeting.
"I'm Selene."
Seeing Ethan's actions, Hermione's smile froze slightly. After she finished scrutinizing Selene, her mood became noticeably low.
She suddenly realized something. Even if she ignored the obvious relationship between Ethan and Selene, and also ignored the unclear relationship with Scáthach, just the women appearing around Ethan were more beautiful than the last. Then, thinking of herself, just an ordinary-looking girl...
Ethan noticed Hermione's mood had become a bit down, but he didn't say anything, acting as if he hadn't noticed at all, and continued listening to Tony introduce the various things he had been working on.
They had already seen the new ship design. Tony hadn't only worked on this one thing during all this time. He had also made some adjustments, integrations, and optimizations to the VF fighters.
For example, the VF-27 fighter used a special control system similar to a psychic link, allowing modified enhanced soldiers to directly establish a connection with the fighter's control system. This enabled the pilot to control the fighter more freely, and even remotely start or control it within a certain range.
It could be said that the various technologies applied to the VF-27 were very advanced, but ordinary pilots couldn't use these advanced designs, so only a few of these fighters were built, and they were not mass-produced.
For people like Ethan and the others, the troubles with the VF-27 simply didn't exist. Even if there weren't many true mages among the crew, their mental strength was far beyond that of ordinary people or even enhanced soldiers.
In terms of operating systems, the VF-27 was very suitable for Ethan and his crew. By integrating the advantages of the VF-25, a completely new variable fighter could be created.
"Although the actual airframe hasn't been produced yet, the simulation equipment for the cockpit is ready," Tony said.
Tony led the group into a secret laboratory beneath Cherry Military Industry. Highly confidential development and testing took place here, such as the information and development of the VF fighter.
Looking at the single, completely open-air cockpit device in front of them, and the mechanical structure in the distance with no outer shell, which looked like a pile of parts assembled together, people like Sheryl and Hermione, who knew nothing about this, could only stare blankly at Tony.
It wasn't until Tony sat in the cockpit and the mechanical structures on the other side performed various movements that they understood what this thing actually was.
Ethan and Modred both tried it out. Hermione, being a witch who also understood how to control her mental power, also tried it and said the feeling was strange, somewhat like controlling a flying broomstick, but more strenuous, and it allowed for more "actions."
After touring these things, Modred and Sheryl left. Sheryl, of course, returned to her own world. She still wanted to continue being a singer. Even though her former manager Grace had abandoned her, the new manager Ada who sought her out was also capable, and she could completely rise again.
She wasn't that easy to defeat.
Modred also had many things to do. The teleportation room on the Artemis connected to many worlds, but the crew on the ship rarely ventured into unfamiliar planes, because the few familiar worlds they currently knew satisfied almost all their needs, making it unnecessary to go to unknown places.
This time was different. Modred had her own goals, so she needed to actively go out and explore.
After the two left, and Hermione stepped away for a moment to try out Cherry Military Industry's latest exoskeleton armor, Selene and Ethan discussed Hermione.
"She likes you."
"..."
Ethan wasn't blind or stupid. He could see that Hermione had a good impression of him. However, Hermione was still young, and this kind of liking might just be a vague yearning for the opposite sex.
Perhaps it was shameless to say this, but Ethan's current excellent appearance, outstanding strength, and the aura of a strong person cultivated over many years did indeed easily attract the affection of women.
He wasn't surprised that Hermione would like him. He even felt that he had been very restrained and hadn't done anything overly flirtatious. Of course, this was also related to Hermione's young age. He couldn't bring himself to do it.
"You know me."
"Either don't make a move, or once you do, you never let go?"
Ethan had originally thought he didn't mind such things. If someone told him they wanted to leave, he would let them go freely and easily.
Slowly, he realized his possessiveness was actually very strong. After Ada and Selene successively confirmed their relationships with him, he realized he absolutely could not tolerate them leaving.
Furthermore, for a girl from modern Earth, the fact that Ethan already had several women would also be very difficult for her to accept, right?
"So what do you plan to do?"
"Nothing."
Ethan's earlier display of intimacy with Selene was actually a reminder to Hermione: you should be able to see my situation, and you need to decide for yourself how to choose.
If Hermione chose to give up this vague feeling because of this, Ethan wouldn't be dissatisfied. It would prove that she simply couldn't accept his situation. Even if Ethan forcefully won her over, would they have to argue about these things every day?
Ethan wasn't an ordinary human. Even if life wasn't happy, it would only be for a few decades, or possibly even less. He and the people around him might have to be together forever. Did they want to argue for hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, or even billions of years? Just thinking about that kind of life was terrifying.
"What if she doesn't want to give up?"
"Doesn't want to..."
With meat delivered to his mouth, there was no reason for Ethan to refuse. As for whether the other party would regret it, he wouldn't give them that chance.
Selene didn't even need to wait for Ethan to say the answer. Seeing his expression, she knew exactly what he was thinking. She pinched his waist hard. The frustrating thing was that while Ethan's muscles weren't as exaggerated as Thor's, they weren't soft enough to be easily pinched. She tried very hard but couldn't cause Ethan any pain.
Thinking about how Ethan's physical fitness had suppressed her a lot since then, and how he had taken advantage of this to "deal with" her many times, Selene suddenly had the urge to work hard and elevate her strength or realm to another level.
She had never imagined that her impulse to improve her strength would one day come from something like this.
"I must be crazy..."
Selene, feeling speechless about herself, glanced at Hermione again. Although the little girl was trying out the new exoskeleton armor, her gaze occasionally drifted toward her and Ethan.
"If you're really going to charm the little girl, remember to give her a beautiful romantic experience."
"Huh?"
Ethan's reaction made Selene roll her eyes. While Ethan was no longer as slow about many things as he used to be, there were still some things he didn't understand.
"She's not like me or Ada, and she's different from Diana, with whom you have many memories. What she's looking forward to is a beautiful first love..."
"I know."
Ethan smiled awkwardly, as if her words implied he only thought about "that" kind of thing. Even if he truly wanted to do something, it was impossible to act so quickly. Besides Hermione's young age, her body was that of an ordinary person, and the gap between her and Ethan was simply too large.
Hermione played for a while longer. When she returned, she found that Selene had left at some point. Having experienced many new and exciting things, Hermione's mood had recovered slightly. She didn't dwell on why Selene had left. She was concerned about another matter.
"I feel like I've seen Selene somewhere before."
"When I was studying at Hogwarts, Selene disguised herself as my guardian."
Hermione suddenly remembered that she had seen Ethan's guardian from a distance before, but that should have been a middle-aged woman... Hermione quickly realized that Selene had obviously used a disguise, which wasn't surprising at all.
Following Ethan, they walked around the streets of this world for a bit, experiencing the prosperity of future Earth. Then Ethan teleported Hermione to a relatively secluded mountain peak, where they casually sat on nearby rocks.
"Is there anything you want to say?"
Hermione opened her mouth, but finally shook her head. She didn't know what to say. Her mind was a bit jumbled right now, and she needed some time to think properly.
"Then let's just talk about whatever you want to talk about, like magic?"
Hermione thought for a moment. There were indeed many things she wanted to talk about. Ethan's previous experiences were told in a very general way, and she was curious about some of the details.
For example, how did Ethan first embark on the path of a mage? What troubles did he encounter? And how did he resolve them?
"You want to hear about those?"
"Yes, I'm very interested in your experiences!"
"Alright... Everything has to start with a small sampan."
Since Hermione wanted to listen, Ethan told her. Anyway, there was nothing in his experiences that couldn't be shared. As Ethan narrated, Hermione learned how dire the situation Ethan faced was at the very beginning. If she had faced such circumstances, perhaps she would have already died.
Hearing that Ethan was about the same age as her when he first went out to sea made her feel a strong sense of connection, and she quickly became immersed in the story.
Unconsciously, the night passed, and Ethan had finished telling most of his experiences.
"Let's stop here. It's time to go back."
Watching the sun gradually rise in the sky, they watched the sunrise for a while longer, and then Ethan took Hermione back to the Artemis.
(To be continued.)