The next day, we began the renovation of the rooms and everything went smoothly.


    At that moment, I realized that my investment in Zax paid off.


    She was very good at repairing things, but overall she was very good with her hands and she was very imaginative. ''She is a real genius…''


    I couldn''t help but admire her for this, and she was also very hardworking even with her petite body.


    As for the others, Timothy and Yelena helped Brodon with the food, and Feldenis was discussing with Ma?ra all day and helped her with her work.


    ''I bet these two will get married soon…'' I couldn''t help but smile when I thought about this. ''Why am I only attracted to problematic girls in the first ce?'' I wondered.


    I looked around and saw Liu sitting in the middle of the flowers field. ''Sigh… Why is she so beautiful? And here I am, challenging her in a duel…. Maybe, I am just stupid, ain''t I? Well, better than a simp that will end up dying painfully, I guess."


    As I was thinking about these things, Zax yelled at me with her little voice. "Hey! Don''t space out, let''s move on. We need to patch up the walls."


    "Okay."


    In the end, I ended with Zax and Cristal. Timothy insisted that we shouldn''t let Liu do these kinds of work, and everyone else agreed, so I didn''t say anything. Yet…


    ''Aren''t you guys kind of excluding her? It''s lonely to be left alone you know…''


    Well, maybe I was the only one who thought that way.


    As for Cristal, she could deal with the heavy tasks so easily, to the point that I had toe up with another exnation.  "Her gift gave her superhuman strength and dexterity…" I explined.


    And after witnessing Cristal working, no one questioned the authenticity of my im. She was helping Zax and me renovate the rooms, and everything was proceeding quickly and smoothly. ''The three of us can manage to build a small house by ourselves only in a week at this pace…''


    I was really curious about Zax''s story so I used this opportunity to ask her.


    "Hey Zax, since when did you start to invent things?" I asked.


    Zax looked like she didn''t expect my question, but it seemed like she trusted me a bit and gave me an answer.


    "Mm? I don''t remember…" Zax said. "The where I lived was full of metals and junk parts. It was a sort of dumping ground where the Empire dumped their obsolete parts and recycled them again. People living there stole some of these parts and invented something out of them to survive. I also did that to survive until Miss Liu found me…"


    I couldn''t help it. After hearing Zax''s story, I reached my hand and patted her head.


    "Hey, stop that," she struggled, "And what with that face?! You are so ugly. Are you crying?!"


    "Zax…. Don''t worry, I will buy you every part that you want from now…" I said as  gentlly as possible.


    "Huh? Thanks, I guess… But don''t worry about me. I managed to stay strong because of Miss Liu''s help. I will be forever indebted to her," Zax said, and a look of respect appeared on her face. "And don''t ck off! Let''s continue the work…"


    "Okay!"


    This petite woman was stronger than she looked. She managed to survive alone in a very harsh environment just by using her intellect.


    ''My difficulties in my past life didn''t amount much whenpared to hers…'' I thought.


    After that, we continued our work while taking a few minutes of a break now and then.


    Brandon brought some snacks and before I knew it, the topic of our discussion became rted to our future ns.


    "One day, I want to build myboratory and invent new things!" Zax announced while feasting on Brodon''s handmade snacks.


    For some reason, she looked like a small, cute, but wild animal. ''A wild pink hamster?''


    I grabbed Zax''s cheeks and fondled them. "I am cheering for you!"


    It seemed like we became a little bit ustomed to each other after spending time together.


    "Hmmmmmm… Enough!" Zax shoved away my hands and caressed her cheeks as they turned a little bit red, then she looked at me and asked me a question. "And you, what are you going to do after this?"


    "Me? I need to finish my studies in the Empire and then…"  There was a lot of stuff to do, but I couldn''t discuss such a topic with Zax. "I will find a fine woman and get married," I said, half-jokingly.


    "What a boring goal…" Zax scoffed. "I know that you are eyeing Miss Liu but she is out of your league. Hahaha!" She added, making fun of me.


    "What are you talking about? I am not looking at her from that point of view," I retorted.


    "How many times do you think you looked at her while sighing, today?" Zax sneered.


    "It''s not like that, I just don''t know how to deal with her."


    To be honest, I was kind of interested in Liu. She was beautiful and my type. She may look cold and quiet most of the time, but from herpanions'' story, I concluded that she also had a good character. ''However, I shouldn''t let all of that influence my judgment… That would be a fatal mistake.''


    After seeing my reaction, Zax looked at me withpassionate eyes. "But who knows, maybe you still have a chance, so you might regret it if you don''t try…"


    "Don''t look at me like that. Seriously, it''s not like that… At least for now," I said.


    The pink wild hamster was trying to tease me. I knew that she was older than me but I couldn''t help but think of her as a child, so the thought of a child teasing me was very irritating. ''Should I grab her checks again, hehehehe...''


    *****


    Before I knew it, it was alreadyte in the afternoon, almost evening, and we had already finished all of the work, so it was time to begin the party.


    Brandon and the others had also finished preparing the food and drinks, and then, they set up a kind campfire outside.


    Everyone gathered around the fire and the food and drinks were put on the table so everyone could serve themselves.


    ''This is nice… But why everyone is looking at me?'' I thought, then I realized what I had to do at times like that… ''Should I say something? Okay, let''s do this…''


    "Cough, cough! I just want to thank you all for apanying me here, especially Miss Liu. I would also like to thank Miss Ma?ra for allowing us to stay here and for epting to train me. I hope that we can build a longsting friendship from today onward. Cheers!"


    p! p!


    ''How was that? Did I manage to do it well? That was cringe, wasn''t it?'' I asked myself.


    The party began and Cristal yed some music. After a few minutes, Timothy and Yelena alredy began with a drinking contest and even Ma?ra joined them.


    Feledenis was concerned about Ma?ra as if she was already his wife. ''Aren''t you progressing too fast?'' I thought, and I was partly joking, but I thought that Feldenis and Ma?ra looked good together.


    Liu who was curious about the food began to eat in silence.


    ''She likes eating, doesn''t she? Or does she just like trying new foods?'' I thought, looking at her.


    As for me, I looked around and smiled. Then I saw Brondon who did the same.


    I approached Brondon and talked to him. "Mr. Brondon, thank you for the food, it''s delicious."


    "Hahaha! I am d that you like it. You remind me of my son, and he would have been happy if he met you." Brandon said with a smile on his face.


    "You have a son Mr. Brondon?"


    A soft expression appeared on Bradon''s face. "Yes, I had a son. It was because of him that I learned to cook… I wanted him to enjoy parties like this and smile while eating to his heart content."


    "Sorry, I didn''t know…"


    "No, it''s fine. When people enjoy my cooking, then it reminds me that my son also would be happy if he was here."


    I didn''t know if it was the effect of the alcohol or something else, but Brondon was a little bit talkative, and his story was a little bit heavy. ''He must have liked his son… And I guess, also his wife. What happened to them? I wanted to know but it was not the time to ask about such a thing.''


    "Hey, Brondon… Hik! Is there some more food?" Timothy approached us, and he was already half-drunk."


    "Hahaha! Look at you. Well, there are still more, let me bring them here."


    Brondon went to take the food and Cristal helped him.


    "Hik… I guess you are not such a bad guy…" Timothy said as he smacked my back.


    "Well, I am d to hear that," I said.


    "But… Hik! Don''t you dare try anything funny with Miss Liu… Hik! I''ll kill you.."


    "You really respect Miss Liu, don''t you?" I wanted to take the opportunity and asked why Timothy was obsessed with Liu.


    "Of course mate... She saved me when I thought that I was nothing but trash... she was like a goddess to me… Hik! But that was only the beginning, and when I began to know her better, I realized that she was like me, she was unwanted, but she stayed strong and noble... And that made me respect her more..." Timothy said.


    I guess I didn''t even had to ask. Still, that was very unexpected. ''So he wasn''tpletely stupid…''


    "And what about Yelena? What made her follow Miss Liu?"


    "Her? Hik! She was with her since Miss Liu was little…"


    So Yelena was a sort of attendant. ''That exins her overprotective nature toward Liu…''


    "Hey, Timothy! Here are the foods!" Zax shouted.


    "Okay… Hik! I aming!"


    I looked at everyone as they enjoyed themselves. I didn''t know if I managed to change their impression of me but that was my goal. After all, there was a proverb saying: ''Tell me who is your friend, and I will tell you who are you…'' I wasn''t sure if that was the exact line, but thesest few hours I aimed to build a form of friendship with Liu''s crew, just for sake of gathering more information about her.


    In the end, it was not as bad as I excepted… I felt that most of these guys went through a lot before meeting Liu.


    After thinking about all of that, I finally decided to approach Liu.