As Ananke and Smiley walked through the town. Ananke stopped by the clothing shop as he said 'Alright, it`s time to buy you some clothes'
Smiley responded as he kept walking 'It`s fine, I will buy them later. Right now lets get to registry first'
Ananke responded 'You do know you only have one pair right now' to which Smiley responded, 'Not really. I think Rhina accidentally packed up the tavern cloth'
'Tavern Cloth?' confused, Ananke questioned.
Smiley said 'Yea, the white clothes that comes with tavern when you rent it'
Ananke upon hearing it smiled and said 'She never fails to amuse me. Oh little boy, how will I tell you there exists no such thing.' for Rhina had given Smiley clothes on excuse of it being provided by Tavern since he usually refused taking stuff when he came new to the village.
Ananke said 'Sure, let's get you registered to the guild then. We can get them later.'
As Ananke and Smiley went towards the Guild, Smiley spoke up 'Hey, why are you doing this for me?'
Ananke seemed confused and asked 'What do you mean?'
'You know, helping me out with all of this? Buying me a sword, getting me registered and even showing me around'
Ananke looked at Smiley who had a sign of guilt across his face. Ananke replied, 'Isn't it natural? I am the one who brought you here with me so I will take care of you till the time comes'
Smiley said 'It`s fine… After registering, we will go our separate ways. I have nothing to offer in return.'
Ananke said 'I told you already to not think of yourself as a burden'
Smiley stopped walking as he stared at the road. The guilt still had not washed over his face as Smiley said 'As I said, I am a total weakling, nowhere as strong as you think I am. I can not even use magic nor am I any good at fighting. I was born with a weak body and only won against Ignis and Elenbel because they both were going easy on me. If I was not lucky, I would have died the moment they took out their sword— No, I would have died long ago in my village. So please…'
Ananke walked up to him and slightly knocked on his head, 'What did I say? I did not bring you here with me because you are strong. I brought you here because you had awakened. Being strong or not does not matter to me. Awakened people usually go through drastic changes. Even right now your overloading emotions are caused by that. You are just reading too much into things. I do not seek anything out of you. I am just doing this for my own conscience.' as he patted his head, messing up his hair.
Seeing Smiley not budging at all, Ananke knelt down and gently said 'So look at me.' as he lifted his face.
'I have said it before and I will say it as many times as you want. Kid, you are not a burden to anyone. Not me, nor Ayla or anyone else.'
He smiled 'And you know your mother will kill me if I leave you like this so cheer up. I can feel her staring at me from here…'
He made his usual foolish face and said 'Or are you that age where you are rebellious and think the world is against your or something'
Smiley looked at him and smiled 'You really just have to ruin the moments.'
Ananke laughed 'Haha, let`s go and get you registered then. And do not worry about magic that much, there are other methods to make someone a mana core.'
Smiley told, 'Trust me, I did try that when I came to Satus with my master. They all said same thing before giving up'
Ananke said 'I am sure you tried but that mage from my party should be able to tell what`s wrong at the very least and even if you can not use it. It does not change a thing for us.'
Ananke suddenly remembered, 'Oh and about Ayla… she is more of a weirdo who will try to spoil you like her own child so be careful of that… but she is going to enjoy your company more than anything.'
Ananke opened the door to Guild 'But before that, we both got some other stuff that we need to do, together'
Smiley enters the guild building. The lounge room was large enough to fit multiple of the entire small worn down guild form his village inside it. Everyone seemed busy in their own documents and places. It felt almost overwhelming for him.
Soon after Ananke entered while Smiley was busy looking around. They walked through the hall towards the counter.
Ananke explained 'We will be registering you for adventure as It gives you most freedom without ownership of a house and after that you will give some tests before getting your rank.'
Smiley asked 'What is your rank?'
He pointed to the poster which was a triangle going from F at bottom towards A at top. And at the very top, outside of triangle was written Saint Division.
Ranks are divided into 3 divisions. F rank is the lowest and considered to be just helping hand around the town, these are mostly normal citizens. E and D are considered to be strengths of just above average and considered a "Guarding Class" who mostly part take in merchant guards quests. They are not that strong compared to an average adult. C and B are considered to be dependable in time of needs and A is the highest Division that one can achieve by standard means. That old man in the cart is considered this decision but since he is in the military, he is not affiliated with the guild.
Then comes Saint Division which is outside the triangle. Saint class is considered to be highly valued and even gets sponsored by countries. Ayla is also in the same division as Saint rank.
Ananke paused leaving behind an awkward silence.
…
He waited till Smiley asked once again, 'And you?'
Ananke smirked, showing off, 'There is a Division that is not shown in those posters since it is considered to be unachievable. I am in the Monarchy Division and only a few people in the world, from whom almost all are awakened. This is considered unattainable so they never show it in standard posters. Our rankings are unknown as we can level the villages and even towns if we try to go all out.'
Smiley looked at Ananke in shock and said 'I am surprised they allow you to live inside city'
'Actually it is the opposite. Anyone of this rank is not allowed to move freely and their country tries to tie them down. It is a pain to even move around countries as I am considered a natural threat. This kingdom has also tried to tie me down but I rejected them as it would make it impossible for me to travel outside of Seldomia.'
Ananke and Smiley reached the line to desks. There were two desks. One was where a woman with a warm gentle smile was seated but had few people in that line while another was a woman with narrow eyes who looked serious and almost intimidating whose line remained empty, almost catching dust. They wore the same half shoulder cape that Rhina usually wore as uniforms.
The decision was obvious to go towards the less intimidating woman whose stares would not to kill him but Ananke pulled Smiley towards and threw him into her line.
Smiley whispered to Ananke, 'Do we really have to go in this one?'
Ananke responded 'Despite how she looks, she has a soft heart—'
She stared coldly at Ananke coming up to her which ran a shiver down his spine.
She looked up towards Ananke who walked towards him. Her cold stare ran a shiver down his spine as he regained second guessing, 'Heart…
Smiley asked again, 'Are you sure I wouldn't be yelled at?'
Ananke responded 'Stop second guessing. This is a cannon event.' and pushed him like a mommy bird throwing her children off the nest to fend off for themself.
Smiley asked Ananke 'What do I exactly need to do?'
Ananke responded 'Just fill in the paper they hand out to you at the desk. They will record it into their registry.'
Smiley looked at Ananke and said 'Umm. You do know that I can't write properly…'
Ananke smiled 'Don`t worry, I wil—' and started second guessing as she stared at Ananke, annoyed, 'I— might come with you.'
It was their turn as no one dared to even line up at her desk. Smiley walked up to the table as Ananke explained for registration for adventure rank.
Smiley forced a smile to hide his nervous expression and greeted her. She nodded back and handed out a paper to him and Smiley grabbed onto the pen.
Smiley raised his hands and as he was about to write onto paper, he paused.
Something's… wrong— terribly wrong…
Ananke noticed Smiley had started to sweat and take heavy breaths. He leaned forwards, jokingly, 'You are not scared of words are you now? There is no need to be nervous—'
Smiley did not even look back or respond to his jokes as he kept on staring blankly which caused Ananke to grow concerned, 'Hey kid? Are you there? Kid?'
The woman who had not spoken a single word spoke for the first time as her indifferent face showed concerned, "Hey, Kid are you alright?"
Smiley eyes went blurry and he stumbled on his legs 'Huh… What is going on? My body… I feel weak. My head is empty… I feel weak in my knees. No… do I even have legs?'
It felt like someone was striking his brain with thousands of needles at once repeatedly.
Smiley rotated his palm to face towards his eyes only to notice his vision was fading away as he saw world around him twisting around.
The woman stood up as she noticed his skin growing pale as he started to fall down.
His nose dripped blood as his one eye became darker and blank like the abyss itself. It felt like he was dying as strength forsaken his body. He— has experienced this before.
His head was going to hit the desk but was saved by the soft woman's hand.
Some bystander joked 'Oh Misses Death made another rookie pass out~'
Which was the last joke Smiley heard before he went cold.
'Not this again…'
…
Of course at that time no one knew what that boy just did defied the very laws of reality to its very core. I mean how would anyone? He was just a youngling enjoying his life, blissfully unaware of what his existence did to everyone around him. Unaware of the mishap he has caused to those everyone just by existing in this world.