The person that had called out to Odette was a handsome looking young man roughly 15-16 years old with a well-built body.
"Ah!"
But the moment she saw the youth, Odette started to turn even more jittery and restless than before.
"Hey! I thought you were studying back at your cabin, why're you here?"
When he had arrived in front of them, the man didn't notice Claude who was standing beside her because he was looking towards the 4th and 5th Divisions' activity area in deep contemplation.
"I... I am currently doing some m, mission!" She answered hastily as she turned her head away from the youth.
Noticing the changes in Odette's behavior from the corner of his eyes, Claude also started to pay some of his attention to their conversation.
"Mission? What fo--" Realization seemed to dawn on the youth as he's about to finish his sentence,
"Oh, come on Odie... Stop trying to aim for the 5th Division already, your skills won't even be enough for the 2nd Division." The young man advised her with a look of pity in his eyes.
"Uh..." The moment those words reached her ears, Odette's entire face, from her eyes to her mouth, trembled for just a split second before it quickly went back to normal.
"I know brother Rudy... Um, I'm just trying to earn some credits right now, nothing else..."
She had replied calmly with a smile, but from Claude's perspective, the face she was wearing right now was worse than any expressions he'd ever seen on her.
Claude suddenly remembered all the words she had said to him ever since they'd first met this morning.
(N, no I... I'm a trainee! They also have tasks for trainees to build up our discipline and give us contribution points to later apply for the Division we want!)
(And lastly, there's the 5th Guardian Division, they protect the base and enforce the laws! They're so cool...")
'No way she was working for the credits.' He thought in his mind.
Claude had had no plans on interfering with the two people present.
The two looked like they had some form of a relationship, so he thought that it'd be more proper for the young man to be the one to confront Odette's current emotional upheaval, no matter how he chose to handle it.
However,
"Credits?"
"I see... Odie you should've told us, you know we'd be willing to pool more of our credits for your work right?"
"Errp... Y-yes of course, but--" She replied with her head hung low. In Claude's eyes the current Odette was already infinitely close to tearing up.
'Ah, I see... He's a moron.' He finally understood.
"Record keeping and managing our trainings' timetables are good work. Plus it will be far more beneficial for your future in the 3rd Division, you know that right?"
"We thought you were studying today so we didn't want to bother you, but--"
"Odette." Claude suddenly interjected,
"Are we finished with the tour?" He asked her gently.
"Nn? This is?" The young man named Rudy had finally noticed Claude's existence when he heard his voice behind her.
"...Ah, yes! T-this is mister Claude. He, um, he's the person I'm guiding... For my mission... Right now..." Her volume got lower and lower at the end of her sentence until it was barely audible.
Because of how abrupt Claude's question had come for her, Odette was dazed for a couple seconds before she managed to reply.
"Oh." Rudy replied in acknowledgement.
"So, are we?" Claude smiled and asked her again.
Claude thought that this action of his was enough. He had given her a way out, and it was up to her whether she wanted to take it or not.
Odette herself was a smart kid, very smart in fact that she could recite all the important histories of ERA in a single lecture session. She had understood what Claude was trying to do the moment she'd heard him speak.
"Um..."
"N-no." She shook her head, "Th-there are still some facilities... left to visit."
"I'm sorry brother Rudy... I-I'll come help you guys after the mission's over." She turned towards Rudy and spoke with an even more forced smile.
"Alright, then we'll talk later." Rudy too didn't pursue the matter any further and turned to Claude instead.
"Are you a new citizen, mister?" He asked.
"Yes, I am." Claude nodded and replied politely.
"Then we'd probably meet again later in the Trainee District, but for now, nice to meet you!" Rudy smiled and waved his hand as he turned around to walk back.
"Of course." Claude also waved back to him in response.
After a while, the young man eventually walked away far enough to be out of sight, giving the helpless looking Odette some room to breathe.
.
.
Because they had actually finished their tour of the place prior to Rudy's arrival, the two of them were currently wandering around aimlessly between different activity areas.
Odette was uncharacteristically silent while Claude also hadn't said anything ever since the previous event concluded.
It was as if the both of them were engaged in some sort of non-speaking contest for long period of time.
However, unlike Claude who was barely showing any expression on his face, Odette who was walking beside him had her expressions changing almost every minute.
"...Th-thank you." Eventually, she couldn't stand the awkward silence any longer and spoke.
Or at least that's what she thought, because Claude hadn't been particularly mindful with the lack of conversation on his part.
"Don't mind it, I just thought you're not feeling too good there, sorry if I meddled too much." He shook his head.
"NO! That is... Err, um, y-you saved me! Sort of..." She dropped her head even lower when she realized that she had raised her voice.
"And plus I truly do have some questions left to ask you about." Claude comforted.
"Oh, like what?" She asked curiously.
"Like the conditions to enter different Divisions... and stuff?" Claude turned his eyes to look at her reaction to the question.
"!..."
As he'd expected, Odette was first startled by the question before quickly feeling down as she remembered the previous 'incident'.
"Uhh..." At first, she was too distracted to talk, but then she seemed to remember that she was still on a mission and immediately firmed herself.
"Te-technically speaking, mister Claude only need to apply for the examination of the Division you want to enter. Every Division has different exams, like the 2nd and 4th Division that only have practical exam. Or the other 3 that have both theoretical and practical." She started explain seriously.
"They all have different contents and scoring methods depending on what they emphasize."
"However..." When she'd reached this point, she started to mumble something with downcast eyes.
'...?' Claude couldn't hear very clearly what she was saying so he only stayed silent and waited for her.
"U-Umm... We also have something called 'conditions to apply', but this rule was only for those who had just come of age as citizens of ERA so I don't think mister need to go through this." She continued.
"Oh, what is it?" Claude was intrigued.
"ERA's age of consent is 16, when trainees reach this age, they will be arranged to different Divisions based on their performance as trainees... Bu-but not all Trainees are satisfied with their chosen Division, so they're also given a chance to apply to their desired Division."
"But there are requirements, such as your accumulated contribution points for certain Division-related tasks that you've done as a trainee..."
"Li-like this mission you see! It gives me 1 point in 1st Division, 1 point in 3rd Division, and another 2 points in 5th Division!" She gave an example,
"Collect enough points for the division you want, and you'll be able to apply for the exams of that Division even if you are slotted to enter a diffferent one."
'I guess this is the priviledges that Richter mentioned.' Claude noted.
As citizens who grew up within the Alliance, they were given a chance to strive for the Division they wished to enter. As for him who had been verified through the cruelest method, he'd been given the rights to bypass those process and directly apply for the exams of the Division that he wanted.
'Others who were verified through the normal process probably don't even have the rights to choose and were immediately arranged a Division based on their capability.'
When he thought up to here, Claude once again felt that he had made the correct decision in getting injected by those explosives.
'Odette has probably been briefed about my circumstances, that's why she directly told me that I could just apply for the Division I want, what a good guide... Speaking of which,'
"And how many points for 5th Division do you need to accumulate to be able to apply for their exams?" He turned and asked a question to this guide of his.
"That's...!"
"T-three..." She replied in whisper.
"Sorry?"
"A-around three hundred and fifty points..." She said embarassedly.
'And this mission only net her 2 points. No wonder...'
Claude stared at her for a long while before eventually asking, "You wanted to enter the 5th Division right?"
"..."
Silence.
"Or was it like you said, you're just doing this for credits?" He spoke again.
"..."
Feeling that he shouldn't push too far, Claude was bout to shrug it off and let it go, but then.
"Y-you see! I!"
"O-odette is... Weak and not talented enough at training! B-but I also want to be just like father who... Who protected everyone until the end so!"
*sniff*
"So..." Odette wiped her teary eyes without knowing what she should say next.
"At first... Others at the district made fun of Odette because I'm slow... But then, brother Rudy who was everyone's friend and the strongest of his year helped Odette out."
"He told me that... I was smart, and that I lea-learned things quickly at lessons! So I should--"
*sniff* *sniff*
"I should do what I'm best at and not the other way around." She didn't look up and just kept wiping her watery eyes while standing still.
"And how are you right now?" Claude who had been listening closely asked.
"Now, everyone is good to me, they rely on Odette to help manage them and they also pay me a lot of credits..."
"O-Odette shouldn't have done missions today... But, but tasks with 5th Division points that even I can do is always few and far between, so when I saw this mission today I-I... I."
"I see..." Claude finally got the whole picture on their earlier conversations.
'Truly, kindness for the poor and condescension has such a fine line.'
To him, what the handsome youth, Rudy was doing was no different than when a class president tried to lecture a truant classmate for their negligence in discipline.
It might have been for the good of the other. But most of the time, at the root of it all, was their sense of superiority being stroked everytime they showed concerns for the other party.
Of course, Claude wouldn't be able to judge the truth without seeing the whole situation first-hand, which he had no intention of doing. So he at least wouldn't condemn the guy just yet.
To his side, Odette was still bawling her eyes out with many different emotions that she couldn't put into words.
"Are you satisfied?" He asked.
*sniff*
"Ung...?" Odette seemed confused at the question.
"What you're doing now, helping them, are you satisfied?"
"Well, I-I'm--"
It was somewhat rethorical for Claude, if she was truly satisfied, why would she even pick out today's mission. But he was trying to make a point.
"How about when you realize that after this is over and you report this mission, you would be one step closer, if not a little bit more likely to join the 5th Division?"
"!!"
"...But, a-a lot of people had helped Odette to--" She choked up before she could finish her sentence.
"B-brother Rudy said that--"
*sob*
"Bwaaaaahhhh....!" Odette finally couldn't hold back her tears and cried everything out.
Fortunately at this point, they were no longer standing around any activity areas and had already reached a more secluded spot. Otherwise the sound would've attracted a lot more attention.
.
.
Claude patiently waited for Odette's emotional outburst to end.
*sob* *sniff* *sob*
"Life is too short for you to do something that made you cry this much isn't it?"
*sniff*
"Mi-mister Claude seemed to want Odette to-- To try for the 5th Division, but... Odette is still weak and, and not talented enough for-- For that..."
'She's right, I ended up getting too caught up in this...' Claude shook his head.
*sigh*
"All trainees are weak aren't they? A weak ant or a strong ant is still an ant. None of them have gone through the strengthening method after all."
"Though if we're talking about skills..." Let's just say, even the movement of the people in the video yesterday still looked too rough in Claude's eyes.
'It looks like the people of Elken Rangers Alliance focus more on raw strength and power output rather than polishing their finesse and combat skills.'
"I-if we're talking about skills...?" To the side, Odette was listening to Claude's words with full attention and a hopeful look on her face.
It was as if she was waiting on some words that can grant her enough courage to cling onto. Claude, of course, noticed this and cursed himself once more.
'I've meddled too much yet again... Do I have to take responsibility for this?'
"...Look, ever since the guys made fun of you and that Rudy guy offered you a way out, have you ever tried to continue and persevere with your physical training?"
"N-no..." Odette was dejected.
"One advice I can give is that you won't achieve anything by half-assing two things at once. Pick one and focus all your efforts on it. Of course, I'm not going to tell you which one to choose," Claude told her.
"Because I do believe that you'll be great at whichever one you choose to put your mind to."
"...Really? Wh-whichever??" Her eyes glimmered for a bit.
"Sure. Though you know way more than me about how each Divisions work, so you can take my words with a grain of salt."
"But I'll tell you what, if you can become physically strong enough as the others in your year, I don't mind teaching you something that will make you stand above the others." Claude grinned.
"!"
"Is-is mister Claude strong...? Ah! I-I-I'm sorry...."
'Why're you sorry?'
"Well, not quite. But I know a thing or two."
"B-but if I continue to train, they'll make fun of me again..."
"Yes, they might." He nodded.
"Auu..."
"Now. This has been one of the best learning experience for me, personally. That guy's right you know, you ARE very smart."
"Y-yes..." She became sullen when she heard the familiar compliment.
"Why are you sulking? Being smart is important anywhere. I should think even the 5th Division will have the same requirement for its members."
"...Mm!"
"So... This should be the end right, the introductions?"
"Y-yes it is! Thank you very much for your time!" Odette bowed.
"Haha, that's my line. Well, I can manage from here, you should go claim your rewards."
"Yes, thank-- No, um, err..." She was about to say thank you again but she felt that it would be too redundant.
"..." But when she was trying to think of another word, she got more and more confused and ended up staying silent for too long.
Claude could only smile wryly at the scene as he pushed her back forward.
"Go on, I truly look forward to your progress. Whichever way it will go."
"Y-yes! I'll try hard!" Odette showed a look of determination when she looked at Claude. Her eyes were filled with newfound respect and gratitude towards him.
.
Although no eyes in the world had taken notice of this little conversation between a new citizen of Sector-07 and a young trainee at the crossroad of her life. This meeting will prove to be the beginning of a sequence of events that would be remembered for the rest of the New Era's history.
Whether it be Claude, or Odette. None of them knew that their names would resound throughout the land and sea in a very different manner from one another.