"Stop."
"Excuse me?"
"I get it okay? I didn't have any plans to leave Pentaz for anyone else, nor do I have any malicious motives for what I'm doing. That should be enough for the 'you' you put on display right? And about what you're really after, I don't have anything that you can use."
"Oho... that certainly puts me at ease, however I do not understand what you meant with the part about me wanting something from you?"
"Really? Because I didn't word it that way. Odd, it's almost like you were already thinking something along those lines."
Duong Hao seemed at a loss, eventually deciding to drop his questioning.
"I see... rest well then Einer, I will be looking forwards to your further growth. I will be attending to the rest of my work now, it was a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
As he was followed out by his two Jade Rank guards, Duong Hao drew his conclusion.
'Even just from that dialogue, I can say with certainty that he was relying on a unique trait of some kind up until this point. However, considering his struggles, I can't imagine he's anything beyond average when it comes to those who hold such power. I'm certain he will rise to a decently powerful position at the main branch in the far future, and I will certainly be able to claim rewards for 'bringing him in.' This is the ideal conclusion, he is valuable, but not enough to cause me trouble anytime soon, I should not divide my attention even further than it already is.'
Einer, however, had no intention to limit himself within Pentaz, and Duong Hao certainly would not have walked away so easily if he knew that [Ultimate Minmax], a curse that was multi-growth oriented in nature, was contained within the boy he had just met.
Afterwards, Annali awoke.
After the nurse cleared her, she decided to leave immediately with Einer and head back to the guild post.
On the way, he managed to say what he had wanted to while bowing his head.
"Thank you for what you did... I know you probably think it didn't help, but that extra support saved me. Considering that I don't even remember ranking up, I believe that acting when you did, even if it only bought me a millisecond of time, saved my life."
Einer had waited until there was no one around them on their walk back in order to not make a scene, but Annali seemed flustered anyways.
"I- It wasn't a big deal- uh... you're welcome though..."
"I'm sorry for causing so much trouble."
"Y-You don't need to be so considerate... you're the one who nearly died... anyways, you are the victim here! l-let the person who attacked you take the responsibility!"
"But I can deal with my problems myself?"
"n-No! I forbid you from apologizing for this!"
"But I want to apologize to Jina and Philip too?"
"No! I'm sure they will agree with me!"
"Can you stop me?"
"Hueh? I-"
"Can you?"
"Are you teasing me...?"
"Well?"
Annali looked up at Einer with her dark eyes scrunched in frustration.
"I... I will cry if you do it."
"Wait, what?"
"If you apologize I will cry again like before, in front of everyone... they will believe that you made me cry you know."
"Oi Oi-"
"Aisha will probably be mad... very..."
"A-Alright, your win! Let's just drop it then okay?"
"Philip will demand an explanation..."
"I get it, I understand!"
"Hehe"
"Seriously..."
Einer suffered severe exasperation until the two finally arrived back at the guild post where everything had gone down only so long ago.
'It doesn't feel as weird to be back as I thought it would, like it's only natural.'
Although Einer couldn't remember increasing his rank, he could slightly recall having a moment of serious conviction right before his death.
Drawing from the words of those around him, he had thought that the time spent while sinking into oblivion was used to reflect detachedly on your life experiences as a whole, and to decide whether you had regrets or not.
It hadn't felt so much as a sorrowful or melancholic moment of flashbacks from the past, but more akin to anticipation of the future.
But why was that the last thing my conscious chose to think about?
Was there nothing to look back on?
Was my life that empty and meaningless, even to my own mind?
'Then I'll have to fix that, won't I.'
He had resolved to get stronger.
Both then, and now as well.
'My emotions won't change, I refuse to let that burst of motivation die out just because I've reentered safe conditions.'
The thing he was most scared of, at this point in time, was losing his purpose.
Once it had been found, and especially at such a time, there was no way such a thing could be treated so lightly.
Inside the guild, Einer found Brad looking through a board containing recent information of various topics privy only to guild members.
After greeting him with a hand raise, Einer spotted Jina on duty, and went to thank her now that he could better remember what had happened past his collapse.
The mental fog after waking up from his brush with death was entirely gone now, and Einer seriously just wanted to go out to fight and train, but contained himself for the time being.
Approaching the main desk with slight hesitation, he got Jina's attention.
'Miss Jina?'
To Einer's utter horror her head snapped onto him as if it had located its target before she grabbed the edge of the counter with both hands and propelled herself over the paperwork she had just been working on to land in front of him.
"Einer! Brad said you were fine. Everything's okay?"
Jina reached down to grab him, but halted when she thought that he might still hurt in some way.
"o-of course I'm fine! they're the healers you brought after all, I'm definitely all better now. Anyways-"
Einer moved to bow his head in order to thank her for helping him out, but before he could even begin he was lifted off the ground into a spinning bear hug.
"I'm so glad! But don't give them credit, those are just some trash healers the guild has on call as a benefit to general members and as an incentive to join. It's shameful that they are even a part of our ranks when they couldn't even save you from that poison, our healers would have no-" Jina stopped herself and put Einer down, her face calming down, "I'm just glad you're safe, if something like this happens again don't blame me for taking certain measures."
'She's allowed to do something like that?! Scary- hold on why does Miss Jina even care that much when I barely know her? Also why is her attitude jumping around like that, this has happened before and it's concerning as hell. With what she was about to say it almost sounds like...'
Einer was quiet for a moment.
"Aha! Miss Jina, if my safety is an issue, could you let me know of a safe place to train? I figured the guild would have something like that."
She considered Einer's offer with a contemplating face.
"Okay, you can go to the branch headquarters and get an ID reassessment, once you're Geode Rank you gain access to a few things, one of those being guild's specialized training field."
Einer immediately turned to hurry off as he responded with a quick thanks.
"Einer are you leaving already?"
As he made for the door, Annali called out to him from a table in the bar area, causing him to stop.
"Oh, yeah I was going to go do something-"
"You haven't eaten yet right? You really should..."
Annali's eyes slightly flicked to a chair besides her, giving away her meaning.
"That's true."
He sat down awkwardly.
'What is going on today.'