The voice came from the commander of soldiers but the kid had never actually met him so naturally Smiley was going to turn him down but Ananke said 'they will come downstairs' to the leader and said to 'You know, it's kind of complicated but you should hear him out.'
'Why does everyone want to disturb my lazy sunday.'
'It's Wednesday…' said Ananke as he reminded the kid.
Both of them went down stairs and the leader of the soldiers was sitting there waiting for them at the table. They both sat down beside him.
"So there are two things for you. First is the apology for that man who tried to assassinate you." said the leader
'I was about to be what?' questioned the kid with a confused look.
He explained to him about the situation of what went on and how the offender, Redibo, was charged and then fired from the camp. After which he tried to get revenge but failed ultimately and that was his first time committing such an act of murder or acting out of order recently. He brought both of them outside the tavern where he was restrained and sitting on the ground on his knees in some distance.
The kid saw Redibo, he had dark hair and he had a tired look and dark circles below his eyes and had not much reflection in his dull eyes.
"He will probably be sent to prison with a harsh sentence." said the leader
His eyes just glazed at Smiley and instantly looked down right as he turned his face away.
The kid questioned 'What if the assassination were to drop.'
"You mean to drop your charges? You know it's a serious crime to try to even kill someone. One can even be sentenced to death"
'And I am still alive so it all goes well.'
"That's just childish. Are you not even mad?"
'I don't know… it's better to be childish than holding grudges'
"How are you sure he wouldn't do it again?"
'He just followed the rules rigidly to the point he eventually became inflexible and broke.'
After all it was true that he started to act odd recently, if people follow the rules or be it by book only, they become rigid to the point they broke. Let it be for rules or to earn credits. One would become an empty shell when their thought leaves them or Extremist when they become too rigid.
The leader sighs "You are sure of it? I guess he will only face discipline and a few years in prison for assault against me. I wouldn't be dropping him as he needs to learn his lesson"
Smiley simply replies back with 'I know, I never said anything about dropping assault charges of me as well'
As the man looked puzzled for a moment. "He is smarter for someone of his age… This is really a headache to deal with. Is he guilty? No, that is not possible. I checked thoroughly. There is no link to him. Did I miss something?"
"As for the second, your charges against the suspicion for murder."
'I see… wait, I was under suspicion for what now?'
The kid thought 'He probably thinks I was trying to be nice to get my charge dropped.' and questioned 'Why am I even under suspicion for what exactly?'
The leader took a deep breath as he said "We found you near the enemies who attacked the scout party and you were with two of them on the ground."
'Three' said smiley as the leader looked at him in question "what?" questioned the leader in calm manner.
'There were three of them. One with light armored with a horse and two footman'
"There was some armor found but not his body or any remains… that is why I wanted to confirm it with you. It is odd how he disappeared with no trace, He could still be alive."
'He was bleeding out from arm and chest when I passed out. He should have been next to me.'
"There was no blood or anything. The armor was found placed on ground with its straps still knotted together and the horse which was captured as starry." said the man and thought"There were signs of slash on clothes. The story matches… But why would an outsider do that for no reason? No, why would an outsider even be here in the first place? Nothing was robbed or misplaced. There have been cases of deaths like these. They still leave behind blood from the wound and body or its skeleton behind. I was not able to find any trace of an outsider."
Ananke stepped in as he patted his shoulder as he was overthinking and said 'It was an outsider. Check the clothes for stab marks. So can you stop messing with the kid while acting like that?'. Ananke noticed that he was interrogating him while acting dumbfounded without Smiley even realizing.
'Was not he interrogating me?` the kid thought to himself. Smiley questioned 'What even is an outsider?'
Ananke replied 'Outsiders are living who are not originally from this world. No one has any idea of how they exist in our world but on death, their skin burns off just like how creatures from the void do when exposed to outside of the veil. They leave behind some remains but this one just disappeared with a single trace.'
Smiley for a moment felt something in his heart as he thought 'Did you really die?' while the leader looked at Ananke and they both whispered some stuff together. The leader sighed at the end.
"I guess that's that. You were already freed from any suspicion but there were no traces of an outsider so I had to confirm it". Smiley thought to himself 'So he really was messing with me'
The leader called the kid and asked "Hey kid, what's your name?"
'Smiley'
"I see. Thank you Smiley, if you want any help, come meet me at the town guard post. Just tell them I sent you." as he walked away taking the cuffed man with him. Ananke was supressing his smile.
The leader stopped in the middle and asked Ananke "How did you know it was our man, not the void or him falling over causing that swollen face?". Ananke simply replied 'I guessed it'
… the leader paused for a moment as he pinched the part of nose between his eyes for a moment as he took a deep breath and asked "So you taunted us and almost even the king himself just because of a guess? I know the king is lenient with you but this is still…" He paused for a moment and said "never mind this is just going to give me another headache and you are not that stupid yourself" as he slowly walked away with Redibo.
After he walked off, Ananke laughed silently as he was trying to hold it in. Smiley looked at him in confusion and asked 'Whats with you again?'
Ananke replied 'He wanted you to ask him his name. That is why he said to use his name for help in town. Yet you completely forgot and ignored it'. Smiley realized he never asked him his name but now it was too late. Smiley just sighed at Ananke.
He asked Ananke in a serious tone 'About that outsider… What happened to him?'
Ananke simply replied with 'He probably returned back home.'
'I see…' said smiley.
While Ananke showed no expression of it, he himself was too wondering if he had really died and danger that could still loom.
He continued and asked 'and about when we were in the void…' Ananke noticed he was embarrassed and said 'Yea?'
Smiley tried to hint 'About that… you know. I was pretty light headed that…'. Ananke replied with 'That?'
'You know that I… about the promise.'
Ananke just laughed it off. Smiley replied with 'Stop laughing, you can forget about that or I will wipe your memories out of you.'
Ananke simply replied as he smiled 'Don't worry, even if a blue or yellow devil comes for me, I am still stronger than any of them.'
'You say that as if you know them personally.'
Ananke taunted saying 'Maybe I do' with another stupid smirk and foolish pose.
Smiley just sighed and said 'You said you were the strongest right?'
'Yea why?'
Smiley picked up a small wooden stick from a branch of a tree and said 'Lets see how long you can keep your memories against my stick. Stay still, I will clean your memories right away.'
Rhina walked out to catch fresh air only to find them and wondered "What are these two fools even doing so early in the morning?" as Smiley was posing the stick towards him while he was posing like a fool taunting him.
Rhina thought to herself "Well I am glad he is alright…" and smiled. They looked like older and younger brothers fooling around. It has been a long time since she saw Smiley doing something like this and he had a genuine smile for he was always just smiling and acted serious for his age.