FFF-Tier System, SSS-Rank Wife-Chapter 63: They are all just normal people

The queue to Greg’s smithy stretched out from his gates, then across the entire open field of the undeveloped town’s outskirts, and then well into the town itself.

And yet, it was only within the premises that I could truly appreciate just how busy this place was.

The special pass that Selia used to bring us in in advance of the queue?

It only brought us closer, to the hidden courtyard where all the other VIPs gathered, all waiting in their designated queue.

And from the looks of things, it was one customer from the normal queue and then a customer from the VIP. One normal, one VIP, and so on and on, only changing when either of the queues would exhaust.

’From the looks of things, it’s not like it ever happens,’ I thought, scanning the small crowd hidden within the smithy’s inner garden.

Selia’s face, however, quickly brought a potential solution to the problem of us just standing around for the next four hours, doing nothing but waiting for Greg to find some time to accept us inside.

"My Saintess..." an older woman in expensive robes nearly fell down to her knees as soon as she saw Selia step inside the garden. She took a quick look around only for her eyes to widen before she hurriedly stepped off to the side and pointed with her hands at the spot she was in just a moment ago. "Please, by all means, help yourself!" she urged, "it would be a sin for all of us to make our Saintess wait around while we hold a more favorable spot in the queue!"

My eyebrows moved up a bit.

’I didn’t know she had this kind of a privilege in this town,’ I thought, taking a mental note of the fact while already preparing to fix the straps of my backpack before moving to the offered spot.

"Thank you, but I will wait," Selia shook her head. "Just like it would be unbecoming of you not to offer, it would be sinful for me to accept an undeserved gratitude."

Strangely enough, rather than having her eyes flash up with a divine enlightenment, something I would expect from someone enlightened by the greater will of someone they considered divine...

’Is it just me or was she about to click her tongue?’ I thought, watching how the woman laughed wryly while making a poor attempt to hide her disappointment.

"This is way too cheap of a price for someone to owe my favor," Selia then turned over my ear and whispered, all to the stunned glares from the small crowd within the garden.

Just as clear as it was that this older woman in expensive robes wasn’t offering her spot out of the goodness of her heart, it now became clear that the general public has yet to hear the news of my presence by Saintess’s side.

And, judging by the intensity of their stares, me accompanying her was no small matter at all!

’Sucks that it seems I’m the only one unaware of what exactly standing by her side means, huh?’

In the end, all I could do was just breathe a small sigh before accepting the usual sense of powerlessness.

Be it in terms of physical might or even knowledge about the common sense, I was still years behind just an average person and a lifetime away from matching someone as great as Selia.

And yet...

Annoyed by all the stares, I raised my own eyes and, after putting a sufficiently cold and detached look to my face, I’ve happily responded with a stare of my own. And so, a series of silent contests ensued, with me staring every member of the small crowd down until they finally found it uncomfortable and looked away.

In this entire group of people, there was only a total of five outliers, three of which never really bothered staring, while two of which refused to back down under the pressure of my own stare.

When it came to the latter, the first of the two looked away when I suddenly licked my lips like a pervert would in a bar when spotting a young woman about to get herself drunk. The other of the two?

As befitting the last boss of the area, he was the one who forced me to look away, only turning his eyes down when he saw me retreat with my stare, too awkward to keep it up.

In theory, there could be more weirdos like him. But every now and then, a worker would step out of the smithy and call out either to the smithy’s inner garden or to its main gate, summoning one of the customers inside while escorting a satisfied customer out.

’They all are just...’ I stepped from one leg to the other, "just normal people, huh?"

Some of them couldn’t hold an eye contact. Others were intimidated by Selia’s mere presence. And then there were some who just couldn’t care less.

In other words, they were all just normal people, living their lives according to the hand they were dealt, trying to make the most out of it.

From that perspective, even the actions of that older lady could be easily explained - who wouldn’t try to take advantage of the opportunity to score a favor with a local powerhouse when the opportunity presented itself before them?

But if all those high and mighty people capable of easily obtaining a hasty pass into the smithy were just normal people with specific circumstances... Then what did it mean about saintess? What did that mean about me?

And what did all of that mean about my desire to somehow fit in into this foreign society, if not for anything else then to keep them from singling me out and then burning me at a stake for being different?

"You really cannot just stay still, do you?" Selia whispered, only to lean her head against my shoulder.

And just like that, the stares that I’ve chased away before have all returned, once again reminding me just how little I knew about this world in general or the importance of Selia’s relationships in particular.

I didn’t have the mental energy to compete with everyone for the second time, especially given how most of the crowd I’ve defeated before has long since moved on, only to be replaced by fresh customers joining the back of the special, hastened queue.

Thankfully, before all that long, our turn finally came when the last of the customers left before us had stepped into the smithy.

And coincidentally, it was the very same guy that I’ve lost in a contest of stares to!

"Just a little longer," I’ve muttered, somehow already growing used to the presence of Selia’s head atop my shoulder.

Sure, I could still feel it perfectly well, the slight weight of her head only adding up to the already existing burden of my shoulders. Yet, even though the weight was clearly there... I somehow couldn’t perceive it as a weight, as a burden, feeling instead as if it was merely the most natural state of things possible.

’Weird...’ I squinted my eyes, puzzled by the sudden change to the dynamics of intimacy between the two of us.

Because there was not a single doubt in my own head — that was exactly what word intimacy existed for, even if expressed in a way that didn’t involve a lot of exposed skin or rubbing directly against each other.

It was just that, this gentle, silent closeness contained within the bounds of something as simple as Selia resting the side of her head against my shoulder.

’Just what is...’

I squinted my eyes even harder, only to stand at attention while Selia jolted, the both of us taken off guard by the sudden noise that suddenly erupted from behind the smithy’s closed doors.

"The hell do you mean by that?! What am I supposed to do, just pack up and leave?! Did it even cross through your tiny, dumb head that I would much rather just dump it all at Derek’s instead?!"

What followed wasn’t a word, a shout, or even a cry... but the noise of something breaking and then shattering upon impact, followed by hurried footsteps after which the doors to the smithy suddenly swung open.

This time, however, it wasn’t the attendant that came out to escort the guest out, but the guest himself storming off with his face covered in a blush of unbridled fury.