Chapter 10

“I mean… we didn't really need the magic, did we?”

After the conversation finished, Kei called him back into the room. She gave him her farewells and disappeared. Leyla then told him a bit about their conversation. She didn't share the details. She said that her mana ran out, so they wouldn't be able to use magic for a while.

“It's not like I know what he expected from us.”

Had she known, she wouldn't have used magic. But what's done was done. They now had two of the seven chairs. It's time to head for the next chair.

After a good night's rest, John tapped the key. The key pointed north. Using the map, the pair looked at the many areas north of where they were. Since Leyla couldn't use teleport, they'll need to travel using a carriage. And thus, the rather slow and painful journey began.

“... I’m bored.”

“Same.”

The two of them sighed together. They were the only ones in this particular carriage. There was a more comfortable carriage ahead in their convoy, but since they didn’t register beforehand, there was no specific space reserved for them. John himself was grateful he even had a place to sit. Walking would suck.

It was a slow ride. It would take some time before they reached their destination. Kade would occasionally tap the key, making sure they were heading in the right general direction. Well, he used to do it to check for confirmation. Now, he did that just to get rid of the boredom.

Should have looked to get some money instead…

The food was delicious, but it was worthless at this point. He didn’t need all that extra energy. If he had money, he could at least buy a book or something. He didn’t know what the taste of this world was like, but reading something was certainly better than doing absolutely nothing. Heck, he wouldn’t mind doing a bit of his old job just to kill some time.

Maybe thanks to the boredom, Leyla began humming a song. It was an unfamiliar song. John doubted it came from Earth.

“What’s that song about?”

“That’s none of your business.”

John sighed, deciding he didn’t want to say another word. Leyla stopped humming, making him regret his words even more. As much as he disliked her, he would rather hear her sing compared to do nothing. The two continued in silence. Leyla stopped humming, staring at the carriage’s walls.

“... Start a conversation,” Leyla said all of a sudden.

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. She had just refused to talk about the song. “... Why is that my responsibility?”

“You’re the human here.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Leyla turned to him, her eyes looking as if she was genuinely annoyed that he asked that.

“All I do is discuss the afterlife with dead people. Do you really think I have any interesting stories? Hmm?”

“... No. But have you never been to a world like this?”

“Yes, but those trips are none of your business.”

So she doesn't want to tell me stories, but she wants to hear them?

“Wha-”

“So shut up and tell me something.”

“I can’t do both at the same time!”

Besides, it wasn’t like John’s life was any interesting in the first place. All he did was work, work, and more work. When he wasn’t working, he was worried about work.

His life was devoid of anything interesting. If he had something, he would have been more worried about when he died. But no, nothing. He didn’t feel anything. He didn’t even feel like dying sucks.

“Urgh… you’re useless.”

“You’re one to talk.”

“Others can talk endlessly despite not being asked to.”

“Well, sorry I can’t do that.”

“Do you do martial arts?” It was obvious how much Leyla was forcing things, but John decided to play along.

“No, why?”

“So what if we’re attacked by dragons?”

It was a question that came from nowhere. Why would they need to worry about dragons? They were here to look for chairs, not fight dragons.

“Guess we die?”

“... How are you so casual about it?”

John shrugged. “It’s hard to care, honestly.”

It wasn’t like he had some grand goal for coming into this world. He was sent in to collect chairs. Someone else could do that. He just happened to be there when someone was needed. That was all to it.

“Besides, can you do absolutely no magic? Not even a little bit?”

If she couldn't use magic, then they were screwed. They didn't have any way to defend themselves.

“Well, I guess I could…”

To be fair, teleportation was a much more costly spell compared to something like a fireball. Could a good old fireball take care of a dragon, though? Most likely not. But, in the event they ran into one, they would run. There was no way they stuck around to fight. They didn’t have the strength for that.

That got him thinking. What if they must fight a dragon? What if one of the chairs was in a stack of gold or something? And that dragon guarded that stack? What would they do?

A stealth mission makes more sense…

Since they couldn’t fight, going in silently might be the better option. They didn’t want to risk destroying the chair, either, and fighting while having their attention split between their foe and the chair would make things difficult.

“What is your worst food take?” Leyla asked. Maybe it entered her mind after the great dishes she had, or maybe she was so bored that she scraped anything and everything for conversation material.

The fact that she was bored enough to actively attempt to speak with him was already a large change to the way she acted.

“... I don’t have bad food takes.”

If he thinks his takes were bad, he wouldn’t believe them.

“That’s laughable. Everyone has one or two terrible takes.”

“I’m not trying to start a war.”

“We’re not on Earth. You can mention names.”

“... You can break spaghetti and other kinds of pasta. There’s no reason to force them in. If anything, it’s more delicious that way. Eating long spaghetti is annoying.”

Leyla froze, shocked by his answer. “Wh- what?”

“Yes, and the rule that you can’t break them is stupid. If you want to slurp something that much, get bubble tea or something. It’s annoying trying to eat while having the bottom end of the spaghetti go flying everywhere, especially with the sauce hanging on it.”

Leyla was speechless. “I… I wasn’t expecting something so terrible…”

“It’s not terrible.”

Short spaghetti is good spaghetti. John would fight anyone who told him otherwise. The only reason people still believe long, unbroken spaghetti is because of their culture, something their parents passed down. Had they been born without that knowledge, had their parents told them nothing about it, they would share his opinion.

Seeing him explain only made Leyla even more silent. She didn’t even try refuting him.

“Okay…” She nodded, as if gaining a new level of understanding. “You’re a complete idiot.”

“I’m not!”

“I’m not asking you about food anymore.”

“You were begging for my opinion before.”

“Yeah, sorry.” She seemed genuinely shocked by his opinions, as if she had heard something so sinful it deserved a special place in hell.

“Have you ever tried it before?”

Leyla didn't respond. She hugged her legs, planting her face in her thighs. “Please forgive me.”