Chapter 16

“...” John opened his eyes, the bright sunlight shining through the windows. The hustle and bustle of the world outside seeped through the opening. It felt warm. John forced his sleepy eyes open. Back in the dungeon, they didn’t sleep too much. Leyla didn’t want to waste time. This time, though, no one woke him up.

… Hmmm? Is it day already?

Despite the seemingly obvious answer, John’s mind hadn’t returned to full power. It was all still fuzzy. He was warm for some reason, though. Looking down, he realized he had pulled the bed sheets up. He remembered sleeping without them last night.

Was it cold?

Maybe he had pulled it up by instinct. John tidied up the bed sheet. He took the infinity bag and swung it over his shoulder. He also brought the room’s key with him, leaving the large treasure hunting bags in the room, as they no longer hold any important supplies. Plus, he doubted Ellie would steal them. John went down to the first floor. Ellie was already there, looking bored, much like usual. She heard his footsteps. He handed over the keys.

“Thanks. I left our treasure hunting bags up there. We’ll come pick it up when we return to the dungeons.”

“Alright. The room shouldn’t be used, so you can leave it there. Have a nice sleep?”

“Yes.”

“So, when will you continue your quest?”

“We’ll get it done as soon as possible. By the way, has Leyla gone out?”

“Leyla? You mean your partner? Yeah, she left earlier.”

“Alright, thanks.”

The idea of calling her his partner made him chuckle. There was no way she could be his partner. They were incompatible with each other. From an outsider’s perspective, such a thing makes sense, though. He did spend a lot of time with her, and she had the same goal as him.

John went to look for breakfast before heading to school. He decided to go for something cheap and simple this morning. Rice and scrambled eggs.

Students were in the hallways by the time he arrived. He went through without issue. Some of them turned to him, interested, while others didn't care.

“Excuse me.”

It feels weird walking among the students. He wasn't a student; he wasn't their professor. He wasn't a guard, either. His outfit stood out.

When he reached the old faculty room, he saw Leyla already inside. She was looking through the papers. The stack had shrunk by quite an amount compared to yesterday.

“You really want to get this done, don’t you?”

Leyla glanced up at him. “Do you not share the same goal? Besides, someone like me working on something like this is infuriating.”

Considering her presence, it made sense to call her a higher being, yet this higher being was doing schoolwork like a regular human. No wonder she was annoyed.

“I mean, I’m not rushing through it as much as you.”

Leyla scoffed. “You don’t actually have a goal, do you? No wonder you don’t work as hard as me.”

Leyla had a point. Unlike her, John didn’t have anything in mind for when he finished this quest. Once he gathered the seven chairs, then what? He could get a lot of things based on the chair he picked, but then what would he do? Would he find a job? Start a business? Or create a nation, even?

That moment was so far away that he hadn’t considered it. He didn’t see a need to consider, either. Him making plans didn't improve his past life in any way. If anything, the failure only made him suffer more.

“It’s best if you live with the flow.”

After he failed to reach his dreams, he developed that philosophy. If he didn’t wish for anything, he wouldn’t be disappointed once that thing fell apart.

For now, he had a job to do. That job took priority over anything else.

“How many do we have left?” John sat down next to her. Leyla pushed aside a stack.

“That should be all.”

“Alright, thanks.”

Leyla gave him a glance. The two of them worked in silence. Even this stack took a while to complete. John kept rechecking his work. Better safe than sorry.

Back during his own school years, teachers would occasionally let the class check each other's work. He had wondered why they didn't do the same thing here. Maybe they didn't do that because the academy was closer to a university compared to a high school. Maybe it had some kind of prestige, an image that it wanted to keep. Or, maybe the professor wasn't the kind to check it like that. There was a chance to cheat, after all. Or maybe the professor would do that, but he was sick.

A number of possibilities entered his mind. He shook his head, trying to focus back on his task, but the distractions soon returned. Unsurprising. John had been doing this for a while. Eventually, it began messing with his mind.

The sound of papers brought him back. Leyla stood next to him, reaching out for his stack. Hers were nowhere to be seen.

“... Leyla? You're done?”

“Of course I am. You're slow.”

“Sh- shut up, it's not like I'm doing it on purpose.”

He wasn't about to stop her from helping him, though. The silence continued between them. There was no other sound near them. Not even the sounds of the students were audible.

“... Say… that chair… is it that important?” John asked, trying to lighten up the mood a bit.

It seemed to have the opposite effect.

“You won't understand.”

“I won't if you don't talk about it.”

“... Do you really want to know?”

John nodded. The chairs they went on to look for were powerful chairs. Maybe the same could be said about that chair? But it broke immediately when he sat down on it. Was a magical chair that weak?

“Well… I guess it's a chair made by a complete idiot.” Her expression softened upon saying the last word, gazing at a point in the wall. There was nothing there, but Leyla spoke as if someone was there.

“Is this… ‘idiot’ special to you?”

“You think?” Leyla scoffed. “I called her an idiot because she's stupid, not because I dislike her.”

“I see… Is she your friend?”

“...” Leyla seemed to be deep in thought.

“... I… guess you can call it that? No, sister would be more appropriate.”

Should this even be something he asked about? It looked like a sensitive topic, not something he could talk about so casually. He recalled how angry she was when he accidentally destroyed the chair.

A sudden realization dawned on him. What if that person were no longer around? If that person was still there, then she could make another chair, couldn’t she? He wasn’t privy to the details of the lives of higher beings, but if he truly destroyed someone’s prized possession…

But… apologizing is embarrassing.

He did apologize before, but he did so because he wanted something from her. It wasn’t a genuine apology. A genuine apology was, on the other hand, much harder.

It was awkward, difficult. Everyone said that apologizing first makes one the bigger man, but that was when neither side was wrong. In this case, only he was wrong.

But, well, why put an old chair in the first place?

If she truly didn’t want it broken, then she shouldn’t have put it there. When people put a toy next to a child, they would expect that child to play with it. Eventually, that child would break it. Heck, many toys were designed specifically to survive children.

If she put the chair in a room like that, then she must be expecting people to sit on it. Besides, if she were there when John arrived, she could stop him. He wasn’t completely in the wrong. She could be blamed as well.

She is a higher being. She should be the one who apologized first. If she did that, then he would follow suit.

Aren’t I being a bit… stubborn?

Besides, it wasn’t like they had time for that.

Yeah, I should finish this instead.

That way, both of them could be happy.