Chapter 17

“You actually completed it. I’m impressed,” Menela said, looking at the work they submitted.

“... Impressed?”

It was exhausting, but not something John would call impressive. Had they memorized the answer sheet, things would probably be easier. At the same time, John really didn’t want extra trouble.

He tracked two chairs in one go; he didn’t want to mess that momentum up by making mistakes.

“Well, we will return this to the students first, then- Ouch!” Menela received a smack from Ellie, who was also there.

“Give them the chair. I need my treasure hunters back.”

“H- How dare you! You’re so rude to your elder- HEY!” Menela screamed as Ellie pulled up her white hair, revealing the luscious black hair underneath.

“Get that magic off.”

“You-”

“No need to pretend. They’re not your students.”

John stared at the two, not sure what to say. Ellie being here was a surprise in itself. She hadn’t said anything when she appeared in the office during Menela’s examination.

“Urgh…” Menela groaned. Sparkles began appearing on her face, and the next second, the old woman's face was replaced with the face of a young girl.

“You’re the youngest headmaster this academy has ever had. Be proud of that.”

“You really think my students will respect me if they know I’m their age?”

There were a lot of old women pretending to be young, but this was the first time John saw the opposite. She was quite the beauty at that. He couldn’t believe the old woman's part was just an act.

“Is that why you like sweets-”

Menela glared at him, causing him to shiver. “Don't you dare mention it.”

“Sorry.”

“Just go and get your chair.” She sighed, then turned her glare to Ellie. “Can I have the wig back now?”

“Here you go.”

She transformed back into the old woman. John could no longer see her the same, though. She would be forever etched as the young headmaster in his mind.

“I’m in a bad mood right now. Go back and take the chair. Take anything else, and I have the entire student body hunt you down.”

Despite the old woman's face, John’s mental image of her was still the young girl she was. Thus, the sight of such a girl trying to reach the microphone, screaming into the crowd, trying to make them hunt him down, made him chuckle.

“You laughed!”

“I didn’t,” John calmly replied. She could be scary, but the gap between her fake appearance, her true appearance, and the way she acted was too funny.

“You definitely laughed! I saw it! See!? This is what I meant!”

“Calm down, granny.” Ellie shook her head, then guided them to the storage room.

“There, take your chair.”

“Why do you have access to this room?”

Ellie shrugged, not answering Leyla’s question. John took the chair and brought it out. She then locked the storage room.

“Finally got your chair, right? I’ll return the key to her. Meet me back at the guild.”

She parted ways with them. They decided to head back to the room they used to check the papers. Throughout their time there, no one came, meaning the room was truly out of use.

It wasn’t locked, either.

“Let’s make this quick.” John sat down in the chair. He felt a sudden sense of laziness. Maybe because he didn’t want to return to the dungeons.

Do we… really need those chairs?

Could they not take a break? Rest for a bit? They were doing all of this work just for some chairs. Surely there were other ways of doing this, right?

“John?” Leyla called out.

“Give me a moment,” John answered. His limbs felt heavy, not because they were in pain. Maybe he was simply tired. Tired of all the things he had done so far. He wanted some rest.

“Let me sleep.”

“Wait, no!” Leyla shook his body. “You can’t sleep here!”

“Just a few hours.”

“That’s worse!”

She’s being really annoying…

The shaking prevented him from falling asleep, but he really didn’t want to work. He despised the idea of heading into the dungeons. He hated the fact that he still had more work ahead of him.

Why… do we need to work so much?

It was pointless in the end anyway. Everyone would die, so why bother? Why try so hard? Enjoy life for a bit.

“John! Someone’s coming!”

Just as she said that, the door slid open, revealing Ellie with a bag.

“I managed to get you a bit of a reward from her,” Ellie said proudly after seeing John and Leyla in the room. She shouldn’t have seen them come this way. She told them to meet in the guild herself.

So how?

Ellie didn’t look all that fazed, however. She put down the bag of money on one of the empty tables. “Well, enjoy yourselves.” She then left.

Leyla seemed to realize something. She stopped shaking the chair…

Finally, some peace and-

… And instead kicked it with so much force that John fell to the ground.

“Ouch! Ouch! Oww…” John held his head. He hit his head pretty hard. Luckily, there didn’t seem to be any harm. He turned to glare at Leyla.

“Have you come back?”

“Come back? What do you mean?”

Leyla pointed toward the gray chair. “This chair makes you lazy.”

“... Huh?”

He lost all motivation to work when he sat on it. It was a pretty dangerous chair, all things considered. Would it continue spiraling until he didn’t want to rise from the chair? The thought made him shudder.

What a mysterious chair…

All the previous chairs only affected the people around him. This was the first time he himself was affected.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“The true extent of its effects was kept secret from me,” Leyla said. “Even I was surprised when I saw how you acted.”

John could recall how Leyla tried hard to wake him up. This meant they needed to proceed with utmost care. Sitting on the wrong chair may cause severe consequences.

The fact that he didn’t realize something tampering with his mind made it scarier. Those thoughts felt like his own. John then noticed the bag of coins Ellie had brought them. It contained quite a bit of money inside. Not enough to let them grab all the remaining chairs in one go, but certainly enough to lighten the burden a bit.

“Was this the effect of the chair as well?”

They already knew the chair could affect other people.

“I doubt the headmaster willingly gave us this.”

“She wouldn't,” Leyla said. “Ellie must have fished this out of her.”

Still, even then, Menela didn’t seem to be the person to budge… until he remembered her young face and her natural black hair. That girl looked like someone he could give a little push to, and she’ll follow whatever he says. Of course, looks could be deceiving, but Ellie had pretty much pushed her around earlier.

“But… even then… Was Ellie the type to give us stuff?”

Ellie had promised some reward depending on what they found in the dungeon, and she gave them that room despite seemingly going against procedure. Maybe she does have kindness in her heart.

“This isn’t a small amount, though.” Leyla glanced at the bag.

“It isn’t hers, either.”

The two shared another glance, and John wordlessly put the bag into his infinity bag. Yes. No one saw where that bag of money went. It just disappeared. Poof.

“I’ll call Kei.”

John decided that he no longer wanted anything to do with this chair. They must send this back now, before Menela changes her mind. He held the key tight. This time, Kei appeared immediately after she was called.

“Awesome work! You’re better at this than I expected!” Kei said with little claps. “Maybe I should designate you my artifacts recovery team.”

“I don’t like the sound of that…” He didn’t want to do odd jobs for the rest of his life. No one would.

“It’s a tiring one.” Leyla shook her head. “Should he really be the one gathering these? These things are dangerous.”

“Isn’t that what you’re here for?” Kei said.

“But you refuse to give me any more information. What if something bad happened?”

Kei glanced at John and then back at Leyla. “You look like you’re enjoying your time here.”

“No, I’m not!”

“I see…” She seemed to seriously ponder Leyla’s opinions for a moment, then proceeded to completely forget about them. “Well, good luck with your next chairs!” Kei grabbed the chair and left before the two of them could say anything else.