Chapter 33

“I wasn’t expecting you to apologize, honestly.”

John and Leyla sat together in a restaurant. They already paid for the inn room, so they would be staying the night in Kastoria. As for where they would head next… they'll figure it out tomorrow.

“Just what kind of person do you think I am? Am I really that bad in your eyes?”

Leyla rolled her eyes. “Yes. How else would I see you?”

“And here I thought we became closer allies.” John took a bite out of his skewer. They had ordered some goat skewers for the night. Partly to celebrate their success in obtaining the fifth chair, partly because it didn't end up eating too much into their budget.

They still paid a lot for a chair, though, but the price was much more reasonable compared to what they originally expected.

Two chairs to go. Unless they came upon a scenario like the dungeon, they should be able to complete the quest quickly. Their time together would soon come to an end.

“I'm going to miss your teleportation abilities…”

“... You're not going to say you miss me?” Leyla seemed offended.

“Well, you just said you dislike me.”

“I never said that. I don't think you're a good person, though.”

“That's practically the same.”

“No, it's not.” Leyla took a bite, munching on the meat.

“... Wait, so you don't dislike me?”

“You're not as annoying as you used to be.”

John didn't feel like he had changed at all in the last few weeks. She's probably the one changing.

“Yeah, I hate that, honestly.” John heard voices coming from behind him. It wasn't a voice he had heard before, so it definitely wasn't Isak.

The pair sat at the table behind them. They spoke in hushed tones, John only able to hear because they were right next to them.

“I think it's better if they up the stocks a bit.”

“More to sell, huh?”

Their discussion didn't seem interesting, so John turned back to Leyla.

“Enjoying life down here?” he asked offhandedly.

“Nope, not at all.”

She seemed to enjoy the skewer, at least. As they ate, a musical group took to the stage. They greeted the customers, then began singing. John enjoyed the song. It reminded him of the song Leyla hummed. She still hummed it every so often, especially when they were in the carriage.

“That song…”

“Hmm…?”

“The song you sang… What song is it?”

The last time he asked this, Leyla refused to tell him. This time, however, she spoke, “My sister got interested in human culture, so she learnt some things. This song is one of them.”

“I see… what is it about?”

“Nothing important.” Leyla turned her head to the musical group. “Just a song about how everything is temporary and life will always change.”

She gazed at the musical group, looking beyond them. In a world John never knew about. As John stared at her side profile, he noticed the pair near them changing their topic of conversation.

“Hey, have you heard? The count is under investigation,” one of them said.

“... And?”

“You came from Tettorokata, right?”

It likely had nothing to do with the mission, but since John had run into the count himself, he was intrigued.

“I do. What about him?”

“Don't you say you’re a fan of that guy?”

“No one is,” the person answered casually. “They just couldn't admit that. But it doesn't bother me anymore.”

The discussion moved on from the topic.

“... I wonder if we have anything to do with it.”

“Probably not,” Leyla said. “All we did was find the treasure.”

“Don't you think it's weird how he knows that there's a big chest at the end, despite finding absolutely nothing on the floors before that?”

John found it suspicious.

“It’s unlikely we’ll run into him again anyway. Unless…”

“Unless…”

“He’s not interested in chairs, is he?”

“Probably not.” The seven chairs didn’t look that luxurious. The price needed to get low before one of the nobles showed interest in it. That would probably be the case for the last two. Besides, unless one has the key, one wouldn’t be able to use its properties. As such, to regular people, these were regular chairs.

“Didn’t he just buy some chairs?” one of the people behind John said.

“... Huh?” The person sitting across from him sounded surprised.

“I saw it loaded up into the back of a carriage with his name on it. I don’t know. Maybe it’s for his businesses? I doubt he would use such a plain-looking chair, though.”

“Maybe.”

John and Leyla exchanged glances. Most likely, it was a different chair. But the count did do weird things, like pressuring Ellie to continue the search despite supposedly knowing that no one had found anything in the dungeon. Could he also know about the chair's secrets?

“I'm not interested in getting roped into human politics,” Leyla muttered.

John wasn't interested in it himself. Politicians on Earth could be really nasty, despite a ‘democracy’ system. Being a monarchy with nobles, things could be worse.

“Does politics not exist up there?”

Leyla shook her head. “It's not like we need anything in the first place. We don't really have anything we want. Well, at least most of us don't.”

Living without something to chase after might lead to a happier life. But, at the time, wouldn't that be boring? On one hand, he didn't need to work hard if he didn't have any goals. On the other hand, he wasn't too interested in the idea of just floating through life.

What even is my goal?

He couldn't remember. Kei gave him the new task of gathering the chairs, and that was all he did. He remembered the talk they had a couple of days prior. What's next? Once they gathered the last two chairs, what would he do next?

Depending on how good the chair he gained is, he might be able to do things that he couldn't do before. If he could do anything he wanted… then what does he want?

I guess I can think about it once I've reached it.

Putting the question aside once more, he returned his attention to the plate in front of him.