Chương 27: Chapter 19 : One Last Attempt

The following morning, Aldric arrived in front of the real estate agency a few minutes before it opened. Over the past several days, the habit had become almost natural. Every new quest began in the same place, in front of the storefront he now knew almost as well as the entrance to the inn where he was staying. The first shopkeepers were raising their metal shutters, a few cars were already making their way down the avenue, and people hurried off to work.

The knight stood perfectly still with his hands folded in front of him, watching the city's steady rhythm. The more time he spent in this capital, the more he discovered the invisible order that connected all of its inhabitants. The streets seemed to move according to a precise rhythm, as though the entire city were carrying out one enormous collective quest of which each citizen knew only a tiny part. A few minutes later, Emma appeared at the far end of the sidewalk.

When she spotted Aldric already waiting in front of the agency, she smiled at him. During the first few days, the sight of a man in full armor standing outside her workplace had seemed ridiculous. Now, she almost felt as though something would be missing if he wasn't there when she arrived.

"Good morning, Aldric." The knight inclined his head.

"Good morning, Emma." She unlocked the agency door and left her bag behind her desk. Unlike the previous mornings, she didn't sit down to review her files. Instead, she came back out almost immediately with a folder tucked under her arm.

"I may have found something."

"A new fortress?"

"An apartment." She opened the folder as they walked toward the exit.

"Last night, after you left, I made several phone calls. Most of the landlords turned me down before I could even explain your situation, but one of them agreed to meet you." They set off side by side through the still-quiet morning streets.

"He's not a major investor with several buildings. He's an elderly man. He was a craftsman before he retired. This is the only apartment he rents out. He told me something that surprised me a little. He prefers meeting people before looking at their paperwork." That approach felt far more familiar to Aldric than anything else he had discovered since arriving on Earth. In his kingdom, people were often judged first by their word, and only afterward by their deeds. Emma continued.

"I can't promise anything. But I have a better feeling about this visit than the others. I think this landlord is going to like you."

"Then let us do our best." They crossed several neighborhoods before leaving the main avenues behind and entering a much quieter street. The buildings were older there, their stone façades weathered by time, while small trees cast patches of shade across the sidewalks. The place felt far removed from the bustle of central Paris. A few residents chatted outside a bakery while a florist arranged plants in front of the shop. Emma finally stopped in front of a three-story building.

"We're here." They climbed a wooden staircase that creaked beneath their footsteps before arriving at a door that stood slightly open. Emma gestured for Aldric to go in first. The apartment was modest. A small entrance opened directly into a bright living room whose windows overlooked an inner courtyard filled with a few trees. The kitchen, though simple, was impeccably maintained. The walls had been freshly painted, and old hardwood flooring covered the rooms.

Nothing about the place was luxurious, yet everything gave off a feeling of warmth and peace. Aldric walked through each room. He stopped in front of the living room window. He looked at the trees in the courtyard. Then at the sunlight streaming into the apartment. Finally, he gently pushed open the bedroom door. For a few moments, he imagined his sword resting against that wall. His armor neatly stored beside the door. His notebook lying on the small desk by the window.

For the first time since arriving in this world, he was no longer inspecting a simple apartment. He was trying to imagine what a life here might look like. A few seconds later, footsteps echoed through the hallway. A man in his sixties entered the apartment at an unhurried pace. His gray hair was neatly combed, and his hands still bore the marks of a lifetime spent working with wood. He paused briefly when he saw Aldric's tall figure, his gleaming armor, and the enormous sword strapped across his back.

Emma almost held her breath. She already knew that reaction. Every landlord before him had looked at the sword first. Then their expression had tightened. This time, however, the elderly man simply smiled. He quietly closed the door behind him before walking over to them. Unlike the other landlords Aldric had met so far, his gaze did not linger on the armor or the massive sword strapped to his back. He noticed them, of course, but his curiosity seemed more amused than concerned.

After shaking Emma's hand, he naturally turned toward the knight and offered him his own.

"Good morning. My name is Mr. Lambert. That's quite an outfit. You don't see one like it every day." Aldric removed his gauntlet before returning the handshake.

"I'm Aldric."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." He then invited them to continue the tour. Unlike the previous visits, this one felt nothing like an interrogation. Mr. Lambert opened the doors to each room while telling them the story of the apartment. He explained that he had replaced the hardwood floor himself a few years earlier, that he repainted the walls between tenants, and that he lived in the building next door.

He spoke about the apartment with genuine affection, as though he were showing them not just a piece of property, but a place where someone might build part of their life. Eventually, they returned to the living room. The landlord pointed toward the window overlooking the inner courtyard.

"The neighborhood is very quiet. The neighbors have all known each other for years. There are hardly ever any problems." Aldric stepped closer to the window and watched the few trees gently swaying in the breeze.

"That is a valuable quality." Mr. Lambert nodded.

"So you enjoy peace and quiet?"

"It allows one to think clearly and recover after hardship."

"I imagine your profession must have been exhausting."

"It was." The landlord seemed satisfied with that answer and didn't press for further explanation. He calmly continued the tour before stopping by the front door.

"I only ask one thing of my tenants." He rested a hand on the doorframe.

"That they treat this place as though it were their own home."

"A fortress entrusted to its guardian should always be returned in better condition than when it was received." Mr. Lambert stood silent for a few moments. Then he let out a warm chuckle.

"I don't know exactly what you do for a living, but you strike me as a man who takes his responsibilities seriously." Emma felt her heart beat a little faster. For several days now, she hadn't heard a single landlord say anything this encouraging. The others had mostly been looking for a reason to reject the application. Mr. Lambert, on the other hand, seemed to be looking for a reason to accept it. The conversation continued for several more minutes.

They talked about the neighborhood, the nearby shops, and public transportation. The landlord explained that a market was held in the nearby square twice a week and that several families had lived in the building for many years. Every time he asked a question, Aldric answered with the same calm honesty. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Mr. Lambert seemed to appreciate his sincerity. Emma, meanwhile, spoke less and less.

She simply watched the two men talk, paying close attention to every reaction from the landlord. At last, he folded his arms and allowed a faint smile to appear.

"To be honest..." His gaze shifted from Emma to Aldric.

"I'd be willing to rent this apartment to you." Emma felt all the tension that had been building since the beginning of the visit disappear in an instant. After so many refusals, after so many doors closing in their faces, someone had finally said yes. Mr. Lambert immediately continued in a perfectly matter-of-fact tone.

"I'll just need your employment contract to complete the application." Emma's smile vanished almost instantly. She already knew the answer.

"I don't have one." The landlord remained silent for a few moments. His smile slowly faded. He looked at Aldric as though he still hoped some forgotten detail might change the situation.

"You really don't have an employment contract?"

"None." Mr. Lambert lowered his gaze slightly before speaking again in a quieter voice.

"I believe you when you say you'll take good care of this apartment. And I'm convinced you're a respectable man. But if you were to lose your income, or if you could no longer pay the rent..." He slowly shook his head.

"This is the only apartment I own. I simply can't afford to take that risk. I'm sorry." They left the building in silence. Mr. Lambert walked them to the front door before wishing them good luck. He shook their hands one last time, apologized for not being able to do more, then headed back toward the staircase. A few seconds later, the door closed behind him. Emma remained motionless on the sidewalk without saying a word.

Since they had begun their search, she had already witnessed several rejections, but this one felt different. This time, she had truly believed everything was finally going to work out. For a few minutes, she had imagined Aldric setting his sword down in that small apartment, discovering his first real home on Earth, and finally bringing an end to the quest that had seemed just out of reach for so many days. Watching that hope disappear at the very last moment left her with a strange sense of helplessness.

They began walking without any real destination. The streets of the neighborhood were just as peaceful as before, but Emma found it much harder to appreciate them with the same enthusiasm she had felt when they arrived. She kept her eyes lowered to the cobblestones as the visit replayed over and over in her mind. Mr. Lambert had liked Aldric. He had found his answers honest. He trusted him. Everything had finally seemed to be falling into place.

Then a single question had been enough to make the opportunity disappear. The more she thought about it, the more unfair the outcome seemed. At last, she broke the silence.

"I'm sorry... This time, I really thought it was going to work."

"So did I. And yet... I think I've finally understood."

"Understood what?" Without answering right away, the knight took out his small leather notebook. He opened it to the page that recorded every step of their progress since his arrival in this world. His finger rested in turn on several carefully written words. Identity. Then a little lower. Bank. Lower still. Income. And finally, at the bottom. Employment. He gently closed the notebook before looking back at Emma.

"None of those people rejected me. We had already realized that yesterday. After the bank, we already knew that the landlords were never the true obstacles in this quest. They were simply following the rules of this kingdom." He rested a hand on the notebook.

"But we still needed one more failure before we were ready to move on." Aldric gave a faint smile.

"You cannot fight rules with a sword." Emma looked up. A smile appeared on her face as well.

"No." She looked at the diagram one last time before quietly adding,"You learn how to play by their rules." The knight simply nodded. Then they continued walking. △ MAIN QUEST △ Acquire a Home Status Temporarily Locked △ CURRENT OBJECTIVE △ Find Employment They walked side by side for several minutes without any real destination. The streets of Paris drifted slowly past them as the city's residents went about their day with the quiet energy Aldric had come to recognize.

Café terraces gradually filled with customers, shopkeepers welcomed new visitors, and buses stopped at regular intervals to let off fresh waves of passengers. Yet neither Aldric nor Emma paid much attention to the bustle around them. Their conversation had naturally faded after their last visit. The silence between them was not uncomfortable. It was more like the silence that follows a long battle, when everyone takes time to reflect on what they have learned. They were no longer searching for real estate agencies.

They no longer slowed down in front of apartment buildings. Whenever a rental advertisement appeared in a shop window, neither Aldric nor Emma even turned their heads. They both knew there was no point repeating the same steps. The answer would always be the same until they solved the real problem. △ QUEST FAILED △ Acquire a Home △ REASON △ Requirements Not Met In his former world, quests could end in failure as well. An escort mission could arrive too late.

A village could be destroyed before reinforcements reached it. A single decision made at the wrong moment could make a mission impossible to complete. Heroes never viewed those failures as an injustice. They simply accepted them as a reason to rethink their strategy before setting out again. At last, Aldric raised a hand, and the window disappeared. He stood motionless for a few seconds before slowly resuming his walk. Emma noticed the brief pause immediately.

Over the past several days, she had grown accustomed to seeing him stop like that, his gaze fixed on an invisible point, as though he were contemplating something she could neither see nor understand.

"Is everything all right?" she asked. The knight turned toward her.

"Yes." They walked a few more steps side by side before he continued.

"I've just realized that our first quest has now come to an end."

"Finding an apartment?"

"Yes."

"I'm really sorry..."

"A quest can come to an end without being completed. What matters is understanding why." △ NEW MAIN QUEST △ Find Stable Employment Difficulty: B"We were right."

"About what?"

"Finding a home is no longer our objective."

"Finding a job."

"Exactly." He then took out his leather notebook. Emma watched without saying a word. Ever since they had met, she had come to recognize this ritual. Every important discovery found its place within those pages. The refusals, the prices, the rules of this world, the sketches they had drawn together, nothing was left to chance. Day after day, the little notebook had become the story of his adaptation to this new life. Aldric turned to the page dedicated to housing.

The title Acquire a Home still sat at the top of the page, surrounded by countless notes. Beneath it, he carefully wrote a few words. Completed Knowledge Then, just below: Requirements Identified.

"Do you really consider that quest finished?" Emma asked.

"We did not obtain the reward."

"But now we know how to obtain it." He remained still for a few seconds before writing: Main Quest. Then: Find Stable Employment. When he gently closed the notebook, Emma couldn't help smiling.

"You're probably the only person who can be happy after failing a quest."

"A quest that teaches more than it rewards is never truly lost." Without needing to discuss it, their feet naturally carried them toward a much livelier district. Residential buildings gradually gave way to long rows of shops whose storefronts stretched almost without interruption. Bright signs caught the attention of passersby, café terraces were already filling with customers, and shop doors opened and closed without pause. As they walked, several signs caught Aldric's attention.

Some were taped to storefront windows, others hung beside doorways, while a few were simply printed on sheets of paper. Every one of them displayed the same words. We're Hiring. The knight slowed in front of one shop. A few yards farther on, a café displayed the same notice. So did a bakery. Then a small hotel. The farther they walked, the more those signs seemed to repeat themselves all along the street.

"For a while now, a lot of businesses have been looking for employees." His gaze rested on Emma for a moment. Since the day they had met, she had guided him through this kingdom with a patience she probably didn't even realize she possessed. She had explained apartments, banks, loans, professions, and all the invisible rules that governed this era. Without her, he would probably still be searching for a fortress, never realizing that he first had to find his place among the people of this city.

"Let's find a job."

"That quest... I know exactly how to begin." △ MAIN QUEST ACCEPTED △ Find Stable Employment Progress 0%