Chương 30: Chapter 22 : The Metro

Emma slipped her phone back into her bag before turning to Aldric.

"The warehouse is a bit far away. We're taking the metro."

"Very well." They left the hotel lobby and stepped back into the bustle of the city. The sun was now well above the horizon, and the streets had completely changed since the day before. Nearly every café terrace was occupied. Office workers in business attire hurried along with coffee cups in hand. Delivery cyclists weaved between the cars with bicycles loaded with parcels, while shopfronts gradually opened for the day.

"Your city awakens remarkably quickly."

"This is when everyone heads to work."

"A daily mobilization." They walked for several more minutes before Emma stopped in front of a large yellow M above a staircase disappearing beneath the sidewalk. Aldric immediately looked up at the sign, then toward the entrance. Dozens of people continuously descended the stairs. Strangely enough, no one seemed to be coming back up.

"Why are they disappearing?"

"They're taking the metro."

"Underground?"

"Yes."

"So your city has a second level."

"More or less." They started down the stairs. The deeper they descended, the stranger Aldric found the situation. In his world, cities were built upward so their surroundings could be observed. Here, part of the population seemed to vanish beneath the surface by choice.

"That is a rather surprising architectural decision."

"You'll get used to it."

"I doubt it." They eventually reached the first corridor. The walls were completely covered in white tiles. Numerous signs pointed in different directions. Red, blue, green, and yellow lines intersected on enormous maps mounted to the walls. Hundreds of travelers moved through the passageways in every direction. Aldric slowly turned in a circle. He studied every intersection like a general surveying a newly discovered battlefield.

"How many tunnels does this city have?"

"Hundreds of kilometers." In his former world, only the dwarven kingdoms were capable of constructing underground networks on such a scale.

"The dwarves would be impressed."

"The dwarves?"

"The greatest builders in my world."

"I'd really like to meet them someday." They continued on until they reached a row of metal gates. Travelers paused for a few seconds in front of each one before immediately continuing on their way. Emma took a small card from her wallet. She held it against a glowing circle. Beep. The barrier opened. Aldric watched the entire process carefully before walking through himself.

"An access checkpoint."

"Exactly."

"Where are the guards?"

"There aren't any."

"No one verifies people's authorization?" Emma held up the card she was still carrying.

"This card is your ticket. The gates automatically verify that you're allowed to enter."

"Yet another task entrusted to a machine. Your kingdom places remarkable trust in its automatons." At that very moment, a young man quickly slipped through the gate behind someone else without presenting any ticket. Aldric watched the entire scene unfold before turning toward Emma.

"So there goes a criminal."

"Technically, yes."

"Will your guards arrive shortly?" Emma chose not to answer. They continued walking until they reached a massive escalator descending even deeper underground. Aldric stopped in front of the moving steps. One step disappeared. Another emerged. The mechanism seemed as though it would never stop.

"More of your magic..."

"It isn't magic."

"A machine, I presume."

"Exactly." Aldric placed one foot onto a step. The instant he did, the ground began carrying him downward. The hero immediately pulled his foot back and took a step away. His hand slid to the hilt of his sword.

"The ground is alive." Emma stepped onto the escalator before turning back toward him.

"Watch. One foot, then the other. That's all." Aldric watched several commuters repeat the exact same movements. No one appeared the slightest bit concerned. After a few seconds of hesitation, he took a deep breath and stepped onto the escalator once more. This time, he managed to board it properly. Even so, he remained perfectly still throughout the descent, his knees slightly bent. Emma was still laughing.

"You can relax." The hero never took his eyes off the moving steps.

"I shall wait until this creature has finished transporting us." After descending for several dozen meters on the escalator, they finally reached the platform. A long gallery stretched out before them, bordered by tracks that disappeared into a vast black tunnel. Dozens of commuters waited behind a white line painted on the ground. No one was really talking. Some were looking at their phones, others were reading books, while a few simply stared into space. Aldric walked to the edge of the platform.

He studied the two steel rails disappearing into the darkness before turning toward Emma.

"So we are waiting for a vehicle."

"Yes."

"Where is it?" Emma pointed toward the tunnel.

"It's coming." The hero stared into the darkness for several long seconds. He could make out absolutely nothing. Then a faint rumble echoed in the distance. At first it was almost imperceptible, but it quickly grew louder and louder. The rails began to vibrate beneath their feet.

"Do you hear it?"

"Yes." The rumble continued to grow. A few seconds later, a powerful gust of wind rushed through the tunnel and swept across the entire platform. The commuters' clothes fluttered, and several strands of Emma's hair blew across her face. Aldric rested a hand on the hilt of his sword. The noise was becoming deafening. Then two lights appeared in the darkness. The hero instantly shifted into a fighting stance.

"Something is approaching."

"Yes..." The rumble intensified even further. At last, an enormous mass of steel burst out of the tunnel with a thunderous roar. The brakes screeched, the wheels screamed against the rails, and another blast of wind swept across the platform as the enormous machine slowed to a stop in front of them. His eyes followed the steel monster, which seemed as though it would never end. Then everything came to a halt. Silence returned almost immediately. The doors opened all at once along the length of the train.

The commuters naturally began boarding. Emma took a few steps forward, then realized Aldric hadn't moved.

"Are you coming?"

"So this is the creature that transports us?"

"It isn't a creature." She pointed toward the carriage.

"It's the metro."

"What a remarkably impressive machine." Then he finally stepped aboard. They found two empty seats. Aldric sat by the window while Emma took the seat across from him. The seats were perfectly aligned. Straps hanging from the ceiling allowed standing passengers to keep their balance. Everything seemed designed to transport a large number of people while wasting as little space as possible.

"The organization is remarkable."

"You really do analyze everything."

"It's a habit." Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. He had barely finished speaking when a chime echoed through the carriage. The doors closed. A few seconds later, the train pulled away. The sudden acceleration caught Aldric by surprise. He felt the carriage press him back into his seat as its speed steadily increased. Within moments, they were already racing through the tunnel. The hero immediately turned toward the window. He saw nothing but darkness.

Only an occasional light flashed past at tremendous speed before vanishing again.

"So we are traveling through the city's depths. It reminds me of the ancient mines of the dwarven kingdoms."

"Were they like this?"

"Narrower." He gestured toward the tunnel walls rushing past the window.

"But the main tunnels were very similar. The only difference was that they were filled with miners... and sometimes creatures far less welcoming."

"Here, it's mostly rats."

"I prefer this version." The metro gradually slowed until another station came into view through the window. The doors opened with a hiss, and several passengers immediately stepped off while others took their places with remarkable efficiency. A few seconds later, the doors closed, a chime sounded, and the train pulled away once more. The same scene repeated itself at the next station, then again at the one after that.

Passengers boarded, got off, and exchanged places within moments before the enormous machine resumed its journey through the tunnels.

"So this creature has several burrows." His attention first settled on a young woman sitting across from him. She held an open book on her lap and seemed completely absorbed in her reading. A few seats away, a man was peacefully asleep with his head resting against the window despite the train's constant vibrations. Farther down the carriage, a teenager wearing two small white earbuds nodded gently to himself. Most of the other passengers, meanwhile, stared at their phones with almost unsettling concentration.

None of them seemed to pay any attention to the others. No one spoke. The hero leaned slightly toward Emma.

"So they observe silence before a mission. That is an exceptionally disciplined custom." Emma didn't even bother correcting him anymore. At the next station, the doors opened once again. Several passengers got off while others stepped aboard to take their places. Among them was a man carrying a guitar case on his back. He stopped in the middle of the carriage, held his instrument against him, and immediately began playing a lively melody.

Several passengers briefly looked up before immediately returning to what they had been doing. Aldric, however, watched the entire scene with great attention. When the piece was finished, the musician politely bowed to the passengers.

"Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon..." Aldric immediately turned toward Emma.

"A bard."

"A what?"

"A traveling musician."

"So your kingdom employs official bards to keep travelers' spirits high during their journeys." Emma smiled.

"Not exactly." The musician finished his short speech before walking through the carriage with a hat in his hand. A few passengers dropped coins into it.

"So the travelers voluntarily fund the service."

"You could say they're thanking him."

"That is a commendable custom." The musician got off at the next station. Barely had the doors closed before another man stepped into the carriage carrying a large sports bag. He waited a few seconds before speaking in a loud voice.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today I have earbuds, chargers, power banks..." He opened his bag. Dozens of small items immediately came into view.

"So now we have a traveling merchant."

"This time, yes."

"So he takes advantage of these stops to conduct business." The vendor walked through the carriage before getting off himself a few stations later. The metro continued on its way. Suddenly, a voice echoed through the speakers.

"Please stand clear of the closing doors." A few seconds later, a warning chime sounded. The doors closed. The train pulled away almost immediately. Aldric looked up at the ceiling.

"Even the machine warns its passengers before every departure." Ever since entering this vast underground city, he had continued discovering new marvels. The access checkpoints were automatic. The tunnels stretched for hundreds of kilometers. The trains carried hundreds of people beneath the ground at remarkable speed. Departures were perfectly synchronized, and every stop seemed calculated with extraordinary precision. At last, he turned toward Emma.

"Your kingdom has domesticated a machine capable of carrying hundreds of people underground at remarkable speed. And despite that, you still find reasons to complain when it's late." She burst out laughing.

"You're not entirely wrong." The metro slowed one last time before pulling into their station. The doors opened, and the passengers stepped out of the carriage. Emma stood up, and Aldric followed her. As they made their way back to the surface, he shook his head.

"In the end... dragons were easier to understand than your transportation network."

"There is one important thing you should know. A job interview isn't an exam. It isn't an interrogation either."

"I understand."

"It's simply a conversation." In his mind, that description reminded him of the diplomatic meetings he had attended before many military campaigns. Two representatives met, exchanged a few words, then decided whether they could work together. The idea seemed perfectly logical to him. Emma continued.

"The most important thing is to be yourself. Answer calmly. Make eye contact when you're speaking."

"That is only polite."

"Smile a little."

"All right."

"And above all, let the interviewer finish speaking before you answer."

"I already do all of that."

"You do." Aldric inclined his head slightly.

"Have I overlooked any rule?"

"No... Actually, that's not the problem." She still wasn't sure how to explain that job interviews were governed by countless unwritten rules. Recruiters didn't always ask the questions they truly wanted answered. Applicants didn't always answer them literally. Much of the conversation took place between the lines. Aldric possessed every human quality an employer could hope to find in a candidate. He was punctual, honest, disciplined, respectful, and remarkably composed. What worried her wasn't his behavior.

It was the way he interpreted questions. They left the metro station and crossed a small industrial district where one warehouse followed another along a broad avenue. Unlike the towering buildings in central Paris, these structures were simple and practical. Tall metal fences enclosed yards where several trucks were parked. Pallets were stacked beneath steel shelters while forklifts moved slowly between the loading docks. There was nothing impressive about the place, yet it was constantly busy.

Employees in work clothes loaded boxes into trailers while others signed paperwork before heading back out almost immediately. Emma checked the address on her phone one last time before pointing toward a gray building farther down the street.

"This is it." They walked through the gate and were greeted by a man in his fifties. He was wearing a blue polo shirt beneath a high-visibility safety vest. The moment he spotted Emma and Aldric, he walked toward them with a warm smile.

"Good morning. You must be Aldric." He held out his hand. Aldric briefly looked at the gesture before reproducing exactly what Emma had taught him a few days earlier.

"Good morning."

"Please, come in." They walked into a small office at the back of the warehouse. Metal filing cabinets lined an entire wall. A coffee maker steamed quietly in one corner, while several folders were stacked on a well-worn wooden desk. The manager invited Aldric to sit before taking the seat across from him. Emma sat slightly off to the side without saying a word. The first few minutes unfolded exactly as she had hoped. The manager quickly looked over the résumé before raising his eyes.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice."

"No, thank you for meeting with me." The manager smiled.

"You're punctual."

"You gave me a specific time."

"I did." He wrote something down in his folder. Emma allowed herself a discreet smile. So far, everything was going perfectly.

"Have you worked as part of a team before?" Emma almost held her breath. They had practiced this question on the metro.

"Yes."

"In what field?"

"Coordinating several groups with different objectives." The manager nodded slowly.

"All right." He jotted down a few notes. Emma felt the tension gradually leave her shoulders.

"Do you handle stress well?"

"Yes."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because I have been through several crisis situations." The manager briefly looked up.

"I see." Another note went onto the page. Emma was genuinely beginning to believe that this time everything would work out. Aldric was using exactly the wording they had prepared together. He wasn't talking about dragons, magic, or the Demon King. His answers were simple, natural, and perfectly suited to the interview.

"Do you enjoy working as part of a team?"

"Yes."

"Are you comfortable with flexible working hours?"

"Yes."

"Are you in good physical condition?"

"I believe so." The manager smiled slightly.

"I'd say that's pretty obvious." He looked over the résumé one last time before gently closing the folder.

"All right." He folded his hands on the desk.

"In your opinion, what has been your greatest professional achievement?" Emma immediately felt her heart begin to race. They hadn't prepared for that question.

"I defeated the Demon King." The silence that followed seemed to last for several long seconds. The manager's pen froze halfway across the page. He looked at Aldric, then at Emma. Emma quietly closed her eyes. After a moment of hesitation, the manager spoke again.

"I'm sorry?" Aldric immediately realized that his answer had probably not been specific enough.

"I have also slain one thousand two hundred and eighty-seven dragons." Convinced that the additional details would help the interviewer better assess his experience, Aldric continued.

"Four of them were Elder Dragons." Emma forced an awkward smile. At that precise moment, she wished the floor would simply open beneath her chair. The manager cleared his throat before picking up the folder again.

"All right..."

"Would you be available to start soon?"

"Immediately."

"Do you live nearby?"

"No."

"I see..." A few minutes later, the manager closed the folder for good.

"All right." He stood up.

"Thank you for coming." Aldric rose as well.

"No, thank you for meeting with me." The manager shook their hands one last time.

"We'll be in touch."

"Very well." Aldric inclined his head before leaving the office alongside Emma. Behind them, the manager remained motionless for several seconds, Aldric's résumé still in his hands, unable to decide whether he had just met an unusually original applicant or someone who was simply completely insane. The gate closed behind them while trucks continued coming and going. Emma walked with her hands in her pockets, staring straight ahead. Aldric kept his usual steady pace, his posture perfectly straight.

He mentally replayed every question the interviewer had asked. He had answered honestly, without hesitation, and without hiding anything. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that the interview had gone well.

"I think it went well."

"No."

"Was I impolite?"

"No."

"Did I interrupt the interviewer?"

"No."

"Did I lie?" Emma shook her head.

"That's exactly the problem."

"I don't understand." Emma slowed her pace before stopping beside a crosswalk. Cars streamed past in front of them. She watched the traffic for a few moments, searching for the best way to explain it. Like most people, she knew these unwritten rules without ever having put them into words. When the light turned green, they crossed the street before she spoke again.

"There's something you need to understand about our world."

"Many of our rules aren't written down anywhere. No one teaches them to you in school. You simply learn them as you grow up. Job interviews are one of those things." Aldric thought about it for a few moments.

"But the questions were very straightforward."

"Exactly."

"It's not just an exchange of information. It's also a social exercise. People don't always answer questions literally."

"So they lie?"

"No."

"Then they answer incorrectly?" She shook her head.

"They answer the question the other person is actually trying to ask." The idea struck him as strange. In his world, a question called for an answer. Words had a precise meaning. If a king asked how many soldiers were still capable of fighting, no one answered by talking about the army's morale or the weather. They gave the exact number.

"Let's take an example. When the interviewer asked what your greatest professional achievement was, he wasn't asking about the most extraordinary event of your life."

"He wanted to know what I was most proud of?"

"Not exactly."

"Then what did he want?"

"He wanted an example that would show him you could succeed in the job he was hiring for." Aldric replayed the entire scene in his mind. The office. The résumé. The question. His answer. Then the interviewer's expression. Little by little, the pieces began to fall into place.

"If I had spoken about organizing supply lines..." Emma nodded.

"Or coordinating teams."

"Or logistics."

"Exactly."

"So it was not truly a question."

"It was."

"But it wasn't really that question." She laughed softly.

"Exactly." For several dozen yards, Aldric didn't say another word. His eyes remained fixed ahead as he tried to understand this new way of thinking. Since arriving on Earth, he had learned how to use a bank card, ride the metro, write a résumé, and search for a job. All of those things followed clear rules. But this time, he had discovered something different. The rules existed, yet no one ever stated them outright.

"This world has many invisible rules."

"You have no idea how many." At that moment, Emma's phone vibrated in her pocket. She took it out and glanced quickly at the screen. A new email had just arrived. She recognized the name of the company they had just interviewed with and immediately opened the message. The email was very short. The manager thanked them for coming but explained that they had ultimately decided to continue the hiring process with another candidate. Emma read the message a second time before locking her phone.

She didn't have to say a single word. Aldric had followed every movement she made and understood the moment he saw her expression change.

"We failed."

"Yes."

"Then we have learned another rule. We now know that a question may be seeking a different answer than the one it appears to ask. Next time, I will answer differently." A smile finally appeared on Emma's face.