Chương 57: Chapitre 32 : Mi home: Partie 2

After walking through several sections, Emma stopped in front of an opening that led into a fully furnished apartment. A small kitchen opened onto a living room where a sofa faced a bookcase filled with books. Farther inside, a decorated bedroom revealed a perfectly made bed, while a bathroom occupied the back of the apartment.

"Do people live here?"

"No."

"Then why does it look lived in?" A mug rested on the coffee table, a throw blanket was neatly folded over the sofa, and several jackets hung beside the entrance. Even the books looked as though someone had set them down halfway through reading them.

"Are we allowed to go inside?"

"Of course."

"Without informing the occupants?"

"There aren't any. Everything you see is on display." Aldric stepped into the living room cautiously. He avoided the rug, walked around the coffee table, and kept his hands behind his back, afraid he might accidentally move something.

"On display?"

"No one lives here. These apartments are only meant to show what the furniture looks like once it's set up in a home."

"So they built an entire house... simply to serve as an example."

"Exactly."

"This guild devotes considerable resources to demonstrating the quality of its craftsmanship." They continued exploring. One kitchen made him want to prepare a meal, a living room invited visitors to sit down with a book, and even the small bathroom contained neatly folded towels. Aldric frequently stopped to examine certain objects. First an armchair. Then a lamp. Then a bookcase. Each time, he seemed to be searching for their true purpose.

"Why is that plant placed beside the window?"

"Because it looks nice."

"It produces nothing?"

"No."

"It cures no illnesses?"

"No."

"So it exists solely to be pleasing to the eye."

"Yes." They entered a home office next. A chair faced a computer, several books were arranged on shelves, and a few photographs decorated the walls.

"Who are these people?"

"No one."

"Yet their portraits are displayed." Emma laughed softly.

"They're fake photos. They're only there to make it feel like someone actually lives here."

"So everything is designed to tell a story." They continued into another living room. A blanket lay across the sofa, a steaming mug seemed to be waiting for its owner, and a lamp cast a warm glow despite the daylight streaming in from outside.

"You know... a home isn't just four walls and a roof."

"It's also a place you want to come back to."

"The furniture, the books, the plants, the photos... they all say something about the person who lives there. When someone steps into your home, they learn a little about who you are just by looking around." Back in his own world, every room Aldric had ever occupied had looked the same. A bed. A chest. A weapon. Nothing else. He had never stayed anywhere long enough to leave a trace of himself behind. Every mission could be his last, and every departure was prepared as though he would never return.

Perhaps, for the first time in his life, he was allowed to build a place that wasn't simply somewhere to sleep between battles. Emma led Aldric to the first section dedicated to beds. Several models stood side by side, some narrow and simple, others wide enough for two people. The knight walked over to the least expensive one, made up of a plain frame and an unusually thin mattress.

"This one will suffice." Emma pressed a hand against the mattress. It barely gave beneath her fingers.

"No."

"It possesses the necessary dimensions for sleeping."

"That's not the only thing that matters."

"What other criterion should be considered?"

"Comfort."

"I slept for several months on a blanket laid over bare stone."

"Exactly. You've done enough of that." She made him try a thicker model instead. Aldric sat cautiously on the edge of the bed, then placed both hands on either side of himself to test its stability. After a few seconds, he stood up again.

"It is acceptable." If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"You can say it's comfortable."

"I still lack sufficient points of comparison." Emma selected the bed anyway and wrote down its reference number on the small sheet provided for that purpose. They then moved on to the tables. Emma stopped in front of a small square model that would fit perfectly in his studio.

"You need a table."

"The floor already serves that purpose."

"You're not going to eat on the floor every day."

"Why not?"

"Because you live in an apartment, not a campsite." She added the table's reference number before selecting two chairs.

"One would be sufficient."

"What about your guests?"

"I am expecting no guests."

"For now." She pointed to a narrow bookcase with several shelves.

"A bookshelf."

"I own one book. It would occupy less than one hundredth of the available space."

"That's the idea. You can buy more later." Aldric examined the bookshelf suspiciously.

"So we are purchasing a piece of furniture in anticipation of a need that does not yet exist."

"Exactly."

"This method appears to encourage consumption."

"You're adapting to Earth far too quickly." Emma chose the bookshelf anyway. She could already picture Aldric's documents neatly arranged on one shelf, a few books on another, and perhaps several keepsakes from his future discoveries. Next, they arrived at the lighting section. Emma picked out a small lamp designed to sit beside the bed.

"A lamp."

"The ceiling already has one."

"This one gives off a softer light."

"Sunlight is free."

"The sun disappears at night. And the ceiling light is awful." Aldric looked up at the many lamps hanging above them.

"They all produce light."

"They do, but they don't all create the same atmosphere." He looked from Emma to the different lamps, unable to understand why the quality of a light source seemed to matter so much. She chose one and added it to the list. The curtains sparked another debate. Aldric insisted that the shutters were perfectly sufficient, while Emma explained that curtains made a room feel warmer and prevented the neighbors from looking directly inside whenever he opened the shutters. That argument proved far more convincing.

"So they also serve a defensive purpose. In that case, they are useful." Emma hid a smile and selected a set of curtains. The rug was much harder to defend. Aldric stared at it for a long moment before asking why anyone would place fabric on top of a perfectly good floor.

"For decoration."

"It does not protect against the cold?"

"A little."

"It does not effectively cushion a fall?"

"A little, probably."

"It does not conceal a secret passage?"

"No."

"Then its usefulness remains limited." Emma decided not to argue further. The studio was small, and they had already chosen enough items to fill most of the available space. She gave up on the rug but quietly slipped a small plant into their cart while Aldric was examining kitchen utensils. As they continued through the store, the sheet filled with more and more reference numbers.

Aldric questioned almost every purchase, but Emma always managed to find an argument that convinced him, even if she had to describe a decorative item as a defensive feature or a logistical necessity. By the time they finally reached the end of the section, Aldric looked down at the long list in his hands.

"We came here to buy only the bare essentials."

"We did. You'll understand once everything is set up." They then headed to the checkout. Emma handed the cashier their list and explained that they wanted everything delivered to Aldric's apartment later that day. The employee checked his screen, confirmed that all the items were in stock, and gave them a delivery window for the afternoon. Aldric studied the warehouse shelves behind the checkout area.

"We could carry them ourselves."

"All of them?"

"Naturally."

"There are quite a lot..."

"That will not be a problem."

"Aldric... not even for you."

"I can make several trips."

"Some of those boxes are far too heavy, and more importantly, far too big. You wouldn't even get them onto the metro."

"That is a valid argument." The cashier then told them the total. Emma immediately pulled out her bank card. Aldric reached out, but the payment had already gone through. The knight frowned.

"You should not have done that." Emma put her card away.

"You can pay me back later." Aldric opened the pouch attached to his belt. He took out a gold coin and placed it in Emma's hand.

"Then please accept this as an advance."

"Aldric..." She gently closed her fingers around the coin.

"All right."

"I will repay the rest as soon as possible." Emma slipped the coin into her bag.

"It's a deal." An hour later, they unloaded everything into the studio. The boxes now occupied most of the room. Some were stacked against the walls, others almost blocked access to the kitchenette, while the bed frame lay in the middle of the floor.

"We can begin." Emma dropped onto one of the boxes and shook her head.

"Not just yet."

"The longer we wait, the longer the work will be delayed."

"And the hungrier I'll get."

"That is a valid argument." Emma took out her phone.

"Have you ever had sushi?"

"No."

"Then this is the perfect opportunity."

"What is sushi?"

"Rice served with raw fish."

"So the fish is not cooked."

"No."

"That is intentional."

"Yes."

"I would like to discover this specialty." A few dozen minutes later, someone knocked at the door. Emma collected several boxes of food and placed them on a cardboard box between them. It naturally became their table. Two other boxes served as chairs.

"We purchased a table, yet we are eating on its packaging." Emma laughed softly.

"We have to build it first." She opened the containers. Several rows of sushi appeared, accompanied by small dishes filled with soy sauce, pickled ginger, and a green paste.

"Everything is presented with remarkable precision." Emma then handed him a pair of chopsticks. Aldric studied the two slender sticks before carefully copying the exact position of Emma's fingers. On his very first attempt, he picked up a piece of sushi.

"Have you used these before?"

"Never." He rolled the chopsticks between his fingers.

"They require more precision than strength. The principles are similar to those of certain training weapons."

"Of course they are." Aldric tasted the soy sauce.

"Very salty." Then he tried the pickled ginger.

"Its flavor is surprising." Emma explained that it was meant to cleanse the palate between bites.

"An effective method." His gaze then settled on the small mound of green paste.

"And this?"

"Wasabi."

"How is it used?"

"You only use a tiny amount." Emma looked down for a few seconds to open another container. When she looked back up, Aldric had already spread an enormous amount of wasabi across his sushi.

"Wait..." He swallowed the bite. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then his face began to turn red, his eyes started to water, and a tear slowly rolled down his cheek.

"Aldric!"

"Yes?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yes." A second tear appeared.

"You're crying."

"Indeed."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"This plant was clearly designed to repel demons." Emma burst out laughing. Aldric took several large gulps of water.

"Its effectiveness far exceeds my expectations." Emma's laughter only grew louder.

"In your world... did you eat raw fish very often?"

"Very rarely. Though it does remind me of a story."

"Oh?"

"During a campaign in the northern provinces, our cook decided to impress the entire company with a new fish recipe. He was convinced he had invented a revolutionary technique. Unfortunately, he forgot to remove the heated stones from beneath the cooking pot."

"And then?"

"He reduced fifty portions, intended for the entire battalion, to charcoal." Emma burst into laughter.

"What did you do?"

"We pretended to enjoy the meal so as not to discourage him."

"Even though it was burned?"

"We were soldiers. We had endured far worse. The following day, our commander forbade him from entering the kitchens." Emma was still smiling. It was the first time Aldric had shared a memory from his old world that wasn't about war, monsters, or fallen comrades.

"I like that story. It feels like a real memory." He remained silent for a few seconds before a faint smile appeared on his face. For the first time since arriving on Earth, he felt that he was no longer merely telling stories about his past. He was sharing it.