Chương 58: Chapter 32 : My Home : Part 3

Once they had finished eating, Emma closed the food containers and stacked them in a corner of the room. Aldric stood up.

"We can begin now." Emma rolled her eyes.

"You never give up, do you?"

"Why would we give up before we've even begun?" She smiled before getting back to her feet.

"All right. But if we're still at it at three in the morning, you're finishing by yourself." They moved several boxes aside to clear some space in the middle of the room. Aldric placed the largest one in front of him and examined the various labels attached to the packaging. Emma cut through the packing tape and opened the box. She quickly looked through its contents. Then she stopped.

"Oh no..." Aldric looked up.

"Is something wrong?"

"We're missing a screwdriver... and an Allen wrench."

"Aren't those tools usually included?"

"Not this time. I'll ask the neighbors." They stepped into the hallway and made their way down to the fifth floor. Emma stopped in front of Apartment B and rang the bell. A few seconds later, the door cracked open. A man in his forties appeared. He wore a dark sweatshirt and looked like he'd just been woken up. Behind him, several moving boxes were stacked in the entryway.

"Good evening. Sorry to bother you. Would you happen to have a screwdriver and an Allen wrench we could borrow?"

"No." Emma was already about to thank him when he simply added,"Third floor. Apartment A." Then he closed the door. Aldric continued staring at it.

"That man communicates with remarkable economy."

"I think we just woke him up."

"Even so, the many boxes stacked behind him caught my attention."

"Maybe he just moved in too?"

"An excellent cover?"

"A cover?"

"The most dangerous individuals are often those who attract the least attention." They continued down to the third floor and stopped in front of Apartment A. Emma rang the bell. The door opened almost immediately. The moment the two children saw Aldric, their eyes went wide.

"A knight!" They rushed into the hallway.

"Dad! There's a knight here!" A man in his thirties appeared behind them with an embarrassed smile.

"Sorry about them..." The two children were already circling Aldric, staring at his armor.

"Is it real?"

"Do you really have a sword?"

"Have you ever fought a dragon?" Aldric answered without the slightest hesitation.

"Yes." The two children stood there with their mouths hanging open. Their father let out a quiet sigh.

"I have a feeling I'm going to be hearing about dragons all week..."

"Sorry to bother you. Would you happen to have a screwdriver and an Allen wrench we could borrow? Aldric just moved in, and we're missing a few tools."

"Of course." He disappeared for a moment before returning with a toolbox.

"Take whatever you need. Just bring it back when you're done."

"Thank you very much." While Emma took the toolbox, the two children continued staring at Aldric in admiration. The younger one pointed at his sword.

"Could you tell us a dragon story someday?"

"With pleasure." The two children let out excited cheers. Their father ran a hand over his forehead.

"I think I just lost all my parental authority..." Emma burst out laughing. After thanking their neighbor one last time, they headed back up the stairs. Aldric carried the toolbox in both hands.

"The people in this building seem remarkably helpful."

"It's often like that. Whenever someone needs a hand, there's almost always somebody willing to help."

"With the possible exception of the mysterious resident on the fifth floor."

"You're really going to stay suspicious of him, aren't you?"

"I prefer to remain cautious."

"I should have expected that." A few moments later, they returned to the sixth floor. Aldric set the toolbox beside the boxes while Emma closed the apartment door. They took their places once more in the middle of the room, now cluttered with planks, cardboard boxes, and packaging.

"Everything has been identified." He nodded before cutting through the packing tape. The box opened, revealing dozens of wrapped wooden boards one after another. Aldric laid them on the floor while Emma opened a second box. Before long, the room was covered with wooden pieces of every imaginable size. Then came the bags. One. Two. Three. Emma kept pulling them out until she'd made a small pile.

"There's more..." Aldric picked up the first bag. Inside were several screws, wooden dowels, a few nuts, and small metal pieces whose purpose he did not yet know. He opened the remaining bags. Each one revealed more screws. Some were long, others extremely short, and a few looked almost identical. Emma looked at the mountain of tiny parts now scattered across the floor.

"I hate this part." The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Aldric, on the other hand, looked genuinely pleased.

"Every component serves a specific purpose."

"Yes... and if we lose even one of them, we'll spend the next hour crawling around on the floor." Aldric immediately began sorting all the screws by size. He made several small piles, set the wooden dowels aside, then arranged the nuts in an order that seemed to make sense only to him.

"You're organizing everything already?"

"A battlefield in disarray often leads to defeat."

"We're assembling a bed." Once every piece had been carefully sorted, Aldric noticed a folded sheet at the bottom of the box. He picked it up and unfolded it. Several illustrations showed the different assembly steps. There wasn't a single word of text. Only diagrams. He examined every page. Emma, who had already started moving some of the boards, reached for the first piece of wood.

"Wait."

"What is it?" He laid the instruction booklet flat on the floor between them.

"We shall follow this manual to the letter."

"It's not exactly a manual."

"He is passing down his knowledge to us."

"It's just an assembly manual."

"Every step appears to have been carefully planned. If we change their order, we risk compromising the entire structure."

"Very well. Where do we begin, Commander?" Aldric lowered his gaze to the first page.

"Step one. Identify all the parts." Emma looked at the mountain of wooden boards surrounding them. A long sigh escaped her.

"I have a feeling this is going to be a very long night." Aldric knelt in front of the instruction booklet while Emma sat down across from him. The knight carefully reviewed the first page one last time before looking up.

"We may begin." Emma picked up two boards.

"Perfect."

"Not yet."

"What now?"

"Step one is to identify all the parts."

"We already took them out of the box."

"Identify them." Emma sighed.

"All right." For several minutes, Aldric compared each board to the illustrations in the manual. He checked the printed labels, the dimensions, and every pre-drilled hole before allowing Emma to move them.

"Part A." Emma handed it to him.

"Part B." She did the same again. At last, the assembly could begin. Before touching a single screw, Aldric studied the diagram for each new step. Emma, who had assembled plenty of furniture before, kept trying to move things along faster.

"This one goes here." Aldric looked back down at the instructions.

"No."

"Yes."

"Not until step four." Emma glanced at the diagram.

"It makes absolutely no difference."

"The designer clearly disagrees." She set the board back down and looked up at the ceiling.

"Do you always trust instruction manuals this much?"

"They were written by the people who designed the furniture."

"So?"

"Their experience most likely exceeds our own." So they followed the instructions exactly as written. Every screw was tightened at the specified moment. Every board was installed at its designated step. Little by little, the bed frame began to take shape.

"See? We're getting there." They secured the last few boards, installed the support slats, then flipped the frame over. Emma finally set down the screwdriver.

"Finished." Aldric didn't answer. His eyes had settled on the floor. Two screws still lay beside the instruction booklet. He stared at them for several seconds before picking them up.

"There are two screws left."

"They're probably just spare parts."

"No engineer would leave two screws without a reason."

"Yes, they would. Trust me. They usually include extras." Aldric compared the two screws to the diagrams, then started reading the manual again from the very first page.

"You're not seriously going to read the whole thing again."

"I am."

"The bed is standing."

"For now." A few minutes later, Aldric suddenly stopped. His finger had come to rest on one of the diagrams.

"There." Emma leaned closer.

"What?"

"We missed this fastener." She looked at the diagram. Sure enough, two screws were supposed to be installed inside the frame before one of the support slats was attached. Now that the slat was in place, it completely blocked access. Emma closed her eyes.

"Don't tell me..."

"We'll have to take it apart." A long silence settled over the room. Then Emma burst out laughing.

"You were right." They removed several boards before adding the two forgotten screws. A few minutes later, the bed finally took its proper shape again. Emma patted the frame.

"This time, it's finished." Aldric inspected every connection before nodding.

"This time, yes." They then moved on to the table. The assembly resumed in exactly the same way. Several times, Emma tried to get ahead by skipping a step, but every attempt was met with the same look from Aldric, followed by another meticulous review of the instructions. Eventually, she gave up trying to speed things along.

"All right." She picked up another board.

"What does the manual say?"

"Step eight. We must now use screw number seventeen." After several hours of work, the last piece of furniture finally found its place. The bed stood at the back of the room, the small table was set by the window with the two chairs on either side, the bookshelf rested against one wall, and the lamp cast a soft glow that made the studio feel far cozier. Emma took a step back to admire the result.

"We did it." Aldric slowly looked around the room before nodding. Their eyes were drawn to the exact same spot. His sword was still leaning against the wall. Emma sighed.

"Oh..."

"Indeed." He immediately walked over to his weapon and picked it up by the hilt.

"It now requires a permanent place." He first tried sliding the sword under the bed. The blade went in without any trouble, but the crossguard struck the frame. It wouldn't go any farther. Aldric pushed gently. The bed lifted several inches off the floor.

"Stop!" Emma called out.

"The bed refuses to cooperate."

"The bed hasn't done anything. Your sword is just way too big." Aldric pulled the blade back out. Next, they tried placing it behind the door. This time, the sword stood perfectly upright. Emma closed the door. It stopped halfway.

"It doesn't close anymore."

"A partially open door should be sufficient."

"Not really." They tried another location. The closet seemed tall enough. Aldric opened both doors and carefully slid his sword inside. The blade fit almost completely, but the hilt kept the doors from closing. Emma tried anyway. The doors bounced off the crossguard.

"Nope."

"We could remove the doors."

"From the closet?"

"They would no longer be necessary."

"Because there wouldn't be a closet anymore."

"Precisely." Emma burst out laughing.

"I'd rather keep the doors." Next, they moved the bookshelf to free up one corner of the room. At last, the sword seemed to have found its place. Unfortunately, its hilt blocked access to the first two shelves. So they rearranged the furniture again. This time, they tried placing it beside the window. The sword fit there, but it became impossible to fully open the shutters. Finally, they tried near the kitchenette. Now the sword blocked the walkway. Every new location solved one problem... only to create another.

Emma eventually sat down on one of the chairs.

"We're arranging your entire apartment around a sword."

"It does occupy an important place." After several more attempts, they finally returned to the first wall. By tilting the bookshelf slightly and moving the table forward a few inches, they eventually found an acceptable compromise. Anyone entering the apartment would notice the sword immediately. Emma stepped back to take in the whole room. The result looked strange. It was as though every piece of furniture had been arranged around the weapon. Then a smile spread across her face.

"In the end... I think your sword is the real owner of this apartment." Once the last boxes had been stacked in a corner of the room, a deep silence settled over the apartment. Emma and Aldric stood quietly for a few moments, taking in everything they had accomplished that day. Emma smiled.

"You know... it's actually not bad." Aldric walked over to the window and opened it. A cool breeze immediately drifted into the room, gently stirring the curtains. Outside, the last rays of sunlight brushed across the rooftops of Paris as the shadows slowly stretched between the buildings. Several stories below, the city carried on with its peaceful rhythm. Cars still rolled through the streets, voices drifted up from the café terraces, and somewhere in the distance, a siren briefly echoed before fading away.

Aldric stood there for a long time, quietly taking in the view. △ MAIN QUEST COMPLETE △ Find a Home 100% COMPLETE Rewards +2500 EXP △ FEATURE UNLOCKED △ Storage △ TITLE UNLOCKED △ Resident of Earth Emma noticed the smile that had just appeared on his face.

"What is it?" He let his gaze wander across the room one last time. His bed. The bookshelf. The small table. The curtains. The plant by the window. Even his sword now seemed to belong there. At last, he turned toward Emma.

"Thank you."

"Thanks to you, I finally have a home."

"Then... welcome home." They kept talking for a few more minutes before Emma gathered her things. She put on her jacket, reminded him not to forget to eat properly, and made him promise not to rearrange all the furniture in search of a better place for his sword.

"You have my word." Emma smiled at him before leaving the apartment. The door closed behind her, and silence returned. Aldric removed his armor. Then he picked up his keys and placed them in the small catchall tray Emma had bought earlier that day.