Chương 78: Chapter 37 : Part 1 : Finding His Place

Six Months Later The alarm vibrated at exactly five o'clock. Aldric's eyes were already open. He remained still for a few moments, staring at the ceiling. For years, every morning had begun the same way. Before he even opened his eyes, he assessed the dangers. An attack could come before dawn, an assassin might have slipped into his room during the night, and another battle could be waiting for him only minutes later.

His first instinct had always been to locate his sword and listen for the slightest suspicious sound. Here, he no longer felt the need. He pushed back the blanket, placed his feet on the wooden floor, and switched off the alarm. He then opened the curtains. Morning light immediately flooded the bedroom as Paris slowly came to life. A delivery van stopped in front of the bakery on the corner, several cars crossed the intersection, and a man walked his dog before heading to work.

He went into the kitchen and started the coffee maker before placing two slices of bread into the toaster. While the coffee brewed, he opened the refrigerator, took out the butter, the jam, and a few slices of cheese. He ate breakfast by the window while checking his phone. A message from Patrick confirmed the time they were due to meet at the depot, and a few unimportant notifications had accumulated overnight. He glanced through them before slipping his phone back into his pocket.

When he had finished, he immediately washed his mug and plate, wiped down the countertop, then carried out one final inspection. Phone. Wallet. Keys. Everything was in its place. The items had changed, but the ritual still reminded him of the inspections he used to perform before every departure. Back then, he checked his armor, his sword, and his supplies. Today, he simply made sure he had not forgotten anything before leaving for work. He put on his jacket, locked the apartment door, and walked down the stairs.

The cool morning air greeted him as he stepped outside. He followed the same route he took every day toward the metro station. The newspaper vendor was finishing arranging the morning papers when he spotted him.

"Good morning, Aldric! Have a great day!"

"Thank you. I wish you the same." A few meters farther on, the baker was opening his shop.

"Morning! See you tonight, maybe!" Aldric nodded before continuing on his way. These exchanges never lasted very long, yet they gave him a strange feeling. No one looked at him as though he were lost anymore, or as though he were a stranger. The shopkeepers knew his name. Aldric then took the metro. Around him, passengers read the news on their phones, drank their coffee, or watched the scenery passing beyond the windows. No one paid any attention to him.

That indifference would have surprised him a few months earlier. Now, it felt perfectly normal. He was no longer a hero from another world. He was simply a man on his way to work. When the metro doors opened, Aldric followed the route he now knew by heart to the depot. Several trucks were already parked outside the building. The large warehouse doors stood open, and the first employees were finishing the preparations for the day's work.

Dollies, moving blankets, and straps were stacked against one wall while two coworkers checked the tire pressure on one of the trucks. As he entered the depot, Aldric spotted Patrick with a cup of coffee in one hand and the day's schedule in the other. The team leader studied the list of jobs with a slight frown. A few meters away, Karim was finishing his coffee while leaning against the side of a truck, while Lucas was already telling a story to several coworkers. Their laughter echoed throughout the warehouse.

"Morning, Knight!" Lucas called when he saw Aldric.

"Running late again?"

"I arrived at the scheduled time." A few laughs rose around them. Karim raised his cup in greeting.

"Morning, Aldric."

"Good morning." Patrick finally looked up from his schedule.

"Perfect. Everyone's here." He set his coffee down on a wooden crate and gathered the team around him.

"Today we've got three moves. The first is a third-floor apartment with an elevator. The second... fourth floor with no elevator." Lucas let out a long sigh.

"Of course..."

"And the last one is a small house. If everything goes well, we should be finished before five." He then handed out the job sheets.

"Aldric, you're with me in the first truck." Lucas gave him a light pat on the shoulder.

"See? Patrick doesn't even check whether you know how to carry a sofa anymore."

"I have indeed acquired that skill."

"I certainly hope so. Otherwise we'd be in trouble." They began loading the truck. The moving blankets were stored in one compartment, the folded boxes were stacked against one wall, and the straps were hung on their hooks.

"So... what did you all do this weekend?" Lucas asked.

"I took my son to the park," Karim replied while fastening a strap.

"He wanted to try out his new bicycle."

"And?"

"He fell three times." Lucas burst out laughing.

"That's how you learn."

"That's exactly what I told him." Patrick closed a crate before shaking his head.

"As for me, I spent most of Sunday stuck in traffic. Two hours just to get halfway around the ring road. I think a pedestrian would have arrived before I did."

"That's Paris," Lucas replied.

"Traffic jams are part of the city's heritage."

"If this keeps up, I'm moving to the countryside."

"Then what are you going to do without moving jobs?"

"I'll come back once a week just to complain." Lucas then turned toward Aldric.

"What about you? What did you do?"

"Emma and I bought several plants for my apartment. She explained that they improve the living environment."

"And?"

"One of them requires watering once a week." Lucas burst out laughing.

"Be careful. If you forget, it might give you a side quest."

"That hypothesis seems plausible." They continued loading the truck. Patrick checked the equipment list one last time while Lucas kept chatting about this and that. Aldric now took part in the conversations naturally. He spoke less than the others, but he was no longer as quiet as he had been during his first days.

"You often mention your weekends. Why is that period so important?"

"Well... because we don't work."

"So it is a period of rest."

"Exactly."

"And everyone is free to choose their own activities?"

"Of course."

"That is an interesting custom." Lucas burst out laughing.

"You always say the simplest things as if you'd just discovered a lost civilization." Karim closed the door of one of the storage compartments.

"In a way, he did." Patrick finished securing a crate before turning toward them.

"Alright, let's finish loading." A few minutes later, everything was ready. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Lucas wiped his hands on his pants before looking over the moving equipment stored inside the truck.

"Hey, Knight..."

"Yes?"

"I've got a very important question."

"I'm listening."

"Which would you rather fight... a dragon, or carry a Norman wardrobe up to the fourth floor?"

"That depends. A dragon generally has an identifiable weakness. A Norman wardrobe, on the other hand, displays no apparent vulnerability and refuses to cooperate during transport." Patrick burst out laughing. Karim lowered his head to hide his smile. Lucas had to lean against the truck.

"Alright... I definitely wasn't expecting that one!" Even several employees from the other teams turned their heads when they heard the laughter.

"Alright... enough talking. Let's get in the truck," Patrick said.

"Honestly, I think the knight is starting to develop a sense of humor." The first move was on a quiet street in the fifteenth arrondissement. Patrick parked the truck in front of an apartment building while Lucas got out to check the address on the job sheet. The couple was already waiting for them outside the entrance, surrounded by several boxes marked with handwritten labels.

The man looked nervous, as though he feared the slightest mistake would turn the morning into a disaster, while his partner greeted them with a smile.

"Good morning. Thank you for coming so early." Patrick quickly checked the list before pointing toward the elevator at the back of the lobby.

"Good morning. We'll start by protecting the furniture, then we'll bring down the boxes. Is the elevator working properly?"

"Yes, fortunately," the man replied. Lucas leaned toward Aldric.

"See? Some clients perform inspections before the mission too."

"It is a reasonable precaution." Karim stifled a laugh while Patrick asked the couple to show them the apartment. They went up to the third floor and found a home that was almost completely empty. A few boxes were still stacked against the walls, along with a sofa, a large wooden table, two bookcases, and a chest of drawers that the owner immediately pointed out.

"Please be especially careful with this one. It belonged to my grandmother."

"No problem. We'll protect it properly." Aldric walked over to the piece of furniture and examined it without touching it. The wood bore several marks, but the legs appeared sturdy, and the drawers had already been emptied. He walked around the chest of drawers before turning to Patrick.

"The rear right leg has been weakened. If we lift it without distributing the weight properly, it may give way." Patrick bent down to check.

"Good catch." He asked Lucas to bring over an extra moving blanket and several straps. Aldric wrapped the piece of furniture, protected the corners, secured the drawers, then lifted it together with Karim. Despite its weight, he made no sudden movements. He moved slowly, announced every change of direction, and waited until Karim was properly positioned before going through each doorway. The owner followed them. When they reached the elevator without bumping into a single wall, her shoulders visibly relaxed.

"You've done this before," she observed.

"We make sure that every item arrives in the same condition in which it left," Aldric replied. Lucas, who was holding the elevator door open, exchanged a glance with Karim.

"You'd think he'd been doing this for twenty years." Aldric ignored the remark. He made sure the chest of drawers remained stable before pressing the button for the ground floor. Once it was inside the truck, he personally chose the safest location, well away from anything that might tip over during the drive. He added another strap, checked its tension, then ran a hand over the blanket to make sure no part of the wood remained exposed. Patrick watched him for a moment.

"You know you can let go now. It's not going to run away."

"I was simply making sure it couldn't be damaged."

"I know. That's exactly why I usually leave the fragile furniture to you."

"Because I possess above average strength?" Patrick shook his head.

"Because you're careful. A lot of guys think the most important thing is to carry heavy furniture as fast as possible. You start by looking at how it's built, where it's fragile, and how to move it without damaging it. Strength helps, but it isn't enough." In his former world, no one had ever praised him for being careful with ordinary objects. He had been expected to smash through gates, break down fortress walls, or carry the wounded off the battlefield.

Here, taking good care of an old chest of drawers was enough to earn the trust of a team leader.

"I understand," he finally replied. They continued loading the truck for nearly two hours. Aldric carried the sofa with Lucas, brought down several stacks of boxes, and helped Karim remove the legs from the large table. The couple offered them coffee several times, but Patrick declined until everything had been properly secured inside the truck. Before they left, the owner inspected the chest of drawers and smiled at them.

"Thank you. I was really afraid it would get damaged."

"It has been properly protected," Aldric replied.

"It should arrive at its destination without any difficulty."

"With him, even a bomb would arrive in perfect condition," Lucas added. Patrick smacked him lightly on the back of the head before closing the truck doors. The second move took place in a much older building. As soon as they got out of the truck, Lucas looked up at the facade, counted the four floors, and noticed the complete absence of an elevator. He raised his eyes to the top-floor windows before letting out a sigh long enough to catch Patrick's attention.

"Don't start."

"I didn't say anything."

"Your face did."

"My face just realized it's about to suffer." Karim grabbed a dolly from the truck.

"You always complain beforehand. Then you complain afterward too."

"It's important to be consistent." Aldric studied the narrow staircase leading up from the lobby. The wooden steps were worn down in the middle, and the handrail looked too fragile to support the weight of a piece of furniture. He calculated the available width, the angles of each landing, and the distance between the floors.

"The passage is wide enough for most items," he said.

"The sofa will probably have to be tilted at the second landing."

"Did you really just analyze the staircase like it was a battlefield?"

"No. A battlefield contains more variables." The client, a man in his thirties, opened the apartment door for them.

"I'm really sorry about the elevator."

"There's never one when you need it," Patrick replied.

"Show us what needs to come down." The apartment contained fewer pieces of furniture than the previous one, but every single one seemed to have been chosen specifically to make their job harder. A wide sofa, a refrigerator, several bookcases that had already been taken apart, and a washing machine still occupied the rooms. Lucas stopped in front of the washing machine.

"Of course."

"It doesn't appear to be particularly heavy," Aldric observed. Lucas placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Aldric, sometimes you have to understand that certain things you say can hurt people." They started with the boxes. Aldric carried three at a time and walked down all four flights of stairs without slowing down. When he returned, Lucas had only just reached the second landing with two boxes clutched against his chest.

"You could at least pretend to be tired."

"Why?"

"For the team's morale." Aldric thought about it briefly before picking up two more boxes.

"I will try to breathe more heavily on the next trip down." Lucas watched him walk away.

"I honestly can't tell whether he's making fun of me."

"Neither can I," Karim replied. The refrigerator required even more coordination. Patrick directed from below while Aldric and Karim controlled the weight on the staircase. Lucas stayed above to keep the appliance from tipping over. At every landing, they stopped for a few seconds to adjust their grip. Aldric could have carried most of the weight by himself, but he matched the others' pace.

He had learned that when a piece of furniture was carried by a team, it should never move faster than the person in the most difficult position. When they reached the ground floor, Lucas rested his hands on his knees and took a deep breath.

"Seriously... are you even human?"

"Yes."

"Alright," Lucas replied.

"I just wanted to make sure."

"Why does that question keep coming up?"

"No reason." Aldric seemed to accept the answer while Patrick shook his head with a smile. The washing machine was even harder to carry downstairs. It kept sliding on its moving blanket, and the narrow staircase forced the team to move almost one step at a time. Halfway down, Lucas announced that he regretted every decision that had led him to this moment. Karim reminded him that he had chosen this job voluntarily, to which Lucas replied that he had been young and vulnerable when he signed his contract.

Once they had finished the second move, Patrick suggested having lunch before heading to the last address. They bought sandwiches from a small bakery and sat down on the curb beside the truck. The sun had finally broken through the clouds, and the traffic was far enough away that they could talk without raising their voices. Lucas opened his bottle of water before looking at Patrick.

"Did you watch the match yesterday?"

"Only the second half."

"You missed the best part."

"I mostly avoided wasting an hour watching a team that can't defend properly." Karim shook his head.

"They won."

"That doesn't mean they played well." Lucas turned toward Aldric.

"Still not watching football?"

"Not yet." The conversation then drifted toward vacations. Lucas wanted to spend a few days in the south, but he was already complaining about the price of the tickets. Karim was thinking about taking his son to the seaside if his schedule allowed it. Patrick said that all he wanted was a week without hearing about boxes, sofas, or staircases.

"You'd last two days," Lucas replied.

"Three."

"Then you'd come back to check whether we're loading the trucks properly." Patrick took a bite of his sandwich.

"Because you don't do it properly when I'm not here." Lucas protested while Karim insisted that he had never forgotten anything. Aldric listened attentively, occasionally asking where one of the cities they mentioned was located or why vacation departures caused so many traffic jams. The conversation then shifted to television series. Lucas tried to convince Karim to watch a new crime show, but Karim refused, explaining that he always fell asleep before the end of the first episode.

Patrick admitted that he mostly watched documentaries, which earned a dramatic reaction from Lucas.

"What about you, Aldric?" Patrick finally asked.

"What are you doing this weekend?" Aldric carefully folded the wrapper from his sandwich before answering.

"Emma invited me to visit a museum." Karim glanced at Lucas. Patrick took a sip of water. Lucas smiled but said nothing.

"Is there a problem?"

"None," Patrick replied.

"None at all," Karim confirmed. Lucas simply shook his head.

"Why are you smiling?"

"Because I like museums." Aldric frowned.

"But last week, you said museums were buildings where people stood in front of objects they weren't allowed to touch."

"People change." Patrick stood up before Lucas could add anything else.

"Come on. Let's get back to work." The final move took place in a small house on the outskirts of the city. The family had already transported most of the boxes themselves, and only a few pieces of furniture remained to be placed inside the rooms. The job required less effort than expected, but much greater precision. A large wardrobe had to fit through a narrow hallway, a bed had to be reassembled upstairs, and a table occupied almost the entire width of the living room doorway.

Aldric took the lead during several of the maneuvers. He suggested tilting the wardrobe before the first corner, asked Lucas to protect the wall with a moving blanket, and told Karim the exact moment he should pivot. Patrick watched without interfering, ready to correct a mistake that never came. The family thanked them several times. A little girl stayed by the doorway for almost the entire move, fascinated by how easily Aldric lifted the furniture.

As he walked past her carrying a box, she asked whether he was the strongest member of the team.

"Strength alone does not determine a team's effectiveness." The little girl seemed disappointed by the answer. Lucas leaned toward her.

"That means yes."

"That is not what I said." The little girl burst into laughter before running back to her parents. The final piece of furniture was a bookcase that Patrick and Aldric positioned against the living room wall. Once the homeowners confirmed its placement, Aldric removed the moving blankets and checked that the bookcase remained perfectly stable. Patrick took a few steps back, looked around the room, then clapped his hands twice.

"Good work." Lucas dropped onto a chair that was still wrapped for the move.

"Finally."

"You're going to have to get back up," Karim replied.

"That chair doesn't belong to us." Lucas sighed, but obeyed. Aldric looked around him. Boxes still occupied part of the house, several pieces of furniture were waiting to be filled, and the family would probably need several more days to finish settling in. Even so, the rooms were already beginning to feel like a home. The sofa faced the window, the table was ready to welcome a meal, and the beds had been assembled upstairs. They had defeated no monsters. They had saved no kingdoms.

They had simply helped several people move their belongings from one place to another and begin a new chapter of their lives. That was enough for him.