Shield

Sorry for the month of inactivity, I was sick for a while, but I'm back to regularly uploading chapters now. Thanks for still reading the novel!

I heard Aya's voice calling out to me, and I sensed something was wrong. "Mister Chair! Mister Chair! They don't like me! They hate me!" she cried out, her voice quivering.

She had just entered the room, but she wasn't her usual cheerful self. Her face was soaked with tears, and she was crying with no sign of stopping. No, this isn't anything ordinary at all, she looks like she's in pain!

What happened, Aya?

"Big brother… Father… all of them…" she mumbled, never finishing her sentence. Instead, she placed her knees on my flat surface and stared at me with her sparkling, emerald eyes. Wait, have I seen this scene before?

"Mister Chair, do you love me…?"

Where did that come from?! Let me think about this… She's a cat-girl, and a generic fantasy setting would be racist towards demi-humans, that means, she's been badly treated!

Yeah, Aya. Why do you ask?

Her smile came back, but tears were still streaming down her face. Then, she shook her head and said, "No Onii-chan, that's all I need to hear!"

I'm crying! Even though I'm only a chair, I can't stop crying! I can't believe she called me Onii-chan!

She calmed down and embraced me with her warm body, but then we lost balance and fell down onto the floor. While I was worried, she was laughing at how silly it was. Well, I'm glad to see her purely innocent smile again.

The next day…

System: You are now a [Level 20] Magical Chair.

My plan worked! I'm so brilliant!

I'm now outside of the palace, taking the form of a public bench in the capital city. Maine was with me, who was selling some vegetables disguised as a peasant. Fortunately, my 'Object Switching' ability allowed me to host all kinds of chairs, even a bench which had a space for more than five people.

However, it's so cold out here! I wasn't aware that it's winter already! Also, I felt like the people who sat on me hadn't taken a bath for weeks! Good thing I didn't have the ability to sense smell…

I'll definitely not choose the first one! I wonder, what's better between these two options? Aya mentioned that she could only read an object's mind, which sounds useless if it weren't for me. With her, I won't need 'telepathy,' so I'll just choose the last option. Besides, having a parallel mind sounds more convenient than convincing people that I'm a living chair.

Acquired Passive Ability: "Possess A Parallel Mind"

I guess I'm two now…?

"Yeah, you are," the voice of the other me said.

Then, who's the original?

"I think it's you…"

That must've hurt. Well anyway, how close are you in being—

"I'm almost the same as you, but I'm part of the system. I knew you'd ask that."

You're really me, huh… What do you think you can contribute—

"I'll take care of making plans for you. Refer to me as your strategist self."

Oh wow, okay! Can you—

"Yes. In fact, I already determined what Era we truly are in."

My 'strategist self' is so scary! Wait, you mean that my guess was wrong?

"Yeah. Look around you, we're obviously still in the Medieval Era."

What?! I thought this world already had guns! After thinking about it, however, my strategist self was right. I noticed that the architecture of the buildings around me doesn't look like it'd fit in with the atmosphere of the 18th century. The only reason I thought that we are in the Victorian Era was because of the mob cap Aya was wearing, its style resembled a hat which became popular in the Late 18th century. Not to mention, there were maids as well!

"The fashion sense of people here seems to be in the Medieval Period."

But why are there maids? Why does the royal palace look like Napoleon's house?

All of a sudden, I saw Maine leaning towards me. With her hand covering her mouth, she whispered, "Mister Chair, I think it's time to go back to the palace."

I should've taught her a discreet way to communicate, considering how weird she looked talking to a bench in public. Now that the sun was setting, I might as well spend the rest of the day investigating the current technology of this world.

In the Hassian Kingdom, the country where Mister Chair was living in, the nobles gathered for a secret meeting to discuss the King's final words — his intention to designate Aya as his successor to the throne. The three Princes, faced with this dilemma, couldn't help but curse their father in anger. The young Prince, Sean Bourne, introduced a plan to stop Aya from being crowned; they would do all means to get the Kingdom's High Priest on their side.

The second born son, Prince Benedict, stood up from his chair and grinned. "What if we just kill that animal—"

"You're stepping over the line, Benedict," Prince Escott, the oldest sibling, interrupted him. The spectators were taken aback upon hearing his words; no one had anticipated that Prince Escott would protect Aya, considering that he had always been bullying her. Little did they know, he had a sister complex.

"Enough, you two!" Sean yelled, taking everyone's attention. He usually spoke in a calm tone, but this time he sounded serious. "This country is on the verge of invasion, our neighbours are getting invaded one by one! Whoever that assassin is, he's probably Cennish. He's expecting—"

"I know," Escott sighed before sitting down on his chair. "I'm the Crown Prince, I will take responsibility for this all."