Shield

I don't know if time skips are liked in general but I often write my stories fast-paced, and that's how the novel is supposed to go on. I'm addressing it now just in case I happen to give the impression of a lazy writer (only a little lol)

That's all. Thanks for reading the novel!

"Goodbye, Mister Chair!" Aya shouted from the window of her carriage, before her escort took her away, accompanied by an unnecessarily large number of knights.

Looks like the higher-ups took the assassination event a bit too seriously.

She was headed to the Seanton Castle where the grand coronation ceremony would take place, officially making her the new Queen. Apparently, I couldn't go with her since Aya ruined our plan by convincing everyone that I am a talking chair. Finding it weird, the nobles banned all wooden chairs from attending the coronation ceremony. There was one more problem: I had no way to communicate with Maine now that Aya's away! However, this predicament didn't require a solution, as Maine was already following a structured schedule for bringing me to libraries throughout the capital and even to the main square, where I farmed experience points as a public chair. This made the need for communication unnecessary.

But, I feel so bad seeing her speaking alone! I should've taken that Telepathic ability…

"I-I'm useful too, you know!" my own voice resonated in my head. It must be my parallel mind, 'strategist self.'

Talking to a cute maid is better than basically talking to myself!

"Yeah right…"

System: You are now a [Level 40] Magical Chair.

(Notice! You can now evolve into either a 'Blessed Chair' or a 'Combat Chair')

Woah! What do you think should we evolve to, Strategist?

"I think Combat Chai—"

Blessed Chair it is! Thanks for the helpful idea, Strategist.

"I knew it."

System: Evolution successful! You are now a [Level 1] Blessed Chair!

Acquired Special Ability: First-Circle Healing

'First-Circle Healing…' I've read about this before. 'Circles' are simply what we know as 'tiers,' but magic refers to them as 'circles.' The higher it is, the more access you have to stronger magic spells; in this case, healing spells. You know, the basic stuff of an RPG game. Discovering more about these, it made me wonder… are we governed by the game system? Is this some 'Swords Art Online' stuff?

"Hey original-self! There's no new passive skills showing up in the stats menu!" shouted the voice of the other me, strategist-self.

It also didn't appear when we reached Level 30. That couldn't be possible, was there a bug?

"Oh look, they're still here, but they turned into available skill points for the next passive skill. What a coincidence, upgrading the Parallel Mind ability costs exactly as the two available skill points!"

You planned this didn't you, just to upgrade the Parallel Mind ability…?

"Not really… Ehehe…"

I quickly became disappointed in him, planning such a thing of his own accord. However, since he had already saved up enough skill points for the Parallel Mind ability, I decided to spend the rest of the skill points on upgrading it anyway. But then, nothing happened, not even a notification that the ability had been upgraded. I was about to punch him in my thoughts when I realised that I could indeed punch him. I found myself in an empty space with a person who looked exactly like me, he instinctively stepped back and investigated his own body. "Is this a virtual reality inside your own mind?" he asked. Soon afterwards, I recognised him as my strategist-self.

Without hesitation, we experimented with our current abilities and made a significant discovery; My strategist-self was able to utilise the 'Object Switching' ability and host other chairs on his own, resulting in us abusing the game system once again and doubling my experience points gain by earning from two separate public benches.

System: You are now a [Level 17] Blessed Chair.

"Would you look at that, I'm more useful than you thought!" my strategist-self bursted out laughing, filling my head with a loud noise.

Fine, fine, just do what you're assigned to and choose a new passive skill already.

Acquired Passive Ability: "Ability To Sense Smell"

WHAAAATTT???!!

A few weeks later…

I finally reunited with Aya, and hearing her cheerful voice again brought me great joy. Although, I expected something along the lines of "Ayaya! Ayaya! Mister Chair is back!" Instead, she greeted me with a simple "Welcome back, uncle."

Uncle? Where did that come from?

"The nobles don't like hearing me calling you 'Mister Chair,' remember? So I thought of calling you 'uncle' instead," she explained eagerly, as if proud of her completely ineffective idea.

It was already awkward that she was talking to her own throne, the chair that I was currently in. But no one seemed to mind, probably because she's now the Queen of the Kingdom. The High Priest stood beside us with a straight look on his face, seemingly unconcerned by Aya's inelegant impression. However, the crowd of nobles in front of us was otherwise visibly disturbed.

"Y-Your Majesty," one of the dukes called out, supposedly her advisor, "We still don't have a word about the current…"

Suddenly, Aya took off her crown, leaving the crowd bewildered as they began exchanging whispers, their faces displaying confusion and some were even disgusted.

Aya, put back your crown! You're not supposed to do that!

"Oh?" Aya chuckled, "S-sorry, it was too heavy. I thought my head was about to fall off."

The three Princes were present in the room, wearing grins of accomplishment on their wicked faces. It was evident that they had caused this event to happen, as they were the ones who would benefit if Aya was kicked off her throne. Given that she had no clue about proper mannerisms, it was likely that they kept her from getting the education she needed. And to make matters worse, there might be some tutors bribed to brainwash her.

Why is there no regent? Shouldn't someone else take the place of a monarch who is still a minor?

My strategist-self, speaking in my head, shared his theory, "Maybe the nobles cooperated by ignoring the fact that Aya was literally unable to rule. Then, if something bad happens, they can simply blame Aya for it and force her to step down from the throne."

Either way, I can't allow anyone to harm my beloved Aya! Let's turn this situation to our advantage. With no regent yet, Aya holds all the power over the Kingdom. That means we can use her voice as our own and take control of this damn Kingdom ourselves!

"Why are you convincing me? You're the original one, I'll follow whatever you say."