How to Rent an Apartment After Defeating the Demon King

After the gifts had been opened, Chloé brought the cake into the living room to a round of applause from Julien, who had decided to sing far too loudly from the very first note. The candles were lit, the lights were dimmed, and everyone gathered around the table while Chloé insisted on taking several pictures before Sarah blew out the flames.

Sarah blew out the candles to another round of applause, and Julien raised his arms.

“Victory!”

“Against what?” Aldric asked.

“The candles.”

“They offered no resistance.”

Chloé burst out laughing.

“Let him have his victory.”

Aldric looked at the extinguished candles again.

“Very well.”

The cake was cut and handed out as the conversation resumed. Chloé had chosen a chocolate cake with a layer of cream thick enough for Julien to announce that he probably wouldn’t finish his slice before asking for a second one ten minutes later.

Julien, who had settled near the television, picked up a controller from the cabinet.

“By the way, who wants to play?”

Maxime looked at him.

“You’re at Chloé’s place.”

“She has a PS5.”

Chloé shrugged.

“Go ahead.”

Julien turned to Aldric.

"Do you play video games?"

"I've played League of Legends."

"Seriously?"

Emma turned to Aldric.

"Since when?"

"Recently, with the neighbor from 4B."

"And you were planning on telling us at some point?"

"You never asked."

Julien leaned toward him.

"And besides League of Legends?"

"I haven't tried any other games."

"Perfect. Then tonight, we're expanding your gaming knowledge."

"What's the objective?"

Julien turned on the console and selected an action game. The screen showed a character wearing armor and carrying a large sword in the middle of a ruined environment.

“Is he a knight?” Aldric asked.

“More or less.”

“Why does his armor have so many openings?”

“For style.”

“That reduces its protective effectiveness.”

“Here we go,” Maxime said.

Julien sighed.

“Forget the armor. Watch.”

He guided the character through several corridors and eliminated the few creatures that appeared along the way.

“Why not use the higher ground?”

“What higher ground?”

“The stairs behind you. You could prevent several enemies from surrounding you.”

“I know the level.”

“That does not make the position any less advantageous.”

Emma smiled.

“You really wanted to show him a combat game.”

Julien continued guiding the character through the corridors. After a few minutes, a large door appeared at the end of the passage, and he stopped in front of it.

"There, for example. There's going to be a boss."

"A superior officer?"

"Technically... In this kind of game, a boss is an enemy much stronger than the others, usually placed at the end of an area."

"Why call it a 'boss'?"

Maxime answered before Julien could.

"Because it often commands the other enemies, or because it's the main obstacle."

"An enemy commander."

"Exactly," Julien replied.

He moved his character forward, and the large door opened onto a circular arena. At its center stood an enormous creature with several arms, armor, and a weapon almost as large as the character Julien was controlling.

“You have to fight it?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because… that’s the game.”

“Did it attack you?”

“It’s going to.”

“But you willingly entered its territory. You could leave.”

“I could.”

“Why don’t you?”

“Because I want to beat it.”

Aldric remained silent for a few seconds before turning toward Emma.

“You deliberately simulate life-threatening situations in order to relax?”

“Basically,” she replied.

Aldric turned his attention back to the screen.

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“Strange.”

Julien dodged an attack, took advantage of the opening to strike twice, then backed away.

“Your attack. You struck before it had finished its movement.”

“I know what I’m doing.”

A few seconds later, the creature retaliated, and Julien’s character lost almost half his health.

“He was right,” Maxime said.

“Nobody asked…”

“It repeats the same sequence after its vertical attack.”

“You’ve been watching the boss for thirty seconds, and you’ve already learned its pattern?”

“Its what?”

“Its attack sequence.”

“Then yes.”

After a few minutes, Julien finally managed to defeat the boss. Music played, and he raised his arms.

“There!”

“You used four healing potions.”

“I won. That is the only important factor.”

“That method of evaluating victory would explain some of your decisions.”

Chloé burst out laughing, and Julien turned toward her.

“He’s getting mean.”

“No. He’s getting comfortable,” Emma said.

Julien put down the controller.

“Fine. Since we’re talking about bosses, I have a question. What’s the hardest boss you’ve ever fought in a game?”

“I hardly ever play,” Chloé said.

“You played with us last year.”

“Yes, and I lost to the first thing that moved.”

“I can confirm that,” Sarah said.

Julien looked at Maxime.

“You?”

“The final boss from that strategy game we used to play in college.”

“That wasn’t difficult.”

“You tried it six times.”

“Because the game was cheating.”

“That sounds a lot like Lucas,” Emma said.

“I agree with you,” Aldric said.

“Lucas?” Julien asked.

“A friend,” Emma replied.

“He regularly attributes his defeats to circumstances unrelated to his own performance.”

Emma burst out laughing.

“That’s a very diplomatic way of describing him.”

“It is accurate.”

“I’ll have to meet him someday,” Julien said.

“I think you two would get along well,” Emma replied.

“I’m not sure that’s reassuring.”

Julien then turned his attention back to Sarah.

“And you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe the boss in that game you forced me to play for three hours.”

“Forced?”

“You refused to leave until I won.”

“That was support…”

“Mine was probably Flamelurker in Demon’s Souls. My brother had the game when we were teenagers, and I could never beat it.”

“Flamelurker?”

“Yes.”

“He was easy!”

“I was thirteen.”

“Still.”

“I hate you.”

"And you? What's the hardest boss you've ever faced?"

Aldric considered the question. He had only just learned the term, but its meaning now seemed clear enough: a boss was an opponent more powerful than the others, usually encountered at the end of a progression and whose defeat represented an important milestone.

"The Demon King."

A brief silence followed before Julien burst out laughing. Chloé almost immediately joined him, Sarah began to smile, and Emma lowered her head as she laughed.

“After the Demon King. Your second-hardest boss.”

Several opponents came to mind. General Varkesh had been particularly dangerous, an ancient dragon in the mountains of Valdor had required three days of preparation, and the commander of the Northern Legions had nearly killed him in a duel. Yet none of them seemed deserving of second place.

His thoughts instead turned to the difficulties he had encountered since arriving in this world: the bank, landlords, paperwork, France Travail, supporting documents, appointments, and forms where certain fields sometimes required information he could only obtain after completing another document.

“French bureaucracy.”

For almost a second, there was complete silence around the table before Emma nearly choked on her drink. Chloé doubled over, Julien planted both hands on the table as he burst out laughing, and Sarah closed her eyes in a futile attempt to keep a straight face. Even Maxime, who had shown more restraint until now, started laughing.

“Why is that answer more amusing than the previous one?”

Emma tried to respond, but her laughter prevented her from getting a single word out properly. Chloé was holding her stomach while Julien wiped his eyes.

“Wait…”

“No… don’t say anything,” Julien managed to get out.

Aldric frowned.

“I was not joking.”

That clarification triggered another fit of laughter. Emma quickly set her glass down on the table before she spilled it.

“That makes it even worse!”

Sarah was still trying to catch her breath.

“Because you actually mean it.”

“Of course.”

Julien leaned over the table.

“The Demon King… and right after that… French bureaucracy.”

Aldric shook his head.

“I did not mention taxes.”

Maxime started laughing again.

Chloé looked up.

“Stop!”

“Okay. Explain,” Julien said.

“When I fought the Demon King, the objective was simple.”

Emma, whose eyes were still watering from laughing so hard, interrupted.

“Kill him.”

“Yes.”

“There was a clearly identified enemy. We knew his position, his forces, his allies, and approximately what he was capable of. It was therefore possible to prepare a strategy. When I tried to obtain my first documents in this world, however, no one was actually an enemy. And yet every step required a document obtained during a previous step. Some documents required an address, while obtaining housing itself required several documents I did not possess. At least the Demon King never asked me for proof of address.”

Maxime tapped the table as he tried to catch his breath.

“Okay. That one was intentional.”

A smile appeared on Aldric’s face, and Julien noticed immediately.

“Don’t smile like that. You’re going to set me off again.”

Aldric’s smile widened, which Chloé noticed in turn.

“He’s starting to understand.”

“I understand that you find it amusing.”

Sarah turned toward him.

“But do you?”

“I suppose the comparison is indeed unusual.”

Aldric thought back to the Demon King, then to the bank and the landlords who had asked for his last three pay slips when he had never even worked in this world. He also remembered the form Emma had helped him fill out and his confusion when he had been asked for bank account details in the middle of procedures he was completing precisely because he was trying to obtain a bank account.

The comparison suddenly appeared to him from a different perspective. After years of fighting creatures, armies, and eventually the Demon King himself, some of the situations that had unsettled him the most since his arrival had indeed been caused by forms and supporting documents.

A laugh escaped him.

“What about landlords?” Julien asked.

“Mini-bosses.”

The conversation then shifted toward the games Julien wanted him to try. He insisted that Aldric absolutely had to play a military strategy game.

Maxime shook his head.

“Bad idea. He’s going to spend four hours explaining why every army is badly organized.”

“I could simply play.”

“I don’t believe you,” Emma said.

Several guests gradually left, but Julien, Maxime, Sarah, Chloé, Emma, and Aldric remained until Chloé finally announced that she would like to have her living room back before the next morning.

Aldric helped her collect several glasses while the others gathered their belongings.

Julien gave him a light pat on the shoulder.

"Next time, you're the one playing."

Aldric lowered his gaze to his hand, prompting Julien to pull it away.

"Sorry..."

"No harm done."

"The game or the pat?"

"The game."

"Too bad. I thought I was making progress."

Maxime burst out laughing, and the conversation continued for a while longer before they finally decided to leave. Shortly before midnight, Julien and Maxime headed toward a station together, while Sarah and Chloé remained outside the building for a few more minutes to say goodbye to the last guests.