While Ogden was looking confused Zerem took one more sip from his tea without any hurry.
"Come on, what are you waiting for start talking" Zerem asked once again acting oblivious towards Ogden's confusion.
"Talk about what? I have already asked all the question I had in mind though" said Ogden upon which Zerem just rolled his eyes and snorted.
"Talk to me about yourself, your life, your ambitions, about anything really. What were they called again... right, psychiatrists! You can think of me as a psychiatrist and tell me anything. I haven't been a shrink in a modern world yet but I have done similar jobs in different worlds before"
"What does that have to do with my reincarnation?"
"It's because I am bored. For reincarnators like us being bored is the most dreadful sin. Even though I fought hard to be your neighbour you are leaving now almost immediately after arriving. So you should at least tell me about yourself and your life to relieve me of my boredom right?"
Well, Ogden couldn't deny that. If everything Zerem said was true then he really should talk to him a little first it seems.
"Actually, there is nothing special about my life. I was just a common white collar worker. I lived to be 33, no wife or kids, not even a girlfriend. I didn't have any siblings and my parents passed away even before I did. Basically, I am a nobody without any impact on the world. If the world was a book that would make me the perfect protagonist" said Ogden without thinking much. This was his honest review of his own life.
"Oh, you just made a pretty interesting comparison there. A protagonist. Do you like reading books then? Maybe you even dreamed of being a special hero mentioned in the books when you were young?"
Ogden immediately flushed and opened his mouth to deny it but stopped. What was the use in denying it? Everyone dreamed of becoming a hero before so why should he be embarrassed of it? Also to be honest, what happened to him could actually make a great book. Though considering how there wouldn't be any stakes it would be hard to write. MC wouldn't have any stakes in the story and there wouldn't exactly be arc to follow in the worlds unless author skipped through worlds to only write about interesting ones but then he could deus ex machina any tension by bringing out a power from a previous unmentioned world and that would lead to bad writing.
"What are you thinking so hard about?" Zerem asked seeing Ogden go into his author mode.
When Ogden gets excited about a story idea, he stops paying attention his surroundings and thinks about the story he had in mind. Considering he died because of that it wasn't hard to imagine how focused he can get once he gets going.
"Nothing!"
"Anyway, now that you are a 'protagonist' of your story do you have any goals for your next life? Like a specific dream you had but never able to achieve?" Zerem asked and intentionally emphasized the word protagonist to make Ogden flustered once more.
"None, I just want to live a simple life without any attention" Ogden denied vehemently.
"Hahahaha! You are aware that's going to be impossible right?" Zerem laughed like he heard the most hilarious joke in his life.
"Why is that? Even if I go to a backward world I can still be a simple farmer?"
That was true. Even if Ogden went to a backwards world or a fantasy world he can always avoid the trouble and become a farmer. If he wanted to get rich he might write some stories and release anonymously... actually scratch that. He might copy some famous stories from his world and sell them there making money. Basically there was no reason he couldn't lead a simple life. And it would be even easier if he reincarnated in a modern or futuristic world.
"Let me explain in simple terms kay? You are going to reincarnate with your memories intact and someone like you probably will not be able to act like a new born or a child. If you are lucky you would reincarnate in a world where you have to learn a new language but even with that due to your mature psyche you would still learn faster than your average baby which would label you as a genius and put you in the limelight!" explained Zerem while trying to supress his laugh.
As Zerem Spoke Ogden's face got paler and paler. He didn't want to be labelled as a genius! He didn't have the ability to respond their expectations. He didn't want to be shackled by those feelings either.
"Well there might be a solution to your predicament" Zerem spoke ambiguously especially to make Ogden stand on edge.
"What is it?" Ogden stood up from his chair due to his excitement.
"You can seal your memories"